Jordan observed carefully everything that happened around him. He wasn't so keen on studying what happened in the past, he was more attracted by the present technologies and innovation, but anyway those travels in virtual reality enthused him a lot as he really felt like he was thrown into the past or into the future or into a tiny cell or into the greatness of a galaxy. However those three hours passed quickly and the three guys could enjoy their free time.
Jordan and Anna were sitting at the table in the Red Stone hall. Yan had been called back in his base, he had been given the task to show the Hong Se De Du greenhouse to the new person, something that Jordan and Anna were going to do soon too in their respective bases.
«What're you doing tosol?» Jordan asked her, casually stretching.
«After lunch I'm having another class of a couple of hours, I'm studying the propulsion systems of rockets, how launches work, with or without a crew...»
«Wow, really? Is it complicated?» Jordan cut her off.
The girl shrugged, observing her hands.
«Well, it's not simple, but it's very interesting. After that I have half an hour of break, then I study and finally I have gym before dinner. And what about you?» she raised her gaze to look at him.
«I study after lunch, then gym and finally I work with rovers, I'm learning to drive them.»
A smile opened on Anna’s mouth.
«Ah, what you've been longing to do for ages!»
It was rare to see a sincere smile appear on that always-serious face. And when it happened, Jordan wasn't able to move his eyes away from her or to think about anything else. He didn't understand why, or rather, he didn't even wonder.
His lips curved in a smile too.
«Yeah... I've finally left those damn chickens to the past.»
«I know how you feel, I guess» the girl admitted «Neither did I like to work in the greenhouse so much. For a long time I've had to deal with the mushrooms cultivation we have at the Krasnij Gorod. You have no idea, always having to check on the soil and humidity and temperature and all. Honestly I prefer learning how to launch rockets.»
«I imagine. Don't make me talk about the henhouse, please, for I don't want to bring back old nightmares.»
They both laughed, Anna shaking her head.
«Why don't you stay here for lunch?» Jordan invited out of the blue.
Anna gave him a questioning look, not understanding.
«Tosol my father cooks pasta, it might happen once a month if everything goes right!» he continued.
The girl sighed.
«Although your proposal is tempting, I can't stay, they wait for me in the other base.»
Jordan rolled his eyes, already expecting that answer.
«Are you really giving up a plate of pasta?»
«Jordan, you know the Aresland's rules. Every meal everyone in their own base. And then your father has to cook for you seven already, I'd be intruding.»
«What will you have at Krasnij Gorod tosol?»
«I think I heard... uhm... Burmese tea-leaves salad with... beans, cabbage and dried shrimps.»
Jordan raised his eyebrows and opened his arms.
«I mean, you serious?»
A chuckle threatened to escape Anna's lips.
«You don't even fight a little bit in front of a proposal of some pasta with tomato-sauce prepared with our greenhouse's tomatoes?» he continued.
The girl pretended to glare at him.
«Hey, I do like the Burmese tea-leaves salad...»
«Stop it now!» he cut her off.
The girl closed her mouth, keeping a laugh down.
«Shall we ask permission, for once, or not?» Jordan continued, articulating his words.
The girl sighed.
«Alright.»
In the end Anna joined the members of the Red Stone to try the legendary tomato pasta of Alexander Miles, which turned out to be truly one of the best meals of her life.
When Jordan and Anna had gone to her father, Viktor Taykeev, who was also the commander of the Krasnij Gorod, to ask that permission, he had accepted easily and, in exchange, he had invited Jordan to have dinner with them, that evening.
It was 3:00 pm and Jordan had just finished studying. Like the previous sol, he prepared to go to the gym and left his room. In the corridor for the Main Base he bumped into Dounja and Hans who greeted him with a wave of their hands. Dounja was showing the Life Support Systems to the new man.
At the end of the corridor, he walked around the central cylinder until he found the aluminium ladder and he climbed up. He entered the office that preceded the gym and as always he absently glanced at the screens of the computers. Usual codes, satellite images of Mars' surface, then an image that he had never seen before and finally a satellite view of the Aresland.
He was about to open the gym door when he suddenly stopped. He slowly withdrew his hand from the button that would activate the sliding doors. An image that he had never seen before? That sentence had a very strange sound in his mind. He frowned, turned and walked back towards a monitor in particular. At first he had thought he was wrong, but effectively that image of the Martian surface had something wrong. A dark dot in the centre of the screen couldn't be anything natural, but rather artificial. But how could it be possible? It couldn't be the Aresland. Jordan turned to look at the monitor that portrayed the three bases of the Aresland station, all connected through three small corridors. Then he moved his gaze back in front of himself, furrowing his eyebrows.
Jordan was certain that there was no other settlement on Mars, at that moment. He was sure one hundred percent. And so what was that? He quickly glanced around himself, but there was nobody else apart from him. He sat in front of the monitor and began to zoom in as much as he could. Despite the picture was very grainy, it was crystal clear that that was a base or something similar. Before he could decide to investigate further in that computer, the gym's door suddenly slid open and the boy jumped on his feet, startled, zooming out the picture with a snap of his hand. Now nothing could be seen but the red Martian surface.
«Jordan!» a severe voice thundered in the dome «What are you doing?»
The boy pulled away from the chair and met Frank Larsen's furious gaze. He swallowed.
«Nothing, I did nothing» he replied quickly.
«You don't fool me, boy. What were you doing there? What were you watching?» the man seemed almost nervous, Jordan had never seen him like that before.
«Nothing, just... curiosity.»
«Curiosity» Frank repeated «You haven't changed a bit, Jordan. As a child you did nothing but snoop around, even where you shouldn't.»
The boy stood silent, having no idea of what to say. He just wanted to get out of that situation and for a second he regretted his decision to find out more.
«Why are you here, in any case?» Frank asked in a calmer tone.
«I have to go to the gym.»
«Go, then.»
The man moved aside and kept his eyes fixed on Jordan until the sliding doors sealed behind his back.
Jordan couldn't remove that image for his mind. Even while he was doing lifts, laying on the gym equipment, that grainy image of an unknown base lingered in front of his eyes. He couldn't accept the fact that he knew nothing about it, that no one informed him about anything. And Frank's reaction? Unprecedented. As if... as if he was doing something wrong, but there was nothing wrong! He was simply checking the monitors linked to the satellite, as a member of the Red Stone and inhabitant of the Aresland. It was one of his rights.
In that moment he felt like doing one thing only: talking to Anna and Yan of what he had seen. Maybe they knew something more. But he wasn't going to see them until after dinner.
Once he finished his gym session, he passed in front of the monitors once again and his gaze fell inevitably on the computer that first showed the image. But now the screen was black and a text in the centre read “Access blocked. Enter password to continue”. Jordan shook his hea
d and walked past.
He went back to his room to change clothes and prepare for the exit with his father and the rovers. He was so distracted that he even crashed against Klara while walking to the storage room, he hadn't seen her.
«Jordan, are you quite alright?» the woman asked, giving him a worried look.
«I'm sorry, yes I’m alright, I'm fine.»
He resumed to walk and reached his father in the storage room, he was already suiting up.
«Hi» Jordan greeted.
«Hello, Jordan. Here» his father handed him his biosuit.
Once ready and certain that everything was in place, they left the base through the airlock and reached the garage again.
«Tosol you drive, you ready for it?» his father asked.
Jordan didn't answer right away. The truth was that he couldn't quite focus on what he had to do.
«You may drive again for once, then I try» he replied.
For the whole round, Jordan found himself busier looking around himself, towards the horizon, in order to see if he could notice anything strange, rather than following his father's moves on the console.
His turn came, the two switched their seats. Jordan observed the commands attentively and finally managed to push the rover forward. He began to drive around the Aresland. For a moment he forgot about everything: he was driving a rover and he found that it was an amazing feeling. He was controlling a huge vehicle all on his own and enthusiasm was mounting inside him.
«That's good, Jordan. Keep an eye on velocity and turn around major rocks» his father advised.
He continued to drive when slowly his thoughts began to converge once again towards that image. He wondered if he could reach that mysterious place onboard a rover and discover what was it all about...
«Jordan!» his father called, alarmed.
The rover stopped suddenly as a wheel got stuck against a rock, making the two jump dangerously, but they managed to hold onto their seats and Jordan returned to reality.
«Jordan, what was that? Are you alright?» his father's scolding voice resounded in his helmet.
«I'm fine, I just got distracted a moment» the boy replied hesitantly.
«Distracted? If that rock were bigger this rover would be gone! And we too, probably! This is not a game, you have a huge responsibility and you can't allow yourself to distractions, it could cost your life, are you aware of this?»
Jordan swallowed, his eyes still fixed on the horizon.
«I'm sorry» he muttered.
Several seconds of silence passed, he could literally feel the weight of his father's gaze on him through the helmet's visor.
«Something’s wrong?» Alexander asked, now with caution. «It's not like you to be distracted while working. What happens?»
Jordan didn't answer right away, his eyes were glued to the horizon. He couldn't help it. He needed to know if he had found something he didn't have to find, a secret that so had to remain.
«Is there anything you have to tell me, by any chance?» he asked slowly, «Something that I don't know, that no one ever told me?»
Not receiving an answer, Jordan turned to look at his father in the eyes through the glass of the visor.
«What do you mean, Jordan?»
«You got my question.»
«No, there's nothing. You do know that you're aware of everything that happens, just like everybody else.»
Jordan moved his eyes away and stared into nothing for a moment, processing his words.
«I know» he finally said.
But what Jordan actually knew now was something else: his father had lied to him and something was kept hidden from him.
«We better reenter. It isn't safe if you're distracted.»
The boy nodded. The two switched seats again and Alexander drove the rover to the garage.
«You sure you alright?»
«Yes, I'm fine.»
Jordan took a shower, slightly longer than the usual. Then at about 7:30 pm he reached Anna inside the Krasnij Gorod for dinner. They ate chickpeas and beans tofu with mashed potatoes. He hadn't said anything to Anna yet, but he didn't know how long he was going to be able to resist. He didn't spill out a word for almost the entire dinner, shifting nervously on his seat and continuously glancing at Anna, struggling to keep his mouth shut.
At a certain moment, Anna turned to him with a questioning look and leaned towards him.
«You're acting weird, what's gotten into you?» she whispered so that he only could hear her.
Jordan shook his head sharply and the girl sighed rolling her eyes and returning to her meal.
«Ya dolzhen skazat tebe koe-chto[11]» Jordan whispered, observing his plate.
The girl had just filled her mouth with a forkful of tofu.
«Chto?[12]» she asked turning again and hiding her mouth behind a hand.
«Ya nye mogù, seychas[13]» Jordan nodded his head once towards the other diners.
«Davay!» she urged.
«Nyet! Mnye takzhe nuzhno Yan[14].»
«Koroshò.»
Their conversation closed and they didn't speak until dinner was over and they could go look for Yan.
«Will you tell me what's this all about?» Anna asked while they hurried down a corridor towards the Hong Se De Du.
«First we find Yan.»
They reached the Hong Se De Du hall, where everyone was still sitting around a long table. The two guys stopped at the entrance, waiting for Yan to notice them, thing that happened almost immediately.
«Ni neng lai ma?[15]» Jordan asked addressing the boy.
Yan turned to the adults sitting at the table and told them something in a low voice. Finally he stood up and reached his friends.
«What happens?»
«Jordan’s having a premenstrual-syndrome crisis» Anna replied ironically.
Yan narrowed his eyes.
«A what?»
Jordan glared at her before speaking.
«It's important, I’ve got to talk to the both of you» he said in a low voice «Nunki, can we stay in your room?»
«Wow, the situation sounds serious. 'Course we can.»
«The situation is serious» Jordan retorted as they started down towards Yan's room.
«Uh-huh» he muttered before whispering to Anna «However, is this syndrome transmissible?»
She face-palmed.
Anna and Yan were on the bed, while Jordan was sitting cross-legged on an armchair in front of them.
«I'll ask you a very simple question» Jordan began, «How many bases are there on Mars at the moment?»
Anna raised an eyebrow and gave him a weird look, Yan frowned.
«There's the Aresland» the girl replied, looking at Yan for support and the boy nodded his agreement.
«And then?» Jordan insisted.
«And then what?» Yan repeated «There's nothing else, is it even a question?»
Jordan sighed.
«You mean that there are other bases apart from the Aresland on Mars?» Anna asked, not believing to a word that she pronounced.
«There's another one.»
«Bullshit.»
«I saw it with my own eyes, Anna! In the Red Stone office, on one of the monitors there was a satellite image that showed something I'm sure was artificial, a structure.»
«This isn't possible, Jordan. If it were, we would know it.»
«Indeed, Anna's right. We're always told everything that happens, we're aware of everything» Yan intervened.
«That's what I've always thought. But this time they're hiding something.»
«But Jordan, are you really sure you didn't get confused?» she tried.
«Yes, Anna, yes, I'm absolutely certain. When I was looking at that image, a member of the Red Stone caught me and when I left he blocked the access to that computer. It's evident that they're hiding something from us.»
The girl sighed observing the floor, Yan was staring into space.
«If what you claim is true, however absur
d it may be, then I believe it's necessary to investigate» the boy with almond-shaped eyes said. «Let's be careful of every detail from tomorrow on.»
«I'm still not sure whether to believe or not» Anna admitted, «But I trust Jordan and I don't think he's suddenly gone crazy, so... Let's discover what's going on.»
Jordan smiled and nodded solemnly, grateful for his friends' support. Yan clapped his hands once loudly.
«Great. And now who wants to play a match of my super crazy videogame?!» he exclaimed jumping on his feet and grabbing the joystick from the nightstand.
«Yeah, let's do this!» Jordan jumped on his feet as well.
Anna, instead, brought her hands to her hair and let herself fall back on the bed.
«Oh, no!»
FOUR
~ 191 sols before ~
Several sols had passed after that decisive talk in Yan's room. The three guys had tried to be more careful of certain discussions among the adults or on the screens of the computers in their own bases, but nothing seemed different from usual. After he got rid of that weight with his friends, Jordan had returned to his senses. He had perfectly learned to work with unpressurised two-seater rovers and his father had promised him that as from the following week on they would start to work on a new, bigger model. Those last sols had been so intense that the three guys found very little time to stay together.
Despite everything, that sol veneris 20, at 6:00 pm, they found themselves sitting together at the table of the Krasnij Gorod main hall. Jordan had finished working with rovers earlier than usual and had just taken a shower; Yan had arrived from his computer science class and Anna had just finished studying.
«So, still nothing?» Jordan asked, after making sure that no one was present except the three of them.
«No, Jordan» Anna said, sounding not too sure.
«Everything's nominal as always» Yan spoke up right away.
«But...» Anna passed a hand on her forehead, her eyes lost on the white table.
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