Interstellar → Chris Beck

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MAIA'S FINGERS MOVED quickly across her keyboard. It was hard for her to see through the tears that pooled in her green eyes, but she managed for the sake of sending her message to her brother. She'd been talking with him for the last forty minutes since she had left her crew-mates, though in reality it hadn't been that much time considering the delay in which either of them received their messages. That didn't matter much to Maia, though. She was just thankful that she was speaking to him, and more than thankful that NASA made a communication exception for her and the rest of the Watney family. Mark and Maia were allowed to speak to one another longer than anyone else, and for that Maia was grateful.

A stray tear fell from Maia's eye as she continued typing the message, but she quickly wiped it away.

Mark:

You're right. I am a lying sack of shit. Knowing you're alive and healthy makes me so happy, but knowing that there's a possibility you won't even live to see me again makes me sick inside. How else did you expect me to feel because of it? I assume NASA is working hard to find some way to get supplies to you so that doesn't happen, but that doesn't take away the risk that something else could go wrong, and we can't afford for anything else to go wrong, Mark.

I just need you to come back to me, okay? That's not what I want—it's what I need. You're my older brother and my best friend, and Lord knows just how much I can't stand being without you. These past several months have been nothing but proof of it.

Write back when you can.

Maia

Maia sent the message the moment she had finished it. She fell back onto her mattress with a huff and grabbed her head with her hands. She couldn't believe how stressed she was. Over the years, Mark had managed to stress her out to what she thought was her maximum stress level, but it was only now she was realizing just how wrong she had been. The situation wasn't Mark's fault whatsoever, but Maia just found it ironic that he was, in fact, the very center of the situation itself.

Several minutes had passed, or so Maia thought. Her gaze remained on the ceiling of her room, even after a knock on her door could be heard. She just assumed it was one of her crew-mates checking in on her, so she allowed them access without much hesitation.

Johanssen and Beck walked into Maia's room. Even then, Maia's attention still remained on the ceiling, though she could see enough out of the corner of her eye to know exactly who it was stopping by to pay her a visit. It was just like old times.

"What are you two doing in here?" Maia asked the two of them, very quickly flashing her eyes over to them.

Beck pursed his lips and moved to sit by her at the head of her bed, while Johanssen sat at the foot of her bed.

"We just came to check up on you," Johanssen told her.

Maia sighed and sat up, glancing between Beck and Johanssen. "I appreciate it, but I'm fine."

"You're lying," Beck replied.

"So what if I'm a bit stressed out?" Maia retorted. "Aren't we all?"

"Yes, but you are more-so than the rest of us," Beck said.

Maia tilted her head in curiosity as she looked at him. "And why is that, exactly?"

"Maybe because you're brother is in a dire ass predicament and no one really knows what the hell is gonna happen to him," Johanssen remarked with a sigh.