NOTE: To make it easier to read, here's the crew list for Ares IV
Alannah James: commander & mechanical engineer & pilot
Marianne Jeffries: doctor & chemist
Taylor Michaels: pilot & orbital dynamics
Pat Aarends - mechanical engineer & EVA specialist
Lawrence Jensen - computer scientist & systems engineer
Jack Harrison: geologist & EVA specialist
Log entry Sol 1333
They launch today. Ares IV, my ride home, launches today. I'm just waiting to hear from NASA that they made it safely to orbit and docked with Hermes. There's no reason they shouldn't, but I still want the confirmation.
Log entry Sol 1333 (2)
They made it. Now for them to check everything out on Hermes and leave orbit headed here to Mars and me. That won't be until tomorrow though.
I don't know why I'm worried about it. There's no reason that they shouldn't be able to leave orbit. A crew has been working on Hermes since Ares III, minus me, returned. Every time it enters orbit crews go up to clean and run diagnostics. They replace any parts that have worn out or might wear out on the next long mission.
Hermes in orbit is basically just another space station so crews are sent not only to rehab it but to live and work on it just as they do the ISS2. If something were going to go wrong they'd know it already and have taken care of it. That doesn't mean something can't go wrong before they get to me. Even brand-new spacecraft have had problems in the past, like the stuck thruster on Gemini 8 that could have killed Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott. Spacecraft just have too many parts to eliminate all possible issues.
Log entry Sol 1334
They're on their way. Hermes is headed back to Mars! They'll be here in about four months! I'm that close to leaving this planet, and I am so ready. I'm a bit worried about being with people again, which is why I went ahead and asked for the new bunk room in the lab section. I'll have thirty days to get used to being on Hermes again while they do their surface mission. I can keep an eye on everything and just spend time floating in the cupola if I want. I will spin up to Mars's gravity after they head down. As much as I'd like to spend the entire time in zero-g, it's better for my body if I don't. I'm still better off than if I'd been stranded on the Moon for four years since gravity there is only one-sixth of Earth's, whereas Mars' gravity is just over one-third of Earth's. I'm hoping to try gravity at one-half G during the Ares IV mission time on Mars. It would be better for them when they come back if I could tolerate a higher level. I'm still going to take it slowly. Right now, there's no way I could handle a full G. I'll have to build back to that over the year it takes to get home. I hate to do that to the rest of the crew, but they said they don't care. It means more exercise for all of us though. I know the crew says they don't care. They want to do what's best for me, but I hate to do that to them. I'd like to be able to rehab and go to a full G faster. We'll see. There's nothing I can do about it now.
Log entry Sol 1336
Guess what today is? I mean guess what tosol is? Tosol is my two-year on Mars anniversary, Mars' years anyway. It's going to be a long time before anyone beats my record for time spent on another planet. As of now, the first colony plans are for one Earth year. I'd bet my record isn't beaten until people move to Mars to live their entire lives here.
I feel like I should celebrate in some way, but I don't have anything to celebrate with. There are no balloons, no streamers, no confetti. I have no special food anymore. I'm out of potatoes. I've been out of potatoes for so long that I might be able to eat one again someday. The thought of them doesn't disgust me like it used to when I was eating them so often.
I'll save the celebration until I'm on Hermes.
"Shouldn't we do something?" Beth asked.
"Something for what?" Martinez responded.
"Mark's been there for two Martian years. Shouldn't we recognize that somehow?"
Rick looked puzzled. "How?"
"Maybe we can send him music, like the old wake-up music," she suggested.
"Do you really think he wants to celebrate?"
Beth shrugged. "We both know he'll make a big deal about the amount of time he's been in space, especially his time spent on Mars, all of it."
"So you want to beat him to the punch with the celebration?" Rick guessed.
"Something like that." She grinned. "Besides he's still up there alone."
"We could ask the IV crew to decorate the Hermes rec room and mess and maybe even his room for when he comes aboard. In the meantime maybe we should send him some music."
Beth peered at Rick through squinted eyes. "Why am I suddenly regretting the fact that I brought this up? You're up to something."
Rick just smirked.
Log entry Sol 1336 (2)
So someone back on Earth is keeping track of how long I've been here and someone is also an ass. My bet for the ass is Martinez. They just sent me 'Celebration', which is a good song, some would argue a great song, but it's disco damn it! I don't know what I'm going to do to get back at him but I'm going to and I still have plenty of time to think about it. He should be afraid. He should be very afraid. I already owe him for the damned Mr. Potato Head boxers. I bet he thinks I've forgotten that that was him but I haven't.
Log entry Sol 1352
Damn it! I think the Ares I water reclaimer is shot. I've taken it apart, cleaned it, and put it back together, not once, not twice, but three times in the past two days. I just can't get it to work. I still have the Ares III water reclaimer that I brought with me, and I'm only here for just over a hundred more sols. I have enough water, so I can make it through without the water reclaimer. However, I want a working one just in case. So, I'm attaching the Ares III water reclaimer after a thorough cleaning and going over. It hasn't been used since I left Acidalia Planitia. It's been sitting in the corner for over a year now. I did cover it with some spare Hab canvas to try and keep dust out of it, although I know there isn't as much dust here as back home. I'm the only one shedding skin cells after all, and the air cycles through filters which I vacuum every other week. Mars dirt still comes in by clinging to my EVA suit when I make trips out to clean off the solar cells. I do my best to vacuum that off as well. It's simply not possible to get all of it, however, so there is dust in the Hab.
Log entry Sol 1352 (2)
Well the Ares III water reclaimer is up and running. It works, so that's good news. Of course, now I'm worried about the atmospheric regulator and the oxygenator. Time to run another set of diagnostic tests on both of them.
Log entry Sol 1352 (3)
The big three are all working. They just have to limp along for another hundred sols or so. I'm so ready to get off this damn planet.
Log entry Sol 1355
Exactly 100 sols until Ares IV gets here. I'm starting to identify and prioritize samples to take back to Earth. I can't take them all. I want to take as many as I can though. Yes, I've run all of the tests I possibly can on the samples I have, but that doesn't mean more can't be done back on Earth. Plus, imagine the possible display of samples taken from a couple thousand-kilometer range. None of the unmanned rovers were able to travel that distance. It's for science and PR. The scientists can examine how the samples change every hundred or so kilometers if I can bring all of the samples I collected between Acidalia Planitia and Valles Marineris. I also really just want to bring samples back. I know that Lewis loaded up a few contingency samples in the MAV shortly after we landed, and everyone knows there are Valles Marineris samples on Earth, but to bring back the ones from between the two sites, that's a gold mine.
Log entry Sol 1405
50 sols and they'll be here. I'm starting to get excited. I've been trying to tamp it down, but every now and then when I think about it a little zing of excitement hits me. It's not that it's not exciting, but it will still be nearly another year before I'm home. I still have another year of eating freeze-dried meals and another year of being in space. At least I'll be with people, although they're people I don't know very well, not yet anyway. I guess with that much time we'll get to know each other. They've been a crew for years now though. I'm going to be an outsider. I know they'll do their best not to treat me that way, but honestly, it's inevitable.
Mark,
Hello from Ares IV. We're looking forward to getting to Mars and getting you on Hermes. We'll be in range to have real conversations soon so we wanted to be sure that you have the comms set up to receive audio transmissions. We've switched over to operating on Mars time, so you can contact us whenever you'd like if you need to for any reason.
Alannah
Log entry Sol 1423
Audio, they can talk to me? They want to talk to me? Anytime now they can start talking to me. I checked and yeah audio comms are set up. I won't know if they work until they try, but I let them know they can try any time. Am I ready to talk to people? Do I have a choice? Will I know how to react? At least for the first few sols they contact me there will still be a few second reception delay so if I don't respond immediately, it may not be noticeable.
Maybe I'll be just fine. I'm probably just blowing this all up in my head when I don't need to. I should just stop thinking about it.
"Ares I Hab, this is Hermes, come in please."
Mark stood next to the comms and stared. He shook his head and turned away.
"Ares I Hab, this is Hermes, are you receiving?"
Mark looked over his shoulder again at the comms but didn't move any closer.
"Mark, it's Pat Aarends. You there, man?"
He stepped forward and pressed the button.
"Pat?"
"Yep, it's me. You okay, buddy?"
"Good, I'm… good."
"Good to hear it. Good to hear your voice."
"Good to hear…" Mark paused and cleared his throat as tears began to run down his face. "Good to hear yours, man. You guys are getting close, huh?"
"We are," Pat replied. "Only 20 days, sols, whatever until we arrive."
Mark chuckled. "You're going to have to get used to saying sols in twenty days or your logs won't be correct."
"And you have to get used to saying days again," Pat pointed out.
"I'm not sure I've broken that habit yet anyway, though I'll probably slip and say sol at least once in a while."
"Totally understandable."
"Anything I need to know about Hermes and issues I should be looking out for while you're on the surface?" Mark asked his fellow mechanical engineer.
"Nothing right now, of course, the ship is a decade old. Even with rehabbing it after every trip, things could go wrong that we don't expect. Much as we'd love to have you at Schiaparelli with us," Pat continued, "I'm glad you're going to be here keeping an eye on things."
Mark nodded, then realized Pat couldn't see him. "Yeah, the older Hermes gets, the better idea it is to have someone onboard at all times. If they're still going to do Ares V, they need to find a way to change shifts from the surface to the ship so someone is always there monitoring the systems."
"Yeah, but I don't know if that will happen. Well, I suppose I'll sign off for now. Good talking to you man."
"You too," Mark said and then stood waiting. When Pat didn't reply again he stepped away from the comms and wandered around the Hab until he found himself sitting down on his bunk, head in his hands.
Log entry Sol 1435
I talked to a human being, a real person. I talked out loud to an actual person. I had a conversation with a person, not just typing back and forth with the capcom back in Mission Control in Houston by typing. Real words.
I knew Ares IV was going to contact me. I knew it was coming and still, when Pat's call came in I didn't believe it. I thought I had to be imagining things. I haven't told anyone. I haven't logged about it. I haven't even really admitted it to myself, but I've been hearing voices. It's not frequent. I swear it's not, or at least I don't think it is. Just now and then I hear someone calling out to me and I'm not watching movies, TV shows, or listening to music at the time. It always happens when it's quiet in the Hab.
Why haven't I talked about it? I would think the answer to that would be obvious. If I talked about it, if I admitted it, then I would have to admit that I was going crazy. I just ignored it when it happened, after freaking out for at least ten minutes each time.
It was more comfortable to talk once we started. I thought I'd have more trouble having a conversation, but it wasn't that hard. It was a really short conversation though.
Log entry Sol 1439
I have now talked to each member of the Ares IV crew. One person makes a call each day. They're keeping the conversations short. There have been times when I've hesitated when responding, but I think that's more because I don't know the crew that well. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Ok and now I have some old country song stuck in my head. My mom used to listen to country music CDs while she cleaned the house. Dad wasn't as into country music as Mom was, but it made Mom happy so we listened to them every Saturday morning while we cleaned the house. I couldn't tell you who the artist is, when the song came out, or even if it did. It was from sometime in the 90s, that much I know, and it was about a guy coming home late and making up a story for his wife about why he was late. Strangely it wasn't about cheating or broken hearts. Anyway, now I hear that song in my head, or the parts of it I remember. Yeah, it might be better to listen to disco.
I must be losing my mind. I cannot believe I just said it would be better to listen to disco than anything, even country. Yeah, maybe something really is wrong with me.
Log entry Sol 1447
I've been working on packing up everything I want to take to Hermes and then back home with me. I wish I'd thought to bring some of my crew's personal belongings from Acidalia Planitia. I didn't have room, and I also didn't have time to plan much about what I was bringing with me. I had to get out of there fast before I lost power. Still, now I wish I'd thought of it. I have my things, such as they are. I have samples. Everything I can live without is packed up in crates. I'm starting to load them into the rover I'll take to the MAV when it lands. I want to get things moving as quickly as possible once Taylor lands the MAV. I don't want to keep them waiting. I know they've added a day to the backside of their mission so that they can get me at the beginning, but if we take too long, they could still lose time. Well, that and I just want to get off this damn rock!
Will I miss it here? Will I miss the science I've been doing? Maybe, I might even miss being alone, though right now I crave other people's company. It's been so good to talk to someone every day, just to hear real voices, and to be able to respond in real-time. The conversations at the beginning were just getting to know you kinds of things, my getting to hear each person's voice so I can identify it. They've been trying to put me at ease. After I'd spoken to each person once they started to ask me questions that related to their fields, Marianne asked me about my health tracking, which I haven't been consistently doing like I probably should have been. I should have been tracking my heart rate and blood pressure monthly. We had medical logs we were supposed to fill out for our month on the surface. Yeah, I haven't done those regularly, hopefully, though the ones I have filled out will still be useful.
Pat and Lawrence just want to know about the systems in the Hab, how they've been running, and any suggestions I have for maximizing efficiency. They also asked about the solar farm and the rovers.
Jack wanted to know everything I could tell him about the differences in the rock and samples from Acidalia Planitia and Valles Marineris, not to mention the trip between them. He asked me to send him some files so he can save them to his thumb drive and make comparisons from Schiaparelli as he collects samples there and tests them.
Alannah wants all the information everyone else has asked for and Taylor just wants to talk. I'd tease her about being useless like Martinez, but she will be the one at the controls getting me off this damned rock so for now I'm playing nice. Once I get to Hermes though, all bets are off. Kidding, just kidding…or am I?
Log entry Sol 1454
They'll be here tomorrow! I'll be out of here tomorrow! I have loaded the rover, and it's ready to go with everything I'm taking out of here. I've checked and rechecked the fuel tanks on the Ares I MAV fuel plant. They're full. It should be more than enough to get me to Hermes even with the samples I'm bringing along. I'll be the only person on the ship so the weight will be lower than planned. That means Taylor won't need as much fuel to get just me to space, into orbit, and docked with Hermes. She should have fuel to spare. The flight should be easy which, of course, means something will probably go wrong. I have no idea what it might be, but I know Taylor and Alannah have both been practicing every possible scenario. It's not that I don't trust them, I do, but I'm also trying to be realistic.
I'm hoping everything goes well, but I want to be prepared just in case. I've scheduled emails to send to my parents and my crew. They'll send unless I cancel them. I gave myself plenty of time to cancel them. They won't send until the day after next. I wanted to be sure I had time to settle in on Hermes, and for Marianne to treat me if I need anything. I also didn't want to have to rush to a computer once I'm onboard. I wanted to wait until I was alone, until after the Ares IV crew was on the surface. I don't want to explain it to them. Anyway, the letters/messages are goodbyes. This time if something goes wrong, I want my parents to have more closure than last time when they just thought I was dead.
I'm going to spend the night reorganizing the Hab, in case anyone ever comes back to this site. I can't see anyone else using the Hab again to live in, but they may want to come back to Valles Marineris. If nothing else, it may become a historical site at some point in the future when humans have made a home here.
Log entry Sol 1454 (2)
Well, the Hab is back pretty much the way I found it. Obviously, there will be some signs that I was here. There's no way to avoid that. Honestly, if this is going to be an historical site, it won't just be due to Ares I anymore, it will be at least in part to me. I kind of feel bad about that. I know Hammond probably understands, but I did steal his thunder. He will always be the first person to set foot on Mars, however, I'm the one who lived here the longest. It's similar to the number of people who know John Glenn as the first American to orbit but most don't know or remember Alan Shepard as the first American in space. His suborbital shot was eclipsed by Glenn's orbital mission. Now Shepard is better remembered for being the astronaut who played golf on the moon. As much as I've joked and bragged about being King of Mars, and while it is pretty cool after all, I don't mean to eclipse someone else's accomplishments. Besides, everyone who has helped keep me alive and save me deserves recognition too.
Anyway, I've done my best to preserve this future historical site. Now to just wait for the call that it's time to go to the MAV.
"All right," Alannah said, "tomorrow's the big day."
The crew floated in the Rec. They had halted the rotation of the ship in preparation for the upcoming operation. Mark would spin it up once they had confirmed landing on Mars and received the Stay call from Mission Control.
I'm ready," Taylor said. "Lawrence threw everything he could at me. I got all scenarios to orbit and dock the MAV with Hermes."
"Everything other than catastrophic failures," Lawrence corrected.
"Well yeah," Taylor conceded. "Kind of pointless to simulate an ascent explosion. Nothing we can do."
"Taylor," Lewis started, "How's our orbit?"
"It is perfect," the pilot and orbital dynamics officer replied. "Well, as close to perfect as we can get."
"Good," she responded. "Pat, how about you?"
"Everything's all set up, Commander," Pat replied. "My suit and MMU are prepped and ready in case I need to go out and help the MAV dock."
"Ok," Alannah said. "The battle plan is pretty obvious. Taylor will fly the MAV, and Lawrence will sysop the ascent. Pat and Jack, I want you in Airlock 2 with the outer door open before the MAV even launches. You'll have to wait 52 minutes, but I don't want to risk any technical glitches with the airlock or your suits. Once we reach intercept, it'll be Pat's job to assist with docking if needed."
"Mark might be in bad shape when we get him," Marianne said. "He's been in one-quarter gravity for four years. No matter how much he's been able to eat or exercise, his muscles will have signs of atrophy. There's no telling how he'll handle the G's on ascent."
"Which is why you will be stationed just outside Airlock 2," the commander replied. "Jack, if all goes according to plan, you're helping Pat if he needs assistance getting Mark aboard. If things go wrong, you're his backup to get the MAV docked."
"Got it," Jack replied.
"I wish there was more we could do right now," Alannah said. "But all we have left is the wait until launch. Sleep if you can, double check your packing for the surface if you can't."
"We'll get him, Commander," Taylor assured her commander. "Twenty-four hours from now, Mark Watney will be right here in this room."
"Let's hope so," Alannah said. "Dismissed."