The Martian: Voyage Home

Chapter 3

[A/N: I have been editing this for a while... sorry it has not been up! Also, quite proud of this book since I do not have a Beta]

LOG ENTRY: MISSION DAY 690

We are going to live. I repeat. I am not going to die from radiation exposure! I should probably explain... Okay, so the coating around the hull that protects us from radiation was wearing down and only at 60% efficiency. Key word: was. Hurrah for Mark Watney! I have saved my crew (technically not my crew). I managed to rig some of the other systems to give the protective coating more power, which I might add, also means that the protective shielding is at 90% efficiency. One bad thing though, I had to destroy some minor wiring to re-wire it to get all that power, here's hoping Vogel does not find out that there's only five spare low-input wires left.

...

Johanssen sat down at the sysop station in the rec room. She quickly logged in to the hermes system and brought up the new data dump for the day. "Lewis, Vogel," she called, you have personal messages, I've dispatched them to your lap tops. "Watney," she said, "you might want to come here." Watney walked easily over from the table where he was reading. He walked up behind Johanssen and audibly gasped.

"I'm popular," he announced, looking at the hundreds of messages addressed to him.

"No kidding," Martinez said from his seat at the table.

"Oh, and Martinez," Johanssen said scrolling down the screen. "You have five messages, hang on, I'll send them to you now."

"Thanks," Martinez said.

"No problem."

Johanssen scrolled even further down to find a video message from her Dad. She clicked on it and the face of a somber looking man in his late sixties filled the screen. Johanssen smiled, it was nice to see him again, even if it was just a video.

"Beth," the video started. "It's your mother." The smiled on Johanssen's face instantly turned downward into a look of shock and surprise. "She, she's not well. It's, her hip." Beck heard the video from the other side of the room and debated whether to go over to the sysop station. The man in the video looked even more worried against the background of Johanssen's childhood home. "She fell on Saturday. Down the stairs. I didn't tell you because NASA said it could distract you from your mission. I am so sorry." He said. "I have attached the medical file, I know how you are with knowing everything," he continued with a small smile. "I love you." he said as the video ended.

Beth sat there with a look of surprise on her face as she tore her eyes away from the computer screen. The whole crew was there, looking at her. She knew it was only because they cared and not to be nosy or anything, but she did not care. Johanssen stood up slowly and walked to the door in silence. Once at the door she turned and floated down the hallway in zero-g. Her quarters were claustrophobic at the best of times, but at least she was alone, at least, she thought, she had time to think. Johanssen knew that someone would be sent by her crew members, probably Beck, to ensure that she was okay. But for now, she had a bit of privacy.

...

LOG ENTRY: MISSION DAY 693

So, quite a lot has happened in the last few days. Johanssen is still in shock. We all heard the message her Dad sent her (where he explained her Mom's (Mum's) broken hip). They say her Mom (Mum) is going to be fine, though, and Beck, with permission of course reviewed her medical records, he agrees. Everyone on the ship itself is still fine though. Well, I might not be for much longer, DrBossyBeck has been slowly decreasing my Vicodin doses. Anything else? Oh, yes Vogel's daughter had a birthday. She is ten, I think. His wife sent him a video of her birthday party. Bye, whoever is reading this in the future. Got. to. go. Fix some more things. Technically, I have more time to sleep, more food and less work than my colleagues, but no-one has accounted for the damage that my crew mates have done to my plants while I was gone. Time for damage repair.

...

Mindy Park stood outside the door to Teddy Sander's office. This was one of the most daunting things she had ever done. Why does he want to see me? Am I fired? Do not be ridiculous... These things ran through her mind so fast and so frequently that she barely heard him call, "Come in."

...

It turned out that Mindy was not fired, the very opposite in fact. She had been promoted. Miss Mindy Park was the new head of interplanetary satellite operations.