The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 18

There was a silence that seemed to wrap its arms around Alice as she floated in the Hermes by herself; she used the low gravity to float through the halls, pushing herself down the ladders quickly until she reached a reasonable gravity level. She had just finished checking all the systems, and it was her fourth day alone. She had gotten far less down time than she first thought she might, but figured after the first week or so, things would slow down again. She was taking on all of the tasks that the other six other crew members were not there to do anymore, and so she had her hands full. Despite keeping busy throughout the duration of the day, she hadn't slept well in the few days she'd been alone. All she could think of was that she was alone, and if anything went seriously wrong she would probably die. If anything went wrong down on Mars, the crew might die.

She went over to her work station and flopped down in her seat, crossing her legs even though Beck had mentioned how bad it was for her knees; it was comfortable, and Beck wasn't there to tell her otherwise. Nibbling her fingernail, a habit she'd picked up again after kicking it years ago, she pulled up the psych evaluations that she had sent to Mitch before the crew took off in the MDV; they had checked in once they had set up the Hab, telling Alice (and NASA) that everything had gone smoothly. Not everything was done, it took a few days to get all the solar panels set up among other things. She knew that they were exceptionally busy, and even after they'd finished setting everything up, they would have a never ending list of things to do.

And yet, they found the time today to send Alice a message.

"Alice,

Everything is A-OK down here. Hope the same goes for the Hermes; Martinez wanted to point out that we need the Hermes to get home, and he said "don't mess it up". We know you won't. Vogel wanted to point out that you have to check the regulator systems twice a day. Johanssen is upset that you reminded Watney and Beck of the X-Men theme song, because they won't stop singing it. Even Vogel has started to hum it when he is working. Watney says 'It's only a month, don't lose sleep over me not being there.' I'm going to presume he's just being funny. Beck says 'stay off your ankle.'

We'll see you soon.

Commander Lewis."

Alice had a good chuckle, appreciating the update she had received, and then she swiveled in her seat and tried to think of how to relax for the evening; she had her TV shows, yes, but she wasn't really in the mood for 90's cartoons at the moment. It would distract her, she knew that, but she also wanted to use her alone time and her down time to just relax. Lying down in her bunk, she stared at the ceiling above and nibbled her lip; somehow the only thought that could come to her mind while she was lying there alone was that six months was a long time to wait. In most cases, holding off on pursuing a relationship for that long would often lead to disinterest. She certainly didn't want that to happen between her and Beck, but she simply couldn't disobey orders that were not only from NASA but directly from Lewis.