“I wouldn’t do that too much,” Wallis said.
Gerald pulled his hand back, glancing briefly over his shoulder. “Why not?”
“I hear human oils can cause friction.”
“Really? And where did you hear that?”
“Wilk.”
“Well that’s a reliable source.” Gerald took a few steps back from the craft. “I hope it’s as good as Zalta says it is.”
“It’ll be even better.” Wallis had walked up beside Gerald. “Do you know why I chose you for the mission all those years ago? Why I gave you a chance?”
Gerald shrugged. “That answer has always eluded me. I have a feeling you’re about to elaborate though.”
“Indeed. I grew up in Juno. Did you know that?”
“No. No one’s told me that.”
“Not very many people know. My parents were not the best citizens, we had very little. When I was old enough to make a choice for myself, begin my life, I left Juno. My parents stayed there. Gerald, it doesn’t matter where you come from, it’s the path you choose that defines where you end up. I want you to think about that before you launch today.”
Gerald glanced at Wallis. Did he know too? Was he really that bad a liar?
“Some people are easier to read than others. I’ve seen where you’ve been and I have a pretty good hunch as to where you’re going. Whatever choice you make will not change what has happened.”
“No, but it could change what will happen.”
“Before the others got here, I wanted to wish you luck. I am rather surprised at how well the three of you have done. I fought with Luna a long time on whether to replace your two fallen comrades, but she insisted that you three were all that was necessary. I can see she was right.”
“Wallis,” Gerald said before Wallis could walk away. “Would you do me a favor?”
“Of course.”
“Check in on my mother from time to time. She might need a little more help than she lets on.”
“I will do my best.” Wallis patted Gerald’s shoulder then walked away.
Gerald listened as the footsteps that echoed through the hangar slowly died away. He waited patiently until new ones replaced them. Gerald turned around. “It’s about time you got here.”
“Do you have to say that every time?” Zalta asked. “It’s getting old.”
“Like you.”
She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Are you ready?” Luna asked.
Gerald shrugged. “As ready as I’ll ever be. What about you?”
“I set my affairs in order.”
“Affairs? I just said goodbye to my mother. What did you do? Leave a will?”
“There were certain things that needed to be taken care of.” She then turned to Wilk. “I hope you took care of what you needed to.”
“Of course I did. I made sure that all my stuff is buried on Mars. Nobody’s getting anything from me.” Wilk smiled. “Wallis wasn’t going to stick around for our launch? He always watches us leave.”
“Not this time,” Gerald said. He looked into Luna’s eyes and watched as her shoulders slumped forward. “He has other things to do. It’s fine.”
Zalta helped them on board and sat at the controls as she explained to Luna how everything worked. She showed her all the new features while Wilk and Gerald sat at the back checking out the amenities on board. There were several more sleep pods than what was necessary with only a single waste disposal unit. There was a small area for them to prepare foods. Gerald took a second to double check how well stocked it was. There appeared to be plenty of packets to last them a while, though he was concerned that maybe they’d need more.
“By the way,” Zalta said as she stood up. “Underneath the ship is a hydroponic chamber. The plants help with your oxygen supply and a few of them are edible. Be careful on which is which. If you eat anything down there, you need to replace it with something immediately so that there is always more.”
“I think we can handle it from here,” Luna said. “You can always call us if you think of something else.”
Zalta saluted Luna and pointed a threatening finger at Gerald. “Remember, I don’t ever want to hear of you flying this one, you got that?”
Gerald nodded. “Loud and clear.” After she left, he added, “You’ll never hear about it.”
“Activate the hangar door,” Luna said.
Wilk spun in his seat and pressed a button. “Check.”
“Just got to make sure Zalta is a safe distance away.”
Gerald watched out the front window, waiting for the launch. He had already strapped himself in at the side controls. Wilk had taken the seat beside Luna and was strapped in as well. They just needed the go ahead and they’d be off, leaving for far longer than Gerald would have liked.
He felt the engines roar to life and the steady hum became like incessant music in his ears. The ship buzzed slightly beneath him. They tilted upward and began to lift from the ground. Then, when she was clear of Mars’s atmosphere, the ship shot forward. Gerald felt the pit of stomach rise into his chest.
It took him several minutes, but the sensation started to subside and he could feel himself become slightly less queasy. “I’m curious, was it supposed to feel like that?”
“Get over it Gerald,” Luna said. “Alright. We all know the plan, right?”
“Which one?” Wilk asked. “His plan or yours.”
“Do you two ever take anything seriously?”
They answered with “No” in unison.
Luna sighed. “I don’t know what possessed me to agree to go on this ridiculous quest.”
“Because you agree that he needs to be stopped before he reaches the Last Hope,” Gerald said. “Did you check to make sure she filled up on fuel and that the cells were completely charged before we took off?”
“Zalta did everything we asked. They made a run to Venus last week so I know, the quality is still good.”
“That’s good. I checked food while she was talking to you and we appear to be well stocked.” Gerald took a seat. “I think we’ll survive the journey.”
“We better,” Wilk said. “I did not sign up to die out in the middle of nowhere.”
“None of us did. The plan is to do one final research run on Earth and leave right from there.”
“And why are we doing this?”
“Partially to soften the blow that we’ve taken the ship,” Luna said. “And partially so keep suspicion low until it’s too late.”
Gerald groaned slightly. “I don’t think that’s going to matter.”
“Why not?”
“Wallis knows. I don’t know how, but he does. Tried to talk me out of it.”
Wilk smirked. “Well, then it shouldn’t be too hard to explain when we do it anyway.”
“I can’t believe he didn’t pull us off if he knew what we were doing,” Luna said. “He must be as crazy as we are.”
“I’ve always guessed as much,” Gerald said.
After flying for a couple hours, the group finally arrived at Earth. Luna found a place to land and turned around in her chair. She had a scowl on her face. “We are going to take off in an hour. That’s all I need. I want the two of you to dive. I’ll take a couple air samples and soil samples just for a comparison. If you’re not back here in an hour, I’ll leave without you.”
Gerald nodded. He slipped on his suit, grabbed a helmet and a pack. He glanced at Wilk who gave him a smile. Gerald and Wilk made their way to the water’s edge, completely suited up. “Are you ready?” Gerald asked.
“Let’s do this,” Wilk said.
They took off. “I’m glad she agreed to this. It’s so much harder to really get to speak to them when she comes with me.”
“They’ve always seemed to be calmer around us.”
“Luna’s just a little high strung sometimes. If she relaxed a little, they’d be calmer around her as well.”
“She might need to relax a lot more than a little,�
� Wilk said. “Ready to dive.”
Gerald took the lead and pelted below the surface. The water was clear in the daylight toward the surface. He could make out a lot of the normal activity. “Turn your camera on.”
“Check. Did you turn yours on?”
Gerald didn’t answer. He wanted to wait. “Maybe we should stop here. It looks like there’s a lot of activity.” Gerald slowed down slightly. Then he could make out the one he was looking for. The big one. “You stop and observe. I’ll go on just a bit further. Wait for me here.”
“One of these days, he’s going to have to speak to me too.”
“Maybe when we get back. Maybe then.” Gerald sped up. He was sure that Wilk had stopped and didn’t bother looking back to make sure. With a quick double check, he made sure the camera was really off. That was the only thing he had ever promised. And he always kept that promise. “I was hoping to find you, Gernot.”
Gernot never really spoke, not in a clear language. It had taken Gerald several years just to decipher that he was speaking at all, but as he got to know the being that was Gernot, he managed to learn how to understand him. It was a combination of vibrations and odd pitched noises that made up his language. What always seemed to amaze him was that Gernot could understand Gerald just as well.
“I will not be back for a while. I wanted to tell you.”
Gernot made a few noises.
Gerald nodded. “Yes, there will be others who will come to observe. They’re curious. They want to know more about you. I’m sure that if you just let them in, they’d have no problem understanding you. Our species’ could work together.”
There was a silence, then Gernot answered.
“Do what you want. I would never force you to make a decision. I just hope you’ll not try to eat the next couple people who come down here to observe.”
Gernot made a motion like he was trying to shake his head, something that he had probably learned from Gerald.
“I know you don’t eat people. It was a joke. I really hope I will get to see you again.” Gerald said goodbye and then swam back to Wilk. He turned his camera on. “How is it going?”
“I’m bored out of my mind. Can we go back?”
“Without at least thirty minutes of footage, I think she might kill us. This is supposed to be our last chance to prove that this place is worth further research after we quit our positions. We don’t record this, Capena may not send anyone else.”
Wilk swam around so that Gerald could see the confused look on his face. “Have you met Wallis? This is a complete waste of time. And I’m hungry.”
“Is this how you’re going to be while we travel across the stars?”
“How was your buddy? He heartbroken that you’re leaving?”
Gerald shook his head. “I don’t know why I asked you to tag along. I ought to have better sense than that.”
“Yes, you should.”
They swam around in the same area for a while. Then, when Gerald was bored as well, he turned to Wilk. “Alright we can go now. I’ll race you.”
“Loser has to ride shotgun with Luna for takeoff.”
Gerald powered up his pack and took off. He waited a while before breaking the surface. Ahead of Wilk, Gerald heard a second splash. He knew that he was only leading by seconds . Gerald clamped his arms tightly to his side and placed his feet firmly together, pointing his toes back, trying to lessen his drag. Wilk appeared beside him and began to pull ahead. Then, Wilk shot below the surface and popped back up, evening up with Gerald again.
“What was that?” Gerald asked.
“Just wondered what it would be like to do something like that. Didn’t you say that was what those mammal fish things used to do?”
“Mammal fish,” Gerald said with a laugh. “More or less, that’s what they did.” Gerald sped up slightly and dove below the surface for a second before darting back up. He felt the sharp sting of the surface tension as it doubled up. “That hurt a little, but it was so fun.”
“Can’t agree with you more.” Wilk shot under the water and popped back into the air again.
Gerald shot ahead as the shore had just come into view. He landed seconds before Wilk. “I win again.”
“You cheated.” Wilk laughed. “Maybe we should find someplace to hide.”
Gerald took his helmet off. “Why?” He looked up and saw immediately what Wilk had meant. Luna was walking toward them and she didn’t look happy. “I think it might be too late.”
“It was good knowing you.”
Gerald slipped his pack off as well and set everything in the dirt. “We’re back.” He tried to sound as though he was happy to be back. “Are you ready to leave?”
“Really? You two were barely gone for twenty minutes. Did you get any usable footage?”
“Yeah, lots,” Gerald said. “Did you get the samples?”
“They’ve been processed already and the results have been sent to Wallis. As soon as you upload your footage, we will be able to move on, far earlier than I would like to.”
Gerald smiled. Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out Wilk already walking toward the ship. “Wallis will continue the program. He really doesn’t have a choice.”
“If this whole thing wasn’t your idea, I would have left you in the middle of space a long time ago.”
“I appreciate that you didn’t.” Gerald patted Luna on the shoulder and made his way to the ship. As he boarded, he found Wilk already stripped of the hydration suit and placing his helmet on the shelf.
“Is she mad?”
“No. Maybe disappointed.”
“She’ll be angry when she finds out you had your camera off for part of the observation window.”
“If she finds out. Is your footage uploaded already?”
Wilk shrugged. “Yeah, I think I did it.”
“You think? You’re useless.”
“That’s why I’m one of the disappointment brothers.”
Gerald sighed as he sat down at his station, pulling up Wilk’s footage. He then uploaded his own from the helmet and pulled it up as well. There was definitely a time difference between the two, one that Wallis might notice. So, with a little tinkering, Gerald managed to loop part of his own footage to make his length match Wilk’s. Then Gerald sent it to Wallis. “Done and Luna never has to look at it.”
“Never have to look at what?”
Gerald turned around to see Luna sealing the airlock door. “I just was saying that you wouldn’t have to worry about our footage because I took care of it.”
“Did you also take care of the paperwork?”
Gerald rolled his eyes. “Can’t that wait? We have a launch to do.”
“You have until we pass Uranus to send it. Past that point, I’m not positive of the ability of the systems aboard this vessel to transmit anything back to Mars.”
“The other ship could transmit up to the edge of the solar system. Their last transmission was just before they jumped,” Wilk said.
“This vessel is newer and the technology is far superior to that of the other ship, however, it’s smaller and certain things had to be compromised. I’m just not positive of all the abilities of this ship.”
“Then, we might need to test everything,” Gerald said. “In the interest of science of course.”
“I have a feeling the two of you will have far too much fun trying out all the systems on board,” Luna said. “Strap in. I’ll break us free of Earth’s atmosphere and then we will test the systems one by one.”
Gerald took a seat and pulled up the paperwork, the analysis of everything they had studied. He managed to finish before they reached Mars, though he was sure that it wouldn’t be up to Luna’s standards. Wilk and Luna were already through testing several systems, activating different parts using the internal computer and then the manual backups in case of computer failure. Everything worked far better than they could have hoped.
“Gerald, do you think you could go below and check out the hy
droponic chambers as well as the water filtration system? Just look for anything abnormal.”
Gerald looked at Luna, his head slightly tilted to the side. “And you think I’m the person for the job? Sure. I’ll look at them. I’m sure I would be able to tell if something were wrong.”
“There’s no need to be sarcastic,” Luna said. “Just pretend you’re intelligent.”
Gerald shook his head as he activated the hatch. It wasn’t a lift; that seemed like a better option. Far less could go wrong with just classic stairs. He made his way down and the automatic lights gradually turned on, illuminating a complete level just as big as above. It was separated into two separate rooms. One had plants growing. That room was far larger. There were green ones, similar to what Gerald had seen as a boy, but others were different, ranging in color from orange to blue, and these had a filmy texture to them. All the plants appeared healthy and were far larger than he had expected. There were two layers of them. Some were growing from the floor in synthetic soils and others grew from an upside down box hanging from the ceiling which had just a few wires to hold everything up.
Gerald then checked out the smaller room with the water filtration system. He assumed the main mechanics for the ship must have been underneath, only accessible from the outside. The water filtration system appeared to be normal as well. It was giving off a steady hum. There were no leaks and the grate covered, thin cylinders on either side were full. He shrugged and walked back up to the first level.
“Everything looks normal to me,” he said.
“Good,” Luna said. “Did you send in the analysis for our final mission to Earth?”
Gerald nodded. “It’s been completed and sent in already.” He looked out the large window. They were further along than he had expected to be; Jupiter was pulling into sight. “By the end of the day tomorrow, we’re going to be ready to jump, aren’t we?”
Luna smiled. “This ship is far better than I would have hoped. We should definitely be close to catching up to that despicable man.”
“Is this still a good idea?”
Wilk slapped Gerald on the back. “It’s a little late to ask that question, don’t you think?”
The Oceans of Mars Page 18