Page 54 (1/2)

“You ok, Venk?” came a voice from the doorway

Venkat swiveled around “Guess so,” he said

“You could have given a speech”

“I didn’t want to You know that”

“Yeah, I know I didn’t want to, either But I’m the director of NASA It’s kind of expected You sure you’re ok?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine”

“Good,” Teddy said, walking in “Let’s get back to work, then”

“Sure,” Venkat shrugged “Let’s start with you authorizing my satellite time”

Teddy leaned against the ith a sigh “This again”

“Yes,” Venkat said “This again What is the problem?”

“Ok, run h it What, exactly, are you after?”

Venkat leaned forward “Ares 3 was a failure, but we can salvage so froet Congress to fund a sixth”

“I don’t know, Venk…”

“It’s simple, Teddy,” Venkat pressed on “They evac’d after six sols There’s almost an entire mission worth of supplies up there It would only cost a fraction of a normal mission It norht be able to send what’sin three Maybe two”

“Venk, the site got hit by a 175 km/h sandstorm It’ll be in really bad shape”

“That’s why I want iery,” Venkat explained “I just need a couple of shots of the site We could learn a lot”

“Like what? You think we’d send people to Mars without being sure everything was in perfect working order?”

“Everything doesn’t have to be perfect,” Venkat said quickly “Whatever’s broken, we’d send replace that needs to work is the MAV And we’d have to send a fresh one anyway”

“Hoe know froery what’s broken?”

“It’s just a first step They evac’d because the as a threat to the MAV, but the Hab can withstand a lot ht still be in one piece

“And it’ll be really obvious If it popped, it’d co, then everything inside will be fine And the rovers are solid They can take any sandstorm Mars has to offer Just let me take a look, Teddy, that’s all I want”

Teddy looked down, “You’re not the only guy ants satellite ti up We need to concentrate on Schiaparelli Crater”

“I don't get it, Teddy What's the proble us another mission We have 12 satellites in orbit around Mars, I’ive you the s for each one when they’ll be at the right angle for Ares 3 shots-“

“It’s not about satellite time, Venk,” Teddy interrupted

Venkat froze “Then… but… what…”

Teddy looked down “We’re a public do as secret or secure information here”

“So?”