Stranded -The Martian

Chapter 2

*Sol 18* - Brooks POV

"Commander, you should come inside. You're gonna want to see this." Johanssen told the Commander with panic evident in her voice.
"What is it?" Lewis questioned.
"A storm warning." Johanssen answered quickly wanting Commander to see it as soon as possible.
"I saw that in this morning's briefing. We'll be inside before it hits."Lewis told Johanssen as she kept on collecting samples with Vogel.
"Yeah, they upgraded their estimate. The storm's gonna be a lot worse."Johanssen alerted Lewis. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around as they storm began.
"Martinez, how does it look?" Lewis asked Martinez who was by the MAV.
"Not good." Martinez answered as everyone but him made their way inside.

"1,200 kilometers in diameter, bearing 24.41 degrees." Lewis said as she read it off the screen.
"That's tracking right towards us." Johanssen told Lewis.
"Based on current escalation, estimated force of 8,600 newtons."Lewis read in disbelief. The rest of the crew had shocked faces when they heard the estimated force.

"What's the abort force?" Watney asked.
"7,500." Me and Beck answered in unison
"Anything more than that and the MAV could tip." Martinez informed them.
"Do we scrub?" Vogel questioned Lewis.
"Begin abort procedure." Lewis replied without hesitation.
"We are estimating with a margin of error. We could wait it out." Vogel countered.
"Let's wait it out." Watney encouraged, "Let's wait it out."

Johanssen turned towards the Commander, "Commander?"
"Prep emergency departure." Lewis said after thinking for a few seconds.
"Commander?" Watney asked.
"We're scrubbed. That's an order." Lewis said sternly as she walked out the room for departure.

We went to get our suits and helmets on when Beck stopped me and asked, "Are you okay?".

"There is a massive storm going on and we are preparing to leave. But apart from that I am fine." I replied with a small smile.

"I'm not convinced." Beck responded with concern laced in his voice, "You don't have to lie to me Lucy."

"I'm fine, I promise." I reassured him.

When we were ready, we went into the airlock so we could get to the MAV.

"Everyone ready?" Lewis questioned.

"Ready." We all replied.

The airlock door was opened and a massive gust of wind blew Lewis back into Vogel, who crashed into Beck, who crashed into me and I bashed my foot against the wall of the airlock and I groaned in pain. When we got outside, I fell over as my foot was so sore so Watney helped me and supported my weight.

"Commander, we're at 10 degrees, and the MAV is gonna tip at 12.3." Martinez informed us.
"Hey! We might be able to keep the MAV fromtipping." Watney shouted through the storm.
"How?" Lewis asked curiously.
"Use the cables from the comms mast as guy-lines... anchor it with the Rover's." Watney answered through the storm as we made our way to the MAV.

"Watch out!" Lewis screamed as a piece of debris broke off the Hab. Watney did the stupid protective thing and put me behind him but we were both hit by it.
"Watney! Brooks!" Lewis shouted into her headset.

I groaned in pain from my foot and from the sharp pain in my side from the landing.

"Warning. Suit breach detected." The MAV alerted Martinez.
"What happened?" Martinez questioned.
"They were hit." Johanssen responded.
"Before we lost telemetry, their decompression alarm went off." Beck said.
"Where did you last see them?" Lewis questioned.
"I don't know where they are." Johanssen replied.
"What are the vitals on their suits?" Lewis questioned again.
"They are offline." Johanssen responded sadly.
"A complete loss of signal on Watney and Brooks." Lewis informed the whole crew.
"Beck!" Vogel shouted.
"Yeah?" Beck shouted back.
"How long can they survive decompression?" Vogel asked.
"Less than a minute." Beck responded.

"Everyone, hone in on Martinez's suit. It'll get you to airlock. Get in, prep for launch." Lewis commanded everyone.
"What about you,Commander?" Vogel asked.
"I'm gonna search a little longer."Lewis answered and everyone looked at her with disbelief, "Get moving! Go!"

The last thing I heard was Commander Lewis' voice screaming our names before black dots clouded my vision and darkness took over...