“I hope this bit helps,” said Lance.
“It will certainly bring us a step further. We need to know who we can trust.”
“Man, I would put it all on the line for Andy and Theo.”
“I’m sure I would feel the same,” said Jean, “but you can’t see inside their heads.”
“No, I sure can’t,” said Lance. “When should I begin?”
“As soon as possible,” answered the former captain. “We’ll have our eyes on all five storage rooms starting immediately.”
Sol 329, NASA Base
Sarah was sweating. It had been a long time since she’d last undertaken such a strenuous journey. She not only needed to cover the trek to the machine, but to do it in such a way that the artificial mountain shielded her from any possible Mars City spies. Sarah set off before sunrise after the two women had tossed a coin. Sharon would stay back and watch Michael, feeding him during the day with pumped breastmilk. Actually, Sarah hadn’t wanted to take any risk that something might happen to her outside, which would result in Michael growing up without either of his parents, but today the prospect of getting out of the confining underground rooms and finally seeing the horizon again was simply too enticing.
The Mars landscape never bored her, despite its limited diversity. The light always changed in a peculiar and, for the human eye, unique way, which left her feeling like she was walking through a fairy-tale landscape she had never seen before. She would climb a dune to get a better view, or shimmy her way along the steep walls of a crater, and suddenly descend into the dark, icy-cold underworld of Hades. The pure black shadows thrown by the sun on the floor of the crater almost looked like the mirror image of an endlessly deep sea.
Sarah looked at her universal device. She was making good progress. Her day-after-day workouts at the base had obviously done some good, since she wasn’t tired. On the small, central mountain of one of the craters, she paused and examined the mountain before her. She couldn’t see anybody else’s tracks climbing up it. She seemed safe from being discovered and quickly continued her journey.
Thirty minutes later, she reached the foot of the artificial mountain. From here, it was a steep climb to the summit, and the mountain’s slope made it immediately apparent that the mountain was not natural in origin. Or did she think this because she already knew its origin and wasn’t just an unwitting observer? Cautiously, she walked to the left. She now needed to be very careful since there was a good chance she might run into the Mars City team. The fact that the thin atmosphere didn’t carry much sound was both an advantage and a disadvantage. No one would hear her, but she also wouldn’t have any audible warning of anyone else’s presence.
In fact, it was almost too late when she spotted the first person. A man was climbing the mountain approximately 50 meters above her. Fortunately, he didn’t look back, but kept moving forward. Sarah pressed herself against the rock to stay out of his field of vision. But where there was one, another person could very well be nearby. With each step she took, she scanned all around her to make sure no one could see her. Luckily, the next section was where the machine had churned up the ground. Large boulders covered the area. If she crouched down, she could easily hide behind them. She made it as far as their rover without being seen.
For a brief moment, she was tempted to steal the vehicle, but that wouldn’t help anyone. She was only here to collect information, nothing more. Up ahead, at the foot of the mountain, where Ewa had bored that hole, she could make out four figures. She thought she recognized the fat guy and his shorter companion, but she didn’t know the other two. The four had gathered inside the hole in the mountain, and were apparently discussing what the hole meant and what its purpose might have been. Unfortunately, Sarah couldn’t hear what they were saying—until she remembered the frequency Ewa’s helmet had always transmitted from. She was wearing one of the Spaceliner suits from Ewa. Perhaps she would be able to listen in on that frequency.
She programmed her universal device to the frequency and suddenly heard the men’s voices as clearly as if they were standing right next to her.
“... a highly unique material,” one of the men lectured. “It has a maximum reflection of 0.001 percent.”
He must be a scientist, Sarah thought. They were the only ones who would feel compelled to give such exact data. Instead of saying, ‘a maximum of 0.001 percent,’ a normal person would just say, ‘it doesn’t reflect at all.’
“And what does that mean?” asked someone else. That must have been the fat man. Yes, she recognized his voice.
“I don’t know yet. A material like this would be great to make an energy collector out of. Every beam of light that hit it would be stored. The tip-off about this mountain was a jackpot.”
“But we’ll need to mine the material. It seems pretty hard to me,” the fat man replied.
“That’s not my expertise,” said the scientist.
“I don’t completely agree. You were responsible for getting us here, Dr. Cline. Those were the administrator’s orders, and there will be no shortcuts while I’m in charge.”
“Pawlidis, don’t intimidate the scientist. These people are very sensitive.”
That was the voice of the shorter man. The fat one, who now also had a name, had called him Tanner before. The last of the foursome must have been Müller.
Pawlidis, Cline, Tanner, and Müller. Sarah tried to commit them to memory.
“Where did the tip about this machine come from,” asked Müller.
“That’s an open secret,” said Tanner. “From that Italian lady.”
“Tanner, shut up! That’s a security department matter. Müller, go get the drill,” the fat man ordered.
Ah, Pawlidis, Sarah added in her mind. Sounds like a Greek name. She had always imagined Greeks differently. Then she realized what Tanner had just revealed. An Italian woman had supposedly told the administrator about the machine? That could only have been Gabriella. The doctor! Sarah was dumbfounded. She needed to warn the others!
A tall, slender figure started to move toward the rover. She had to hide, but had no idea in which of the rover’s compartments the drill was stowed. If Müller had to go around to the other side of the rover and she didn’t change her position, he would discover her. But if she moved, the others would notice her. Sarah glanced around. About ten meters away, behind the rover, lay another large boulder. She checked to see whether her trajectory from here to there could be seen from the front. It couldn’t. The boulder was her rescue. She ducked down, ran to it, and hid behind it.
“Phew.” She inadvertently let out a sigh of relief once she was safely hidden.
“Is someone else here?” asked Müller. He moved toward her but then stopped.
“What’s wrong, Müller?” asked the fat man.
“Didn’t you hear that? I heard someone exhale loudly.”
“I’m not sure,” said Tanner.
“I am sure,” said Müller. “Someone has linked into our channel, someone who is watching us out here. I think we need to activate the encryption. We should have done that right off the bat.”
“There’s no one else out here,” said Tanner. “Who’d want to eavesdrop on us?”
“Müller’s right,” said Pawlidis, who was obviously the man in charge. “I don’t really think anyone would be sitting here in the dust and watching our exciting probe, but better safe than sorry. Start the encryption.”
The others obviously followed the fat man’s instructions since Sarah could no longer hear their conversation. That was too bad. Now she couldn’t find out what they were planning. Müller approached the rover. What if he searched the area? This would have been a good time for her to retreat, but Sarah stayed put.
Sarah burrowed a little deeper into the dirt, and she didn’t care about getting dirty. Her main concern was keeping out of their sight, because she was sure that these guys would kill her without blinking an eye if they thought it justified.
She waited for five m
inutes. Müller must have reached the rover. She cautiously peered over the boulder that was providing her cover. Müller had his back to her. He opened a large compartment door and removed a device painted camouflage green. Without turning around, he carried it back to the others. In his wake, she moved back to the concealed side of the rover for a better look.
The four men took almost half an hour to set up the drill. Dr. Cline, the scientist, jumped wildly back and forth between the others, gesturing constantly, presumably because he thought the rest of them didn’t know what they were doing. Finally, they succeeded in getting it set up. They gathered around the drilling spot and seemed to be waiting to see what would happen. Sarah already had an idea of what was coming. If what Ewa had said was true, the drill had no chance.
Sure enough, Tanner suddenly tipped backwards like a felled pine tree. The rest of the group were instantly kneeling beside him, apparently trying to help. It seemed that a piece of the drill had broken off and injured him. That meant that they would need to take him away.
It also meant that it was high time for her to disappear, which she did while the other three were focused on Tanner. Sarah calmly strolled to the mountain’s edge and headed down the slope. She needed to speak with Sharon as soon as possible about how to inform their two fellow NASA officers in Mars City about the potential double agent.
Sol 329, Mars City
Lance was nervous. He had passed on the information yesterday as they had discussed. His cleaning schedule for today had coincidentally placed him near storage room 7, which was the number he had told Guillermo. Lance believed that he and Shashwat were the most likely to become spies for the administrator. After all, they were also the ones who had carried out Ewa’s orders to use force if necessary to seize the Insight probe. The plan hadn’t succeeded, but that was mainly due to Sarah’s quick reaction. Anyone willing to aim a weapon at another astronaut might shoot with words as well.
Lance looked around and acted like he was looking for any dirty spots. Of course, everything was sparkling clean. He actually cleaned far too much, but the administrator had no other job for him. Plus, this would give him the opportunity to witness in person when...
The sound of boots on the floor came from behind him. Two men he didn’t know were carrying a heavy motor. Lance held the door open for them, and they thanked him. Shortly after that, they left the storage room again. They really had been here just to drop off the motor. Then it was quiet again, except for the noise of the life support system.
He checked on storerooms 3 and 17. The objects that he had deposited there in seemingly random order were all still in place. No one had been here to hunt for anything, not even to pick up a cleaning rag or shift a foot mat.
The results that evening were clear. None of the five men passed on any information. It was also possible that they had seen through the plan, but Lance preferred to stick to the belief he had maintained the entire time. None of them was the spy for the administrator.
Sol 330, Syrtis Major
For the past two days, the journey had been a constant upward climb. That was good news. He was getting closer to his destination, which was located on the high plateau that stretched out before him. But the rover couldn’t go as fast uphill. It looked as though this torture would be extended for one more day. Another problem was the increasingly deeper layer of dust, which, at especially steep spots, caused the rover’s wheels to spin freely.
Much to his surprise, the idea of steering the vehicle while lying on his stomach had worked out very well. The cramp in his neck was much more bearable than the pain if he had sat on the open wounds on his backside. In the meantime, though, the skin on the front of his body was now also getting sore. If he could have been granted a wish, he would have chosen an immediate arrival.
Despite his pain, Walter’s mood was overwhelmingly positive. He finally had the feeling that he was doing something useful, something that only he was able to do. Now that he had made it this far, he would be able to manage the remaining two or three days.
He double-checked the route on the navigational computer. The rover was recording a continuous file of their progress. Walter planned to transfer the route data to the autonomous robot. It was a sure shot, though occasionally there were sections that might have had more optimal alternatives. The satellite data, of which the rover also kept a record, were relatively less accurate because of the altitude. In these cases, Walter manually corrected the stored data so that the robot would be able to advance more easily. It drew its power from the sun, and for that reason, it was essential to use it efficiently.
Another blow to the stomach, right in his gut. Walter looked behind him. He had just missed spotting a chunk of rock the size of a soccer ball that protruded only about a quarter of the way out of the dust. Actually, it was about time to eat something. Due to the painkillers he had to take to keep his cancer symptoms under control, he had no appetite these days. And now that the end was in sight, it was difficult for him to find the motivation to sustain his body with energy intake, but it was necessary for a little while longer.
Luckily, he used to be huskier and, for that reason, he was still a long way off from looking like a skeleton. The remaining 72 hours without nourishment wouldn’t do him any harm, but it would likely mean that he would quickly run out of strength. Reaching his destination but not being able to repair the robot was not an ideal situation. Walter used his lips to feel for the straw inside his helmet through which he could drink his food. Once he found it, he sucked on it a little at a time. The stuff was slimy and tasted somewhat bland, and in recent days he had developed an almost unbearable feeling of nausea. He was thankful he still had a supply of dry crackers for his evening and morning snacks.
The taste of the liquid nutrients still lingered on his tongue as he watched the sun slowly sink toward the horizon. The sky was filled with dust again today. Walter could barely remember the last time he had seen a clear view of the sun. Perhaps it was because a stable western wind blew the dust from the plateau ahead of him down into the plain. In the west, the sky had already assumed its typical blue color. It wasn’t the same blue as Earth’s sky. It was much dirtier, and the sun was whiter than the yellowy-looking sun at home. Still, it reminded him much more of his home planet than the constant reddish-brown sky did. Walter followed the sun with his eyes. His body once more did what it wanted. A tear trickled down his cheek, even though he wasn’t aware of feeling even slightly melancholy.
The sunset didn’t linger as long here as it did on Earth. He would continue driving for another hour in the dark and then set up camp for the night.
Sol 330, Mars City
“Give Michael a great big kiss from his daddy.”
Sarah held their son up close to the camera, and Lance blew him a kiss.
“Thank you,” he said to Sarah, “and kudos for everything you do.”
“By the way, I found a worm in a can of noodles yesterday,” said Sarah.
“Aha,” was all he could say before the time ran out and the screen went blank.
Lance immediately started thinking. Why had Sarah wasted their precious time together with such trivial news? Or was this piece of information simply more important to her than it was to him? Sarah was much more of a foodie than he was. Perhaps having a worm in the can was such a shock to her that she felt the need to tell him. He simply couldn’t imagine it. And how could a worm even get into a sealed can of food? If it had gotten in there during production, it would have certainly gotten cooked and no longer be recognizable as a worm. And if it had gotten in there at any other time, that would mean that the can had a hole in it and its contents were no longer edible—whether it was one worm or multiple would make no difference.
He sighed. He urgently needed to check in with Mike about this. His colleague from NASA and now close friend was the only person he could trust here. The members of the resistance group were still a mystery to him. Did they really mean it? Or were they just bored here o
n Mars and looking for some way to entertain themselves? He had met plenty of such people on Earth.
Lance left the communication room. The technician on duty wished him a good evening.
He found Mike in the bar located on the docked spaceship, which was now accessible by a subterranean tunnel. This meant you didn’t need a spacesuit to get to it. The bar was open to everyone, and the prices were extremely affordable, at least for the half chemically, half biologically produced alcohol they made themselves. The administrator seemed to assume that drunken subjects were less likely to do dumb things. Lance had once asked the bartender how the alcohol was produced, but he had said that it was better not to know. Since bartenders usually had lots of life experience, Lance had decided to take his advice.
He ordered a double and clinked glasses with Mike. The bar was reasonably full, the noise from the others masking their conversation and eliminating the risk of eavesdroppers. It was hard enough to understand what the person speaking directly to you said amid the noise. How would anyone else secretly listen in? Any spy would need to be practically sitting on his lap.
They talked to each other in a normal fashion at first. Mike told him how much he missed Ellen. Even before all this, the two had rarely seen each other since Ellen had been hundreds of kilometers away, building up the MfE base. But now, this forced separation was proving very difficult for him. Lance then turned to Sarah’s final words.
Mike sat up straight, cocked his head to the side, and scratched his forehead. He looked so funny that Lance smacked him on the shoulder.
Mars Nation: The Complete Trilogy Page 68