Ares 5: The Last Martians

Epilogue

241 Days Later

"Houston, we have splashdown."
"Roger, Ares 5. Good to have you back."
Everyone in Mission Control cheered as the Ares 5 crew returned to Earth. The final Ares mission was over at last.
"That was fun," said Brendan.
"Fun?" asked Venkat incredulously.
"Well," said Brendan, "once it's all over, it doesn't seem that stressful."
"True," conceded Venkat.
They were silent for a moment.
"Of course," said Venkat, "it's easy for you to say that. I'm the director of Mars operations, you know. Your job is over. Mine is just beginning."
Brendan grinned. "And you wouldn't give it up for the world, would you?"
"Which world do you mean?" Venkat smiled. "Earth, or Mars?"
"Does it matter?" asked Brendan, smiling. "The answer's the same either way, isn't it?"
Venkat laughed. "Of course. This is what we've been hoping for since the days of Apollo. Mankind expanding to other worlds, becoming a multi-planet species. We all poured our blood, sweat, and tears into this, and it's finally paying off." He paused a moment, overwhelmed with the enormity of what they had accomplished.
"Are you crying?" an incredulous Watney interjected.
"No, of course not!" Venkat hastily wiped his eyes. He looked around at the Ares 3 crew, who had gathered to watch the Ares 5 crew return. "Why are you all still here, anyway? Your job's done. Go home!"
The six of them filed out of the room, chuckling at Venkat's obvious bluster.
"What do you think's going to happen to Su Fa?" Martinez asked.
"They might just put him on trial with Thomas," Beth said. "Thomas is an American citizen, so he  has to have one. Putting them on trial together would streamline the process."
"Apparently the Chinese government is pretending to have had no knowledge of this," said Lewis. "Which they might get away with, but there's no way their space agency can. Their fingerprints are all over it."
Vogel sighed. "A shame. They actually helped us before. What happened?"
"They must've become bitter, I guess," Watney shrugged. "They didn't get much in exchange for rescuing me, after all."
"That's still no excuse for trying to derail the Ares program and all of NASA," said Beck forcefully. He put a hand on Watney's shoulder. "Don't feel bad about this, man. It wasn't your fault you needed to get rescued."
"It wasn't yours, either," Watney pointed out, indicating the rest of the crew. "There's no point assigning blame to anyone but the Chinese."
They all murmured assent, then continued walking in silence. Eventually the Becks fell behind the rest of the crew and walked separately, hand in hand.
"Do you suppose they'll ask us to get involved with the colonization program?" Beth asked, smiling. "I thought we'd be done after Ares 3, but they keep seeming to need our expertise."
Beck smiled back. "Well, you'll certainly be needed again," he said. "There's no one better at your job than you."
Beth blushed and looked down. "You don't even know anything about computers."
"No, but I know you do, and that's what counts." Beck kissed her forehead, gently pulling her a little closer to him. "We really should get home. Ellie probably has enough babysitting money to pay for college many times over with all the time we've spent at work."
Beth shuddered. "I know it was really important, what I've been doing, but I still feel terrible."
"Don't," Beck reassured her. "Thanks to your hard work, our daughter will be able to grow up in a country that wasn't internationally humiliated and actually scored some points against the Chinese. She'll be so proud to be an American, and even prouder that you're her mom."
Beth blushed even deeper. "In that case she really needs to get her priorities straight," she said, smiling shyly. She leaned in and kissed him. "Come on," she said. "Let's go home."

The End