The Martian

*Sol 18 on the Ares 3 Mars Mission*

It was a sunny Sol in Acidalia Planitia. The whole Ares 3 crew were busy working on Sol 18. Beck, Johannsen and one of the Watneys were inside while Lewis, Vogel, Martinez and the older Watney were outside collecting soil samples.

"Alright team, stay insight of each other," Commander Lewis spoke, "let's make NASA proud today"

"How's it looking over there Watney?"

"Well, you'll be happy to hear that in grid section 1428 the particles were predominately course, but in 29 they're, er, much finer and should be ideal for chem analysis"

"Oh, wow. Did everyone just hear that? Mark discovered dirt! Should we alert the media?" Martinez joked.

"Oh yeah, what are you doing today Martinez? Making sure the MAV's still up right?"

"Well, I'd like you to know that visual inspection of the equipment is important to mission success and I'd like to report that the MAV is still up right" both the Watneys laughed at his reply then continued with their jobs.

"Watney, you keep leaving your channel open, which leads to Martinez responding, which leads to all of us listening, which leads to me being annoyed" Lewis perked up with a bit of sass.

"Roger that. Martinez, the Captain would like you to please, shut your smart mouth" Watney informed Martinez, leading he to chuckle.

"We'd prefer you to use a different adjective to describe Martinez's mouth" Beck chimed in making (Y/N) Watney laugh quietly at her boyfriend.

"Did Beck just insult me?"

"Dr Beck and yes" (Y/N) heard her brother reply to the Pilot while he laughed.

"All happy to turn the radios off from here, Commander. Just say the word" Johannsen joined the conversation.

"You know, Commander. It would be great if you could shut the boys up. I'm kinda getting sick of Watney's voice" (Y/N) joked, making the whole crew laugh and Mark Watney offended.

"Hey, er, Johannsen. You know the constant communication bet-"

"Shut 'em off" Lewis ordered and Johannsen did so. Watney was pissed and stood up and gave a 'What the Fuck?!' gesture to Lewis.

"I apologise for my country men, Vogel"

"I accept it. How many samples do we need, Commander?" Vogel asked.

"7," Lewis knelt down, "100 grams each." After she said that, a buzzing alarm rang through the Hab. (Y/N) dropped what she was doing and ran to the computer next to Johannsen, one of her best friends.

"We have a mission update," she turned to Beck, "storm warning. Commander, you should come inside. You're gonna wanna see this"

"What is it?" Lewis collected more soil samples.

"Storm warning" the younger Watney replied.

"I saw that in this mornings briefing. We'll be inside before it hits.

"Yeah, they, er, they upgraded their estimate," Beck stood behind Johannsen and next to Watney 2.0. His arm snaked around her waist as they made eye contact, "the storms gonna be a lot worse." Outside, Lewis and Martinez both turned around to see the storm.

"Martinez, how's it look?"

"Not good" he replied. Minutes later, 6 crew members, all but Martinez, were in the Hab, all looking at Johannsens computer.

"1200 kilometres in diameter, bearing 24.41 degrees"

"That's tracking right towards us" Johannsen informed everyone.

"Based on current escalation, estimated force of, 8600 Newtons?"

"What's the abort force?" Mark Watney asked.

"7500" both Beck and Watney replied.

"Anything more than that and the MAV will tip" Martinez said.

"We scrub?" Vogel asked.

"Begin abort procedure"

"We are estimating with a margin of error. We could wait it out" Vogel suggested.

"Let's wait it out," everyone looked at Mark, "let's wait it out"

"Commander?"

"Prep emergency departure" Lewis left the room.

"Commander?" Mark called after her.

"We're scrubbed, that's an order" the whole crew started emergency departure. Martinez sorted out the MAV, the rest of them sorted out themselves and the Hab then made their way to Airlock 1.

"Martinez, how long before take off?"

"12 minutes" he replied.

"Anyone gets lost, home in on my suits delimitory, ready?"

"Ready!" Mark gave her the thumbs up and she opened the door. A huge gust of wind brought in dirt and rocks from the ground while knocking over Commander Lewis.

"Commander!" Some called out at the sudden loss of sight of Lewis.

"Are you okay?" (Y/N) asked.

"I'm okay!" The 6 crew members walked out of the Airlock and started their journey towards the MAV and Martinez. They all struggled to walk.

"Commander, the MAV is at 10 degrees and will tip at 12.3"

"Hey! We might be able to keep the MAV from tipping!" Mark called.

"No!" The aerial dish was wobbling.

"Use the cable of the cosmas as guide lines and anger it with the rover th-"

"Look out!" Lewis called while the aerial dish came off its place and through the crew. Everyone ducked it apart from Mark, who got swept away.

"Mark! Mark, where are you?" His sister called, scared she'd lost him.

"Warning. Suit breach detected" a voice said inside the MAV.

"What happened?"

"He was hit" Johannsen replied.

"Watney report!"

"When we lost visual, his decompressure alarm went off."

"Johannsen, have you got a signal?"

"He's off-line, I don't know where he is!"

"He's what?!" (Y/N) worried.

"What are the vitals on his suit?"

"He's off-line, he's off-line!"

"Negative, complete loss of signal on Watney." Beck informed the crew while (Y/N) started tearing up. She came on Mars with her brother, now she has to leave without him.

"Beck?" Vogel asked.

"Yeah?"

"How long can he survive decompression?"

"Less than a minute"

"Line up," the Commander ordered, "walk west. He may be prone, we don't wanna step over him."

"Commander," Martinez piped up, "we're at 10.5 degrees, tilting to 11 with all the gust of wind"

"Copy that"

"Everyone, home in on Martinez's suit. It'll get you to the MAV. Get in and prep for launch."

"What about you, Commander?"

"I'm gonna search a little longer," she replied, "get moving. Go!"

"I'm coming with you" (Y/N) spoke through tears.

"No, go to the ship and follow orders"

"(Y/N) please, don't. Come to the ship" Beck tried to persuade her.

"No. He's my brother and if he's alive I'm not leaving him here!" She started looking while the others went to the MAV. Beck watched as she walked away, then started going to the MAV, knowing he couldn't possibly change her mind.

"Watney! Watney report!" They both called out into the storm.

"The MAV's at 11.6 degrees, one good gust and we're tipping"

"If it tips, you launch. Go to the ship, (Y/N)"

"Do you really think I'm gonna leave you behind?"

"That's an order, Martinez" by this point, (Y/N) had already gone off a different way to Lewis and was searching.

"Watney," she pleaded, "Mark, please!" As soon as she said that, an object knocked her down. Another noise erupted throughout the MAV.

"Warning. Connection lost" a voice said.

"Johannsen?"

"Yeah?"

"What's the signal on (Y/N)?"

"Negative," she gasped, "off-line"

"No! No, no, no. She isn't. She probably turned it off to stop listening to us all" Beck cried.

"That's highly unlikely in her situation. She's off-line, I don't know why!" Johannsen replied. The 3 of them got to the MAV and started climbing the ladder.

"Martinez, what about the proximity radar. Could that detect the Watney's suits?"

"It's only made to see the Hermes to orbit, not a piece a metal in a suit"

"Give it a try"

"What is she thinking? She knows the infa-red can't get through a sand storm"

"Negative signal on the proximity radar" Johannsen looked one last time at Mars to see if she could see either of one of them.

"Commander, I know you don't wanna hear this but, Mark and (Y/N) are dead" Beck sniffled.

"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you man?"

"My best friends just died, I don't want my Commander dying too" Beck replied, strapping himself securely in.

"Stability warning" the voice said again.

"Commander, you need to get back to the ship, now" Vogel said.

"13 degrees"

"We're past balance, we'll never rock back"

"I've got one more trick left, then I'm following orders, Commander"

"You're firing the OMS?"

"That's right"

"Commander!" Johannsen called.

"On my way" she stumbled toward the ship.

"Johannsen, let's go" she climbed up the ladder into the MAV. Lewis finally got the the ship, looking back over the horizon one last time before climbing up the ladder as well.

"We're 11.5 and holding. Ready to go on your command" Lewis nodded slightly.

"Commander, I need you to verbally tell me whether or not"

"Launch" she breathed out, she watched as Martinez pressed the green button and all 7 seats fell backwards, all but 2 filled. The crew didn't want to leave the Watneys behind but had no choice. They'd never be forgotten.

*On the Hermes*

The whole crew was silent. From 7 down to 5, the impact both the Watneys had made on them was noticeable and it was seemingly quiet. Too quiet. As the 5-man crew sat in the lounge, the silence wasn't awkward, it was full of mourning and grief, especially for one astronaut.

"Look," Lewis spoke up, "I know you all feel guilty for what happened with (Y/N) and Mark, but it was my fault. You were all following orders like you should and I left them behind"

"Commander, if anything it's my fault," Beck spoke up.

"Beck, it coul-"

"It was," he continued, "I promised Mark, and (Y/N), I would protect her and save her whatever. And I left her on Mars. I could've saved her, Mark would've died whatever happened because his suit breached, but I could've stopped her going after him. And I didn't. I'm sorry." He quickly stopped talking before he let out anymore secrets and starting crying. The whole crew was silent. That happened a lot after the incident. They were quietly grieving their loss but knew they had to focus on the mission.

"Let's stop talking about this now. Everyone go to your duties, Beck, stay here" everyone exited the room, all going to different places to do different things.

"Yes Commander?"

"Don't put yourself down about what happened," Lewis started, "how long?"

"I don't understand Commander"

"How long has this gone on between you two?"

"A week before we left Earth. We both knew it was wrong but we didn't want to let each other go, we love each other, but she's gone so it doesn't matter anymore," he started tearing up, "if she and Mark survived the storm, they can only live up to sol 150 with food, that's with the water reclaimer and oxygenator not breaking. I can't...I can't believe she'll die, b-both of them"

"You can leave," Lewis looked down trying to hide her tears while realising what Beck said was true, "God save you both."

*On Mars*

(Y/N) woke with a start. Red dust was covering her view and there was a heavy object on her left foot. She sat up, being careful not to injure her foot further, and looked around. The MAV was gone, the Hab was still intact apart from the aerial dish and there was no sign of Mark.

"Mark? Mark! Marky, please!" She cried and pleaded. She looked to her left when she heard an alarm go off. A constant, obnoxious noise rung from a suit. When she saw Mark was alive, she lifted the object off her foot with a little bit of ease, then ran over to assist him. He was panting and screaming slightly.

"Mark, Mark. Are you okay?"

"No. Help (Y/N), please. The aerial, in my side" she looked down to see a long metal rode sticking out of his body. She gasped in shock and said to no one in particular,

"Houston, we have a problem"

------------------------------------------------------
Dun, dun, duuuunnnn! Okay, it's not that dramatic but still.

-MrsEvanStan 💕