The Sands of Ares

Would you like some coffee, Commander?

Thanks, but I've had enough freeze-dried battery acid for one day.

No, no, no, no, no. I stole some Helios packets of French vanilla.

Really good. You should try it.

What the hell is this?

A marsquake?

I don't think so.

What the hell is going on?

It's a landslide. The pattern is very clear on seismograph.

Not at all like quake. You see?

Yes. Isosceles rise in the highs.

Not a huge P-wave spike.

And the epicenter's near...

the Helios site.

Oh, no.

Helios Base, Happy Valley.

Helios Base, Happy Valley.

Helios, Happy Valley. Do you copy?

- Helios, Happy Valley. - Okay.

Can you hear me?

Phoenix is eight minutes away from acquisition of signal.

That's when they'll have eyes on their base from orbit.

Maybe then they'll be able to tell us what the hell's going on there.

Meantime, you two suit up.

Prep both rovers. Load 'em up with all the emergency gear they can carry.

And fill up the tanks. There's no telling how long we'll be out there.

- Helios, Happy Valley. - Roger, boss.

And whatever interpersonal crap you two have going on stops now.

Understand?

- Understood. - Understood.

Helios, Happy Valley. Do you copy?

Helios, Happy Valley. Can you hear me?

Helios, Happy Valley. Do you copy?

Mayday, Mayday. This is Alexei Poletov.

Anyone on this channel? Please respond. Over.

Mayday. Mayday.

This is Alexei Poletov.

Anyone on this channel, please respond. Over.

Anyone on this channel, please respond. Over.

Isabel, do you copy?

Isabel, do you copy?

Anyone, come in. Please, anyone.

Come in, please!

Please!

Come in. Do you read?

Come in, come in, please. Please!

Oh, God, no. Nick!

No. Nick.

So...

This is weird.

Shouldn't you be, like,

negotiating a nuclear missile treaty right now or something?

That was a hard letter to write.

You lied to me.

Yep.

Why?

I know what it is to want something.

So, I just made it easier for you to go after the thing you really wanted.

How generous of you.

You didn't even put up a fight.

You left me without saying a word to my face.

I used to think a lot about what our life would be.

Cute house with a little fence.

A dog. Maybe a cat. Although...

I'd make you coffee in the mornings

and then write out on the patio while you went to work.

Sounds nice.

Yeah, it would've been.

But it wouldn't last.

Eventually, you'd regret what you gave up.

It would start trickling in after some argument we'd had.

You'd think about it while in the shower,

maybe stuck in traffic on your way to work.

And it would just eat at you.

And how could it not?

I mean,

you were headed for such great things,

and I knew it.

From the day I met you.

So, yeah.

I gave you up.

Because I thought maybe one day,

you could make a real difference for people like us.

But I guess I was wrong.

When I saw you being sworn in, I was so happy.

You know, finally things were going to change.

But from that day on,

I have just watched you make compromise after compromise.

Sometimes you have to settle for what's possible.

I wonder what the girl I met 20 years ago at the Outpost would say about that.

She had this fire.

Ready to take on anything and everything.

I'm not as powerful as you imagine.

Look at me now.

I had to sneak out of the house to visit the love of my life.

Well...

it's good to hear you say that anyway.

My guess is, it's for you.

Madam President, you need to come with me. There's a developing situation.

Keep walking.

I can't see you in all this dust.

I think I see you.

Alexei.

Louisa.

There you are. Oh, God.

Oh, God.

Are you okay?

Yes, I'm okay.

Good. Have you found any of the others?

Yes. Yeah. I found someone just back that way.

Who?

Isabel.

The MSAM.

The habs.

The fuel factory.

They're all gone.

Could we be the only survivors?

Phoenix, Happy Valley. We're about to head over in our rovers

to begin the search and rescue.

Roger, Happy Valley.

We have been able to raise hab 2 and will send their position to your rovers.

Lars Hagstrom, Kuznetsov and Dr. Mayakovsky are alive.

Any other survivors?

We don't know yet.

We have had no contact with hab 1

or any of the other astronauts who were on the surface.

No word from Ed or Danny Stevens?

Not yet.

Shit.

Okay. Thank you, Phoenix .

Tell hab 2 we expect to see them in two hours.

- They're having a hard time receiving us. - Wilco, Danielle.

The landslide wrecked their omnidirectional antenna.

They can talk to us in orbit, but not to the surface.

They are trying to rig the spare.

Phoenix out.

Adarsh, have a look at this.

I've seen strip mining demolition on Earth and the moon,

but nothing that compares to this.

Christ.

I'm gonna switch to InSAR and sync it with images from our last pass.

It should penetrate the dust, so we can locate any survivors.

My God. There is nothing left.

It's just caved-in lava tubes and debris flow.

We need to reach out to NASA. They're mounting the rescue efforts,

and we need to get everybody that we can working on this.

She's right. If there are other survivors trapped in that debris field,

they're running out of air.

Well, if Margo Madison wants to send over her team, I'm sure--

No. They have more working resources on the ground up there,

- so we go to them. - Agreed.

Okay. Let's go.

Uh, I'm gonna stay behind,

reach out to the families of those that are unaccounted for.

Henry Zinman can make those calls.

Not calls.

We need to go to them personally and deliver the news and stay with them.

Understood.

Dev?

Dev.

I'm gonna do everything in my power

to find Ed.

What's happening?

Hold still. I'm cleaning your wound.

What the hell happened?

Landslide from the ridge.

It knocked the hab over?

Worse. Buried us.

And who knows how far down we are.

Jesus.

So we're trapped in the air lock.

Yeah.

Good news, cabin pressure's holding steady, so there appear to be no leaks.

Emergency beacon's broadcasting.

Good. That's good.

- That'll lead them to us. - If we're not buried too deep.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Gotta make sure it's as clean as possible.

How bad is it?

Bad enough.

Looks like you got hit by a piece of shrapnel when the drill came apart.

Punched a hole in your abdomen.

Exit wound?

No.

Fuck it. Just seal me up. When they find us,

- Mayakovsky will have to operate. - If he's still alive.

Hey, your bedside manner leaves a hell of a lot to be desired.

I'll work on that.

Okay. I'm gonna bandage it.

- It's gonna hurt. - Yeah.

Goddamn motherfucking son of a bitch.

Okay, done.

Ventilators aren't working, so all we have is the atmosphere in this compartment.

And the oxygen in our suits.

And once that's gone, we suffocate.

Listen up, people.

You all know each other, at least by reputation,

and I won't waste time with introductions.

Dev, is there anything new we need to know?