SOL 18; ARES III HAB OUTSIDE
The view out here was amazing.
There was no way that she could ever get sick of it.
Clearing her throat, the woman went back to work.
Today was going to be an amazing day. She was so sure of it.
Of course, she was wrong.
Oh so very wrong.
She could hear Rick and Mark chatting over the communication system, which meant that he left his channel open. Again. They really needed to stop doing that.
They always did that. Most of the time she loved hearing their banter, but she knew that it pissed the Commander off.
"Watney, you keep leaving your channel open." She heard Commander Lewis' voice through her com. Stifling her own laughs, Olivia just went back to gathering her samples. A couple seconds later, she could hear the signal being cut, and she shook her head.
How she put up with them, she had no idea.
She could hear the Commander apologizing to Vogel, and she shook her head again. Placing the cap on the last of the samples she grabbed, she pushed herself up from the ground. Blowing out a breath, she was headed back over to where Vogel and Commander Lewis were.
Olivia could hear Johanssen talking about an update from Mission Control, something about a dust storm. They had been briefed about it that morning, but it didn't raise any concerns then. Which obviously meant something had most likely changed.
She heard the command for everyone to head inside the HAB. As Liv moved closer to the HAB, she let her eyes drift up to the sky. Sure enough, there was a dark dust wall headed their way.
Well fuck.
And fuck indeed.
The storm was projected to be worse. So much worse.
The tension in the air was tense, and Liv knew something was going to happen.
"Based on current escalation, estimate a force of, eighty-six hundred Newtons."
"What's the abort force?" She could hear herself, and Mark asked at the same time.
"7,500" Beck spoke from his spot from the counter. Olivia leaned against it, and griminced.
"That's not good." She muttered.
She could hear Martinez mentioning something about how much the MAV could take. Would they really abort the mission? They were only 18 days in.
"So we're done? We're scrubbed?" Olivia asked, her tone sharper than what she wanted it to be.
"There's a chance that it won't be as bad." She heard Martinez.
"We could just wait it out." She heard Vogel say from besides her, and Mark quickly agreeing.
After a couple more seconds of silent, they got their answer.
"Begin preparing for emergency departure."
Damn it.
It was a race to pack everything up, with made Olivia glad that she left everything in her room that she didn't need. Pulling her EVA suit on again, she adjusted it and took one last look around the Hab.
She was disappointed and sad to be leaving so soon, but it was for the best. If they waited it out, the MAV could tip, and then they all would be stranded there.
"Ready?" She could hear Johanssen call to her, and Liv nodded.
"Ready."
They all got into the airlock.
"Visibility is almost zero. If you get lost, home in on my suit's telemetry. The wind's gonna be rougher away from the Hab, be ready." She could hear Commander's voice through the com.
Let's do this.
As soon as the airlock was opened, the force of the wind was immense. Olivia staggered and struggled to keep herself upright. Fuck was it difficult. The trek out was worse, and she felt Mark grab her hand, and she shot him a grateful smile.
Of course, while they were getting ready, she had thought of a way to keep the MAV from tipping, involving the cables from the Com dish. But now that she was out in the storm, she knew that there was no way for her to get there and to the MAV before it tipped.
"Hey guys. I think I know a way to keep the MAV from tipping." She could hear Mark call over the Com.
"How?" Came Commander Lewis' response, and Liv faltered but caught herself from falling.
"We could use cables from the solar farm as guy rovers could be anchors. The trick would be getting around the-"
That's when disaster struck.
Quickly, almost like a blur she felt something slam into Mark sending him flying, ripping his hand from hers. She could hear the crew calling for him, and was about to call out herself, when she saw the other part of the communication dish coming straight for her.
Well fuck.
Then it all went dark.
A couple minutes later, the MAV lifts off, painting the area in light.
Unknown to the crew, two astronauts were alive. Unconscious, but alive.
