Weeks passed, and Mindy never heard Glenn's name mentioned again. There were no more calls, no more mentions on the news, or even social media. Chris and Beth's announcement had drowned out everything, including the questions of Mark Watney's personal life.
With the heat off, Mark had some time to sort his life out, back in Chicago. Mindy went back to work in Houston, and they still talked, mostly by email, sometimes by the phone. They didn't see each other again for a long while. Mark returned to Houston once he was cleared for the full 'debriefing' about every step of what happened on Mars. There was a year's worth of topics to discuss; and everyone wanted to be slow and meticulous about it. Back in the same city again, he and Mindy resumed their Movie Nights.
"My mother, and don't ask me how; has noticed how late the movie nights are running." Mindy confided in Mark while passing the popcorn back and forth. "I've had to explain to her four times that we don't keep normal hours."
"You may be the only other person I know who can't get off Mars Time." Mark quipped.
"No choice." Mindy shrugged. "I'm still 'space paparazzi'. I can only work during Martian hours."
"How's that going, by the way?" Mark asked.
"The Lava Tubes are definitely bigger than we thought. Big enough to build in." Mindy nodded. "We've had the ground above them under close observation for weeks, and the area looks geologically stable…"
"And since I went and thoughtfully removed the Ares IV MAV, there's really no reason to keep the Schiaparelli Crater as the next mission site?" He guessed.
"It's been an interesting few weeks." Mindy agreed. "Every night it's three more requests for details on different coordinates. I haven't been this busy since, well… you."
"Probably get worse, once my debriefing is done." Mark warned with a smile. "They're taking apart my logs, almost line by line." He grinned. "Apparently, there's another book deal in it."
"I heard. For some reason, they want to haul me in, too." She told him. "I don't know why. Everything we said to each other before you got back is a matter of record."
"Hm." Mark didn't comment. She would later wonder why not. A few weeks after that, she would understand why he was so carefully silent on the issue.
Mindy was invited into a meeting with Vincent and Teddy, along with half a dozen others that she didn't recognize. They all sat in a semi-circle around the conference table. Mindy looked around awkwardly, and sat at the end of the table, feeling like she was called to the principal's office.
"Miss Park, do you know why we've called you here?" Teddy asked coolly, totally unreadable.
"I do not." Mindy admitted.
"Miss Park." One of the men she didn't know began. "Your access card records say you routinely stay overnight. Are you lax with scanning in and out?"
"I-I sleep on Vincent's couch sometimes. With his permission." Mindy admitted. She looked to him for some kind of explanation or rescue. He gave her nothing. "Given the hours we work to get Mars in daylight-"
"Miss Park, would you consider your rapport with the Ares Astronauts to be 'cordial'?" Another man asked.
"They're friends. At least the Ares III crew is. From Ares II, I only know a few of them..." Mindy defended, feeling oddly protective of them.
"Miss Park, I have a notation here from Capcom that says your NASA email exchanged messages with Ares III crew members an average of eighty seven times per week while they were in flight. That's well above average transmission time for someone of your level."
Mindy felt cold. "It… sounds like a bigger number than it is. There's no chatroom beyond Capcom. One of the crew has a question, or wants to follow up on a comment, it's another email."
She had no idea if it was the right answer, since one of the others immediately went on to a totally different topic. "Tell me, Miss Park: Why do you think we never went to commercial space programs during the Watney Rescue?"
Mindy struggled to recall the details. "The law forbids US-Based space companies, even the private ones, to co-launch missions with China while under trade embargo. And it'd be a tough sell to get them to launch relief supplies to Mars. Most civilian programs involve tourism or lunar expeditions. I do know that at least one of the space corporations were trying to build a lunar-based rocket that could supply Mark with a new satellite dish, but by then, he had Pathfinder." She shrugged. "The civilian programs still use chemical fuel. Hermes uses ion engines. They couldn't have added much to our rescue plan; but they gave us full access to their satellite network; no charge. Comms to Mars were round the clock once we established contact."
"Tell me, Mindy. How much Delta-V does it take for station-keeping in geo-synch orbit?" Teddy asked suddenly.
"Over Earth or Mars?" Mindy blinked, and then rattled off the numbers for both automatically. She shook her head. "What is this? I can't, for the life of me, understand what you're trying to work out from these questions."
"We'll get to that." Teddy put in. "Vincent put a paper up several months ago, regarding innovations in satellite imaging in low-light situations. I'm told you did most of the work on that paper?"
"I was trying to track Mark Watney's Rover trip, given that he made most of the trip at night, and charged during the day."
"Do you expect to remain at NASA for the foreseeable future?"
Mindy froze. Am I fired? Were they just waiting for a discreet interval after Glenn? "Why would I ever leave?"
"There are rumors that you and Mark Watney became good friends during his time on Mars. Now that he's back safe, it would be the natural time to leave if you wanted a change."
"I want to stay." Mindy said automatically. "My work here began long before Ares III even launched."
"Your job description changed quite a bit from the one you were hired from. Do you expect to go back to your old post now?"
Mindy was silent for a long second. "I had given some thought to applying for the Astronaut's Candidate Program."
"You've already been to space."
"As a specialist." Mindy nodded. "If I want to go back, I need the qualification."
"And… until then?" Vincent asked. The first time he'd spoken since she walked in.
Mindy blinked. "Well, to be honest, I missed the application window for this year's class. Until then, there's a lot of Mars left to explore, and I get the first look. Why would I want to do anything else until people can go back and see it even closer?"
Vincent smiled a bit. "Mindy, would it surprise you to learn that you've been on the short list for the next Ares' Mission Control team?"
Mindy blinked. Then blinked again. "Well… yes. I don't recall applying."
"I told you, your career had changed direction during the rescue." Vincent told her. "You're a resource of great value to NASA."
Mindy flushed. "Oh."
"This has been a very preliminary interview. We're still sorting the structure of the mission, now that Watney's ticked half our 'mission goals' off the list." Teddy added. "We've got a lot of new options available now. Orbital mechanics is going to be a far bigger part of the mission than we expected."
Mindy nodded. "I'm betting you'll want redundant comms through the Hermes itself. After losing the HAB Comm Dish, having something that can route transmissions through a satellite would be a natural innovation. Especially since Hermes is already going to geo-synch over the Landing site."
"We're debating a long-term stay, pending our next budget." Teddy nodded. "If we get the funding, we'll want a permanent 'guardian angel' over the landing site."
The old nickname made her flush again. "Yessir."
"So, obviously, whoever's got the Guidance Chair will also have to handle the new relay satellites we'll be leaving in place. After the Watney Rescue, you've got more experience directing satellites over Mars than most of our other candidates put together." Vincent put in.
One of the other men spoke up. "In fact, we were hoping to discuss some options for saving fuel. Rerouting all the orbiters to follow Mark Watney has changed up all the trajectories for quite a while, and we'd like to work out the lowest fuel consumption."
Mindy licked her lips. "Oh! I had some ideas on that already, actually." She pulled out her phone.
After that, it was all about the technology involved, and Mindy was fine.
"There are seven other names on that list. Three of them have more Mission Control Experience than I do, even after spotting you." Mindy said into her phone that night while she heated leftovers. "One of them has taken three spaceflights."
"Mm. They do a lot of interviews. They have to. It's NASA. We have backups for backups." Mark answered. "I'm a living example of what happens when you don't have redundancies."
"Must be nice, being the 'helpful reminder' of what can go wrong." Mindy drawled.
"It's the job I was born to do." Mark quipped. "Which is good, since I don't seem to be having much luck with any others."
"The job offers starting to slow down?"
"If anything, they're increasing. Thing is, most of them are empty figurehead roles. I show up, I take a photo, and then I sit quietly and push paper around while everyone else works around me. And don't get me wrong, I see the appeal of getting paid a fortune for that, but…"
"But." Mindy agreed. "There's no way you'd sit around and do nothing for long, Mark. You survived by doing the work of five people, and don't pretend Beck let you back to a full workload once during the entire flight home."
"I agree, my 'vacation' is starting to drive me bananas." Mark admitted. "It's just that I can't start anything new until I'm done with Mars. They're taking such baby-steps with the debrief out of 'respect' for my recovery. The press is still reporting on my social media posts… And these job offers? The ones that aren't 'ornamental' are largely international." He chuckled. "After my last 'flight' didn't turn out like I planned..."
Mindy smiled a bit. "Other than work, how are you doing?"
"I'm sleeping through the night again. Working on the logs has helped. Annie's telling me to turn the logs into a proper novel, so I am."
"The logs were published before you ever made it back to Earth." Mindy protested. "I remember, because I had to sign the release papers for you to use my name."
"Yeah, but the story's changed some since then. My logs didn't include what was happening on Earth, or in Mission Control, JPL, the media, my family… to say nothing of 'Elrond'. With the Hearings finally wrapping up, I can give a more… complete picture. There are many publishers fighting over it; and about a dozen ghostwriters looking to scrub my contribution up."
"Does it need 'scrubbing'?"
"Well, there's a 'classroom edition' in the works, cutting out all the profanity." Mark quipped. "I'm told it's the most anticipated book since the Game of Thrones finale."
Mindy grinned. "I want an autographed copy."
"You're already on the dedication page. Just you and the Crew."
"Stellar company to be in." Mindy demurred, actually getting used to it. She let out a breath, still feeling her fingers tingle at the meeting. "He called me an 'asset of great value to NASA'."
"You say that like you don't believe him." Watney said warmly.
"In my head, I'm a night shift tech that noticed something on a grainy photo." Mindy admitted. "I expected to be kicked out of NASA over Glenn. It honestly didn't occur to me that I might be..." She chickened out before she could say it. "Anyway, they've got way more qualified people than me to talk to before Mission Control makes their selections."
Mindy went back to work, not giving the interviews much more thought. The next Mission was still more than a year away.
The next Ares fight was being redesigned from the ground up. Every Mars mission had a list of things to attempt, incrementally proving the technology and training. Step by step, they were getting ready for permanent colonization.
Mark had checked off half the list for the next two missions combined. He'd also exposed weaknesses and flaws in the mission design. In a way, the real planning was done in these meetings, figuring out what the technology was capable of, and what could be done in the time they had. Mindy was thrilled to be part of it.
"We'll have to refit the Hermes anyway. They blew off the forward airlock during the rescue." Vincent addressed the room full of engineers. "I want to know what else we can add to this launch. Think long term."
"A new comms dish, obviously." Mindy raised her hand. "Something that can pick up and relay messages from the surface."
"That's not a small dish, Mindy. If that were a simple matter, we wouldn't have depended on the HAB Comm-Dish so much." Someone countered.
"And if we'd spent the money one mission sooner, Mark could have called from his suit radio, let alone the HAB." Vincent countered. "As it happens, the Hermes is getting an upgrade anyway. The new mission plan is to park her in geosynch orbit over the mission site."
Everyone reacted. "With ion engines? That's… harder."
"It is, but we're rewriting the entire flight plan." Vincent explained. "Mark's bit of magic with his Rover has shown that the operational range isn't limited by the technology, it's limited by the drivers. Mark's improv has inspired our engineering teams. They've drawn up some blueprints for a 'trailer' that can recharge batteries, and cycle life support for a fully stocked, fully manned rover. The trailer will have retractable solar panels, portable oxygenator tanks; the whole nine yards. Mark had to improvise. JPL wants to send a Rover with everything Mark cobbled together available from the start."
So Hermes just became a signal relay over a huge area. Mindy thought, already drawing satellite trajectories in her head.
Vincent had let the thought settle. The engineers were getting excited. "So, once we send our rovers out for prospecting, the only question left is where they go. Mindy? We'll need you to bring us up to date on the Clarke Lava Tubes."
Mindy nodded, and brought up her notes.
"Oh." Vincent suddenly remembered as she did so. "Mark did make one suggestion: Any Mars HAB now has a permanent media library, and each astronaut that visits can make their own additions. Of course, the networks, movie studios, and music labels are screaming, but as yet; Mars is outside the jurisdiction of Copyright Laws."
Mindy smothered a laugh.
The planning sessions took all day. Mindy hadn't had so much fun in years. It was a pure thought experiment. Pure imagination, combined with years of training, initiative, and love for travelling to other planets. Something that no other peer group in Mindy's life could relate to.
This is the business we're in. Mindy thought to herself.
In the fourth hour, Vincent called a lunch break, and Mindy was grateful to stretch her legs. She left the Space Centre and went to a popular coffee kiosk. Most of the NASA staff went there at least twice a day.
"So. Been a while." Said a familiar voice.
Mindy felt her skin prickle hotly as she turned and faced Mara Barnes. The reporter had ambushed Mindy once, before Mark had landed. Her investigation had turned out to be good for NASA, and the crew. But Mindy had never forgotten the way she'd been caught off guard.
Barnes read all this on her face instantly. "Look, I get that we don't have the most stellar histo-"
"Off the record. No comment. I want a lawyer." Mindy said, counting on her fingers briskly. "Sorry. I've been rehearsing, in case you ever approached me again."
Barnes grinned. "Let me pay for your coffee."
"No." Mindy said politely.
"This isn't another hunt." Barnes promised. "All off the record, if you like. I just wanted to check a rumor with you."
"No comment." Mindy said again.
"Off the record." Barnes promised again. "There's a rumor going around that you were the first one to spot Watney."
Mindy sipped her coffee. "Isn't that a matter of record already?"
"Yes, but mostly from commentary." Barnes paid for her own coffee. "Everyone involved knows, and they haven't kept it a secret; but it's... no offence... it's not the most interesting part of the story. Most of your 'legend' comes from the time you spent watching over him. Nobody outside NASA outright asked because the announcement that he'd lived devoured everything else. There were three people at NASA who could have looked. The satellite photo could have gone to a few interested parties who helped pay for the mission, but until you zoom in on the HAB and do whatever voodoo you do, the photo isn't that clear. Nobody with taste would have been looking for Watney's body. NASA released a statement within twenty hours, so…"
"Why ask me?" Mindy asked guardedly. "This isn't like exposing corruption or solving a mystery. Like you said: It isn't a secret. Why can't you call and ask Annie?"
"I could. But then NASA would know I was asking." Barnes said with a grin.
"And why are you asking?" Mindy countered. "I mean, it was literally years ago now. What does it matter anymore?"
"It'd be good optics." Barnes reminded her. "I mean, it's a pretty juicy thing to add to your resume. Especially around NASA."
Mindy blinked. "Maybe I should switch to espresso; because I have no idea what you're looking for."
"The truth?"
Mindy scoffed. "Right. My recent experiences with the Press have been all about the truth, and nothing but the truth." She bit her lip. "Off the record… yeah, it was me. I called Vincent, and we made an announcement the next day, after Teddy informed the Watney's in person. We didn't want them to find out from the news."
Barnes nodded. "Off the record, that's what I've heard. Thanks for your time." She gave a Cheshire smile as she turned on her heel and headed off.
Mindy made her way back to NASA, feeling like she'd just dodged a bullet, but couldn't understand why.
"The thing I don't get is why." Mindy related the story to Mark that night. "It's not a secret, so why was she so careful about NASA knowing she was asking?" She collected her mail, and started flipping through it. "For that matter, why are people gossiping?"
"Yeah, she might have found out from me." Mark admitted. "So to speak."
"I thought you weren't doing interviews." Mindy blinked, and felt something akin to rage building in her at the sudden thought. "Did she ambush you without clearing it with-"
"Nono, nothing like that." Mark promised her quickly. "But the first chapters of the book are making the rounds. Publishers, critics, reviewers, that sort of thing. I may have added your contribution to the effort. The night you spotted me, the call to Vincent; that kind of thing."
"You think Barnes got hold of the draft somehow?"
"She broke a few big stories about Ares III." Mark offered. "If there was any more hay to make out of the mission, the advance copies would be the way to find out. It's basically my stream of consciousness from the moment I was marooned to the moment I docked with Hermes."
Mindy smothered a grin as she opened her mail absently. "Is it true that they shoved you into a shower first thing?"
"If anyone asks, I volunteered. I hadn't had a shower since climbing into the rover." Mark quipped.
Mindy chuckled, tossing her bills in one pile, and everything else in another. "One thing she said that I don't get. She said that 'finding you' would be 'great optics'."
"She's not wrong." Mark agreed.
"But why does anyone care about 'optics'? Maybe it was my first contribution to The Cause, but the Cause in question was to get you back to Earth. What do my 'Optics' matter anymore? I don't get it." She opened the last envelope, and the phone nearly fell out of her hand. "I get it now."
"That was fast." Mark said blandly. "Struck by divine revelation?"
"I just opened my mail. My resume just got a lot more interesting." Mindy said, feeling faint. "I've been approved as a 'finalist' for the Ares Mission Control Team. I start mission prep on Monday."
Monday morning came, and Mindy was at work early, eager to start. She froze when she saw who was sitting in the Guidance seat. Doctor Wells saw her. He wasn't smiling, but he waved her over. It had to be Wells.
Mindy tried to look him in the eye. "I-I'm supposed to observe?"
"Is that a question or a statement?" Wells said harshly.
"I'm meant to observe. For training." She tried again. "Um, if I haven't said it enough, Doctor Wells… I'm really sorry about not getting back to you sooner about those lava tube images-"
Wells got up and elaborately offered the chair to her. "Listen closely, cheerleader." He said as she sat, voice low and full of warning. "I've been on Guidance since Artemis. I'm not giving my post over to a Gremlin. You're a night shift nobody who happened to see something, when someone way above your pay grade told you to look. I'm not impressed because your name is in Watney's bestseller. In my opinion, you don't belong here." He paused for a perfect beat. "And by the time I'm done training you… you'll agree with me wholeheartedly."
Mindy swallowed. This is going well.
Wells was a drill sergeant. But in an odd way. She was grateful. It was clear he didn't like her, but she blamed herself for that. Her life had changed dramatically due to NASA's principle that 'first was forever', and she was responsible for Wells being in second place on a discovery that grew more significant with each planning session.
If he wants to take it out on me by making me work harder, it can only help. She told herself.
And it was helping. She'd taken the instruction by rote, drilling herself on acronyms and procedures. The manual was thicker than two phone books, and she'd had it less than a day before he started doing spot drills.
"If it's too hard for you, you could always ask Vincent for someone who won't take your training as seriously." He needled her. "Someone who will rewrite the rulebook to take it nice and easy on the former astronaut, Miss Park."
Mindy nearly swallowed her tongue the first time he'd said that. She knew she'd jumped the queue by several hundred places to meet the Hermes when it came into orbit. People trained their whole lives for a chance to do what Mindy had done, almost against her will. And why? Because Watney was comfortable talking to her.
A fact that has made me an astronaut, a socialite, and a front page scandal all in the same ten months. Mindy thought with numb dread.
After Wells had hinted at her 'special status' to NASA a few times, Mindy felt an overwhelming urge to win. This was her chance to earn it. Watney wasn't going to smooth the way for her this time. Neither would Vincent, or Teddy, or Annie. She could either pull it off, or she couldn't. And if she couldn't, then it was her worst fear coming true: if she couldn't do it without Watney, or Vincent, or someone helping her, then she shouldn't be in Mission Control, let alone back in space.
Her Master's Degree had taught her maths skills, her NASA training had taught her the technical qualifications. Mission Control required much faster reaction times. There was no way for each person to physically remember everything that could go right and wrong, so instead the crews were taught to respond to program alarms. The computers would identify the problem and display the corresponding code. NASA technicians were trained into how to identify those alerts and respond accordingly.
Mindy only needed her piece of the mission committed to memory, but that left everything that hadn't happened before. Watney was a demonstration of how a new problem could take a crew by surprise, and consume the rest of a mission.
Wells had her in the simulator constantly, giving her homework every night. Mindy never asked him to ease up or slow down, so several of her early simulations failed spectacularly.
"Y'know, there's really no reason to put yourself through this." Wells had goaded her after her third 'Mission Failure'. "There are a hundred applicants for every seat in Mission Control. Someone else can surely figure it out."
"If Armstrong had a dollar for every time he crashed a simulated landing, he would have gone to the moon for free." Mindy retorted. "That's what the simulator is for."
"You, Miss Park, are hardly Neil Armstrong." He reminded her.
It was hard not to take it all personally, but she didn't remark on it. You ask for mercy one time, you ask someone to save you even one time, and you don't belong here. She told herself.
The next time she saw Mark in person was in Chicago. As part of the 'Bring Him Home' campaign, Wrigley Field had promised Mark his own Skybox for the next season, on the Cubs' home field. Mindy had actually forgotten, but Mark had left her a standing invitation to join the Crew for the games. When the ticket arrived by direct courier, she thought it was a mistake at first.
Even so, she was thrilled to go. Her schedule had changed dramatically with her possible new promotion. That was a few weeks ago now, but she was still nervous about asking for a weekend off. She didn't want to play the 'Watney' card. She'd done that too often when he'd first landed, and now she was trying to build a career. Mission Control wasn't a 'casual' job.
As it happened, she didn't have to ask. Mission Control hadn't picked their 'primary' shift crew yet, and were testing everyone in various combinations. Mindy's first round of tests were done, and she was back at her regular job until the next round. Over a hundred people were on the shortlist for Mission Control positions, and twenty were about to be cut. But there was nothing she could do about that.
When she packed for Chicago, she almost wore a business suit. She'd never seen these people dressed casually. The late shift crew dressed in sweats, usually stained with ketchup and Red Bull. She wanted to look better than that, but if she was too dressy for a ballpark, she'd stand out even more. The Crew were celebrities with their own Skybox, so they'd surely look better than the average baseball fan, right?
She was met at the airport by mister and missus Watney. Mark had gone to meet the rest of the crew, who were flying in on various different airlines.
"Mindy!" Mama Watney beamed, and wrapped her up in a hug. "Welcome to Chicago! It's long overdue!"
"Good to see you too, Ma'am."
"Ohh, you do not 'ma'am' me." The older woman scorned. "You're part of the family!"
Mindy felt her stomach flip. I am?
Mama Watney pulled back enough to put her arm in Mindy's. "How long can you stay?"
"Not long." Mindy said regretfully. "I actually have a Red Eye flight back to Houston tonight."
"You can't stay one night? You can stay at the house with us, of course-"
"It's not about hotel costs." Mindy explained. "It's-"
"Yeah, I know about the training. Mark told me all about it." The older woman nodded. "Impressive. I also hear your trainer is a huge pain in the ass."
"To be honest, I'm almost grateful. I've been living a charmed life at NASA. Everyone in the trenches has to jump through thirty hoops to get into Mission Control, let alone a space mission. I gotta make my bones eventually." She smiled, and squeezed Mrs Watney's hand. "But I couldn't miss this. I missed you guys."
"Papa Watney!" Two young voices shouted, appearing from nowhere and running full tilt towards Mark's father.
The man bent down with an eager smile to hug them both. "'Ello, Monkeys! Let me look at you." He pulled back, and Mindy finally recognized the kids as Victor and Eliza Vogel. As Mark's father spent a few minutes pulling silver dollars from behind their ears and offering them sweets, Vogel and his wife came along, with Watney walking alongside them.
Do I shake his hand or give him a hug? Mindy thought, suddenly awkward. Ohgod, I shouldn't have come here…
Then Mark saw her. He was still talking to Vogel, but his eyes never strayed from Mindy, and his smile spread slowly across his face. The smile was familiar, and Mindy was suddenly fine, stepping forward to hug him hello. Their hug lasted longer than normal, like it always did when they were alone. Mindy looked over his shoulder and noticed someone taking photos of the celebrities at the airport.
Feeling a sudden spike of cold twist her guts, Mindy broke the hug and plastered a smile on her face. Vogel and the Watneys were trading looks at their embrace, but nobody commented on it.
Vogel wasn't the only one to bring family. She'd met Lewis' husband, and Martinez's son at the airport. Beck and Johannsen had flown in a day before and came together from their hotel, finally able to travel together without hiding it. Their parents came along, though their attentions were exclusively on each other, as future in-laws.
Mindy and the assorted relatives all stepped back when Mark led the way into the Skybox. It was the first time since leaving Houston that the Crew were all in the same room, and their loved ones let them have their moment together before they made their way to their seats.
After that, it was a fun day out. There was a spread of lavish food and drinks on tap. The seats were comfy, and the skybox air conditioned, with a great view of the ballpark, and the surrounding audience. Lewis took the front row, and so did Mark. Mark held out a hand to Mindy, so that she would sit next to him, but she stayed a few rows back.
The game was being broadcast, and between plays there were commercials, and shots of the streets outside… and every now and then, the cameras would go to the row of international celebrities in the Skybox. Whenever it did, Mindy could hear the roar of the crowd grow as the feed went up on the main screens too. Every time it did, she sank back a little further into her seat.
When the first inning ended, Mindy excused herself to the bathroom. The camera focused on Watney at the same instant, and Mark stood, went to the window and waved at the cameras, the people in the stands… The whole ballpark erupted.
Mindy didn't need the bathroom. She played a round of Tetris on her phone in the stall, flushed, and washed her hands.
Lewis was waiting at the door. "All clear." The Commander drawled. "Mark handled the cameras. I checked. His hands were shaking just a little, but you couldn't tell from his face."
Mindy winced, feeling like a coward. "Didn't fool you, huh?"
Lewis said nothing. She just looked at Mindy. Her expression wasn't hard, her eyes weren't cold… and yet Mindy felt the sudden urge to confess to everything she'd ever done wrong in her entire life.
Mindy cracked like an egg. "I'm terrified of the cameras. Maybe more than Mark is, at this point."
Lewis nodded, and Mindy was certain she'd known that already.
Mindy sighed and confessed everything."I was never really thrilled with all the press attention that came with being 'part of the crew', but now it just reminds me too much of what happened with… well, you know."
"I do." Lewis said, not unkindly.
"That near-miss at the Press Conference was the most mortifying experience of my life, and the fact that I was used to take advantage of Mark, to say nothing of the blowback there would have been on NASA and the rest of the crew… You're my friends. And while we may have drowned out the scandal about me and Glenn? If there's a shot of me next to Mark at the baseball game, then…"
Lewis nodded. "But you came anyway."
Mindy winced. "Should I have stayed away? I thought about calling you to ask, but-"
"I would have said '#$&^% the Tabloids, do what you want'." Lewis said promptly. "And you never would have turned down an invite from Mark, because you're part of the Crew, and looking after each other is our main priority."
Mindy nodded.
Lewis pulled out her phone, and put up social media. "The shot of you with the Watney family at the airport is already out there." She reported. "If you want a private, personal life, where nobody ever gets another photo of you? Your only option is to cut us loose. Because the cameras will always be a part of Mark's world."
"No." Mindy said instantly. "I won't pretend you guys are strangers. Not for anything."
"Good, because we're throwing a surprise engagement party for Beck and Johanssen at Lunch, and you're about to be named a bridesmaid." Lewis said promptly, turning and walking off without a glance back.
Blindsided, Mindy sighed. "Well. That happened fast."
The restaurant was by reservation only, and kind enough to keep the journalists out. Their party was big enough to take up most of the restaurant, but everyone else at every other table had still noticed them. Mindy took her cue from the Crew, and ignored it, until everyone had taken their pictures subtly, or worked up the nerve to come over for autographs. There were two kids who wanted pictures with 'their favorite heroes'.
"I did the same thing with one of the Artemis astronauts when I was in school." Beth said lightly. "Who knows? Those kids might be part of the Martian Colonies one day."
Lewis went over to the bar for a bottle of champagne once the waiter had taken their orders, and toasted the coming wedding. The crew had only been apart for a few months, and they'd talked constantly, but everyone was catching up on each other's lives.
Mark was saved for last, the crew always aware of including him carefully, even under these circumstances. As part of 'Operation Safe Space', Mindy recognized the way everyone still checked on Mark. But they checked on each other too. Every time someone detailed a change in their circumstances, Lewis would check their unconscious reactions. Were their knees bouncing? Eyes darting? Hands fidgeting?
Martinez made a joke, and everyone laughed, subtly looking to see if Mark was laughing too. Mindy wouldn't have noticed if she wasn't watching him, but Mark usually glanced quickly in her direction when he laughed.
Finally, the topic made its way around to Mark. "How about you, Watney?" Lewis asked him. "You made up your mind on where you land next?"
Mark sipped his water glass. Aside from the Champagne to toast the wedding, he hadn't drunk anything but water. Mindy wondered if the psychology team had forbidden him from drinking, or if he was still on medication. "It depends." He admitted. "The book alone has made more money than I need. The Government's lawyers have agreed to 'overtime pay' for the time I spent on Mars, in exchange for not suing anyone."
There was a scoff of derision that went around the table at that.
Mark nodded with his usual grin. "I know, but what was I going to do? Reassure them for free?" He sipped his water again. "So, I don't really have to worry about money for a while. With that taken care of, I can basically pick my job based on what's of interest."
"Any favorites?"
"Well, NASA offered me a job teaching future astronauts. The other option is engineering. Some of the Private Sector firms are asking me to see which designs can be 'used to improvise'." Mark offered. "I don't really know what to do, beyond telling them to pack more duct tape."
Everyone chuckled, and Vogel made some comment about the next mission. Martinez turned to him to share a bit of gossip about the Ares V backup crew.
"How are you enjoying mission training?" Beth asked Mindy as the table settled into smaller conversations.
"'Enjoying' might not be the word." Mindy admitted. "It's overwhelming. The sheer number of things I have to be ready for because they might happen…" She shook her head. "Until Wells started training me, I thought I was smart."
"NASA only takes smart people." Beth said helpfully. "Nepotism is involved, of course; it's a government agency after all. But mostly smarts." She grinned. "My advice? Embrace the crazy. Going from NASA technician to Mission Control is the same as going from Pro-Athlete to Olympian. All the skills are there already, you're just turning them up a notch."
"In my head, I know you're right. But I have to admit the spot drills feel personal sometimes." Mindy commented, sipping her water.
"Yeah, I heard that Wells had sworn a blood oath against your house." Beth nodded, amused. "Mindy, if you can succeed when your teachers want you to fail, you can do anything. I applied for Mission Control myself on Ares III."
"Really?"
"Yup. I was never planning to be an astronaut. I was tapped to work on the software for the Navigation system for Hermes; and they thought Flight Operations might be a good place for me, in case of glitches. My reaction times scored high enough that they figured I'd be more useful on an actual spaceship, with no lag-time between Earth and Mars." She grinned. "Sys-Ops isn't that far off from what you're learning. Not during flight. If you can score Guidance for Mission Control, your odds of being picked for a future mission just jumped dramatically."
Mindy felt the air shift behind her. Beth was on her right, so as Mindy faced her for the conversation; Mark was behind her. Close enough that he could hear them talking. Close enough for Mindy to feel him suddenly turn to stone; just at the mention of Mindy going to space.
She turned in her seat to glance at him. He was still smiling, but he wasn't moving.
Under the table, she brushed her knee against his. She would have thrown her arms around him right then, but knew that would make it worse somehow.
Lewis, deep in conversation with Vogel, also seemed to notice Mark's 'shift in density' without even looking in his direction. "Martinez? How about you?"
Martinez jumped. He'd been so quiet Mindy had almost forgotten he was there. She would later note that it was unusual for Martinez. "Oh, I've been asked to help train the backup crew for the next mission. It'll keep me in Houston for a while longer. Better for the kid."
Martinez mentioning his kid led to Vogel doing the same, and the conversation started again.
The party had lasted until the Restaurant closed, and then Mindy had to split off, in order to make her flight. She and Mark had another way-too-long-and-comfy hug goodbye, which everyone pretended not to notice, and then Mindy was in a cab, feeling oddly lonely all of a sudden.
The Red Eye flight was over the second Mindy closed her eyes. A late nap of two hours was enough that she couldn't get to sleep easily when she finally let herself into her apartment, so she decided to catch up on emails.
When she opened up her laptop, she saw Mark was online. She almost opened the messenger, but her phone rang before she could, and she knew he was waiting for her to come online.
She answered the phone. "I would have hugged you longer if I could be sure we weren't on camera." Mindy admitted without bothering to say 'hello'.
Picking up where they left off, as though the conversation hadn't been four hours before, Mark answered. "I'm sorry if I made you feel awkward. When Beth said your odds of going on a mission were improving, I freaked." He admitted. "I know that's silly and selfish of me, but Mars is a phobia for me now. I think it always will be."
"Can't blame you. Do you feel that way about Space in general?" Mindy asked.
Mark was silent for a moment. "I never planned to be an astronaut as a kid, you know. My undergrad work was in environmental engineering. Looking for ways to heal damaged croplands and such. NASA found out about me because I joined the GRSP. Looked good on the transcripts, but I never really thought I'd make a career out of it. I joined the Peace Corps and dug new kinds of irrigation in the Critical Zones."
"I've heard horror stories about those places."
"Mm. We'd worked all day, and everyone was exhausted, and then the kids came to me and asked if I could rig up a TV aerial for them. One TV in the whole town, and the signal was bad… I managed to rig something together for them, and we watched one of the Artemis Launches. Some of those kids were glued to the screen for four days, from Launch to Landing. I came by, of course. It was the most… hopeful I'd ever seen those kids."
"Artemis was a big deal for me too." She admitted. "I was fresh out of MIT. I had my masters, and had no idea what to do with it. The company that recruited me for work went bankrupt the day before I graduated. Then the news spent some time showing a diagram of the satellite coverage of the Luna site, and I explained to my folks how the news commentators had no idea what they were talking about."
"Let me guess, they shushed you; because 'they're the experts'?."
Mindy rolled her eyes. "I applied at NASA on my phone before they were done telling me about how much potential I was wasting, not having a job yet." She was still smiling. "Next thing I know, I'm a satellite technician." She smothered a laugh. "Then I notice something weird in a grainy photo from Mars, and suddenly I'm on the ISS."
Mark laughed. "I went through the same thing. Martinez and I had a running joke that any second we'd wake up. I wonder if the guys in Mission Control for Apollo wondered what they were doing in the middle of a Moon Shot."
"The Space Program was brand new in those days." She offered. "The average age in Mission Control for Apollo 11 was twenty five."
"Amazing to me that they pulled it off." Mark admitted. "The more I learned about the early days of spaceflight, the less possible it seems. But they got there on the first try."
Mindy let out a soft, happy sigh. "Yeah, they did." She lowered her voice. "I woke up this morning and I nearly panicked. I was dreaming about the ISS mission, sleeping in freefall. I wake up in my cozy bed, and I think there's something wrong because I'm in gravity. It's happened a few times now."
"I still dream about floating in space too." Mark admitted quietly. "The view of Earth out the window is one I'll never forget."
"Me either."
Sentimental silence.
"I liked seeing you today." He admitted. "I know we talk pretty often, but we haven't seen each other face-to-face in weeks."
"I miss you too." She admitted. A lot. I missed you a lot, Mark. "The doctors… they're taking care of you okay?"
"Yeah. But… I liked it when you took care of me." Mark said impulsively.
Mindy felt her breath catch, and answered without thinking. "I liked taking care of you."
Long silence. Long enough that she wondered if he'd hung up on her.
Finally, she had to say something. "More than I think you realized. Enough that it was starting to worry me a bit."
"Why 'worry'?"
"I told you that the first time I went aboard the ISS, I looked out the window and the universe seemed to freeze? Like I could live forever looking out at the view?"
"Yeah."
Mindy felt her heart lose rhythm, like she was having a mild heart attack right then. "I… I felt the same way when I was hugging you." She admitted. "It sort of felt like I was taking advantage." Mindy admitted. "And that's forgivable, given the 'unusual circumstances', except that I liked it."
"You did?" Mark was surprised.
"Yeah." Mindy said quietly. "That first day when we moved you in… I could have stayed there, holding you like that, for a week."
"It's a question I get all the time: 'How did it change you?' They're talking about PTSD and such. And the shrinks tell me I do have that, but the other things… I still can't eat potatoes. I still can't handle driving at night without flashing to the Rover. And I'd have happily moved in and been your full-time cuddle-slut." Mark admitted coyly.
Mindy couldn't help the laugh, and the tension cooled instantly. "It's weird, but… I've never felt 'vital' to anyone. Everything I've done in my life, it was something anyone else could do in my place; including spotting you on Mars. But not this."
"Not this." Mark agreed. "I couldn't have swapped you out for anyone. Don't tell Kapoor. You have no idea how proud he is of his hugging skills."
Mindy laughed again, and the moment had passed; but she couldn't stop smiling. Unwilling to put the phone down, she slouched at her laptop, absently running through the accumulated email that had come in while she was in Chicago.
-Mindy
With Watney 'pirating' the Ares IV MAV for his rescue, we need to plan the next two flights. We have one transfer window in two months, and the Ares V MAV is being rushed for deployment. Refuel at the Luna Gateway Station, and we're back on schedule. Talk to me about satellite comm windows for drone guidance when you get in.
- Vincent
Aloud, she kept the conversation alive with Mark. "So, where's the engineering job? I got the impression it wasn't anywhere near Houston."
"Silicon Valley." Mark admitted. "My team of psychologists are divided. Some say I could use the clean break and start a new chapter. The others are worried I'm moving too far from my support network."
"Remind them that you spent a fair amount of time communicating with your support network via a rotating forty year old camera, at a range of 200 million miles." Mindy retorted. "Most of our friendship happened via email."
"It did." He admitted. "But it's better by phone."
Mindy was clicking through her inbox, and didn't even realize what she said next. "Even better in person." She murmured warmly. "Besides, if you went to Silicon Valley, who would protect me from more posers like Glenn?" She kicked herself. She wasn't meant to be influencing his choices, only supporting him while he made up his own mind.
"Fair point." Mark hadn't seemed to notice. "But for the record, you're the Guardian Angel, remember?"
She smiled. "I remember. But if I get this job in Mission Control, I may be back on Mars Time for a long while." She shivered, despite herself. "If I make it."
"You were Mission Control for Ares III." He reminded her.
"Technically, but that's because the terminals were all in the room. Satellite control was folded into the mission to keep an eye on you. This is something way more… relevant."
She clicked the next email, carrying the training schedules for the entire trainee list.
Her email was CC'd by Wells, who had added a note: 'So glad that you've deigned to return to Houston, Miss Park. If it's not too much trouble, be on time to all of these sessions.'
Mindy scowled. Even in text, she could hear him sneer on the 'Miss' Park. She had a master's degree, but not a doctorate. A big chunk of NASA could say the same, including some of the astronauts, but Wells had two doctorates, and never let her forget it.
You knew he'd snipe at you for going to Chicago, and if it wasn't the baseball game, it would be something else. She told herself, opening the schedules attached and reading them, even while keeping up conversation with Watney. When she noticed the list of people CC'd, she suddenly interrupted him. "Hey, Mark?" She said quietly into her phone. "Remind me: How much of what I'd learn in Mission Control is confidential?"
"There are NDA's and such, but that's mostly to protect proprietary equipment." Mark offered, a little surprised at the question. "I remember when I was marooned, the military offered use of one of their 'unofficial' satellites to keep contact open with me for a few hours when we didn't have anything else."
"I remember. I had to sign extra NDA's for that one." Mindy nodded, though he couldn't see it. "Nobody pushed a form in front of me yet for the Mission Control training."
"Well, the mission is still more than a year from launching, so that's to be expected." Mark answered. "Why, what's going on?"
"I just got a look at the training schedule. A lot of the 'Low Earth Orbit' sims involve Mission Control, since we'll still be in real time comms with them for the first few weeks. Did you know Lansdown had scrubbed out from the Primary Crew?"
"Yeah, I heard something about that. Something about how Zero G can lead to fast-acting myopia. McPherson, on Artemis III, went from 20-20 vision to nearly blind by the time she got back from the moon. They think Landsown is high-risk of that happening on the way to Mars."
"Well, looks like they replaced him already. Martinez isn't training the backup crew any more." Mindy reported. "According to the schedule I'm seeing, he's listed as 'Prime Crew' for Ares V."
Dead silence.
"Whaaat!?" Mark squawked in disbelief.
Martinez was whistling a tune to himself as he left the hotel and made his way over to his corvette. It was a NASA tradition for the Astronauts to have a corvette, since the early days of spaceflight. Even when most automakers went bust during the shift to electric cars, a special edition was made for NASA astronauts, just to keep the tradition alive.
When Martinez reached his car, he found Melissa Lewis, and Mark Watney waiting for him, leaning against his car casually. "Hey, my two favorite people!" Martinez called brightly, feeling his heartrate tick up. "Something wrong?"
"You tell us." Lewis commented lightly. "Thought we might go get a drink or three, catch up a little. I know a few places nearby that don't let reporters in while there are Astronauts present."
Martinez let out a breath. "Well, I would, Commander… But I kinda promised the kid we'd go to a Drive-In tonight, and I don't want to miss it."
"Good movie?" Mark said casually.
"Kids movie, so I'm quite sure I'll be bored out of my skull, but Marko's still young enough for animated musicals."
"You're never too old to enjoy animated musicals." Mark said with great gravity. "How about we go with you? I'm sure Marissa wouldn't mind."
Martinez hesitated. "You talked to her?"
"Not for a while. Not even at the ballgame, though all the family members were invited." Lewis put in lightly. "But sure, I haven't been to the movies for a while… Unless, you'd like to be alone with your kid. You have to go pick him up from his mom's hotel, right?"
Martinez deflated. "You know."
"We suspected." Mark commented. "I won't ask how you kept it a secret, but I'm a little offended you kept it a secret from me."
"I didn't want to pile on." Martinez admitted. "You've got more than enough of your own to deal with."
Mark snarled a little under his breath. "Do any of you think I should be out in direct sunlight? Seriously, should I keep myself wrapped in a nice warm straight jacket, just to make everyone feel more comfortable?"
"At ease, Watney." Lewis caught him. "This isn't about you." She looked expectantly at Martinez. "And I know that for a fact, because you didn't tell me either. Mark got the lion's share of the attention, but we've all had our re-entry problems, Martinez. It's a fact of being away for so long."
"Yeah. Two tours, plus training, plus Mars. Marissa figured it was 'long enough' to pretend she wasn't a single parent." Martinez said this very casually, as if it was no big deal. "And I didn't tell you because…"
"Because I've got two tours, plus training, plus Mars behind me too." Lewis finished for him, not thrilled.
"There was no way to have that conversation without comparing my wife to your husband." Martinez nodded. "And I didn't want to do that, given that you're not getting a divorce."
"And Marko?"
"Wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. Hundreds of letters about what we do in space or in training? It's something we can always talk about. That, and baseball. Enough to salvage my relationship with him. Enough that he's encouraging me to go for it." Martinez finally showed a flash of the pain he was feeling. "Marko's young, but he's been the 'man of the house' for a long time. He wants to stay and 'look after' his mom. I agreed, because Marko and I… our own thing won't be..."
"...won't be changed while you're away on the next mission." Watney finished.
Martinez winced again. "So, you know about that too." He couldn't meet Lewis' eye. "Distance ruined our marriage, Commander. But it'll make our divorce a million times easier for everyone."
"Maybe." Lewis sighed, and stepped away from his car. "Go. See your kid. When he goes back to his mom, give us a call. You should have your crew with you for the bad days." She gave him The Look. "And don't ever force me to hear these things on the grapevine again."
"Yes'm." Martinez looked like a kid called to the principal's office.
"Was he mad?" Mindy asked awkwardly a few days later, back on regular Houston time.
"He didn't know it was you who talked. About a hundred people could have made the call. It'll be in the news sooner or later." Mark sighed. "And it's not exactly a secret. He didn't want to talk about it, but this is one personal matter that won't bring NASA down."
"I guess so." Mindy agreed. "How is he, really?"
"Martinez doesn't like to fail at things. No astronauts do. Something this big, this personal? He's not going to take it well. And if he wants to bury himself in work, or an adventure like going back to Mars…"
"Yeah, I get that." Mindy sighed. "I don't really know his family, but I worry about his kids."
"Fathers and sons, Mindy. We all find our way. Me and my dad, even at the most awkward parts of our lives, we could talk about sports. If Marko's thing with his father is the Space Program; at least they'll have plenty to talk about for a while yet. It's a miracle they even put him back on rotation, given some of the things that happened last time he was in space."
Silence.
Mark broke it, voice suddenly uncertain. "I have to admit, sometimes…"
Mindy waited, letting him get there. If she said anything, he'd never let it out.
"Sometimes I wonder if things would be easier for people if I'd died in that storm." Mark confessed finally. "The shrink says it's part of my 'Survivor's guilt'. Nobody else died in my place, but careers ended, lives were disrupted, millions of dollars; Martinez's family…"
"Hey." She caught him before he could go too far. "Just remember how many people had their whole careers justified by you coming home alive. The whole world invested in that. So did I. Talking to you by email changed the course of my life for the better."
Mark settled a bit. "I guess."
"Y'know, almost none of the Apollo Astronauts stayed with their original wives." Mindy pointed out. "There was a huge string of divorces in the ranks of Mission Control, plus the Aeronautics and R&D firms. They had a nine year deadline to change the world. They didn't get any time at home either. I remember reading about some of the families... it wasn't until the movies came out that they started to understand what their husbands and fathers were so busy with in the sixties."
Mark chuckled. "And we managed to be part of the one mission that actually created a marriage."
Mindy giggled, which was an unusual sound for her. "Have Chris and Beth set a date yet?"
"They may just elope. I didn't even know they were engaged until they announced it."
"Mm." Mindy made no comment. She was one of maybe four people who had known before they landed, but there was no reason to share that. "There's surprisingly little sci-fi out there where a married couple go to space together. At least on film. Plenty where people hook up, or fall in love. That's just Hollywood. There's much less in the way of 'mom and pop' spaceflight. You want that, you have to go to books. But if we're really going to set up a permanent colony on Mars, we'll need people who can work together while bein' together in space. Like… Holden and Naomi."
"Like Zoe and Wash." Mark said brightly, knowing her love of Firefly.
"Fry and Leela?" She fired back, knowing his love of Futurama.
"Han and Leia?" He gamed.
"The Robinsons?" She challenged.
Mark thought for several seconds, smiling.
"Clock's running out." She warned playfully.
"Eve and Wall-E?" He said finally, and they both laughed.
AN: Read and Review
