Trapped - Mars Born Book One

by Arwen Gwyneth Hubbard

  Ugh, there she goes bringing politics in. How boring, I thought, and tried to pull the conversation back to the planet, “So, you had never been this far North?

  “No, uh, did I say that?” He answered quickly, then asked, “What about you? Have you ever been out of Arygre?”

  “A few times, but we haven’t gotten to travel much. I was hoping to see more this trip. Especially some of the ancient lava flows. This site is right next to one. But, it’s too rugged to take the HabRov in.”

  “Why didn’t you just walk around then?”

  I bit my lip. Why indeed? Because Rumer wanted to impress our elders, and I didn’t want my sister to be disappointed? “Because we have been on a tight schedule,” I answered instead.

  “We could take a look in the morning. You could show me?”

  My pulse leapt.

  Rumer thumped her cup on the table, and sat up perfectly straight, “Remember we aren’t supposed to go on EVAs until we get home,” then she added in a very quiet voice I could barely make out, “Plus there’s still work to be done on the data.”

  “Taavi’s suit has a radio. We have two now,” I protested, “so we’ll be fine.”

  She opened her mouth and then closed it again.

  “See! It’ll be fine.” I insisted.

  “We don’t have the right equipment,” she glared at me.

  I flicked my wrist, “We won’t go far, we’ll just look,” and then imitated Taavi’s grin, “it won’t even disrupt your schedule.”

  She gave me a sour look and I was pretty sure I had won. Unless she wanted to tattle and make us look like we were still five orbits old, there wasn’t much she could do.

  Before getting up to clear the table Rumer signed the single word, “don’t”.

  After an uncomfortable pause, Taavi asked, “So, earlier, what did she mean about paddling on water?”

  “We have a lake in the center of our crater, for temperature regulation, and growing fish,” I answered, “it was one of the first things they built after the main dome went up.”

  “Neat! What else does your colony have?”

  Chapter Two

  Sleeping was difficult. Our fold-out beds were comfortable. As comfortable as any we had back in Cradle, but I kept checking the clock and of course finding that only half an hour had passed since I had checked before. When at last it was almost dawn I turned over and saw Taavi sitting straight up and cross-legged in his borrowed cot. His dark face barely visible, except for what was becoming an iconic smile.

  I flashed a grin back at him and slipped out from under the woven covers to dress.

  The suit’s under piece felt particularly cold when I wriggled into it. It was designed with a network of tiny tubes, almost like blood vessels that channeled moisture away from the skin and regulated temperature. After a few minutes of wearing it, it was easy to forget they were there. But, in the first moments of putting it on, it was like wrapping yourself in tight strings, or spiderwebs.

  Rumer’s bed was right next to mine. So I had to be careful not to wake her. I tiptoed by, breath held. Silently I begged her not to wake up. It would be so much easier that way. I wouldn’t have to feel guilty. I didn’t want to argue again, and I didn’t want to see her look disappointed in me.

  When I reach the stairs to follow Taavi down I glanced back over my shoulder. She moved, and for a second I thought I saw her eyes open, but then she lay still and I was sure she slept.

  The cargo hatch clanked open to reveal the outside world. Only a few stars were left and to the east the sky was just beginning to show its hazy blue sunrise. The HabRov was positioned at the edge of a scarp, and beyond that the Nereidum Montes towered. They formed a U around the Arygre basin, and had been an ever present feature in Rumer and my lives.

  Only 600 meters from the Rover to the South an ancient lava flow crossed the land. Its undulating ripples frozen in place. Rumer and I had not spent any time in the lava field, as our samples had all been taken from escarpments north and west of the HabRov, so there were no tracks from our boots or the tire marks from the Rover. Sometime geologically recent, maybe when humans were first descending from trees, a nearby impact had spewed ejecta over the land, fragmenting the flow. Millennia of erosion and gravity’s ever present pull had dotted the land with boulders and gullies. The occasional gust of wind picked up dust that gave the air a rusty tint.

  Our site could get very windy, the first day we had arrived the gales picked up so much dust it was difficult to see more than a few meters. So I was quite relieved that that morning save for the occasional breeze, it was still.

  “Wow...” crackled over the radio from Taavi.

  We stepped out and the door closed behind us.

  Because of the thin atmosphere, shadows were deep, so deep that even in midday they could be hard to see into. I clicked my suit’s light off and carefully passed the ring of boot prints around the HabRov. We would have to move slowly to not trip, but I didn’t want artificial light spoiling the magic.

  Taavi followed me. We walked for a few hundred meters and climbed onto a low boulder. It wasn’t even a meter high, but standing on it felt satisfying somehow. After a few seconds of looking around I moved to climb down.

  Taavi grabbed my arm and signed, “Wait.”

  We stood for maybe a quarter of an hour, the sky’s color slowly shifting above us.

  “It’s so... red.”

  Wind carried orange dust around us, like morning fog on Cradle’s lake.

  I laughed, “Is Mars not red where you are from?”

  “No. Not like this at least.”

  “Oh, right. Aurora is at the pole.”

  “Near the pole, yes,” he paused, and I followed his gaze to the east. The sun had just crested a peak, “This time of year everything is dark. We never get such fast, changing sunrises. It’s… stunning. I worry if I blink I’ll miss something!”

  What timing! As he spoke a blanket of sunlight washed over the peaks, illuminating the far slopes of the Nereidums and some of the tallest of the nearby boulders. My breath caught.

  “Look!” he pointed at a jagged one in the middle of the hardened lava river. The light had reached just its tip, making it look like a flame, like a giant candle, surrounded by shadow, “Come on!”

  Taavi jumped off the rock, looked back up and me and grinned, then turned to run.

  No way was I going to let him beat me! I bounded from the rock and crunched after him. Wow, did it feel good. Alive! I hadn’t felt a rush like that since I was child.

  Taavi was fast. But so was I. I caught up to him in just a few seconds, but couldn’t push past. We ran next to each other for a moment. I could feel the sand and rubble under my boots, and then nothing.

  I grasped for something, anything to hold on to, but all I found was Taavi as we both dropped into a pit of darkness.

  Ares!

  Was that Taavi’s leg I had landed on? He pushed me off of him, and I heard him curse under his breath, then, “A-are you okay, Emory?”

  “I don’t know,” it was completely black except for a dusty crack of light above us. I clicked my light on and checked the pressure gauges on my suit, “Get up! Let me check your suit,” I ordered. The realization of what had just happened released a swarm of insects in my gut.

  Taavi started to, then winced, “Shit! My ankle!”

  Oh, no, oh, no... What are we going to do if he can’t walk? My hands shook.

  “Get up anyway. I have to check your suit! You have to check mine!” my voice sounded shrill.

  “Uuuugh!” he groaned, but obeyed and let me examine his suit while he shined his own light on mine.

  We could find no serious damage or leaks on either of our suits, thankfully. If we
had well… I didn’t want to think about the consequences of losing suit pressure, or running out of air to breathe. When we finished he collapsed back to the pit’s floor.

  “I’m sorry... but this hurts,” it was barely more than a whimper.

  He suddenly looked very young, the excitement and wonder from earlier replaced with pain and fright. His face looked empty without the smile I had become accustomed to.

  We were going to have to get back to the HabRov somehow. But how? We were in a small crevice. It looked like it had once been part of a lava tube, but the sides were collapsed in. The walls didn’t look scalable, not without training and climbing gloves at least. But maybe I could jump and reach the edge of the opening.

  On Earth it would have been an impossible jump, but in Mars’ gravity there was a chance.

  There wasn’t space for a running jump, only a few steps. I took them anyway. Here goes nothing, I thought, and launched myself towards the ledge. For one beautiful, hopeful second I thought I had it, but then my body slammed into pit’s wall.

  Taavi was watching. How embarrassing. At least he was polite enough not to say anything. Then again, maybe his ankle hurt too much.

  “How far was I?”

  “I don’t know,” he grunted, “half a meter?”

  Ares! That wasn’t good enough.

  I had to try again. This time I fell back down and landed on my butt. I had to be careful not to fall on my air tank, or rip the suit. Our suits weren’t built to take much damage. Unprotected by a suit, the martian atmosphere could kill you in a multitude of unpleasant ways, to put it mildly.

  Okay, think Emory!

  I looked at the far wall and wondered if I could jump off it then across and up. No. There was no way that could work. But if I could use my legs to help me climb, find some sort of foot hold, maybe, just maybe I could reach the ledge. I knew that as long as I could get a good hold I could pull myself up. Assuming the hold was sturdy.

  Third time is a charm, right? My heart was pumping so hard I could feel my pulse against the suit’s under piece. We had to get out. I stepped back. Three big breaths and I bounded at the wall.

  My right foot hit the wall and it pushed me higher. But instead of towards the ledge it propelled me away and my arms swung at empty air. I crashed back down to the pit’s floor.

  I was panting. Don’t panic, Emory, I told myself and sat down, then rested my faceplate on my knees.

  Taavi clicked his radio on, “Hello? Rumer? Anybody? S.O.S.”

  There was silence.

  “There’s no line of sight. That probably won’t work.”

  “Maybe someone else heard us?” He didn’t sound like he believed himself either.

  “Maybe,” I answered, I didn’t want to scare him. But, who would have heard us? The closest settlement was Cradle and that was several hundred kilometers off. Maybe Rumer would come, but even if she had heard our call, how would she find us?

  “How much oxygen do you have left?” I asked. Dread began gnawing at my stomach.

  “I don’t... this suit says 60%. How much is that?”

  “You’re joking? You don’t know how much your own suit uses?!” it wasn’t the nicest way to respond, but my patience was all but spent. Only an idiot didn’t learn the basics of their own suit before trusting their life to it.

  “Look, it wasn’t mine. It’s not my fault,” he threw his hands in front of him and looked away.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  He didn’t answer. Maybe he didn’t hear. But somehow I doubted that.

  Chapter Three

  I clicked my light off. No point in wasting power. Without our lamps we could see very little other than a few glints on our suit helmets, and the crack of light above us. My body ached. Now that the adrenaline had died down, my arms and legs felt like stone, and each spot I had banged in the fall and numerous failed jumps screamed at me, warning of the bruises that would form.

  This would be a dumb way to die. I thought and tried to keep my breath calm.

  In reality, probably only 20 or 30 minutes passed as we sat in the darkness, lit only by the crack we had fallen through. It felt like hours, though. I turned my face to our tiny slice of sky and closed my eyes. Geometric patterns formed and danced against my eyelids. I used to do it all the time when I was a child. It was a way to distract myself. Sometimes, very rarely I would see little sparks of light. Bryn told me they were bits of stars that exploded millions of years ago. I liked that explanation, and would “search for supernovas” every day. Eventually, it became my tool to calm myself, or deal with big emotions.

  The light disappeared. My eyes flew open. A form peered over the edge at us. Rumer!

  Thank goodness! I clicked my radio on to thank her, but saw her tap her own helmet and shake her head. Then she signed, “The radio is still dead, dummy,” I couldn’t see her stick her tongue out, but I didn’t need to see to know, “Now let’s get you out of there!”

  I leapt to my feet, relief pouring through me.

  “Emory,” Taavi’s voice interrupted my excitement.

  I looked at him, and he gave me an apologetic wince and pointed at his ankle.

  I nodded and signed up to Rumer, “His foot is hurt.”

  “Okay, let me pull you out, then we’ll go get rope,” she crouched by the opening, placed her gloved hand on a large rock for support and reached out to me so I could grab her hand. I could probably make it, judging from my previous attempts.

  I gave Taavi the closest thing to a smile I could muster, and clicked my light back on, “We’ll be right back with help!” Then I took a step back and jumped.

  I missed.

  “Red Ares!” I cursed and got ready to try again. This time Rumer pressed herself down just a bit farther. I had to make it this time. I closed my eyes and took three deep breaths, then opened them, stepped and leapt.

  I felt her hand close around my wrist. But, in the same moment I fell backwards. Rumer and the rock she had been supporting herself on crashed after me. Instinctively, I grabbed for anything I could, but once again found myself flat on my back staring at the now salmon colored sky.

  “Rumer! Rumer, are you okay!” I shouted, before remembering her radio was broken. I scrambled to my feet, and smashed heads with her as she did the same. I fell back confused from the impact.

  She stood first and offered me a hand. I started to take it then looked up from her hand to her face. My heart stopped. There was a crack. There was crack in her faceplate. Panicked, I reached for her arm to check her gauges. The needle for pressure was dropping.

  “Your suit!”

  She pulled her arm back and squinted at the gauges. Her mouth formed a curse.

  “Help me find the leak!” she signed, there was a jerkiness to her hands.

  Oh, God. They had told us horror stories about ripped suits our whole lives. Every Mars Born had nightmares about them. And now it had happened, in a hole where no-one knew we were. What are we going to do?

  Rumer spread her arms and stood trembling as I circled her. The suit didn’t look more damaged than Taavi’s or mine, but it had to be there. On my second pass I spotted it. There! On her arm. It was obvious once I saw it. It must have happened when she threw her arms out to stop her fall. Old Earth instincts kicking in.

  I grabbed it and squeezed as tightly as I could. Then looked back to the gauges on her other arm.

  Ares! We didn’t have long. Half an hour if we were lucky.

  Okay. Think Emory!

  Rumer looked up at the entrance above us. The crack in her faceplate caught the light, like the line of lava that once flowed and made our prison.

  “The patch kit,” she signed, and pushed my hand out of the way to repla
ce it with her own.

  Everything was happening too fast. I pulled out the little box from one of her suit’s pockets and clicked it open. Shit, that wasn’t going to be enough, we were going to have use mine as well.

  Between the two kits I was able to cover the tear. She covered the patch with her hand just in case. Neither measure would probably stop the leak, the pressure difference would eventually win, but at least it would slow it. Her faceplate on the other hand...

  “Taavi, we patched the leak, but Rumer’s helmet is cracked. I know you’re in pain, but if we don’t get out soon…” I couldn’t finish that sentence. I didn’t want to even think it. My shaking wouldn’t stop. How are we going to get out?

  Taavi stood slowly, and grimaced as he put weight on his right side, “I’m sorry,” he signed.

  I didn’t want to look at either of them. I couldn’t look them in the eyes, “We know jumping doesn’t work. So what are we going to do?”

  Rumer looked at her gauges again then tapped her shoulders vigorously. With one hand she signed, “climb.” It was awkward, but I understood.

  “I don’t think we can reach, even if we stood on someone’s shoulders.”

  In the corner of my vision, Taavi was crying, even though it was too soft to here over the radio. He sat down on the rock that had fallen in with us.

  Of course! “Get up!” I nearly pushed him off the rock in excitement and shoved it to the wall. We were in luck that it was volcanic, and mostly made of pumice, so I could push it.

  “I’ll climb out on Rumer’s shoulders while she stands on this!” I said to the other two, “Taavi, I know it will hurt, but I need you cover the leak while I climb out, and then let her climb out on your shoulders.”

  I looked at Rumer. Had the crack grown? She bent down so I could climb on to her shoulders, then stood up and stepped onto the rock. As soon as she was stable, I stood up on her shoulders and reached.