Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1)

by Gregory Gates

  “Okay.”

  Jeff and Gabe returned to the suit room, closing both airlock hatches behind them, vacuumed as much sand and dust off their suits and the floor as they could, then wandered throughout the hab closing all the hatches that had been left open during the cross-connect installation process.

  In the commons, Gabe switched on the main computer and brought up the environmental system display. “Okay, we’re on the grid and have power. All solar arrays are online and all batteries charged. Looks like we are good to go.”

  Jeff grasped her shoulder and squeezed. “Excellent. Let’s get some air in here.”

  “Roger that. Exhaust valves closed, Emergency Purge activation, and pressurizing all cross-connects with pure O2.”

  Every component of the habitat had been pressure tested on Earth, but the seals on the recently assembled cross-connects and ventilation ducting were a question mark. And rather than risk wasting precious nitrogen, they would pressure test with oxygen, which they could manufacture with the Sabatier reactors. As air normally entered through the habitat modules and exhausted via the cross-connects, the only means of independently pressurizing the cross-connects was the Emergency Purge system, a large version of the oxygen purge system in their PLSSs.

  Jeff watched the display of atmospheric pressure in each of the eight cross-connects as they slowly rose. At 13.5 psi, Gabe closed the inlet valves to all the cross-connects, isolating them from one another. Any significant leaks would be seen as a pressure drop almost immediately. They would test for minor leaks with a longer pressure test as time and convenience permitted. They all held. “Looks good.”

  “Yes. I’m a little surprised; I would have thought we’d have at least one little leak somewhere. Let’s give it a couple more minutes.”

  “How much air have you got left?”

  “About 40 minutes.”

  “I’m down to about 20, so let’s not take too long.”

  Gabe turned from the console and frowned at Jeff. “How’d you use up so much air?”

  “I had to hike a quarter-mile to catch up with you.”

  She grinned. “Oh, yeah.” Then she set the habitat thermostat to 70, switched on the floor heaters and central gas heater, and began flooding the habs with air, an 80-20 mix of nitrogen and oxygen. “Should take about 10 minutes.”

  Jeff nervously watched the hab pressures rise, while keeping a close eye on his own oxygen reservoir gauge.

  When the pressure reached 8.3 psi Gabe said, “Okay, that’s suit pressure, open your purge valve and let it equalize, before the suit starts collapsing around you.”

  “Got it.”

  She did the same.

  “What’s are comparative altitude?”

  “On Earth?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Oh, about 12,800 feet. But you’re still breathing nearly pure O2, but your ears are going to start popping pretty soon.”

  Jeff felt the pressure rise in his ears, cocked his head and worked his jaw. “They already are.”

  “We did this a lot slower on the Sundancer, so it wasn’t quite as noticeable. We’re going to drop from here to sea level in a little over four minutes.”

  “That’s like skydiving.”

  “Not quite that fast, but the concept is similar.”

  “How fast does a skydiver fall?”

  “I don’t know, never done it. Given terminal velocity, probably around… 175 feet per second.”

  “And how fast are we going down?”

  “About 50 feet per second.”

  “Oh, well that’s not so bad.”

  “About like a 3,000 foot per minute decent in the plane.”

  “That’s kind of quick.”

  “Yes, a little quicker than I’d want to come in for a landing.”

  “Uh, yeah.”

  “Okay, coming up on 10 psi. You can take your helmet off.”

  “Alright.” He rotated the neckring, cautiously removed his helmet, and took a deep breath. “Ah, air. How nice.”

  Gabe smiled.

  “You’re not going to take yours off?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve got plenty of air left. I’ll keep it on until things have stabilized.”

  Jeff frowned. “Oh, gee, that’s comforting.”

  “If you suddenly pass out, I’ll have to put your helmet back on.”

  “Ah, good point. Uh, it’s cold in here.”

  “Yes, about freezing, but a lot warmer than it was. The furnace can only do so much on the first pass. Once were satisfied the pressure is holding, we’ll start to recirc, and it should heat up fairly quickly.

  “Right. Remind me to wear some gloves for a while. I touch anything and I’m liable to stick to it.”

  Gabe grinned. At 14.3 psi, she secured the airflow and closed all the module inlet valves. “Alright, let’s see. Any leaks to the atmosphere will show up as a pressure drop in the module. A leak into a cross-connect will appear as a pressure drop in the module and corresponding increase in the cross-connect. Keep your fingers crossed.”

  He chuckled. “Have you ever tried crossing your fingers in these gloves?”

  She held her hands out, trying to cross her fingers. “Hmmm, doesn’t work very well, does it?”

  Abby’s voice came over the radio. “Jeff, we’re in the Genesis. You ready for us to dock with the airlock?”

  “Yeah, you can go ahead and dock whenever you’re ready, but we don’t have the airlock pressurized yet. We’re pressure testing the habs now, it’ll be a few more minutes. Also, it’s colder than hell in here, you might want to wait until we can get it warmed up a bit.”

  “Roger that. Okay, we’ll go ahead and dock, and then make some lunch. Maybe we should eat in here and wait for the tuna cans to heat a bit before we launch into the startup checklist.”

  He glanced at Gabe. She nodded. “Sounds good to us. We’ll finish pressurizing, unsuit and change in the suit room?” He gave Gabe a quizzical look.

  She nodded again.

  “Then meet you inside.”

  “Okay. How’s lasagna sound?”

  “Works for me. Probably be about half an hour.”

  Jeff and Gabe crawled into the Genesis.

  “How’d it go?” said Abby.

  “Fine,” said Gabe. “Pressure’s up and holding, ventilation is running, and as soon as the temperature gets up to something tolerable we can move in.”

  “Jesus, it’s about time.”

  “What’s the CO2 level look like?” said Susan.

  “5,700 parts per million,” said Gabe. “About what we expected.”

  “That’s good.”

  “About 15 times the CO2 level on Earth.”

  “Yes, but not dangerous.”

  Jeff smirked. “The global warming crowd would freak out up here. The whole planet is nothing but greenhouse gas.”

  “Yes, but in our case, good greenhouse gas. Keeps the planet a little warmer, and should significantly aid plant growth in the greenhouse.”

  “True enough. Hey, I’m starving. How’s lunch coming along?”

  “All ready.”

  #

  After lunch Jeff and Abby again suited up and went outside, taking with them a three foot by five foot sign they had prepared on Earth and sent inside the suit room. Jeff climbed up on the back of Amos right in front of the airlock. “Okay, hand it to me.” Abby handed him the sign that he secured in brackets that had been installed on Earth for the purpose. He then attached a light fixture with two LED lamps, one directed at the sign and the other at the airlock door. And finally he made a couple of electrical connections with small plugs to a jack above the airlock door. “Gabe, you there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, light it up.”

  “Roger.”

  The lights came on and the sign read:

  Grey Station, Mars

  Post Office, food, ice cold beer

  Next gas – 105 million miles

  The sign was also surrounded w
ith blinking Christmas lights. The mileage display – the distance to Earth – was digital and regularly updated by the station’s main computer, plus or minus half a million miles.

  Jeff grinned. “Okay, that’s got it.” He climbed down off Amos and instructed him to drive around the corner, park, and shutdown.

  Abby chuckled. “Excellent.”

  “Yeah. Okay Gabe, kill the lights but leave the mileage display on. We’ll take a couple pictures, then be back inside.”

  “Roger that. How’s it look?”

  “Great.”

  Once back inside and out of their suits, Jeff and Abby headed to the kitchen for coffee. As they strolled through the commons Jeff glanced at the floor beneath the main video screen. “What is that?”

  Gabe, standing in the kitchen hatch said, “It’s the cat.”

  “The what?”

  “The cat.”

  Curled on the floor was a very lifelike stuffed toy cat.

  He shook his head. “And how much did it cost me to get that here?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Yeah, I suppose not. Well, when we go out for the day, somebody remember to put the cat out.”

  #

  That evening the four of them sat down for supper at the dining table in the kitchen for the first meal in their new home on Mars. Jeff looked around the table and smiled. “We don’t usually say grace, but on this auspicious occasion it seems like a good idea. Any volunteers?”

  They all took hands, but the three women stared at him blankly.

  “Uh huh. Abby?”

  She frowned. “Do I look like the grace-saying kind?”

  “Ah, come on, you’re a good Irish Catholic, surely you can think of something.”

  She sighed and stared at the table for a moment, then smiled softly.

  “Some have hunger, but no meat;

  Some have meat, but no hunger;

  I have both.

  God be praised!”

  Jeff burst out laughing. “Amen!”

  Gabe and Susan nodded and smiled. “Amen.”

  “Where’d you learn that?”

  Abby shrugged. “My grandfather used to say it.”

  “I like it. I’ll have to remember it.”

  They began passing dishes around the table.

  Gabe dropped a scoop of scalloped potatoes on her plate, pointed the serving spoon at it and said, “Stay.”

  Jeff glanced at her and grinned. “Still not trusting gravity?”

  “It was a long seven months, I’m still adjusting.”

  “Yeah. Well, while you’re training your supper, how about passing the potatoes?”

  She handed him the bowl.

  “And the serving spoon? I don’t think you’re gonna have to beat them.”

  She handed him the spoon. “Sorry.”

  “Thank you. So, how’s the hab holding up?”

  “Great. Pressure’s holding, all systems are nominal, no problems.”

  “How’s everybody feel?”

  “Tired.”

  Abby and Susan nodded.

  “Yeah, me too. What say we take tomorrow off, catch up on some rest, and just attend to a few housekeeping chores?”

  The others nodded in agreement.

  He glanced at Susan and Abby. “You two get your suits moved into the suit room?”

  They both nodded. “Uh huh,” said Abby.

  “PLSSs plugged in?”

  “Yeah, all of ‘em, and recharging. Now that we’re in, I’m looking forward to doing a little exploring. See what this rock has to offer other than sand.”

  “Uh huh. Lot’s to see. I suppose the first thing we need to do is get Pathfinder moved. Give us some decent communications and tracking.”

  Gabe nodded. “Yes. Our data rate with Earth would be a lot better if we didn’t have to burden the orbiter with ground relay comms as soon as one of us disappears over the horizon.”

  Tuesday, October 11, 2016

  MSD 50755.921 (Sol 5)

  Gabe collapsed atop Jeff. “Oh, god that’s nice.”

  “Yeah, very nice.”

  They lay together for a time, panting, kissing, caressing, then Gabe rolled off and snuggled beside Jeff. “You know, sex in space is very entertaining, but I really like gravity.”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, it does have its uses.”

  “Uh huh. More, um… friction.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Uh oh.”

  “What?”

  “Uh, oh dear, big wet spot in the bed.”

  Jeff laughed. “Uh, that happens.”

  “Not in space, it doesn’t.”

  “A downside to gravity?”

  “Yeah. Oh gosh, why doesn’t it all just stay in?”

  “I dunno, you’re the physicist, you tell me.”

  “Do you really want to know?”

  “No.”

  “Didn’t think so.”

  Jeff wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “So, how do you like Mars?”

  “I don’t know yet, it’s going to take a little getting used to.”

  “Yeah.”

  “But I like this part.”

  He chuckled. “Uh huh.”

  Wednesday, October 12, 2016

  MSD 50756.381 (Sol 6)

  In the kitchen he found Abby and Susan at the table.

  Abby grinned at him. “Sleep well?”

  Jeff returned the grin and nodded. “Just fine, thank you.”

  Susan nodded toward the counter. “There’s fresh coffee.”

  “Thanks. Back in a minute.” Jeff used the bathroom then returned to the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. He rubbed his forehead thoughtfully and glanced back and forth between them. “Are you two still handling this?”

  Susan nodded, “Sure.”

  Abby stared off at the wall and sighed deeply, then turned back to Jeff and nodded. “Yeah.”

  Jeff smiled softly at her. “You don’t sound too sure.”

  Abby shrugged and nodded again. “I’m good.”

  “Okay. I’m gonna take you at your word.”

  “I’m good.”

  Just then Gabe went running through the commons wrapped in a blanket.

  “Hey, there’s…” said Abby.

  “Bathroom!” Gabe yelled as she ran by. Eventually she returned, poured herself a cup of coffee and, still wrapped in the blanket, sat down at the table.

  Susan stared askance at her. “You okay?”

  Gabe grimaced. “Yes. Sometimes gravity is inconvenient.”

  Abby rolled her eyes. “Oh lord.”

  Susan chuckled, Jeff hung his head and groaned.

  “So, um, aside from that, uh, colorful but unnecessary detail, how was your evening?”

  Gabe just stared at her and grinned.

  Abby nodded and cast her a mildly sarcastic smirk. “Yeah. Well that’s just great.” She abruptly stood. “I’m gonna go jog.”

  A minute later Jeff, Gabe and Susan heard the treadmill and Abby’s rapid metronomic footsteps. Their smiles faded a bit and they glanced back and forth at one another.

  Susan nodded and looked at Jeff, “I’ll talk to her. She’ll get over it.” Then she smiled. “And so will I.”

  Jeff pursed his lips and took a deep breath. “Yeah.”

  Gabe frowned.

  Susan reached over and took her hand. “Don’t worry about it. You just do your part.”

  Gabe smiled softly and nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  #

  Jeff looked around at the others. “Everybody ready?”

  They all replied in the affirmative.

  “Alright then, let’s move out. Abby, the word of the day is?”

  “Yeah, I know, caution.”

  “Right. We don’t know what’s in that ravine, so be careful. No heroics.”

  Abby’s sigh was audible. “Yes daddy.”

  Jeff chuckled. “Okay, meet you at the foot of the volcano.”

&
nbsp; “Alright.”

  Abby and Susan took off in Andy heading southeast across the plain toward a ravine skirting the northeast side of the ejecta from the 10-kilometer crater they had named ‘Frying Pan,’ and the extinct volcano to the south of it, while Jeff and Gabe, in Amos, headed northeast toward a low foothill in the west ridge of the shallow canyon in which Pathfinder had landed.

  Five kilometers and half an hour later Gabe pulled to a stop at the base of a sandy slope, about a 100 meters high, the pass through the valley’s west ridge. “That doesn’t look too bad.”

  “No,” said Jeff, “go ahead.”

  She pulled forward.

  As they ascended the slope, Jeff kept eyeing the rover’s tracks. “We sure don’t sink in very much, this stuff compresses more like dirt than sand.”

  “Uh huh.” As they crested the hill she stopped again. “Oops.”

  Jeff stared down the other side. “Uh, yeah. Um, where’d all the rocks come from?”

  “I’m not sure. There aren’t any impact craters around here.”

  “Bedrock?”

  “Probably. Three billion years of gentle easterly breeze just kept blowing the sand over to the west side of the ridge, and exposing the bedrock on this side.”

  “Makes as much sense as anything. Okay, proceed, but take it easy, this is gonna be bumpy.”

  “Yeah.” She gingerly worked her way down the other side into the valley avoiding large rocks and outcroppings. Near the bottom she stopped and pointed to a rock formation about 20 meters south of them. “Look at that outcropping.”

  Jeff surveyed the low rock cliff. “Yeah, what about it?”

  “It’s layered. Look at the gravel clasts, that’s sedimentary conglomerate. There was water here, and lots of it, and for a long time. We should take some samples.”

  “Yeah, but not now. Let’s stick to the business at hand for today. This is less than an hour from the station, we can come back here anytime.”

  Gabe tsk’d. “You’re no fun.”

  “Hey, as it is we’re gonna be lucky to be home before dark, so what say we move it?”

  “Oh, alright.”

  A half hour later Jeff pointed ahead. “There it is.”