SOL 102; HAB KITCHEN

"I figured one of you fucking nerds would have one of these!" Liv spoke, as she brought herself into frame again, a booklet in her hand. "Somehow, we need to have complex astrophysical engineering conversations using only a still-frame camera. From 1996. Luckily, the camera spins 360, so I can make an alphabet. I just can't use our alphabet. Twenty-six letters plus question card into 360 gives us 13 degrees of arc. That's far too narrow. I wouldn't know what the camera was pointing at. So, hexadecimals to the rescue. Thank you Beth Johanssen! Remind me to buy you a drink or two when we get back home." Liv praised, as she repacked the box and slid it back into its spot.

Mark sat at the desk, notecards at the ready. Sliding the booklet over to him, she took the spot next to them. She watched as he marked the cards with the proper label.

"Hopefully with this we'll be able to have more complex conversations with NASA." She spoke softly.

"Hopefully." Mark agreed as he gathered the cards in a pile, now done writing on them.

Mark placed the cards up that were marked A through F and Zero through Nine in a circle around the camera. Liv watched from the airlock, nerves high.

The camera swings from card to card

Liv watched as he wrote down what the camera landed on. She refrained herself from biting on her nails even more than she already had. Satisfied that he got all of the numbers down, Mark headed back for the HAB.

He passed Liv the pad of paper with the numbers and letters written down and stayed outside as she went back into the kitchen to translate. The ASCII table pulled up in front other she carefully over the next ten minutes transferred the questions NASA wanted them to answer.

H...O...W….. A...L...I...V...E

Live grabbed the whiteboard and started writing on it.

'Mark was impaled by an antenna fragment, knocked out by a decompression in his suit which the blood sealed. Woke up after the crew left. I was hit by the small coms dish, managed to get hit hard enough I passed out before I landed. When I woke up the low oxygen was blaring. Mark's healing well and my bruises are almost gone. It's not the crew fault, they had reason to think that we were both dead.'

She went and handed the board back to him, and waited by the window of the airlock again.

Again, another question to translate.

S...T...A...T...U...S

'No physical problems, all HAB components are working perfectly. Eating ¾ rations. Successfully growing crops in the HAB with cultivated soil. Please note; Situation is not Ares III crew's fault, just bad timing and being at the wrong place at the wrong time.'

More waiting.

C...R...O...P...S….?

'Long story. Mark's extreme botany and little bit my geology. Have 126 m2 farmland growing potatoes. Will extend food supply, but not enough to get us to Ares 4 landing. Modified rover for long distance travel, we're planning on driving to Ares 4.'

W...E….S...A...W….S...A...T...L...I...T...E

'The government watching over us with satellites?" Liv laughed as she paused for a moment. "Should of told us, would of brought my tin foil hat with me. Also need faster ways of communication. This method is taking all day. Any Ideas?'

B...R...I...N...G….S...J...N...R...O...U...T

'Sojourner rover has been brought out. Mark placed it one meter north of y'all can contact it I can draw hex numbers on the wheels and you can send us six bytes at a time.'

S...J...R...N...O...R….N...O...T….R..S...P...N...D

"Fuck." Olivia swore as she placed her forehead against her hands. Damnit.

'Any other ideas?'

W...O...R...K...I...N...G…..O...N….I...T

'Earth is about to set, resume 08:00 our time tomorrow morning. Tell our families that we're okay. Give the crew our best, and tell Commander Lewis that disco music is the worst.'