Ad Martem 12

by Giulia Carla Bassani

  «Do you want me to bring you back?» Aurora Wolter asked in a low voice.

  Jordan shook his head, continuing to look at the girl.

  «I’d like to stay here a little bit more. I’ll keep her company» he replied.

  Of course, he had many things to do and discover now that he had arrived here, but he didn’t feel like doing anything without Anna. He didn’t want to discover planet Earth alone, he wanted Anna to be with him, after all that journey. They had begun together and they were going to continue together. And then, in that unknown place, that girl was the only person who imparted security, who reminded him of the reality he was used to.

  «Alright. I’ll be back in half an hour, okay? We’ll see if you can eat something.»

  Jordan nodded and he heard the door closing.

  Anna woke up two days later. Jordan had spent that time in his bed, getting up only to go to the bathroom or put on new clothes. They had placed a chair even in the shower fearing he could slip and break some bones. In the meanwhile he got to know new persons, among whom another physician, the barman on the ground floor and a couple of ladies who took care of cleansing the place, but usually it was always doctor Wolter who paid him visits. As soon as he got to know about Anna, he jumped down from his bed and started to run towards her room, chased by doctor Wolter with his wheelchair, yelling at him to stop. But he ignored her and flew inside Anna’s room panting uncontrollably and he almost fell at the feet of her bed, but doctor Wolter arrived in time to make him sit in the chair. Anna struggled to pull herself up on her elbows, slightly groaning. Jordan knew perfectly well the weight and pain she was feeling and no one better than him could understand her in that moment.

  «How are you?» he asked, breathless, while the doctor turned on the lights.

  «Tired» the girl replied after a while and blinking.

  She looked around herself and finally her gaze stopped on the boy next to her bed.

  «But you’ve been sleeping for three days straight!» Jordan teased her.

  She widened her eyes and slightly winced when Jordan used the word “days” instead of “sols”.

  He gave her a reassuring smile.

  «Welcome on Earth, by the way. We did it.»

  A week passed, Jordan and Anna had become accustomed to walking around the refuge and they had returned to be more autonomous. Every day they had to undergo about one hour of physical therapy and tests where they had to run on a tapis roulant or pedal on a cyclette, with many wires attached to their skin. Their existence on Earth was getting more and more simple and livable, but the truth was that they couldn’t wait to leave those warm and shadowy wooden walls in order to go out and look around themselves with their own eyes. Actually they hadn’t seen Earth for real yet. They had lost consciousness during the atmospheric entry and they had woken up in that small, protective place. They were used to live in such places, small and enclosed, considering the years spent at the Aresland, but by now they had arrived that far and they wanted to go outside and explore.

  They were almost on the verge of projecting a new escape when, that September 27th, 2060, doctor Wolter announced they were ready to begin a training for their sight to tolerate the sunlight. They were brought in front of a big window on the ground floor, it seemed it offered the best view, and they were provided with very dark glasses. It was 5:00 pm, the lowering sun was going to be less bright. Jordan placed his glasses on his nose and found out he could see nothing more than slight shadows.

  «Ready?» Aurora Wolter asked.

  Anna was next to him with his same glasses.

  «I can’t see absolutely anything» Jordan complained.

  The woman smirked slightly and, instead of answering, she undocked the shutters of the window and opened them slowly, letting just a crack of light in, growing wider and more intense. Despite the darkness of the glasses, Jordan had to squeeze his eyes and blink repeatedly, but he soon realized that that protection prevented his eyes from tingling, therefore he opened them a little more bravely and brought into focus what was in front of him.

  From his position, he found himself dominating a valley on which a blanket of apparently soft and white clouds spread to the horizon, riddled with rocky tips of high mountains covered in a candid white layer. The clouds weren’t only beneath him, but also above him. The sharp tip of a mount stood above all the others, reigning, austere. It was slightly colored of an orange shade, the same that stained a long line on the horizon: on one side it merged into pink, on another into yellow, while above it drowned into a dim azure that grew more intense. Jordan was mesmerized.

  «We’re so high it seems we’re still in space» Anna commented.

  «For a moment I thought it» Jordan convened.

  «That mountain has a name?» Anna asked pointing at the higher tip.

  «Yes, that’s the Matterhorn. The third highest mountain in the entire chain of Alps. In this moment we’re looking toward Switzerland, while there’s Italy behind our back. We’re right on the boundary.»

  «I see no boundaries» Anna commented, losing her gaze to the horizon.

  That time the woman didn’t answer.

  «I didn’t expect everything to be white» Jordan observed to break the silence.

  «Oh, but it isn’t actually. At these altitudes it’s normal to find a layer of snow covering everything. Most of all in winter.»

  «Snow, you said? That is… snow?!» Jordan asked with growing enthusiasm, widening his eyes.

  «Yes, it’s a state of water» the woman replied calmly.

  «I know» Jordan leaned a hand on the glass, «I’d only heard about it.»

  «That’s true, on Mars water exists as ice only, apart from inside the bases» Anna pointed out.

  «Snow everywhere, blimey, can we go out? Tell me we can go out!» the boy turned to the woman and lifted his glasses to give her a pleading look.

  «Keep down your glasses!» she ordered right away, forcing them back onto his nose, then frowned. «There are eighteen degrees sub-zero, you really want to go out?»

  Jordan put his hands on his hips and gave her a look.

  «Really? I remind you I come from a planet where the average temperature is sixty degrees sub-zero!»

  The woman shook her head smiling slightly. Anna turned with a smug smirk.

  «Touchè» she patted him on the arm. «And you? Agree?» she addressed the girl.

  «Need to ask?» she talked back.

  «Of course you agree» the woman rolled her eyes, amused. «Follow me, we’ll look for some thicker clothes» and with that she headed to the stairs that led to the upper floors.

  «I like these terrestrials» Jordan whispered to Anna, winking at her and earning a glare from doctor Wolter, who had heard him.

  They slipped on two pairs of warm and tight trousers each, plus a third pair, wider and waterproof, two sweaters each and, finally, a jacket made of the same material of the pants. They were wrapped in a woolen scarf and, with a heavy beanie on their head, a hood pulled up and gloves on, they headed to the exit. Jordan felt a bit uneasy thinking there was no airlock and he didn’t need to carry any life support system to breathe. He had never been outside a structure without that equipment. He turned to look at Anna at the door and realized she was tormented by his same thoughts. He approached her and whispered weakly because he didn’t want anyone else to hear.

  «No helmet nor oxygen… Can you believe it?»

  «I know… shhh» she replied quickly, just when doctor Wolter had returned, accompanied by doctor Huber, with whom they usually underwent medical tests. He was quite an old man, short and stocky, with little hair on his head, rectangular glasses on his nose and an austere gaze. Both he and Wolter were ready to go out.

  «Guys, listen well» Simon Huber began with a rigid tone, «I want you to stay close to the refuge. If you sense any kind of symptom you must inform us immediately. Try to breathe through your scarf as it’ll heat the air up a little bit, otherwise you might sense a pain in you
r chest, the air is very cold out there. It’ll be dark soon therefore we won’t stay out for longer than half an hour. At six ten pm at most we’ll reenter. Have I made myself clear?»

  Jordan and Anna nodded confidently because his tone didn’t seem to admit objections.

  «Take care» he added. «Come on, wear your glasses.»

  The two obeyed and doctor Wolter opened the big dark, wooden door. Despite the various layers of clothes, Jordan was run over by a frozen wave of air. He shuddered. He had never felt such cold before. And that made him even more curious. He walked forward courageously until he felt his feet sinking into that white, twinkling mantle and euphoria took over him. He understood immediately why doctor Huber had asked them to stay close: they were exactly on the tip of a mount and pulling away by even a few meters would have meant slipping down its steep side. He vaguely wondered how had they arrived up there and how were they going to leave it. But right then and there he found no answer and he returned to focus on what was under his feet. He turned and saw Anna moving a step towards him. He felt a sharp, frozen breeze welting against his jacket, he slightly shivered, he struggled to breathe that air that seemed to be icing his lungs. But anyway he found the strength to speak.

  «It’s the first step» he said in a low voice, then he raised his tone. «The Martians have occupied planet Earth!» he raised his closed fists into air in a gesture of victory, Anna gave a battle cry raising her arms as well, then they burst out laughing out of pure joy.

  Doctor Wolter and doctor Huber remained on the door, observing. Jordan crouched down, as it was his tradition, and took some of the snow in his glove, observing attentively the shapes of the small crystals, each one different from one another. They wandered around the place, observing the landscape getting darker for the following twenty minutes. When by now Jordan couldn’t see much anymore, he turned to the two physicians sitting in front of the door.

  «Can we take off the glasses? The sun’s set already!» he asked aloud.

  The two exchanged looks and said something in a low voice, then they addressed him

  «Go ahead» Simon Huber conceded.

  As soon as Jordan took off his glasses, all the light seemed to return all of a sudden and everything became clearer, but it didn’t bother him. He felt the wind welting again his flesh and took a deep breath. He had never felt anything like that. Anna and he sat in the snow right before a steep slope began. The clouds had grown more voluminous beneath them, hiding every trace of ground, apart from the Matterhorn. They dived into the darkness of the horizon, where there were no limits.

  «Do you remember when that night we saw the Earth? That bright dot among many?» Jordan asked at a certain point.

  «Yes…» the girl replied with a thoughtful tone.

  «Could you ever imagine such immensity?»

  The girl didn’t reply right away, as if she was lost in her thoughts and, when she spoke, her words sounded dragged by the wind.

  «I always have felt fondness for this lonely hill

  and for this hedge which screens off

  such a large part of the furthermost horizon.

  But as I sit and gaze, in my thoughts I envisage,

  beyond it, boundless space and utter silence

  and deepest still, so that it almost makes

  my heart take fright. And as I hear

  the rustling of the wind among these plants,

  I start comparing that unending silence

  with this noise and I am reminded of

  eternity, and seasons gone and dead and

  of the season now alive and of its sounds. And so

  in this immensity my thoughts sink and drown

  and shipwreck feels sweet in this ocean.»

  «There aren’t plants, but you gave the idea. I admit I understood half of what you said, but they did sound like the right words» Jordan commented after a while. «What was it?»

  «A poem written by Giacomo Leopardi, he was an Italian poet. I happened to read it in a book at the Aresland and it really touched me because I had no idea what was he talking about. I repeated and repeated it, but it made no sense to me. But now I understand. Only now» she sighed deeply, her gaze was lost to the horizon.

  Jordan continued to look in front of himself, thinking of those words that actually took a tight grip in his mind. When his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the girl again.

  «Oh, look at that!» she exclaimed, pointing at something in the sky.

  Jordan raised his gaze following her arm’s direction and noticed two bright stars in the early darkness. As he looked up, he noticed more and more stars, their light was dim.

  «Mars?» he asked hopefully.

  «No… Jupiter and Saturn.»

  «Ah» Jordan growled in a disappointed tone, but his gaze was still captured by those two immense planets dominating the sky.

  He laid down in the snow to enjoy the view better. Anna remained sitting.

  «I think Mars will come out at about three in the morning. They’ll never let us out» Anna considered.

  Jordan didn’t answer. The cold was getting unbearable, but he wasn’t feeling it anymore. In front of all of that he had no time to worry about the temperature. He could have stayed there forever, contemplating the parade of day and night, always different from one another.

  «What’s going to happen now?» Anna asked him, even if it sounded like she wasn’t addressing only him.

  He remembered he had asked her that very question when they were still on Mars, travelling towards the Rubentes Terrae.

  «What do you think?» Jordan replied as she did that time.

  The girl turned to look at him and smiled weakly, probably remembering that same conversation of a long time before.

  She laid down next to him and turned her gaze to the stars, without saying another word.

  SEVENTEEN

  ~ 24 days later ~

  Jordan sat at one of the wooden tables in a corner of the ground floor, in front of Anna. On a yellowish paper placemat there were the steel cutlery, a glass and a white tissue. A glass bottle full of water stood in the center of the table.

  A couple of weeks had passed since they had stepped foot on planet Earth for the very first time and it had already become a daily activity. They had eventually acclimated to the sunlight and finally all the windows of the refuge could remain open, letting the light filter inside. That day they were going to leave Capanna Margherita, doctor Huber had announced several days before. Actually they were going to leave the entire continent as they were traveling overseas, to the United States, to the Johnson Space Center, where the researchers and NASA administrator herself had been waiting for them for a long time.

  On one hand they couldn’t wait to leave behind that small, lost hole among the mountains and begin to actually see the world; on the other hand, instead, they felt a little afraid to leave again a place they had become accustomed to and where they felt fine. But in the end, afraid or not afraid, they had to do as they were told, also because they had realized that if they had found themselves in such a place on their own they would have died early, therefore disobeying or mutinying weren’t an option.

  Jordan observed the bar waiter approaching their table carrying two steaming plates. He could tell he was much older than them, if it wasn’t for that full beard he kept relatively short. He found himself in front of a couple of clear steaks, traced by darker diagonal strips, half hidden by a bush of green salad with slices of tomato and maize kernels.

  «What is it?» Jordan asked hinting to the meat.

  «Grilled chicken fillet» the young man replied with a kind tone.

  «Chicken?» Jordan replied raising his gaze to the waiter, thinking he misheard it.

  «Yes, is it no good?»

  «Oh no, it’s very good, thank you» Jordan tried to smile gently and the man walked back to the kitchens.

  Then he smirked and took the cutlery, studying his plate, but he blocked before incising the steak: he fel
t observed. He lifted his gaze. Anna was scanning him with a frown. Jordan raised an eyebrow in response, as if asking what was she looking at.

  «Any problems?» she asked then, talking about his dish.

  Jordan considered whether to answer with a funny remark, but then thought better of it and simply let a crooked smile appear on his lips, while his eyes twinkled.

  «No, nothing, it’s just…» he pointed at the steak with the tip of his knife, «It reminded me of… those damn birds!» he sighed. «They are still at the Aresland» his tone had become more thoughtful, «I wonder how they are, I mean, it’s been a while and…»

  «Jordan!» Anna interrupted him, almost bringing him back to the present. «You’re worrying about your hens!»

  «Uh – what? No!»

  «Oh, you are!» the girl talked back leaning slightly forward on the table, «After all you’ve grown to care for your hens and now you miss them, face it!»

  «Never» Jordan replied resolutely and incised his steak.

  «Do as you wish, but it is so. Just accept it.»

  «Yeah, well… They’ll always remain my infamous birds» he forked a piece of meat, «But this doesn’t mean…»

  «Yes, it does! Come on, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.»

  Jordan was about to talk back, but he was interrupted by doctor Wolter who approached their table, therefore he simply slipped the meat into his mouth.

  «So» the woman began, while the two kept glaring at each other, «You’ll leave at two pm, doctor Huber and I will be with you. We should get to the Milan-Malpensa airport at three and a private plane will bring us straight to Texas, but the trip is going to be longer, I’m talking about almost thirteen hours and a half.»