Part III

"Oh my god, we're really doing it!"

"We're really doing it," confirmed Hiro as they flew up with a modest two g's.

"I'm leaving Mars. I'm going home...Thank you."

!

"Is it here yet?" Beck asked as he entered the bridge. It was the third time he'd come to check.

"Almost," Johanssen said. "Ninety-nine percent. It's been taking forever."

"No kidding," said Vogel.

"You're looking cheerful, Martinez," Beck said.

"My son turned three yesterday," he beamed. "Should be some pics of the party. How about you?"

"Nothing special," Beck said. "Peer reviews of a paper I wrote a few years back."

"Complete," Johanssen said. "And yeah, it's a big one. Video file for some reason. Let's see, all the personal e-mails are dispatched to your laptops. Some communiqués for the commander. Also, there's a telemetry update for Vogel and a system update for me. Looks like the video is addressed to the whole crew."

She looked over her shoulder to Lewis.

Lewis shrugged and gave the go-ahead, though a part of her was worried that it could only be bad news. They still weren't close enough to Earth to really make video messages worth the effort. "Play it."

Johanssen opened the message and sat back to allow everyone to get a good view.

Mitch Henderson's face filled the screen.

"What could this be about?" asked Martinez.

"Shh," said Johanssen.

"Hermes, I'm sure you're all probably wondering what merits a message like this when you're still over a month from Earth. Well, we have big news. News that you might find to be unbelievable, so I've decided to tell you as directly as possible.

"First, I'd like to tell you that what I have to say is unreservedly good. It may seem alarming at first, but we only have cause for celebration. Mark Watney is alive. A rescue mission is underway, and the Ares III crew is going to play a large role in that mission."

Johanssen gasped, as remarks of disbelief were muttered by the crew. Lewis stared intently at the screen, Mitch only paused for a moment to let his statement sink in.

"Mark survived Sol 6 with only minor injuries, but he regained consciousness only after your departure. We found out three weeks ago when he sent us a signal with the Pathfinder probe. For reasons of crew morale, it was decided not to tell you at the time until there was reason to hope for his survival. I was against that decision, but I went along with it.

"Now you may at this point be thinking that Mark would have to be starving by now. And you would have been correct, if not for the fresh Thanksgiving potatoes that were sent along on the mission. He's taken us all by surprise by turning the HAB into a potato farm."

Lewis heard Vogel give a startled laugh from behind her.

"Now, as to the rescue. Obviously, we don't have anything that can get to Mars in a reasonable amount of time. But fortunately, we weren't the first to notice that Mark was alive. There's a fifteen-year-old SFIT student, I suppose he was just fourteen at the time, who noticed irregularities in the Sol 12 photos of the Ares III site that were released. But when he couldn't get past the first tier of NASA public relations, he took matters into his own hands.

"He had already invented reactionless engines, and a compact power source, but he hadn't revealed them to the public just yet. So he won himself an Oberfeld grant and built himself a ship, leading NASA to believe that it would never fly. By the time we put two-and-two together, it was too late to stop him. He launched without any authorization, and disregarded all commands to abort. He landed on Mars two weeks ago, and about six hours ago, he launched again with Mark.

"Due to damage his ship has taken, they are unable to land on Earth, so they'll be riding home with you. We've included details for the rendezvous and boarding preparation and procedures, and we are starting to make plans for you to have a seven-person crew. They arrive in two days.

"I'm sure that you're all going to have lots of questions. And we'll be here to answer them. I'd like to give you the day off to process all of this, but you're going to be very busy for the next couple of days, so you have three hours of no assignments.

"Now lastly, because this all seems more than a bit unbelievable, we've included a video message from Mark himself."

Lewis gripped the back of Johansen's chair tightly as the screen went blank only to light up again with Mark's smiling face.

"Hey guys," he said softly and giving a small wave. He only looked a little haggard.

"Oh my god," said Vogel.

"I thought Henderson was crazy," said Beck.

"So, I'm alive," said the video of Mark. "I uh, I should start this by saying, it's no one's fault that I was left behind. I've said that more than a few times these last couple weeks of being back in contact with NASA because, well it's true. And the five of you most of all should know it. What happened was a freak accident, caused by a freak storm. A piece of antenna from the dish ripped right through my biofeed, and a good bit of me, so it would have looked to you like I'd died. But the hole in my suit was small, and it mostly sealed with frozen blood and sand. So by the time I came to, I had just enough air to get myself back to the HAB.

"Commander, this is me telling you to stop beating yourself up about this."

Lewis just shook her head.

"So I'm growing potatoes here," Mark went on. He picked up the camera and pointed it to the HAB floor space so they could see his farm, which also consumed their bunks and two of the lab tables. "Neat, huh?" He returned the camera to its former position. "And I had all these plans to get to the Ares IV site to catch a ride home with them. That would have been a trip, huh? They're all in their HAB and I just roll in like, 'hey, what's happening.'"

"Still, I thought I was going to be a goner unless NASA sent a resupply at least before then. So you can understand I was a little dismayed to learn that after ten months, NASA had just noticed this little lone martian.

"But then this punk-ass kid shows up peddling pizza delivery jokes, and actual pizza." Mark laughed and turned the camera now to point off to the side, where, lo and behold, this improbable boy was sleeping limbs akimbo atop a pallet of blankets on the remaining lab table and resting his head on the leg of a big white anthropomorphic robot.

"That's Hiro," said Mark. "I'm still not entirely sure he's real, but we're riding out to check on his spaceship tomorrow. If all goes well, we'll be launching to rendezvous with you. So whoever's taken all my things, I want them back in my bunk by the time I get there."

Martinez chuckled.

"I'm still wrapping my mind around it, but it'll only be a two and a half day journey from Mars to the Hermes," Mark continued. "And my plants better still be alive when I get there!

"Anyway, I look forward to seeing you all, almost as much as I look forward to getting off of this rock. Mark Watney, over and out."

Silence.

"Someone pinch me," said Martinez.

...

"Ouch! Geez, not with your nails."

"It's real," said Vogel. "He lives."

"Holy crap, you guys," said Beck. "This is amazing! I can't even, right now."

"This is all impossible, though," said Johanssen, though she was smiling.

"Not technically," said Vogel. "Everything said is possible, I think."

"Commander, you okay over there?" asked Martinez.

"I left him behind," she said quietly. She felt such a wave of despair at saying it. "He's been alone on Mars all this time."

"It's not your fault," said Beck. "He said so himself."

"It doesn't matter," said Lewis. "I gave the order. I was responsible for bringing everyone home, but I gave up on him."

"You will bring him home," said Johanssen. "He's going to be here in two days."

Lewis nodded to herself. "Then I have work to do," she said.

!

"You look nervous," said Mark. They were getting ready to call it a night on their first day in space.

"I'm just thinking about the transfer to the Hermes," Hiro admitted.

"Why's that?" asked Mark.

"Well, I mean, I've been off structure before, but not without a tether. I've got my maneuvering jets but still, I keep thinking of what would happen if I missed the Hermes."

Mark started laughing.

"Hey, it's not funny. Space is low-key terrifying," said Hiro.

"You're not- you're not going to be off tether," said Mark, trying to stop laughing. "NASA's not crazy. Alright, so here's how NASA's instructions for the transfer are probably going to play out. Beck's our EVA specialist..."

!

"We are at a full relative stop with their ship," said Jahanssen over the comm.

"We're ready for you over here," said Mark, who's voice was still the best thing Beck had heard for the last ten months. "Atmosphere is vented, and the door's wide open."

"Alright, Beck," said the commander from the bridge. "You are a go for EVA."

"Detaching from structure now," said Beck. He gave a gentle nudge and drifted away from the air lock, before using the MMU to thrust towards the small ship adjacent to the Hermes. Behind him, Vogel let out the tether.

Soon, the other ship loomed large, and Beck used precision maneuvers to gently approach the open airlock. Gripping it around the edges, he carefully boarded the vessel.

"Someone call for roadside assistance?" he asked over the radio.

"Beck, you're a sight for sore eyes," said Mark.

"Missed you too," said Beck.

Space suit hugs were awkward, and so were zero-gravity hugs, so they just sort of braced each other's arms and grinned at each other through their visors.

"And you!" Exclaimed Beck at Hiro. "We've got you to thank for this." He clasped Hiro's shoulder gently, mindful of the zero-g.

"Well," said Hiro, "someone had to help."

"Yeah, and you're the only one who did," said Beck. "Come on, let's get you two taken care of."

"One more thing," said Hiro, turning to the robot.

"There there," said the robot, patting the boy on his helmet. "It will be alright."

"I know," said Hiro. "Last hug." He wrapped his arms around the robot, who returned his gesture. "I am satisfied with my care," he said finally, pulling back.

The robot drifted over to some ports in the wall of the spacecraft that he seemed to lock into. It's eyes closed, and an access port on its chest opened, revealing two chips, one green, and one yellow. Hiro pulled the green chip out and secured it in a zippered pocket on his leg.

"Alright," said Hiro, "I'm ready."

"Come here, my space baby," said Mark.

"Tandem skydiver," said Hiro, as he got into position to be strapped to Mark's back for the journey over.

"Space baby," said Mark as Beck started clipping the two of them together, checking and double checking the connections.

"You look good to go," he said, clipping the tether into an O-ring on Mark's waist. "And you do look like a space baby."

"You guys suck," said Hiro as Mark moved them forward through the airlock and out into space.

"Alright Vogel," said Beck. "Reel them in."

The tether slowly pulled taught and then drew the two away from their ship and towards the Hermes airlock where Vogel waited to catch them. Then, while they slowly drifted, Beck shot off past them on his MMU, beating them to the airlock by a full minute. Together, he and Vogel secured the two wayward astronauts and closed the airlock door, setting the airlock to cycle in air.

Mark started laughing as they untethered Hiro from him.

"It is good to have you back," said Vogel. "The crew is overjoyed."

"I still can't believe it," said Mark around laughs.

"I know," said Martinez over the radio. "I thought I'd gotten rid of you."

"Martinez, no one's pushed you out of an airlock yet?" asked Mark.

"Wow, I've actually missed this," said Johanssen.

"I've missed you too," said Mark, who'd regained a little composure.

"It is my pleasure to welcome the two of you aboard," said the Commander. "And that's enough pleasantries, we're still only half way through this transfer. Mark, Hiro, please exit the airlock, remove your EVA suits, and report to the med bay. Beck, Vogel, you are cleared to retrieve your secondary target."

"Copy that," said Beck as Vogel opened the inner airlock door for the other two. It was time for him to go retrieve the cargo.

!

"We have just received an update, Astronaut Beck has boarded the spacecraft."

There was a small cheer in the Lucky Cat Café as CNN made the announcement, as there had been for each update indicating that things were going as planned.

"Don't worry, Miss C., he's got this. That's an EVA expert getting them."

"Thank you, Fred, I know," said Cass. "But I'm not going to relax until they're home."

"Soup's on," said Wasabi, walking into the dining area, bringing a tray of bowls filled with udon noodle soup. It was just the five of them in the closed Cafe, waiting for word that Hiro and Mark were safely aboard the Hermes. He passed out everyone's respective bowl, while they listened to the newscasters discuss for the third time the specifics of the transfer, and one of them mentioned again that Hiro's EVA suit was amateur built.

"The suit's solid," Gogo reassured Cass again. "Honey and I both looked it over, and Hiro put it through the same tests NASA does."

"The faceplate is made from alum-glass," gushed Honey Lemon. "That's stronger than steel. And I turned him on to the polymer he used for the outermost layer; no way is anything going to rupture that suit."

"If anything goes wrong," said Wasabi, "the precision MMU he built into his suit will take him to the nearest airlock with the push of a button."

Cass nodded thoughtfully between the two of them. She turned back to Honey Lemon. "So meteorites won't be a problem?"

"Their radar will pick up anything big enough to cause a problem. The suit can absorb damage from anything small enough to slip through," said Honey.

They started eating as Hiro and Mark were pulled to the Hermes, and one of the reporters just had to talk about the force required to break the tether. Finally, though, they received the news that they had been waiting for.

"The Hermes reports all crew are on board. Here we have the audio for you."

"Houston, this is Hermes Actual. We have seven crew on board."

"Yes!"

"Yahaa!"

"I knew they could do it!"

"Oh, I can finally stop stress eating," said Cass, drawing up more noodles from her bowl.

!

"The Hermes doesn't have a med bay," said Hiro as he pulled off his helmet in the zero-g confines adjacent to the airlock. "Right?"

"She just means Beck's bunk," said Mark. "He's our medical officer, so all of our medical equipment's there."

"More tests," sighed Hiro.

"More tests," confirmed Mark.

"Mark," said Johanssen, not on the radio, but from right there on the other side of the corridor. She started gliding towards them, and eventually low-speed barreled into Mark for a hug.

"You smell awful," she said, still hanging on to him, as he wrapped one arm around her, and held onto the wall with the other.

Mark became indignant. "I showered twice before we left. I'm in clean clothes."

"Dude, that smell is going to live in your suit forever," said Hiro.

"Come here," said Johanssen, beckoning to Hiro, "you too."

Hesitantly, Hiro joined into the odd zero-gravity three-way hug.

"Thank you," said Johanssen.

"Yeah," said Hiro. "Sure." And then when the hug went on: "Awkward…"

Mark ruffled Hiro's hair obnoxiously.

"I need to take your suit into quarantine," Johanssen told Hiro. "Please power it down, and remove its power source."

"Well, I kind of need my body back for that," said Hiro.

A minute later the task was done

"Is that the robot's quantum chip?" asked Johanssen of the health care chip, now in Hiro's hand.

"Yeah," said Hiro. He suspected that the only reason he was allowed to hold onto it was because the Hermes didn't have a quantum computer of its own, the technology still being relatively new. Mark stowed his own EVA suit in a large sealable bag. It wouldn't be used again, but it wasn't considered a potential danger to the Hermes.

Soon the two of them were floating down a corridor towards Beck's quarters in their under clothes, Baymax's chip stuck in Hiro's waistband so he could properly maneuver. He kept running into walls anyway, and Mark laughed every time. The ship's rotation had been halted for the transfer, so Beck's quarters were still in zero-g, and the two of them floated around outside the large hole in the wall that was the Hermes med bay. It was a bigger hole than the rest of the quarters scattered around the ship. Hiro clutched the chip in his hand, now able to hold onto a wall.

"It feels so weird to be here," Mark finally admitted as they waited. "I keep expecting everything to be different."

"I think I'm still in shock a little," Hiro admitted, "because I'm really not appreciating the fact that I'm on the freaking Hermes."

"Um, are you sure that it's not the fact that you've already been to Mars in a sci-fi spaceship?" asked Mark. "The Hermes must be a little underwhelming after that."

"You kidding?" asked Hiro. "Tadashi and I used to play pretend that we were on the Ares II mission. We built a rocket-powered shopping cart so we could pretend we were going to launch to the Hermes."

"You did not," said Mark.

"Six stitches," said Hiro, lifting his hair to fringe to show the scar that was just hidden under his hairline. "I was very insistent at the time that we needed to bring robots to the Hermes, which for some reason, still doesn't have any."

"Well, now look at you," said Mark. "You take playing pretend way too seriously."

Hiro snorted a laugh.

"All crew is secure on the ship," came the commander's voice over the intercom, and Mark gave a cheer. "Brace yourselves for the resumption of Hermes rotation. Mark, please show Hiro how it's done."

"Come here, space baby," said Mark, maneuvering himself to grip a hold adjacent to the wall that would soon become the floor.

"That is not my nickname," groused Hiro.

Mark surrendered his position so that Hiro could copy the bracing position exactly, before bracing himself. Johanssen had given him a radio, and he used it to report that they were ready.

"Begin rotation in 5...4...3...2...1," said the Commander.

The structure started moving, bringing Hiro along with it. About ten seconds in, he really started feeling the pull to the floor.

Hiro heaved.

"Woah there," said Mark.

"I'm okay," said Hiro weakly, struggling to regain equilibrium. "That rotation really throws in a new dimension of weird."

"You can let go now," said Mark.

Hiro released his grip and rolled over onto his back. Mark got up and stood over him.

"How're you doing?" he asked.

"Looks like I'm still getting my space legs," said Hiro. He'd thought he'd do better after all the flying he did on Baymax.

"You'll be fine," said Mark.

Hiro weakly got to his feet.

"Alright," said Beck, who came strolling down the corridor as though he had not just been floating around in the black of space. "Who's my first patient?"

Hiro and Mark both pointed at each other.

"Mark," said Beck. "The sooner I clear you, the sooner you can grab a shower."

"Then I'm all yours," said Mark.

The doctor led him into the quarters-cum-med bay.

"Hiro Hamada."

Hiro hadn't been alone for more than a second when Vogel, the Hermes chemist and navigator arrived. "We are well met. You have brought my friend back to me."

The two shook hands. "Nice to meet you too," said Hiro. "You know, I've got a friend back home who'd love an autograph from the Ares III chemist."

"Of course, you shall have it. Your friend is a chemist them self?"

"The best chemist I know," said Hiro. "She helped me synthesize a lot of the components of my ship."

"This, I would like to hear more about. I was very jealous that Beck was sent to see it before its return to Mars. A shame that it is to only be an orbiter."

"Well hey, now SFIT has their own Martian satellite," said Hiro. He was hoping his school counted that as a win.

"It is very exciting," said Vogel. "You must tell me, what is the structure of the quartz of your reactor?"

Hiro opened his mouth, but the precise words failed him. "Well," he finally said, "I'll have to draw it for you, I'm no good at explaining it. But we actually used norellium."

"Ah, I think I start to see where this is going," said Vogel, looking very excited. "We must confer in my lab when you are free. The reactor was a collaboration, though, yes?"

"Yeah, my friends helped me with a lot of the technical issues. Honey Lemon, my chemist friend, and Wasabi helped me get the crystalline structure just right. And my friend Gogo helped me design the containment field."

Vogel nodded. "That is what I miss about university. Great minds coming together to create, without the bureaucracy."

"Yeah," said Hiro, "I do miss school. And my friends."

"Yes, as I miss my family, and as I missed my friend. But you have now reunited this crew with Mark Watney, and so we will reunite you with your friends and family."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Hiro, finding that, in spite of the fact that being on the Hermes was a dream come true, he really did want to return home as soon as possible.

"In six more weeks, we will be there," said Vogel.

"All hands, please note that we are preparing to resume our deceleration in T-minus-five minutes," the Commander called over the intercom.

"What does that mean for us?" Hiro asked Vogel.

"For the four of us here?" asked Vogel. "Nothing. The turning on of the ion engine is overseen by Johanssen, Martinez, and our Commander Lewis. My job as Navigator has already been fulfilled. The deceleration is so slow, that you will hardly notice it. Only in zero-gravity is there a drifting of things that are not tied down."

It was at that moment that Mark was released from the med bay, with Beck following him out, promising more tests after he had been settled.

"My friend!" exclaimed Vogel, taking the time now to properly greet his lost companion.

"Vogel," greeted Mark with a warm smile. "Hugs for after I take a shower."

Vogel scoffed and hugged him anyway clapping him briskly on the back.

"You still haven't turned the Hermes into a death laser?" asked Mark, after he had apparently found the hug to have lasted long enough.

Vogel released him and turned to Hiro. "His running joke is that I am a mad German scientist."

"What can I say, he was doing mad science on his own Martian base," said Mark.

"You seemed to think my science to be very boring when you were collecting soil samples."

"Don't let him fool you, Hiro, you have to keep your eyes on him."

"He was just interrogating me about my quartzite battery."

"We're doomed," said Mark.

Vogel rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Hiro," said Beck. "You're up."

Hiro was soon sat with an oxygen meter on his finger, a blood pressure cuff on his arm, and a tongue depressor in his mouth.

"What could pothibly be in my mouth?"

Beck gave him a look.

"Thowry."

He ran his tongue along the roof of his mouth once he had it free to get rid of the wooden taste.

"I'm fine, really," said Hiro.

"You'll have to let me be the judge of that," said Beck.

"I promise there aren't any alien spores in my eyes," said Hiro as Beck was checking pupil response with a pen light.

"Hiro?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm thinking the doctors at NASA medical would have strangled you if you'd had to sit through a full pre-flight physical. Be glad that I don't have the equipment to give you that entire exam."

"Mark already gave me a physical every day for the last two and a half weeks," complained Hiro as he had his lymph nodes felt up.

"Not helping," said Beck, starting that check all over again. "And Mark checked your vitals. There's a big difference. It's my job to do two important things: to make sure you don't have an illness that's going to incapacitate the rest of the crew; and to make sure you don't have any hidden medical conditions that are going to combine with the rigors of space travel to kill your ass dead."

"I guess," said Hiro as Beck hammered at his knee caps.

"Alright, shirt off," said Beck.

"I mean, I'm kind of at that stage of adolescence where I don't like to take my shirt off. Very awkward to go swimming."

Another flat look. Hiro sighed and took his shirt off. Beck pulled out his stethoscope and probed about before having Hiro lie down for an EKG.

"You know," said Hiro, wincing every time cold electrode gel was pressed into his skin. "I'm pretty sure Baymax would have told me if I had a heart condition."

"Ah, yes, the robot that's supposed to replace me," said Beck. "Has he been approved by any federal organizations yet?"

"No," admitted Hiro.

"Then I'm going to go ahead with my exam," said Beck.

"And he's not supposed to replace doctors," said Hiro. "My brother made him to fill in the gaps. I mean, in home care is expensive."

"Sure," said Beck. "Now sit still while the machine works."

"How still exa-"

"Shh."

That lasted a couple minutes.

"Alright," said Beck, "I'm going to want to do some tests on the treadmill later, but I don't think you're going to keel over anytime soon. Still feeling nauseous?"

"I'm feeling better," said Hiro. "I think it's going to take some getting used to, the frequent switches between gravities."

"Yeah it does," said Beck. "Let me know if you need an antiemetic."

"'Kay," said Hiro. "Is that it?"

"Almost," said Beck. He started preparing a syringe.

"Aw, what's that for?" asked Hiro.

"Broad spectrum antibiotics," said Beck. "Like I said, we really don't want anyone getting sick."

"Don't you need my aunt's permission to give me anything?"

"Oh, no, she already signed your life away."

"This is just actually payback for me being a bratty patient," accused Hiro.

"Could be," Beck agreed.

"Man, space sucks sometimes."

"She is a harsh mistress," agreed Beck sagely.

!

"Mark."

"Commander," Mark greeted, his hair still damp and wearing fresh clothes. He had been summoned to the commander's quarters. They embraced

"We're all damned happy that you're back," said Commander Lewis, eventually pulling back. "I can't even imagine what's going on in your head right now."

"Oh, I still keep expecting to wake up back on Mars," said Mark.

"I don't blame you," said Commander Lewis. "And I can't tell you how sorry I am. I swore I'd bring us all home together."

"Well, that's what we're doing," said Mark.

"Because we got ridiculously lucky, at the eleventh hour," said Commander Lewis. "You were on that barren godforsaken planet alone for ten months. I'm responsible for that."

"I mean, we'll have to agree to disagree on that," said Mark.

"No, the rank on my arm says that I don't actually have to agree to that," said Lewis.

Mark rolled his eyes. "There was nothing you could have done," said Mark. "And besides, the planet wasn't barren for long. I had my crops."

Lewis gave a brief laugh. "Only you could have pulled that off."

"What can I say, I was the best botanist on the planet," said Mark.

"That stopped being funny on Sol 2," said Lewis.

"It's a Martian classic," complained Mark.

"What was it like? Being there?" asked Lewis.

"Well, it had it's ups and downs," said Mark. "The solitude was a bummer. But…I don't know. Everything I did to stay alive, to get in contact with NASA, it was everything I became an astronaut for. I grew crops on Mars. I made my own water out of jet fuel. I retrofitted a rover. I watched a hundred Martian sunsets. But also, all I had to listen to was disco, so discount everything I just said, it was awful."

"I will defend disco until my dying day," said Lewis. "Now tell me about this kid."

"What can I say, he saved my life. I'm a little biased."

"Still," said Lewis.

"Well, he's brilliant, obviously," said Mark.

"Clearly," said Lewis.

"But he's very much still a kid," said Mark.

"Immature?" asked Lewis.

"A little juvenile at times, but not when it matters."

"So he fits right in with you," said Lewis.

"I mean, I would have said Martinez," said Mark.

"You were saying," said Lewis.

"He's a good kid," said Mark. "He can take things seriously, but he loves it when he doesn't have to. He loves to complain, but he still does what he's supposed to….and I wouldn't be here if he was well adjusted."

"What's going on in his head? Do you know?"

"Well, he thinks his brother was a saint. Maybe he was, but I think he's trying to feel close to his brother by helping people in grand ways."

"So his heart's in the right place at least. But will he be a liability on this ship?"

"Well, he can do whatever tasks he's given with minimal instructions. Meanwhile, the only orders he hasn't followed were the ones to turn back."

"And it's not that I'm not grateful," said Lewis.

"No, I get it. You have to be the bad guy."

!

The shower was surprisingly normal, but perhaps that was to be expected, given that it had artificial gravity. It had a deadman's switch, so you couldn't leave it running, and the water only got luc-warm, and there was a ridiculous amount of ventilation. Vogel had still given Hiro a five-minute lecture on its proper use. Still, though, it beat camping wipes.

Once Hiro was cleaned and dressed, now in an unused jumpsuit that had been among the few things from the ship that Beck had been able to bring over, he was summoned to Commander Lewis's quarters, and again Vogel had escorted him there. Hiro was nervous because this would be the first time he was in the presence of an actual authority figure since he had left.

"Come in," she said, only a moment after Hiro had knocked.

"Hello, Commander," said Hiro as he entered, trying not to sound nervous.

"Hiro Hamada," said the Commander, standing up from her little chair next to her little desk. "It truly is a pleasure to meet you. Please, have a seat." She gestured to her bunk.

"It's an honor to meet you," said Hiro. "And to be here."

Commander Lewis nodded. "You have rescued my crewman. I left him for dead, with no hope of recovery, and you brought him back. I don't know that that is a debt that can ever fully be repaid. Come two months from now, we will be on Earth, and you will have my undying gratitude. If you need letters of commendation, you only need to ask. If you want burgers and shakes, I will drive to pick you up for it, and I don't live in California. But we are not on Earth yet."

"Right," said Hiro.

"What you did took courage, ingenuity, and no small amount of brilliance. It also took recklessness, lawlessness, and no small amount of dishonesty. We are in space, and that means that we are in constant danger, and any wrong move can be our last. And you are not supposed to be here. You may be used to being the smartest person in a room, but here you are a kid with no real training or experience, and we're six weeks from our approach to Earth."

"I understand," said Hiro.

"Mark used to be on the bottom of the chain of command. You have now taken that place, not as an astronaut, but as an astronaut apprentice. You will follow all commands from all crew members. You will not go anywhere or do anything without clearing it with a member of the crew first. You will not so much as go to the bathroom without telling someone."

Hiro blushed. He had not missed that aspect of high school.

"If there is an emergency, you will not do what you think is best, you will wait for instructions, and follow them precisely."

"I get it," said Hiro.

"I'm not done. You will not appeal my decisions to the rest of the crew. I'm sure they all feel a great deal of sentiment for what you have done. You will not be cashing in on it on this ship."

There was a pause, and Hiro filled it. "I will absolutely respect your command."

"Good," said Commander Lewis. "There's a few things for us to discuss about life on this ship. First, let's talk sexual harassment."

"What?! That's not...I mean I'm not going to...are we sure that's necessary, to talk about it?"

"Yes," said Commander Lewis.

"Oh. O-okay."

"There is no dating or flirting on this ship, and there is no one on this ship young enough to be dating or flirting with you."

!

A tragedy on Mars left the world reeling ten months ago. Astronaut Mark Watney was reported dead in a Martian sandstorm that threatened to overturn the rocket that was to bring the Ares III crew home. The nation mourned, and waited to welcome home the survivors of that ill-fated mission. Until, that is, the world was rocked again with the news that Mark Watney was still alive on Mars, and that a teenaged boy would be his only hope for survival. I'm Anderson Cooper, and this is 60-Minutes.

"There is a certain amount of…horror… in what happened," said Teddy Sanders, Director of NASA. "Mark Watney thrived on Mars for ten months, in many respects, but he was also completely alone for ten months. That he retrieved the Pathfinder probe was as much a testament to his ingenuity and resourcefulness as it was to how alone he must have felt."

"The resources that have been retasked and the amount of overtime that has gone into bringing everyone home safe, I've heard people saying that nothing like this has happened at NASA since Apollo 13," said Anderson. They were sitting in Teddy's office, overlooking the grounds.

"Things are quieting down, now that they have reached the safety of the Hermes. But for the last few weeks, yes, NASA's been like a beehive that's been knocked down. Everyone's been doing their part, everyone, like you said, has been working overtime, practically living in their offices. It's more overtime than we have the budget for. You know, it was only after they had launched from Mars that our teams stopped furiously trying to put together a resupply probe. Because if something went wrong, and they couldn't leave Mars, they would need a resupply sooner, rather than later. Before we had full communication with Mars, our friends at JPL were working night and day to get in contact with the Pathfinder probe. And it was only after they rendezvoused with the Hermes that our teams of engineers were able to step back their efforts to understand Hiro's craft, and his technology, because if something went wrong, we had to be in a position to give the right information to correct the issue. Of course, everything's gone off with nary a hitch, but I don't think anyone regrets the effort that they put into this. We had astronauts in need, and we did everything we could to make sure that they would come home safely."

"Now these events have set a lot of precedents," said Anderson.

"They have, at every step of the way. There's never been a situation like this in all of NASA history, or in the history of manned spaceflight. Of course, we thought that Mark was the first person to die on another planet. Now, he holds the record for the longest time spent on another celestial body, and his resourcefulness there has been astounding. As has been pointed out by the University of Chicago, Mark's alma mater, he has literally colonized Mars. Meanwhile, the technology that has gone to reach him, the reactionless drive, the quartzite reactor, have captured the imaginations of scientists, engineers, and laymen alike. We've all seen just what they've accomplished already, and it was that potential that led us to work with Hiro Hamada in the first place."

"Now that's not a name that is without controversy," suggested Anderson.

"Oh, there certainly is," said Teddy. "You can't create an international incident with North Korea without staring in some controversy. And I certainly appreciate what he's done. But I don't know that I can condone his actions."

"Well, not as the Director of a government agency, perhaps," said Anderson. "But if you weren't. As a human being, experiencing these events that have brought the world together, what's your reaction to Hiro Hamada."

"Well I'll tell you this, I'd like the chance to shake his hand again."

Director Sanders is not alone in that sentiment. I sat down with the two people who most of all in this world want to thank Hiro Hamada.

"You think, as a mother, that you know that losing your child would be the worst pain imaginable. But that's just an idea, a concept that anyone can suss out. It's not until it happens, that you actually know what that grief is like. People would tell me that Mark was a hero, that he died for all of humanity. What did I care? I just wanted him back."

"And now, you write each other daily," said Anderson.

"It's like someone turned the color on in the world again," said Mrs. Watney.

"We both took it hard," said Mr. Watney. "You know, when your kid tells you that they want to be an astronaut, you tell them to shoot for the stars. When your kid actually joins, well that's scary. It's the most dangerous job there is, and we knew it. Nothing prepared us, though, for getting the news we got."

"Meanwhile," said Anderson, "your son has shown a tremendous amount of resourcefulness in his survival on Mars."

"What can I say," said Mr. Watney. "That's how he was raised. And besides, well, I made him promise his mother he'd come home, and Mark's a man of his word."

"Of course," said Anderson, "we'd be having a very different conversation today if not for the actions of one individual."

"Hiro," said Mrs. Watney. "The mother in me wants to smother him with kisses and confectionary, and set him to doing enough chores to keep him busy with his feet on the ground until he turns eighteen."

"I don't know about all that," said Mr. Watney. "I think if a boy can do incredible things, he should be able to do incredible things. We certainly never held Mark back."

"Even with all of the laws he's broken?" asked Anderson.

"I say, the government dropped the ball with Mark," said Mr. Watney. "Could they have foreseen his being stranded there? Maybe not. But they should have been in the vanguard of bringing him home. Instead, they ignored the one person telling them that he was alive. So I think, sometimes, you have to take matters into your own hands."

"All I see," said Mrs. Watney, "is a boy who didn't let anything stop him from saving my son. I'd ask anyone who wants to condemn him for that, to say it to my face."

In the aftermath of Mark Watney's apparent death, Hiro Hamada led the front of voices that were crying out that he was still alive. But that group was a small one, and Hiro's efforts never gained any traction with NASA or the public. It can be argued that there were other ways to have gone about revealing the truth of Mark's survival to the world. At no time did Hiro Hamada contact members of the press. And when he gained the funds and cooperation he needed from NASA to build his ship, he did not take the opportunity to share his theories with NASA personnel. So I went to speak with some of the people who knew him the best to ask why his efforts to reveal the truth were so short lived.

"I think he came to the conclusion pretty quickly that there were two ways to save Mark: to get NASA to rescue him or to do it himself. He went with the former initially, but when he couldn't get any traction, he switched tracks hard. Not for any personal reason, I don't think. He knew that if he pushed on both fronts, then he might spoil his chances of being able to mount a rescue of any kind," said Wasabi-No Ginger, sat amidst his friends in the SFIT robotics lab.

"I don't think it was so much that Hiro didn't think he could convince someone like Teddy Sanders in a face-to-face meeting," said Honey Lemon. "But he couldn't be sure of the outcome. If, say, Director Sanders wasn't convinced, then he also might realize that Hiro had an ulterior motive for building his ship, and that could have put an end to everything."

"One question that's been asked a lot is, did anyone know that Hiro was going to launch his ship before he did it."

"Well we sure didn't," said Gogo Tomago.

"You didn't have a clue?" asked Anderson.

"I wouldn't go that far," said Gogo. "We knew he had the tech to do it. We worked on the reactor with him. He told us he wanted to finish his ship and then reveal everything, and finally get an audience who might listen to his theory about Mark Watney. Then, when NASA looked to confirm that Mark was alive, he'd pressure NASA into using his ship to rescue Mark."

"We didn't necessarily think it was a good idea," said Wasabi, "we weren't even sold on whether Mark was alive or not, but we respected his decision. When he asked to postpone our presentation of the quartzite reactor, we went along with it. If for no other reason than that the reactor was his brainchild in the first place."

"I mean, I suspected that he was at least thinking about doing this," admitted Gogo.

"Same," said Frederick Lee.

"You did?" asked Anderson.

"It's the logical conclusion, my man," said Fred. "Hiro always goes all in on everything he does. This story was always going to end with a launch, one way or another."

"For me," said Gogo, "I saw how much he was obsessing over what would happen to Watney. I found him once, up late in the lab, researching the effects of starvation on the human body. Really graphic stuff too. I think he was beating himself up that he couldn't build it any faster. I kind of figured that launching himself was an option he was at least considering."

"And did you ever share your concerns with anyone?" asked Anderson.

"No," said Gogo. "I thought there'd be time to talk him out of it if it looked like he was going to go that route. But then, of course, two hours after the announcement that Mark was alive, Hiro was gone. I guess he was spooked when he saw NASA guarding his ship. The NASA engineers had been scheduled to come take a look at his ship three days later. I'd figured if he didn't confront them about Watney then, I'd know what he was planning."

"For me," said Fred, "I just figured, you know, you don't stand in the way of greatness. Hiro's proved to the world now that he had what it takes to pull this off, but I already knew he did."

"He's kind of like a force of nature," agreed Wasabi.

!

Hiro didn't have time to feel down about his actually-kind-of-terrifying first meeting with Commander Lewis. He was surrounded by crew members helping him set up his own bunk.

Finding a place to put Hiro had apparently been quite an issue for everyone at NASA. The ship was big, but it didn't waste any space. There were six bunks, one for each crew member, not including Hiro. Of them, only Beck's and Lewis's had the floor space to make up a pallet for Hiro. But NASA had decided that such an arrangement would present a safety hazard in the event of an emergency.

There were a few alcoves in the ring section of the Hermes used for storage. One of them was just big enough for Hiro to stretch out in. Given that they were most of the way through their journey, the crew had gone through enough of their provisions that space could be made there for Hiro's make-shift bunk by jettisoning a few empty containers. Vogel and Martinez were setting up guidelines for a blanket that would act as a privacy screen, while Hiro and Johanssen debated the best way of crafting a sleeping surface out of clothes and linens. Mark sat and watched, offering the occasional commentary. Everyone's science schedules had been cleared for the day, and with the rendezvous completed, and the ship back on course, everyone was free to hang out.

"Alright," said Mark, once Hiro had his pseudo bunk. "I think it's time to teach our space baby to get around in zero-gravity."

"Apprentice," supplied Hiro.

"Aw, he is our space baby," said Johanssen.

Hiro sighed.

They walked to the nearest ladder that ran up to the center of the ring, where it connected with the rest of the ship.

"Nope. Nope, nope, nope," said Beck coming down the hall.

"Not more tests," complained Hiro.

"I told you I wanted you on a treadmill. NASA Medical's just cleared the tests, and I want them done before you go playing in zero-g. Same goes double for you, Mark."

"Buzzkill," said Mark.

"I'm okay with that," said Beck. "Come on, the both of you."

"We'll see you guys once you're cleared to have some fun," said Martinez.

Beck led the two of them to the gym, which was cramped and small. There were two treadmills, side-by-side, and they were apparently already set up for running stress tests. Beck pulled out wires from a compartment on one of them, and attached fresh electrodes to them, which he stuck to Mark's chest, before doing the same with Hiro.

"Alright," said Beck. "We'll start out with a slow walk." Standing across from Mark, he reached over the control panel to turn on the treadmill, which started rolling at its lowest setting. He did the same with Hiro's, before stepping back to look at his tablet, which was apparently getting feedback.

"Alright," he said after a minute, "let's move it up to 2.0."

"Can't we start running yet?" asked Hiro, who was bored of the whole thing already.

"Oh, Commander," said Beck, effecting a heartbroken tone, "I'm sorry his poor heart just gave out because I couldn't follow basic instructions for a stress test."

"My heart's not going to give out!" complained Hiro.

"We'll see," said Beck cheerfully.

"If anyone's heart's going to give, it's Mark's," said Hiro.

"How did I get into this?" asked Mark.

"He's been on Mars for ten months living in a poo house," said Hiro. "His heart's probably on its last legs."

"My heart's just fine, thank you very much," said Mark.

"No one's heart is fine until I say so," said Beck.

"Beck's always been a little mad with power," Mark confided in Hiro.

"Bring it up to 3.0," said Beck.

"Now we're getting somewhere," said Hiro, starting to power-walk.

"How are we doing?" Mark asked Beck.

"All readings normal, so far," said Beck.

It wasn't over until they were sprinting on an incline, and puffing hard for breath, but finally it was over. For the time being.

"Alright," said Beck, "so far so good. Go take a break in the galley, have a small snack, and I mean small, rehydrate, and come back in half an hour."

"There's more?!" asked Hiro.

"Breathing test," said Beck.

"Lame," said Hiro

!

"Alright, Hiro, glance over your shoulder, then small push," said Martinez.

Hiro gulped and followed the directions for his fifth try. Small push, and then everything was out of his hands for the three seconds it took for his feet to enter the shaft that led to the ring. Vogel was waiting inside to catch him, just in case, since Hiro's short arm-span meant that he could fall quite a ways without being able to grab anything if he messed up very badly. But this time, Hiro didn't bounce off the edge, or spin away from the ladder, and he was able to grab onto one of the sides.

"Great," said Martinez, "okay, hold there."

Hiro was feeling the spin now, but so close to the center, it did not present much of a downward force.

"Alright, you oriented?" asked Martinez.

"Yeah," said Hiro. He had the ladder gripped on both sides, and inner curves of his feet hugged the sides as well.

"Alright, loosen your grip just a little," said Martinez.

Hiro did so, to no effect.

"Alright, a little bit more," said Martinez.

Hiro slackened his grip more and felt a little give as a millimeter of ladder slid through his hands.

"Just a little bit more," said Martinez.

Hiro started falling, slowly.

"Don't let yourself go too fast," said Vogel, still below him, getting out of the way by pressing himself to the side of the shaft.

Hiro tightened his grip and came to a jerking halt.

"Yeah, but not that slow," said Martinez, still peering over the side.

Hiro took a deep breath and loosened his grip again, falling down to the galley in a controlled fashion.

"You're doing great," shouted Johanssen from below.

It became harder to control his descent the closer to the bottom he got, his gut rearranging to having gravity again, but he managed to come to a stop at the bottom without breaking anything.

"Alright, Hiro!" congratulated Mark, who slapped Hiro on the shoulder. Hiro grinned. "Now do it again," said Mark.

"Right," said Hiro, starting the long climb back up. "I don't know why you guys need a gym, this is a workout all on its own."

"Tell that to NASA," said Mark.

They had started out with fun zero-gravity malarky, like Hiro had gotten to do on the vomit-comet. But at the end of the day, Hiro needed to be proficient in getting around the ship, so they had gotten down to business, first teaching Hiro to travel from point A to point B instead of to point Z, to catch handholds, the proper way to hold his body while gliding about. Now this, transitioning from the ship's two gravities, the Hermes crew made it look effortless, but it was currently taking all of Hiro's effort.

Space was just really hard. But Hiro had never walked away from a challenge, and he wasn't going to start.

!

"So, damage control," said Teddy. "How's it going?"

"Better than it could be," said Annie. "With everyone relatively safe on the Hermes, the public's too happy to be too critical. Meanwhile, people here are actually following my directions for talking about Hiro with the public."

"You sure we can't throw him a parade when he gets back?" asked a refreshingly chipper Mitch.

"For the last time," said Annie, "we can neither condemn, nor condone his actions. Condemn him, and we're bullies. Condone him, we're irresponsible. We're grateful that everyone is okay. We're working hard to make sure they stay that way. And we look forward to a future made possible by this new technology.

"I mean, yes," said Venkat, "but people can appreciate that there's nuance to all of that, can't they?"

Annie choked on a laugh. "Wait, oh, you're being serious. No. No, we're not doing nuance. The less we have people fighting about whether he did right or wrong, the less we have people talking about how we messed up in the first place. Mark's coming home. It's a miracle. End of story."

"Legal keeps trying to have conversations with me about whether or not we have cases for fraud or breach of contract for the Oberfeld," said Teddy.

"Well tell them to stop," said Annie. "Remind them that he's saved us millions of dollars if you have to. They're very glad that Mark's coming home. It's a miracle. Should I be making posters about this or something?"

"They're not the only ones having discussions about it," said Venkat. "SFIT, the US Attorney's office, they both have their grievances."

"I'm not worried about SFIT," said Annie, "they have their own head of public relations. If they're smart, they'll celebrate his achievements and slap him on the wrist. The kid's lawyer should be able to handle the rest quietly unless we give him a reason to handle it noisily."

"Moving on," said Teddy. "How are things on the Hermes?"

"Mark is about as healthy as can be expected," said Mitch. "Medical isn't expecting any complications on the way back, but Beck's going to be doing regular check-ups. Hiro's doing just fine, and Medical is excited to be able to study the effects of space travel on a pubescent body."

"Yeah, let's leave that last part out of the talking points," said Annie.

"No discernible effects from living with a quartzite reactor for however long he had one plugged into that robot of his?" asked Venkat.

"No," said Mitch, "at least, not that can be discerned with the medical equipment on the Hermes. Meanwhile, Commander Lewis has given him the Talk."

"Which talk is this now?" asked Annie.

"The no-hitting-on-Johanssen talk," said Venkat.

"Good," said Teddy. "How's morale?"

"Fantastic," said Mitch. "They're all thrilled. There's no indication that group cohesion has been damaged, though we're monitoring the situation. Beck says the kid's a bit of a smart-alec, but he follows directions. Commander Lewis reports that he seems to accept her authority over him. Psych is hopeful that they'll ride the high of the rescue all the way through to mission completion."

"Alright, Venkat, you had a proposal?"

"Yes," said Venkat. "We need to send people back to the Ares III site."

"Why?" asked Annie. "It's the best-studied section of Mars we have."

"Is this about Pathfinder?" asked Teddy. "We already let them bring Sojourner home so we could study Martian weathering."

"Sojourner's been compromised by having been brought into the Hab in the first place," said Venkat. "Moreover, we want to send specialized equipment to do a more in-depth examination of Mark's farm."

"Everything will be dead by then," said Mitch.

"The plants, maybe. But the soil? The Hab's still running warm and humid with plenty of CO2. The only things running are atmospheric control, so it should be able to keep going even if most of the solar panels get covered in dust. This is an opportunity to study long-term growing conditions on Mars."

"I might be able to sell it," said Teddy.

"I can't stress how important the data would be for future Mars colonization," said Venkat. "I've got scientists saying it would be worth scrapping the original Ares V mission to go back to Acidalia Planitia if that's what it takes."

"Get me a proposal I can present," said Teddy. "Hopefully it won't come to scrapping the Ares V landing site."

"We can't just hop over with reactionless engines?" asked Annie.

"It could be ten years before we can clear a manned mission to Mars with this tech," said Venkat. "If we postpone Ares V, we could get there in five. The only reason I'm not suggesting postponing Ares IV is because the MAV is already there and it can't stand there indefinitely."

"There's also the consideration that we're going to be juggling a lot of project proposals now that this technology exists," said Teddy. "JPL thinks they can get a probe to Proxima B within five years if they start working on it now. The shuttle program is talking about doubling the frequency of launches now that fuel cost won't be a consideration. Meanwhile, I've had three separate proposals for manned expeditions to Europa."

"We're not ready to put people on Europa," said Venkat.

"Tell them that," said Teddy.

"No, but these are the conversations you guys need to be having publicly," said Annie. "I want to start a publicity campaign, the Future of Space Travel."

"I thought we couldn't throw Hiro a parade," said Mitch.

"No, but we can throw his tech a parade," said Annie.

"Sounds good," said Teddy. "I'll forward the proposals to you."

"You know," said Mitch, "thirty years from now, Hiro's going to be known as the kid who took us to the stars, before anyone remembers that he flew to Mars that one time."

!

"Mark's doing great," said Beck, in a private meeting with Commander Lewis.

"Surprisingly so," said Commander Lewis. "Not just physically. He'd been alone for so long."

"He had a lot of things going for him. He kept busy, he had concrete goals to work towards, and as much as he likes to bash it, he had your data stick. Plus, he's Mark, he's always been resilient. Don't get me wrong, he needs some TLC, but I'm very optimistic."

"And Hiro?" asked Commander Lewis.

"Hiro, well, physically he's just fine. He's not quite up to astronaut standards, so let's just say it's a good thing we have the habitat ring."

"And aside from physically?"

"You know, he sleeps with that chip," said Beck.

"He sleeps with everything he owns up here," said Commander Lewis. "We all do."

"I mean clenched in his hand, held close to his body," said Beck. He hadn't been snooping, it was just that the privacy screen they'd put up had a habit of getting pushed to the side as Hiro tossed and turned in his cramped bunk.

"Is that a concern for you?" asked the commander, giving him a puzzled look. "This isn't some grudge against a medical bot, is it?"

"No," said Beck. "I've been going over the medical files Baymax sent us. It's actually pretty impressive. They really could replace people like me. Someday, anyway."

"So what's the issue?" asked Commander Lewis.

"It's what it represents," said Beck. "Like I said, I've been going over the medical files the robot sent NASA Medical. The thing is, they're not just medical files, they're psych too. I don't think Baymax saw a difference; mental states, being physical states, and all that."

"Hiro has a diagnosis?" asked Commander Lewis. As Commander, there was not much that she was not privy to.

"Acute grief and depression," said Beck, "related to personal loss, the death of his brother seventeen months ago. Per the files, he was recovering well, working through accepting the loss."

"I think I can see where this is going," said Commander Lewis. "He was surrounded by friends and family then."

"Yeah," said Beck. "And when he launched, he had Baymax, which Mark reports was a giant fluffy hug factory. Basically a robotic security blanket, and now we took that away too."

"Have you noticed anything?" asked Commander Lewis.

"No," said Beck, "but it's over a month until we get to Earth and start our aerobraking procedures, closer to two months until he can actually go home. I'd rather be proactive."

"Alright," said Commander Lewis, "let's break out some morale boosters."

!

There was no one part of the ship that was designed for seven crew members. For instance, there were six flight chairs on the bridge. When the Hermes began its aerobraking maneuvers, Hiro would be strapped in in the infirmary like a medically fragile patient. There were also only six chairs in the commissary/rec room. Hiro mostly just sat in a corner when they were all using it together, though sometimes he perched himself on the table, or was allowed to squeeze in to share Johanssen's chair. There weren't any portable chairs on the ship, and NASA didn't want the obstruction that bringing in a storage container for Hiro to sit on would cause. Today he was squeezed in as he threw his dice on the table.

"28," said Hiro.

"That is a hit!" said Vogel.

Hiro gathered up a few d8s to roll the damage.

"Seventeen radiant damage," said Hiro.

"The dark elf lets out a cry as your holy-blade swings true, but you can see that it is more furious than injured and it locks its black eyes onto yours."

"Eep!" said Hiro. "Mark, you want to help a guy out before she's able to hit me back?"

"I mean, I want to help you out, Hiro," said Mark, "but Hagar thinks you've made your bed, and now you need to lie in it. He casts Blink." Mark rolled a d20. "Thirteen, Hagar disappears from existence, watching you all from another plane."

"Hagar sucks," said Hiro.

When Commander Lewis had announced that they were having a game night, it was quickly decided to revive the crew's dungeons and dragons campaign, which had originally dissolved when Mark had been left on Mars. Hiro had played a little of the seventh edition when he was ten, and Tadashi had been playing a campaign with his high school friends. The crew was still playing sixth edition.

"Yeah," said Martinez, "Hagar is way more trouble than he's worth."

"You didn't say that when Hagar blew up the prison," said Mark.

"I did," said Martinez.

"We all did," said Johanssen.

"There's a reason we don't let Hagar have explosives anymore," said Lewis, "and it's because Hagar blew up the prison."

"You're welcome," said Mark.

Beck threw some popcorn at Mark. They had had a movie night a couple nights ago, and Hiro had learned then that there was no fresh popcorn in space, since it was way too easy to burn in the microwave. That was fine, though, since Hiro loved the tinned stuff with various sugary flavors. Commander Lewis had told them that they had way too much of the stuff left, so they might as well use it, prompting excuses to use it, like movie and game nights.

"I cast Bardic Inspiration on little Ragon," said Martinez.

"Ragon is seven feet tall, thank you very much," said Hiro.

Johanssen, who loved not being the smallest crew member anymore, ruffled his hair.

"The dark elf draws back her battle ax," said Vogel, "saying a prayer to Loviatar as the blade of her weapon shimmers with black energy. She swings the blade down at you, trying to cleave you in two with her Finishing Strike. She rolls…unnatural 20."

"Use your bardic inspiration," said Martinez.

Hiro picked up a d10 and threw it at the table.

"2! Tie goes to the defender!" said Hiro.

"Perhaps in 8e," Vogel, "but here, the tie goes to the one who attacks."

"Arg," said Hiro.

Vogel started picking up a lot of d10s.

"47 damage, and you are knocked prone," declared Vogel. "She winds up for a bonus attack."

"Okay," said Hiro, "I am way past bloodied. Does anyone have any reaction abilities?"

"I think you're on your own, Hiro," said Beck.

"The dark elf swings to separate your head from your body…but she rolls a twelve and plows a gouge into the ground."

Hiro heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank Bahamut for small favors."

"Commander, it is your turn," said Vogel.

"I Translocate," said Commander Lewis, "switching places with Ragon."

"The dark elf is furious that her prey has been stolen from her."

"Well, that's too bad for her because Tyree unleashes a Stinging Fury with her twin daggers with a…28."

"That's a hit," said Vogel. "Roll for-."

He was interrupted by a flashing red icon on the touch screen that was mounted on the wall, and it's accompanying chirping.

Hiro was temporarily displaced as Johanssen got up to check on what the alert was for.

"NASA's implementing a course correction. We've drifted off course by fourteen hundred meters."

"Alright," said Commander Lewis. "Looks like game night's over. Martinez, you and I will be on the bridge running system diagnostics. Johanssen, please complete a full reactor and engine check. Vogel, you can recheck telemetry in the morning."

"You got it, Commander," said Martinez as the three filed out.

"What do we do?" asked Hiro to Mark, Vogel, and Beck.

"Clean up," said Beck. "It's minor issue. All hands aren't required. If they find something the matter, then we would see who's specialty is needed to correct it." He was taking a picture of the playing board for future reference before placing the figurines into a small box and rolling up the playing grid.

Hiro couldn't go and observe what was being done either, because he wasn't allowed in the bridge or the reactor room.

"Come," said Vogel to Hiro, "I was going to check on my crystals before bed."

Coming back from Mars, a lot of Vogel's time was spent analyzing the Martian soil samples with Commander Lewis, but throughout the journey, he put a lot of focus on the growth of crystalline structures in zero-gravity. There was a lot of tech applications for such things, and Vogel's experiments were in anticipation of a permanent space station that would grow such crystals. Hiro had a lot of appreciation for the experiments after how much trouble he went through getting the right crystalline structure for his reactor. As an apprentice astronaut, he'd been helping with the different science duties.

"Actually, I'm already promised to Mark," said Hiro. The hydroponics equipment had been on the fritz all day. They'd been working on it before dinner without much luck. They'd decided to do some more trouble shooting before bed, as well as give the plants some manual TLC.

"Then I bid you good night," said Vogel, "should I not see you till morning."

"Night, guys," said Beck, "I'll be in my bunk. Hiro, Mark, don't forget, we're doing a blood draw tomorrow, so no more food until then."

"Ug," said Hiro.

"You say, to the man who was starving on Mars," said Mark.

"Yeah, you've put on five pounds since then, Mr. Potato Farmer," said Beck. "You can manage twelve hours."

"Fine," said Mark.

"Night," said Hiro.

"Come on," said Mark. "Let's go save my plants."

Mark had two labs. One in the ring habitat, and one in zero-g, allowing him to run control tests. They were headed to the lab without gravity, necessitating a long climb up the nearest ladder. Hiro was starting to get the hang of the long climbs but was still huffing a little when he reached the top and launched himself to the nearest stationary handhold. Then the two of them made their way towards the back of the ship and Mark unsealed the hatch to his hydroponics lab. He set Hiro to watering the plants their pre-set amounts, while he started opening up the access panels to the machinery that was supposed to automatically tend to the plants' needs. Johanssen had already determined that there wasn't a software glitch, which meant that there was a problem somewhere in the sophisticated mechanisms. He started poking around while Hiro was still using a special syringe to pump doses of water and nutrients into various tubing.

"So how've you been doing, Hiro," asked Mark after they were settled into their work.

"I've been okay," said Hiro.

"Tell me about it," said Mark.

"Er, well," said Hiro, "I think I'm settling in pretty well. Case in point, I can get stuff done in zero-gravity now. Everyone's been great helping me."

"Yeah?" said Mark.

"Yeah," said Hiro, "even if Beck has to keep poking and prodding me."

"I could do without that too," said Mark. "I'm sure we make great test subjects though: The Martian, and the first teen in space. He's probably writing a paper on us as we speak."

"I thought he was doing the tests on NASA's orders," said Hiro.

"Oh, he is," said Mark. "But we've all got papers to put out while we're up here. He's hardly going to pass up the opportunity to put his stamp on all of this. I've been writing a few papers myself, mostly on my potato farm, in addition to my experiments up here."

"Maybe I should get writing then," said Hiro.

"Yeah, you should," said Mark. "You could be published in pretty much any journal you apply to."

"It's so much work though," complained Hiro.

"And building a spaceship wasn't?" asked Mark.

"That was fun," said Hiro. "Like, every step of the way. I didn't think it would be, since my true love will always be robotics. But there's a lot to be said for spaceships."

"Well that's good at least," said Mark. "So, feeling homesick at all?"

"Well, yeah, I guess," said Hiro. "I mean, not like you probably were."

"Eh, it's not a competition. Besides, I haven't been gone from home any longer than I had planned to be."

"Still," said Hiro.

"Yeah," said Mark. "It was real hard. I think you saw some of that when you first got there."

"You were kind of freaking out," said Hiro.

"And you were a big help when you got there," said Mark. "It was good to be connected with another human being, you know? And now I'm back with my friends, heading home. So I've been doing pretty well. There's still some nights I have to wander the ship to convince myself it's all real, before I can get back to sleep. But I've got people I can reach out to when I need help now. And I know we're not the friends and family you left back home, but so do you."

"What? I'm fine," said Hiro.

"Sure," said Mark. "But if you weren't. I don't think there's anyone on the ship who wouldn't give you a hug."

"I'll…keep that in mind," said Hiro.

"Great," said Mark. "Now, come here a minute and help me get into the pump assembly."

"We checked that already," said Hiro, already drifting down to where Mark was working.

"I've got a hunch," said Mark.

"I bet you tomorrow's dessert ration that it's a slipped gear in the nutrient distributor."

"You're on," said Mark… "Wait, I should not be betting with a hustler."

"Too late," said Hiro. "Your dessert is mine."

!

"Welcome, welcome, welcome and thank you for joining us on Last Week Tonight! I'm John Oliver, and we start tonight with a Mission to Mars, or, as Rotten Tomatoes likes to call it: 25%."

The poster for the 2000 flop appeared over his right shoulder.

"Now, you all already know the story of Mark Watney, stranded on Mars, and Hiro Hamada, his unlikely rescuer. So what we've been trying to dig into isn't what all has happened, but how did all of this happen? How did no one notice he was still up there, and how did a fifteen year old boy get away with building a fully functional space ship without raising any eyebrows. I think most of us remember fifteen as our awkward goth phase. Or as we told our mothers: it's not a phase mother, darkness is my life! I'M EBONY NOW! CALL ME EBONY! GOD!" The image of a teenage goth looking very moody had appeared over his right shoulder.

"The answer to those two questions, we've discovered, is a complete lack of imagination, on NASA's part. Check out this interview that CNN had with Irma Vales, who runs the public relations department that Hiro repeatedly cried out to, sharing his evidence of Mark Watney's survival."

"It's just that…we don't exist to advise NASA," Irma stated. "You know, someone calls and says they like what we're doing, we send them a thank you letter. Someone tells us they've left a bomb in NASA headquarters, we call the FBI. That's happened more than a few times. People call us all the time though to say, oh, there's aliens on the moon, or that the ISS has some critical flaw they need to warn NASA about. It's not really our job to pass along every crazy theory."

"That's right," said John. "Three weeks later, and it's still a 'crazy theory' that Mark Watney survived. And you might be asking, why it isn't their job to pass these things up the chain of command, and the answer isn't so surprising."

"I'd say that fully two-thirds of the communications we get are from pranksters or nut-jobs," said Irma. "We get plenty of legitimate calls too. People who want to know how they can watch a launch, people who are interested in job opportunities. We take calls from people who think that space debris has fallen on their property, and sometimes it has. But we get a lot of people calling to say that space travel is against god's will, and we're going to burn in hell. We get people harassing us to say that we should be shot for helping to cover up aliens. We got calls from two separate people last month who thought that one of the astronauts back from the ISS had been replaced by bodysnatchers. We get letters from people who've compiled what they think is evidence that the Chinese are planning a hostile takeover of the ISS. But we're not really there to tell the scientists and the bureaucrats how to do their jobs."

"Exactly," said John, "they are so inundated with bullshit twenty-four seven, that Hiro's perfectly reasonable theory that Mark Watney survived Sol 6 just sounded like more noise in a sea of crazy. Now, when asked what someone with a legitimate concern is supposed to do when they need to share it with NASA, Ms. Vales had no clear answer. And we checked for ourselves. We searched the official website, and for the average layperson, there is no recourse. All roads lead back to Irma whether by phone, email, snail mail, or fax. Now, as John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight, I was able to call Annie Montrose, Head of NASA Media Relations, and have a chat about having NASA Director Teddy Sanders do an appearance on the show, and we've already received a response directly from him politely declining. But not everyone has the pull to accomplish that kind of rejection. So I've had Keith, a member of our camera crew, trying to get in touch with NASA management for the last week and a half. We consulted with a former JPL employee to come up with a reasonable sounding concern about a possible hazard on the ISS. Keith's only job for the last week and a half has been to get someone to actually address that concern. Keith, how about you come out here and tell us how you've done."

"Oh, hey John," said an awkward looking guy in a t-shirt and cargo pants, walking onto the stage."

"So Keith, tell us, has NASA saved the astronauts on the ISS from certain death."

"Um, I don't know about that," said Keith. "I did get this nice letter, thanking me for my concern. It's like, on really nice paper."

"Okay, but who have you been able to talk to about this?"

"Um, I got in touch with people at NASA's call center. They didn't do anything. Then I like, googled for contact information for NASA employees. I got the desk phone of this middle manager in some field I don't understand. He hung up on me. And I got an email for some guy, I don't know what he does, but he hasn't gotten back to me."

"Is…is that all?" asked John.

"I got Teddy Sanders's secretary on the phone," said Keith.

"You did?" asked John. "How did you do that?"

"I lied my ass off," said Keith.

"Okay, but what was the result?" asked John.

"Well, they changed her number," said Keith.

"That's as far as you got?"

"Nah, after that, I called their front desk. I'd found their company department list, so I just kept asking to be put in touch with the different department heads. They didn't really want to talk to me though."

"Is that so?"

"Well, I told one of them that I was a professor of astrophysics at MIT."

"How did that work out?" asked John.

"He asked me why I was calling from New York in the middle of midterms."

"Yeah, that's fair," said John.

"So I went to NASA headquarters."

"Wait, I didn't give you a budget for that," said John.

"Yeah, you did, you said to do whatever it took to get someone to listen to me, so the quartermaster gave me a plane ticket."

"Wait, coach, right?"

"…Sure. Anyway, I got kicked out of NASA a couple of times. Eventually, I wound up outside with a sandwich board."

A video came up of Keith standing out front of NASA with a sandwich board reading 'CRITICAL ISS FAILURE IMMINENT', handing out fliers.

"Wait, who's taking the video?" asked John.

"Oh, Sandra over there," said Keith, pointing to one of the camerawomen off to the side. She poked her head out from behind her camera.

"Hey, Keith," she said with a wave. "Looking good up there."

"Thank's Sandra," said Keith.

"Wait, we sent Sandra and a camera along too?" asked John.

"Yeah, and her crew," said Keith.

"Okay, this is getting out of hand. But what were you able to accomplish?"

"Well, I didn't get arrested," said Keith, and now a video of him being approached by police came up, followed by a shot of Keith walking dejectedly away from NASA in his sandwich board.

"I'm assuming we would have had to pay to get you bailed out," said John.

"Yeah," said Keith. "Luckily, we still had enough petty cash to go to Disney World while we were there." He put on a Micky Mouse hat.

"Alright, get out of here!" cried John. "We are having a talk later," he said to Keith's retreating back.

John turned back to the audience. "So basically, it's impossible for a private citizen with a legitimate concern to bring it to NASA's attention. Which generally hasn't been a concern, until they left an astronaut on Mars, and didn't realize it.

"So we've determined how Hiro Hamada failed to bring Mark's survival to NASA's attention. Now, to figure out how it was that Hiro managed to build his space ship without raising any red flags we've had to go to some lengths. Because while NASA has had plenty to say on the matter, it's basically all been spin. So we decided to find out if there was anyone who could comment on the matter with no previous knowledge about the launch. Which you would think would be impossible, and we thought so too, until our research department found NASA engineer Ted Chang, whose excuse for being completely oblivious is that he was clinically dead when the news broke, which, is a pretty good excuse, as these things go. Kim went in for a major heart operation on the same day as everything went down, and has been in recovery at the Mayo Clinic, which has a strict no-news policy, in the interest of providing their patients with a stress free environment. When we found out about this, we made sure to get permission to be the ones to let him know."

John sat in Ted's living room across from Ted, who was sat comfortably in a recliner.

"I have to say, you look pretty good for a man who was dead two weeks ago."

"Well, it was a controlled death," said Ted. "The doctor's did it on purpose."

"Yeah, but not many people can say they were dead for twenty minutes and came back."

"It's an odd club to be in," said Ted.

"Now, just to confirm, you have not had access to any news since your surgery."

"Oh, I got one piece of news," said Ted.

"And what's that?" asked John.

"My latest granddaughter was born three days ago. Do you want to see a picture?"

"Alright," said John.

Ted pulled a picture of his granddaughter out and held it out to John who went in for a close look.

"Yeah," said John. "That sure is a baby there."

"I know, isn't she perfect?"

"Sure," said John.

"But you didn't come here to see pictures of my grand baby."

"No, but, that is a cute baby. I mean, they're all cute. That's why we let them survive the crying phase."

"So," said Ted.

"Well, I wanted to ask you what you thought about the possibility of a viable space craft being built by university students," said John.

"Oh, you mean what they're doing at SFIT," said Ted.

"Right," said John. "Do you think they'll be able to make a space worthy craft?"

Ted laughed.

"Are…are you okay?" asked John.

"I'm okay," said Ted.

"You're not going to keel over during this interview, are you?"

"I don't think so," said Ted.

"Alright, so, spaceship."

"It looks amazing, from what I've seen so far. You know, they get to do so many fun things at the university level. They get to put the latest technologies to work there."

"Well, isn't that what you do at NASA?" asked John.

"Sometimes," said Ted, "but usually we're putting yesterday's technology to use. Because it's been tested, tried and true. You know, how many times does Apple have to patch the software before your iPhone works the way it's supposed to? When you have people's lives, and billions worth of technology on the line, you make sure you use something that's not going to fail halfway through the mission."

"Fair enough," said John. "But can they do it?"

"Eh," said Ted. "You know, they're going to do a lot of amazing work there. They're going to put a lot of amazing things together. But I don't know that they're going to put together something that's literally space-worthy. That's a pretty high bar, and they're building a concept ship, not something that's actually going to go up there. But like I said, it sounds like so much fun. I've half a mind to, to take a road trip over to San Fransokyo and see if they'll let an old fogy like me poke around."

"Alright," said John, "so, about the aspects of the ship that don't exist yet."

"The reactionless engine might actually exist in fifteen years," said Ted. "I'd like to live to see that. The quartzite reactor; well, if they're possible, maybe fifty years from now."

"So, why fund him then?" asked John.

"Because, that's what the Oberfeld is for," said Ted. "You get people to push the boundaries of what's possible. Plus, you know, ten years from now, we might be using some of his innovations in an actual craft. And maybe his project actually will inspire more people to get to work on those elusive technologies. Maybe my grand baby will be vacationing on Mars in fifty years, you know?"

"So, now we get to a part where, well, can I ask again…you're sure you're not going to keel over?"

"I'm pretty sure," said Ted.

"It's just that I've never killed anyone before, and I was kind of lying about how good you look," said John.

Ted laughed again.

"Okay, so as you may have surmised, I have some news for you," said John.

"Yeah, I got that impression," said Ted.

"So, part of it is, I've been asking you about things I already know the answer to. I'm sorry to say, you got it all wrong. The space ship works, and Hiro Hamada launched it into space with reactionless engines and a quartzite reactor."

"Are you serious?" asked Ted.

"Absolutely," said John.

Ted started laughing in earnest.

"Alright, I have to ask, are you still on pain medications."

Ted held up his thumb and forefinger a smidge apart.

"That explains some things," said John.

"That all happened while I was gone?" asked Ted, still laughing.

"There's more," said John.

"Alright," said Ted.

"Hiro launched and flew to Mars because Mark Watney was still alive there. He has picked Mark up, and rendezvoused with the Hermes."

"What?" asked Ted, not laughing.

"Yeah," said John.

"Mark's alive?" asked Ted.

"Alive and well," said John.

"Honey," Ted called off screen, "Mark's alive?"

"Yeah, baby, Mark's alive," his wife called.

"Oh my god!" said Ted, his hands going to his face.

"Now, sir, I'm British, so I'm going to have to insist that you not cry. Please. Alright, here's a handkerchief."

"That's a flipping miracle!" said Ted emotionally.

"Oh, it's HBO, sir, you can actually curse."

"Hah!"

"A fucking miracle indeed," said John, sitting at his desk, "And now, this."

"And now, How is This Still a Thing? This week, internal combustion engines in cars. How are those still a thing?"

!

"Um, Cass," said Wasabi.

"Hm?"

"It's just, that's your sixth muffin," said Wasabi.

"I can't help it," said Cass. "They're… they're ramming the ship into the atmosphere tomorrow."

"It's actually a fairly simple procedure," said Wasabi, going back to work on Cass's industrial mixer, a job that Hiro would normally have had. "NASA does it all the time. They have been for decades."

"But couldn't they bring Hiro home beforehand?" asked Cass.

"Well that's the point," said Wasabi. "The ship's still going too fast. That's why they do a few passes through the outer atmosphere to slow down. Attempting to dock with them beforehand would be a lot trickier."

"I just…need him to be home. Now," said Cass.

"Well, he's in good hands for right now," said Wasabi.

"Is he though? What if they leave him behind?" asked Cass.

Wasabi cast her a flat look.

"It could happen," said Cass.

"With Hiro, I'm sure it could happen. I'm sure that's why they're sending Hiro and Mark back first, while the rest of the crew preps for the refit missions," said Wasabi, referring to the overhaul that the Hermes went through between each Ares mission.

"Sure," said Cass. "Because they're the least physically fit, and space is slowly killing them!"

"I know!" said Wasabi, forgetting that he was supposed to be reassuring Cass. "Space is so bad for people."

"Oh my god!" Gogo cried from the dining room where she had been working on her homework. "You're supposed to be reassuring her." She stormed in.

"Okay, first of all, the Hermes has the most comprehensive radiation shielding of any spacecraft ever designed. It's equal to the shielding Hiro put on his own ship. And space travel is so bad for people because our bodies atrophy in zero gravity, but Hiro's spending most of his time in artificial gravity. They're going to be fine. They're going to come home in one piece. And it's going to be great."

"Oh my god," said Wasabi. "You're worried too!"

"I am not worried," said Gogo.

"Yes, you are," said Wasabi.

"Oh, my god, they're all going to die," said Cass.

"What? No," said Gogo, shooting Wasabi a 'now look what you've done' glare. "I'm worried about stupid stuff that's not going to happen. The Hermes is going to make five passes through the atmosphere. Hiro and Mark are going to be picked up. They'll be back on Earth in a week. Back home soon after that."

"I just…I couldn't survive it if something happens to him."

"I promise you Cass," said Gogo, "they're going to be fine."

What neither of them told her was that they were going to have Baymax on standby to run a rescue mission if it came down to it. The standard super capacitors weren't up to the task of getting Baymax to space, so they'd recreated a new reactor for him. It wasn't easy without Hiro, but they'd been a part of the creation process, and they weren't going to leave Hiro's fate to chance. He was their teammate, and they'd have his back.

!

The med bay did have restraints that could not be undone by the restrained individual. Hiro did not want to think about what could necessitate them being there. Fortunately, there was also a regular harness system on the bed/flight couch that he had ridden the aerobraking out in, and he was out of it by himself as soon as he got the all clear from the bridge. He drifted out into the hallway, weightless because the ring section was being stilled for the duration of the aerobraking procedures. He started making his way through the habitat ring. He had been tasked with checking to make sure nothing had been disrupted by the turbulence from the maneuver. Though, he kept getting distracted by the view of Earth through the windows.

The job was mostly a formality. Everything had been secured over an hour before their approach for their first swing around the Earth, and Hiro only found a single solitary pen floating around in the rec room, which he tucked into the cabinet it belonged in. Then he returned to the med bay and retrieved a clip-board with an attached check-list.

The first page was a list of ship components that Hiro was supposed to examine from various vantage points around the habitat ring, and confirm visually that there was no apparent damage. This took a good half-hour, with various comments back and forth with the rest of the crew, who were performing their own checks throughout the rest of the ship.

Halfway through the second page, checking the lab equipment, he was relieved of his duties.

"Hey," called Mark, drifting into the chem-lab. Hiro turned to watch as Mark grasped a nearby handhold. "That was something, huh?"

"It was something," said Hiro. "Mostly just a lot of shaking. Thanks for having the feed piped into the med bay, it was nice to at least have something to look at."

"Oh, if you want something to look at, NASA got footage of us screaming into the atmosphere."

"Oh, cool," said Hiro. He pushed off from his hold by mass spectrometer and joined Mark on the lip of the chute.

"So," said Mark, "you nervous?"

Hiro didn't have to ask what he was referring to. Now that they were in orbit around Earth, albeit a very unstable one, NASA had decided Hiro could go about handling the legal issues that had accumulated, and Hiro was going to have a video conference with his lawyer. Hiro thought that NASA would have rather Hiro waited until the mission was actually over, but they had apparently been overruled.

"Yeah," admitted Hiro.

"I'm sure it's going to be fine," said Mark, giving Hiro an awkward zero-g one-armed hug. "You're a global hero."

"Let's hope the US Attorney's office feels the same way," said Hiro, returning the hug, and handing Mark the clip-board.

"How's my lab, by the way?" asked Mark.

"It's fine," said Hiro. "Nothing out of place, but the hydroponics equipment is still running self-checks. Everything else has been fine too, down here."

"Up up up," chided Mark, "no more down." He was referring to the fact that up and down descriptors were now meaningless without gravity.

"Oh, yeah," said Hiro. "Out here, I guess. How's everything else?"

"Well, I'm out here chatting with you," said Mark, "so great."

"Cool," said Hiro.

"Anyway," said Mark, "go on to the gym so they can patch you through."

Hiro sighed. "Alright," he said, and angled himself to the exit closest to the gym on the ring.

"You'll be fine," Mark called after him.

He was going to the gym so that he could have a private space to have a privileged conversation with his lawyer. If he was a crew member, he'd be doing it in his bunk, but Hiro's makeshift bunk didn't have it's own console. He'd close himself off in the gym and make use of the terminal there. The conversation would supposedly be completely free of government intrusion, though they would have no way of knowing one way or another, given that the communication was being facilitated by NASA.

"Hey, Johanssen," he called into his radio once he was there, and had grabbed a pen and pad of paper from a cabinet, "I'm ready for my call."

"Alright," she replied. "I'm patching you through now."

Hiro frowned to himself by the computer terminal, still unsure of what to expect.

There was no preamble to the call, one moment Hiro was looking at the Hermes OS desktop, and the next moment he was looking at his Aunt Cass and a young man in a sharp three piece suit.

"Aunt Cass!" said Hiro. "I wasn't expecting you."

"You're still a minor, Hiro," said Aunt Cass, "of course I'm going to be involved. Now how's everything over there? Why are you weightless. Did the wheel break?"

"What? No, nothing's broken. We're just keeping the wheel stationary for the aerobraking procedures."

"Isn't that bad for your body? You're losing bone mass."

"It's just for a few days, Aunt Cass. I'll be fine. Plus, I'll be using the gym equipment to stay in shape."

"If I may?" interjected the man who Hiro supposed was his lawyer.

"Oh, yeah," said Hiro. "Hey."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Hiro. My name is Justin Trembly. I have been retained by your Aunt to handle all legal matters associated with your journey to Mars."

"Okay," said Hiro. "Awesome. So. What am I looking at exactly, legally speaking?"

"Well, it could be a lot worse, Hiro," said Mr. Trembly. "You actually did a very good job of protecting yourself in your grant and project proposals. You broke a lot of implied statements of fact and promises of intent, but you never explicitly lied, which does a lot to cover you from claims of fraud. You never explicitly stated that reactionless engines and quartzite reactors have yet to be invented, you implied it. You never stated that your ship would never fly, you implied it. Now, that isn't to say that SFIT or NASA couldn't try to sue you for fraud, but they would have a weak case for it. Likewise, your contract with SFIT does allow for the removal of components of the ship from the campus for testing purposes, and your flight to Mars could be classified as a test-flight, given that you did intend, at the time of launch, to return the ship. You did break campus policy by not receiving prior clearance from your project advisor, but that is a disciplinary matter, not a legal one. SFIT would have a very weak case to claim that you stole the spacecraft, or that you have breached contract. They do have a possible case though, that you have lost their property through reckless actions, and could take you to civil court. However, given that they currently have a Martian orbiter rather than a large and expensive paperweight, they would probably lose in the court of public opinion, so I don't foresee them doing that.

"Now, as I said, they do have you on breaches on their policies, and they could hold you to task for various ethics violations, but that would be an internal matter. There are attorney's at my firm who specialize in matters of education who could represent you in the event of a disciplinary hearing, but I would like to remain focused on legal matters for the time being."

"Alright," said Hiro, feeling distinctly lousy, in spite of what was mostly good news. He had never felt bad before, when he was hustling bot-fighters. But he did feel that he had crossed a line by lying so thoroughly to SFIT and NASA. Whether or not he had technically defrauded them, he had defrauded them, and more and more he was wondering what would have happened if he had come clean after he had received the grant and had everyone's attention.

"That takes us to the criminal charges, of which there are two: the violation of aviation code that you very publicly broke by launching your ship, and obstruction of police duties, which you did by infiltrating the lab. Unless there's something I don't know about, I don't see any good way to dispute these charges, as they were very publicly done. There was talk of a trespassing charge, but I have already handled that. SFIT had already granted you near unlimited access to the lab, and the order to exclude you came from NASA, not SFIT, which was actually a legal reach on NASA's part.

"Now, again, you are very popular right now. No one really wants to take you to court. But at the same time, the government never likes to give the impression that people can break the law just because everything worked out alright. And in your case, there is the matter of the very real repercussion that it caused an international incident with North Korea. Fortunately, that wound up being little more than bluster on their end, but the point remains."

"So what am I looking at?" asked Hiro.

"Well, we've been offered a very good deal," said Mr. Trembly, "and I'm going to recommend you take it."

"What's the deal?" asked Hiro.

"First, they're going to require that you plead guilty, and provide a brief statement of fact about your launch."

"I can do that," said Hiro, writing it down. He'd make it very basic, to avoid mention of his friends and Big Hero 6.

"Second, I'm afraid to say, the Department of Defense has rejected your patent of the reactionless engine on the basis of national security under the Invention Secrecy act of 1951. The Department of State has rejected your patent for the quartzite reactor on the basis that it would cripple the global economy, under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951. The rest of your patents are still clearing the review process."

"WHAT?!" cried Hiro.

"The DOD has argued that your engines can easily be used in missile technology that could damage the national security should our enemies get their hands on the technology. It's not an unreasonable argument. Meanwhile, the Department of State claims that an abundance of cheap clean energy would wipe out several markets, completely destabilizing the global economy. They're arguing that there needs to be a transitional period to avoid economic collapse. We have patent lawyers at our firm who can appeal on your behalf, but I'm not seeing much basis for an appeal."

The first thing Hiro wanted to say was, 'They can't do that!' But like every SFIT freshman, he had taken Patents 101, and knew that they absolutely could. Instead, he said, "so what do they want from me?"

"Two things," said Mr. Trembly. "They want you to sign a non disclosure agreement. It's redundant, the Secrecy Act is basically a gag order, but I suppose they want to have it in writing."

"But I've already shared technical information about them with the Hemes crew and my friends," said Hiro.

"They can't hold you accountable for that, given that this is your first notice. It shouldn't matter anyway. The crew have signed NDAs of their own. Your friends are covered by the Secrecy Act for the quartzite reactor at least, given that they are named on the patent."

"So what's the second thing?" asked Hiro.

"Well, they want you to consult on the development of the technology."

"What, they want to have it both ways?" asked Hiro.

"Well, yes," said Mr. Trembly. "You would be remunerated, of course, both for the work, and for the use of your technology."

"Well, alright, but I don't… er, I don't think I want to work with the military, or anything," said Hiro.

"Your Aunt already made that stipulation on your behalf," said Mr. Trembly. "I have proposed that you can fly down to JPL on alternating weekends to consult on the technology."

Hiro sighed. It wasn't like he could keep JPL from sharing with the military, but it was a decent compromise. He wasn't exactly anti-military, but he had developed the tech to help people, not build better missiles.

"I can do that," said Hiro. "Anything else?"

"That's pretty much it," said Mr. Trembly. "If you agree to all of that, they'll drop the obstruction charge, which is good, given that there may be things you don't want to admit to related to it. You'll be given six months of informal probation for the aviation charge, which will probably amount to a PO checking to make sure you're going to class, and enrolling you in therapy."

"Therapy? I don't need therapy," said Hiro.

"Maybe not," said Mr. Trembly, "but from a certain perspective, some of your actions can be seen as…less than rational."

"Hiro," said Aunt Cass.

"Yeah?"

"Take the deal."

"Okay," said Hiro. "Wait, do you think I need therapy?"

"Well, I don't think it could hurt," said Aunt Cass. "I just…I want you to be okay."

"I am okay," said Hiro.

"Well, I want you to stay that way."

Hiro huffed.

"Now that that's settled," said Mr. Trembly, "Hiro, I'd like you to write up a brief statement of fact about your launch. Send it to me for review. There's going to be a hearing in two days after the next aerobraking. Of course, you can't be there in person, so they'll use a similar set-up for you to be there via video-conferencing."

"I'll do that," said Hiro.

"Great. We can keep in touch over email. If you think you need to talk to me via video chat again, we'll have to petition NASA for the time."

"That's fine," said Hiro. "Hey, can I get a minute with my aunt?"

"Sure," said Mr. Trembly. "There's four more minutes allotted to this call, so I think you can feel free to use it up."

"Great. Thanks for all the help," said Hiro.

"My pleasure, Hiro. Just focus on getting home safely, and I'll handle the rest until you get here." Mr. Trembly walked out of the screen.

"Are you really okay, Hiro?" asked Aunt Cass, once they were alone.

"Yeah," said Hiro, "they're taking really good care of me up here. Well, I guess I'm feeling kind of guilty right now."

"Well," said Aunt Cass, "you are guilty. So you're supposed to be feeling that way. But, just remember that I love you, and support you. And I'm always proud of you. And you've got everyone back here rooting for you."

"Thank's Aunt Cass. I love you too."

"So how was the aerobrake?" asked Aunt Cass.

"Actually, it was kind of boring," said Hiro.

"Boring's good," said Aunt Cass, "I like boring."

"Yeah," said Hiro. "They actually had me strapped down in the infirmary, which is safer than the couches on the bridge, so I was away from all the action, too."

"Aw, you know just what to say to make me feel better," said Aunt Cass. "I've got some good news."

"Mochi's having kittens?" asked Hiro.

"What, no, we fixed Mochi years ago. No, we've gotten calls from five separate medical tech companies interested in Baymax."

"Really? That's great!" said Hiro.

"I'm going to forward you the information so you can start looking into them, but we got a lot of good publicity from the Ellen show."

"Oh, good," said Hiro. "That reminds me, I had an idea for all that. I was thinking, you know, Baymax could have a central intelligence. Like, individual units would be able to act independently of each other, but they all sync to a central hub. So that would be good for a few things. Like, if anything bad happened to one of them, then there's a back-up, ready to upload into a new body. And then, like, there'd also be continuity of care, so you could go to any Baymax, and they'd already know everything they need to know about you, and what your favorite handshake is, and everything. And it could all be backed up to 5D glass storage in a couple locations to make sure that nothing can keep a Baymax down for long."

"Well that sounds great," said Aunt Cass.

"I know, right? But I think the part that would be attractive to any developers, is that it would allow us to really learn a lot about the best practices of health care, because they'd basically all be working together to learn about how best to help people."

"I always knew you boys would change the world," said Aunt Cass.

"Even when I was bot fighting?" asked Hiro.

"Always," said Aunt Cass.

!

'Hiro?"

Hiro came to suddenly at the call of his name.

"Aah!" Hiro cried as he suddenly found himself floating in the hall. He'd drifted out of his bunk somehow. He pinwheeled about for a moment, unable to find anything to grab a hold of.

"Need help there?" asked Johanssen, who was the one to find him.

"Yes please," said Hiro, falling still.

Johanssen reached out and took his hand, pulling him to her handhold, which Hiro gratefully clasped onto, having jammed the green chip in between his lips to get a free hand.

"Thanks," he said as he stowed the chip away. This was the second time this had happened, but the first time, there had been no one to pull him back. Hiro had drifted for a minute before he finally collided with a wall.

"Weren't you strapped in?" asked Johanssen.

"I was," said Hiro. The other astronauts had sleeping bags for sleeping in zero-g, but there wasn't exactly an extra for Hiro. "I've been sleeping kind of restlessly though, so I guess I undid them without realizing. So, what are you doing up, other than coming to my rescue?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep," she said, pushing off towards the rec room.

"I thought you astronauts were used to sleeping in zero-g, said Hiro.

"We are," said Johanssen, "I'm just worried about tomorrow."

"What are you worried about?" asked Hiro. "You're not the one flying down to Earth in a death trap tomorrow."

She scoffed. "You flew into space on a homemade craft, and you're calling the Stargazer a death trap?"

"Well exactly, I built it with my own two hands," said Hiro. "I don't know who built the Stargazer."

"Wow," said Johanssen dryly. "Okay, so NASA built the shuttles.

"Plus, the Stargazer's ancient."

"The Stargazer is not ancient, it's only seven years old."

"That's plenty ancient," said Hiro. "I was eight when it first launched."

"Wait," said Johanssen with a fake gasp. "That means you're fifteen? I thought you were twelve, max."

"Okay, shut up," said Hiro. "And again, what are you even worried about for tomorrow?"

She shrugged. "I'm just worried about Mark leaving ahead of us."

Wait, did Johanssen have feelings for Mark?

"I mean, last time we separated from Mark, it didn't turn out so well," said Johanssen.

Hiro mentally kicked himself for thinking like a heel.

"Well, it's kind of the opposite situation now," said Hiro.

"Who said worries had to be rational?" asked Johanssen.

"You were literally just trying to rationalize my worries," said Hiro.

"Shut up," said Johanssen. "You want some hot chocolate?"

"Psh, yeah," said Hiro.

Johanssen pulled out a couple pouches from a cabinet, opened one, and filled it with hot water from the dispenser, before sealing it off and handing it to Hiro, who shook it up.

"We'll be fine," said Hiro, once they both had their drinks, and Johanssen had logged the snacks.

"Yeah, you will," said Johanssen. "You still need to show me the set-up you have for quantum computing."

"Sure," said Hiro, "just come down to San Fransokyo some time. Assuming I'm not still grounded."

"How long are you grounded for?" asked Johanssen.

"No end date has been provided," said Hiro. "So, maybe forever."

"I'm sure Mark'll come rescue you if you ask," said Johanssen.

"Oh no, this time, I am really on the straight and narrow," said Hiro. "Just, you know, keep my head down, do my homework, work on Baymax, fly to JPL, apparently."

"So much for being grounded," said Johanssen.

"I know right?"

"And I very much doubt you're going to stay out of trouble," said Johanssen.

"Hey, I resent that," said Hiro, "especially when I have been perfectly behaved since I got here."

"Yeah, 'cause you're afraid of the Commander," said Johanssen.

"Yeah, she's pretty intimidating," said Hiro.

"Plus there's the whole superhero thing," said Johanssen.

…

"Whaaat?"

"Kind of hard to stay out of trouble when you're a superhero," Johanssen clarified.

"I don't…what are you talking about?"

"It's pretty obvious; you're the Conductor, Baymax is Big Hero Red."

"First of all, I think he goes by Big Hero Purple," said Hiro, "second of all, psshhh, I'm not a superhero."

"No, everyone calls him the Conductor, you know, because he's the one directing everyone. You know, when you're actually out with the rest of the group, and not in the lab building a space ship. Or in bed before nine."

…

"I don't know where you're getting all this from," said Hiro, "I'm not some, some, some… vigilante. That would be crazy. Besides, all that, that Big Hero stuff happened after you guys launched. So what do you even know about it? And plus, I don't even have a bedtime, so."

"I am a huge comic book fan," said Johanssen, "as you know. My sister's been forwarding me all the developments about the group since, you know, they're real life superheroes and all. Then when I heard you'd gone and rescued Mark, I started researching you, and lo and behold, all of the pieces started falling into place."

"Nuh uh," said Hiro.

"I mean, analysis of pictures of the Conductor, then and now, show he's still growing. And guess who's the same heigh as him throughout, is a tech genius, and has a giant robot friend and reactionless engines."

Hiro gulped. "Does anyone else know?"

"I dunno," said Johanssen. "I haven't told anyone."

"Are you going to?" asked Hiro.

"I mean, I should," said Johanssen. "You're still a kid and all. But I don't think I have it in me. I can't be the one to break up the band. And, well, after everything, I kind of believe in you."

"So why tell me you know?" asked Hiro.

"To tell you to be careful, so I don't regret not narcing on you," said Johanssen. "And so you know that you need to build some sort of robot you to ride around on Big Hero Red while you're on live TV or something, because people are going to start putting it together sooner or later."

"That's a good idea, actually," said Hiro. He was a little surprised that Fred hadn't suggested it yet, because that sounded like a classic comic book trope. Wouldn't be all that hard, either.

"Yeah, well, take care. There's a lot of people who care what happens to you," said Johanssen. "So don't fuck up."

"Duly noted," said Hiro. "So, any more suggestions?"

"Well, I'm guessing none of you are actually superhuman?"

"Right," said Hiro.

"So definitely more bullet-proof armor. And don't forget that bullet-proof doesn't mean knife-proof. Also, Big Heroes Green and Pink need to be more mobile."

"Yeah, we're working on mobility.

"Also, do you not have any offense of your own?"

"I'm still…looking into that," said Hiro. "I thought about the microbots, but that's a little obvious, even if there is an excuse of having gone up against them in battle before."

"Well you need something," said Johanssen.

"Yeah, everyone keeps saying that," said Hiro.

"Well, they're right," said Johanssen. "Remember, don't die."

!

The last time a Hermes crew returned to Earth, there was a small press release, and a good bit of media attention to the actual landing. But ever since it had been revealed that Mark was still alive, Annie's job had become a full time broadcast of every little development as it came along. So now when the Stargazer was docking with the Hermes, the whole world watched with baited breath as though it was anything other than a by-the-books crew transfer. Astronaut Eli Werner would be boarding the Hermes to take over Mark's duties in preparation for the overhaul, and Mark and Hiro would board the Stargazer to return to Earth with the other two members of the Stargazer crew. In spite of the mundanity of the operation, the whole thing had been turned into a large media and celebrity gala at NASA so everyone could get the play-by-play.

Annie couldn't complain about this development, since it had been her idea. And it was a good idea. Somehow, NASA was getting through some of it's biggest fuck-ups more popular than ever. And it all would have had a completely different atmosphere if Hiro were to get off of the Stargazer and be delivered into police custody. But thanks in no small part to her own efforts, the Attorney General's Office had finalized a deal days ago, and Hiro was going to be greeted at the landing strip by nothing more than the adoring public and his Aunt.

She had to admit, for however many headaches the boy had caused her, it had been worth it. The 'The Future of Space Travel' campaign had taken off and was being well received. Applicants to the astronaut program and NASA in general were at a twenty year high. It looked like Venkat might just get his extra Hermes mission. And for the first time in history, an Astronaut's Arlington memorial was being disassembled, because Mark Watney was coming home.

She was just glad Teddy was the one delivering the speech tonight. For a change, she could enjoy the fruits of her labor. Which she mostly did by checking in with members of the press and a couple Senators. Hey, she had a fun job.

"Hermes Actual to Mission Control. We are in agreement that Stargazer is in alignment for docking," came Commander Lewis's voice over the speakers. The two craft were visible on the screen, which zoomed in on them as they got closer together.

Someone in the crowd actually gave a joyful whistle at the update.

"Stargazer to Mission Control we are at…fifty meters and closing," reported the Stargazer Pilot Sean Freeman.

"Forty meters."

…

"Thirty meters."

Everyone was quieting down for the docking. All eyes were glued to the screen, where the crafts now loomed large.

"Hermes Actual to Stargazer, you are clear to complete docking."

"Fifteen meters… Firing retro-thrusters…coupling complete."

"Hermes Actual to Mission Control, docking clamps are engaged. Docking is successful."

There was a great swell of cheering and clapping from the attendants as the updates continued to come in. Diagnostic checks were performed, the hatches opened, and the crews greeted each other. Up on the stage, Teddy Sanders took the podium to give a triumphant speech.

!

"Oh, thank god!" cried Cass as the docking was pronounced successful.

"See, everything's working out," said Honey Lemon, handing her a cup of Sprite, and taking a seat nearby. They were in the SFIT auditorium, which was being used to watch the Stargazer-Hermes docking. Whether or not there was going to be a school disciplinary hearing in Hiro's future, SFIT did seem to be making the most out of the publicity, and was holding a well-attended event to watch the proceedings.

"But just imagine right?" Fred was going on. "Hiro's superpower origin story. A flight home gone wrong. Hiro, exposed to cosmic rays under the light of a full moon, becomes Cosmic Man, a superhero with the powers of the cosmos."

"Yeah," said Wasabi, "I'm going to need you to stop talking. Thank you."

"You're not helping," said Gogo.

"Just imagine the possibilities!" exclaimed Fred.

"I'm imagining Hiro keeping his feet on the ground within a ten mile radius of home for the foreseeable future," said Cass, "…on weekdays, anyway."

"I don't think you're doing it right," said Fred.

"I don't think your brain's put together right," said Gogo.

"Well," said Cass, "I need to go if I'm going to make my flight. I don't want to miss the landing."

"Oh!" said Wasabi. "I almost forgot. I brought my plane travel kit for you. Hand sanitizer, wipes, ear plugs, face mask, neck pillow, extra head phones, and a back-up battery and cables. There's also a toothbrush and toothpaste, but whatever you do, do not rinse with the bathroom water, I'm begging you."

"Oh my gosh, that's so thoughtful Wasabi," said Cass. Though unnecessary. The shuttle would be landing in Southern California, so it wasn't going to be a very long flight.

"Don't forget to buy a bottle of water after you get past security," said Wasabi.

"I think she can handle it," Gogo told him.

"Go on, and bring Hiro home," said Honey Lemon. "Let us know when you're on your way back so we can pick you up from the airport.

"I just want to warn you," said Fred, "if he comes back changed by the cosmic rays, you might want to drive back. Burgeoning superpowers and airplanes don't mix, is all I'm saying."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Aunt Cass.

"It's important to be supportive of new found powers!" Fred called after her.

!

Everyone had been very happy to see each other when the Stargazer arrived, and there was a long procession of hugs all around. Some time after that, after a transfer of cargo and a good bit of socializing, there had been five hours of Hiro reviewing procedures both routine and emergency for the space shuttle. Hiro had been studying them for the last couple weeks, but the shuttle commander, Skylar Iverson, had taken the time to go over every inch of the shuttle with Hiro and drill him on procedure. Finally though, it was time to go.

"We're going to miss you little guy," said Beck.

"You're going to miss your guinea pig is what you're going to miss," said Hiro. He was wearing the orange ACES flight suit that had been brought especially for him on the Stargazer for the descent. It would only be worn the one time.

"No. No, I am not going to miss my brattiest patient ever," said Beck. "If I ever have to take your pulse again, it will be too soon. But we will miss our space baby."

Hiro stuck his tongue out, because if he was going to be defamed in such a way, he might as well act the part.

The commander floated over and shook his hand. "We will miss you both," she told him, "but we're glad you're both going home. I'm glad that I've gotten to see you both back safely. I hope you'll take care until we can meet again."

"Oh," said Hiro, "I don't think I have any say in the matter. I'll be on a very short leash."

"Yeah, well, if it'll keep your feet on the ground, buddy, it's probably for the best," said Martinez as he finished a zero-g hug with Mark. "Hey, Mark, go home with Hiro and let his aunt keep you out of trouble till we get back."

"Like my parents are going to let me out of their sight," said Mark.

Hiro thought he wound up hugging everyone at least twice before making his way through to the Stargazer and getting into his seat while Commander Iverson, the pilot, and even Mark prepared for departure. Secured in his harness, which barely fit him, Hiro clasped the case the green chip was in through his flight suit pants. It was a habit he had formed the first time Baymax had been without a body. He was definitely looking forward to being reunited with Baymax, and everyone back home.

"You ready for this?" asked Mark, who was getting into his own seat now.

"No," said Hiro, because he wasn't. Things had been pretty simple on the Hermes, in their own way. Life on Earth was going to be complicated, and Hiro didn't know that he would ever be ready to tackle it.

"That's alright," said Mark.

"It is?" asked Hiro.

"We're never ready for the crap life throws at us," said Mark. "You and me, we pull through."

"Somehow," said Hiro.

"Just, the next time anyone gives you shit for what you did, remember that there's someone out there who's gotten to go home to his mom again because of you."

Hiro smile gratefully.

"Momma's boy," he called Mark.

Mark rolled his eyes. "You're one to talk."

"Doesn't count," said Hiro. "Aunts are cool."

"Oh yeah? Is that what she told you?"

"Alright kids, let's check you out" said the Commander, who double checked their harnesses while the pilot was going through pre-flight checks with NASA.

"Hey, so did you go to my funeral?" asked Mark.

"Grim much?" asked the Commander. "Yeah, everyone went to your funeral. It was very tasteful. Good food at the wake."

"Yeah, while I was eating Martian rations," said Mark.

"Hey, at least you were eating," said the Commander, who went to get in his own flight couch.

"Imagine if you'd had a big telescope," said Hiro, "you could have watched your own funeral Tom Sawyer style."

"Too bad I couldn't have crashed my own funeral Tom Sawyer style," said Mark.

"If you two are done talking about funerals," said Sean, "we're just about ready to get this show on the road."

"Great," said Mark, "I'm ready to get back to Earth."

"Same here," said Hiro.

"Oh, I'm not sure Earth's ready for either of you," said the Commander.

!

Cass had her heart in her throat through the entire landing. She was standing with the Watneys as they waited together for their babies to come home, off to the side of the tarmac.

The Watneys had been very enthusiastic about meeting her, and told her what a wonderful young man she had raised. They hoped that Hiro wouldn't be grounded for too long, though they admitted that they were biased on the matter. Now though, they waited in silence for the shuttle to come down. Somehow, it takes a full hour for the shuttle to land. Cass felt very disgruntled that it can take so long for something to descend from the sky.

But she could see the shuttle now gliding almost daintily down. Someone had said that it was traveling at Mach 2 earlier, but it had slowed since then. The engines were off, of course, it was basically just a controlled fall. She wrung her hands together as the shuttle loomed larger and larger. She didn't know why she never took the boys to see a landing. There was something surreal about the whole thing, but kind of amazing at the same time.

There was a scream of rubber on the tarmac, and the drag chute deployed, seeming comically small in comparison to the behemoth shuttle.

"Come on," said Mrs. Watney, and she led Cass over to a nearby Jeep. They all got in, and a NASA employee drove them to greet the shuttle, which was already coming to a stop. Off to the side, the press was already set up.

They waited an abhorrently long time as steps were wheeled out, but then finally the door was being opened. There stood Mark, his helmet under his arm as he took in the crowd and waved, a big grin on his face. He started down the steps, beelining towards his parents. And then there was Hiro, standing at the top of the steps, somehow looking very sharp in the orange pumpkin suit he had ridden to Earth in, as he used a hand to shield his face from the sun's glare. He gave a big gap toothed grin as he caught sight of her.

"Hiro!" she called out to him.

"Aunt Cass!" he said, rushing down to meet her.

He threw himself into her arms.

"I missed you so much," she said, squeezing him tight. "Don't you ever do that again."

"I love you, Aunt Cass," said Hiro. "I missed you too."

Cass looked over Hiro's shoulder at the other happy reunion, Mark sandwiched by his parents, who were holding onto him just as tight. Hiro had kept his promise to her. He had brought the both of them home. She felt a great swell of pride.

"You are in so much trouble, young man."

"I know," said Hiro, still holding on tight. "It's good to be back though."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Like I said before, sorry for the long delay on Horcrux Within, but I'm working on it presently. Hopefully, it won't be too long before an actual update.

I originally had Hiro's faceplate be made out of palladium-glass, but AO3 user Mathismagic pointed out that palladium glass is not actually transparent. There is a glass they're developing using an aluminum byproduct that is about as strong as glass, but which can only make in small amounts at the moment. I took the liberty of giving it its name.