AS USUAL, MAIA sat quietly at her workstation trying to finish up the day's work. It had, of course, taken her longer than it should have to finish up her work, as her mind continued to drift to her brother. It was only several weeks ago that she and the rest of the crew had sat down to have a chat with Mitch about everything that had taken place with Mark over the last few months. He answered every single one of their questions, just as he had promised to do in the video he had sent them regarding Mark's status. It was a very long day for the crew and Mitch as well, but they hadn't gotten so much more information out of it than they originally anticipated. They believed that to be because of Mitch. He seemed to be the only NASA employee that actually cared about the feelings of the Ares III crew. It was the reason Maia adored him so much.

The conversation the crew had Mitch had answered majority of Maia's questions. Mark was okay and he was healthy, that much she was thrilled about, but what she wasn't thrilled about was the fact that he would be forced to wait several years before he was able to return home. The crew had been told that they were launching the Iris probe filled with food supplies and other necessities needed for Mark to survive throughout the duration of that time period, and although Maia was grateful that NASA was going to such great lengths just to save her brother, she just couldn't help but think something was going to go wrong.

It would be at least five years until the Ares IV would land on Mars, which meant that it would likely be another six years until Maia saw her brother again. Of course, she was not at all thrilled about the fact that she would be separated from her brother for over half a decade, but what she truly worried about was Mark's state of mind throughout it all. Mark was one of the most laid back people there was, but there was a side to him not many knew about. Mitch had told the crew he was okay and healthy both mentally and physically, and Maia didn't doubt that for a single second, but she would certainly doubt it if she were to receive the same news within the next three years.

Mark was a people person, which meant that he was at his best when around people. He was also one to make the best of any situation, no matter how dire it was. Maia knew both of these to be true, as she had spent the last thirty years of her life with him, but she also knew that when the time came, it wouldn't be so easy for Mark to uphold those particular traits, at least not at the same time. She knew that if he was alone for a certain amount of time, he wouldn't be able to find it in him to find the postitivity needed to get through the situation. Maia feared that if he was subject to such an intense loneliness at such a prolonged period of time, he would begin to deteriorate mentally, and that was the last thing she wanted for her older brother. She figured it would be much simpler just to turn around and go get him herself just to prevent that from happening.

With a sigh of relief, Maia finally stood up from her workstation. She had just finished yet another one of what would be Mark's experiments, and she was more than thrilled about it. She hated that it now took so long for her to finish, and she hated that it took so long for her to finish because of Mark.

As Maia made a move to head back to her room, Johanssen's voice sounded overhead.

"Maia?" Johanssen sounded slightly distressed, something of which Maia wasn't sure why.

"Yeah?" Maia responded rather quietly. She was tired and wanted nothing more than to get to her room and get to sleep. She had been up all night with Beck watching movies and talking, which only allowed her a maximum of four hours of sleep.

"Think you could come down to the rec-room for a bit?" Johanssen asked her. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Sure."

Instead of waiting on a response from Johanssen, Maia simply left the room. She allowed the lack of gravity to carry her body throughout the enormous ship and to the rec-room. She climbed down the ladder and hopped to the rec-room floor. As she turned around, she was met with slight surprise. Every last one of the crew members were in the rec-room, and it appeared almost as if they were waiting on her. It was strange, nonetheless.

"What's going on?" Maia asked cautiously and quietly as she glanced around at her rather somber crew-mates.

"You're aware that they launched the probe for Mark earlier today, right?" Commander Lewis spoke first.

Maia raised a brow and moved to sit down on the couch beside Martinez. "Yeah, why?"

"Didn't work out," Martinez answered her.

"What do you mean?"

"The launch wasn't successful, Maia," Beck told her. "The probe was destroyed before it even reached altitude."

Maia frowned and sat back in her seat, worry for her brother and his well-being flooding into her body. "What does this mean for Mark, then?"

Commander Lewis shrugged and clasped her hands together. "From what we've been told about the situation, Mark only has enough food to last him until SOL 509, and that's if nothing else goes wrong. If nothing else can be done for him there's a very strong possibility he may not survive long enough for Ares 4 to make it to him."

"So, he's just gonna die?" Maia forced out.

"We don't know, Maia," Commander Lewis told her. "NASA's working as hard as they can to help him."

Maia stood up and shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. "Well, they aren't working hard enough."

Maia started back towards the ladder, but Commander Lewis called her back. Maia turned to look at her commander, her brows raised in a questioning manner.

"Johanssen has something to show you," she said.

Maia looked over at Johanssen, who, as usual, was sitting in front of the computer monitor. She let out a breath and started over to her, and Johanssen got up from her seat so Maia could sit down. Maia's gaze immediately shifted to the screen, and she furrowed her eyebrows slightly as she tried to decipher what exactly she was looking at. When she noticed she was looking at her email inbox, she relaxed a little, and her eyes flashed to the most current email, one that was sent only an hour ago. It was an email from the Pathfinder, or in this case, it was an email from Mark.

Maia clicked on it without hesitation and began to read, her emotions shifting drastically as she read over the words on the screen.

Maia:

I may need you to do something for me. If I die, I need you to check in on mom and dad; they'll wanna hear all about our time here on Mars. I know it'll be hard talking to them about it—it's a lot to ask, I know, but there's no one I trust more than you to make sure they're going to be okay. I'm not giving up, though; we just need to prepare for every outcome.

I love what I do, Maia, and I love even more that I was able to do it with you by my side—please tell them that. Tell them that I'm dying for something big and beautiful and greater than me. Tell them I said I can live with that, and I hope you'll be able to as well. Tell them thank you for being my mom and dad. And you, Maia, thank you for being my annoying, but insanely lovable baby sister.

Maia clicked out of the email window and stood up, biting her lip to prevent herself from crying. She figured she had cried so much over the last few months that it was about time she stopped.

"Are you not gonna reply?" Johanssen asked her in disbelief. It was very rare that Maia didn't respond to Mark the moment after she read a message from him. 

"Nothing to say," Maia replied quietly. She didn't spare a single glance to the rest of her crew-mates as she made her way out of the rec-room.

The moment she disappeared, the remaining Ares III crew members exchanged looks with one another. They hadn't been expecting a reaction like that from Maia whatsoever.

"That was peculiar," Vogel muttered as he sat down beside Beck with a bowl of sausages in his hand.

Commander Lewis frowned and looked over at Beck. "What do you make of her behavior, Beck?"

Beck shrugged. "I'd say she's particularly stressed out trying to process everything going on around her. Her brother was presumed to be dead, and then it was discovered that he wasn't, and now there's a possibility he might actually not make it. I'm sure she's just trying to find a way to deal with it all."

"Think you could help her find a way to deal with it?" Commander Lewis asked him. "I understand that this entire situation has emotionally compromised her, but she's one of our best and we need her."

Beck seemed almost startled by this. He wondered if Commander Lewis was onto his relationship with Maia, and the mere thought of it scared him to death. "W-why me?"

"Well, you and Johanssen," Commander Lewis added. "You two are the closest to Maia, are you not?"

"I guess we could try to help her, but Maia's stubborn sometimes when it comes to her feelings and stuff," Johanssen spoke up with a frown on her face. She, too, was still trying to process everything happening around her. She didn't know being an astronaut could be so damn complicated.

"I'm sure you two will figure something out," Commander Lewis suggested.

Johanssen and Beck only exchanged glances with one another. They could only hope for their sake and Maia's that Commander Lewis was right.