Mars Nation: The Complete Trilogy

by Brandon Q Morris

  The area seemed to have barely changed. Ewa looked all around. But after she had cleared off the glass looking eastward, she was startled. The reason she couldn’t see the sun wasn’t due to the time of day. Directly in front of her was a mountain that reached a good two hundred meters into the sky. It almost looked like a giant pimple that had popped up on the planet’s skin overnight. What might be hidden underneath it? Was there something deep within the belly of the mountain? If indeed hot magma were bubbling in there, the inevitable explosion would leave behind very little of the drill.

  Ewa considered her options. The drill was firmly stuck in place, but she could completely disengage the drill turbine and leverage its frame from the rest of the vehicle. If none of the connecting pieces were damaged or bent, then she could easily get away. But how would that help her? The only place she was welcome was in the loneliness of the Mars desert.

  No, it was too soon to flee. Perhaps the time for that would never come. She needed to hurry and get outside.

  Ewa had just gotten to the bottom of the ladder and set foot on the ground when Mike called on the radio. “Base to Ewa, please come in.”

  “I’m here,” she answered. “How did you survive the night?”

  “For safety’s sake, we all slept in our suits. There are two fissures running through the base, but so far the central structures are not affected. Most of the other rooms have lost their breathable atmosphere, and we had to seal them off.”

  “Are there any other losses?”

  “The garden is also open. None of the plants survived, and the soil is now frozen. We’ll have to start over again.”

  “I’m very sorry to hear that,” said Ewa.

  “So far, it seems to have been surprisingly mild. The KRUSTY is at a far enough distance from all the cracks and seems to be secure. We are mainly worried about the central base. If the crack next to it gets any bigger, we’ll have to evacuate.”

  “The MfE base would give you refuge at any time.”

  “Yes, we have already spoken with them, and have both rovers loaded and ready to go. It’s quite a long ways away.”

  “Did you tell them about me?”

  “No, your name never came up. But once we are on our way, we will have to explain everything in more detail.”

  "Then do that. It’s no problem.”

  “Won’t you come with us, Ewa?”

  “Not on your life. You are better off without me anyway, you can see that. I would only complicate things.”

  “Okay, you are an adult and can decide for yourself. We will accept that. However, I don’t think the MfE folks will turn us away even if we have you with us.”

  “That may be, but I prefer it this way. I’m staying here.”

  “As you wish. But in case you change your mind, we’re still here and can come to get you if there’s an emergency.”

  “Thank you, Mike. That’s good to know.”

  She cut the connection. It was the right choice. Once again, she checked the tower’s stability on the computer in the control box. Since sunrise, it had shifted another two degrees. The computer projected that the construction would collapse by late afternoon if she didn’t return the tower to its original position before then. But there was still plenty of time for a little stroll before then.

  She planned to go and inspect the mountain in the east. What was inside its hard shell? What had they unknowingly drilled into that they should have left alone? Ewa started off. From the drilling tower, it was a constant uphill march. She walked through a sandy patch and sank a few centimeters into the ground with each step. That must have been the dust that had settled from the mountain and collected at its base. Three hundred meters further, a sharp buckle in the plane was discernible as the gradient of the surface suddenly changed by a few degrees.

  Ewa looked closely at the subsurface. It showed several stress lines, tiny fissures which indicated the amount of strain the regolith was exposed to. From here on out, she trod as lightly as she could because she had the feeling that the ground could break open under her feet at any moment. Twenty meters later, she turned around. The larger of the fissures that ran from here in every direction ended at the foot of the mountain, roughly in the same spot where she had noticed the crease in the surface.

  She continued on upward toward the mountain and quickly grew short of breath. Because it was so steep, she needed to walk with her upper body leaning far forward, almost bent at the waist. The boots of her suit provided surprisingly good grip, and were aided by the fact that there was little dust on the ground here. It was obvious that anything that was loose would fall to the ground below her.

  The closer she came to the peak, the more hollow her steps sounded. The noises she heard as she walked sounded like mechanical vibrations, which only made it harder for her to imagine how her footsteps would have sounded on Earth. Maybe this hollow noise was normal. If, however, a pocket of magma was located directly under her, it must have cooled and contracted somewhat in the meantime, leaving an open chamber near the top of the mountain.

  The thought of such an opening sent a shiver down her spine. Just how thick would the skin covering this hole be? The best thing to do was to walk very carefully so as not to break through. She envisioned herself crashing through and falling through the cavity right into the pool of magma. At least it would be a quick end to it all.

  The summit was now very close. She could almost reach out and touch it. Ewa looked at her universal device and saw that she had reached an elevation of two hundred ten meters. Of those, she had covered two hundred eight meters on her own. The rest was how much the mountain had grown as she was climbing it.

  She now stood at the top. Ewa looked out into the distance. She had the impression she could breathe more freely from up here. However, it was merely the support system of her suit that continually provided her with the amount of air she currently needed to breathe. The mountain was the only protrusion in the immediate proximity. The horizon was noticeably further away due to her altitude.

  She turned to the west, to where the NASA base was located. There was nothing to see in that direction, though, as there was far too much dust in the air to see clearly. The mountain she was standing on had a strange shape to it. It made her think of the belly of a pregnant woman in about her fifth or sixth month, just before it took on its unmistakably round form. Where she was standing was where the umbilicus would have been. How could such a shape have formed naturally? she wondered.

  Ewa got down on her knees. She held her universal device against the surface and measured the temperature. It registered minus thirty-five, only slightly warmer than expected. No way was there boiling hot magma here! Something else was at work, some process that no one could have known about, and one that extended beyond the limits of her imagination. But she didn’t believe in miracles. Whatever had caused this mountain to form, and the skin of the Red Planet to split as it was doing, must have had an incredible cause, a cause that she could diagnose and also remedy. If she had the strength to do so.

  Ewa had an idea. If, underneath this thin layer of ice that she had just ascended as a mountain, there was no hot molten magma, which would otherwise be best kept contained, then perhaps it would be worth tapping into the mountain’s outer shell. She could then see what was hidden underneath and could use the drilling vehicle to help her.

  Ewa spun around on her heel and looked at the drilling tower far below her. She needed to get back. Carefully, she set off, back down the mountain. The way down was more strenuous since she couldn’t shake the feeling she might slip along the steep slope. The regolith was tricky to navigate, even though there was very little dust covering it. However the uppermost layers were loose and unstable. She needed to take her time with the descent.

  Then suddenly her right foot slipped, and she fell on her right side. A sharp pain jolted through her hip. She tried to grab onto something to catch herself, but there was nothing there. No grass grew here, no plants. Once she w
as in motion, not even her boots could help slow her down. As she slid, she looked down. Only about fifty meters to go.

  The low level of gravity didn’t pull her into rapid acceleration as it would have on Earth. Over and over again, though she landed on her sore hip. She attempted to lessen the blows with her hands, but to no avail. She counted the seconds in her head. The crease in the surface quickly appeared. The mountain flung her off like a horse bucking off an inexperienced rider, and she landed in the soft sand that had collected beyond the edge of the crease.

  Ewa waited there for a moment before trying to get up. She tested all her muscles and found that nothing hurt. She pulled her legs to her chest, then turned on her left side. It was okay. She felt her right side with her hand. That’s where the pain was. But it seemed to be only bruising. She was ready to stand up.

  With a groan, she picked herself up out of the dirt. She was still standing. The mountain had shown her, but it hadn’t won yet. Now it was her turn to pay it back with a proper ramming.

  It was terribly messy inside the cab. What remained of her bed had moved to the opposite end, presumably during the last drop in angle. The package of rice cakes was upside-down, and the crumbs were everywhere. Ewa didn’t bother cleaning up. She probably wouldn’t be needing the drilling vehicle much longer anyway. Her idea was so crazy that there was no other option than for it to wreak maximum havoc.

  Should she ask Friday for advice? No. She decided not to. Ewa made her way to the front of the vehicle, to the driver’s seat, where she then called up the transformer program. That’s what she liked to call it when the vehicle transformed itself into a tower. She hoped the joints weren’t bent so far out of shape that the components would be stuck. She also needed the two spoons that the tower was attached to.

  She started the program. It recommended that she switch to automatic mode, but she ignored the suggestion. This way she had access to each individual joint. It wouldn’t be lowering the tower to its original horizontal position, since it wasn’t a long way to the mountain. Ewa activated the hydraulic system that extended the shafts of the spoons to raise the tower up off the ground a little. Once that was ready, all she needed to do was press the accelerator and drive the vehicle the short distance to the mountain. But the program wasn’t going to do her this favor. Instead, it reported an overload and warned that the entire system would shut down if she ignored the error message.

  Ewa studied the image on the monitor. It must have been the drill pipe, including the drill head along with the turbine, that was causing trouble. It was still stuck in the borehole. It seemed as though it was now taking its revenge for her having filled the hole with ice to seal it. Should she try to melt the ice? With heat, it wouldn’t be a problem, but where was she supposed to find a heat source that could accomplish it?

  She needed to disengage the drill pipe. Since it was attached to the tower, she had to cap all the connections. She scoured through all the sub-menus, but found this action was not available inside the program. She needed to do it by hand. The inventory list revealed that there was an automatic saw on board which could cut through all types of material. She made a note of the numbered compartment the tool was located in, then she climbed down the ladder, looked for the right door, and opened it.

  It was empty. Ewa felt around the compartment with her gloved hand and found a note. ‘Borrowed for Project Z7,’ it read in neat penmanship. ‘Will return by 12/20/2041.’

  Great. If she ever got her hands on the person who took that tool and didn’t bring it back! In all likelihood, that person was back on Earth and long dead. Then, I’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way—with brute force, she thought. Luckily, she had found a bolt cutter in the general toolbox. This was a good chance for the spacesuit’s motorized arm and wrist joints to prove themselves!

  Ewa climbed back up into the cab for the bolt cutter. Once more, the ground looked slightly askew from up here. She grabbed the bolt cutter and descended the ladder. She stopped about halfway down, at a height of around five meters. The drill pipe was situated below her and off to the side, and was not accessible with the ladder. If she jumped from here she could hang on to the cable that held the rod in place and carefully slide down. Ewa eyed the distance. She would have to jump two meters from where she stood. And she only had one hand free as the other held the bolt cutter.

  On Earth and with her MfE suit, this feat would have been impossible, but here, wearing this motor-assisted spacesuit, it just might work. Could, she corrected herself. That sounded better. She focused on her landing point, pushed off and jumped. The palm of her hand smarted as it slammed against the cable, but she forced the fingers to grip tightly despite the pain. Her arm was completely extended and nearly immobile until the suit’s artificial muscles came to her rescue. She gently slid down until her feet landed on the drill pipe. She’d made it! Tarzan would have been very proud of her.

  She looked up at the tower that stood high above her like the crown of a tree. Numerous cables, hoses, and chains hung down from it like vines. They all ended at the drill head. All these ‘vines’ were now her enemies that she would have to remove one by one. She started with the cables. Electrical cables, she quickly realized when she set the bolt cutter to the first one and saw sparks fly. In and of itself, she was in no real danger because the handles of the cutter were insulated. Instead, it could lead to short circuiting which would in turn paralyze the entire vehicle, much the same way a defective outlet could cut off all power in a whole household by tripping the main circuit breaker.

  It was something worth avoiding, but that wasn’t possible. With the bolt cutter, she snipped through the cables like a rabbit. If she happened to touch two different strands with the metal cutter, then a short was unavoidable. With a bit of luck, it would result in a short only in the drill pipe. Now that she had already severed one of the thick cables, she was left with three more—three chances at a lottery with an uncertain outcome.

  She was lucky. A pleasant turn of events for once. She had already seen herself trying to repair a burned-out circuit.

  Now to the hoses. They were made of a rubber-like material that remained elastic even at frigid temperatures—an efficient material, since otherwise the hoses would have broken apart. That would have been useful now, since she could have just snapped them off. But cutting through the elastic rubber of these hoses with the bolt cutter was no easy task. The material caused the cutter to slip, though with a little patience it was possible. At least her strength wouldn’t run out. Over and over again she set the cutter into place, squeezed it closed, and cut the rubber out, piece by piece.

  After ten minutes, she had cut through the first hose. The material ripped under its own weight after she had sliced through enough of the outer layer. By the second hose she had perfected her method. She imagined she was a beaver gnawing through a tree. This time, it only took her seven minutes before the next rip came. The third hose was a bit stronger. It was probably meant to hold a different liquid. Plus, it was equipped with a layer of wire mesh in the middle to allow it to be heated. The liquid it transported was probably intolerant to cold temperatures. Ewa had to put a good deal of effort into this hose, and a quarter of an hour later, she was still at it. Sweat ran down her face and into her eyes.

  She increased the amount of air in her suit. In response, the suit’s electronics signaled that the muscles in her hands were quickly losing energy. That’s all she needed! Was she supposed to start using the bolt cutter with her feet? She reduced the intensity so the suit would last longer, but it also meant that she would have to work harder.

  Ewa was intimidated most of all by the chain that the drill pipe was hanging from. It was made of top-notch steel. She would never be able to cut through it with only her own strength. Plus, she was still struggling with the last hose. She hacked into it as though it were a snake attacking her, until it finally pulled apart. She’d done it! Ewa watched the bottom end of it fall to the ground, but lost sight of th
e top end, which had stretched far beyond its original length before it finally ripped and snapped back like a whip, hitting her on her left side. Ewa cried out in pain! She had to hold on with her right hand since the bolt cutter was in her left. She couldn’t let go with either hand no matter how much pain she was in.

  Ewa held on. It took several minutes for the pain to subside. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. There was no question that she would get through this. She had eliminated nearly every obstacle so far. Only the chain was left.

  The chain... She studied its shape and girth. It’s a good chain, a real pity to have to destroy it. Then she realized her thoughts were wandering. She was no longer entirely herself. No surprise there, though. Once she got through this chain, she would have some time to rest. She desperately needed a break.

  Ewa carefully set the cutter in place and squeezed. The steel chain was not bothered in the least by her efforts. She didn’t even manage to cut a splinter from it. But she was confident that she would also prevail over the chain. She had to. There was no other alternative.

  A saw. There must be a hacksaw in the toolbox. Trying to squeeze through the chain’s steel with the bolt cutter was no good, but the strong, fine teeth of a hacksaw should get the job done. At the same time, it meant that she would need to leave her position on top of the drill head. It was about three meters to the ground. As there was no way to climb down, she’d have to jump. She hoped her suit would somehow soften the impact. Also, if she waited too long, she might find more reasons not to go through with it.

  Ewa jumped and elegantly rolled onto her less-immediately-painful right side. No problem! She climbed into the cab and looked through the toolbox for a saw. She found two, one wood saw and one hacksaw. What kind of idiot would send a wood saw to Mars? The hacksaw unfortunately wasn’t very big, its blade maybe twenty centimeters long. That meant it would be a hard and, above all, long job.