no comm. they're on backside. they'll be clear in. 40 minutes. over their dominant eye. there are no giant viewscreens dominating the room as in missions past. when so moved, the flight director can throw an image on a large general viewscreen. but unless noted, there are no projected images in the room.)
ares, this houston, do you read? ares, this houston, do you read? skavlem continues in the b.g. as -
roger, ares. good to hear from you. we believe you may have suffered a proton field upset. what is your status? silence. silence. bowman struggles to maintain control. tear runs down. takes a deep breath.
roger. we copy that. he lets go of the mike. can't help himself.
jesus fucking god.
the ground crew's dead, your orbit's unstable, and you're gonna burn in less then a day and a half. let's get you home.
okay, scenario three calls for you to lock out systems 17, 22 and 40. kate tries. 40 freeflows, doesn't lock out.
because the margins for error are so small. there's enough fuel to get you home, then if you don't sneeze. it makes us nervous.
you can breathe??!
if they can breathe, can we live there?
we can get a free return trajectory now. she's got enough food and water to bring one person back. russert not happy at all, but -
commander, this is mission control.
ma'am?
we sent a dozen probes even before the biologics started up. eight were return missions.
there's a viking lander.
the twenties were nothing but unmanned sample return missions. everyone wanted to bring back a bucket of mars rocks. they find something near the hab.
you're saying there's martian life.
you're all seeing these?
requiescat in pace.
not a word before it got dark. -25 degrees. -30 degrees.
she's gonna wanna waste a pass trying to get them on the radio.
ares, this is houston.
copy. ares, beginning return she steels herself then reports the rest of the news -
copy that, ares, you are go for return. she slides into the darkness.
she should be clearing. starting the burn. she's not showing. still not showing. and then.
that travel has been increased by approximate two months. concern is that available life support is untenable for duration and current crew strength. gallagher's unimpressed. worms tried to eat him, robots tried to kill him and they're worried about this? feh.