Glory on Mars (29 page)

"Mars lacks Earth's geological processes, so we have
lots of old craters and there should be meteorites lying around.
But this is our first find - our first source of metal. And a
global dust storm could bury everything."

"We've got GPS coordinates."

"Thanks to Malcolm's sabotage, we don't. Even the
jumper's rescue trip was screwed up."

"There's a problem closer to home," Yang said. "A
global haboob will shut down our atmosphere harvesting for a long
time."

"We should pump as much air into the nederzetting as
possible while we can," Yin said.

"If we're going to be stuck inside, I don't want to
need a surface suit whenever I leave this module."

"Hey Kamp." They'd left the MEX link open and the
Settler Four crew was monitoring. Emma recognized Noah's voice.

"We want to land, like Ruby says, not be marooned in
orbit for god-knows how long. We enter orbit in less than a
week."

"Ruby, you could refuel on Phobos. The bots there
have full tanks and we'll be able to use the oxygen here for the
nederzetting."

Emma had only thought of Phobos Base for its servers
that linked to Governor, but Yin and Yang kept track of the robotic
construction squad there. Luis had landed the habitat module from
Settler Three on Phobos before the crash. It was pressurized and
ready for emergencies. The regolith on the moon wasn't as rich in
water as on Mars, but the bots had been faithfully filling tanks
with hydrogen and oxygen as they stacked construction blocks around
the habitat for shielding.

"Okay, that takes care of space operations," Claude
said. "How about surface operations? How about my drill and the
lava tube?"

"I installed manual overrides in the rovers, but
haven't gotten to the walkabouts yet," Emma said. "But I'd like to
take a walkabout, so I can follow my own tracks."

"No override, no walkabout," Ruby said. Emma frowned,
but Ruby folded her arms across her chest and fixed her with a
steady gaze.

"Emma, I think Ruby's right on this." Liz gave her
arm a squeeze. Emma sighed.

"Well, okay. If I take a rover to the lava tube, I
can't go the route I used in the walkabout. I'll have to swing out
to avoid the valleys and approach the tube from the north." She was
sweeping through satellite images on her pad as she talked. "I
think I can find it if I line up with that funny outcropping I saw.
It's a two sol trip each way."

"If you mark the lava tube so we don't lose it, Daan
and I will take the other rover to retrieve the drill," Claude
said. "We'll be back with two sols to spare."

Emma had been about to suggest Claude ride with her,
but Daan was already nodding enthusiastically.

"I want to go," Melina said. Emma was so used to
Melina and Sanni being zonked out that the sound of her voice was a
surprise.

"Me, too. We haven't set foot outside the
nederzetting since we got here," Sanni said. "It's about time we
did."

"There's no reason they can't go," Liz said.

"Then both of you, come with me," Emma said.

"I'll be working outside with Yin and Yang," Ruby
said to Liz. "Will you be okay in here alone?"

"Not alone," Liz said with a grin. "I've got
Governor. And the cat."

Emma smiled. This was more like what she'd expected,
to be working together and solving problems. She pulled up a rover
checklist on her pad and scrolled through the preparations.

***

Emma set out the next morning with Melina and Sanni.
She won the coin toss - a simulation by Governor - so they hopped
into Rover Two and let Governor drive. The pale red sky and rippled
dunes weren't very scenic, but to their right loomed Peacock Mons,
a burnished hump in the dawn light. Since Emma didn't need the
controls, Sanni and Melina sat in the front seats. They deserved a
good look at their world.

The second sol in early evening, after zigzagging in
a search pattern most of the afternoon, Rover Two stopped on the
level spot swept clean by Jumper One's exhaust.

"Let's get out here," Emma said after confirming
their link to Governor. "I think I see our footprints."

They suited up and stepped onto the surface. While
Melina and Sanni played around getting used to the feel of their
suits, Emma looked northeast. Poet's Mons was out there, the
northern-most volcano in the chain, as broad and tall as Peacock,
but the peak was hundreds of kilometers away. She turned towards
the Sun, low in the western sky.

"We better hurry. It's getting dark."

In the slanting sunlight, footprints stood out
clearly as deep divots in the sand between slabs of rock. They
carried a beacon, already mounted on a fabricated post, to the
cave. Yin had made a long stake from some of their precious metal
scraps. They took turns driving the stake deep into the sand with a
sledge hammer and slid the post over the top.

"Test the beacon, Governor," Emma said, still
breathing hard.

"I am activating the beacon. It is functioning
properly," Governor said. "I am returning it to sleep mode
now."

Melina stared into the cave entrance when they
finished.

"We can't come this far and not go inside," Sanni
said. "How about we spend all sol tomorrow exploring? We'll still
get back to Kamp with a sol to spare."

The next morning they returned with hand lights. Emma
agreed to sit inside the entrance, shielded by the rock, and relay
communications while Melina and Sanni explored.

"I know the tube to the left is easy walking..." She
stopped as Melina immediately turned right and clambered over the
rocks. Emma grinned. Melina was a different person than she'd
known.

Emma set her suit comms to relay and streamed images
and audio live to Earth. The suit imagers captured walls of
glittering crystal and curtains of frozen lava hanging from the
ceiling. Melina and Sanni never reach an end. The tube was still
wide when they turned around, carrying more rock samples for
Claude.

Back inside Rover Two they doffed their suits and
opened the Settler Four channel. The transport ship entered orbit
flawlessly and Emma sent a welcome message, but she mostly talked
about the lava tube.

"I wonder if Yin and Yang could fabricate blocks to
seal the cave," Melina said. "I bet it would hold pressure."

"What a great addition it would make to Kamp," Sanni
said. "We could live inside the native rock. Claude could do his
lithology bare-handed."

"He'd like that," Emma said. "Governor, for now, take
us home." The rover retraced its route while they slept.

***

Emma had all Governor's audio feeds open as the rover
crossed Tharsis Plain, hoping to find someone to chat with.

"Hey guys, we've got a problem." It was Claude's
voice from Rover One.

"Where are you, Claude? What's up?" Emma answered his
call.

"We're still at the southern drill site. I got the
rover... well, we're stuck."

"Stuck?"

"Yeah, it's my fault. I drove along a channel rim and
the edge gave way."

"Are you and Daan okay?" Liz's cut in.

"Oh, yeah, we're fine." Daan spoke this time.
"But..."

"Tell me what the problem is." Irritation replaced
Emma's worry.

"We slid halfway into a gorge. The rover tipped over
on its side. The airlock's buried in the sand. Not that it matters.
I don't see how we could tip this thing up on its tracks even if we
could get outside."

"Oh shit."

"Excellent turn of phrase," Claude said. "The
sanitary system was dumped on its side, too."

"I'm here." Ruby joined the conversation. "I can fly
out and lift the rover."

"Wouldn't that use up tanks of fuel?"

"Yeah. So what? You want to stay out there?"

"But you need to get into orbit..."

"Let us try to help," Emma said. "Governor, divert us
to Claude and Daan."

Governor slowed Rover Two's approach to the ridges
before sunrise the next sol. The skies were clear and Emma could
pick out the brighter constellations.

"Let's take a look," Emma said, grabbing her surface
suit. "Someone should stay inside the rover, as a precaution."

"I'll stay," Sanni said.

Emma and Melina slid down the broken rim of the
gorge. They circled Rover One, testing slope stability, and finally
approached carefully. The rover was lying partly on its roof with
its airlock jammed into the sand. Emma waved to Claude and Daan
inside. They had spent an uncomfortable night.

Sanni maneuvered Rover Two to a wide patch of bare
rock and Emma pulled a wire cable from its tool box. She and Melina
slid back down the slope and climbed up the exposed tracks, looking
for a place to secure the cable. The rover tottered and
shifted.

"What the hell." Claude's voice boomed in her
helmet.

Emma leaped from the rover and it settled back into
the sand, now completely on its roof.

There was a strangled yelp, then, "Aw, shit. Be more
careful out there."

"Can we get them out and come back for the rover
later?" Melina asked as she hopped over to Emma.

"Guys, still listening? There's good news. You can
get out the airlock now."

A short time later, Daan dropped to the sand.

"I want to pullthe drill off the rover bed," Claude
said as he carefully lowered a couple bulging sacks of samples.

Emma laughed. "I like you, Claude. You've got
grit."

With a little effort they dropped the drill drums,
rolled them to Rover Two, and secured them to the rear bed.

After two cycles of the airlock, they were all
inside.

"We're on our way," Emma said. "Governor, take us
home fast."

Chapter Thirty-Six:
Settler Four

"Attention Rover Two occupants. I recommend you open
the feed from the Settler Four transport ship," Governor said the
next morning as the rover raced across the Tharsis dunes. "And I
have a video you may want to view of Jumpship One lifting off while
you slept, followed by Jumpship Two mirroring its trajectory."

"Open a split-screen, Governor. I want to see the
inside of the transport ship," Melina said.

Ruby was already docked and inside the transport's
habitat module. She and the edgy crew were loading gear as fast as
they could. They had to remove a bunk from the habitat and bolt it
to Jumper One's cabin floor to accommodate the fifth person, but
they were anxious to land and no one wanted to wait for a second
trip.

Governor switched to the jumpship's imagers, but they
missed the chance to watch the ship disassemble in orbit.
Abundantly cautious, MEX wanted the jumper well out of the way
before they blew the frangible nuts to separate the modules.

Imagers captured a good view as Ruby topped up her
fuel tanks at Phobos Base. Emma had never watched the robot squad
there in motion. Half-sized beetle-bots dragged tanks on skids to
the jumpship. The habitat from S-3, her home on the journey to
Mars, sat buried under fabricated stone blocks, its airlock peeking
out at jumpship level. Sensors showed it remained intact, but Ruby
didn't dock.

A satellite picked up Jumpship One again and watched
it disappear over the curve of the planet in a spiraling descent
orbit.

"Governor, do you have an image of the transport ship
right now?" Emma asked. "A satellite view? Animation?"

"I love to watch the disassembly," Claude said,
sitting on the arm of Emma's chair and hugging her shoulder.

The transport ship popped up on the screen, still
intact. Jumpship Two, under remote control, hung nearby.

"Governor, display a live feed."

"This is the live feed, Emma."

"It should be floating apart by now. What's the
delay?"

"MEX sent the command on schedule. I have no further
information at this time."

Minor glitches were common and the crew was safe.
There was no reason to worry yet, but Emma chewed on her lower
lip.

***

Governor slowed the rover along the east side of the
nederzetting, approaching the north dock. As the rover maneuvered
Emma could see the top of Ruby's jumpship docked on the far side of
the module.

"There're here." Melina was on her feet before the
rover finished docking. "The New Four."

Emma exited the rover last and looked up the ladder
towards the docking module's jumpship level.

I bet Ruby's still in the ship's cabin, she
thought.

Sure enough, Ruby sat in the pilot's seat, arms
folded across her chest, glaring at her screen.

"You're going to use Jumper Two's telepresent
controls to bring the habitat down?" Emma took the copilot's seat.
"I want to see how well it works."

"Well, it's not gonna work at all like this. I'm
waiting for MEX." She hugged herself tighter and scowled.

Emma gazed out the jumpship windows at rover tracks
crisscrossing the orange sand, avoiding Ruby's scathing eyes.

"Yeah, we have another disassembly fail." The MEX
lead's voice filled the cabin. "I read the detonators as fired, so
the frangible nuts have fractured. But the connecting struts failed
to unclamp. No indication of tampering with the program - our
controllers think it's just one of those things. Shouldn't take
long to correct. Why don't you take a break and we'll call when we
know more."

"Fuckwits," Ruby said under her breath. "In a few
hours the asteroid hits, and I can't land the whole ship in one
piece. Governor, let me know if you see anything change or if MEX
calls, okay?"

"I will do that, Ruby."

"We might as well join the party."

In the habitat, the new settlers were sitting around
the table and everyone was talking at once.

William leaned too far sideways and toppled. Sanni
caught him and propped him back in his chair.