SOL 122

"Now that we can talk to NASA and that NASA can talk to us, it seems like they never shut up!" Mark exclaimed from his spot in the potato farm. Liv let out a snort, shaking her head, a smile on her face.

"But no, like seriously, they don't shut up. It's always 'how are the crops' 'are they being watered enough?' I'm fine too, thanks for asking!" Liv laughed out, as she moved the microscope out of the way, reaching over to grab her notebook. "Vogel, man I gotta give it to you, your experiments are hard for me to understand, and i'm a geologist."

Mark had moved onto the next row of plants, picking up where he left "They've got a room full of people trying to micromanage my crops. Which is awesome. Look, I don't mean to sound arrogant here, but I'm the best botanist on the planet. So."

"I think ill take some credit, I mean, I am helping you out a lot Mark."

"Okay okay, Olivia and I are the best botanists on this damn planet."

"Anyways," Liv stretched up and got off the chair. "NASA wants the two of us to pose for a photo. I'm thinking of classic highschool, the whole leaning on the podium type deal." She made an effort to do the pose, a grin on her face. "I just hope that we can give them a good photo, not like we take our helmets off."

She moved and grabbed a water, taking a drink. "Of course, Annie and her team will probably complain that its not good enough of a picture." She shrugged. "Annie if you ever see this, I actually might miss you a little bit." She moved silently, "We are in luck though, we're ready for another harvest!" Olivia spoke, "We should have it completed by the end of tomorrow? I think at least."

"Back to the photo thing, I really don't know how they expect a decent shot of our faces. Hey, Mark, we could trick them into thinking we're actually Martians." Letting out a laugh, she brushed her hair out her eyes. "But like seriously, yall dont really need to worry about us, surprisingly we're doing okay."

"We've already talked to Irene for the week, she seems to think we're doing good." Watney added in. "For right now, all is well over here on Mars." With a nod, Liv stopped the recording.

Blowing out a breath, Liv went into the kitchen area to start their ration packs for the night. "Mental breakdown on another planet, check. She spoke to Mark, who let out a laugh. "Though, for real, I dont think I can ever thank you enough for that day. I really needed someone."

"Olivia, I would do anything to keep you like this. It pained me to see you like this. But like Irene said, she's surprised we both made it that long without one of us having a breakdown."

HERMES

The remaining crew of the ARES III mission all stand in the Rec room, Beth working on her laptop.

"All right, we've got a batch of personals. Dispatching them to your laptops.I don't need to read Vogel's weird German fetish emails." She let out a slight laugh as she hit one last button.

"They are telemetry updates from NASA." Vogel spoke, an amused grin on his face.

"Whatever does it for you. We've got a system update, I'll take care of that, and... huh weird. There's a voice message. It's addressed to the whole crew." Beth spoke up again, as she noticed the file.

"Play it." Lewis told her, the crew gathering around the computer. With a final breath, Beth hit play.

Mitch Henderson, appeared on the screen, a look on his face.

"Hermes, this is Mitch Henderson. I have some news." He paused for a second. "There's no subtle way to put this but Mark Watney and Olivia Brooks are still alive." He spoke, and gasps filled the room, Beth's eyes filling with tears.

They were alive?

"I know that this will come as a surprise. And I know you'll have a lot of questions. Here are the basics: they're both alive and healthy. We found out two months ago and decided not to tell you. I was strongly against that decision. We're telling you now because we finally have communication with them and a viable rescue plan."

Beth ran a hand down her face.

"We'll get you a full write up of everything that happened, but it's not your fault. Both Mark and Olivia stress that every time it comes up. Take some time to absorb everything. Your schedules are cleared for tomorrow. Send all the questions you want and we'll answer them. Henderson out." The screen went dark.

For a moment there was just silence, before Martinez spoke up.

"They're both alive?"

Beth felt somewhat of a smile appear on her face.

"Watney and Brooks live." Vogel spoke, shaking his head softly.

Beck let out a laugh, and Beth knew that he had to feel relief. Her own emotions were on a whirlwind. Her best friends were alive and doing okay.

Mark and Liv were alive!

"Holy shit. Commander! He's alive!" Beth looked over at their Commander, tears in her eyes, some having spilled down her cheeks.

"I left them behind." she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Commander,it wasn't." Beth tried to help.

"We all left together." Beck supplied, wringing his hands together.

"You were following orders.I left them behind."

The group watched as the Commander left, tension and relief in the air.

They were alive.