«Sol number one» Yan said in a breath.
His words spread in Jordan’s and Anna’s helmets.
«Sol number one» they repeated in unison.
They walked out into the deep darkness, intermittently illuminated by the red lights surrounding the station. They walked among sand and rocks, now black, now reddish. They reached the garage in silence and got onboard the Atenavan. It was as if they feared someone could hear them. Jordan and Yan headed to the front to sit on the driver’s and the passenger’s seats. A tremble crossed the Atenavan and the lights were turned on as well as all the indicators in front of Jordan. After a “bip-bip” had spread in the whole rover, the three took their helmets off.
Soon Anna’s voice came from the central body of the vehicle.
«Air levels?» she asked.
«Nominal» Jordan replied right away, «Twenty percent of oxygen, eighty percent of nitrogen.»
«CO2 uptake?»
«Nominal.»
«Temperature?»
«Seventy-two degrees Fahrenheit.»
«Pressure?»
«One atmosphere.»
«Relative humidity?»
«Sixty percent. Zero point O three atmospheres of water vapor.»
«Everything’s okay» the girl stated, approaching the cockpit. «We can go.»
«Fine. We start to move» Jordan declared wielding the hand control and pushing it forward.
Moving that vehicle was quite another story, Jordan thought while bringing the Atenavan out of the garage.
«How is it?» Yan asked.
Jordan nodded weakly, he was too focused on what he was doing.
«Huge and kind of heavy» he observed, «But feasible.»
The rover’s headlights illuminated the Martian desert as soon as they were outside.
«Trajectory… North-West» Jordan said slowly while turning the vehicle until it pointed in the right direction, keeping his eyes on the digital compass.
Then he raised his gaze in front of himself, to the horizon.
«Direction… Huygens Crater» he continued, «Journey time… I have no idea.»
«Here we go» Anna sighed.
Jordan nodded without moving his eyes away.
«Say goodbye to the Aresland.»
The boy didn’t turn back, he saw the continuous intermittence of the red lights on the sand in front of him fading away as they moved further.
«Goodbye big fella, I’m gonna miss you» Yan whined.
In other circumstances they all would have laughed at his words, but that time they only managed to smile slightly. Anna turned back without saying a word, in order to see a piece of the base disappearing from the lateral window.
And Jordan accelerated. He increased the speed until the indicator showed twenty-five kilometers per hour. The whole rover wobbled as it moved. The Red Stone, Krasnij Gorod and Hong Se De Du bases were getting further and further away. Their light faded slowly, until the Aresland became nothing more than a red dot. In the end, the only source of light in the darkness came from the rover’s headlights that showed any obstacles to get past. Jordan was serene, but at the same time he felt something within himself that, as he moved further on, seemed to wake up. He felt alive.
He knew, deep down, that sooner or later it would happen. He didn’t quite know how, but somewhat the horizon called him. He wanted to explore, he wanted to know the reality outside the safe boundaries of the Aresland.
He realized that, since the first time he had stepped foot outside his little world, he hadn’t longed for anything but to make another move and then another and another to go on and see what was waiting for him just over the border.
And now it was finally happening.
He was taking those steps.
NINE
~ 180 sols before ~
Jordan woke up at the alarm ringing. He wasn’t really sleeping actually. It was more a kind a of rest, he was half-asleep, that status when you’re always ready to react. And then it wasn’t that easy to fall deeply asleep in those conditions. They had found out that the covers were actually inflatable mattresses, but the situation wasn’t so comfortable anyway. The continuous loud buzz of the engine and the Life Support System together with the jolts of the vehicle as it went up and down dunes and rocks weren’t really helping.
Jordan shut the alarm quickly, the digital clock showed 7:00 am. He yawned and narrowed his eyes at the cold light of the LEDs on the ceiling, that couldn’t be turned off. He stretched to get rid of his numbness and discovered that the shoulder he had slept on hurt. He massaged it briefly with a hand, but he didn’t bother much about it. He turned. Anna was laying on a mattress next to him and looked completely absorbed in a deep sleep. He sat still, looking at her for some moments while George’s words flashed back in his mind.
Her face had gentle features, framed by a bunch of red waves that reminded him of the sand dunes in the Martian landscape. She wore an innocent and relaxed expression. A lock of hair had fallen on her face and Jordan found himself repressing the impulse to move it away. He didn’t want to wake her up. Therefore he got up and reached Yan in the cockpit.
He didn’t exactly know how long he had been driving. Jordan had driven for an hour and a half, then he had left his place to the girl to go rest. And now it was Yan’s turn. He trusted his friends. After all they simply had to make sure that the rover moved constantly in the right direction. They had agreed that if they noticed something wrong, anything really, they would wake him up right away. They had decided to go on for the entire night, without the four hours break.
«Good morn – woah!» Jordan couldn’t complete the sentence when his gaze landed over the window of the cockpit.
«Incredible, isn’t it?» Yan asked, without moving his gaze away from the path.
They were proceeding in a North-Western direction, but looking Eastward, outside a lateral window, very far just above the horizon, a white marble was raising slowly, defining the difference between the ground and the sky, one black, the other light blue.
«Say, Nunki, had you ever seen it before?» Jordan asked, captured.
«Mh, what?»
At that obvious question, the boy turned to look at Yan and only then he realized how tired he looked.
«The sunrise» he replied, returning to look outside.
«No, never.»
Jordan let himself fall sitting on the passenger seat next to Yan and yawned a second time.
«How long have you been driving?»
«An hour and ten minutes more or less.»
«Can you resist for twenty more?»
«Yeah, yeah. Never mind.»
«For how many kilometers have we travelled so far?»
«Nearly eighty-three.»
A moment of silence passed and the noises of the rover took over.
«Do you think they’ve noticed our absence by now?» Jordan asked.
He wanted to make conversation because his friend seemed on the verge of falling asleep at any moment.
«Nah» Yan waged in a croaky voice, «Right now they’ll be having breakfast and thinking we’re late or still sleeping. Then, in my opinion, at seven thirty they’ll begin to worry and they’ll look for us in our rooms. They’ll discover we’re not there, they’ll rush to alert one another and then I don’t know, they may come after us.»
Jordan was thoughtful. And what if they actually already knew? After all, that was what George seemed to tell him by his last warning. But if it were true, they would have stopped them before, wouldn’t they?
«I don’t think they’ll come after us. They don’t know where we’re heading» Jordan said, almost hopefully.
«Ah, I think they do» Yan objected.
«Even if they do, they couldn’t. There’s only one Atenavan in the whole Aresland. And only this very vehicle can handle such a trip» Jordan observed.
Yan didn’t answer anymore and Jordan gave up that topic.
They were proceeding upward, the altitude indi
cator occasionally increased the meters as they went on.
Fifteen minutes later, they saw what looked like the end of the ground taking shape in front of them. As if there was going to be a jump into nothing. Yan narrowed his eyes and Jordan leaned forward to have a better look.
«What…?» Jordan began, but no one said anything else until they reached the edge and stopped. «It’s a canyon» he observed.
A long, deep valley cut through the Martian surface and extended for several kilometers.
«Yeah» Yan agreed, «It must be Hellas Chasma. I didn’t imagine it like this. Should we wake Anna and show her? Maybe she wanted to see it as well.»
They both turned back to look at the girl sleeping deeply. Jordan pursed his lips.
«Mmm, we’d better go on. We can’t waste time.»
Yan nodded once and returned to study the canyon.
«We got to get around it» he looked right and then left. «We bend Westward» he stated.
And the rover resumed movement.
One hour later, when both Anna and Yan had woken up with more energy, there was Jordan at the wheel. They had circumvented Hellas Chasma and were returning on their path. Since it was eight in the morning, it was clear that by now everyone at the Aresland was officially aware of their escape. The sun was higher in the sky, the soil was regaining its usual rusty coloring and the sky its habitual mustard yellow. In the distance, Westward, they could spot the high ground of the mountain range called Hellespontus Montes.
«How about we eat something?» Yan proposed.
«Yup, have your breakfast, I go on here» Jordan conceded. «I’ll eat once you relieve me.»
Anna entered the cockpit with a box in her arms and camped there with Yan to keep Jordan company. Yan opened it.
«This container is not mine» he commented.
«I reckon it’s yours, Jordan, let’s see what you brought» the girl said beginning to dig through.
She took out some potatoes and tomatoes that were the last foodstuffs Jordan had taken.
«Want a tomato, Nunki? Here, bon appétit» Anna joked, handing a tomato to Yan, who waved it away with a hand.
«For Olympus’s sake!»
«Uhm look at the bottom for breakfast» Jordan instructed, keeping his eyes on the path. «You should find some muesli. I almost got caught for that.»
«For how many other things you almost got caught, venture-boy?» Anna prodded him and Jordan rolled his eyes.
«Ah, there it is!» Yan exclaimed taking out a package of cereals and dry fruit.
The girl went to fill two bowls with some water. They had brought enough water supplies for seven sols if the one produced by the Life Support System wasn’t enough. The two ate silently, sharing the passenger seat next to Jordan and trying not to drop their meals at every turbulence of the vehicle.
«This silence’s so sad» Yan commented few minutes later.
«And on top of that» Jordan added, «Your continuous chewing doesn’t do much but increase my hunger and sufferance.»
Yan burst out laughing.
«We go in the back if you prefer» Anna said, drily.
«No, stay here. Instead… I think I have a solution.»
Jordan tried to push some small buttons on the console and soon a rhythmic mandolin music spread throughout the entire Atenavan, the same Jordan was listening to in his room. Following Yan’s example, he had filled up a pen-drive with his favourite music and had taken it with him. And the night before, when they had gone onboard for the first time and he had holed up in the cockpit, he had entered it without being seen. Because he knew that his friends weren’t going to like his idea and, in fact, he had the confirmation when the music started.
«Noooo!» Yan shrieked, closing his eyes.
«You cannot do this, Jordan!» Anna raised her voice in order to be heard. «I charge you with high treason to the members of the crew!»
All the three of them burst out laughing. With that music in the background, everything felt more enjoyable and cheerful, even the jolts, even the placid Martian desert and the discolored sky.
The trip proceeded quietly while the sun seemed to chase them on its path through the sky. Four hours later they had found themselves circumventing a large crater and when the clock struck 1:00 pm they stopped for the first time. The last one at the wheel had been Anna, but anyway all the three of them were quite tired and bored. After all they didn’t have much to do during the trip, apart from looking at the landscape, listening to Jordan’s music and chitchatting. They had promised to themselves that they were going to get out of the Atenavan after lunch, in order to wander a little bit in the area. Jordan was thrilled about that idea.
They discovered that in the central body of the vehicle, in a corner next to the closets, there was a little hatch hiding two metallic plates which served for heating up the dishes. They tried it right away with a tin of rice and beans. When it was ready and they opened it, the appearance was distasteful. Of course there was no comparison with what they were used to eat at the base. When they tried it, they realized that if they had no way of warming it up, they would have never managed to eat it. It was quite tasteless, but despite everything they scraped the floor of the tin. They needed energy to go on, just like the rover, no matter if their propellant wasn’t so pleasant. What mattered was having it. Then they tried to heat up three potatoes and ate one each and, after some blueberries, they agreed that as a lunch it could be sufficient.
They slipped up their biosuits and, once all the three of them were certain they had sealed their helmets well and the atmospheric pressure had decreased, Jordan could turn off the rover’s engine and the Life Support Systems. They opened the hatch and jumped down on the dark sand.
Jordan couldn’t keep himself from crouching down with a knee on the ground, he gathered some sand in one hand and let the grains stream between his fingers. He observed them falling slowly. He loved that feeling since he was a child.
«What’s Jordan doing?» Anna’s voice spread in his helmet.
«Advanced mental communication with Mars» Yan replied with confidence «Aren’t you?»
Jordan raised his gaze and saw his friend was addressing him. He got back up on his feet and clapped his hands to wipe the dust away.
«Yes, exactly» he confirmed, playing his game. «Mars and I talk often.»
«Did he tell you anything? Like, I don’t know, if we’ll make it alive to the Rubentes Terrae?»
«Mmm, I think he mentioned something about it.»
«Come on, ask him again, be more precise» Anna encouraged him with an amused tone.
«No…» he waved it away with a hand «He doesn’t want to speak anymore.»
«He can’t stand you already» Yan commented.
«Possibly» Jordan laughed. «So, shall we take a look around?»
«Where are you going to go?» Anna asked, returning serious immediately.
«Let’s just go for a walk. I think I saw a small crater over there» Jordan pointed somewhere in the distance.
«You’re not thinking of going so far? It’s not a good idea.»
«Then you stay at the rover. If anything goes wrong, speak. Let’s not lose the contact.»
«Still looking like a terrible idea to me.»
«Everything looks like a terrible idea to you. Nunki, you’re with me?»
«You got it, bro» the boy replied cheerfully.
The two started down in the desert.
«I’m offended» Anna’s voice mumbled.
«It’ll pass» Jordan talked back.
«I’m about to describe you with an adjective you wouldn’t enjoy, Jordan.»
«I imagine, but you’re not bold enough anyway.»
«Do not try me…» she hissed threateningly.
«Never mind, I’m not even trying.»
«… asshole…» she murmured in a barely audible whisper.
«What? I didn’t quite catch what you said»
«FUCK YOU, JORDAN!» she yelled in
the helmet’s microphone.
The two boys burst out laughing from satisfaction. Jordan turned back and realized how much they had already pulled away from the rover. Anna was leaning with her back against the Atenavan and had her arms crossed. Jordan was too far to see what expression she was wearing. As soon as she noticed the boy was looking at her, she untangled her arms to give him a middle finger. He replied laughing even louder and lifting his arms to show a double thumb-up. Finally he turned again and resumed to walk behind Yan.
Looking around himself, he saw no boundaries. The Martian desert with its dunes, craters and rock formations, seemed to extend endlessly. Jordan had never felt so free before.
«I can’t believe you really did it» Yan commented, talking about what had happened shortly before.
«It’s been easy» Jordan shrugged.
«I HEAR YOU!» Anna’s voice shrieked.
Yan froze for a second. Evidently he had forgotten he was still connected to the both of them. Jordan giggled smugly.
Then they walked silently for several minutes in the same direction, but the crater Jordan had seen seemed to pull away as they tried to approach it. Then he stopped and Yan did the same.
«Let’s drop it, it’s too far» Jordan admitted.
«Ah, pity. You’re right though, look how much we’ve walked!» Yan exclaimed after turning back.
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