Bachelor on Mars

by Leigh Wyndfield

  “I just don’t understand why Hank would want his girlfriend vying for the opportunity to date another man,” he said, disgusted.

  She looked at him as if he was crazy. “Hank isn’t my boyfriend. He’s my brother.”

  “Brother? But your last name is Wilson.”

  “No, my last name is Carson. Margo Wilson is my code name for the show.”

  “Code name?”

  “I think of it as my spy name.”

  “What?” he asked, totally confused.

  “Never mind,” she said. “I filled in for someone who broke her leg at the last minute. I was hoping to keep my career from being impacted, so I was using her name.”

  “Wait, your name isn’t Margo either?”

  “Well, actually it is, sort of. My brother calls me Margo. I bet that’s why he thought of me to begin with,” she said. “I wouldn’t put it past him to have only thought of me because of the name thing, when I’ve spent my whole life wanting to get to Mars. My name is Margaret Carson. Although he stayed behind so I could test my rover on Mars, so I owe him.”

  “Not even your name is real. What the hell is the point of reality TV?” He shook his head, giving up because he needed her rover. “The issue remains that I didn’t okay testing this,” he said, hearing a snarl in his voice. He had once been asked by a lab assistant to stop snarling and occasionally he really did try not to.

  The happiness fell off her face. “Well, you better be glad I brought her because she’s going to save us.”

  “Give me a rundown on how to drive it.”

  She opened the door and leaned over, then jerked back. “Wait. You think you’re taking her out alone, don’t you?”

  “Of course.” He wasn’t going to bring anyone else along. The Russians would blow him up the minute they saw him.

  She folded her arms. “Not a chance. You won’t be able to drive it without training, which I’m not giving to you. You have to take me.”

  “No one is coming with me. You have a better chance of staying alive here.”

  She put her hands on her hips, the gesture almost comical in the space suit. “I am testing this rover, period. No one, and I mean no one, goes anywhere in it without me in the driver’s seat.”

  “We might get all the way to Station 3 and find the generator can’t be restarted. No electricity means no com units. This whole thing could be a wild goose chase, one that will be dangerous. Because if Haxley is right, then it’s only the buildings standing here that are keeping us alive right now. Whoever is out there can pick us off easily the minute we leave.”

  “I don’t care. I drive or my rover stays in this shed.”

  He stared deep into her eyes and knew she meant it. He’d seen that same stubborn look in his own gaze too many times to think she’d waver.

  For the first time in his life, he was in a corner. It made him seriously pissy. But what could he do? Even leaving first thing in the morning, it would take them a full day’s journey to arrive at the other station. Then they’d have to get the communications equipment up and running, which might take hours or even longer depending on how the equipment had been left when the last team pulled out. Then return here the next morning, hopefully beating Hank Carson’s shuttle’s arrival, because it would have to leave without them if they didn’t make it on time. The shuttle couldn’t risk being destroyed as well. Turnaround speed would be critical to survival.

  “I have waited my whole career for this moment, Boyle, and you’re not taking this away from me.”

  “Okay, I’m taking you, but only under extreme protest.”

  “Your protest is noted,” she said, a large smile blooming on her pretty lips.

  He hoped he wasn’t leading her into an early grave.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  She was going to drive her rover on Mars. Margo let out a small squeal, because her current personality would totally squee in this moment.

  They took a few hours to sleep, which was hard since a group date was being filmed nearby, the contestants playing board games with Chad. Although how the show would explain that they kept filming happy, fun group dates after people had died was beyond her, but clearly Lynette wasn’t in her right mind. And everyone else was too narcissistic to give up on the possibility of fame or possibly too scared to lose their place on Paradise.

  Putting her pillow over her head, Margo reflected that Monopoly always ended with hard feelings, no matter what planet you were on.

  The next morning, she quickly packed an extra set of clothes, her second set of jeans, t-shirt and undies, into her smaller bag, adding the hidden stash of chocolate she’d brought, which had been expressly forbidden under the rules. The forms she’d signed had said she’d be searched when she boarded the rocket, but due to her late arrival, no one had gone through her things and her chocolate stash had been saved. No way she was leaving it behind. These girls were so stressed, they’d sniff it out the minute she left and that would be the end of it.

  Amanda drifted over. “Going somewhere?” she asked, watching the packing process.

  The other girls were in a huddle on the one sofa, crying and comforting each other as they reminisced about Tiffany, Susan, and Rose. They might not have known the dead women well, but they seemed genuinely upset by their deaths. Margo had to admit that as a group, they were all pretty nice. She spied Misty sitting alone on the other side of the room, and amended that most of them were nice.

  “I’m helping Jack Boyle with a project.” Margo figured she owed Amanda one for saving her from Misty’s wrath.

  “What’s going on, Margo?” Amanda whispered. “You seem to know much more than you’re telling.”

  Margo debated for a moment, then figured Hank could edit all this out and leaned close to whisper, “He thinks our rocket was destroyed by the Russians.” She gave Amanda a nod when the other woman’s eyes grew big. “And our communications with anyone off the planet has been cut. Jack and I are going to an old, closed station to try to get a message out.”

  “But why you?” Amanda asked. “What’s the deal with you? No offense, but you haven’t fit in since the beginning.”

  So much for Margo thinking these women were stupid. Nothing got by them. “I’m not allowed to tell. Lynette would have my head if I did.”

  Amanda seemed to believe her and didn’t push, asking instead, “Are we in trouble here?”

  “Maybe.” Margo put her hand on Amanda’s shoulder. “Keep them calm. You’re a leader and they need leadership.” Then she threw her bag over her shoulder and left the room quickly, as if she knew what she was doing.

  Which she did not.

  The fact was, while she had tested her rover, no sequence of scenarios could conclusively prove that the vehicle was ready for the real world. Well, the real world of Mars, that is. There came a point when she just had to bring it to Mars and drive it. This was that point, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t worried.

  The trip to Station 3 wasn’t an optimal testing environment either. If something went wrong when they were a hundred miles away, no one could come get them. They would be on their own and she didn’t have all her equipment with her to fix certain things if they went wrong, although she’d stowed away a decent repair kit. When she’d made the deal with Hank, she’d envisioned driving around the biodome for a few hours, then tinkering to make minor adjustments. Then driving around the biodome again. Not an emergency dash to another station.

  She and Boyle spent time loading supplies, jamming them into the crevasses in the rover. She realized a little more storage space would be optimal, if she could work it out.

  When the rising sun blasted across the expanse in front of the station, they headed out.

  They started with the sun at their backs, then turned west. Boyle had been monosyllabic since they’d left, so Margaret decided to concentrate on the rover. And she was Margaret now, because there was no reason to be Margo. No camera had been installed, despite Lynette’s best attempt to get one pl
aced. Boyle had put the kibosh on that immediately, telling her every bit of space had to go to the current mission.

  He’d called it that, a mission, and his demeanor showed he believed it. The way he was acting, he definitely had military in his background.

  Margaret had decided to forget about the Russians or the Chinese or maybe aliens for all she knew, and concentrate on having the experience of her lifetime.

  The terrain was what she’d expected and planned for, but the very air on Mars seemed to put an odd strain on the engine that the simulation chamber hadn’t anticipated.

  She weaved through large boulders, the tires easily churning through the small pea gravel and rocks below. The GPS screen on the dash showed her where to go, so they didn’t have to talk. She wondered if he was always so silent, or if he was still annoyed she’d forced him to let her go.

  The engine skipped a beat, just a quick hesitation that reverberated in her arms.

  She hit the brakes.

  “What the hell?” Boyle asked, grabbing the dash.

  “Close up your suit. I need to check something.” She turned and reached over to the small back seat where she’d stashed a couple of tools.

  “We’ve barely made it past the Station boundaries. You telling me this thing is already failing?”

  “It hasn’t failed. I’m making a minor adjustment.” A protective instinct welled up, making her snappish. How dare he insult her rover? Of course it hadn’t failed.

  She put on her gloves and helmet, closing her suit flaps. Then she mimed pulling the top open, threatening him with exposure to the surface if he didn’t put his gear on.

  He did, muttering something she didn’t catch and giving her a grumpy look.

  She got out, and annoyingly he followed her. Releasing the engine compartment cover, she leaned in. He cut off her light by leaning in with her. She turned her head inside the helmet, which was locked in a forward position, and glared at him. His helmet almost kissed her own. She banged her wrench on his head to get his attention, making him jump. Then they were staring eye to eye, so close that if they weren’t suited up, she would have pulled back from the intimacy of it all.

  “You’re blocking my light,” she said, louder than necessary, but what the hell did he think he was going to do here? Because he surely wasn’t touching her engine.

  He jerked a little, then stepped back. “Sorry,” he said, and actually sounded it.

  She returned to the engine, tightening the choke a half turn. She closed the cover.

  “That was it?”

  “We could have driven on with it the way it was, but it would drain the batteries and we can’t afford that.”

  He climbed back into the rover.

  She started the engine again and smiled at the perfect purr.

  The sun had risen and the ground turned from a dark red to more of a reddish brown, with big rocks and boulders filling the landscape. It was a surreal vista that inspired nothing short of complete awe in Margaret. A shiver ran up her spine.

  “You okay?” Jack asked, seemly attuned to her emotions.

  “Yes,” she said, suddenly self-conscious. “Just a bit awestruck that I’m actually here.”

  “Even though you had to play a brain-dead bimbo to get here? You don’t seem ashamed of being on the show. I think I would be.”

  She raised an eyebrow at that, offended at first, but she quickly reminded herself that was exactly what she thought of the show and its contestants too. She gave him the truth. “It turns out I’d sell my soul to the devil to get to Mars.”

  They were silent after that for a long time. Then Jack said, “I guess I did, too, when it comes down to it.”

  “Did what?”

  “Sold my soul to the devil to live on Mars.”

  “How?”

  “I needed money so badly I let Hank Carson take over my station.”

  “I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. Hank can get most people to do what he wants.” She remembered when Hank had gotten her to “invest” months of her allowance in a new comic book he wrote in middle school. He’d managed to pay back part of her money before he’d had to fold when the principal told him to stop selling the comics or she’d kick him out of the private school their parents scraped and saved to send them to.

  “Your brother is on my shit list.”

  “He’s on mine, too. But don’t go overboard running him down. He’s still my brother, the only one I’ve got, and I’ll throw you out of my rover to walk back if you get too nasty about him.”

  “Message received,” he said, dryly.

  She smiled at his tone. They were coming to an understanding. She found she might like Jack Boyle after all.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jack sat in the passenger seat, watching the woman he now knew was Margaret Carson drive. Her name seemed vaguely familiar. If she really built rovers, that might be why.

  It was both lucky and odd to have her on the planet. Her rover totally changed everything. Their only hope of warning the resupply rocket was to send a communication. Otherwise, whoever was bombing them would end up simply taking the resupply rocket out and there weren’t a lot of options left to get off the planet. Rockets weren’t exactly thick on the ground on Earth.

  Jack had known moving to Mars might end in his death. If anything went wrong with his health, for example, he would have to wait until the supply rocket came to return him to Earth. Station 5 also had a supply stream, so in theory, they would act as each other’s back up, but Jack hated Haxley so much, he’d always thought he’d die before asking for help.

  Although when it came down to it, he had called Haxley. That was something to think on. Of course, it was easier to call when other people’s lives were at stake.

  Now they were in a serious jam and he couldn’t just pick up the phone to dial 911.

  This whole journey was a long shot. All his hopes were pinned on Station 3’s equipment being in usable condition. He’d tried to warn Margaret that this might be a one-way ticket, but she hadn’t listened. But he knew. If they got there and they were missing anything essential to get the generator up and running, then they had no choice but to go back and hope for the best, having risked everything for nothing. On top of it all, both directions they’d be sitting ducks, waiting to be blown to bits.

  As they drove, he considered if he had it in him to stay on Mars for another quarter. Assuming he lived, of course. Running the station was a burden he hadn’t been prepared for. Not the loneliness, he was okay with that. But all the work begging for money, when he just wanted to stare at rocks and learn their secrets.

  Margaret drove well, working them around the large boulders and occasional drop offs that seemed to appear out of nowhere. The terrain was choppy and he’d always chafed under the slow driving conditions, but she had endless patience.

  They stopped around midday to let the batteries charge a bit in the sun while they grabbed something to eat and stretched their legs. Margaret looked under the hood again and he stood aside, finding that somewhere along the way, he’d decided he trusted her. After all, it was her rover and her life was in as much danger as his.

  If he was honest, he’d admit he was attracted to her, especially now that she’d changed out of the gold dress and into clothes he felt more comfortable with. And the fact she was a scientist didn’t hurt either. Perhaps it was just that he hadn’t been around a woman in a long, long time, but he didn’t think so. He could tell Goldie and he had an attraction on a basic level.

  They were roughly halfway to Station 3 and he was confident now that they’d make it before sunset. Driving across this terrain was impossible in the dark due to bitingly low temperatures and harsh winds. The one time he’d been caught out, he’d been lucky to make it back and had never pushed close to sunset again.

  He ate a quick lunch and wandered over to investigate a small cave formation. It was bigger than he’d thought. Seeing something glittering in the back of the cave, he carefully inched in
and crouch-walked to the shiny object. Taking his flashlight off his belt, he lit up the wall. It twinkled as the beam hit, creating a small rainbow.

  Could it be diamonds?

  Surely not.

  And yet, the facets rainbowed in his flashlight like diamonds would.

  But only cut and polished diamonds made a rainbow and these were raw. His gut said they were something else entirely, because Mars didn’t have the base materials to make diamonds.

  Excitement zipped through him. This could be the discovery that was the crowning achievement of his career.

  Static interrupted his study. He ignored it, but when it came again, he realized Goldie was trying to reach him.

  He went to the cave’s entrance and hit his com button. “You calling me?”

  “Yeah, something flew overhead.”

  “Is it still out there?”

  “I don’t see it anymore.”

  Jack’s first instinct was to run to her, but he stood still just outside the cave. “Keep low and come to me. I’m northwest of you.”

  “On my way.”

  “As fast as you can move without falling.”

  If the Russians dropped ordinance on the rover, he didn’t want her killed. Although, hell, they didn’t have enough oxygen to get back to Station 7 or forward to Station 3. So, they were dead either way.

  “I can see you,” he said as she rounded a rock, a wrench still in her hand.

  She moved well, her body working with the lack of gravity instead of against it, bounding in a forward leaping stance like a pro. It was clear she’d been in a gravity tank before. No one started out this good.

  “Come on,” he said, and grabbed her arm as she neared to help her stop.

  They ducked into the cave.

  For a few minutes, they stood waiting, both frozen in place. Listening, holding their breath.

  Nothing happened. Minutes ticked by.