He ran back over to the communications station to check the data connection between Little Turtle’s antenna and orbiting communications relay satellite. That link was working fine too.
Adam frowned with intense worry.
“Everything on our end looks okay. The trouble must be on their side. Maybe the Space Station lost power? I guess we’ll just have to wait until they get it fixed.”
He sat back in his chair. “I don’t like this at all. Mission Control better get things fixed or we’re in big trouble.”
Adam picked up the microphone and said, “NASA, we are transmitting into the blind here. We are not receiving any signals from you guys.”
He looked at Yeva for a moment and then added, “However, we will continue on with our mission. Just send us a message as soon as you can. We have all channels open, even the deep-space emergency frequencies.”
Adam turned off the microphone and said to Yeva, “They’ll get that in five minutes and hopefully we’ll get a reply back in ten.”
His message was converted into electro-magnetic waves and transmitted from the tall long-distance antenna protruding from the roof of the Little Turtle. Those signals were beamed to the communications relay satellite orbiting Mars. It amplified the signals and retransmitted them toward Earth. Those signals travelled through space at the speed of light. They reached the abandoned and unpowered International Space Station five minutes later. No signal would be sent back to Mars.
The astronauts both sat down. Their anxiety levels were climbing. The pure silence didn’t help.
“This mission is cursed,” complained Yeva.
“I’m sure this is just a technical glitch. Look, the loss of Keller and Molly has been horrible, I know. They knew the risks, but yes, I understand. It is horrible. What do you think we should do?”
Yeva looked down to think and then said, “Well, the next stage of the mission was to start the terraforming with the green bombs. However, I don’t know if we should risk that or just pack it up to return home.”
Adam stretched his arms up above his head to think.
“Well, let’s get something to eat first; we still have a few days of food and water here in the Big Turtle that wasn’t destroyed when the airlock was left open. Then, maybe we’ll launch the green bombs. Let’s take this one hour at a time.”
The green bombs were the culmination of twenty years of research in terraforming experiments planned for Mars. They were quite simple. At their core, they were small helicopter drones that carried tiny Plutonium bombs. They differed from traditional nukes in that the warhead was designed to use up all of the Plutonium during the detonation. It would explode like a massive atomic bomb, but with a minimum amount of radioactive fallout.
The explosions would send debris, organic matter (hopefully), dust, and soot into the atmosphere causing an accelerated greenhouse effect. With enough of these devices, they would eventually recreate a habitable atmosphere like on Earth. It would be complete with rain and a relatively constant temperature, albeit still cold. However, it would take several years for this effect to stabilize. This was all in theory of course. Everything works in theory.
They finished their meal. Adam spent the next hour trying to make contact with NASA to no avail. For a brief moment he did hear some static followed by some unintelligible yelling, but that quickly stopped. He dropped the microphone in frustration.
Adam and Yeva put on their pressure suits and wandered out through the airlock. In the utility storage cabinet they found a dozen of the surprisingly small green bombs. Each one was about the size of a shoebox and weighed about ten pounds.
Adam and Yeva carried them to a designated launch spot approximately 100 feet away from Big Turtle. This distance would minimize the effect of the wind eddies swirling from the edges of the spacecraft. After setting each one down, they switched on the power button and stood back.
The top split open like a clamshell and a block sprang up about six inches. Beneath it was a metal shaft. From that top block, another block sprang up yet another six inches. Both of these resulting blocks then unfolded into their own massive 10 foot wide rotor blades. Having these stacked counter-rotating blades eliminated any need for a complicated tail rotor system like traditional helicopters. In the very thin Mars atmosphere, large rotor blades were not only necessary, but they also had to spin at incredible speeds to generate enough lift to fly.
Adam looked out upon the flock of Plutonium-carrying drone helicopters. Several of the rotors were already slowly spinning thanks to the natural winds on Mars.
“This is quite a sight,” said Adam.
With the drone units now powered up, the two astronauts walked back into Big Turtle and powered on the drone flight control computer. It was specifically designed to handle a swarm of drone aircraft. It kept track of their positions and prevented them from smashing into each other. According to the user manual, this procedure was called deconfliction. Once that potential danger was gone, this computer told each aircraft where to go and detonate.
Yeva sat down in front of the control computer and set about engaging the system. Each launch was a performance. The counter-rotating blades were terrifying to watch as they spun up to speed. They looked like the world’s most dangerous lawnmowers.
The rotor blades pushed enough air down to swirl up an enormous dust cloud. Dust devils began forming all around the launch area. One by one, the drones lifted up and flew away disappearing over the horizon. Only one detonated within visual sight, but even then it must’ve been fifty miles away. The red mushroom clouds rose up and began wafting through the atmosphere immediately. It was reminiscent of the smoke trails rising up high from a forest fire.
After the last drone was done, Yeva breathed a sigh of relief. She looked over at Adam with a tired frown.
“Well, that marks the official end of our major tasks.”
Adam was sitting at the main communications computer trying to contact Mission Control again. Still no luck. As night fell, they each lay down in their bunks and went to sleep with the hope that communication would be established the next morning.
Chapter 26
Adam woke to the sound of raindrops hitting the windows on the Big Turtle. He couldn’t believe how fast the weather patterns were changing already.
For three days they had watched the dark clouds circling around Mars from the green bombs. For three days the skies had formed more clouds from the moisture launched into the atmosphere from the melted polar ice caps. And for three days they could not establish communications with NASA. Enough light shone through the clouds for Adam and Yeva to see the oncoming rainstorm. This was the first rain on Mars for at least two hundred thousand years.
Adam tried to communicate with home again. He picked up the microphone and powered it on.
“Hello NASA, this is Big Turtle transmitting from Mars. We’ve completed the terraforming tasks and this morning it actually rained. Can you believe that? If you receive this signal, please let us know. Um, yadda, yadda, yadda,” he said pathetically before turning off the equipment.
They both sat at the main table and stared out the windows at the drizzly rainfall outside. Adam glanced over at Yeva; he had something to say.
She beat him to it.
“A million bucks for your thoughts,” said Yeva.
“A million, huh? I’d settle for a ten second phone call to my family. What’s there to say? It’s been silent too long. Our radios are working fine. I just don’t get it. What do you think we should do?”
Yeva tapped her fingers on the table. She said, “We have two options as I see it. We can bide our time here and wait until Mission Control contacts us. Or we can pack up and head home.”
Adam was torn. He desperately wanted to see his wife and family, but there might be a personal legal disaster at home if Mission Control watched the entire video. He told himself it was just self-defense, but nobody would believe him.
Yeva knocked him out of his daydream. “W
e’ve been stretching our water supply, but we only have a couple of days left. I don’t want to start eating into the return voyage reserves. We will have to leave soon. It is a mathematical certainty.”
Adam nodded. He understood.
He looked up from the table and said, “I think something terrible has happened back home and we just can’t see why. We’re castaways here.”
Yeva pounded her fist on the table, “Then we should go now! We should start the return procedures now!”
Adam questioned her, “Well what if we’re returning to a smoking rock? Huh? What if something unspeakable has happened?”
“Yes that is possible, but we are going to die if we stay here, so we might as well give it a try.”
Adam knew she was right. He told her so with a sigh. His eyes showed true sadness. Was his family okay? Were his kids afraid?
Adam’s frown turned to a slight grin.
“You know, I came here for the adventure and glory, but I would trade it all for just a few more minutes hugging my kids.”
Yeva said with an irritated tone, “Well, you can talk about it with them when we get back. Let’s initiate the return trip.”
“Okay, but I have to make one more trip outside. Then we can start the process,” explained Adam.
The rains had stopped and the Sun came out. The combination of heat energy and low atmospheric pressure made most of the rain evaporate quickly.
Adam suited up and exited Big Turtle through the airlock. He walked around to the back of the Little Turtle and saw the dried mud-covered and bedraggled parachutes lying on the ground. These chutes were supposed to be used during the final descent into the Pacific Ocean, but had saved the astronaut's lives during the Mars landing.
Adam shook the dust off of them and tried his best to fold them back up. He carefully wrapped them with the hundred feet or so of deployed cable that connected them to the Little Turtle.
He carefully climbed up on top of the structure and put the three parachutes back into the hatches. Then he delicately reclosed each door. This was a tricky maneuver because the entire top surface of the Little Turtle was covered in fragile solar panels. For the last hatch cover he had to hang on to the long-range antenna tower sticking out of the roof. That was the only way to get leverage to close the door.
Adam purposely saved this task for the absolute last day on Mars. Since the parachutes were crucial to surviving the Earth reentry process, he didn’t want to find out on day one of their arrival here that the parachutes were destroyed and they were doomed. That would’ve ended all morale for the team even before the Mars exploration began.
Adam took a look at the horizon. He couldn’t believe the drastic changes to it since they’d arrived. Some large fluffy clouds floated over the still amazingly red landscape.
He looked at the two lonely graves. Then he walked up the ramp and stepped into the airlock.
Adam opened the new checklist that would prepare the facility for the return launch. Step one was to tell Mission Control that you were starting the procedure. He picked up the microphone and pushed the transmit button.
“Mission Control, this is Big Turtle. We are transmitting in the blind here. Again. We hope that somebody there is getting this. The remaining crew consists of Yeva Turoskova and myself, Adam Alston. We are initiating the return phase of the mission. Estimated time of liftoff is about two hours from now. We should be home in a few weeks. Um, that’s it. Signing off. Godspeed to us.”
For the next two hours the astronauts went through more checklists. Space flight is all about checklists. The green ones, the yellow ones and finally the red ones that involve matters of life and death.
The only part of the facility that was returning home was the part that brought them all this way: Little Turtle. Adam transferred some of the remaining food from the living module to Little Turtle. Yeva transferred what water was left. The Little Turtle contained enough water to maintain four astronauts on the three week return trip. However, it was better to have too much and not need it.
By mid-afternoon they did a final walkthrough of the Big Turtle living module. They each signed the dinner table with a Sharpie; astronaut graffiti of sorts. It said, Yeva, Adam, and in memoriam: Molly and Keller.
Adam looked around and let out a final sigh.
“I didn’t like it here, but I’m going miss this place for some reason. We’re leaving a lot of hope behind.”
Yeva put her hand on his shoulder and said, “It feels like we have lived a lifetime here already. Let’s go home.”
The two astronauts walked down the hallway connector to the Little Turtle and closed the door behind them. Adam opened a hatch cover and pushed a recessed switch. The hallway connector popped off the Little Turtle, effectively disconnecting the umbilical between the two Turtles.
Big Turtle would sit on the surface of Mars for many years before the blowing wind and, hopefully, Earth-like erosion would tear it down. The onboard systems would function for another month before the solar panels could no longer supplement the battery storage and fuel cells.
Big Turtle would sit empty and oh so cold awaiting some future traveler.
Little Turtle was once again a standalone space ship. The two astronauts put on their space suits and helmets and clambered into the launch seats; this left them lying on their backs facing upward. Just one last checklist for fuel monitoring remained. They only had about one minute of fuel for the conventional rocket engines to get them off the planet and into orbit. After some time circling Mars, the autopilot would take over and fire the Murch Motor MM10 engines. The Little Turtle would slingshot away from Mars onto the long lonely path back to Earth. The engines would stay on for most of the trip, driving them home.
Adam turned to look at Yeva.
“Are you ready?”
She grinned a hopeful smile.
“Yes, let’s go home.”
Adam flipped up the red switch protector on the rocket ignition toggle. Then he looked at the digital wall clock.
“Starting countdown. Five four three two one.”
He pushed the toggle switch over and the ship shook violently as the traditional rocket engines ignited blasting holes in the Martian soil underneath. This caused a violent dust storm to swirl out from under the Little Turtle. The old connector hallway crumpled up and slammed into the side of the idled Big Turtle. The cross made of American and Russian flags blew down next to the two graves.
The ship began rising up as expected. After just a few seconds of flight it halted and lurched violently to one side as if tied to the ground. During today’s checklist, they had forgotten to release the grounding cable. The Little Turtle was indeed still attached to Mars. Adam had missed that crucial step.
“Yeva! Did you release the grounding cable?”
“No! I thought you did it when you repacked the parachutes!”
The roar was getting louder.
“We can’t turn off these engines! We’re in serious trouble!”
Adam knew they only had 45 seconds of fuel left for this phase of the escape. After that, they would die on Mars along with their crewmates. His mind was in overdrive. He rapidly thought through every scenario. With Little Turtle pulling tightly on the cable, there was no way the standard release method would work now.
Adam unlatched his seatbelt and jumped over to the console. He grabbed the remote control for the mini rover.
The ship lurched and threw Adam to the floor. He clawed back up to the window.
The ship was bouncing around and Adam was having a hard time keeping his bearings. One arm held him to the ship and his other arm held the transmitter.
He gave the remote control full throttle and off in the distance he saw a puff of smoke rise up. The little rover was racing toward them. It was hitting rocks and doing amazing hops on the way over.
With his thumb on the throttle he tried desperately to steer the other control stick with his other fingers. It got closer and closer and he steered it rig
ht toward the bottom of the ship hoping it would hit the cable.
“Come on baby, you gotta help us!” screamed Adam at the racing rover.
It disappeared from view underneath the ship and suddenly a loud metallic sheering sound roared up through the bottom of the ship. The rover had broken the grounding cable and the Little Turtle lurched violently upward. The sudden jolt caused the long-range antenna on the roof to fall over and tear off. It slid down the solar cell roof ripping several away and falling past the window.
Adam collapsed to the floor under the intense and sudden acceleration. He tried to crawl to his seat, but the g-forces were just too much; he was pinned down. Yeva reached over and grabbed his hand. He squeezed tight as the ship continued its accelerated climb out of the Mars atmosphere. His other arm wrapped around the frame of his seat.
The side-to-side lurching had stopped immediately when the ship was finally untethered from the planet.
The surface escape rockets were pushing hard, but they hadn’t made it out of the Mars atmosphere yet. The ship was hitting a lot of turbulence. A low-frequency shaking began to grow as the ship went faster. Alarm after alarm turned on. Dozens of lights were flashing. The shaking resonated with the escape hatch door.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Yeva focused intently on that door.
She repeated to herself, “Hang in there… hang in there.”
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The door began to buckle.
A crease showed up violently.
Adam looked over at the black anti-gravity cube. It broke loose from the straps he tied it down with. The cube appeared to have no idea about the intense acceleration they were experiencing. It bounced haphazardly around the cabin. It had so much mass that it left small dents wherever it hit. It made a clink sound as it bounced off of a window. A crack in the glass began to spider, shooting out chips.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
A hinge pin shot out of the crumpling escape hatch door.
The cube slammed into the little striped door where the Red Hope capsules were kept. The little door flung open and poisonous red liquid sprayed out filling the compartment with deadly red fog.
Red Hope Page 17