Mars Nation: The Complete Trilogy

by Brandon Q Morris

  “What will happen when the drill reaches the water line?” Mike asked.

  As he asked his question, Ewa caught sight of Lance standing next to the switch box. She walked back to him. His face seemed to be practically glued to the computer screen.

  “And... now!” Lance exclaimed.

  “Now what?” Mike asked excitedly, jogging back toward him as well.

  “The lines are now intersecting,” Lance explained.

  “Whaaat? That went really fast,” Mike said.

  “The drilling process took much less time than we estimated,” Ewa explained.

  “That’s probably because the surface is predominantly made up of regolith,” Mike clarified.

  “What does that mean?” Sarah asked.

  “Basically, regolith is composed of compacted Mars dust. There’s no real rock in it. It’s the sediment left by the last few billion years.”

  “What compressed it?” Lance asked.

  “I just meant that as a description. It’s like snow on a glacier. When new snow falls, its weight compresses the material underneath it, creating solid ice,” Mike explained.

  Lance suddenly jumped into the air and slammed his heels into the ground. “Feels pretty hard,” he said.

  “For a good drill like this one, it’s as soft as butter,” Mike remarked.

  “Uh, I just remembered that nobody answered my question,” Lance said. “What’s going to happen when the drill hits water?”

  “The water is presumably under pressure down there. So, it’s going to try to equalize this pressure and push up through the drill hole until it creates a happy fountain up here,” Mike explained.

  “Exactly,” Lance said. “So can you tell me why we’re still standing around with dry feet now that the drill has reached the boundary line?”

  Everyone stared at him as if he had uttered the impossible. But Ewa knew that this was unfair. Lance’s question was a good one. She was afraid that there was only one answer to this, one that nobody wanted to hear. And in reality, no one said anything. Sharon started to pace up and down.

  Mike tried to scratch his head, but his helmet got in the way. “We just need to drill a little deeper,” he said, finally breaking the silence.

  Ewa walked over to the screen in the switch box. She pulled up the current GPR imagery. It still corresponded with what they had seen yesterday. There was a line that the drill had seemingly reached, but there wasn’t a second line. They could keep drilling, of course, but it would be a big coincidence if they hit water down there somewhere.

  “You win some, you lose some,” she said. “I think we...”

  Something began to rattle. Ewa heard a sound that didn’t seem to be coming from herself. That was practically impossible. It must be an ear-splitting sound, otherwise the noise wouldn’t have been able to reach her through the thin Mars air. But she hadn’t just heard it. She had felt it. This occurred to her now as she thought about it.

  The ground had suddenly shaken a few millimeters. She quickly pulled up the seismometer data. She hadn’t imagined it. There had been a very short tremor. Billows of white smoke suddenly erupted from the block sitting on top of the drill hole.

  “Is that the water we were expecting?” Sharon asked.

  “Please don’t get any closer,” Ewa warned. “I’m not sure what it is. It looks more like smoke than steam. Something’s not right here.” She frantically scrolled through the menus on the screen.

  The drill head! Maybe it had something to do with that. Shit, she thought when she saw the data from the drill turbine. Everything was registering zero. “I’m afraid something happened to the drill head,” she shouted into the helmet microphone. “It seems to be stuck and isn’t turning anymore.”

  “Do you have any idea why?” Mike asked.

  Ewa turned to the manual and flipped to the last pages where the most common errors were listed. Unfortunately, this text for non-professionals wasn’t very specific. If the drill head stopped running, it had either gotten stuck or the turbine had a defect.

  “The manual’s not helping,” Ewa said. “Either the drill is stuck or broken, but we already know that.”

  “Should I take a look?” Mike offered.

  “Just looking at the screen isn’t going to make more information appear,” she pointed out. “But please feel free to check it out.” Ewa stepped away from the switch box to give Mike room.

  “He gets like this,” Sharon said to her. “Everyone’s stupid except him, but luckily he only acts like this when he’s panicked.”

  “That’s comforting in a commander,” Ewa said.

  “There’s just the four of us. We basically make all decisions via consensus,” Sharon said.

  Mike returned from the box, his arms slack at his sides. “There’s nothing we can do,” he said.

  The manual’s final tidbit of advice was ‘Call a service provider.’

  “They’re still thirty sols out and will do damned little to help us,” Ewa said.

  “Yeah. My grandmother used to say that ill-gotten goods never prospered,” Mike declared.

  “Hey, you were the first in line to advocate for this drilling,” Sharon pointed out.

  “You’re right. Sorry about my behavior just now. I wasn’t myself. It really would’ve been marvelous if we had discovered water for our base.”

  “It looks like we’ll need to be patient a little while longer,” Sharon said.

  “That’s not my strong suit. Hopefully, we can at least get the drill back in working order,” Mike replied.

  At that moment, the Mars surface cracked open. A thin line ran between Mike and the others. Ewa watched it in astonishment. At first, it looked like one of those cracks that appeared in dry clay soil. The speed with which the crack formed between them was concerning. In clay soil, patterns like this took hours, not just a few seconds, to appear.

  Ewa tracked the crack as far as she could. It didn’t seem to terminate before reaching the horizon, as would have been expected with the increasing distance. No, it was growing and growing. Ewa stared back down at the ground right in front of her. The hairline crack had become a small fissure. Mars’s dust trickled into it. The fissure was growing wider. How deep must it be by now? Two centimeters?

  Ewa nudged Mike and pointed at the ground. The others noticed her gesture. Sharon took a step backward since the fissure had almost reached her. She gave a cry.

  “Shit, what is that?” Lance asked. He didn’t get an answer. Everyone was gazing at the rift in shock.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this,” Mike said.

  “I have,” Sarah said. “On the West Coast, during an earthquake.”

  “You mean—”

  “I don’t mean anything, Mike. Or did you feel a quake? The crack formed when the ground moved.”

  “I picked up a mini-quake beforehand,” Ewa said. “More specifically, it was one single tremor. Did any of you feel it?”

  “I didn’t notice anything,” Lance remarked. “But you think that might have something to do with this?”

  “Please show me the recording,” Mike said. “Please, I don’t mean to be a smart ass. I just happen to be a geophysicist.”

  Ewa carefully stepped across the fissure and walked over to the switch box. She pulled up the records. “See, there.” She could see through the helmet window that Mike was squinting.

  “Sorry, that can’t be right. That wasn’t a tremor, barely a jolt. Something like that couldn’t have created this crack.” Mike pointed at the fissure. Ewa estimated that it was now about three centimeters deep. That was a dramatic development.

  “Do you have a better explanation?” Ewa asked him.

  “Fault lines like this are formed when something pushes upward, like when two continental plates collide and mountain ranges are created.”

  “Mars doesn’t have any plate tectonics,” Sharon said.

  “I know. I was just using that as an example,” Mike responded.

 
“What else could be lifting here on Mars? I mean in a real, concrete sense, not just an example?” Sharon asked snappishly.

  “That’s the problem. Mars is considered inactive. They’ve never found any active volcanoes here,” Mike explained.

  “What does this have to do with volcanoes?” Sharon asked.

  “Well, let’s assume that instead of boring into a water deposit, we drilled into a magma chamber that would also like to equalize its pressure. In that case, an event like this wouldn’t be unusual. But as I said, there shouldn’t be any magma chambers here, especially at such a shallow depth. If there were, we should’ve been measuring a much stronger temperature spike.”

  “But that currently seems to be the most plausible explanation,” Lance concluded.

  “A magma chamber like that,” Sarah asked, “what would it look like on the GPR?”

  “It would hardly look different from a water deposit, at least in our situation. We didn’t have any point of comparison, or even the slightest concern that we would stumble across something like that. All the Mars scientists on Earth assumed that Mars has been geologically dead for a long time.”

  “So, we’ve perhaps unerringly managed to locate one of the last signs of planetary life?” Lance suggested.

  “No. I understand that the explanation is temptingly simple,” Mike said, “but what about the temperatures? Magma is hot. Very hot. We would’ve noticed something!”

  “Were we watching for that?” Lance asked.

  “Not directly,” Ewa said. “But we’re talking about the difference between a few hundred and several thousand degrees. The software would’ve warned us in that case.”

  “I’m afraid I have to interrupt your discussion,” Sarah said. “Take a look at the crack. It’s grown larger still. If it doesn’t stop soon, it’ll be a meter deep by this evening.”

  The others gathered around Sarah to examine the fissure in the ground. For the first time, they could see almost ten centimeters into the surface of Mars. On Earth, they would now be staring at fertile soil, but here it was monotonous sand that had been hardened over the years. There was no visible structure.

  Sarah took a couple of long strides westward, parallel to the crack. “What strikes you about this?” she asked. “The fissure is running almost due west, toward our base. I have a bad feeling about what this might mean.”

  The others stopped moving and gazed to the west, where the base was located beyond their line of sight. No one had to ask Sarah about her bad feeling.

  “I think we need to get back as quickly as possible,” Mike finally said. “With the rover, we can get there in thirty minutes.”

  “I disagree,” Lance said. “The problem started here. This is the only place we’ll be able to solve it, if that’s even possible. What do you think you can do about the crack? If it happens to hit the base, we can just forget about the structure. We’ll never get it airtight again.”

  “I’m afraid Lance is right,” Ewa said. “The problem is buried beneath us. We caused it with the drill. Maybe it’ll stop if we fill in the hole?”

  “Uh oh, look at this,” Sharon called. She had walked a few meters southward.

  “What is it?” Mike asked.

  “Another crack. How deep is yours?”

  “By now, maybe twelve centimeters,” Mike said.

  “The one over here is at least twenty,” Sharon replied.

  “Shit,” Mike said. “Where there are two, there will be more. We have to do something. Fast!”

  “What do you suggest?” Ewa asked.

  “We could try to seal the hole to prevent the eventual pressure equalization.”

  “I didn’t think you were convinced it was a magma chamber,” Ewa remarked.

  “Whatever it is, it has something to do with the hole. So, perhaps it will go away if we seal it off,” Mike said.

  “You told us earlier that the drill head uses water to stay cool,” Sarah said. “Couldn’t we divert the water so it can flow into the drill hole? The surface temperature is minus twenty-five. At this temperature, we should get a really nice layer of ice.”

  “That could work,” Ewa said. “But I’ll need to take care of that from the cab.”

  She ran off as soon as she said this. Sarah’s suggestion was definitely viable. She could adjust the machine so that it would spray water into the drill hole. Ewa reached the ladder and climbed up. The hatch was still open. She didn’t waste a moment to close it behind her, but went straight to the steering console. The special functions were well-hidden. Ewa cursed twice as she mistakenly pulled up a sub-menu. However, she then found the right commands. The system confirmed that the new configuration had been accepted. Water was instantly sprayed into the drill hole.

  “Is it doing anything?” Ewa asked over her helmet radio.

  “No, there’s nothing to see yet,” Mike replied.

  Ewa considered this. There actually shouldn’t be anything to see right away, but the crack’s expansion had to stop. Up here, there was nothing else she could do, so she left the cab again. As she climbed down the ladder, she suddenly tipped slightly to the side. Stay calm, Ewa. You’re still alive, she told herself. One of the cracks must have intersected with one of the drill tower’s legs. The others had gathered around the switch box.

  Ewa studied the drill tower. It seemed to be standing totally vertical. For now. “I think it would be advisable if we all moved back a few meters,” she said. “When I was up on the ladder, I felt the structure wobble a little.”

  Mike knelt down on the ground and reached into the crack. His arm disappeared up to his elbow. Ewa wanted to yank it back out. She was vividly imagining the crack in the surface snapping shut all of a sudden and swallowing up Mike’s arm. That wasn’t likely, though. The crack would just keep getting wider.

  “It doesn’t look like the sealing of the drill hole has achieved anything,” Mike said. He stood up, brushing the dust off his gloves and sleeves.

  “Shit, shit, shit,” Lance said.

  Ewa wished she had a solution for them, but she was all out of ideas. Was it possible that she was on the verge of very effectively causing the failure of the next mission? She didn’t want to imagine what would happen if the cracks reached the NASA base. Of course, she once again believed that this hadn’t been intentional. She had only wanted to help! And Mike, the NASA commander, had insisted on the test drill.

  Couldn’t it also be that the thing in her head had influenced her? Was it possible that it had known what would happen? It had plotted the quintuple murders on the Santa Maria so that they had looked like an accident.

  “You should probably go check on the base,” she eventually said. “Maybe you can prevent the worst there. There’s nothing else to do here.”

  “You’re right,” Mike said. “But you have to come along, too, Ewa. You can’t do anything here, either.”

  “No, I’ll stay. Maybe some unexpected opportunities will arise. After all, it’s my fault that you’re even in this situation.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Mike declared. “If anyone’s guilty, it’s me. But who could’ve known that something like this would happen? You did all you could!”

  If only you knew, Ewa thought. No, she would stay here. She had a vague feeling that she still had something to take care of here. “I hate to argue with you, but my place is in the cab,” she said. “Someone has to stay here. I will keep you updated via radio. If a magma bubble really is building, then an eruption might occur. If that happens, someone will need to warn you as quickly as possible. And I’ll be that person.”

  “If a volcano erupts right under you, you won’t survive,” Sharon said.

  “I know the risk, but I have to live with it.”

  “All right,” Mike said. “We wish you good luck. Thank you for helping us feel hopeful again, even for this short time.”

  Despite everything, people always seem to find silver linings, Ewa thought. She wished she could do that. That was probably th
e main criterion in NASA’s astronaut selection process.

  Sol 106, NASA base

  Ewa held the muzzle of the taser against her chest.

  ‘No, I didn’t know anything about it,’ said Friday through her mouth.

  “You had no idea? You were just as surprised as everyone else?”

  ‘Yes. I swear. Please put away the weapon.’

  Ewa breathed heavily. How much weight did the promise of a chip in her head have? But Friday seemed afraid to die. The fear that was reflected in his words sounded real. He was using her own speaking apparatus and spontaneously chose the patterns of speech which she recognized. She knew how it felt to be afraid. She could still remember in exact detail how she prayed for her sister’s life, begged even. She knew very well the smell of her own cold sweat, how the little hairs on her body stood up straight, and how her fingers trembled. She knew the mortally terrified Ewa very well, right down to the sound of her voice.

  Friday was clearly afraid. Was he also telling the truth because of it? Everything just seemed to fit too well. He might have known, from who knows where, just what lay underground. Then he wouldn’t have needed to bypass her will like he did with the ‘accidents’ at the time. He would have only needed to steer her actions in a particular direction. For example, by helping her steal the drill.

  Was her suspicion justified? Ewa wasn’t sure. She had no intention of condemning someone without sufficient evidence. On the other hand, she had no desire to put anyone else in danger. If she pulled the trigger now, she would be free of all outside influence... but she would have Friday on her conscience.

  Ewa sighed. She simply couldn’t make the call and, for that reason, laid the weapon aside.

  At some point during the night, the cab had noticeably shifted and it was now sitting at an angle. Ewa woke up around three o’clock when she rolled off her cot. After that, she assessed the status of the tower. One of its legs had sunk an entire meter, but it seemed to have stabilized itself. She assured herself that there was no reason to worry.

  But now it was time to do an inspection walk-around. Outside, it was just becoming light, though the sun hadn’t appeared over the horizon yet. Ewa stowed the taser back into her tool bag and wiped off the window condensation that had collected during the night. She had turned down the life support system last night because the air was blowing directly at the back of her neck.