The Last Days on Mars

1

(WIND BLOWS)

WOMAN:

First big one of the season.

MAN:
Yep.

It's heading right for base.

WOMAN:

It's gonna mess up Kim's dig.

She's not gonna like that.

Yeah, well, I don't

like it much either.

There's a surprise.

Lighten up, Vince,

a bit of dust never hurt anyone.

It's not the dust

I'm worried about.

- VINCE:
Harrington, you seeing this?

- Yeah, it's a beast.

Cycle down the backup grids

in case we lose anything.

- (JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)

- We'll be back as soon as we pick up Kim.

(DRILLING)

VINCE:
Campbell to Aldrich.

VINCE:
Campbell to Aldrich.

(VINCE SIGHS)

Campbell to Aldrich.

Come in, Kim.

It's 15:
30, Kim.

Come on, Kim, time to wrap it up.

F*** off.

Actually, I'd be happy to, Kim.

Unfortunately, Brunel

wants you back at the briefing.

KIM:
Well, he'll have to wait,

won't he?

(SIGHS)

Ten things about Mars you won't

miss when you're back on Earth.

Only ten?

Uh... storms.

Your driving.

Kim.

Kim.

- Kim.

- (CHUCKLES)

A six-month commute home

in a floating coffin. With Kim.

Is that ten?

I've lost count already.

It's not a coffin, Vince.

But that's an interesting

choice of words.

Okay. A nice big spaceship.

What do you want me to say?

WOMAN:
We get out

and walk at the end.

On green grass.

Under blue skies.

Yeah.

Green grass. Blue skies.

(VINCE SINGING)

Blue skies around the corner

Everything's gonna be right

Never a cloud

in those bright blue skies

(HUMS)

WOMAN:
Running late, Kim.

KIM:

Don't worry, I'll take the heat.

Did you get all the

samples you wanted?

Does it matter?

We're still going back empty-handed.

Come on, Kim. That's not fair.

We've achieved a lot here.

Yeah, like what?

As far as I'm concerned, we're just

sharpening pencils for the next crew.

Whoever remembered the second man

on the moon anyway?

WOMAN:
It was Buzz Aldrin.

VINCE:
Yeah, first man

to piss on the moon.

What?

He pissed himself on the moon.

You didn't know that?

Well, that's something for us all

to aspire to, isn't it?

I just don't want to go

home with nothing.

- Six months isn't enough time.

- You could always stay.

Vincent, why don't you just go...

Let's go.

MAN 1:
Rover One, where are you?

We've got circuits failing all over.

VINCE:
Sorry. Got held up.

On our way.

All right,

but we need you back here.

We've lost our link to the Aurora

and Harrington can't handle it alone.

Where's Vincent?

I wanna talk to my daughter.

On his way, I hope.

Six months cruising and now this.

Bit of a mess.

Be all right. We're in the home

stretch. One more day.

Hey. When you wake up,

I'd love to know how long it'll

be before skylink's restored.

Sorry. Uh...

- Yeah, nearly there.

- (COMPUTER BEEPS)

Ah, yeah. This should be it.

Here we go.

MAN:
We've lost your signal,

do you copy?

Sorry, guys. We had a power

outage due to the storm.

We can see it from Sat Four.

You had us worried for a minute.

All right, time check: final approach

burn in 19 hours, 56 minutes.

Copy that. Safe orbit.

Be great to see you guys again.

Brunel out.

- MAN 1:
For f***'s sake.

- MAN 2:
Jesus, no.

BRUNEL:
All right.

Manual check everything.

All systems.

WOMAN:

What are you so happy about?

HARRINGTON:

Vince, tell me you're close by.

We're on our own until you get

these systems back online.

VINCE:
Roger that.

Almost there.

Keep losing charge on this thing.

Don't want to push it too hard.

Roger that, Vince.

MAN:
I need a word.

BRUNEL:
All right. Okay.

- I need to go back out again.

- Forget it.

We've got a briefing.

We need everyone on base.

What's going on?

Gamma sensor on Site Nine

isn't responding.

Storm damage, possibly.

I don't know.

You didn't check it

before you came back?

What do you want me to say?

I'm a f***ing idiot? I'm sorry.

Yeah, I'm sorry, too.

The sun's about to go down.

I signed off on this site.

I'll be quick.

It's going to look bad,

really bad for everybody

if the relief crew

has to come out and fix it.

A lot of things

need fixing around here.

You'll have Vincent in no time.

Take Harrington.

And make sure you're back

before dark. Is that clear?

Thank you.

I want everybody cleaned up

before we do our final briefing.

You know I don't f*** around.

Harrington, let's go.

Rover number two, now.

Sir, you want us to go outside?

Just make sure you're back

before dark.

(SIGHS)

- WOMAN:
Are you all right?

- Huh?

VINCE:
Yeah. Yeah.

Listen.

- (BEEP)

- Never get sick of that sound.

- VINCE:
Where are you guys going?

- Soak up some more radiation.

Try making babies

after this mission, huh?

- WOMAN:
Too funny.

- Well, I'm laughing.

- What the hell are you doing?

- Harry...

If that cooling system's down,

I'm gonna need your help back there.

Sorry, man. You're gonna have to

speak to Brunel. It's not my call.

(MAN SINGS IN SERBIAN)

We bust our asses to get back here

and those pricks get to

f***ing go out again.

Nineteen hours.

It's just 19 hours.

So what do you know

about cooling systems?

HARRINGTON:
So what's the score?

MAN:
Marko Petrovic one, Kim nil.

- What?

- Never mind.

We're fixing a broken sensor.

Did you hear?

Right. So are we gonna be long?

Well, it takes as long as it takes.

Oh, come on, man.

Brunel's not gonna like this.

You want to speed things up, Harry,

go prep the sample boxes then, okay?

Date, grid reference,

and new prefix. MA-1.

MA-1?

Microscopic anomaly.

(CHUCKLES)

- Hold on. Does Brunel know?

- Just trust me on this one, okay?

(CHUCKLES)

Are you cosy in there?

Like a bug in a rug.

- You talk to Ella?

- No, I missed the window.

Sh*t, man. I'm sorry about that.

I got... you know, delayed.

- Kim.

- Yeah.

Never mind. I'll get

another chance back on Aurora.

Hey, I come bearing gifts.

You want some?

- Jesus Christ.

- What's up?

Half the C02 scrubbers

are down on the Aurora.

Check out this approach trajectory.

These guys are gonna get

pulled over for drunk driving.

Can't we at least get on board

before you start worrying

about the Aurora?

Aren't you excited to go home?

Home isn't the issue.

It's the six months it takes

to get there

strapped to the back of

a nuclear warhead I'm worried about.

(SIGHS)

- What?

- Are you all right?

(CHUCKLES)

Come on, Irwin.

Can we please not do

the whole analysis thing right now?

- I got a lot of work to do.

- You know how it is.

You're not happy if things

aren't working.

I'm not happy if you're not happy.

I'm happy. I'm ecstatic. See?

- Okay. All right.

- See? Happy, happy, happy.

All right, we're happy.

Uh-oh.

Get the popcorn out.

(MUFFLED ARGUMENT)

Who's your money on?

Are you kidding me?

Kim. Every time.

She's got a point, though.

How come Marko gets a free pass?

So, what do you reckon?

We all go back home, find God,

write a poem about it

like the moon walkers did?

It did change them.

They all said so.

People don't really change.

Put them under enough pressure,

you find out who they really are.

God, that is deep.

Are you gonna put that in a poem?

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