"Eileen," Venkat asked, "what's going on with my astronauts?"

"Please be more specific." Dr. Erin Shields found a chair in Venkat's office and sat down. "Is it the ones on Hermes or Mars?"

"Of course I'm asking about Mars. The Hermes crew seems to be in good condition at the moment."

"Let me tell you this," Dr. Shields raised his fingers, "First of all, they are trapped on a planet that is unfriendly to all living things. Their daily diet is so monotonous that most people in their situation would They would go on a hunger strike and would rather starve themselves to death. Their life-support infrastructure has suffered many accidents due to various reasons. One of them is basically in a coma, and there is a possibility of death. They have neurasthenia, they are desperate and depressed , their homesickness was overwhelming, their lives were miserable, and they began to vent their emotions to each other... Oh, by the way," she glanced at the only remaining finger on her left hand, "in this situation where their interpersonal relationships are falling apart. At this juncture, a smart-aleck young man suddenly appeared and decided to assign them a chore that was second only to inspecting the Hab Canvas for defects."

"Well," Venkat could only shrug, "at least this incident made them unite to face the outside world, and they went on strike collectively after spraying me in the face."

"Venkat, I've been ping-ponging emails back and forth with them on the Pathfinder link for the past two days," Dr. Shields said. "From what I can tell, their collective is far from united. . And they can’t understand what the problem is.”

"Can you at least give me a hint first?" Venkat begged.

"Okay. Part of the reason is that the alien team is basically a grassroots team that was put together without much thought," Dr. Shields replied. "You have also read the report, so you should be clear. Originally, they only wanted to carry out a very brief mission. . Half of the team members were the first veterans to participate in early space voyages. Therefore, their superiors put them together based on political considerations rather than team ecology and other factors. They ignored this in their decision-making process. Long-term personality compatibility of group members.”

"Yes, you mentioned this in your previous report, I still remember it," Venkat said, "But that was several months ago. During this period, they were still able to work together as a team. Why? Now it suddenly collapsed like this?"

"There are two reasons," Dr. Shields explained. "The first is that they're missing the worm. I can send you the original email, but the bottom line is that Dragonfly has been actively trying to maintain unity among the team members. Mark does the same, but he has no relevant professional training. As long as he has enough energy, it is natural for him to do so; in contrast, Tingting is a true emotional manipulator by nature. They all know this, and they know it for themselves. She is fully aware of the fact that she is at the mercy of Tingting, but even so she can still achieve her goal."

"But once the dragonfly falls, only Mark can be responsible for mediating conflicts. He has no training, but he is also very good at getting along with others. His friendliness to people is sometimes too much. But he cannot manipulate. He There is no persuasion. And as soon as he encounters confrontation, anger or hostility, he quickly gives up treatment."

"Then the second reason - Venkat, they are too tired. They are mentally and emotionally exhausted. The reason why they are attacking each other for no reason, my guess is because they are already exhausted. They no longer had the energy to maintain a normal social life. They worked non-stop during the workday, tending to the cocoons of dragonflies, and advancing the construction of the mobile home project, all just to stay alive. In just a few months, they met again and again Death passes by, but there is no respite.”

"The average length of their EVA is about six hours." Venkat was still thinking of defending.

"Hell, stop talking about hours," Dr. Shields fumed. "They need days, not minutes. They need time to regain some sense of security. That means they need a break. Put aside any questions about MAV or Schiaparelli or when the next Martian catastrophe will come."

Venkat opened his mouth again to defend the urgency of the current schedule, but after a pause he changed his mind and asked, "How bad is the actual situation?"

“Each of them showed signs of mental and emotional burnout,” Dr. Shields said. “Mark was depressed and exhausted to the point where he didn’t feel like talking. That should have been enough evidence that the situation was serious. He His statement is that he feels that he no longer has the will to communicate with aliens, indicating that perhaps he is indeed actively avoiding aliens. In fact, in the past two days, he said that he has lost the motivation to do anything, just like Someone strapped weights to his whole body. This meets the criteria for clinical depression. If anyone on the Ares 3 team could be certified as immune to depression, it would be Watney; so now I'm His situation is the most concerning.”

"Fireball's writing is a standard teenage style, and even his broken English seems to be carved out of the same mold. He said that everyone hates him, and he hates everyone, but he is useless anyway, so this situation is not a problem. Big. He's the most guilty of them all for taking out his temper on other people."

"Feihuo's description is that she is in two states now - out of anger and completely indifferent. Although her English level is not very good, she can analyze her problems clearly enough. She compares her situation with what she has just experienced. Compared with the soldiers who fought a fierce battle, it described the long-term life on Mars very aptly. However, she could not think of any useful way to deal with it, because the only treatment for this situation in Pony and the others was Recuperate as far away from sources of stress as possible.”

"Starlight thinks that everyone else is deliberately looking for trouble to get angry with each other, which makes her very angry. She maintains a stubborn idea: as long as everyone can work hard, they won't always be angry with each other. She no longer sees them as human beings, which is not a good sign. Acting in her current mental state will poison the entire group."

"At the same time, Cherry Berry watched all this happen and felt that she was the only hope to try to maintain the group. The total collapse three days ago made her feel again that she was not qualified to be the commander. She regarded this as her dereliction of duty. , has been urging me to tell her the solution to all the problems.”

"One thing they all have in common is symptoms of fatigue - inability to concentrate, lack of energy, weak will. In this case, the last thing they want to see is a piece of paper from JPL, ordering They recounted all the spare parts and scrap metal in their inventory, including every bolt and nut in the cut-off tail section of the alien spacecraft."

"They have to do this anyway," Venkat said. "With inventory data, JPL can implement scenario simulations of MAV transformation."

"Now is not the time. They need a few solar days of rest - no tasks beyond their scheduled daily visits to the caves. Ideally they would also be given a little personal space to be alone, but that is not available right now. Keep the email channels open - so I can continue to provide them with psychological counseling until they are ready to resume their daily social interactions. But other than that, Venkat, please don't bother them anymore. If you persist in forcing Their words will lead to bad consequences.”

Venkat considered the situation. "In about two months we will enter the solar blackout period," he said. "There will be no communication with Mars for three full weeks, and the impact period may be longer depending on solar activity. And now the Pathfinder data Sending and receiving is already very difficult. We’re not sure how much guidance they need on the modification process, let alone what surprises Mars will bring them next.”

"Venkat, if you continue to force them to work, they may die with their bellies turned upside down," Dr. Shields insisted. "It's time to let them make their own arrangements. In the next few days, Don’t make any demands, I will work hard to get this team back on track.”

"I'll try my best," Venkat said helplessly, "but I can't make any guarantees."

"You are the general manager of all Martian affairs," Dr. Shields stood up without giving in. "You report directly to Teddy Sanders. I believe you should at least have the ability to do one or two small things. Guaranteed power.”

Venkat watched the chief psychologist of the Ares project leave. After thinking for a moment, he picked up the phone, "Annie?" He said immediately after the call was connected, "Delete today's Pathfinder message records from the press release. Delete them all. File them in the 'Personal Privacy' category Next. The situation is not as interesting as I thought..."

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