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  • Mars Date/Time:  Year 001, Sur Two, Friday, Sol 23 (001.2.23)  00:47 NST
  • Earth Date/Time:  Sunday, 27 March 2016  2:00 PM PDT 
  • Distance traveled:  109,048,104 kilometers   Time Delay:  3 mins 54 secs
  • Distance to Mars Rendezvous:  283,361,648 kilometers

“Your brother understands how important he is to us, yes?,” said the woman wearing a sun visor. It was breezy on Maui and it had rained earlier. The Sun was shining now but the clouds were periodically blocking it. “Yes,” answered the younger looking woman, “but you’re not asking him to kill himself?” The woman in the visor said, “No, no, no, he just needs to make sure they don’t get to Mars. He needs to find a way to force them to abort the mission, and there are many ways he can do that. They should have turned back already, but Wade seems to need more convincing.”

Maui houseThe woman dug into her purse and pulled out a packet of money, “I have $10,000 to give to your brother,….here, I’ll give it to you, and you can give it to him when he gets back.” The younger woman took it, and the older woman said, “What am I thinking? We should be paying you for your trouble. You keep that, and I’ll bring you more money to give to your brother….well, I need to go. I have to go to the mainland. I’ll be back in two weeks. Perhaps we can celebrate your brother’s success, yes? Proshchay.”

The woman in the visor stood up and went to the door. She didn’t look back as she left the house. She wanted to make sure she had the last word. She climbed into her rented SUV and started it up with the air conditioning on high. She couldn’t understand why people would want to live in a place that is humid and hot.

She turned down the road and headed toward the highway. Grabbing her phone, she dialed a number. “I talked with Joseph’s sister. I think he will do it. I told her I would be back in two weeks. I gave her the money and told her I would bring more. She’s hesitant, but she knows what’s at stake……yes, we need to deal with her immediately if Joseph is caught….I know, she’s a loose end regardless. It’s an island, accidents happen.”