MARZ | Book 1 | MARZ

by Davis, James

  “Did you see this?” Johnny asked, looking up from the tablet.

  “See what?” Roosevelt replied. Johnny handed him the tablet and he began to scroll down through the lines of text. What he saw was surprising to say the least. He was reading a mission report from fifteen years prior. He scrolled down to a header titled Mission Notes and began to read.

  Upon return from their reconnaissance mission, the three astronauts reported no significant findings. However, the members of the team had ventured outside of the approved mission area. They reported a single seemingly square shaped opening leading into the side of mountain Z-1167. The opening had strong indications of not being natural formations and lied roughly forty meters north of the approved search zone. The opening entered the base of the mountain at approximately a 34-degree angle and had clear signs of heavily decaying man-made stairs. The opening measured approximately seven feet high by four feet wide. Upon further inspection, members of the team found the inner walls to be lined with a heavily decaying metallic substance, the chemical composition of which is not currently known. The team was ordered to return to base immediately. Team requested permission to search the area further. Permission was denied. The three members of the team have been suspended from participating in further exploratory excursions and will return to Earth at an appropriate time. Signed: Emily Mitchell.

  “Holy shit!” Roosevelt exclaimed, his face turning up into a toothy grin.

  “Does it give exact coordinates to this place?” Johnny asked as he craned his neck to get another look at the tablet. Roosevelt scrolled back up through the text and then looked up at Johnny with a somber expression.

  “Nah, man, don’t look like it but when have we ever let something like that stop us?” Roosevelt asked, his expression now lifting back into a smile. Johnny nodded and returned the smile.

  “You’re not wrong. We got ourselves a treasure hunt now!”

  Chapter Eleven

  August 18, 2048

  Final Approach for entry

  into Mars atmosphere

  “Gungnir crew in position for final descent,” Johnny said into his headset while going over each of the gauges mounted to the control panel in front of him.

  “Copy that, Gungnir is all set to land,” Tyler replied, seeing the same exact readings on his end. Johnny turned his head toward Roosevelt and gave a slight nod indicating that he was good to go for landing. Roosevelt returned the nod and started to decelerate. He had started the process hours earlier to ensure that Gungnir was at the optimal speed for entry. He pushed forward and to the right on the flight controls until Gungnir started into a slight dive into the thin Martian atmosphere. The shuttle began to vibrate and shake slightly as they continued the dive. Mars' atmosphere was about one-hundred times thinner than that of the Earth and consisted of roughly 95% carbon dioxide making Gungnir's entry a lot smoother and more comfortable than if they were battling through Earth's atmosphere.

  “Engaging reverse thrusters in 3...2...1…,” Roosevelt announced before tapping the screen. The shuttle slowed more and more as they continued the dive toward the rusty colored surface. Roosevelt gently pulled back on the flight controls until the shuttle began to level out. He tapped the reverse thrusters a few more times until the shuttle eased to a stop and began to hover a few miles above the ground. They all stared out of the viewing ports in awe of the sheer size of the mountain range that filled their vision. Roosevelt brought the shuttle down more and more until they all felt the landing gear connect with the planet's surface. The intercom speakers crackled and Tanner's voice came through loud and clear.

  “Welcome to Mars, boys!”

  AHEM, Rebecca cleared her throat shooting a glare Tanner's way.

  "Uh, and girls. Sorry about that," Tanner added apologetically.

  "Don't mention it," Rebecca replied, "but don't let it happen again either." She winked.

  "Beautiful! Welcome to Mars indeed, a smooth landing. Looks like we only lost a few panels from the heal shield toward the nose, but all systems are still online. You made it, time to celebrate---" Tyler said, cheers and applause drowned out the end of his sentence as ground control began their own celebration.

  "Celebrations over, we didn't come up here to throw a Martian rager, we’ve got work to do. Erik, get on hardware checks. Tanner, system checks. Rebecca, look into mountain range Z-1167. We need coordinates, terrain, weather, anything you can get. Rosie, get those rovers prepped. We need wheels on the ground in three hours," Johnny commanded, clearly wanting to jump in with both feet and get right into the mission.

  "Come on man, we can get into that tomorrow!" Tanner exclaimed putting his arm around Johnny's shoulder.

  "This is huge! We need to do a live stream. We gotta give them what they want!"

  "He’s right you know, you're here now, you made it. I guarantee your dad's watchin’ that live stream. Call your lady. I'll single handedly turn this planet upside down, first thing tomorrow. Enjoy the view, we got nothin’ but time," Roosevelt said, reluctantly siding with Tanner, "Plus, I'm starvin’!"

  "Yeah, okay, tonight, celebrate. Enjoy it, it's all work after that," Johnny finally relented.

  "My man!" Roosevelt exclaimed, already making his way toward the kitchen. Johnny could hear Tanner talking to himself, occasionally reading and answering one of the comments as he made his way down below deck to a small room.

  A large white table sat in the center of the room, a smooth, glass screen covered the entirety of its surface. Johnny tapped a few times and watched as a three-dimensional image of Mars projected from the screen. He stared for a moment, swiping at the image and watching it slowly rotate.

  "Beautiful red monster," a deep voice with a slight Russian accent said from behind him.

  "Mmhmm," Johnny replied.

  "You should join the party. It’ll still be there tomorrow," Erik said with a smile.

  "It's there today and we're wasting time."

  "Why is it so important to you?" The grey-haired man asked, looking at the spinning image of Mars in front of him.

  Johnny shrugged, and turned his gaze back to the monitor.

  "Spent my life chasing this, I don't want to waste a second," he said.

  "Wasted? You made the most significant discovery in human history, and changed everything we thought we knew. Your name is in history books, there are schools named after you. We should all be lucky enough to waste so much time," Erik said, looking Johnny over as if trying to figure the younger man out.

  "Why are you here?" Erik asked after a quiet moment.

  "Same reasons you are, I guess,” Johnny replied with a shrug.

  "I'm here to get away from my wife!" he laughed, slapping Johnny's shoulder.

  A smile came over Johnny's face.

  "I just want answers as to what’s out there," Johnny said quietly.

  Erik nodded slowly looking from the image of Mars and back to Johnny before speaking.

  "Sometimes the answers we get are not the answers we want," he said, shrugging his shoulders. Johnny nodded his head slightly.

  “I know but look at it! Think about where we are. I mean really just look at it and think about why we’re up here. I don’t know about you but when my dad and I found the spaceman all those years ago it took root immediately and I have thought about this day for more years than I care to admit,” Johnny explained. Erik seemed to consider this as he stared out of one of the viewing ports. He watched as a dust devil whizzed past before clearing his throat and speaking.

  “I mean I’m here for the same reasons as you are, I suppose. I remember seeing you and your dad on the news next to the spaceman when I was still just a teenager and just like you it took root in my head. I too have been obsessed with it ever since,” Erik replied with a grin.

  “So, you see why I’m ready to get out there and start exploring right now then?” Johnny asked.

  “I do but I also realize planning is a big part of exploring something to our fullest potential so
let’s just go celebrate with everyone else for a little bit and then we can plan out the exploration of this once inhabited dirtball,” Erik replied with a chuckle. Johnny laughed.

  “When you put it that way it does make a bit more sense than just running full speed ahead into the unknown. Let’s go have that drink,” Johnny said, wrapping an arm around Erik’s shoulders as they headed back out to the main living quarters where the rest of the crew was located.

  “It’s about damn time!” Roosevelt shouted over the cacophony of voices. The crew members were all standing around discussing things like how they got involved with the mission and what the first things they would explore once they all set foot on the surface the next day. Johnny joined in on the conversation and together they all came up with the perfect exploration plan for the following day. Tonight, they would celebrate the success of their arrival and tomorrow they would finally discover all the secrets the other crews had missed. Their mission to Mars would not be a failure.

  Chapter Twelve

  5:17 a.m. August 19, 2048

  Aboard Gungnir on the surface of Mars

  “Roosevelt and I will take the mountains. The rest of you can explore that impact crater behind us,” Johnny said as he flipped through the notepad, he had been writing everything down in.

  “I think I’m just going to stay aboard and make sure you all get back here safely. I’m no archeologist anyway,” Tanner stated as he rubbed his aching head. He had one too many vodka and cranberry juices while doing live streams on YouTube the previous evening and was feeling the after effects of his mistake. Johnny nodded and glanced over at Erik and Rebecca.

  “Looks like it's just going to be the two of you. Either of you have a problem with that?” They each shook their heads.

  “No, sir,” Erik said, giving Rebecca a sly wink. She blushed and glanced away as Johnny continued to talk.

  “Okay then. Let’s all get suited up and be on our way. Let’s meet back here in eight hours. I know these suits are capable of sustaining us for double that time but I think it’s a good idea to return in eight hours on our first time out in real world scenarios. Any objections?” Johnny asked. They all shook their heads.

  “Good. Now let’s get out there and find out where the spaceman came from.” The group broke up and they all headed back to their rooms to put on their excursion suits. Within a half an hour they were all standing inside of the airlock waiting on it to open up to a world none of them had ever set foot on.

  “The rovers are around back. They should already be sitting out waiting for us to hop in and take off,” Roosevelt explained once they all stepped out on the rustic red surface. The wind howled across the vast emptiness of the red planet as they all walked around Gungnir. Small dirt devils popped up all around them as they walked and the dirt and dust blowing around would have been enough to clog up any vehicle back on earth. The planet reminded them all of one of the massive dry deserts on Earth, the only difference being that Mars was a rusty red color while Earth's deserts were mostly a light brown or tan color. When they finally made it around to the rovers, they were all pleased to see that they were in fact sitting out on the surface ready to go. The solar panels on the roof of them had been collecting more than enough energy for each of their trips. They all climbed inside the two rovers and listened as Johnny’s voice came over their internal headsets.

  “Let’s all synchronize our alarms for eight hours from now just to be on the safe side,” he stated as he brought up the touch screen positioned on the forearm controls of his left arm.

  “We should also start a return tracker on both rovers so we don’t get lost trying to find our way back here,” Erik added. Johnny nodded and pointed a gloved finger at Erik.

  “Great idea! It would more than likely mean certain death if any of us were to get lost out here,” Johnny said as they all opened the tracker apps on each of the rovers’ dash-mounted smart screens. Once they were all finished Johnny gave one final thumbs-up before he eased down on the accelerator. The rover lurched forward with a surprising amount of torque, pushing Johnny and Roosevelt back into their seats.

  “You better slow this sumbitch down before you get pulled over!” Roosevelt said with an extremely serious look on his face. Johnny looked over at him and smirked. Before he could get a single word out, Roosevelt burst into laughter.

  “Ha, ha. Very funny, smart ass,” Johnny said with a laugh of his own. Almost two hours later Johnny brought the rover to a stop as they both gazed up at the gigantic mountains and the vast Martian sky beyond. They were both awestruck as they had never in their lives seen anything so big or beautiful. The mountains were so massive that it made them really understand just how insignificant they really were on the grand scale of things.

  “Wow.” Was all either of them could manage to say as they craned their necks up to take it all in. Both Johnny and Roosevelt sat there gazing in wonder with their mouths hanging open. It really was a magnificent sight to behold. Once they were able to rein in their amazement they climbed out of the rover and walked around to the rear to grab a few of the tools they had brought to take samples of the ground and rock back to the shuttle.

  "Alright, let's get a few samples bagged here and move along the base here. G2, just get us some samples and mark any places of interest. No fancy stuff today," Johnny commanded his team.

  "Roger," Rebecca replied over the speaker in his helmet.

  "Base, how are we looking?" Johnny asked.

  "So far so good," Tanner replied.

  "What do you think we're gonna find here?" Roosevelt asked, speaking directly to Johnny.

  "I don't know, Rebecca couldn't find much about our location from the past mission reports. It's the weirdest thing. No other mention of the mission or the three astronauts who found it," Johnny said.

  "Nothin’?" Roosevelt replied.

  "Nada. These are the coordinates of the mountain, but this thing goes on for miles. We've only got about four hours of search," Johnny said, dropping a few small jagged red rocks into a bag and zipping it closed while writing the coordinates on the bag with a marker.

  Roosevelt shoved a small white flag with the image of Gungnir into the ground where Johnny had just collected the sample.

  "Let's get goin’ then. The quicker we get to work, the quicker we can eat," he grinned.

  Johnny ignored Roosevelt's food comments as he had learned it best to do over the years and motioned for him to follow.

  The two men spent the next couple of hours collecting small samples of dust and rocks, meticulously marking each spot with a flag before walking a little further.

  "More dust." Roosevelt said matter-of-factly, opening a sample bag for Johnny to dump yet another pile of the red stuff in.

  "Just drop a flag," Johnny commanded.

  "You see that?" Roosevelt said, pointing up ahead as a glint of something shiny several yards away caught his eye.

  "What?" Johnny asked, wiping some red dust from his helmet.

  "12:00, sixty meters out."

  "G1, you got a pretty thick dust storm coming your way. Should pass quickly, but you're gonna lose some visibility. I'd find some cover if you can," Tanner said through their suits.

  "Roger that. Cover is a no go, how long we got?" Johnny replied.

  "It's about to be on top of you, any second really," Tanner said.

  "There she is!" Roosevelt exclaimed, glancing behind them. A thick cloud of red dust quickly approached the men. The wind howled as it blew along the mountain range, kicking up more dust as it moved.

  "Looks like we can take cover around that corner up ahead!" Johnny shouted over the howling wind. He picked up his pace, heading along the edge of the mountains with Roosevelt in tow.

  They reached the area Johnny was heading for quickly.

  "That's it!" Roosevelt exclaimed as the opening came into view. It was tall, wide, and square shaped. Glimmers seeped out from a thick layer of dust and dirt.

  "Visibility is nonexistent,
we're taking cover in an unknown structure," Johnny said as the dust blew past them. He and Roosevelt stepped inside. What appeared to be a staircase descended farther than either man could see into the dark cavern.

  "Copy G1, get comfy, looks like it’s gonna be about an hour, I’m not seeing your coordinate, advise," Tanner replied as the connection started to experience some static.

  "Sending our coordinates now," Johnny said, taping a few commands in the screen embedded in the forearm of his suit.

  "G1, do you copy? Gonna need those coordinates," Tanner said again.

  "Affirmative, coordinates incoming," Johnny replied.

  "G1, do you copy?" Tanner repeated a third time.

  "Must be a dead zone," Roosevelt stated. Johnny nodded his head.

  "Base, this is G1, do you copy?" Johnny tried again.

  "What’re we doin boss? I'm following you. I know you wanna go down there. I'll keep you safe, little guy," Roosevelt said, turning toward Johnny.

  "As much as I do want to. We better not explore the strange tunnel with no back up or comms. Let's just get some samples and head back as soon as this storm passes," Johnny said.

  Roosevelt bent down and carefully scooped up some dust from the large step beneath him and placed it into a bag. Johnny peered intently downward into the darkness.

  "How far do you think it goes?" Roosevelt almost shouted as the howling wind blew past the entrance, pelting the inside wall with dirt.

  "G1, do you copy? We appear to have no visual and no communications," Tanner's voice came through their helmets once again.

  "Base, I hear ya, not sure if you hear me. Give me a radio check," Johnny replied. After a few seconds of silence, Johnny looked at Roosevelt,

  "Nothin’, huh?" Roosevelt asked.

  Johnny shook his head slowly.

  "Better get comfortable," Roosevelt said, plopping down on the step and staring into the darkness.

  Johnny sat down beside him and looked around. He rubbed his hand across the wall beside him. The dust came off revealing a stone wall. The wall was broken in places and the dust covering it was almost an inch thick. Johnny wiped away the dust, clearing a small section of the wall.