INT. NASA - MISSION CONTROL - NIGHT
Lewis said over comms, "Mission Control, this is Hermes Actual. We are go for launch, and will proceed on schedule. 10 seconds to launch... mark."
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
Martinez said, "Main engines start."
Johanssen began counting down. "8... 7... mooring clamps released..."
"About five seconds, Watney, Beck," Lewis told them. "Hang on."
INT. MAV - DAY
Mark and Darcie tensed in anticipation. "See you in a few, Commander."
Johanssen said over comms, "4... 3... 2... 1... Liftoff."
Mark and Darcie were slammed back into their acceleration couch.
EXT. LAUNCHSITE - DAY
The MAV launched upward with incredible force.
INT. MAV - DAY
Mark and Darcie couldn't even gasp -- the wind knocked out of them -- they struggled to remain conscious as the ship shook violently.
Mark and Darcie were staring forward, at the Hab canvas, which now had patches where the nosecone used to be.
As the ship accelerated, the canvas began to rip.
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
"Velocity 741 meters per second," Johanssen said. "Altitude 1350 meters..."
"That's too low-" Lewis realized.
"I know," Martinez answered. "It's fighting me-"
"Velocity 850, altitude 1843-" Johanssen informed.
"Watney? Beck?" Lewis called. "Watney, Beck, do you read? Can you report?"
INT. MAV - DAY
Mark and Darcie were barely conscious -- their eyes were drifting from terrified to serene.
The canvas ripped free, revealing the Red Planet.
As it thinned, the red gave way to the black.
That was the last thing Mark and Darcie saw before they fell unconscious was the stars.
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
"They're well below target altitude," Johanssen warned.
"How far below?" Lewis asked.
"Working on it -- Main shutdown in 3...
2... 1... Shutdown."
"Back to automatic guidance," Martinez said. "Confirm shutdown."
"Watney? Beck?" Lewis called. "Do you read?"
INT. HERMES - AIRLOCK 2
"Did she say 68-" Beck began.
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK
SPACE
"-kilometers?" Beck finished. "Kilometers?"
SPACE
Beck said over comms, "They've probably passed out. They pulled 12 G's on the ascent. Give them a few minutes."
"Copy," Lewis replied.
"I have interval pings," Johanssen informed. "Intercept velocity will be 11 meters per second..."
Beck spoke over the comms again. "I can make that work."
"Distance at intercept will be-" She went pale. "We'll be 68 kilometers apart."
"Oh my god," Martinez muttered.
"Keep it together," Lewis told them. "Work the problem. Martinez, do we have any juice in the MAV?"
"Negative, Commander. They ditched the OMS system to make launch weight."
"Then we have to go them. Johanssen, time to intercept?"
"39 minutes, 12 seconds-" Johanssen said.
"What if we point our attitude thrusters
all the same direction?"
"Depends on how much fuel we want to save for attitude adjustments on the trip home," Martinez replied.
"How much do you need?"
"I could get by with maybe 20 percent of what's left."
"Johanssen-"
Johanssen was already working it. "Use 75.5 percent of remaining attitude adjust fuel. That'll bring the intercept range to zero."
"Do it."
"Hang on -- that gets the range to zero, but the intercept velocity will be 42 meters per second-"
"Then we have 39 minutes to figure out how to slow down. Martinez, burn the jets."
EXT. HERMES - SPACE
A whoosh sounded. The attitude thrusters fired. The Hermes changed course.
INT. MAV - DAY
Mark and Darcie's eyelids fluttered. They winced in pain as they slowly regained consciousness.
Beneath them, the orbiting MAV offered an unobstructed view of Mars. The great red planet's horizon stretched out forever as the wispy atmosphere gave it a fuzzy edge.
Mark and Darcie held up their middle fingers before saying, "MAV to Hermes-"
"Watney?! Beck?!" Lewis replied over comms.
"Affirmative, Commander."
"What's your status?"
"My chest hurts," Mark replied. "Judging from Mackenzie's current expression, I'm guessing hers does too. I think she and I broke some ribs. How are you?"
"We're working on getting you two. There was a complication during launch."
"Yeah," Darcie said. "The canvas didn't hold."
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
Darcie continued over comms. "Mark and I think it ripped early in the ascent."
"That's consistent with what we saw."
"How bad is it, Commander?"
"We've corrected the intercept range, but we've got a problem with the intercept velocity."
Mark asked over comms, "How big a problem?"
"42 meters per second."
INT. MAV - DAY
"Well. Shit," Mark said.
"Yet another failure," Darcie muttered in a defeated tone.
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
Everyone struggled to find a solution.
Mark's voice interrupted the silence. "Commander?"
INT. MAV - DAY
Lewis said over comms, "Go ahead, Mark, Mackenzie."
"Darcie and I find something sharp in here and poke a hole in the glove of our EVA suits," Mark suggested. "We could use the escaping air as a thruster and fly our way to you. Since the source is on our arms, we could direct it pretty easy."
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
"I can't see either of you having any control if you did that. You'd be eyeballing the intercept and using a thrust vector you two can barely control."
"Those are very good points. But. Consider this."
INT. MAV - DAY - SPACE
"Darcie and I would get to-"
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK
"-fly around like Iron Man."
"Really?" Darcie said. "I just want to get back to my friends and husband and you're making jokes."
"I can't just let that go. It was too good."
"Whatever."
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
"We should have left them on Mars," Lewis said.
"Excuse me, one of them is my wife," Beck said over comms.
Mark, over comms, said, "Iron Man, Commander. Iron Man."
Lewis rubbed her face and thought about it. "Maybe it's not the worst idea."
"No, it actually is," Martinez replied. "The worst idea. Ever."
"Not their part. But using atmosphere as thrust..." She sprung into action. "Martinez, get Vogel's station up and running."
"It's up. What do you need?"
"I need to know what happens if we blow the VAL."
Both Martinez and Johanssen straightened up.
"You want to open the Vehicular Airlock?" Martinez questioned.
"It would give us a good kick," Lewis told him.
"Yeah. And it might blow the nose of the ship off in the process."
"And... all the air would leave," Johanssen added. "And we need air. To not die."
"We'll seal the bridge and reactor room," Lewis said. "We let everywhere else go vacuo."
"But we'd still have the same problem as Watney and Beck," Martinez told her. "We can't direct the thrust."
"We don't have to. The VAL is in the
nose. We just point the ship at Mark and Darcie."
Martinez read the numbers. "A breach at the VAL would decelerate us 29 meters per second."
"Which gives us a relative velocity of 13 meters per second," Johanssen said.
"Beck -- you hearing this?" Lewis asked.
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
"How do we open the airlock doors?" Martinez wondered. "There's no way to open them remotely, and if anyone's nearby when it blows..."
"Right... right.." She thought for a moment. "Vogel?"
Vogel said over comms, "Go ahead, Commander."
"Take your suit off. I need you to come back in and make a bomb."
INT. MAV - DAY
"Did you say "bomb?"" Mark and Darcie asked.
"You guys are making a bomb without us?" Mark added.
"And me?" Darcie said in a lightly offended tone.
INT. HERMES - AIRLOCK 2 - SPACE
VOGEL
"Um... Again, please, Commander," Vogel said.
Lewis replied over comms, "You're the chemist. Can you make a bomb with what we've got on board?"
"Probably. But... I feel obliged to mention that setting off an explosive device on a spacecraft is a terrible, terrible idea."
"Copy that. Can you do it?"
Vogel thought for a moment. "Ja."
INT. MISSION CONTROL - NIGHT
Lewis' voice rang out through the room. "Houston, be advised: we are going to deliberately breach the VAL to produce thrust."
Chaos erupted at Mission Control.
INT. HERMES - FLIGHT DECK - SPACE
"Beck -- leave your suit on," Lewis said. "Meet Johanssen at Airlock 1. We'll open the outer door. I need you to place the charge on the inner door..."
INT. HERMES - AIRLOCK 2 - SPACE
Lewis continued over comms. "...and climb back to Airlock 2 along the hull."
"Copy," Beck replied. "On my way."
INT. HERMES/MAV - SPACE
Mark and Darcie ripped free a jagged edge of metal scrap from what used to be the console.
"Commander, Darcie and I can't let you guys do this," Mark said. "We're ready to puncture the suits. Let's go with the Iron Man plan."
"Absolutely not," Lewis told them.
"The thing is, I'm selfish. And I want the memorials back home to be just me. Unfortunately Darcie may be in them, but I'll do my damnedest to prevent that from happening. She and I don't want the rest of you losers in them." He added earnestly, "Commander... call it off."
"Oh. Okay. Well, if you want us to call
it off, then I guess we have to oh wait... Wait a minute. Yup, I'm looking at my should patch and it turns out I'm Commander. So shut up."
"Smart-ass," Mark muttered.
Darcie glanced at him. "Hey. If it goes right, it'll save our lives."