Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (96 page)

Susan
shook her head. “I looked in on her a little while ago; still sound asleep.”

Jeff took
a seat at the table and nodded.

“I
sedated her pretty heavily, she’ll probably sleep for several more hours.”

“That’s
good. She needs it.”

“Yes. How
did you sleep?”

“Awful.”

“Here’s
your coffee,” said Abby, returning to her seat.

“Thanks.”
He shook his head. “I was lying awake last night and got to thinking about our
introductory weekend at Wrentham House, and her reaction to my little plan.
Sure never would have figured her for this.”

Susan
shook her head. “No. She just wants it so bad.”

Jeff
nodded.

“Jeff, I
think it’s time we have a serious talk about our next step and, perhaps more to
the point, whether there should even be a next step.”

“Yeah.”

“I’m no
psychiatrist, but I’m inclined to think Gabe may be on the verge of clinical depression,
if she’s not there already. And I’m terrified to think of what another failure
might do to her. Likewise, I’m terrified to think of what may happen if we just
call it off or turn the task over to Abby or I.” She paused, frowning. “And
even if you do try again and she does conceive, she will still be a prime
candidate for both pre-natal and postpartum depression. This has turned into a
no-win scenario, and I don’t know what to do.”

He
nodded. “What in God’s name was I thinking?”

Susan
took his hand. “You meant well.”

“Yeah,
and the road to hell is paved with good intentions.” He rubbed his forehead and
sighed. “So, what’s the lesser evil?”

“I think
we need to call it off; lick our wounds and hope for the best… before we make
matters even worse.”

Jeff
nodded and looked at Abby.

She shook
her head. “Beat’s me. But I agree with Sue, I’m really worried about her.”

“Yeah.
Sue, what about
in vitro
?”

She shook
her head. “I don’t think that’s the problem, or the solution. The overall
successful pregnancy rate with
in vitro
for a woman in Gabe’s age
bracket is around 48%. On the other hand, assuming the two of you are fertile –
and we have frozen embryos that would seem to suggest that you are – and that
you are following my instructions, the success rate should be somewhere between
65% and 80%. But, that’s still not 100%. I think it’s just luck of the draw.
She could get pregnant next time… or not. But I don’t believe
in vitro
will improve the odds.”

“I
understand.”

“Do I
have a say in this?”

They all
looked around, startled to see Gabe standing in the hatchway, looking worn and
disheveled.

Jeff
immediately got up and went to her. “Of course you do.” He gently took her arm
and walked her to a seat at the table. “How do you feel?”

“Depressed,
sad, guilt-ridden, hopeless, frustrated.” She glanced at Susan. “Shall I
continue?”

Susan
shook her head.

“Sue, I
know what clinical depression is. Been there, done that.” She crossed her arms,
hugging herself, and looked down.

Jeff put
his arm around her and pulled her to him.

She
rested her head on his shoulder. After a minute she kissed his cheek. “I want
another chance. Please? Just one more chance?” She whimpered, “I can do this.”
She started crying. “Please, Jeff? Don’t turn away from me, I couldn’t bear
it.”

He wrapped
his other arm around her, held her tight, and kissed the top of her head. Then
glanced at Susan and Abby.

They both
shrugged.

“Gabe,
right here, right now, my only concern is what’s best for you. Nothing else
matters.”

Her
shoulders heaved as she sobbed.

“I know
you think this is what you want most, but I’m not sure it’s for the best.”

She
pulled away from him, took off her glasses, wiped her eyes, then peered at him.
“Jeff, you have to give me another chance. You have to give all of us another
chance, including yourself.” She glanced at Susan and Abby. “We’ve planned and
dreamed and prepared for this for more than four years, it can’t be over. Not
yet.” She wiped her eyes again, put her glasses back on and looked at Jeff.
“Not yet.”

He took a
deep breath and sighed. “We’re running out of time.”

“I know,
but we still have four opportunities remaining, let’s take them.”

Susan
shook her head. “We don’t have four, we have one, two at the very most.”

“No, we
have four.”

“Shall I
go get the calendar?”

“You
don’t need to. I’ve seen it.” Gabe tapped her temple.

Susan
rolled her eyes. “Sorry.”

Gabe
smiled softly, then looked back at Jeff. “Susan will ovulate in about five
days. I should ovulate again in about twelve days, on or about Sol 37. About
eight days after that…” she nodded toward Abby, “… Abby will ovulate. And two
weeks later, about Sol 58, Sue will ovulate again. The deadline is Sol 60.
That’s four opportunities.”

Susan
glared at her, incredulous. “Those are overlapping. We could end up with
multiple pregnancies. Are you crazy?”

Gabe
frowned at her. “Susan, it’s not polite to ask crazy people if they are crazy.”

Susan
pursed her lips and shook her head, then turned to Jeff. “Don’t even think
about this. It’s lunacy. If we came up with two we’d have to abort one, and I
don’t think I could do that.”

“And I
don’t think I could let you.” He turned to Gabe. “She’s not being exactly
tactful, but Sue has a point. It can’t be allowed.”

“Yes it
can.”

“Two? No,
we don’t have provisions for two.”

“Jeff, we
can make do. We have two carriers, and plenty of our own food. We can make baby
food, people have been doing it since the dawn of time.” She glanced at Susan.
“Right?”

Susan
stared at her, mouth hanging open.

Gabe
persisted. “Right?”

Susan
sighed and slowly nodded. “Yes, but…”

“Sue!
We’re smart people, we can figure it out.”

Jeff
leaned his head back, closed his eyes and grimaced. “Oh mercy.” He returned his
gaze to Gabe and peered into her eyes. “And what would we do when we got home?”

She
smiled softly. “We’d work it out.”

“Oh dear
god.” He shook his head. “I dunno.”

“Jeff,
assuming Sue’s figures are correct, if we take advantage of all four
opportunities, the odds of one of us conceiving are about 99%.”

“Okay.
And what are the odds of two of you conceiving?”

“About 53%…
statistically speaking.”

“That’s a
big number.”

Gabe took
his hand. “Hey, democracy, we vote.”

Jeff
chuckled. “Gabriel, the nearest democracy is 116 million miles from here. Mars
is not a democracy, it’s a benevolent dictatorship, and I’m the benevolent
dictator.”

She
smiled. “Not today.”

Abby
laughed.

Jeff
glared at her. “What are you laughing about?”

“I think
you were just overthrown.”

He
nodded. “Yeah.” He glanced into Gabe’s eyes, then Susan’s, and settled on
Abby’s. “Okay, giggles, what say you?”

She
rubbed her lips with a fingertip for a moment. “Jeff, I told you a long time
ago that I’d be happy to have your child any time, any place. That’s still
true.” She smiled softly. “At least this’ll give me a chance. And if we do come
up with two, well, like Gabe said, we’ll figure it out. I’m in.”

Jeff
sighed. “Alright.” He turned to Susan and raised his eyebrows.

She
leaned on her elbow and rubbed her forehead. “Okay.” She sighed. “I’ll go along
on one condition. You pass me up now, and start with Gabe. Jeff, if there is
any chance at all that we will end up with two pregnancies, you really do not
want one of them to be me, and neither do I.”

“Understood.
And I agree. Okay, well, since we seem to have a majority already, I will be
abstaining.”

Abby
chuckled.

“What?”

“Actually,
boss, no, I don’t think you will be.”

Jeff
frowned at her for a moment, then suddenly got it, and smiled. “Cute. Don’t
make me spank you.”

She
grinned. “Why?”

He turned
his attention to Gabe. “Alright, but I also have a condition.”

“What?”

“No more
drama.
Che sarà sarà
. Okay?”

She nodded.

“Promise?”

Gabe
whispered, “Yes.”

“Okay.”
Jeff sat back and looked around the table at each of them. “As I’ve said all
along, this is just one part of a vast, complex mission. We still have sixteen
and a half months left on this rock, then a seven-month trip home. It’s going
to take all of us to get there.” He looked at Gabe. “Including you.”

She
nodded.

“Now,
there’s a dust storm brewing in the Hellas Basin and we all know what that
could mean.”

They all
nodded.

“Alright.
Then let’s put this little evolution on the back burner for a week, and get
busy. There’s a lot to do… just in case.”

Thursday, November 3,
2016

MSD 50778.250 (Sol
28)

Jeff woke up and looked at his
watch, 0500. Gabe’s naked body was stretched out beside him in the narrow bed,
sound asleep. He slowly and gently rolled over on his side, pressed against
her, carefully trying not to wake her, and wrapped his arm around her.

Gabe stirred and snuggled close to
him making little ‘comfortable’ noises. “What time is it?”

“Five. Sorry, didn’t mean to wake
you.”

“That’s okay. This is more fun if
I’m awake.”

Jeff laughed softly.

They lay quietly together for a
while, and then Gabe rolled over facing Jeff and wrapped her leg around him.
“You were wrong.”

“Huh?”

“What you said the morning the MSL
landed.”

Jeff shook his head, “I don’t
remember.”

“You’re actually very good company
at this hour.”

Around 0700 Jeff climbed out of
bed, careful not to wake Gabe, and headed for the bathroom. He hadn’t slept
that late since they left Earth and, though he and Gabe had spent much of the
night in activities other than sleeping, he felt rested for the first time in
years. In the commons he found Abby staring intently at the computer screen. “You’re
up early.”

She glanced at him with a concerned
look. “Thank God you’re up. I didn’t want to disturb you two, but you need to
see this.”

“What is it?”

“Look.” Abby pointed to the video
screen. It showed a daylight image of Mars.

“Yeah, okay, looks like an image
from the MRO color camera. What of it?”

“It’s from yesterday. Look at the
Claritas/Syria and the Hellas Basin.”

Jeff yawned, rubbed his eyes and
stared at the images. He suddenly grew pale and his jaw dropped. “Oh, mother of
God.” He paused and shook his head. “Previous day…”

“Here.”

“Split screen.”

“Okay.”

Jeff hung his head. “God help us.”

Abby put her hands on his arm.
“Will it be that bad?”

“I dunno. Look at the 24-hour
growth of it in the Hellas Basin. It’s massive.”

Abby leaned her head against Jeff’s
shoulder. “What should we do?”

“Alright, first thing, let’s not
panic. Get Chrissie on the phone. Have her wake up everyone in the world. We
need answers; we need to know what their estimate is. Once it’s daylight over
there, get the
Pathfinder
orbiter to image the Claritas/Syria, and
forward it to JPL. We should be able to get a better image of it than the MRO
and that’s what we need to watch. If those storms peter out, we should be okay.
If not, we’ll need to get busy.”

“I’m on it.”

It was the perfect storm. In late
June 2007, a series of dust storms arose on Mars. It began as off and on storms
in the Hellas Basin, a 2,300 kilometer wide, 9 kilometer deep impact crater in
Mars’ southern hemisphere; a hole in the ground so large it has its own weather.
Four days later the storm exploded out of the basin, setting off secondary dust
storms in the Syria Planum and Claritas Fossae. They enveloped the entire
planet for a month and a half. At their peak the storms blocked 99% of sunlight
to the solar cells on the Mars Exploration Rovers,
Opportunity
and
Spirit
.
Their batteries failing, the rovers shut down when their power supplies tripped
due to a low voltage signal. The rovers could – theoretically – remain ‘asleep’
for months. However, the possibility did exist that they may never awake from
their low-power fault. During the storm, the temperature of Mars upper
atmosphere rose by more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit owing to solar heating of
dust in the atmosphere. However, the surface temperature at the equator, due to
the absence of sunlight, dropped to well below minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit. By
early August, the storms began to abate. And a few weeks later the rovers,
their batteries fully recharged, were back on line. But they were robots and,
in his heart, Jeff feared humans might not be so lucky.

Gabe came into the room wrapped in
a blanket.

“Nice outfit,” Abby joked.

“Yeah, well, nothing to wear in
there. What’s up?”

Jeff replied, “The Hellas Basin
dust storm blew up.”

Gabe gasped, “Oh god, no.”

Jeff put his hand on her shoulder,
“Just relax. Looks like we may be in for some climate change, but we’ll be
fine. We can cozy up around the fire, drink some hot toddies and wait it out.
This was an eventuality we planned for so, like I told Abby, let’s not panic.
It could blow out just as quickly as it blew up.”

Gabe grimaced, “Or not.”

“Just relax, would you?”

“Okay. Oh lord, I need to use the
bathroom,” and she ran off.

Early that afternoon Chrissie’s
image appeared on the monitor, broadcasting from her desk at Wrentham House.
“Hi guys. I’m afraid I don’t have much for you. Talked to Goddard, Marshall,
JPL, USGS, and a host of others. Nobody knows any more about the storm than you
do. In fact the best pictures they’ve seen were the ones you sent. Predictions?
Really there aren’t any. You know as well as anyone how unpredictable these
are. It could fizzle out, or it could cover the planet for months and blot out
the sun.” She shook her head in frustration. “Nobody knows. Sorry I can’t give
you more. I’m sending along a text message with some additional background and
a bunch of housekeeping stuff. Keep in touch.”

“Well, that’s about what we
expected,” Jeff said.

“So, what do we do?” Susan asked.

“Not a lot we can do. But let’s
make sure we’ve covered all our bases. With a Tau of 4.25 our solar cells reach
the tipping point; we don’t have enough amps for life support and keeping the
batteries charged. Just to be on the safe side, let’s call it 4.0. Except for a
brief respite, during the ’07 dust storm Tau was at 4.0 or better for 19 days.”

Gabe dropped into a chair and
groaned, “Oh my god.”

“Yeah, well, don’t worry about it;
we’re just brainstorming worst possible case.”

“You hope.”

“Gabe, let’s not go there.”

“Alright. I’m sorry.”

“Okay. So, assuming the worst likely
scenario, we’d need to survive on generators and the gas heater for 19 days;
call it three weeks. So let’s make sure we’ve got enough methane and LOX to
last us. Abby, the Sabatier’s working on CO, right?”

“Yeah, liquefaction. The Sabatier
is off, only the cryo plant is running.”

“What’s the status of the header
tanks?

“Uh, let me see. H
₂
O
full, O
₂
, H
₂
and CH
₄
empty, CO nearly full.”

“That’s not good. How much LOX in
the transfer tank?”

“It’s almost full. Nearly a ton.”

“Anything in the methane transfer
tank?”

“No, empty. We moved it all to the
MAV.”

“What’s in the methane service
tank?”

“It’s full, 100 kilos.”

“And the CO service tank?”

“About 70%.”

“Alright, so we’ve got plenty of
water, LOX and enough CO to last us for a while. Let’s pump the water tank,
fire up the Sabatier and make some methane. If this gets bad, power to the cryo
plant will be one of the first things we lose. If we need more methane we can
drag the transfer tank over here, I’d hate to have to take some from the MAV in
the middle of a dust storm. Contaminating the MAV’s fuel system would be… bad.”

“What do you want me to do with the
CO?”

“Vent it. We’re not going anywhere
for a while.”

“Will do.”

“Gabe,” Jeff turned and found her
staring aimlessly at the floor. “Gabe!”

“Huh?”

“Come on, snap out of it. We need
you.”

She bit her lower lip and winced,
“Sorry.”

“How much methane do we need to
power one generator and the heater seven by twenty-four for three weeks?”

She glanced furtively around the
room, “Uh, three weeks, um… 1,184 kilos.”

“1,184 kilos? Yeesh.”

“But, Jeff, if you want to burn all
that, we don’t have nearly enough LOX. To burn that much methane will require
about 3,800 kilos of LOX. We don’t even have a quarter of that. And don’t
forget, we’re also going to need some to breathe.”

“Oh, crap. So what do we do?”

“We need to make water, and find
some place to store it. The electrolysis plant is one of our lowest power
consumers, but it’s slow. In three weeks we could make, at best, about 1,000
kilos of LOX, but we’ve got no place to put it. So we’re gonna have to make as
much water as we can, then electrolyze it as we go, and do the best we can. And
in the meantime, we’re going to have to risk it and transfer methane from one
of the MAVs. There’s no other option. And we need to do it as soon as possible,
before this dust gets any worse. Also, as far as burning 1,184 kilos of methane
goes; forget it. We just won’t have enough LOX.”

“So how much would we have?”

“I don’t know. Maybe, 400 kilos.”

“That’d only last us maybe a week.”

“Yes, if you’re running a generator
and the furnace 24 hours a day. But if we only run them for eight hours at
night, it might be enough. And it might be enough to keep the batteries
charged.”

Jeff sighed. “Gotcha. Okay, Abby,
change one: make water.”

She chuckled. “Okay, but do you
want me to use the bathroom, or just sit here and pee in my pants?”

They all laughed.

“Uh, you know what I mean.”

“Yeah, but what do I do with it?
Where do I put it?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know.” He
looked at Gabe and Susan. “Any ideas?”

“Equipment transport cases,” said
Susan. “We’ve got a whole stack of big empty ones out back, and they’re not
only airtight, but watertight. Just fill up the lab with them.”

Gabe shook her head. “The floor
won’t handle that much mass.”

“Alright, then distribute them
throughout the hab. Fill them from the service tank, and there’s where you can
put Abby’s water.”

Jeff gave Gabe a questioning
glance.

She shrugged. “Makes as much sense
as anything.”

He nodded. “Okay, job
opportunities. Somebody needs to help me take the methane transfer tank back
over to one of the MAVs, fill it and bring it back over here. Do I have a
volunteer?”

They all immediately raised their
hands. Jeff smiled, “That’s what I love about this job, there’s never a
shortage of help. Didn’t you guys ever hear about what happens when you
volunteer?”

Abby grinned. “We’d like to get
home alive. Volunteering is just part of the job.”

Jeff smiled and nodded. “Yeah, but
you need to make water. Susan, you don’t get out much, you’re elected.”

Susan grabbed her raised hand, held
it in front of her face and scolded it, “Would you stop doing that.”

Jeff laughed, “That kind of adds a
whole new meaning to ‘talk to the hand’.”

They all laughed.

Jeff grinned. “Ah, that’s better.
Gabe, you want to handle the equipment cases? Make sure we don’t overload a
floor?”

She nodded. “Got it.”

“Alright, let’s move like we have a purpose.”

Monday, November 14,
2016

MSD 50788.288 (Sol
38)

Gabe
continued rocking atop Jeff for another minute or two as he lay there panting,
her hands firmly grasping his shoulders. Then she shuddered and moaned softly.
“Oh god! Uhn.”

He gently
fondled her breasts. “Hmmm.”

Her head
drooped and she rested her chin on her chest. “Oh my god, that feels so good.”

Jeff
grinned. “Uh, yeah.”

She
slowly opened her eyes and smiled softly. “Well, if I’m not pregnant by now,
I’m probably never going to be.”

“Don’t be
silly. Some couples try for years without success, then all of a sudden one
day, bingo. Sometimes it just takes a while.”

“Marsha never
got pregnant.”

“No, she
didn’t.” Jeff paused for a moment. “She couldn’t, and you know that.”

Gabe fell
upon him, clutched him and whimpered, “Oh god, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said
that.”

He kissed
her. “Hey, it’s okay. She and I resigned ourselves to that fact, and accepted
it as God’s will a long time ago. If she had lived we might have adopted, and
been happy about it. But Gabe, you’re not Marsha. Okay?” Jeff felt her nod.

She
stretched her legs and rolled over beside him. They lay quietly for a while,
then Gabe kissed his chest and caressed his cheek. “I’ll miss sleeping with
you.”

“I’ll
miss sleeping with you too.”

“Really?”

“Of
course.”

“But,
aren’t you excited?”

“About
what? Sleeping with Abby?”

“Yes.”

Jeff
chuckled softly. “You’re weird.”

“Yes, but
that wasn’t the question.”

“Yeah.
No, I’m not excited, I’m apprehensive.”

“Why?”

He
sighed. “Because there’s something about this that just doesn’t feel quite
right.”

“Do you
love me?”

“You know
I do.”

“Do you
love Abby?”

“Yes, but
not like you. And this scares me, cause I don’t know how it’s going to turn
out.”

“Jeff,
we’re 200 million kilometers from Earth. None of us know how any of this will
turn out.”

“Gabriel,
when did you get philosophical?”

She
laughed softly. “A few weeks ago. I was lying awake in bed and got to thinking
about our kiss by the hot tub at Wrentham House.”

Jeff
smiled. “I remember it well.”