Once again, Teddy wasn’t late. He sat calmly and alertly at his desk, despite having been back in Houston for less than two hours after a pre-dawn flight back from Washington. Venkat looked him over, but couldn’t find a hair out of place or a wrinkle on his suit.
This time Annie arrived last, bashing through the office door with an elbow as she used both hands to work her phone. “You would not believe the amount of Monday-morning quarterbacking out there,” she said rather than apologize. “Every dickhead with an opinion is chiming in today about why we’re going to get everybody on Mars and Hermes killed. Same fuckers would probably be screaming if we’d announced Rich Purnell publicly and then decided not to do it.”
“About that,” Teddy said quietly. “I have a few words I want to say about whoever sent the ‘April 1970’ email to Commander Lewis.” The email had claimed to be from Lewis’s husband on Earth, who shared her interest in all things 70’s. It had contained a complete account of the Rich Purnell maneuver and the discussion over it- things Robert Lewis had no way of knowing.
Teddy folded his hands on his desk and continued to speak quietly. “It’s true that the failure of Sleipnir and the obstruction by certain Congressmen changed the risk factors in regard to choosing between Rich Purnell and Ares 3B. But the decision had been made. The person who sent that email deliberately undermined the decision making process of NASA. Now, this is not a military organization. Insubordination is tolerated to a degree. But this act put the Hermes crew in jeopardy at a time when it was far from certain that we could resupply them in time. That’s not acceptable.”
Teddy pushed himself to his feet, stepping out from behind his desk. “Now, it’s convenient that Tai Yang Shen was offered to us at precisely the right moment for this. And it’s lucky that the Rich Purnell maneuver put enough pressure on Congress to allow SpaceX to return to work for the other booster we’ll need. But being right after the fact doesn’t justify either the risk or the insubordination. And if whoever sent that email is ever discovered, their career at NASA will be over. I just want to make that clear.” As he said this last sentence, his eyes locked on Mitch, who had returned to his usual slump on the office couch.
Mitch, for his part, was completely unconcerned. “All that’s a given,” he said. “But we have more important things to talk about now. Like how to resupply Hermes and how to modify the MAV to reach Hermes when it arrives.”
Teddy nodded. “The resupply mission is the more urgent priority,” he said. “Bruce, what can you tell me?”
“It’s tight, but it looks like we can do it,” Bruce said over the speakerphone. “One resupply would be enough if we knew for a fact the Sparkle Drive would be compatible with Hermes. But we need two if we assume that Mark has to take the long way home. And that’s two resupply payloads with nothing but food, thrusters and fuel, and a shell to hold it all together. We can’t send spare parts, fresh clothes, or anything beyond a limited supply of sanitary supplies. Food, and nothing but food.”
“We’re assembling the food packs now,” Venkat added. “That will include a small supply of semi-precious gems that Fireball can sprinkle on normal meals as a nutritional supplement. That’s more or less what the ponies did to make his original meal packs.”
“The good news,” Bruce added, “is ditching the tumbler landing system not only buys us extra payload for food, it frees up manpower at JPL for the second resupply probe. That’s vital, since we’re having to rebuild the thrusters from the original Sleipnir 4. Working night and day, we should be ready to load the payload fifteen days from now.”
“That’s good,” Venkat said, “since the resupply probes have to launch twenty-five days from today to intercept Hermes just after its Earth fly-by. We need Sleipnir 4 at KSC and Sleipnir 5 at Jiuquan twenty-one days from now for mounting and abbreviated inspection. There’s no schedule slip this time.”
“I know it,” Bruce said. “We’ll be ready.”
“Mitch, you’re going to head straight to Jiuquan to liaise with the Chinese launch crews,” Teddy said. “Make sure the booster’s compatible with the final Sleipnir 5 probe. Do whatever is necessary to ensure Tai Yang Shen is ready for launch when the time comes.”
“No problem,” Mitch said, nodding.
“Resupplying Hermes is only the first step,” Teddy continued. “We have to modify the MAV to reach Hermes. And we have to get Mark, the aliens, and all the equipment needed for the MAV modifications to Schiaparelli in the first place.”
“Why not just fly the MAV to Watney?” Annie asked.
“The only landing struts are on the landing stage,” Venkat said. “The MAV makes its own fuel, but only for the ascent stages- not the landing stage. Also, the heat shield and drogue parachutes are gone, so the MAV can’t make a second atmospheric re-entry. It would have to make a slow flight over and land completely under power, using the residual fuel in the descent stage and nothing else.” Venkat shook his head. “It’s just not doable, Annie.”
“I agree,” Teddy said. “Moving Mark and his friends is a lot less risky than moving the MAV. Whatever happens to them, at least one will have a way off planet so long as the MAV is intact. If it breaks, none of them leave.”
“We’ll work on plans for moving from the Hab to Schiaparelli here at JSC,” Venkat said. “Working out the modifications to the MAV will be Bruce’s job once JPL recovers from Sleipnir.”
“Don’t expect anything too quick from us on that,” Bruce said through the speakerphone. “We’ll need precise numbers on the alien thrusters- weight, thrust, all of it. That means we’ll need Mark to do some more testing.”
“Understood,” Teddy said. “You’ve done astounding work, Bruce. We all appreciate it. Keep it up.” He turned his attention to Annie. “I want any hint that this wasn’t in our plans quashed,” he said. “Before we were proceeding with direct resupply as a hedge in case the Rich Purnell maneuver didn’t pan out. But it was always our preferred option. Now we’re just kicking that option into high gear.”
“Got it,” Annie said brusquely. “I keep following the line Venk took last night?”
“Yes. The safest thing we can do is get Mark and his friends off Mars as soon as possible. That’s been our policy since we re-established contact with them. This is just a logical extension of that.”
“No problem,” Annie said. “Gotta say, I like this better than the shit we’d be going through if the Purnell maneuver leaked after we shitcanned it.”
“We would make it work.” Teddy leaned on his desk for a moment, then added, “Bruce, one more thing. We’re putting eleven crew in Hermes for the trip home. That’s going to strain life support. Can you make any space in the resupply probes for filters, spare parts, anything? At least a few lightweight things to help with the load.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Bruce’s voice gave no encouragement on that point.
“Okay, then,” Teddy said. “We’ve all got a lot of work ahead of us. Let’s get started.”
Venkat and Mitch walked out of the office together. “Officially, I have no idea who sent that email,” Venkat said.
“Fine by me,” Mitch replied.
“Unofficially, why did you do it?”
“I didn’t,” Mitch said. “Wanted to. But somebody beat me to it.”
“Mitch, this is just you and me, off the record,” Venkat insisted. “We all know you wanted to give the astronauts the final decision.”
“And if I’d done it, I wouldn’t be particularly ashamed of it,” Mitch said. “I’d still deny it, because I like my job. But if you want to know who did it, my money’s on Sanders.”
“Teddy?” Venkat couldn’t help himself from looking over his shoulder back at the executive office door. “That’s impossible.”
“Think about it,” Mitch said. “Tai Yang Shen being convenient timing? Hogwash. He sent the email after he got the offer from the Chinese. He wasn’t confident about Sleipnir anymore. The material for tumbler air bags wasn’t meeting schedule. Lockheed was stalling on construction reports for the next MAV. Congress had a sudden attack of being Congress. Rich Purnell gave him an option that put pressure on Congress-“
“No, Mitch,” Venkat said, shaking his head. “Still not buying it. Teddy would never put five more people at that level of risk for a small gain.”
“Would he do it to save eight billion?” Mitch asked.
Venkat looked Mitch in the eyes and said, “Explain.”
“What’s happening on Mars is a new chapter in humanity’s existence,” Mitch said. “Aliens from another frickin’ universe. An entire new school of physics. We’re on the edge of changes we can’t even imagine. But what happens if those five aliens with Watney die, Venk? The best case scenario is that we never meet another alien again so long as our civilization lasts. You know the odds.”
Venkat nodded.
“So maybe Teddy has second thoughts about his decision,” Mitch said. “Then he gets this offer from China. It eases the margins on the Purnell maneuver. And he looks at the bastard on the House Space subcommittee, piously mouthing talk about safety and responsibility while he’s killing Watney and his friends…” Mitch held his hands palms-up, one higher than the other; he then raised the one and lowered the other. “And the balance of risk shifts. Because eight billion humans are more likely to get a long, fruitful relationship with the ponies and such if Hermes gets to Mars eight months early.”
“It still seems a stretch, Mitch.”
“But the kicker is this. Teddy never chews anyone out in public. Ever. If Teddy didn’t do it, he’d have called me on the carpet to threaten me, maybe demand my resignation. Because everybody knows I’d be the one to spill the beans to Hermes, right? But instead he makes a statement to us, the only people who knew about the decision at all, ending with, 'if the person is discovered his career is over.' Not 'if I find out.' 'If the person is discovered.'” Mitch hit the elevator button and smirked. “And that’s why I think Teddy did it.”
Venkat considered it. “It’s still not enough to go on,” he said.
“Don’t care,” Mitch said. “I really don’t care if the angel Gabriel sent that email. For all we know it was. Magic, y’know.” The elevator door opened. “All I care about is that the Hermes crew got to make the decision, and we’re going to save Watney eight months early. Now we just have to make it happen.”
The elevator doors closed, leaving Venkat on the executive office floor, just him and his thoughts.