Chapter Text
Sol 6
“That’s an order, Martinez!” Lewis’ voice came strained over the radio. The crew of Ares 3 strapped into their acceleration couches, ready for launch. Everyone save for the Commander and Watney. The sandstorm threatened to tip the MAV. The mission long aborted by NASA. With Mark dead, the crew waited for Lewis to return to the Mars Ascent Vehicle so they could return to Hermes. But the storm picked up unexpectedly. The computers beeped angrily, indicating that the MAV was tipping past the safe point. Despite using the OMS in an attempt to stabilize the craft, it was going to tip if a launch didn’t happen immediately.
The only problem was that Lewis was still on the surface. In her prolonged attempt to locate Watney, she wasn’t able to make it to the ship.
“I’m not leaving you behind, Commander.” The pilot’s voice came over the channel.
“MAV tipping to 12.2.” Johanssen announced as she monitored the system. The MAV made unsettling creaking sounds as it tilted.
“You launch right this instant, Martinez. I’m not risking all your lives. Get out of here!” Lewis panted as she started away from the MAV. If she wasn’t going to make it to the ship she certainly wasn’t going to be anywhere near it when the engines ignited.
Despite everything his heart was telling him otherwise; Martinez swallowed his emotion and started the ignition sequence. Just in time. The computer registered the MAV at 12.4 as the boosters sent the ship upwards. Rick had to take control and correct the flight path. After some maneuvering they were back on course for an intercept with Hermes.
“We’ll figure this out, Commander. We’ll save you somehow.” Martinez said before the radio contact cut out due to the distance.
Lewis turned her back to the launch. The engines roared but it sounded muted through the thin atmosphere. Spinning around, Lewis was greeted with the sight of a plume of smoke. Looking upwards, she saw nothing but a diminishing red dot of fire as the MAV left the atmosphere.
Getting her thoughts together, Lewis headed for the airlock. After it cycled, she stumbled inside and yanked off her helmet. “Shit.” She muttered to herself as she placed the helmet on the rack. The Commander leaned against a work bench, her thick gloved hand pinching her nose.
The sandstorm outside raged on. It caused the lights in the Hab to flicker. Not letting her training get away from her, Lewis grabbed her helmet once more. Replacing it over her head, the pressure returning to her flight suit. Until the storm passed she had to maintain proper protocol. The Hab could still breach and she had to be ready for another emergency. She believed Martinez. She just wasn’t sure how they were going to save her.
The Commander moved to take the seat that Johannsen had been sitting in earlier. The computer still showed the storm via satellite. Looking around, everything in the Hab had been abandoned. Personal objects they had brought with them, scientific equipment and basic results of experiments. It wasn’t much work but six sols worth was better than nothing. Even though NASA wouldn’t get that information now. Melissa shook her head. They could still get it. She was going to get off this planet. She had been in other precarious situations in her life. Given, none of them included being stranded on an entire planet but that didn’t discourage her. As an astronaut and sailor she had an advantage to dealing with dire situations.
As Lewis watched the computer screen her heart sank. The sandstorm would pass within the next few hours. A storm that changed everything. Her crew was headed back to Hermes, she was alone on Mars and most important, Mark Watney had been killed. She pulled her lips in. The loss of the botanist and mechanical engineer finally hitting her. She felt as if she had failed him. Her crew was her responsibility. She vowed to bring them all home. She got four of her crew off Mars safely, but losing just one was devastating to her. Especially Mark. Everyone had a soft spot for the man. He always knew what to say and when to say it. His ability to make good of any situation was amazing. Mark could pick the good out of anything.
She wondered what he would tell her now. ‘Don’t worry, Commander, could be worse. This could be the mall during the holiday shopping season.’ Lewis wished she didn’t have her helmet on, that way she could wipe the few tears from her cheeks that fell for her fallen crew member.
Hours passed, the storm abated. Lewis had removed her flight suit an hour ago when she was sure that the integrity of the Hab was intact. The Commander had fallen asleep at the desk, her head resting on her crossed arms. She startled herself awake, blinking in the artificial light. Everything was quiet again. The sandstorm ended. The weather report on the computer indicated the situation outside had returned to normal.
There was a lot she needed to do. Somehow get communication with Hermes. With Martinez now in charge of the ship she knew that he wouldn’t leave orbit. Lewis needed to make a plan for survival, unsure how long she was going to be on the Red Planet. But the most important task at the moment: find Mark’s body. She suited up into her EVA garb.
Out on the surface it barely seemed like a sandstorm had dropped by. Save for the solar panels covered in sand and the rovers half buried. Lewis looked around the landing site, her gaze resting on the empty landing stage of for MAV. The Commander bent her back to look upwards towards the sky. She hoped they had a successful launch. Melissa brought her attention back to the task at hand. She looked west, the original direction that Johanssen said Watney had disappeared. Her eyes scanned the horizon. There was no sign of Watney on the first pass.
Without the storm, walking through the sandy terrain was significantly easier. Lewis watched the ground in front of her, not wanting to somehow miss Mark. She crested a small sand dune, panting as she reached the top. She had been searching for thirty-five minutes. Turning her body to scan the area, her eye caught a glint in the sand. Upon closer examination it was the face shield to Watney’s helmet. Her heart sank. She hadn’t prepared herself for actually finding him. It took her a few moments to navigate safely down the slope. Mark was buried in dirt and sand, lying face down. She could feel hot tears brim her eyes once more.
She wasn’t sure what to do with his body. Lewis wasn’t going to leave him there but she didn’t want to bring him into the Hab. Mark would decompose in the pressurized area. She decided to give him at least a proper grave. Even if it was on Mars. She bent down and could hear his suit's alarms going off. Lewis went to shut off the alerts. She reached for his arm buried in the sand. As she moved his arm, Mark’s other hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. Lewis yelped and stumbled backwards landing on her ass.
Mark took in a deep pained breath.
“Holy shit!” Lewis exclaimed, her heart racing. “Mark!” The Commander attempted to right herself, getting off her backside and to her knees. She was dumbfounded, her mind moving slow as she attempted to process the fact that Watney was alive. The botanist groaned as he moved. “Careful, Mark.” She watched him, her hands in front of her ready to help. Lewis soon realized they had no radio contact between them. Watney couldn’t hear her and she couldn’t hear him.
Looking to her arm readout, her personal radio was online and broadcasting. Leaving her to believe that Mark’s was taken out during his tumble.
Panting, Mark shifted as he attempted to get up. He tapped the computer on his arm, silencing the alarms. Looking up, he saw Lewis. “Commander?” Mark asked weakly, his voice staying inside his suit. He grimaced, his hand going to his abdomen. As he extracted himself from the sand the problem became clear. A thin piece of antenna protruded from his side.
“Don’t move, don’t move.” Lewis said quickly to herself, looking at the wound. Mark’s hand held the piece of metal in place. She wished that she could talk to him.
Mark panted as he looked at the entry site.
The Commander surveyed the injury. She ignored her desire to figure out how he was alive. That could be dealt with later. Right now she needed to make sure he stayed that way. Reaching up slowly with his free hand, Mark grabbed the breach kit from the side of his helmet. Lewis took it from him. His other hand still stabilizing the piece of thin metal. Without speaking, Lewis carefully unfurled Mark’s fingers from the antenna. She wished she could see his face or he could see hers. That way she could give him some visual reassurance. She carefully gripped the piece of metal.
She raised her head to look at Mark. Waiting until his helmet lifted. She couldn’t see his face but the prolonged contact let her know that he understood what she was doing. In that moment she was glad that there was no radio contact between them. In a split second she yanked the antenna fragment from Mark’s side. In that same moment she had the wide end of the breach kit over the hole. Lewis opened the valve and the adhesive bonded with the suit. Creating an air tight seal against the atmosphere of pressure.
Watney panted heavily, dizzied by the pain and the drop in pressure. Once Lewis removed the patch kit, Mark’s hand went over the wounded area. They needed to get back to the Hab. The injury could have been worse under his EVA suit. Lewis got to her feet. With quite a bit of effort she helped Watney up. Their bulky suits made it difficult for her to hold on to him. The trek up the hill was excruciatingly slow. Watney stumbled several times, he cursed to himself every time. When they finally reached the flat land around the Hab the going became easier.
As they crested the hill, Mark got a look around their landing site. Everything looked in order. That was until he realized that the MAV was missing from the scene.
They finally reached the Hab and they stumbled through the airlock door together. The cycle seemed to take ages. Soon the pressure equalized with the Hab and they were able to complete their ingress. Lewis wasn’t aware of how much of Mark’s weight she had been supporting. When she let go of him he dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. She turned and grimaced inwardly. Lewis reached up and removed her helmet and doffed her suit in record time. She knelt on the ground and helped Watney as he messed with his own helmet. She pulled it from his head and set it on the ground.
“Ouch.” Mark said immediately. Lewis looked him over, he looked awful. The Commander had no idea what to say. Her mind had a few dozen questions formulating but she didn’t know where to start.
“Let’s get you out of that suit.” She decided and helped him back to his feet. The two worked slowly to remove Watney’s EVA suit. Once the outer suit was removed the sheer amount of blood from the injury became obvious. The blue of his under suit stained and wet. A lot of the blood clotted and thick after evaporating in the thin Martian atmosphere.
“Yikes.” Watney said as they got their first look at the injury.
“Come over here.” Lewis said as she grabbed his elbow and guided him to a chair. Once seated, Melissa disappeared to gather medical supplies. She returned to see Mark’s eyes closed. “Stay awake, Watney.” She said as she pulled up a seat. Lewis handed him a pair of sheers, Mark took them without question. He began to cut his shirt. Even more blood spilled from the wound as the skin tight shirt released the pressure it was providing. A wad of gauze appeared and Lewis pressed it against his side. Mark groaned and clenched his jaw. “Sorry,” She muttered without looking up at him.
Moving the gauze away she inspected the site of impalement. Between being in the Navy and her training with NASA she had dealt with more than enough wounds like this. Part of the training through NASA included doing a week of rounds at the local hospital. Treating ER patients as they came in. This injury was nothing compared to some of the bloody messes that came through the hospital. Nor compared to the wounds that some of her fellow sailors had gotten.
“It’s going to need stitching.” Mark said as he looked at the wound. She looked up, surprised at how his demeanor had remained calm. They had trained for months for emergencies. Keeping calm was vital in making sure a situation didn’t end up worse. What Mark went through wasn’t something they had trained for. She had expected him to be shaken but his disposition seemed even.
Lewis cleaned the wound, removing the gunky blood. When she completed Mark grabbed the anesthetic and injected it around the wound. They waited a few minutes for the medication to kick in. Despite the period of waiting it still hurt like a bitch as Lewis irrigated and stitched up the wound. Mark gripped the arms of the chair until his knuckles turned white. The Commander finished the job with a stark white bandage over the injury. She leaned back in her seat and they sat in silence.
“So the MAV is gone.” Mark broke the silence between them. “But you are still here.” He sighed, his eyelids dropping.
“Yeah.” Lewis replied.
“I’m going to take a wild guess that you didn’t make it to the MAV before it tipped because you were looking for me?” He asked.
“Yep.” Lewis responded.
“And now we’re both stuck on Mars.”
“Correct.”
“Well, fuck.”