Sol 79
Mark said, "It's been 48 sols since Darcie and I planted the potatoes, so now its time to reap and re-sow. They grew even better than we expected. We now have 400 healthy potato plants. The smaller ones we'll re-seed. The larger ones are our food supply. All natural, organic, Martian-grown potatoes. You don't hear that every day, do you? But, by the way, none of this matters, at all, if Darcie and I don't figure out how to make contact with NASA..."
Darcie bit her lip and let out a sigh. "Don't finish that thought. I have to get back to my boys."
INT. HAB - NIGHT
Mark and Darcie sat at the table, studying their maps. They couldn't crack the problem.
Darcie pointed to something and the two shared a look. A smile formed on Mark's face and he nodded.
Chryse Planitia.
Mark leapt from his chair, knocking Darcie's chair down in the process. She fell and shot him a look as she stood. He gave her an apologetic look and studied the map up close.
Mark nodded again and whispered to himself, "I know what Darcie and I are gonna do."
Darcie smiled and said softly, "I think we've got something. Chris, hopefully I will get to see you and our son soon."
EXT. MARS - DAY
Mark and Darcie had uncovered Pathfinder. They stared at it with a similar gleam in their eye. Then he dragged the Lander to the back of Rover 2, and the two began lashing it to a makeshift hitch.
Sol 109
EXT. HAB - DAY
Sojourner sat beside the watching as Mark and Darcie methodically, at a workbench outside the Hab, tooke apart the Lander.
He removed the battery and replaced it with an environment heater. He locked the heater into place, and it clicked.
INT. JPL GARAGE - DAY
PATHFINDER LOG: SOL 0 BOOT SEQUENCE INITIATED TIME 00:00:00 LOADING OS... PERFORMING HARDWARE CHECK...
INT TEMPERATURE: - 34C, EXT TEMPERATURE: NONFUNCTIONAL, BATTERY: FULL, HIGAIN: Okay, LOGAIN: Okay, METEOROLOGY: NONFUNCTIONAL, SOLAR A: NONFUNCTIONAL, SOLAR B: NONFUNCTIONAL, SOLAR C: NONFUNCTIONAL, HARDWARE CHECK COMPLETE
BROADCASTING STATUS
LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL... LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL... LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL... SIGNAL ACQUIRED.
INT. JPL GARAGE - DAY
Vincent, Bruce and the JPL team saw the words come main screen. The room began to buzz.
EXT. HAB - DAY
Mark and Darcie stared at the high gain antenna on the Lander. It started to move, angling towards Earth. Mark began to dance and Darcie cheered.
INT. JPL GARAGE - DAY
Vincent and Bruce clustered around the station of Tim who said, "As soon as I received the high-gain response, I directed Pathfinder to take a panoramic image."
"Have you received it yet?" Vincent asked.
"Yes, but I thought we would all rather
look at this black screen instead of a vibrant red planet."
Bruce, off Vincent's look, said, "Tim is our finest comm tech, and we all appreciate his acerbic wit." He mouthed "I will fire you" to Tim.
"Incoming."
On the screens, the panoramic started to appear, one stripe at a time.
"Martian surface... more surface..." Vincent said.
YOU ARE READING
Space Odyssey
Science FictionDarcie is chosen for and sent on a mission, alongside others, for, what feels to her, as a once in a lifetime opportunity. While she and her husband don't want to leave their young son behind, they know he's in good hands. But when the mission goe...
