The Law of Attraction [Chris Beck]

Chapter 32

Three Years Ago

Doctor Chris Beck looked at the file in his hand, a faint smile dancing onto his lips as he realized how strange life could be. The Ares 3 crew had been chosen a while back, but recently it had taken on a new recruit, and when he heard the name he thought Mitch Henderson was joking. When it had been confirmed, Beck still struggling to believe it, he was handed the file. He read up on her file, realizing that she had been working with NASA for this long and he had no idea. This whole time, they had been so close together and yet never run into each other, until now. A laugh emitted from his lips, followed by the strange sensation that after all this time, life was giving him a second chance.

He thought back to his first chance, knowing that things could have gone so differently, but nothing he did would have changed Alice's choice. His first thought was not that he could develop something with her, that would be vain. His first thought was how fun she had been, and how much he wished he had called her; a regret that burned through him so many years later now that her name had showed up again. She appeared back in his life, though on what terms, he was unclear. There was no point in telling anyone about their history, it would only make them consider taking Alice off of the mission. Their experience had been so light-hearted throughout that he suspected there would be no hard feelings between them, only he was worried that his feelings for her that had been dormant for so many years might just bubble up to the surface again.

Whatever the case, he wanted at the very least to have her back in his life as a friend.

He never expected to fall in love with her.

Now

"Houston, be advised: Rich Purnell is a steely-eyed missile man."

At that moment, the Rich Purnell maneuver was set, in motion at last. At that moment, the crew no longer felt helpless as they waited for NASA to actually have a viable plan to save Watney, as opposed to endless unlikely answers. Immediately, there were a handful of things to address. Once Johanssen had broken Hermes free of any control of NASA, the maneuver was a go, but there were so many things to cover. System checks had to be done over and over again, Beck had to prepare to do the EVA in order to get the supply probe; if he missed, they would all die, and that was an insidious thought that crept into all of their minds, especially after the last probe failed.

"Blake, report," Lewis called out over the headsets.

Alice spun around in her station, leaving her last eval. where it was. "Blake here."

"Can you please report to my station."

"Roger." Alice stepped away from her station and floated down to where Lewis would be; no one had said anything much about Beck kissing her in front of everyone. It was sort of expected, although Alice hadn't seen it coming, and Lewis had brushed it off without any warning that they be good. There was too much happiness going around that not even Lewis wanted to stop them from enjoying themselves, but Alice wasn't sure how much longer that was going to last. She arrived at Lewis's station and popped her head in. "Hey, you wanted me?"

"Two things." Lewis nodded, glancing at Alice and making eye contact. "First, I want to know your thoughts on all this."

"Saving Mark?"

"Yes."

"I think it's the best decision we've gotten to make this whole mission; it's cohesive, it is bringing us together again, it is a team effort. It's going to be scary as hell, and there are a ton of things weighing against us, but Mark's chances have skyrocketed. He might actually make it."

"You think he might not?"

"Of course there is a chance." Alice sighed, running her hands through her hair. "No one wants to think about that, but it is my job to think about it. Truth is, if we miss that flyby, I don't know if the crew could handle it."

"That is obviously something I have considered; we haven't saved him yet." She took a sturdy, deep breath that showed now wavering. It was amazing how strong this woman was, and Alice looked up to her. "While it is something that must always remain on our minds, we cannot let it distract us from the end goal we wish to achieve here. I think this crew is tougher than you make them out to be, which reminds me..."

Alice waited patiently, wondering what else the Commander was thinking, but she appeared to have trailed off into her own thoughts. So Alice smiled. "I know they're tough. And going home and waiting for NASA to figure it out would be devastating; I think we can do this- at this point, we're the best chance Mark has."

"Yes," She agreed curtly. Then there was a twist in her stomach and she felt as though she had been caught red handed. Although Lewis had mentioned that she didn't entirely mind that Beck had kissed Alice, and that there was obviously something going on, Alice felt that this was next on the list of things to address. Over a year more of space travel, it really put a dent in their plan to wait until Earth. Alice knew that this was why Beck had kissed her in the first place in front of everyone, but wondered if it had been the right call. "And the second thing you wanted to talk about?"

"Yes," Lewis began, "with everything that is bound to happen in our extended space travel, we are going to have a lot of problems aboard the Hermes. Beck is going to be doing a lot of EVA's I have no doubt, and it will be him who grabs Mark and a the Supply probe."

"Okay..." Alice failed to see what this had to do with her.

"You're the next in line to take on his role; I can't expect you to become the next flight surgeon, of course not. But I need you to learn everything you can from him, given that you have a better head start on a medical background. I believe it will be easier for you to learn what he has to teach."

"You want him to train me?" Alice raised a skeptical eyebrow. Was this a test? She suspected not; everyone was going to have to take on more than they ever intended, and if it made life easier for Alice to have some ability in the medical field, she would take it. Things were going to go wrong on the ship, parts were going to break down because they did not get regular maintenance that it should get when the mission was over. The Hermes itself was made to handle all the Ares missions, but there were parts that needed to be looked at after each long, arduous trip.

"As best as possible; Beck will be the one to grab Mark, and if anything happens... If anything happens to him we will need someone else to take his place." She said the words as though they tasted bitter, and Alice was sure that they did. They had to deal with the fact that everyone was risking their lives for Mark, but not a single one of them would change their minds. Not that they could; their shift had already been dramatic enough that it couldn't change now. Alice was sure the people at NASA were scrambling to pull together the second probe now, the Taiyang Shen, getting it ready for when Hermes flew by. If they missed the supply probe, the entire crew would die, Mark Watney included.

"And you're not concerned at all, after... after that display of affection?" Alice felt the blush creep into her cheeks again and she wished that she was as tough and strong as Lewis. She felt so young compared to Lewis, almost as if she were a teenager standing in front of a woman made of steel.

Lewis almost smiled, "Normally I would have given the both of you a stern talking to, but I understand. We're all so close together, it's hard to not develop feelings. But nothing is entirely normal now, so... I guess, live a little."