2062 Arcadia Planitia, Mars

XIRANG ONE - CHINESE SETTLEMENT - ARCADIA PLANITIA

The bluish sunset marked the end of a long bad day.

When night came, the work inside continued. There were injured people and damaged systems to tend to. A fitful sleep for most.

Settlements everywhere, from the largest installations to remote outposts, wanted to make it through the night. It was one Martian day at a time. 1 SOL (EARTH CLOCK 24HR:37MIN:22SEC).

Hayley rubbed aches, sipped her water to stretch out her break.

Liwei brought over a tray. "Have you eaten yet?" "Hello to you too." Hayley said, a pun on Chinese greetings. She accepted the tray of food and noticed something. She smiled.

"My favorite. Unbelievable. I haven't seen this since ...." "Don't get your hopes up, it's reconstituted and traveled 140 million miles with a pallet of gear in our last caravan. Thank you for the parts and extra power. It helped." "Thank you for the water. At first light, we'll go. We can take your wounded to our infirmary. We're lucky we still have that."

"The C.O. will authorize it. Before you leave we should compare shopping lists, and figure out next steps. My guess is we try to secure our bases and then go looking for other survivors." "Yes, after I offload the water and any wounded you want to send, we can return with more, and begin search parties."

"You must be exhausted. You could use some sleep before you head out in the morning." Liwei got up to leave. "No." Hayley paused "I mean, it might be a while until we get a chance to talk again. I don't know. I don't know what to say."

"I don't know either. We have many reasons to keep busy and not talk, about 'everything', but after everything today, maybe it's more reason for us to talk."

He sat down next to her. They shared a tray of favorite food from a life that was 140 million miles ago. Once they began to talk they didn't want to stop. Everyone was tired but no one could sleep after such a long bad day.