"A job?" Mindy said. "You're offering me a job."
"Yes," Deborah replied.
"I don't know anything about orbital mechanics. I mean, I don't have a degree in it."
The department head chuckled. "You have all the experience you need from what you're doing right now. You are the one in charge of the satellites, correct?"
"Yes, but-"
"That includes making sure they are moving appropriately each day to capture Mark as he moves across the planet?"
"Yes."
"So, you're doing orbital mechanics daily," Deborah pointed out.
"I…" Mindy hesitated, then said. "I suppose I am. I just never thought of it that way."
"So, when Mark is safely at Valles Marineris, we have a position waiting for you."
"I appreciate the offer, but I'd like a little time to think about it, please," Mindy said.
"Certainly, you can come to see me at any time with any questions you might have," Deborah told her. "Venkat."
"Deborah." He nodded once.
Mindy sat back down at her computer and began scrolling through the newest images.
"Ok, what was that about?" Venkat asked her after the other woman had left.
"What do you mean?"
He shook his head. "You should have jumped on that offer. It's a great opportunity. Why didn't you tell her yes, immediately? Why did you ask to think about it?"
"Why wouldn't I?" she challenged. "Anyone that has been offered a job they didn't seek out should think about it and find out more information. I'm not saying no."
"But you're not saying yes either."
"Not yet."
"I didn't arrange this for you, in case that's what you're thinking."
"Thank you for telling me that, though I wasn't worried about it."
"So what are you worried about? You don't love this job. You can barely stand this job sometimes. You're overqualified for it. Your talents would be better used in orbital mechanics," Venkat argued.
"And I'll consider all of that. Right now I have a job to do."
Venkat shook his head again and turned to leave. He was almost to the door when he stopped, turned, and crossed the room to her again. "You don't want to let the Watneys down. You want to be here so you can keep them filled in."
"It is a factor," she admitted. "I also feel responsible for him."
"How?"
"I'm the one watching him. I'm the one on his schedule. I'm the one keeping track of his every move. It may be crazy, but I feel like he's my responsibility."
"There's nothing you can do for him though."
"Not directly, no," she said. "I can keep his parents from becoming overly concerned, however. I also don't want to take advantage of their generosity."
"Ah, and if you go back to a regular nine-to-five schedule you'll feel guilty living at their house."
"I also feel like I might be letting them down," Mindy admitted. "Well, them and the crew."
"So talk to them all," Venkat urged. "Tell them about the offer and see what they think. I'd bet every last one of them will support you."
"They might."
"And you still won't say yes."
"I might. I want to think about it, but not while I'm on the clock. Please go away now."
Venkat threw up his hands. "Fine."
Log entry Sol 569
Air day and I'm completely out of ideas for things to do. I've been pretty much completely lazy. I did go for a short walk, then I came back and hung out. I think I stared at the ceiling of the rover for an hour. I don't know, maybe it wasn't that long. I didn't check the clock. I'm really getting impatient to get to the Ares I site because I know I'm so close.
Nothing new to report. The rover is getting pretty messy and cramped because I can't seem to get everything put away as neatly as it was when I first started out. There are also all the new samples I've picked up along the way that need to be stored somewhere. I feel like I should be doing something, but there's nothing to do. I'm so bored. Logging isn't helping. I guess I'll stop for now.
"Mindy?" Venkat called out as he entered Satcom.
"Back here," she responded, then muttered, "always here."
"Anything new?"
She shook her head. "He's camped out for the day."
"He's still on pace for arrival in six days?"
"As far as I can tell, as long as he can find it when he gets close. Has that been worked out?"
"No," the Mars missions director replied. "We have the same issue at Vallis Marineris that we had back at Acidalia Planitia. No backup comms. We have the satellite dish, but no way to remotely activate it. He might be able to rig something with it and the MDV when he arrives. In the meantime, we just have to wait and see."
"He'll figure it out. He has plenty of food and water. He'll figure out how to establish contact too. I'm sure of it."
"So, let's talk about you."
Mindy squinted and peered at him from the corners of her eyes. "Let's not and say we did."
"Oh no," Venkat shook his head. "You're not getting off that easy. Deborah said you turned down her offer. Are you out of your mind?"
"Possibly," she replied cheerfully.
"Care to explain why you said no?"
"Not really, thanks for asking though." She smirked.
"Mindy," he groaned.
She sighed, turned to face him, and said. "I know I complain about this job. I would like to move into another position, but orbital mechanics just doesn't interest me."
"How much research did you do to come to that decision?"
"Why do you care so much?" she countered.
"I hate to see talent wasted," Venkat replied.
"It's not the right job for me. I talked to a few people I know in the department, and while I agree they're an integral part of the process, it doesn't feel involved enough for me. It's too hands-off of the day-to-day active missions," she explained.
Venkat considered her. "You're waiting for a better offer. What is it you want to do? This isn't active either."
"But it feels like it is, and it will be more so when Mark reestablishes contact."
"You're assuming he will."
"You're assuming he won't?" Mindy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I think if he can, he will, and that he will try everything he can think of to accomplish it. I'm just not sure it's actually possible. Back to you, you have something in mind. You have a goal. What is it?"
She sighed. "Yes, I have a goal. No, before you ask, I don't want to be an astronaut."
"So you want to be part of the action, as it were, but not an astronaut?"
"Yes."
Venkat nodded. "Okay then," he said and waited, watching her intently.
"I'd like to make my way into mission control. I know I have to start in a back room, but eventually, I'd like to be the one on the console in the main room."
"You do know that orbital mechanics could be a gateway to the main room. If you work there for a bit, you could put in for a transfer to the guidance backroom."
"I'm aware," Mindy replied. "I don't want to use the position Dr. Winghaven offered me as a stepping stone. There is someone out there who will want the position and want to stay in the department. I'd rather apply to the guidance backroom when they have an opening. Don't go putting in a good word for me."
"Why not? Don't tell me you want to make it on your own merit. If you were offered the job it would be on your qualifications. All I can do is suggest they consider your application. It's really not all that different from you using me as a reference, which I would absolutely do."
"And I would never ask you to," she responded.
Venkat shook his head again. "I am well aware of that. You do realize I'm not the only one who would provide a reference for you, don't you? The list of people who would provide one is about a mile long. At this point with everything you've done, you could run SatCon. If it weren't for lack of experience on a console you could go straight to the main room. It wouldn't take much training to catch you up to speed for a Mars mission control as the reaction time is so different from a moon or near Earth mission. Have you ever looked to see if there are any openings or put out any feelers?"
"And when would I do that? I could look at the internal postings but I don't have much time to go out talking to people besides who would I talk to?"
"That's why you let me do it, or Annie, or Melissa. This is how it works. It's not just about merit. Jobs in the real world are also about whom you know, and whom they know; it's all about networking. You got your foot in the door with your original application. You move ahead by getting to know people and showing initiative. You've nailed the first part, now you need to work on the second. Yes, I realize on your schedule that's difficult."
"Difficult," she huffed. "Fine, whatever, I have a job to do and I need to do it."
"Well your ability to speak up for yourself is improving as well," Venkat remarked with a smirk. "I'm going, but think about what I said."
"Sure, next time I take a break I'll just start randomly talking to people in the cafeteria or lounge."
"That really can't hurt, you know."
Mindy groaned and turned back to her computer, barely resisting the urge to ask the man at who knows how many times her level if he didn't have other people to bother.
Log entry Sol 569 (2)
I had an idea. I'm headed out now to try it. Montrose is going to either love it or wanna kill me, again. Not gonna lie that makes it all the more fun.
"What is he doing now?" Annie asked, suspicion ringing in her voice as Mindy came through the door with images in hand.
"Just check these out." Mindy passed over the photos.
The public relations director scowled before looking at the stack of pictures.
"Is he doing what I think he's doing?" Annie groaned.
"What do you think he's doing?"
Annie didn't answer, instead, she asked. "Is he ever going to run out of ideas?"
"He'll be at the Ares I Hab soon and be too busy to do the silly things," Mindy replied. "Besides, 'Astronaut plays hopscotch on Mars' is a cute headline."
"Mindy, don't quit your day job," Annie said.
"It's more of a sol job and at least someone thinks I should keep it."
"What?"
"Nothing, never mind, forget I said anything. I'm going back to SatCon."
"Okay, good. Let me know if he gets up to anything else ridiculous."
"You know I will."
Log entry Sol 569 (3)
Yeah, that was harder than I was expecting. I didn't account for having to bend over and pick up the rock to throw it. Making the board, is it called a board? What else would you call the thing where you play hopscotch? It's a game. I'm calling it a board. Anyway, drawing the lines for the board wasn't hard. I used a sample stick. I skipped drawing the numbers in the boxes. I tried the rock thing a time or two, then I gave up and just skipped numbers in turn. You know jump over the one, jump over the two the next time, then the three. If you don't know how to play hopscotch, now you do. You should give it a try.
Log entry Sol 570
I've been thinking about Pathfinder and reestablishing contact with NASA again. It hit me that I probably could have used the probe to do it. Well, maybe. It would have required some programming and we all know I suck at it. I could have tried. Not that it matters now, it's way the hell back in Acidalia Planitia. Still, I should have thought of it and tried.
Now I'm wondering if I can find a way to use the MDV. It had to communicate with Earth. I think it could do it directly and not just through Hermes, or maybe not. The MAV communicated through the satellites in orbit before we got here. The MDV should be capable of the same thing. I need to teach myself how to program. I brought Johannssen's laptop. Actually, I brought everyone's laptops. I didn't know how many if any, would still be at the Ares I Hab, and I wanted to be sure I had backups.
All that is just to say I won't be stripping wiring from the MDV to get Pathfinder working. I will strip the landing gear of the MAV. I'll be putting my oxygenator, atmospheric regulator, and water reclaimer in the Hab, but I'm going to use the Ares I equipment first and save mine for backup since they've been more heavily used.
I don't know if I'll even need Pathfinder. The comms dish for that Hab may still be there and in good shape. I'll start by powering up the Hab. As long as that works, I can use the solar cells I've brought along to power up the MDV. Whether the Hab inflates or not, I should see if I can power up the MDV to use as a backup living space as we planned back at Acidalia Planitia. That's just another reason not to use the MDV wiring to fix Pathfinder.
Rereading what I've written so far, I'm starting to repeat myself, or at least it seems like it. That means it's time to stop for today.
Log entry Sol 575
Another air day. I should be almost to the Ares I Hab. It can't be much further. The rover doesn't have an odometer so I can't be sure how far I've traveled, but it has to be close. Even deflated it should be large and easy to see from a distance of at least a few kilometers. I should reach it tomorrow or the day after at the latest. If not then I guess I have to start driving like I did to find the supply probe.
Of course, now I'm wondering why the rover doesn't have an odometer. I suppose since they can track our driving with the satellites it's not necessary, but still, it would be really cool to look down and see how far we've traveled. Especially now when I've done so much driving.
Log entry Sol 576
I see it! I see the Ares I Hab. It looks ok from here. Not that I can see much, but I see it. I can also see their MDV. Both of them are still standing. I won't know what shape they're in until I get closer and get out to inspect them but they're there. I'm finally only days away from no longer living in the rover. My back may never recover but YAY!
Mindy watched the screen as the latest images were downloaded. She picked up her phone and dialed with a huge smile.
"He made it!"