So, yeah. Moving, blown up equipment at work, and all the usual stuff that keeps me from writing conspired to make this a longer interval than usual. Hopefully life will give me a break soon and you'll see quicker updates.
Class
"Hello everyone," Mark said as he entered the classroom.
"Good morning, Sir," the trainees replied as one, and Mark winced.
"Alright," he said, smiling. "First off, my name is Mark. I know a lot of you are going to have a problem with that, but Sir makes me cringe, and when someone says 'Mr. Watney' I look around for my dad. So, please, call me Mark."
"Yes, Si…uh, Mark," he heard from around the room.
He chuckled and began his first day speech. "Okay, so, you've all heard my story," he said and rolled his eyes. "A few times."
They laughed.
"Good," he said. "So, I don't have to go into detail about farming in feces. It's smelly, it's gross, and it worked." He sat at his lecture stool and took a drink of water. "By the way, this right here"-he held up the water bottle-"is the most important thing in your life when you're not on this planet. We'll get back to that, but first…"
He set the bottle down and walked across the lecture stage. "I tell this to every class. In space nothing but your fellow astronauts will help you. Everything wants to fight you, and almost everything wants to kill you… quickly." He let that sink in. "So, if you have a temper you need to lose it. If you are arrogant, as I've seen in recruits from time to time, you need to grow some humility, and if you're a moody type you need to elevate yourself. I can tell you, nobody wants to be around a moping POS for months in a titanium tube."
He saw that look in their eyes, all of them. They expected a pep talk and road stories, not psychoanalysis. Introspection was not a natural activity for the twenty to thirty crowd that made up the majority of the recruits.
"Space is dangerous. You knew that intellectually, I'm going to make you know it viscerally, right now." He picked two recruits. "You, Marion, and you, Omar, come on down."
The two recruits made their way down to the lecture stage.
"Alright, you two are out for a nice afternoon stroll on Mars. The sun is shining and life is good." Mark picked up a red marker and dotted Marion's forehead with it. "A micro meteorite just blew a hole in Marion's face shield and knocked her unconscious." He turned to her. "Lay down."
As she laid down on the floor he turned to Omar. "Time starts now, what are you doing?"
"Do I have duct tape?" Omar asked.
"Let's presume not," Mark answered.
"I'm getting out my sealing kit," Omar said.
"And?"
"I apply the resin, stick on the valve, and wait ten seconds," Omar said. He was starting to get physically agitated, and Mark saw it.
"That adrenaline is good shit, eh?" Mark said, and the class chuckled nervously.
"Okay I'm shutting the valve," Omar said with some relief.
"And now?"
"Is there a rover nearby?" Omar asked.
"Nope."
"Um…" Omar looked around at the rest of the class.
"Her vitals alarm is now going off," Mark said calmly, and he walked back to his seat. "Breath rate dropping," He continued.
"Where's the Hab?" Omar nearly shouted.
"Two hundred yards," Mark replied. "Heart rate dropping fast."
"Fuck it," Omar said." I'm picking her up and running."
Mark nodded. "Good call." He turned to the class. "Scary, yeah?"
They nodded.
"I had worse," he said and pulled Marion to her feet. "And I was alone, as you could be," He handed her a wipe for her forehead. "If you're fortunate and lucky enough to be selected for a mission you'll find a lot of danger comes with it. We all think, at this point in our training, that we've got our head straight about that, and that if the worst happens we can deal with it." He snorted. "You're wrong, you're not ready, but with my help you will be."
He turned to Omar. "You did well, but the first thing you do in an emergency is call for help." He motioned to Omar and Marion, dismissing them to return to their seats. "Except in the most extreme situations, there will always be another astronaut around to help you. If there isn't, a rover is the next best thing. As was proven a few months ago, they are very adept at problem solving, almost as good as we are. You're volunteering for the most dangerous job there is. Death is a few micro meters away all the time, but if you never give up, if you never surrender to despair, then you can survive almost anything." He smiled at them. "Questions?"
Every hand raised.
"Daniel."
"Mis… Mark, you weren't ever tempted to give up?"
He smiled. "Of course I was, but you give yourself a few minutes, if you have them, to rage at the universe, or Mars in my case, and then you get back to work." He looked at all of them. "And that's really all there is to it. You get to work. You use that great big evolved brain of yours to save the rest of your sorry ass." He snickered. "Anna?"
"What was the launch off Mars like? I saw the pictures that the Hermes took of the MAV, it was a skeleton!"
"Fastest man in the history of space travel," Mark chuckled. "It hurt. My bone density was down due to the time I spent in Mars gravity, so several of my ribs gave up as my chest pack went from 20 pounds to over two hundred." He smiled. "That said, it was interesting to accelerate that fast… before I passed out from the G forces. Jack?"
"Is Mars as beautiful as I looks in the pics and vids?"
Mark smiled in reminiscence. "They don't do it justice… at all." He walked to his stool and sat. "Standing on a world that isn't Earth is the greatest experience a person can have." He looked at them. "I was so privileged. Although I don't recommend it as a vacation plan, I got to see more of Mars than anyone else will for quite a while. My only regret is that I didn't get to see Valles Marineris and Olympus Mons." He smiled and nodded. "Yeah, it's beautiful. Could use a few trees though. Valerie?"
"You lived in your EVA suit a lot, what was the hardest thing about that?"
Mark laughed for a while. "Okay, lots. I got what were essentially bed sores from it, it stank with a capitol s, and after a while it's like a prison, but as to the worst thing? There's sort of this little hazing secret that the old guard kept. I'm gonna let you in on it so you're prepared."
He smirked. "Gentlemen, Ladies, we are all human, oui?" He laughed and said, "Ahh, my friend Janice is wearing off on me. So, there will come a day when you're out for your stroll on the Moon or Mars, or maybe Ceres or Europa…"-he paused for a several seconds-"and you fart in your EVA suit." He watched as their eyes widened. "It's worse than you're thinking, by a lot, and they programmed the voice to be snarky, 'Methane levels approaching critical', bitch."
(*)
"Good day today?" Mindy asked as she set Mark's plate in front of him.
"Yeah," he said. "It's a nice crop of recruits. I can see at least three or four of them on the Kore."
Mindy smiled and rubbed his shoulder as she sat. "Well, thanks to us they'll be well dressed for it."
Mark took a bite of his lasagna. "Damn, Min, this is great."
"Your mom sent me the recipe," she said. "Wasn't hard, just took some time."
"Annie get hold of you today?" He asked after a few minutes.
"Yeah," she sighed and put her fork down on her plate. "We're doing the 'grip and grin' again tomorrow. At least she's tapering off using us so much."
Mark smiled at his wife. "You're doing better than me at it though. They love you out there."
She laid her hand on his. "Spillover from how much they love you," she said.
"Are Clara and Rich really just doing a civil ceremony?" Mark asked.
Mindy smiled softly and nodded. "Clara had the big wedding once," she said. "This was her idea. Can you imagine Rich at the center of attention for that long? He'd implode. No, it'll be just us, their parents, Ven, Annie, and Roberta."
"Annie still trying to steal Clara from the Parks Department?" Mark asked.
"You weren't the only one to think about laws on Mars," Mindy said. "Annie wants to have the Mars Charter all drawn out before the Kore's fist mission."
"Yeah, it's a great idea," Mark said. "Maintaining order with six is easy. Fifty people is a mob, and you've got to have some rules."
"What's this thing we're doing tomorrow? The French?"
"Swiss," Mark corrected. "There'll be three Swiss scientists on the first Hestia mission, and Annie wants us to 'make them feel welcome in the planetary space effort'"
Mindy chuckled at her husband's impersonation of their friend. "You gotta love Annie."
Mark nodded. "Yeah, you do."
(*)
Mark looked out across the gallery of the historic museum. John Glen's spacecraft sat a few feet away, Neil Armstrong's suit in a glass case behind him, the EVA suit he had worn off Mars in another case nearby. The only piece of Ares Four that came back from Mars was a unique example in the gallery.
Currently he was wearing a tuxedo given to him by Giorgio Armani. He felt he looked good, but Mindy looked astonishing in her designer gown from Paris that Roberta had dressed her in. Smiling, he took his wife's hand and led her to the media director's side.
"Welcome Mr. Ambassador," Annie said. "I'm Annie Montrose, this is Mark Watney and his wife Mindy."
"A pleasure," the ambassador said as he took Mark's hand. "A most harrowing experience you had."
Mark smiled. "Yes, and I'm glad I survived," he said. "It's allowed me to convince people like you to help us go back."
The ambassador laughed. "Such directness, you Americans! I should expect nothing less." He turned to Mindy. "And an even greater pleasure, Mrs. Watney. My daughter is a huge fan."
Mindy smiled. "Is she here?" she asked.
"Sadly no," he said. "It was thought that we would not have too many people here. It would give us more time with you."
Mindy had perfected this. She held out her hand, and said, "Call her number, and give me your phone while you talk with Mark."
"You are even more gracious than the stories say," he said as he pressed his daughters contact tab.
"What's here name?" Mindy asked as he handed her the phone.
"Genevieve."
Mindy took the phone and walked a few feet away. "Hello, is this Genevieve?" she asked. "Ah, good. I'm Mindy Watney." She held the phone away from here ear with a smile as a fifteen year old girl squealed in the background.
"She is lovely," the ambassador said, looking on as Mindy chatted with his daughter.
"Don't have to convince me," Mark said with a smile. "Thank you, Mr. Ambassador. Annie is right, we have to have every nation on board when we go to Mars and beyond. Space isn't just for the big rich countries, it's for everyone. Most importantly though, as Annie insists, the more we involve all of humanity in the effort, the less war there will be, and I'm certain she's right."
"As am I," the ambassador said. "My country has always tried to avoid direct involvement with war, but we have been involved, with the money." He shook his head. "My people have chosen to be at the center of an industry that can be, at best, amoral. We are a strong, proud nation, but sometimes I am ashamed of those we do business with. Perhaps helping with this effort can absolve us of some of that."
Mark chuckled. "We're meeting the Pope next month, I'll ask him about that for you, if you want."
"On what matter does His Holiness wish to speak to you?" the ambassador asked smiling.
"He's using my experience chipping up a crucifix for firewood as the central story for his Easter Sunday sermon."
The ambassador nodded. "It will be interesting to hear what he makes of it," he said. "If you are to meet him in Rome, please accept my hospitality and visit my family and myself in Interlaken, it is truly beautiful."
Mark put his hand on the ambassador's shoulder. "Tell Annie, she'll make it happen."
(*)
"Nice job with the ambassador's daughter," Mark said as Mindy snuggled into him.
"Nice job getting an invite to Switzerland," she countered.
"Also you," Mark said with a chuckle.
Mindy shrugged. "Meh, both of us," she said.
Mark kissed the top of her head and drew the covers over them. "I love you so much, Mindy Watney."
"I love you, Mark," she said. "More than I thought possible." She kissed him, slowly, passionately. "Tomorrow's Saturday, nothing on the calendar, what do you say we spend the day in bed?"
"Have I mentioned how much I love being married to a genius?"