File: Jacob Hardy, pilot, Ares One
—Supplemental—
Centcom Cantina
A/V Monitor
Path to Ares: 480 Days to Launch
1149 hours

Evie: Jacob. You got a minute?

Hardy: A minute. But then I gotta go. There's a thing in Belarus; I should be back Monday.

E: If you're in a hurry, can I have your brownie?

H: You can have half. What did you want to show me?

E: Moon X is back.

H: Oh, boy. We saw what it did to Jupiter.

E: Or "with." You could think of it as "with Jupiter."

H: Whatever, the thing made some major changes to two of Jupiter's moons.

E: Yep, then it blinks out. Gone fourteen months. Then Mercury. And then blink, out. Seven months.

H: And you can't track it.

E: Oh, I think I might have a way. But right now that doesn't matter because guess what just showed up hanging out next to Venus.

H: You're kidding.

E: I wish.

H: Let me see that. What's it gonna do there?

E: I don't know. Magic, I guess. You know what really worries me? Next time it blinks out?

H: Where does it go?

E: Where does it go.

H: You can have the rest of my brownie.