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“Your plants are coming along well, Mark,” Kathryn said as the astronaut entered the room.
“How did you - oh, right. The cameras.”
“I take every moment of practice I can get,” she answered with a smile, gesticulating at the wide panels at which she sat. “I have no doubt once you’re up there you’ll be dodging the cameras just to mess with us.”
“Hey, I vlog as well,” he said. “People like seeing into the life of an astronaut without actually being an astronaut.”
“Alright, Mister Celebrity,” she called as he left the room.
“Space to base, space to base,” a voice spoke from a comm board, and Mark slid into the chair.
“This is base,” he answered. “What’s up?”
“‘Ey, Mark!”
Floating upside down in the camera’s frame was Tyler, one of the astronauts with whom Mark had trained
“Tyler! How are ya? How’s the bus?”
“It’s pretty good! I finally met Alexei, he’s chill.”
Just as Tyler said this, an astronaut with a Russian flag on his uniform floated through the back of the frame.
“Alexei!” Mark called, and heard a distant shouted greeting in return.
“So when’s your next mission?” Tyler asked as he slowly turned right side up.
“I ship out in a month,” Mark answered, a dreamy smile on his face and a far-off look in his eyes. “It means Chica has to stay with Tom for a while, but NASA’s gotten new video tech for my mission so I’ll be able to chat with Chika-Bika.”
“Aw.” Tyler paused. “Did they tell you what your mission is meant to do?”
“I’m starting a station near Jupiter, or something like that,” Mark replied. “I dunno, I’m meeting with Ethan and some of the higher-ups at 14:00 hours to discuss the specifics.”
“A colony? So you’re not coming back?” A mischevious glimmer entered his eyes. “Does that mean I get your channel?”
“Noooo, I’m just starting a station so we can make more colonies, like the one on Mars.”
“Maybe I’ll go settle there when I’m old and cranky.”
“What is up, my craaaaaanky crew?”
“That’s not - staaaaahp.”
Mark looked over his shoulder and saw the bright blue hair of Ethan Nestor, an IT staff member who also made vlogs about what he did at NASA as well as some video games he played. He was a member of the team that would be helping Mark get to Jupiter.
Both Mark and Tyler laughed. “Ethan says hi,” Mark giggled, adjusting his black glasses. Ethan appeared in frame over Mark’s shoulder and Tyler’s video link stuttered as he waved back.
“We need to send new video gear up to you guys,” Ethan said. That old stuff is from when SpaceX started using their Falcon rockets.”
“Man, that long ago?”
Tyler reached towards them and picked up the camera, zooming past astronauts of all nationalities doing botany, writing programming, and 3D-printing tools that they would then toss across the ship.
“Yeah, the stuff is sturdy but kinda shit,” Ethan answered. “We’re sending some of the new stuff with Mark, and you guys on the Space Station will be getting some in one of the next few shipments.”
“I’ve gotta go,” Mark said. “It was good to see you!”
“See you later, Mark,” Ethan said.
Mark headed off toward the conference rooms, going to the meeting.
“So, Mr. Iplier, as you already know, you’re going to be one of three crewmembers on the Cancer I mission.”
“Yep.” Mark nodded excitedly.
“We chose you not only because of your experience with and knowledge of space, but also because of your… enthusiasm.”
Part of Mark’s job was to interface with the public and explain what they were doing. Having been an engineering student, Mark was easily excited about science, especially so the exploration NASA was doing in space. In college he and several friends had also made videos of themselves playing video games, and some of them were at NASA as well. Tyler and Ethan were friends he’d made during his training and time at NASA, but Bob Muyskens and Wade Barnes had been his friends for a long time.
“Oh,” Mark said, “uh, thanks.”
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Originally posted by lissachan504
“Thus, your training. And, as you also know, you’ll be launching in a month.”
Mark leaned back in his chair. “So, where’s this station going to be?”
“You’ll be orbiting Jupiter,” one of the other higher-ups said. “Of course, this is how the Martian colony began - could we even get people and the necessary supplies there?”
“Yeah, my friend is Head of Communications on the Mars colony,” Mark said.
“Oh, Jacksepticeye?”
Both Mark and the female director turned to look at the other director. “What? I follow his channel - it’s my job.”
“Yeah, that’s him,” Mark answered after a moment. “So, I have to ask - how long is the flight to where the orbit starts?”
“Four days, two hours,” the woman answered. “But since the rocket has an autopilot and a manual control, you’ll be administered a cryo-anesthetic to speed up the journey.”
“You’re gonna knock me out? Isn’t that a little dangerous?” Mark felt nervous - he hadn’t heard any of his friends talking about being put under in their flights to their assignments.
“This is what we use when we have longer flight durations. Mars isn’t super long, so we keep the astronauts exercising and on a specific diet to keep them from weakening during travel.” The woman paused. “Actually, it’s something we developed that most universities use nowadays to allow patients to heal without doing damage to themselves.”
Mark nodded, fear assuaged somewhat.
The door banged open, and in rushed Ethan. “Sorry I’m late,” he huffed. “Director Jensen, I trust you’ve briefed Mark on the important details?”
She nodded.
“Now, Mark, Director McCullough and I will go over your transmission guidelines. Obviously, you not only do work with us as an astronaut but you’re a public figure in science and research. So we want you to keep up vlogging for the public both before your launch and once we wake you up again.”
“The base is ready for you,” Director McCullough continued, “so all that’s left is you and your crewmates, a few seed samples, and the video equipment you requested. So you’ll just be taking a standard Minerva II rocket up to the station which you’ll dock. You’ll then enter the base and the pod you used to get there, the Bellona, will become the communication pod of the station.”
Mark nodded. “Which is why I did those docking exercises so many times. I can’t be a suck-ass when it really matters.”
The directors and Ethan broke into laughter. “No, you can’t,” Director McCullough agreed. “But your statistics were promising, which makes us confident in your abilities.”
“So you do want me to keep vlogging about this?” Mark verified.
“Yeah, your most recent videos on your personal channel have gained a lot of attention and even helped our views,” Ethan answered, scrolling on a tablet. “So do a couple more before launch - I mean, you do have another month - and make sure they know about the couple of days you won’t be vlogging because of the sleepy juice.”
Mark giggled. “Sleepy juice.”
Ethan nodded, grinning. “That’s a technical term.”
There was a bit more discussion as to Mark’s duties before his launch date. Once he was fully aware of his responsibilities, Mark filled out the paperwork handed to him and left once he was done.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, he turned it on and began to film.
“Hello, everybody, it’s Markiplier,” he began. “So, I just got done with a meeting, and it sounds like it’s official! I’m headed out to Jupiter, they said, and I’ll be starting a base that orbits the planet.
“Those of you that have been with me for a while know I’ve wanted to go out into deep space for the longest time. I’ve been up to the ISS - that’s where Tyler - slash - Apocalypto is now - but I was kinda jealous of Seán when he got sent to the Mars base. But now I finally get to realize that dream, and I’m so excited. I’m gonna make a video right before we leave because I’m going to be put to sleep for the majority of the journey. You’ll also hear from me when I end up aboard the Ops station, since the docking process is kinda hard. But I wanted to let you guys know so I don’t just disappear off of the face of the Earth - heh, literally disappear! So I guess that’s all for now! I will see you guys in the next video - buhbyeeee!
Mark shut off the recording and headed back to his room to edit.