forbidden - chris beck

Chapter 3

"Good morning, crew!" Lewis called out. I admired her energy this early in the morning.

There was a chorus of groans coming from the bunks but movement finally happened.

Martinez was the first to get out of his bunk. I assumed as an Air Force man he was accustomed to an early routine, following Lewis's navy schedule.

Next, Vogel stretched out of his bunk, grabbing his hoodie from the side of his bunk and zipping it up, before cracking out his neck and back.

Watney groaned in response to the early morning movement and placed his pillow over his head. "Just five more minutes commander." He mumbled.

"Not happening Watney. You've got a job to do." She asserted before walking away to sit at the comm station to check overnight messages from Houston.

Beck let out a little groan also as Martinez shook him. "Beck! Rise and shine, bud!"

He finally got up after blearily saying "Yeah, okay," and groggily ruffled his hair with his hand as he made his way to the toilet.

I decided I too better get up before I get shouted at, so I swung my legs over my bunk and stretched my arms upwards. Johanssen had stressed that mornings were not her thing as she rolled from her bunk to the floor.

I kneeled down to where she was lying and gently shook her shoulder. "Hey Johanssen, getting up any time soon?"

She mumbled a "Mnrnn," into her pillow and I took that as a no. I couldn't blame her. As a software engineer it this was her routine, work at night, sleep during the day.

After another warning from the commander from her seat Watney stood up and made his way to the toilet also.

After he was done I went in and did my business, and then brushed my teeth. I tied my hair up into a ponytail and walked back to my bunk, trying not to step on Johanssen's body on the way. I quickly slid off my shorts and put on some black leggings. I left my white t-shirt on and nodded at Lewis.

"Good morning Commander, morning. Martinez." I smiled a them both as I walked past. Although Lewis was military and perceived as strict most of the time, she was one of the nicest people I knew.

"Morning, Collins." She called over her shoulder as she tapped on the computer screen to upload the messages from last night.

"Good morning Ava." Martinez grinned before returning to check the course modifications.

I made my way to the kitchen for breakfast and by breakfast I mean something contained in tin foil packaging. I'm not complaint though, space food had improved a lot over the years.

"Morning guys." I greeted to Vogel, Beck and Watney, receiving a chorus of 'Morning's' in reply.

Watney handed Vogel his usual sausage from the food cabinet, and he got himself something too.

"Collins, what are you in the mood for?" Watery turned to face me, sarcasm evident in his voice. Out of all of us, Mark was the one who complained about the food the most.

"I'll have anything." I sighed, I didn't really mind what I ate, I was just hungry.

"Same here." Beck called from the far side of the kitchen.

Watney nodded and grabbed two packets of food, tossing the first one to me and the second to Beck before he shut the doors of the cabinet and went over to where Vogel was sitting to eat.

I leaned against the counter and picked at my egg, which tasted nothing like egg, as I read through today's assignments on the screen above.

Johanssen slowly walked in and grabbed her coffee packet from the cabinet. She gave me a small smile and walked to sit at the counter where she purrs in her hot water and sipped at her coffee. Everyone knew not to disturb Johanssen in the morning so we just let her be.

Beck walked over to where I was standing and after taking a bite, placed his fork back into the foil tray. He pulled an unpleasant face and said, "How's your eggs?" He grimaced as he watched me pick at it.

"Not quite sure if they're eggs." I moved my fork around in the mush, and then pushed the tray away, deciding I was finished.

"Yeah, I think I'm done too." He slid his tray back and crossed his arms, leaning his back against the counter and looking up at the same screen as me. I heard him whispering his assignments to himself, trying to put them to memory. He nodded when he felt satisfied with what he had to do.

I continued to read my assignments in my head, it wasn't too bad. I was due to spend the morning taking notes on the samples of soil we bought from Earth. This was vital in order to compare it to the Mars surface samples when we got there. Luckily the crew got the afternoon off as there wasn't really much to do until we got to Mars, but it varied from day to day.

Some days we would have numerous tasks to complete and other days we just had the one, depending on what NASA though was necessary for us to do.

"Soil sampling?" Beck turned to look at me. "That sucks." I turned around and picked up both of our trays, putting them into the disposer.

"Tell me about it." I sighed. Although I was the biologist and I loved biology, Earth's soil was not the most interesting thing to observe for three hours. "At least you get to do EVA's." Beck was the EVA specialist as well as the flight surgeon, so he would do the space walks along the side of the ship, fixing any problems that NASA saw as a hazard.

"You've got a couple of EVA's next week Ava." Both our heads turned to look in Johanssen's direction as she spoke and walked over to where we were standing, disposing of her coffee. She had obviously had enough to wake her up.

"Really? I thought I wouldn't get a chance to do them until the journey back." I looked at Johanssen for answers. I was beyond excited to do an EVA, I knew I'd get the chance to do then at some point, but I didn't think it would be so soon.

"Yeah, I looked up everyone's schedule for the next 30 days. You're doing a lot more than biology." She jumped up to sit on the counter in front of us.

"That's awesome." Beck smiled down at me. "Now you can turn that morning frown upside down." He playfully nudged my arm.

"I am not frowning." My lips curved up into a little smile as I gave him a side glance. Johanssen looked between us and gave a small smirk. I was about to ask why but the commander called through the speakers that breakfast was over.

Everyone slowly made their way out of the door as I went to the cabinet to get myself a bottle of grape juice. Soil observation was thirsty work.

I noticed Beck waiting for me at the door, a grin spread across his face. "You comin', frowner?"

I shook my head and let out a small chuckle as I walked up to him, pushing him out of the door. "Just keep walking Chris," He laughed as I used all of my strength to shove him out of the kitchen. "And wipe that grin off your face."