Phoenix Control, this is Hopper 4.
We have a nice, clean separation, and we're out of docking zone.
Roger, 4. Clear and clean separation.
You are clear of docking zone.
Sorry for the late departure.
Tighten your straps and enjoy the zero-G while you can.
Look. You can still see the Sojourner 1
over there off in the distance.
Welcome to Happy Valley.
Thank you, Control.
Rover 7, this is Rover 1, Control.
Control, this is 73555.
I'm inbound with passengers and cargo from Hopper 4 on pad 3.
Copy that, Rover 7. Let's put you at port 2 air lock.
Thank you, Control. Go for port 2.
All you one-eighteens, on me. Do it now.
I repeat, all one-eighteens, on me.
The day is 2.75% longer here, but that does not mean we can drag ass.
My name is Palmer James, and I am director of Helios Human Services.
I work directly under the XO--
that's executive officer to you-- Ed Baldwin, Old Man Mars himself.
If you got a problem with your work detail,
your rations, your paycheck,
you come and see me.
Because for the next two years of your life,
you'll be dealing with freezing sandstorms,
dust devils, weak-ass sun, and radiation.
The water tastes like piss because it literally is recycled piss.
The air outside will kill you.
And after 710 sols looking at the same damn faces over and over again,
you might think that's a blessing.
First, you're all gonna grab a SMIGI,
Standard Mars Initial Gear Issue.
It contains everything you need to begin your career as a Red Dirt Marzie,
including a watch that operates on Mars time.
Don't worry about the color of your sheets and towels.
Base laundry's irradiated the hell out of 'em,
so you won't get the previous owner's clap or foot fungus.
Plenty of that to be had for yourself though, so I'd make hygiene a priority.
You can purchase snacks and sandwiches at any machine like this one.
If you're of the cold-hard-cash persuasion,
you can use base scrip,
available at several locations marked on your site map.
Follow me.
Hey, Dale. Not so fast.
You rack downstairs. This way.
- Hi, Bob. - Hi, Bob.
Yeah.
You couldn't stay away, huh?
Yeah. I guess I'm a real glutton for punishment.
That's gotta be it.
"GK."
For Grigory.
I keep expecting him to just come around the corner
with that big old shit-eating grin of his.
Yeah. Yeah, he would've been so happy seeing you back up here.
Yeah.
Hey. Let me show you around.
Right. Okay.
I got all key department heads from Helios and the M-7
waiting for you in the conference room.
Thought afterwards, we could get a little grub in the commissary.
Conference room? Commissary? What else y'all got, a nightclub up here?
No, not yet. But we do have an apple tree.
I see that. She bear any fruit yet?
Not yet. Maybe in a couple years.
But she's growing a hell of a lot faster than we thought she would up here.
Now, I know that ain't who I think it is.
Lee? Hey!
Lee! Lee!
Hey. How you doing, man? I heard you came back up here.
Comrade Lee Jung-Gil, act properly.
Yes, I understand.
Nice to see you.
What's going on with him?
He's just being careful.
He's got a lot of eyes on him since he came back up here,
and the North Koreans are making sure he knows his place.
Okay, team, where are we?
Section two, sublevel three.
- Good. Out of how many levels? - Five.
Gold star for you, Rich.
Bottom two are still under construction, so they're off-limits.
Come on.
Always keep an eye out for the location of emergency equipment,
quick-patch, and oxygen gear.
They are not always located where they're marked on the site map.
Is that the North Korean compound?
As Carnac the Magnificent over here just pointed out,
this is where our North Korean crewmates bunk down.
Etch this behind your eyeballs:
Rule number one, nobody tries to go in there.
- Clear? - Clear.
Moving on.
Dale, this is your new home.
There's your work order. It says who you report to, when and where.
I think there's some kind of mistake. This says I'm doing base maintenance,
but I was trained as a fuel tech.
Well, the asteroid program's been put on hold,
so the brain trust has decreed
that fuel production is no longer mission-essential.
What is base maintenance?
With your obvious quals, you'll be working maintenance on environmental units.
- HVAC? - More or less.
'Cause I thought I was gonna be working on the surface.
Have a nice sol.
The rest of you ducklings, follow me.
Hey. How y'all doing? I'm Miles Dale.
- Welcome. - Hi.
- Hey there. I'm Gerardo. - Hey.
Hey, which bunk should I use?
Top bunk. There.
Listen, if you cannot find anything you need at the PX,
like booze, laser disc,
- Playboy magazines... - Huh.
...talk to me. Ilya.
I'll get it for you for a good price.
I'm good for right now, but sure.
Okay.
- Jerry, are you good? You need anything? - I'm fine.
Okay.
Everyone, please take your seats.
A couple months ago, this base experienced a terrible loss.
I know it still hurts.
Grigory Kuznetsov-- Kuz-- he was a friend of mine.
And when we were up here for more than a year,
slowly running out of food, he never wavered.
In fact, he came back up to Mars two years later
because he wanted to keep building something.
The last thing he would want is for his sacrifice to wind up being for nothing.
The last time I was up here,
this whole place wasn't nothing but a couple of hallways.
But we were in it together.
NASA, Russia, Helios, North Korea.
So I'm gonna need the help of each and every one of you
while we figure this thing out together.
Under my command,
there will never be a penalty for speaking the truth.
We need to learn from our past,
all the while keeping our eyes focused on what's ahead.
All right. Let's get to work.
What the hell are you--
Jesus. You scared me.
I scared you?
I get woken up by weird noises, and you're not in bed.
What are you even doing?
- The TV wasn't working. - So you took the whole thing apart?
Aleida, it's 3:30 in the fucking morning. This has to stop.
All right? Just moping around, watching TV, playing Guitar Hero.
Baby, you haven't been to work in months.
You barely leave the house anymore.
Look, I know you're going through a rough time,
but this shit's-- it's beginning to affect the kids.
What do you suggest I do?
- I think you should go back to Lara. - No.
No more pills.
No more talking about my trauma while she takes her little notes and goes...
Okay, then go back to NASA and tell them you want your job back.
I can't go back.
Great. Then, you know what? I got a better idea.
Why don't you just hide here from the world,
fix TVs at 3:30 in the morning? 'Cause that's totally normal.
...hit record.
- You made it. - You're on Mars, Dad--
...Mars, Dad-- Da--
Oh, no, don't do that. Shi-- God's sake.
Hey, man, could you help me out with this?
I'm trying to get this vidmail to load from my family.
It's been a few days and this fucking thing still won't work.
Sorry, brother.
Bandwidth's for shit.
Nobody downstairs has been getting d-mail, vidmail, anything for weeks.
You serious? That's fucking bullshit.
Welcome to Happy Valley.
And Lexie got into the gifted and talented program.
Isn't that fantastic?
So she's gonna be sending you messages for help with her calculus.
And James is very excited.
He just got a bala shark for his fish tank.
It's not a real shark. Don't worry. The guy at the store says it's more like...
Hey, take a look at the sink while you're here. It's not draining.
- That's not really my-- - Thank you.
And he's been cleaning the filter every Saturday, just like you showed him.
You'd be so proud.
So this red splotch here is where it's detecting methane gas?
Correct. Methane's a sign of possible life.
And these northern regions of Mars are riddled with these lava tubes
like you're simulating here?
That's right. Korolev Crater is one of the most likely places
to harbor microbial life in the entire solar system.
Honestly, it's amazing what Dev Ayesa's
robotics company has done with optical miniaturization.
Spot, our robot, has found six of the eight microbe colonies
we've hidden in this test tunnel.
That's very, very impressive.
You're doing remarkable work here.
It's been a real team effort.
- Could I... Great. - Sure.
Kelly, I don't have to tell you that there have been tremendous ripples
from the asteroid disaster,
and the president has ordered me
to commit all of our resources to righting that project.
And unfortunately, that means we're gonna have to delay
some of our science objectives a little bit.
- Delay? What does that-- - It's only temporary.
Look, I know the work you're doing here is very important,
but right now everything at NASA hinges
on getting the Asteroid Capture Program back up.
'Cause if we don't get that to start paying major dividends
and soon, we are just not gonna be able to afford research like yours.
Right.
No bucks, no Buck Rogers.
Very true.
That fettucine smells amazing.
I can't believe pasta's actually made up here.
Horticulture's made some big advancements past few years.
We're growing almost three-quarters our food up here now.
- I'll have the pasta as well. - Sure.
So how'd Kelly take it...
- Here you go. - ...you staying up here again?
Well, she hasn't actually responded since I told her.
I'm sorry to hear that, Ed, but I gotta tell you I don't blame her.
You've been putting it off for eight years.
Can't stay up here forever.
Just wanted to make sure that you got off on the right foot.
Don't be trying to put this off on me.
Does this look like meat loaf to you?
- No. - Yeah.
I wanna say you get used to it, but you really don't.
You know, in training, they said that we had a chef up here.
Well, yeah, up there.
But comcards only work on the level you rack on.
They say it's to prevent any one mess from getting slammed,
but I'll tell you right now, they just don't wanna share all the good grub.
Yeah, but isn't that kind of what being on Mars is all about?
I mean, ever since the first Martian Thanksgiving.
I mean, sharing, sacrificing for one another.
So you saw the Disney movie. Okay.
Here's our reality:
Astronauts and cosmonauts, scientists and pilots, they all work together.
But us down here, at the end of the day, we are just the help.
I was repairing the sealant on a guy's air duct today.
I mean, he barely even looked at me, like I didn't even exist.
That sounds right.
I mean, think about what happened on Ranger-1, right?
Everybody's wringing their hands over Kuznetsov dying out there,
wearing those patches with his initials on them.
Yeah, I saw that.
You know whose initials aren't on those patches?
Tom Parker's.
Tom Parker's the other guy who died out there.
- Did you know him? - Yeah, yeah.
You're sleeping in his rack.
He and I, we started out at the same time.
He has a-- had a wife and a kid down in Little Rock.
And I was there. I was on Ranger-1. I saw him go out.
You were on the capture mission?
Yep.
Well, sounds like he died a real hero.
No.
No, he did it for the bonus.
Money for his family.
And now he's maggot meat.
I walked the base this morning, just to get a feel for the place,
and I'm getting a sense of real frustration below deck.
Well, yeah. Who knew it would be hard living on Mars?
Fuck they think this is, some luxury cruise liner?
Come on. Give me a break.
When we went to space, we went for our country, for the mission.
Push the envelope.
These guys, they're just up here to make a buck.
And that difference, it's what's behind a lot of these issues that we're having.
Maybe so, Ed, but I'm just starting to think
that the dysfunction goes a lot deeper.
Take the comms down there, right?
I guess there's some sort of bandwidth problem.
They haven't been able to get messages from their families in weeks.
Right. Yeah, we had some relay satellite that crapped out a couple months ago
and it killed a lot of our normal communication capacity.
So essential comms take priority.
So, you talking to Kelly counts as essential comms, is that right?
Come on, Dani. We're doing the best we can with what we got.
All right? TV's not working for the same reason.
Okay. So, what are we going to do to fix it?
We're not.
Helios corporate says the Comsat is not designed for in-space repairs.
It doesn't have any tether points, no attachment sockets.
It's way the hell out in geosync orbit.
So they figure we're better off limping along with what we got
than risking an EVA repair mission.
I mean, there is a replacement satellite in the pipeline,
but I can't imagine that's gonna happen until next year.
Next year?
You remember when we were on the other side of this on Apollo 22, right?
Lot of talk, lot of promises made, but no follow-through.
Yeah.
"Two more weeks."
- BOHICA. - BOHICA.
And our morale was in the shitter.
- That's true, but-- - As the commander of Happy Valley,
I am superseding their order.
So, spring a couple of your best engineers and come up with a fix.
Then we can send up an EVA...
get it repaired right away.
Get that bandwidth back up.
That's not a simple request, Dani.
Well, make it so, XO.
Okay.
Hey, Aleida. Have a seat.
- Thank you for agreeing to see me, sir. - Of course.
Of course.
How are you?
I'm good. I'm really good.
I'm really glad to hear that.
I just wanted to apologize for disappearing like that.
I had some family stuff.
I totally understand. Family comes first.
And whenever you're ready to come back, we will welcome you back with open arms.
I'm ready.
Okay. Well...
as you know, mental health is a top priority for the president, as well as--
Wasn't really a mental health thing.
Well, you have been through a lot.
I mean, after the bombing and, you know,
recent events,
I just think that it might be a good idea for you to maybe speak to somebody,
a professional, before you come back into such a high-stress--
- I'm fine. - Of course.
Of course, you are.
No, I'm just sa--
You know, when I first started at Auburn Hills,
I definitely had my struggles too.
I'm still the new guy here with big shoes to fill.
And I'm no Margo Madison. That's for sure.
But I'm doing the best I can.
If you're ready to come back...
Welcome back.
I made a mistake.
I'm sorry?
I shouldn't have come back here.
Of course you should. You always have a place here, Aleida.
- No matter wha-- - I'm sorry.
- I quit. - Now-- Hold on a sec.
Aleida.
Sorry.
- Hi. - Hi.
Can I have a shot of Tradicional, please?
- Straight up. - Sure.
No lime, no salt.
That'll be 6.50.
Here you go.
Kelly Baldwin?
Aleida Rosales.
I was flight director when you--
Blasted off Mars strapped to the top of an MSAM.
Yeah, I think I'd know the woman whose brilliant idea that was.
- Sorry about that. - No, no.
You saved my life and my son's life.
The least I can do is buy you a drink.
You can buy the next one. I'll need it.
One of those days, huh?
Yeah. Pretty much.
Me too.
I haven't been back here in I don't know how long.
Not since it changed owners.
It's just so...
different.
I know.
But it's practically the only landmark left from my childhood.
That's right.
Your mom used to own this place for a while.
Yeah.
I worked here through all of high school.
Used to have spaghetti night here with my parents every Thursday.
Feels comforting just to be here, I guess.
Especially when life's kicked you in the guts.
What happened?
Hobson was sorry to inform me he's delaying my robotics program indefinitely.
All so he can show the president he's cutting costs.
- Fucker. - Yeah.
Bastard even tried to bribe me with a promotion,
which I'll probably wind up taking 'cause it's the smart move.
Excuse me, two shots, please?
And make hers a double.
Well, what about you?
I can't go home 'cause I don't know how to tell my husband
we just lost our health insurance.
Wait.
Did Hobson fire you?
I quit.
Why?
I'm not sure.
- Okay. - Thank you.
To not being sure.
Here. Lime, lime.
Yeah. That's better.
Goddamn it.
What's up?
First paycheck.
Not what you were expecting, huh?
Not at all.
They're taking 30% off the top.
They're charging me for uniform, food, clothing-- Jesus Christ-- toothpaste.
I don't know how I'm gonna tell my wife
I came all this way to make less money than I'm making at home.
I gotta straighten this out.
Good luck with that.
- And? - And that's not what I was told
it was gonna be.
You think you're the only one smarting, pogue?
They grounded the asteroid program.
Half the jobs up here have bonuses tied to that shit.
We're all getting a haircut.
But I need those bonuses. I was misled.
No, this isn't what I was told it was supposed to be.
What's going on?
Nothing I can't handle, sir.
Mr. Baldwin, sir, I don't mean to be the squeaky wheel.
But I was hired as a fuel tech.
A fuel tech who could make bonuses if I hit certain benchmarks.
And I came all this way, millions of miles from my family,
and I'm a glorified AC repairman making pennies on the dollar.
- What's your name, sailor? - Dale, sir. Miles Dale.
Miles, you know where we are right now, yes?
Where we are?
Where we're standing right now.
The air lock.
No, Miles.
We're standing on another fucking planet.
And this planet, she's trying to kill us every chance she gets.
And as much as we help each other here,
it does not work unless you take some personal responsibility, Miles.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I got an EVA kicking off in 20 minutes.
And, Palmer, radio Ops with a new update.
Copy, sir.
The HVA's still not talking to any of the transponders.
Maybe you should try another reboot?
Yeah, not until we check the interface connectors.
Need to be sure we're getting both power and data to the transponders.
Concur.
So, let's...
Seven hours out there, still no joy.
Copy.
No wonder Helios wanted us to wait for their new satellite.
They didn't even design access to the control module.
Guess they figured it'd never break.
Or nobody'd be dumb enough to try something like this.
...HVA.
Okay, let's run the transponder test routine again.
If our guys don't get it right soon, we gotta call it and come back home.
- I'm not ready to make that call just yet. - All right.
- All right? - Happy Valley Control,
Sat team reports ready for another transponder reset attempt.
- Here we go. - All right. Give them the go, Ed.
Satellite team, you are go for restart.
Sat team copies.
Go for restart.
Here we go.
We got a good lock on VHS Command 3.
Looks good so far.
Here's hoping it works this time.
Reboot successful, Commander.
Well, shit.
We're back in business. Congratulations.
Well done. Got some balls.
You know, before NASA, I got fired a lot.
Like, from every single job I ever had.
But then Margo,
she took a chance and...
If she saw me now, she'd be so pissed.
I could just see her face, you know.
The disappointment.
"Way to go, Aleida.
Way to screw it all up."
Hey.
Hey, you wanna talk about screwing up?
I just spent the last eight years
getting this stupid project off the ground,
leaving my kid with my crazy mother-in-law
while my dad's hiding out on Mars.
And just as we were about to launch,
it's all taken away.
Hey. To screwing up.
- You see that? - What?
The perfect medium for life.
Tequila?
No, no.
Liquid.
In a gas, the elements are too far apart to find each other.
In solids, they can't get close enough.
But liquid...
liquid is perfect.
And I was gonna find it...
in a place it had no right surviving.
It fights with every cell, every fiber.
It adapts.
May sound corny, but gives me hope, you know?
You know what we should do?
We should TP Hobson's house.
I'm serious.
I'm fucking down.
Yeah.
And of course, you know the annual 5K is happening this Saturday.
It kicks off at the Houston Zoo.
We're gonna be there with some live commentary,
some games, raffles, fun for the whole family.
It's all for a good cause.
They're raising money for cancer research.
Cancer research!
- Come on down and cheer on the runners. - Cheer on Grandma.
- Is Grandma running? - Hey, lady.
You barfed on our carpet last night.
It smelled really bad.
I'm so sorry.
Hey, you're awake.
Oh, shit.
I forgot--
No, it's fine. We called your mother-in-law.
She knows you're alive. Though she wasn't too happy about it.
- Sounds about right. - You want some coffee?
- God, yes, please. - Gotcha.
Good, you're awake.
I think I figured out how to keep your project going.
What? When?
Last night.
She doesn't really sleep.
Wait, this is...
This is a plan to find private funding.
Yeah.
As in, leave NASA?
I can't do that.
Why not?
All I ever wanted was to be a part of NASA.
I grew up there.
And what am I gonna do, go out and beg for someone
to give me millions of dollars to find life on Mars by myself?
You wouldn't exactly be doing it alone.
That's right. And not exactly sure why they've held back
for some reason...
You really know how to throw a party.
Well, now that the satellites are fixed,
I thought it would be nice to show a little appreciation, you know?
One hell of a stupid sport.
Oh, yeah!
And I hit record.
- You made it. - You're on Mars, Daddy.
We miss you.
We've been thinking about you a lot, Miles.
The girls have been full of questions.
I was asking what it was like to ride in the rocket ship.
Seems so cool.
And I was wondering if you, like, ate weird liquid tube food.
We love you, Daddy.
Bye.
Hi, Daddy.
Have you found any Mars rocks yet, Daddy?
Can you send me one?
- Bye. - Bye.
Bye.
Okay.
Hey, it's me.
I'm sorry I haven't sent you a message before now.
I got fitted for my space suit and got down on the surface,
set up the worksite--
Lily, I didn't forget about you.
Got something for you.
And you guys would not believe how beautiful it is.
You know, it's-- I mean, it's amazing.
It's just-- It's been-- You know, it's--
It's been fucking bullshit.
Sorry, I was trying to get a little shut-eye.
That was pretty fucking pathetic.
Yeah, thanks.
Where'd you get the Mars rock?
I think it's Maya's leftover meat loaf.
I really don't think I could do two years up here.
Don't really have a choice.
I mean, you go back, Helios will charge you 150,000.
To recoup lost investment.
Are you serious?
All that money they shelled out to train you, to get you up here.
It's in our contracts the fine print.
Fuck!
Hey...
why don't you come with me?
Come on.
Where are we going?
Not far.
Are you gonna rob me or something?
'Lo, Sam.
No football for you?
Nah. "The sigh of the oppressed, opium of the people."
You okay?
I'm okay.
This is where we come to forget our troubles.
Welcome to Ilya's.
What would you like?
Two of the usual.
You sell booze here?
I ferment it in an air lock to drive out all the CO2.
That's why vodka is so pure.
Hey, I'm sorry about what happened to your buddy.
Yeah, well--
Happy Valley will kick your ass if you let it.
This place helps. Believe me.
Oh, shit, that's strong.
Goddamn.
It's good.
Do you know what is going on?
I hear sirens.
And my television--
It's fine.
I have bread in the oven. You should go home.
This is for your safety.
Do you think I am a fool? This is not what this is about.
Close your stand or I will close it for you.
On what grounds? You have no right to close me down!
Emergency orders to clear the streets.
Only essential business.
Why? For what purpose?
Where is Gorbachev?
What have they done with him?
We don't know what you are talking about.
Of course you do!
You are all part of it!
You are destroying the Soviet Union!
I've been here for 20 years! They want to close me down!
Everyone here knows me!
You must clear the street.
Comply or be arrested!
You son of a bitch!
Stop!
He's just a newspaper salesman.
No, I'm not a part of this!