Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (118 page)

Susan shook her head. “It’s gone by
fast. A lot faster than I thought it would.”

“Yeah, it has. Nevertheless, it’s
getting to the point where we need to start seriously looking at our readiness
to go home. I think today we should pull up the flight plan and see what we’ve
checked off, and what we haven’t. It’s been a couple months since we last did
that. Also, since we do have ten weeks left, see if there’s anything we left
off the flight plan that we might want to squeeze in. You know, last chance.”

Abby groaned and rolled her eyes.
“Or we could just go out and play golf.”

Jeff shook his head. “Sorry, we’ve
lost all our golf balls.”

“All twelve of them?”

“Uh huh. Hey, when your first hole
is a 500 yard par three, and nothing but one giant sand trap, losing a ball
isn’t that hard.”

“Harrumph. Maybe we should’ve stuck
to miniature golf.”

Jeff chuckled. “Right. Let’s see,
we’ve got the Dust Storm Hole, the Abby’s Crater Hole, and the Loire Chaos
Hole. And if one of those doesn’t get you, I’m sure we can come up with
something else.”

She sighed. “This place isn’t
really suitable for golf, is it?”

“No, not really. To build a golf
course up here I think we’d need about 150 acres of Astroturf.”

“That’d be the most expensive golf
course in the solar system.”

He laughed. “Yeah, no kidding. Can
you imagine what the green fees would be?”

“We should’ve brought one of those
practice putting cups with us… and a putter.”

“Yeah. Well, maybe next time.”

Gabe frowned at him. “There’s not
going to be a next time.”

He smiled at her and shook his
head. “No, I suppose not. Well, we can play golf when we get home, so let’s
concentrate on getting home. I don’t know about you guys, but I think I’ve had
about enough of Mars for my lifetime.”

They all nodded.

Tuesday, March 13,
2018

MSD 51260.228 (Sol
510)

Jeff
stuck his head in Abby’s room. “Abby, time to get up.”

She
stirred. “Go away.”

“Come on,
time to get up.”

“What
time is it?”

“About
0430.”

“God, I
haven’t been up this early since we launched.”

“Yeah,
well, we’ve got another launch today, so get your ass out of bed and turn to.”

She
rolled over and pulled the covers over her head.

“Abby!
Get up, or I’ll set off the decompression alarm.”

“You do
and I’ll kill you. We don’t need you to get back to Earth.”

He
laughed. “Abby, get up. We have a lot to do.” He closed the hatch and headed
for Gabe’s room. As bad as Abby was, he really wasn’t looking forward to waking
Gabe at this hour.

Twenty
minutes later they all met in the commons. “Good morning,” said Jeff. “I guess
maybe we stayed up a little late last night celebrating our last night on
Mars.”

They all
groaned.

“Yeah,
well, be that as it may, big day ahead of us, so everybody suck it in. Time to
go home.”

They all
nodded.

“Everybody
know what they need to do?”

They each
nodded again.

“Alright
then, let’s get to it. Launch is in three hours.”

While
Jeff and Abby suited up, Gabe and Susan carried Ghita and her transport module
into the Genesis. The second module was already in the Genesis along with bags
of things they planned to return in it. They’d test both modules, then decide
which one to use for Ghita. Before donning his helmet, Jeff stuck his head
through the Genesis inner hatch. “You three ready?”

“Yeah,”
said Gabe, “all set.”

“Your
suits in there? PLSSs charged?”

Gabe
groaned. “Yes, mother. Three days ago.”

“Just
checking.”

“You’ve
already checked six times.”

“Forgive
my redundancy, Gabe, but this isn’t like walking the dog, and we don’t have a
crew from USA to oversee this. We, just the four of us, need to make sure we’ve
done everything right.”

“Understood.”

“Alright.
We’re gonna button you up, then put on our helmets, get in
Andy
and head
to the MAV. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Jeff took a deep breath and sighed. “Alright, Abby,
final checks. Water pipes drained?”

“Yes.”

“Fuel and O
₂
valves
closed?”

“Yes.”

“Waste recycle system drained,
valves closed.”

“Yes.”

“Computers off?”

“Yes.”

“Comms off?”

“Yes.”

“Cryogenics running?”

“Yes.”

“Sabatiers running?”

“Yes.”

“All solar panels online?”

“Yes.”

He nodded, then laughed. “Did
somebody remember to put the cat out?”

Abby chuckled. “Oh, crap.”

“Go get it.”

She went back into the hab and
emerged a moment later with the cat.

“Very good. Is that it?”

“God, I hope so.”

They emerged from the airlock, Jeff
closed the outer hatch and patted it. “Good luck. Hope to never see you again.”
Abby set the cat on the airlock step, and they headed for
Andy
. Jeff
climbed into the driver’s seat. “Alright, old boy, one more trip.” He punched
up ‘Destination’ on the NAV computer, and selected MAV-1.
Andy
, towing
the Genesis, slowly accelerated and headed for the MAV. “Hey, Gabe?”

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t you swing a camera
around and put it on the station, start a video and get some last pictures of
it as it disappears over the horizon.”

“Okay.”

“Well, Abby, get a good a look
around. We won’t be seeing this place again.”

“No. It’s sure been an interesting
year and a half. Can’t say as I’m looking forward to another seven months in
space.”

Jeff chuckled. “No, me neither.”

“Jeff,” said Gabe, “filming.”

“Roger. Let’s transmit all these
last pictures to the orbiter’s buffer before we liftoff, just in case something
happens to
Andy
and the Genesis during the burn.”

“Okay. What about the video of the liftoff?”

“Have
Andy
relay it live.”

“Okay.”

“Abby, how’s your leg?”

“Fine. It gets a little sore from
time to time, but a couple Norco do the trick. I’m looking forward to getting
home and having this hardware removed.”

“Why? Think of the hours of fun
you’d have every time you went through airport security.”

She groaned. “No thank you.”

“You should put the plate and
screws in a shadowbox and hang it on the wall. Just a little memento of Mars.”

“Yeah, right. Just the kind of
keepsake I’d want.”

Jeff chuckled. “Oh, just think of
all the stories you could tell.”

“Uh huh. Every time somebody
visited, they’d say, ‘What’s that?’ and I’d have tell the whole damn story
again. Screw that.”

Now he laughed.

Half an hour later they drove past
the
Columbus
and
Magellan
drop lines. Jeff looked around at the
scattered descent stages and deflated airbags. “We made quite a mess, didn’t
we?”

Abby chuckled. “Yeah. The
environmentalists would have a fit. On Earth don’t they say something like…
pack out your trash?”

“Yes, well, fortunately there
aren’t any environmentalists here. That’s one nice thing about this place –
there’s nobody here to complain. And if they want our trash removed, they’re
welcome to come get it.” Ten minutes later they arrived at the MAV. “Okay, boys
and girls, we’re here. Gabe, Sue, are you suited up?”

Gabe responded, “Yes, we’re ready
to go. Hurry up, it’s really crowded in this airlock.”

“On our way.” The MAV was covered
with a staked-down descent stage ballistic parachute to keep dust off it.
“Abby, why don’t you pull that parachute off the MAV and get the door open, and
I’ll help them out of the airlock.”

“Okay.”

Jeff walked around to the back of
the Genesis. “Gabe, open the outer hatch.”

“Alright, just a minute. Like I
said, it’s really crowded in here and we’ve just barely got room to get the
hatch open.”

Jeff waited. A moment later the
hatch swung in. He chuckled. “I see what you mean. A regular sardine can.”

“Shut up,” said Gabe, “and drag
that returnables canister out of here. Give us a little room to maneuver.”

“I’ve got it.” He pulled the
canister out and set it on the ground. “Alright, hand me Ghita.”

“We should have made these
piggyback environmental lines longer. So don’t pull. Let me follow it out as
close as I can.”

“Roger.” Jeff eased the canister
slowly out while Gabe followed closely behind with O
₂
and coolant
water supply and exhaust lines from her PLSS attached to it. “Is she asleep?”

“Oh yeah,” said Susan. “I gave her
a little sleeping pill. She’ll be out for a couple hours. Hopefully long enough
for us to get into space and pressurized, at which point I suspect she will not
be very happy.”

“No kidding. Okay Gabe, you have
her?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you go set her on the
back of Andy until were ready for you.”

“Okay.”

Jeff took Susan’s hand and helped
her out of the airlock, then closed the hatch. “Okay, let’s carry this thing
over to the MAV. Abby? How are you doing?”

“I’m opening the hatch right now.”

“Alright. Sue and I are on our way
with the returnables canister.” The returnables canister contained an
assortment of items, personal and scientific. Susan’s tea set, Abby’s dangle
earrings, the lady’s gold bracelets, Abby’s black diamond, Jeff’s Rolex,
several pounds of gold nuggets, an assortment of samples that would prove
invaluable to Earth’s scientists if for some reason MAV-2 failed to return, and
most importantly, 42 thumb drives and compact flash cards containing all of
their notes, scientific analysis, photos, videos, and personal logs.

“Okay, hang on a minute. Let me get
in here and turned around. This is like trying to maneuver around suited up in
a Mini Cooper.”

He laughed. “It wasn’t designed for
comfort.”

“Yeah, well I hope it works for
what it was designed for.”

“Amen to that.” Jeff climbed the
ladder and waited for Abby to get situated.

“Okay.” She stuck her hand out.
“Hand it to me.” Susan pushed the canister up while Jeff guided it through the
hatch. “Okay, I’ve got it. Let me get it seated and strapped down, then I need
to move around to the front side of the MAV.”

“Take your time. We’re in no
hurry.” He turned to Susan. “Ready to go home?”

“Yes. It’s been interesting. It’s
actually been fun. Well, most of it. But it’s been long enough.”

“Uh huh. Well, just seven more
months and instead of coveralls and space suits, you can start wearing those
lavishly embroidered silk mandala blouses again.”

She laughed softly. “I’m looking
forward to that.”

“Alright,” said Abby, “I’m up front
in the left seat, such as it is. Sue, climb on in.”

“Coming.” She climbed up into the
MAV and the rear left seat. They weren’t actually seats, just places to stand.

Jeff followed her and peered
through the hatch.

“Sue,” said Abby, “I’m connected to
MAV environmentals. Go ahead and pull off my PLSS.”

“Okay. Hang on.” She disconnected
Abby’s PLSS and passed it through the hatch to Jeff. Each PLSS weighed
approximately 70 pounds. Discarding them saved around 280 pounds of launch
mass.

“I’ve got it,” said Jeff. “Okay,
Sue, get yours off. I’ll be back in a couple minutes.” He walked over to
Andy
,
dropped the PLSS in back, then turned to Gabe. “How you doing?”

“Fine.”

“And how’s the little one?”

“She’s fine. Sound asleep. Her
vitals look good.”

“Great. Okay, just hang on. We’ll
be ready for you two in a few minutes.”

“Okay. This was a lot easier at
Kennedy.”

“Yeah. Well, we had all the help in
the world there. Here, we’re kind of on our own. Back in a few.” He returned to
the MAV, climbed the ladder, and stuck his head in. “PLSS?”

Susan handed it to him.

“Got it. Okay, get ready for
Ghita.”

“Okay.”

He returned to Andy and again
dropped the PLSS in the back. “Okay, Gabe, your turn. I’ll take one end of
this.” They carried Ghita in her canister to the MAV. Jeff stood beside the
ladder and helped Gabe lift the canister through the hatch and onto the MAV
floor as she climbed the ladder.

“Okay, that’s it. She’s in,” said
Gabe.

“I’ve got the MAV connections,”
said Susan. “Can you unplug yours?”

“Yes,” said Gabe.

“Okay, I’ve got her plugged into
the MAV. Hang on while I get her situated.” While Gabe and Jeff waited, Susan
hoisted Ghita’s canister atop the returnables canister in the center of the
MAV, and strapped it in place. “Okay, she’s comfortably placed and secured.
Come on in Gabe.”

Gabe climbed into the MAV and took
her place at the NAV console beside Abby. Then disconnected her PLSS and connected
her suit to the MAV. “Okay, Sue, take it off.”

Susan removed the PLSS and passed
it through the hatch to Jeff.

“Got it. Back in few.” He dropped
the PLSS on the back of
Andy
, then climbed into the driver’s seat and
drove some 150 meters away from the MAV – about 50 meters outside the landing
blast circle – then focused
Andy
’s mastcam on the MAV, started a video,
set it for real time relay to the orbiter, and returned to the MAV. He climbed
the ladder, trying to kick as much dust off his boots as he did, then crawled
inside, stood, disconnected his PLSS, connected to the MAV environmental
system, and turned around. “Okay, Sue, you want to pull this thing off me?”

“Sure. Hang on.” She removed his
PLSS and held it until he could turn around and take it.

“Got it.” Jeff tossed the PLSS out,
then closed the hatch. “Well, I don’t know about the others, but that one’s
gonna be toast for sure.” He took his place beside Susan in back, with the two
canisters, one containing Ghita, between them and Abby and Gabe. “Gabe, what’s
our round trip comm time to Earth?”

“About 21 minutes.”

“Great. Light speed is too damn
slow.” He switched radios to Newport’s channel. “Newport,
Ares
on UHF.
We are all in the MAV and about to start the launch checklist. We anticipate
launch as scheduled at 0200 UTC.”

“Look,” said Abby, “ sunrise. The
last one we’ll see here.”

“Uh, Newport, hang on a minute,
we’re looking at our last Martian sunrise.”

They all sat silently, looking out
the window.

“No one else has ever seen this,”
said Susan.

Jeff patted her on the shoulder.
“And who knows? May never see it again.” He took a deep breath and sighed.
“Gabe, time to ignition?”

“Uh, one hour, eighteen.”

“Do we need to do a P52?”

“No. We’ve been here for a year and
a half. The platform needs to be aligned, not realigned.”

“Oops. You gonna do the P57
platform alignment?”

“Doing it right now.”

“Rog. Newport,
Ares
, we have
one hour eighteen to ignition, and we’re gonna do a P57. And we’re gonna go
with T
_IG
of 0200 and set the rendezvous radar transponder to OPERATE
at that time.”

Twenty-five minutes later, Newport
responded. “
Ares
, Newport. Copy your last. At T
_IG
minus 17,
recommend Up-Data Link switch to Voice Backup. Do not use tapemeter in PGNS.
Recommend you stir all cryogenic tanks. And once you’re off the ground, switch
to Omni D.”