The Martian Page #6

a gravity assist and adjust course.

While we're doing that...

we resupply with the probe...

The Taiyang Shen.

...pick up whatever provisions we need...

and now we're accelerating towards Mars.

You're Mars.

Now, we're going too fast

at this point to fall into orbit...

but we can do a flyby.

What good is a flyby if we can't get

Watney off the surface?

Watney would intercept using the MAV.

And then we just head home.

I've done the math. It checks out.

-Rich.

-Yes, sir.

Get out.

All right.

-Is he right?

-Yeah.

Bruce, what do you think?

Well, if Vincent says so.

We need to use the Taiyang Shen?

What am I missing?

Why is that important?

Because we can only do one.

Send Watney enough food

to last till Ares 4...

or send Hermes back

to get him right now.

Both plans require the Taiyang Shen,

so we have to choose.

But what about the Hermes crew?

We'd be asking them to add

533 extra days to their mission.

Yeah. They wouldn't hesitate,

not for a second.

Can the Hermes function for 533 days

beyond the scheduled mission end?

It should.

Built to last the full Ares mission...

so technically, it's only halfway

through its lifespan.

But if something goes wrong...

Then we lose the crew.

So what? We either have a high chance

of killing one person...

or a low chance of killing six people.

How do we make that decision?

We don't have to make it, Bruce.

He does.

Yeah, well, bullshit.

It should be Commander Lewis' call.

We still have a chance to bring

five astronauts home safe and sound.

I'm not risking their lives.

Let them make that decision.

Mitch, we're going with option one.

You goddamn coward.

-Johanssen?

-Yeah.

I know it's your private time.

Can I bother you for a second?

Yeah, go ahead.

-Where are you?

-The gym.

What's up?

I just got an email from my wife

and the subject line says, "Our children."

My computer won't open the attachment.

Okay.

Let's take a look.

Let's see.

This isn't a JPEG.

It's a plain ASCII text file.

I don't really know

what we're looking at.

Does that make any sense to you?

"Rich Purnell Maneuver."

It's a course maneuver for the Hermes.

And the mission concludes

with Earth intercept, 211 days later.

Would it work?

We ran the numbers. They check out.

It's a brilliant course.

So why all the cloak and dagger?

Because it goes directly against

NASA's decision.

Yeah. If we do the maneuver,

they'd have to send the supply ship or we die.

We have the opportunity to force their hand.

So, are we gonna do it?

If it was up to me,

we'd already be on our way.

But it is, though, isn't it? Up to you.

Not this time.

This is something NASA

expressly rejected.

We're talking about mutiny here,

which is not a word that I take lightly.

So we do this together or not at all.

And before you answer,

consider the consequences.

If we mess up the supply rendezvous,

we die.

If we mess up the Earth gravity assist,

we die.

If we do everything perfectly...

we add 533 days to our mission.

533 more days before we see

our families again.

533 days of unplanned space travel...

where anything could go wrong.

If it's mission critical, we die.

Sign me up.

All right, cowboy, slow down.

You and I, we're military.

Chances are, we go home,

they'll court martial us.

-Yeah, there's that.

-And for the rest of you guys...

I guarantee they will never

send you back up here again.

Good. So, if we go for it,

how would it work?

I plot the course and execute it.

Remote override.

They could take over the Hermes

from Mission Control.

Can you disable it?

Hermes has four redundant

flight computers...

each connected to three

redundant comm systems.

We can't shut down the comms because

we'd lose telemetry and guidance.

And we can't shut down the computers

because we need to run the ship.

I'd have to disable remote override

on each system.

It's part of the OS,

I'd have to jump over the code.

Okay, but, like, in English,

what would that mean?

I can do it.

Great.

Well, it has to be unanimous.

If we do this,

it'll be over 900 days of space.

That's more than enough space

for one life...

so, yes.

I vote yes.

Let's go get him.

Johanssen?

Yes.

Yeah!

Got an unscheduled status update

from Hermes.

Roger. Read it out.

Message reads,

"Houston, please be advised.

"Rich Purnell

is a steely-eyed missile man."

What?

Flight, Guidance.

Hermes is off-course.

CAPCOM, advise Hermes they're drifting.

Guidance, get a correction ready.

Negative, Flight, it's not drift.

They've adjusted course.

What the hell?

Telemetry, any chance

this is instrumentation failure?

Negative, Flight.

Guidance, work at how long they can stay

on this course before it's irreversible.

Working on that now, Flight.

Hey. Who's Rich Purnell?

I dunno.

Will somebody find out

who the hell Rich Purnell is?

Annie will go before the media

this morning...

and inform them of NASA's decision

to reroute the Hermes to Mars.

Sounds like a smart move.

Considering the circumstances.

Whoever gave them the maneuver

only passed along information.

Crew made the decision on their own.

You may have killed them, Mitch.

We're fighting the same war.

Every time something goes wrong,

the world forgets why we fly.

I'm trying to keep us airborne.

It's bigger than one person.

No.

It's not.

When this is over,

I'll expect your resignation.

I understand.

Bring our astronauts home.

Every Ares mission requires

three years of pre-supplies.

So NASA decided a long time ago

it's a lot easier...

to send some of the stuff beforehand

rather than bring it with us.

So, as a result, the MAV for Ares 4...

is already there at the

Schiaparelli Crater, just waiting.

So the plan is for me to use that

to go into orbit...

just as the Hermes is passing...

and I guess they catch me?

In space.

So, I've got 200 sols to figure out...

how to take everything here

that's keeping me alive...

the oxygenator, the water reclaimer,

the atmospheric regulator...

bring that all with me.

And luckily, I have the greatest minds

on Planet Earth...

really, all of the brainpower

on the entire planet...

helping me with this endeavor.

And so far they've come up with...

"Hey, why don't you drill holes

on the roof of your Rover...

"and hit it as hard as you can

with a rock?"

We're gonna get there.

533 days longer?

And you said yes to this?

He would have done the same for me.

You know that.

Cheese. You do "cheese"?

Cheese.

He didn't do "cheese."

Did he do "cheese"?

Hey, baby.

Hey.

I got something for you.

Found it in the flea market.

Original pressing.

No!

Not a scratch.

I love it.

All due respect to your CNSA protocol...

but we haven't done things that way...

since Apollo 9.

Did he get that?

I've been thinking about laws on Mars.

There's an international treaty

saying no country can lay claim...

to anything that's not on Earth.

And by another treaty, if you're not

in any country's territory...

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