Mindy Park nodded to her coworkers as she entered SatCon and went to her workstation. She tried not to sigh as she pulled up the list of pictures she was supposed to program the orbiters to obtain tonight. The transfer to SatCon from orbital dynamics had seemed exciting when she'd taken it and while the Ares III crew had been on the surface, it had been.
She'd been able to track them each day as they moved through their duties. It felt a bit like being paparazzi or a voyeur but it was still exciting. She'd been as horrified as the rest of the world when they'd made it to Hermes on the MAV and announced that Mark Watney had died on the surface during their evacuation. She'd waited for the image request of the site to come through expecting that someone would want to see what was left and to see if there was anything the crew could have done differently to save him but no such request came.
Every image requisition after that day had specifically avoided the area. She just didn't understand why they wouldn't want confirmation. Oh, she'd heard the rumors about releasing the image to the public but come on victims of war and crimes were on the news and all over the internet all the time. Every time you picked up your phone there was an article with ghastly pictures. Since the incident, she had become more disillusioned every day by taking pictures of the same spots on the surface over and over again, until she now simply came to work each day and did the job.
The job? She programmed satellites to take the requested sets of images, waited for them to be sent to Earth, previewed the images to make sure they were clear, and then emailed them to whichever department requested them in the first place. If the images weren't acceptable, she reprogrammed the satellites and waited for the new images. She never even knew what it was the requester was looking for in the images. If she did it might be more interesting
There were twelve satellites in total orbiting Mars. Six of them were hers to program; tonight's list of images was longer than usual.
"Guess I'd better get started," she muttered to herself. "Another night as a photo booth operator, yay."
It wasn't that she didn't enjoy looking at pictures of another planet, but the awe had worn off after a while. She knew her job was key to ensuring that the next Ares mission was successful as she kept an eye on their MAV and tracked where their supplies dropped, but it just wasn't as fulfilling as she'd expected. Maybe when they launched and then landed she would be more excited but for now, she just wasn't enjoying the job. She was bored and honestly looking for another transfer.
Her eyes went wide when she read the directions for the fourth satellite on the list.
"31.2°N, 28.5°W… Acidalia Planitia… Ares 3? Hmmm, took them long enough?"
She entered the program, submitted it to send it to the satellite, then checked the clock. It would take over an hour for the program to be received, the pictures taken as the orbiter passed over the correct location, and the pictures returned. She moved on to the next satellite and then the last.
Once she had finished her list, Mindy stood, stretched, and then went to the break room for a cup of coffee and a bag of Cheez-its from the vending machine. The vending machines in SatCon were one of the small bonuses to the job. The coffee, on the other hand, was not. On nights when she had less to do, Mindy often wandered down to the astronaut office where the best coffee could be found. Tonight, however, there was no time for that.
As she returned to her workstation, the computer chimed as the first images were returned. The next hour passed slowly as she reviewed photos for clarity then sent off emails containing the images being sure to note those that needed to be retaken and prepping the programming for those.
She purposely saved the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pictures for last. Not even bothering to hide her interest she pulled up the images of Acidalia Planitia and began scanning them for signs of Watney's body, feeling a bit morbid though she knew that after a year it would be unlikely she would see it. She sighed in relief when she didn't, but then froze as her eyes passed over the Hab again.
Shaking, she pulled her phone from her pocket and fumbled with it, managing to dial the internal information office, "Hello, this is Mindy Park in SatCon. I need the emergency contact number for Dr. Venkat Kapoor… Yes, it's an emergency!"
She picked up a pen and wrote, then said, "Could you please repeat that?"
She double-checked the number and hung up. Turning back to the image she scanned again to reassure herself that she wasn't seeing things and picked up her phone again.
Mindy looked up from the image she had been staring at for the last twenty minutes as Venkat Kapoor came through the door, looking more out of place than usual in his jeans and t-shirt. He rarely if ever visited SatCon personally and this was particularly strange as on those occasions he would come by, he always wore a suit and tie.
She had scrolled through the other images but kept coming back to this first one. She put up a hand to catch his attention then shook her head at her stupidity. There was no one else here. Everyone else had gone home an hour after her shift had started. It was one of the reasons she was so unhappy in the position right now, working the night shift alone with no one to talk to while she waited for photos and then sleeping all day after her shift was leaving her socially starved.
"Ms. Park," Venkat said. "I'm here, now tell me what was so important that I had to get out of my warm bed and drive back here at three in the morning, but that you couldn't just explain on the phone?"
"The images from the Ares III site came back," she said quietly.
"Oh, was the meteorology wrong and Watney's body is visible?" Such an image would be jarring even if the viewer was expecting it. He honestly wasn't sure he wanted to view that, not without a stiff drink first.
She shook her head.
"Then what?" he asked, trying to remain patient as the woman was shaken about something.
Mindy swallowed hard before she spoke, "I think you need to see it in case I'm wrong. Here." She directed his attention to the screen.
"Solar cells are there and clean. That's odd, but it could be from the winds even with the dust. The Hab is dust-covered though the rovers are both clear. That's also odd but perhaps the Hab canvas holds onto dust more than the smooth surface of the rovers and solar cells," he paused tilting his head to the side and leaning in closer to the screen. "What is that?" He pointed.
Mindy bit her lip but a small squeak escaped from her throat.
"Is that part of the MAV struts? Has another storm hit and broken off a piece of the MDV?" His eyes flew over the pictures and he reached for the mouse clicking through the other images rapidly. "No, there's the MDV it seems intact, and there are the MAV struts but…"
He leaned closer again then enlarged the image. "Something's not right there. They shouldn't look like that even after the storm and the liftoff." He clicked back through to the original image and then to the image of the MAV struts all the while mumbling and shaking his head.
She waited for a moment. "Sir, I think you should look at this. It's an image I pulled from the archives." She put her hand out for the mouse. When he let go she took it and clicked, and the image changed.
"That's not Acidalia Planitia."
"No," she said, not offering any more information.
"That's Ares Vallis."
"Yes." Mindy clicked again and set the two images on the screen side by side.
"Pathfinder," Venkat hissed and dropped into the empty chair next to her. "Oh, God."
Mindy nodded and broke down sobbing.
"Holy shit!" Annie Montrose said.
Teddy slid the pictures back into the folder Venkat had delivered them in.
"So now what?" Annie asked. "I cannot just release those pictures. Someone will figure it out and even I can't imagine the enormity of the reaction it's going to get when someone figures it out. We don't have room for the number of reporters that are going to flood in here."
"We don't have to release it for twenty-four hours," Teddy reminded her.
"I took the liberty of having Ms. Park send instructions to all the satellites that cross the area to take images on each pass," Venkat began listing his preparations for the situation. "She will also be moving other satellites into orbits where they can do the same. I put in a call to Bruce Ng at JPL and booked a flight to meet with him. I leave as soon as we're done here. We will attempt to see if Pathfinder is broadcasting once again. A clearer picture from one of the other satellites might show if it's hardwired into the Hab as that's the best way we can figure he was able to get power to it. There's no way of knowing how long ago Mark went to get it but the clean solar cells and Pathfinder being clear is a good sign that he is still alive. It may take days to weeks to reattain the capability to get messages from Pathfinder."
"And how do you explain that the Hab is covered in dirt while everything else is clear?"
"I have no idea, other than storms and perhaps Mark felt it simply wasn't necessary to clean off the Hab. That's not a bad thing as it creates an additional layer to protect him from UV radiation. Hopefully, he is still alive, though I have no idea how because by my calculations he should have run out of food two months ago unless he's done well rationing. Even if he rationed well he could run out of food any day now," Venkat ran through the numbers on the rations then continued, "if he is still alive, maybe we can catch him out on an EVA. Bruce and I will also start planning a possible supply probe. I'd suggest you contact Mitch Henderson and fill him in"
"Then I need to get to Chicago to the Watneys, and call the president which I should be able to do while my assistant schedules my flight," Teddy said. "Give Ms. Park my number and email and have her contact me directly as the images come in when she sends them to you. Annie you're going to wait as long as possible to give any press briefings on this but you should spend today planning."
"Already on it," she replied without looking up from her laptop. "After you talk to the Watneys you should probably start on your resignation letter."
"What? Why?"
"Seriously Theodore," she nearly growled, "you think it won't come out that Venk here requested imagery of the site more than once and you continuously rejected it? Yes, I know about that which should be enough to tell you that more people know and we can't possibly plug every leak. When the president hears it, he's going to ask for your head on a platter. If you don't believe me, you're a bigger dumbass than I ever thought you were. And before you get pissy that I called you a dumbass, fire me, go ahead I dare you. I'll walk my ass right out of here and have the press following me off campus where I'll tell them everything I know because there is no non-disclosure agreement in my contract. Now, who's going to tell the crew and Mitch?"
Venkat jumped in before Teddy, whose face was now red and jaw clenched, "I'll tell Mitch. He can tell the crew, and yes, I'll be sure they all know that not a word is said to anyone before the pictures are released tomorrow and Annie makes a statement."
"You're going to let Mitch tell the crew? You think that's wise?" She raised an eyebrow. The lead flight director was more hot-headed than she was.
"Don't have a choice unless you want to tell them. I have to get to California. I can't wait for them to get out of their morning meeting."
Rising to her feet she put out a hand for the folder, "I'll tell him and go with him to inform the crew. Make sure Ms. Park also has my number and keeps me up to date. Thank all that is holy the crew is still locked down here for their mission debrief and we can control their communications."
"Only if we change the plan," Venkat replied.
Annie stood with eyes to the ceiling. "Damn it, they're supposed to be released home today aren't they?"
"Yes."
"Okay, I'm out of here. Gotta tell them as soon as we can."
Venkat handed her the folder and wished her luck then turned to the administrator as she walked out of the office. "She's not wrong, you know. You'd be smarter to resign before the President fires you. You might even consider sending someone else to the Watneys because they'll be calling for your head too when it comes out, and it will. There are too many rungs in the ladder that know what happens here."
"I'm not going down without a fight," Teddy insisted.
Venkat shook his head, and walked to the door, stopping to look back at the boss, shook his head again, and walked out muttering, "Idiot!"
Karen Rhodes was in front of a class of college students lecturing when her phone buzzed. She ignored it and continued her lecture. It buzzed again. She pulled it out and turned the phone off without looking at it or even pausing.
The class was almost over when the back door opened and the department secretary stepped inside. The woman rushed down the aisle to the front.
"I'm sorry Karen," she leaned in and whispered when she reached the podium. "I hate to interrupt your class but they said they called and couldn't get a hold of you and it was imperative that they get a message to you."
"Who, Janine?" Karen said after stepping back from the podium.
"Oh, I'm sorry, NASA."
"What on Earth would NASA want with me right now?"
"I don't know. They refused to leave a message with me. They just said you needed to call and you needed to do it immediately. I have a number for you here. It was the director's secretary who called.." The other woman passed over a small pink slip of paper.
"Thank you, Janine." Karen turned back to her students. "Looks like class will be out a bit early today. Read chapters nineteen and twenty for next week."
She sighed and looked down at the paper. Why in the hell is Sanders calling me? What happened now?
Karen packed up her bag and walked down the hall to her office. She'd left the space agency in the summer but she'd stayed in Chicago. Northwestern had offered her a position with their mechanical engineering faculty. It had taken her only a day to accept. Her parents had passed within months of each other two years after her return from Mars and she had connected with Mark's parents throughout the mission. After his loss, they'd treated her as their own. She decided to stay in Chicago to be near them.
She'd been with them just a week ago when the rest of the Ares III crew had landed safely back on Earth. They'd insisted on watching and as hard as it had been, they were happy to see Mark's friends and colleagues back safe and sound.
Only one person at NASA knew she was still in contact with them and it wasn't Sanders. She doubted he even knew she'd been his liaison, to begin with. There were no missions right now having anything to do with Mars, only the rehab crew that was already aboard Hermes.
Some astronauts left the space program and continued to be active in other ways, talking to the press, appearing in media, hosting tv shows or podcasts, and even being celebrity judges on game shows, not Karen. She'd had to do some of those things as one of the first to step on Mars but she'd chosen to follow the path of the first man on the moon and step away from the limelight. The university professorship was just one more thing he'd done but it had been the perfect call for her. The most she did with space these days, besides talking to the Watneys about it at dinner on Sunday evening every week, was occasionally guest lecturing in aerospace engineering or geology classes.
After dropping her bag beside the chair, she sat and stared at the post-it in her hand. She could ignore it. There was nothing Sanders could do to her. Curiosity and concern won out, however, and she took out her phone.
"Office of Director Sanders, this is Marilyn speaking. How may I help you?" came the perky voice from the other end of the line. Sanders had a terminally perky secretary at both his Houston and DC offices. They were nice enough women just really perky, all the time, every time you talked to them. She didn't know where he'd found them, no one did. Everyone at JSC talked about it when they'd had to go to his office for one reason or another. No one seemed to know anyone like them outside of that office. She wondered if they were only that way in the office. Thinking about it she had to stifle a laugh remembering the time that Mark and his crewmates had been in a meeting in Sanders's office:
"Rhodes, you would not have believed the look on Lewis's face when Marilyn said 'Hi y'all' with that smile of hers. As we sat there waiting for Sanders to be done, she answered the phone in that same super happy voice and never stopped smiling. Lewis says it's not right. Martinez thinks she drinks all day. Beck and Johanssen got into a conversation about possible ways she'd been brainwashed or programmed to be so damned perky. I say we take her out after work and get her drunk and see what happens"
Of course, they hadn't done that and now they never would.
"Karen Rhodes returning your call."
"Yes, Ms. Rhodes," suddenly Marilyn lost that sunny edge to her voice, just a bit, but enough to be noticeable. "Director Sanders needs you to meet him at O'Hare airport. He should be there in an hour. He'll explain when you meet."
"There's no one else that can pick him up?" she asked, annoyed.
"I'm sorry Ms. Rhodes. He says it has to be you and it is urgent. He's flying in just for the day and he'll be at terminal three."
"And you can't tell me why?"
"I'm sorry ma'am. I'm not at liberty to share any further information."
"And there's no one else that can get him? He can't rent a car of his own for a few hours?"
"Ms. Rhodes," Marilyn said, the sun was gone from her voice. Instead, she spoke quietly and with an intensity that was shocking coming from her. "I wish I could tell you more. I would if I thought I could without losing my job, but trust me you want… no, you need to be the one to get him."
Well, there went the rest of her classes today. Damn it!
"Fine. I'll be there waiting."
"Thank you."
She snarled as she grabbed her laptop and sent an email to her two afternoon classes, then checked the clock. If she were going to make it in time to find a parking space and meet him she had to leave now. She stopped into Janine's office to ask the woman to post a sign on the classroom door.
On the way to her car, Karen wondered if she called anyone else, would she be able to get an answer about what was going on. She was the only one of her crewmates that had left NASA and none of the Ares II crew had left yet either. They were all hoping for an ISS2 flight or wanted to go to the moon. Any one of them could be the first person to set foot on two astronomical bodies. There was even talk of landing on a comet. It had been done several times now by probes and planning was in the works for humans to do the same, had been for years but no missions had been locked in yet.
"Tod," she said out loud, "I'll call Tod."
She waited to make the call until she was out of the parking lot.
"Hammond," he said crisply as he always did.
"Rhodes," she replied, trying not to laugh at the familiarity.
"Well, it's been a long time, Rhodes. What's going on?"
"It's been six months, and I was calling to ask you the same thing."
"You're just calling to ask what I'm doing? You bored up there in Chi-town, professor," he teased.
"No, but Sanders is coming here and I have to go meet him. No one else can or it has to be me or something. What the hell is up with NASA?"
"I have no idea. I haven't heard anything and there's no rumbling in the office."
"Shit."
"Yeah, I'll see what I can find out and let you know."
"I'm meeting him in forty-five minutes so if you don't find anything out before then don't bother calling."
"Then you'll have to call me."
"Will do. Thanks, Tod."
She continued driving, running through all the possible reasons the director would want her to meet him, and just couldn't come up with anything. He did have enough ego that he could want her just because she was a former astronaut but she doubted it. So what the hell was going on?
"Say that again," Mitch said to Annie, finally pulling his attention completely away from the control room next door. He hated not being in the room listening in whenever he had the chance even though they were simply beginning the rehab of Hemes, a procedure that had already been completed twice. He'd nearly growled at her when she'd come in and asked him to join her in the observation room that was currently empty because there was no story for the reporters to care about, yet, but he also knew better than to argue with her. He'd argue with everyone else in this place, even the director, but not Annie. There was just something about her that kept him from doing it, maybe because they were so often on the same side of the argument. She was the one person he could count on to back him up consistently when it came to the crews.
"You heard me, just take a minute to let it sink in, and then you can look at these," she held out the images.
He glanced down at the pictures in her hand and took them gently not wanting to look at them, not wanting to let what she said become real, but unable to do anything else he stalked over to the corner and looked, flipping through them slowly. After looking through them twice he walked back to Annie and sat in the front row of chairs.
"Where the hell is Sanders? And why am I not hearing this from him or Kapoor?" he fumed.
She sat down next to him. "Venk is on his way to California to consult with Bruce, and the d… boss is headed to Mark's parents. I volunteered to tell you, and you've been volunteered to tell the crew. I'll go with you."
"So Sanders is running from the building with his tail between his legs," Mitch observed. "No surprise there."
"Ok, before we leave this room you have to get that under control. I'm pissed as hell at him too, and so is Venkat, and you know the crew will be when they find out. No way is he going to stay as administrator, the president will never allow it, but for now, he remains boss and we have to keep anything from showing when we pass the press, got it? Plus he is taking on the worst duty right now." It was not a question, but rather an order.
"This is gonna kill the crew."
Annie nodded, "I'll get Irene to be on standby so she can talk to them after we do. I'll meet you at their office in two and a half hours, they should be done with the morning debrief by then. There's still a chance we'll know more before we tell them. However, I'm not holding out much hope at this point."
"Yeah. There's no reason for him to be outside since the cells are clean. It could be days before we know anything else. See you later." Mitch put his earpiece back in, dropped the pictures in her lap, and went back to his station in Mission Control.