To: Venkat Kapoor, director, Project Ares
From: Irene Shields, chief psychologist, Project Ares
Subject: Psychological evaluation of M. Watney and crew as of Sol 520
Below, based on the media interviews, emails, and other communications, is my personal evaluation of the mental fitness of Mark Watney and the five alien astronauts prior to the planned Sol 551 rendezvous with Hermes. This is a rough evaluation only and does not constitute a detailed diagnosis, as such would require personal interviews and tests in a controlled clinical setting.
SUBJECT: WATNEY, MARK
Although Mark Watney shows some signs of inner nervousness about the upcoming launch, which he masks with redirection and bad jokes, he is obviously relaxed and confident in the efforts of NASA, his crewmates on Hermes, and his crewmates with him in the Whinnybago. Despite the perfectly normal anger he exhibits towards his hostile surroundings, he appears to be as enthusiastic and optimistic towards his alien friends and contact with their civilization as he was about the Ares mission when he was first selected as prime crew for Ares III.
I note no signs of mental fatigue or deterioration, nor any artifacts of desocialization aside from his beard, which given the likely condition of his grooming equipment is understandable. I put down claims by the aliens to suppressed sexual interest in them by Watney to be a combination of friendly ribbing by crewmates and a symptom of an extended period without contact with humans of his sexual preference. His reaction to their flirtation may be a lingering remnant of his earlier juvenilization of them as part of his self-image as protector, which otherwise seems to have been demolished.
SUBJECT: BERRY, CHERRY
Cherry Berry’s self-confidence issues have faded noticeably since my first evaluation, but they are still present to a certain degree. Her temper appears to be shorter, possibly due to weeks of keeping the peace among six grown persons in a tightly confined environment during the cross-country trip to the MAV, possibly due to stress from the impending launch. She clearly exhibits powerful motivation to pilot the MAV and to personally oversee the rescue of her crew, but the latter is evidently more important to her than the former. Her interactions with Martinez and Johanssen during simulations have been totally professional, with a total absence of combativeness, defensiveness or stubborn resistance to the lessons of the simulation exercises. Although losing the chance to fly the MAV would be a severe blow to her morale, I do not believe it would be crippling to her mission effectiveness. Psychologically speaking, I see no reason at this time why she should not be certified to pilot the MAV, if all other criteria are met.
SUBJECT: GLIMMER, STARLIGHT
Starlight Glimmer’s confidence issues appear to be a fundamental part of her personality. They remain almost unchanged from my prior evaluations. I choose to see it as a good sign that she becomes less self-conscious when focusing on answers to questions exclusively focused on magic. Aside from this point, I have nothing to add to my previous analysis.
SUBJECT: SPITFIRE
Spitfire appears much more comfortable with herself than in my prior analysis. This is almost certainly due to her incredible achievement regarding the Great Black Spot storm. My guess, without any strong basis in available data, is that the current personality traits represent a reversion to the subject’s normal personality prior to her assignment to the mission that ended in the Sol 6 crash. She presents as confident but realistic in her outlook and expectations, with considerable life experience- a much healthier, more stable personality so long as it does not shade into narcissism.
SUBJECT: FIREBALL
Fireball’s insecurity issues have eased somewhat since my last evaluation. Strong antisocial traits remain evident, tempered by an obvious respect and affection for his fellow castaways. Subject is more open about himself and more relaxed, a sign of his trust of the rest of the crew. His sense of humor opens a question: was this a pre-existing trait, or is Mark Watney’s horrible humor rubbing off on him?
SUBJECT: DRAGONFLY
Subject seems to have overcorrected substantially regarding past trust issues and is now prone to over-sharing. Without a direct examination and diagnosis of her current physical condition it is impossible to determine if her doubts about her fitness are merited or a symptom of lowered self-esteem. There is a deep affection for her crew, and especially for Mark, although how far she truly wishes to take this affection is difficult to determine without a proper analysis in a controlled environment. Her erratic behavior is difficult to diagnose completely unless this observer accedes to the subject’s own claim that “lings gotta ling.”
OVERALL EVALUATION
With the possible exception of Dragonfly, the six astronauts due to fly in the Ares IV MAV on Sol 551 demonstrate marked improvement in morale, mental health, and confidence over previous evaluations. Absent additional countervailing data, it is my opinion that all six are capable of clear and quick judgment and rational thought and, therefore, may be trusted with active participation in the conduct of the MAV launch and Hermes rendezvous if necessary or desired. Further purely medical evaluation should be conducted on Cherry Berry, Spitfire and Dragonfly if possible.
On a personal note, I wish to observe that all six of these people have grown and changed markedly as a result of their experiences on Mars. Except for possible PTSD and similar conditions which may become evident after their removal from the Martian environment, it appears that Mars has changed them all for the better. Or, possibly, it could be as simple as this: these six people are just good for each other.
Irene Shields, Ph. D.
Chief psychologist
Project Ares
9202937
Interesting to know. What's her nickname in Equestrian?
9202952 Everyone calls her Eggplant, as has been mentioned by others. She has the color and still, despite her best efforts, retains something of the shape. She's a guard and hostess at Horseton Space Center.
9202953
So when Dragonfly said "big", that was something else.
Also, what do you think of the dialogue I invented for Starlight's and Spitfire's Equestrian conversation a few days ago?
Hmm... Dragonfly/Mark post-Mars? Make it happen!
Great to see that the group has largely recovered from that earlier emotional/mental strain. I'd been worried that their bonds had been frayed.
Well, gotta bring that bug home. And Fireball. And the rest of the crew.
I like the idea that Fireball has picked up some of Mark's sense of humor. Humanity is Infectious, as the trope says.
I'd say it was strange that none of the equinoids had flirted with Fireball, but then again Watney is by far the more approachable of the two.
What even counts as oversharing in a society of emotivores?
It tickles me to see that they not only have a trained psychologist saying 'Whinnybago' but she actually put it into a typed report as a proper noun.
I guess HIPPA doesn't apply to astronauts an astromares. Was informed consent given. Sorry if i'm an ass, but a nurse friend gigged me.
9202959 It was cute, but not something I felt a need to add to my text.
Do Dr. Shields acknowledge that, despite the similarities, Equestrians may have different psychological spectrums according to their specie.
9202364
Ah, perhaps you have not met me. Hi! We are a reconstituted personality that was unified after an unintentional split a decade or so ago. Don't worry about the trivia thing, that just refers to our datastores.
Psych?
Go.
9202988 Mark signed consent forms as part of his joining the astronaut corps. For the others, this constitutes special circumstances in which psychological condition is need-to-know information so that NASA can do everything possible to maximize their chances of survival.
9202993
I wasn't expecting or asking you to change anything in that chapter; I was just wondering if what I invented for them was accurate enough and "in character".
30 sols? This means things are past due to go south any second now, with likelihood increasing by the second.
Because Mars.
Dear NASA,
Does your gift shop sell t-shirts that say, "'lings gotta 'ling"? Would like to acquire said item, in black, size XXL. Asking for a friend. Thx.
9203057
Good to know.
The Maretian and The Maretian - The Secret Logs are currently next to each other in the feature box Is this line just the tiniest nod to that spinoff?
9203057 Neighing Mantis, that's right. I misremembered. That's why CSP has a glossary file so I can keep that stuff straight.
9203054
Chrysalis would be tickled if changeling merchandise made deep inroads over any (if any) pony merchandise. Not that either could collect on said profits due to the dimensional jump between worlds. That said, I'm almost positive there's toys of all six in America and a plethora of miniatures/models in Japan. China would be churning out bootleg Ebay plushies of them too, heh.
And as they all get closer to Earth and a proper internet connect could be established, assuming it's not sanitized by NASA, art and fanfics should be rampant by now.
9202960
Hmmmmmm? Starlight /Mark post-Mars? Make it happen!Â
uh irene, spitfire boarded the narcissism train a while ago, she's the conductor of the thing.
Actually, speaking of packs of six, anyone keeping track on the cave of harmonious discord?
Another wonderful chapter, Kris! Keep up the amazing work, but keep on the road to recovery first of all.
9203052
Two words: Launch Day.
9203105
9202960
... ... ...
Why not both? At the same time?
9203054
If there hasn't been bootleg Amicatus crew merch out there for well over a year now, or whenever Pathfinder started sending pictures back? Then my suspension of disbelief will be exploded.
Will Chrysalis be offended, or decide that plush "Cuddlebugs" are a brilliant idea that she will steal?
And given there are Tauntaun and even Shamu sleeping bags (yes the opening is the mouth for the later)? Changeling Cocoon sleeping bags?
You know, I'm really curious what the Changelings of Chrysalis's hive think of the lost Dragonfly. She was one of the early Changeling Space Programs Astronauts afterall. Losing her would be like losing Grissom, Chaffee, and White for the early Space Program.
9203137
They turned off pathfinder. So no uplink. Which was odd to me at the time. The ocational snapshot would have been cool.
Now that we have a bit more distance from it, I think that was a wise decision. Imagine Cherry finding out that the cave is gone.
9203359
Or, well, like losing Gagarin.
To: Irene Shields, chief psychologist, Project Ares
From: Venkat Kapoor, director, Project Ares
Subject: Correct use of terminology in official NASA documents
Please stop calling it the Whinnybago.
9203412
Child of the Cold War here. Beating the Ruskies is why we went to the Moon.
9203292
Interesting, since DF can be both genders. Whatever they fancy.
9203019
Of course, HIPPA might be a casualty of "streamlined" government regs, as a holdover of the current administration in this story's timeframe.
9203436
You're thinking of private party sales... unfortunately, purchasing from a dealership kills a LOT more trees
We can only hope!
Best Mars Buddies For Life!
How long is the return flight after sol 551 supposed to be? I know it has been mentioned but there are way too many chapters for me to dig through to find the reference.
"during simulations has been totally professional"
"during simulations have been totally professional"?
9203245
Pretty much what I was thinking. Just didn't want to say it out loud. Though that is also the most obvious day for things to go wrong too...
9203415
To: Venkat Kapoor, director, Project Ares
From: Irene Shields, chief psychologist, Project Ares
Subject: Correct use of terminology in official NASA documents
>
>Please stop calling it the Whinnybago.
>
I am reminded of a joke attributed to Abraham Lincoln (although many others have claimed it too).
Q: If you call a dog's tail a leg, how many legs does it have?
A: Four, because simply calling it a leg does not make it so.
If you think we can somehow convince Mark to use our name for a vehicle that he and his friends have crafted with their own hooves/hands/claws/whatevers on an alien planet, you seem to have an exaggerated sense of our influence. If we could, we would, but we can't, so we won't. Once he gets back, feel free to take this up with him.
Good luck.
9203529
They hope around a week once they rig the sparkle drive to propel Hermes. Otherwise several months of standard Mars-Earth Hochmann transfer.
9203704
this exchange has to be in the fic now it just has too
9203404 Pathfinder was at the Hab, not the cave. Its low-gain antenna would be below the horizon, and I doubt it could have maintained any radio link with equipment inside the cave unless it was moved there.
9203998
...one thing I don't get.
Put Pathfinder right outside the cave. Put Sojourner inside, with a long flexible piece of wire (like an antenna) attached, with a swab of cotton attached on the top.
I'm quite sure people on Earth would be okay with getting it to play a bee.
Sadly, no opportunity or time to record today. Perhaps Monday afternoon, I hope. This psychological evaluation was useful for internalization, though.
Is it wrong that I kind of imagine Dragonfly/Fireball/Mark as the Three Stooges?
Like, photoshopping an image of them in 1920's suits would make a great meme under the heading of, "Who killed comedy? Well, Mars definitely tried."
9202235
Thanks.
9203998
If there is a reason why they wouldn't be able to move it again, I missed it. So that didn't register as a problem to me.
Should it have?
9204108
Pathfinder was too heavy to be worth taking on the trip, so that's why it was left behind.
And with its own solarpanels gone, it was reliant on the power from the HAB.
The HAB was shut down, and most of its solar panels and hydrogen cells went to the rover and trailer.
There is nothing left to power Pathfinder in any meaningful way, and all you'd see would just be the deflated HAB anyway.
9204326
You missed the context of the conversation. Leaving pathfinder at the cave farm, as an uplink.