The Martian Page #5

at the vast horizons."

"Every day, I go outside and look

at the vast horizons."

"Just because I can."

"Just because I can.

"Tell the others I said hello."

"Will do, buddy."

Pressure stable.

5, 10...

15, 20, 30, 35...

Rich.

Rich.

Wake up.

Sorry, but they're asking for

the probe courses.

What time is it?

It's 3:
42.

Look, I know we're

coming at this backwards...

but we can't commit to a firm

launch date with this many unknowns.

It's all right.

All 25 models for launch will take

414 days to reach Mars.

They vary slightly in thrust duration...

and the fuel requirement

is nearly identical.

Not a good time to launch, is it?

Yeah, Earth and Mars

are really badly positioned.

Heck, it'd almost be easier if you...

Almost easier to what?

I need more coffee.

Are you all right?

It's fine.

Almost easier to what?

You do understand I'm your boss, right?

All right, let's ask the

very, very expensive question.

Is the probe going to be ready on time?

-We're behind.

-Give me a number.

15 days. 15 days and I can get it done.

All right, let's create 15 days.

13 days to mount the probe.

Can we reduce?

It actually only takes three days

to mount the probe.

And we can get that down to two, right?

I can get it down to two.

10 days are for tests and inspections.

How often do those inspections

reveal a problem?

Are you suggesting

we don't do the inspections?

Right now I'm asking how often

they reveal a problem.

One in 20.

But that's grounds for countdown halt.

We can't take that chance.

Anyone else know a safer way

to buy more time?

Dr. Keller, stretch Watney's rations

four more days.

You're not gonna like it,

but that'll get us to 15.

-And we'll cancel the inspections.

-Teddy.

-Sir, if that ever got out...

-It's on me.

You got your two weeks.

Get it done.

So, now I have to hold out

until the probe gets here with more food.

You want to see what

minimal calorie count looks like?

Standard issue ration.

But instead of three of these

every one day...

I'm now eating one of these

every three days.

And now, they've asked me...

to do that.

The point is...

"stretch the rations four more days"...

is a real dick-punch.

I'm gonna dip this potato

in some crushed Vicodin.

And there's nobody who can stop me.

It has been seven days

since I ran out of ketchup.

Up. Up, up. Yeah.

Let's go up here.

Labels facing up.

This is the flight director.

Begin launch status check.

Roger that, Flight.

Beginning launch status check.

Do you believe in God, Vincent?

Yeah.

Yeah, my father was a Hindu,

my mother's a Baptist, so, yeah...

I believe in several.

We'll take all the help we can get.

Launch status check complete.

This is Flight.

We are go for launch.

Proceeding with the count.

10... 9...

8...

7... 6...

Main engines start.

4... 3...

2...

Liftoff.

Good thrust.

Performance is nominal.

The tail is giving good data.

She's rock solid at this point, Flight.

TVCs look good.

We're getting a little shimmy, Flight.

Say again?

We are getting a very large precession.

Are we good?

Flight, it's hitting the redline.

It's spinning on the long axis

around a 17-degree precession.

Launch, what's happening?

Force on Iris is 7 G's.

We've lost readings

on the probe, Flight.

Oh, Jesus Christ.

We've lost it, Flight.

SatCon?

No satellite acquisition of signal.

L.O.S.

L.O.S. here, too.

U.S. Destroyer Stockton reporting

debris falling from the sky.

Everyone in the LCC,

maintain your positions at your consoles.

GC, lock the doors.

"Commander Lewis...

"I may need you to do something for me.

"If I die, I need you to

check in on my parents.

"They'll wanna hear all about

our time here on Mars.

"I know that sucks.

"And it'll be hard

talking to a couple...

"about their dead son.

"It's a lot to ask.

"Which is why I'm asking you.

"I'm not giving up.

"We just need to prepare

for every outcome.

"Please tell them...

"Tell them I love what I do...

"and I'm really good at it.

"And that I'm dying...

"for something big...

"and beautiful...

"and greater than me.

"Tell them I said I can live with that.

"And tell them...

"thank you for being my mom and dad."

We substituted protein cubes

for the standard rations.

The thrust of the launch combined with

the simultaneous lateral vibration...

liquefied the cubes

and created an unbalanced load.

Vincent, why wasn't this addressed

in the inspections phase?

In order to make our launch window,

we were forced to accelerate our schedule.

Their astronaut is going to die.

Of course there are other ways...

...the Taiyang Shen booster.

Our engineers have run the numbers,

and it has enough fuel for a Mars injection orbit.

Why hasn't NASA approached us?

They don't know.

Our booster technology is classified.

So if we do nothing...

The world would never know we could have helped.

Then, for the sake of argument, let's say we

decide to help them...

We'd be giving up a booster and effectively

cancelling Taiyang Shen.

We need to keep this among scientists,

a co-operation between space agencies.

Yes.

Yes, I understand.

Thank you.

Yes!

All right.

Thanks to my uncle Tommy in China,

we get another chance at this.

Now, we finished the Iris probe in 62 days.

We are now gonna attempt

to finish it in 28.

We can jettison any kind of landing system.

We're only sending rations.

We can crash-land on Mars.

You should hang up the phone.

-I'm sorry, who are you?

-My name is Rich Purnell.

I work in Astrodynamics, and you should

hang up the phone right now.

All right, all right.

I'm gonna call you back.

I know how to save Mark Watney.

Your probe plan won't work.

Too many things can go wrong.

I've got a better way.

Astrodynamics?

Yeah.

What the hell is "Project Elrond"?

I had to make something up.

But "Elrond"?

Because it's a secret meeting.

How do you know that?

Why does "Elrond" mean "secret meeting"?

The Council of Elrond.

It's from Lord of the Rings.

Lord of the Rings.

It's the meeting where

they decide to destroy the One Ring.

If we're gonna call something

"Project Elrond"...

I would like my code name

to be "Glorfindel."

Okay, I hate every one of you.

What, Teddy doesn't even

know about this yet?

I'm sorry, who are you?

This is Rich Purnell, Astrodynamics.

Tell them what you just told me.

I can get the Hermes back to Mars

by Sol 561.

How?

Could you stand right there

for me, please?

Thanks.

Right there. Great.

And could you stand right there?

Right there.

Okay, let's pretend that this stapler

is the Hermes...

and you are...

I'm sorry, what's your name again?

Teddy. I'm the Director of NASA.

Cool. Teddy, you're Earth.

And right now, the Hermes

is headed towards you...

starting its month-long

deceleration to intercept.

But instead, what I'm proposing is...

we start accelerating immediately

to preserve velocity and gain even more.

We don't intercept with Earth at all...

but we come close enough to get

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