Ad Martem 12

by Giulia Carla Bassani

  Jordan turned as well and spotted the Atenavan as a far dot.

  «Alright, I say that’s enough. Anna, are you there?»

  They received no answer. The two exchanged a look.

  «Anna, do you copy? Otvyeti, pozhàluista[22]» Yan tried.

  But also that time nothing happened.

  «She might be pulling a prank on us to retaliate» he assumed.

  «No, I don’t think so» Jordan said seriously, «You don’t pull pranks with this stuff. Especially if you’re a Martian named Anna Taykeeva. I guess she’s returned onboard the Atenavan, she took off her helmet and left it somewhere.»

  «Mh, yeah, it might be so.»

  «Listen, let’s take a look around here, but then we reenter.»

  «Roger, commander.»

  After roaming the area, they focused on a stone which showcased some interesting patterns. They tried to speculate about what minerals it could be composed of, remembering Klara Nowak’s lessons. Meanwhile they tried to crumble it with their hands in order to bring away some pieces as souvenirs, but soon they realized that gathering some rocks from the ground would have been easier and quicker.

  After several minutes of peace and tranquility that felt almost unrealistic, an odd rustle, a disturbance that came and went, spread inside their helmets.

  «What the… Nunki, you hear it too?» Jordan asked bringing a hand to his helmet as if he could touch his ear.

  «Yes, but…» the boy didn’t manage to complete the sentence as a voice interrupted him.

  «Atenavan to Jordan and Yan. Do you copy? I order an immediate reentry!» Anna’s voice sounded tense even though she tried to keep it firm, the two boys perceived a distressful hint.

  «Anna, we copy you. What’s the matter?» Jordan replied trying to keep calm.

  He stood up and turned to look in the rover’s direction, but everything seemed as calm as always.

  «I repeat, emergency reentry! There’s a str…» the communication was suddenly cut off by an intense buzz.

  «What? Redo, I can’t hear you!» Jordan raised his tone of voice as he felt restlessness taking over him.

  He thought he had heard Anna’s voice chopped up, but then the rustle resumed, stronger. He felt Yan touching his shoulder, he was turned to the other side, but Jordan ignored him, continuing his attempts to get in touch with Anna. The communication returned all of a sudden and when Anna spoke, her voice came out loud and clear.

  «There’s a strong sandstorm coming from South-East, winds at ninety kilometers per hour, you have little time, come back right away!»

  «Coming a… a what?!» Jordan stammered, still unable to ponder properly Anna’s words, feeling panic overwhelm him. He began to look around himself «South-East?»

  «J–Jordan» Yan mumbled and only then he turned around completely.

  All his muscles paralyzed. A powerful sandstorm was running in their direction, engulfing everything it met on its path.

  «… we’re d–dead…» Yan whined helplessly.

  «GO! MOVE!» Jordan shouted before grabbing his friend’s arm and starting to run in the opposite direction.

  «Anna, we are… inbound» he panted, trying to breath.

  He mentally thanked the suit’s flexibility allowing them to move quickly. He hoped Anna had put on her biosuit again and had turned everything off in order to open the hatch avoiding explosions.

  However quickly they ran, the blizzard seemed closer and closer, the rover still far and the struggle helpless. Despite an excruciating pain to his spleen and a shortness of breath, Jordan didn’t slow down, his gaze fixed on the Atenavan. He began to perceive strong air movements and the sand under his feet was lifted to obscure his sight. They kept running without turning back.

  When suddenly, at about thirty meters from the rover, Jordan heard a cry in his helmet. He slightly turned his head, Yan wasn’t by his side anymore. He stopped immediately and looked back, the boy was on the ground, trying to get back up. Breathless and in pain, he ran back to him and tried to lift him by his shoulders.

  «I tripped» Yan panted, «My foot hurts.»

  «Stand up, stand up, there’s no time!» Jordan shouted, glancing a couple of times behind his back and noticing that within few seconds they were going to be absorbed into the storm.

  «It hurts» Yan repeated between his teeth once he was on his feet again.

  Jordan, at the end of his strength, let his friend cling to him and, limping, they continued to move one step after another, at the mercy of the gusts of wind. Visibility kept decreasing, sand hurled violently against their visors. They were at about fifteen meters from the rover when it disappeared into the blizzard. Jordan kept going, hopeful.

  The storm was taking them over and suddenly, a small rock lifted by the wind moved fulminous towards them. When Jordan noticed it, in that chaos, it was too late. He felt his helmet’s visor being hit violently and, taken off guard, he fell on the ground with Yan. It took him few seconds to realize what had happened and to recover. He barely perceived a stinging pain on his forehead. There was a quick air movement in front of his face, he felt like coughing, a continuous bip-bip resounded in his helmet. He opened his eyes and looked around himself, confused. Everything hurt more than before.

  «Holy shit, Jordan! Shit!» he heard Yan scream in an alarmed tone. «How are you?! Say something!»

  Jordan brought into focus Yan who was kneeling next to him and blinked.

  «Let’s… go» he coughed, his head hurt as he took one last breath.

  He seized Yan and stood up with him. Visibility was almost zero, the blizzard covered the sun and everything seemed darker, at the point that their automatic torches turned on. He tried to ignore the small hole and the crack that crossed his visor. He was aware of the danger, he knew how much oxygen he was losing.

  He did the last thing he thought logic. He held his breath and started down in the rover’s direction. Now they were both clinging to each other, fighting the storm. He wasn’t aware of what happened shortly after. The Atenavan’s hatch opened in front of them, he felt someone pulling him inside and he ended up on the floor. The last thing he saw was a third figure wearing a biosuit.

  Then he passed out.

  After what felt like one second, he opened his eyes slowly, blinking, blinded by the LEDs on the ceiling.

  «Jordan? Jordan, can you hear me?» he heard a female voice calling him.

  He knew that voice. Someone shook him slightly, therefore he tried to reopen his eyes. A very strong numbness overwhelmed him. He wasn’t sure he could move at all. He made out a mass of reddish hair in front of him and narrowed his eyes to bring it into focus. Anna was observing him with a frown.

  «Can you hear me? For Olympus’s sake, say something!» the girl begged him.

  But everything Jordan managed to do was filling his lungs up with air and letting it all out a couple of times. Then he decided to get up. With slow, painful movements, he turned on a side and eventually pushed himself up with his arms. He saw Yan sitting on a chair. He had a worried look too, but as soon as he met his gaze, he smiled widely in order to hide his concern.

  «You saved my life, pal. I owe you one» he told him.

  Jordan shook his head weakly and briefly waved his hand dismissively.

  «I could hardly leave you out there» he answered in a raspy voice.

  «Then you can speak!» Anna squeaked, relieved.

  Jordan trudged until his back found a wall of the vehicle and he leaned onto it. He felt everything hurt.

  «What happened?» he finally asked, closing his eyes and leaning his head against the wall behind him.

  «An errant debris got through your helmet» Anna began to explain. «You lost a lot of oxygen and then you fainted.»

  «For how long?»

  «Twenty minutes.»

  «Yan, how are you?» he asked after some moments of silence and reopening his eyes to look at him.

  «Ah, I twisted my ankle, but I don’t think it’s brok
en. I’ve now taken a painkiller and I’ve wrapped my foot with what I found in the bathroom. Hope for the best.»

  Jordan nodded weakly.

  «Where’s my helmet?»

  Anna, as if she were ready for that question, handed it to him. Jordan took it and observed it attentively, almost with affection. A crack crossed vertically the visor on the left and, aloft, there was a hole of few millimeters. He suddenly perceived a stinging on his forehead and raised a hand to touch it. He found he had a cut, probably provoked by the debris. He brought that same finger to touch the crack from top down, careful not to cut himself with the sharp glass.

  «The Red Planet’s Law» he whispered almost to himself.

  «What?» Yan asked, he hadn’t heard well.

  But he didn’t want them to hear. He slightly shook his head, then raised his gaze on his friends with a frown.

  «What am I supposed to do now?» he asked.

  Yan frowned and pursed his lips, unsure, Anna observed his helmet with twinkling eyes.

  «You’re not leaving the Atenavan until we reach the Rubentes Terrae» the girl said.

  «Yeah, if we reach it…» Yan commented, but Anna ignored him.

  «Meanwhile we think of some way to cover the crack and the hole. There has to be some duct-tape or something, it should be enough. Afterward we can only hope that there will be other helmets at the base.»

  Jordan nodded and sighed.

  «What time is it?»

  «Half past two» Yan replied.

  «The storm?»

  «Persists» Anna replied.

  Jordan sighed again, thoughtful. Then, without another word, he stood up and moved to the cockpit. Anna and Yan, limping, trailed behind him. Despite the headlights being on, the visibility was void. Nothing could be seen at two meters away from the front of the rover. The sand enraged before them, the front glass was splintered, but it was way thicker and more resistant than their visors.

  «Listen, Jordan» Anna began, taking the passenger’s seat next to him. «Yan and I wanted to tell you something.»

  The boy turned curiously and motioned for her to continue. The girl raised her gaze to Yan who was leaning against the doorjamb of the cockpit entrance. He continued Anna’s speech.

  «I’m speaking seriously now. Whatever we are doing, well… it’s an expedition, a mission, after all. And every mission with a crew needs a commander» he paused dramatically, «We want you to be our commander, Jordan. You’ll lead this mission till the very end.»

  Jordan stared at Yan with wide eyes, trying to figure out if they were kidding him. He slowly lowered his gaze on Anna, questioningly.

  «No joking» she assured seriously.

  Jordan sighed and passed a hand through his hair.

  «But guys, I… I can’t» he murmured.

  «Yes, you can» the girl objected with confidence. «You proved it. No one would be better than you.»

  Jordan swallowed and looked his friends in the eyes. Their gazes were sincerely convinced. He glanced outside the window, at the enraging storm. He nodded slightly.

  «Very well» he said. «Then we start again. We’ll proceed in a North-Western direction at only ten kilometers per hour. We won’t stop till sunset. We must pull away from this monster.»

  «Yes, commander Miles» the two replied at unison.

  Jordan turned to look at them, amused, and the two let out a brief laugh.

  And so Jordan had risked his life, he had a cut on his forehead and his only source of safety and survival was that rover that he couldn’t leave anymore. Yan had twisted his ankle and even walking had become a challenge. The only one who had remained healthy was Anna, thanks to whom the two of them were still alive.

  Jordan took the controls and eventually the Atenavan resumed to move forward, slowly, in that disarming, powerful and unpredictable blizzard.

  TEN

  ~ 179 sols before ~

  They travelled at ten kilometers per hour through the storm. For a straight seven hours they didn’t stop, taking their turn every two hours until they reached the border of a huge crater whose limits couldn’t be seen. They decided to stop and rest for the entire night. So, after having something for dinner, they went to sleep. They had figured out a way to cover the LEDs on the ceiling tying and setting up their biosuits in order to enjoy some darkness and facilitate the sleep they needed. And this way they fell asleep, despite the turbulence of the wind that occasionally shook the rover.

  When the first sunrays illuminated the horizon and filtered through the glass of the Atenavan’s cockpit, reaching the central body of the vehicle, the three eventually woke up. Anna got up slowly, Yan yawned and Jordan stretched one arm, happy to find that all the pain from the previous sol had worn down significantly.

  «How are you?» the girl asked in a low voice.

  Jordan got up to sit and yawned.

  «Way better than yestersol» he replied.

  He raised a hand to touch his wound on the forehead and found it had scabbed over.

  «Your foot, Nunki?» Anna still asked.

  «Mh, yeah… it looks better as well.»

  After they ate something for breakfast, they returned into the cockpit to evaluate the situation. They found that the visibility had improved as the sunrays managed to find a way through the floating dust. Anna switched on the computer on the console in front of the passenger seat, dazzling both Jordan and Yan, and a false-colors image of the Martian zone they were crossing appeared on the screen. A whitish mass moved glitchy showing the sandstorm’s trajectory.

  «How did you…?» Yan began, but the girl cut him short.

  «I’ll tell you everything later.»

  Yan sent Jordan a questioning look and he replied shrugging and shaking his head. After spending several moments observing the screen, the girl spoke again.

  «Oh, great. The winds’ speed has decreased to sixty kilometers per hour. I’d say we’ll be completely out of it in fifty kilometers, give or take» then she raised her gaze to Jordan. «Commander?»

  «Amazing» the boy nodded, «We resume at the usual twenty-five kilometers per hour and we won’t stop till this evening, we’ll have lunch in rotation.»

  And so Jordan started the rover again and they left toward the Huygens Crater.

  «I remained there looking around myself for some time, but in the end I was just getting bored» Anna began to tell, «Then I remembered there was this computer onboard the Atenavan, so I decided to go back inside to try switch it on and see what it was for. Anyway you two weren’t going to return for a while and everything looked just fine, so I thought there was no problem in taking my helmet off. So I switched the computer on and this image opened right away, showing our location. It took me a while to realize that it was a kind of satellite image in real time and that the white mass was a storm on the go coming straight for us. So I took my helmet again and began to speak inside of it so that you could hear me, but the communication wasn’t so good. You know the rest.»

  «Okay, it went well» Yan commented, he was at the wheel.

  Jordan was sitting in the passenger seat and Anna was standing behind them. They were getting around a couple of craters that crossed each other, the wind’s speed decreased and visibility increased.

  «So, if you didn’t get the idea to try switch the computer on, maybe we wouldn’t be here now» Jordan thought aloud.

  «Maybe not.»

  «It really went well» Yan added.

  «But I told you!»

  «Oh, don’t start…» Jordan passed his hands through his hair.

  «No, I do start!» the girl objected raising her tone of voice in a scolding manner «If you would just listen to me occasionally, maybe we could avoid these troubles! And the same goes for you, Yan!»

  «But Jordan had communicated with Mars shortly before, I was trustful!» he argued, mocking an innocent expression.

  «You shouldn’t joke when there’s your life at stake» Anna suggested with bitterness.

&nbs
p; After some moments of silence, Jordan spoke again.

  «Anna’s right. No more terrible ideas from now on.»

  Time passed inexorably slowly in that narrow space of six meters by four. Jordan’s excitement for that trip was fading away kilometer after kilometer. He didn’t exactly know why he expected it to be something grand. After all, the Martian landscape repeated quite uneventfully and eventually everything became usual, ordinary. He had lunch with Anna and finally relieved Yan at the wheel.

  His gaze was lost on the horizon, still confused and hazy due to the floating sand. They proceeded uphill, the altimeter counted meters as if it was a chronometer. The Hellas Planitia was the lowest point on the Martian surface therefore they were going to go on like that till the Huygens Crater. He remained alone for at least one hour. Yan had gone to eat something and rest, while Anna had crouched in a corner with a book she had secretly brought. There was nobody else, only Mars and he. He tried to drive as best he could, avoiding every rock too big, as fearing to destroy that quietude that was returning. He wasn’t going to challenge the Red Planet again, he wouldn’t repeat that mistake.

  «Commander Miles, I ask your permission to inspect the on-board computer» Yan said at a certain point, leaning into the cockpit.

  «Proceed» Jordan conceded, keeping his friend’s tone, despite all of that still sounded fun to him.

  The boy entered and took the passenger seat. Jordan observed him out of the corner of his eye because he didn’t want to move his focus away from the path. Yan turned the computer on and as always the satellite image with their position opened, while the white cloud pulled away in a corner.

  «This computer is more interesting than we might think» Yan commented pushing some buttons, «Because if it’s linked to the satellite, as suggested by this image that saved our lives, then there should be the possibility to communicate with… well, I don’t know, the Aresland I guess.»

  «You say we can contact the Aresland?»

  «It’s a hypothesis.»

  «And usually your hypotheses are confirmed?»

  «Mmm, sometimes.»