by John Dreese
She dragged behind her the only extra oxygen tank they had that was full; otherwise Yeva would have been with her. Molly held a crowbar in her left hand. She had heard the crackly final message left by Adam and was racing to the pyramid to see if she could save them.
Molly paused and bent over to catch her breath. A reflection in her visor made her look up. She saw a fountain of red dust in the distance. It was getting taller. And closer. After a few moments, she saw the golf cart racing toward her. Molly squinted and saw there was only one person sitting in it. She waved at it to stop, but it continued full speed toward her.
As the golf cart came closer, Molly saw it swerving erratically trying to follow the old tire tracks. It looked like a drunk driver was handling it. The driver wasn’t slowing down. Molly jumped out of the way to keep from getting hit. A shower of red sand and grit fell on her as the golf cart passed by and kept going.
“Hey, Yeva, this is Molly. I’m halfway there and the golf cart just drove past me toward Big Turtle. Somebody is driving toward you fast.”
“Then you should come back, too,” answered Yeva.
“But there was only one person in the cart. Should I continue on to the pyramid, just in case?”
Yeva didn’t reply. Her silence acknowledged what they were both thinking. Finally, Yeva stated the obvious.
“If there was only one person driving, I assume the other one is dead. You should come back home now.”
Molly felt like she’d been punched in the gut and started to hyperventilate.
She whispered quietly in her helmet, “Please, dear God, let it be Keller in the golf cart.”
The golf cart continued screaming along through the Martian dust and grit. Adam could no longer see in color; only brief images in black and white as he dazed in and out of consciousness. He saw the Big Turtle and knew that he had to get near the door. He misjudged the distance and crashed it into the side of the ramp, sending a jolt through the entire Big Turtle. He was thrown out of the vehicle and landed near one of the Big Turtle’s support legs.
Adam crawled up the ramp and into the airlock. He forcefully grabbed each of his legs and pulled them into the little room. He yanked the outside door shut. Adam could hear the air flooding in as Yeva spun the valves to help pressurize it quickly. He ripped off his helmet and gasped the deepest breath of his life. The tunnel vision subsided, but he still couldn’t see colors. The door to the ship interior flew open.
“Where is Keller? Why isn’t he with you? What happened?” screamed Yeva.
Adam reached up toward her with his hand, but it fell down again. He was gasping heavily now and eked out a pathetic, “Keller... he… we…”
He gulped another huge breath of air.
“We got trapped, and...”
Adam was hyperventilating. His vision went blurry.
“He didn’t. He, uh. Keller… he…”
Adam passed out and his head slumped to the floor.
Chapter 22
Adam’s eyes popped open. It was dark. No sunshine came through the windows. It must be the middle of the night, he thought to himself. How much time had passed? He felt around in the darkness. He must be lying in the medical bed. Sensor cables were hooked up to his temples.
Adam swung his legs carefully out of bed, letting his feet quietly touch the cold floor. He stood up, trying to clear his foggy brain.
Was it a dream, he asked himself. Adam looked over at the bed stations. Yeva and Molly were there. Keller’s bed was empty.
“Oh no,” whispered Adam.
His lungs still hurt. He shuffled over to the communication station, careful not to pull the wires from his sensors. There was a light blinking near the microphone. That meant they had a message from Mission Control. He looked back to make sure everybody was asleep. Adam put on the headphones and pushed the play button.
“Okay crew, this is Chris Tankovitch. We heard about the terrible news. I am sorry you have to deal with this. Keller’s assistant Lydia has been notified, but we haven’t made any public announcements. We just had an emergency meeting and you’ll have to bury him there. Without refrigeration it wouldn’t be safe to keep him in either the housing unit or the return capsule. And you just can’t strap him to the outside of the ship.”
Adam considered the grim task ahead and cringed.
The message from Chris continued, “… you’ll have to play it by ear, but do the best you can. So far, we think you should continue the mission until completion, but that’s up to you. Oh, and Molly, we received the uploaded photos from Adam and Keller’s investigation of that floating cube thing. Unfortunately, the video upload from Adam’s helmet is taking a really long time. Just let it run overnight. We’ll review it when it’s finished.”
Adam was suddenly frozen in fear. His pulse skyrocketed. The health monitoring computer he was hooked up to started beeping.
“Crap!” he said.
Adam tried to think happy thoughts. Quickly. Sun beams! Sun beams! His pulse calmed down, and the beeping stopped. Yeva and Molly didn’t wake up.
He searched the desktop and found the battered helmet that he’d worn on the mission. The upload cable was plugged into the video camera. The light was blinking which meant the upload was still in progress. Adam reached over and yanked out the cable. In the brief moments of lucidity during the wild drive back, he had hoped to discuss the event with his crew and Mission Control before they watched the helmet video. That was unlikely to happen now. Adam had no idea how much video Mission Control had already received.
Suddenly, bright light from the sunrise tore through the window edges and lit up the room with a dull gray glow. It was morning on Mars. The automatic blinds slowly rolled up.
Adam went back to the medical bed and sat down to think over the recent events. Ten minutes later, the morning wakeup call came from their ship computer. It was a mechanical voice saying, “Rise and shine!” The voice was way too happy for the mood on Mars. Molly and Yeva slowly stirred from their sleep and woke up. Adam stood up and put together breakfast for everybody.
Yeva was the first to show; Molly was in the bathroom. Yeva looked around to make sure Molly couldn’t hear her and she whispered to Adam, “Molly isn’t doing so well. She’s very upset. Frankly, we’ve both been too upset to even watch the video. Be careful what you say to her, okay?”
Adam nodded without making eye contact.
They sat down to their bland tubes of raisin bran and coffee. However, nobody had much of an appetite.
“Adam, please tell us what happened out there,” Yeva said, breaking the silence.
Adam took a drink of coffee and stared at the table.
“A Marsquake caused the door to close on us. We were stuck inside. In order to get out, we used one of our oxygen tanks as an air hammer to knock the door down.”
Adam looked up at their intense faces. He added, “We were down to one tank without enough air for both of us. And then I, we, had to make a terrible decision.”
Molly started to cry and bellowed out, “He gave up his life for you?”
“Yes. He saved my life,” said Adam plainly.
She was leaning on the table with her hands covering her face, sobbing loudly.
That was all Adam was willing to say. The head-mounted video camera didn’t record sound. Instead, their microphone dialogue was transmitted to the receivers on the Big Turtle and relayed to Houston; later spliced with the video by NASA personnel. Unfortunately, they didn’t receive any usable audio from the time they were trapped. Without hearing the actual words exchanged between them in the pyramid, Adam realized that his description of the events would eventually be questioned. He hoped that someday his own explanation would add context to the unfortunate video. He wondered how much Chris had watched of the video, if any.
Molly was trying to slow her tears. Her nose was pouring snot.
“Look, I understand this is an awful thing,” said Adam. “He died a hero. I’ll go back to the pyramid today and get him, okay? We’ll
give him a proper burial with full honors.”
“You broke the golf cart during your trip back. You will have to go there on foot,” Yeva explained.
Adam sighed and nodded; bad news after bad news.
He got up and hugged Molly saying, “I’m so sorry this happened.” He walked over to the medical bed, sat down, and turned away from the two women. He was incapable of processing anything else right now. All he could think about was having a video-conference with his family, but that would have to wait a few more hours.
Late morning finally arrived and Adam suited up for his long workday. He had three tasks when he got outside. First, see if the golf cart was easily repairable. It wasn’t. Second, dig a grave. Below the dusty surface, the ground was compacted and very hard to dig. The digging process took him so long that he had to replace his oxygen tank.
Now, for his final task. Walk to the pyramid and retrieve not only Keller, but the anti-gravity cube that he’d left. It would most likely be his last trip to the pyramid. Getting home was all he cared about now.
Adam followed the golf cart tracks as well as Molly’s footprints from the day before. It was going to be the longest walk of his life. Not in time or distance, mind you, but in the cost to his spirit. He had faced a life or death decision, and he chose life.
That decision may have cost him his soul.
Before Adam got too far, his headset buzzed, “Wait up! I am coming with you.”
The airlock opened and Yeva emerged. Each of them wore two oxygen tanks for this long walk. It took nearly twenty minutes to reach the fossil site. Neither one said a word. They walked past the fossil boulders and toward the pyramid. Adam noticed the wheel tracks left by the Curiosity and saw what direction it had taken the day before. He slowed down as he approached the pyramid.
Yeva stopped when she saw Keller’s body in the distance. It was facing down in the red dust.
“You stay here. I’ll go take care of him,” said Adam.
He walked over and laid out the body bag. NASA included them on all of their missions, but had never had to use one until now. He rolled Keller’s body into it and zipped it up most of the way. Adam stopped briefly to look at the helmet. He saw a gruesome face through the missing visor glass. Keller’s expression was frozen solid, literally and emotionally – his eyes frosted over in shock. Adam looked away as he zipped the body bag completely closed.
Yeva looked curiously at the floodlight tripod. It was broken open and laying just a few feet away.
Adam stood up and said, “Let’s get the anti-gravity cube. I’ll show you what it does when we get back to the Big Turtle.”
They walked past the toppled door and into the pyramid. The room was heavily illuminated by sunlight. Adam quickly found the anti-gravity cube floating over near a wall. He picked it up and was still amazed at how dense it felt. With nowhere on his suit to store it, he walked back outside and placed it in the body bag with Keller. Adam tied a bungee cord to the bag, tying the other end to his pressure suit. With the low gravity on Mars, it wouldn’t be very difficult to pull it back to the Big Turtle.
“Let’s head home,” said Adam.
He didn’t complain about having to drag the load several miles. Once again nobody spoke. As they approached the base, they noticed that Molly had decided to join them. She was next to the gravesite, kneeling down to look into the freshly dug hole.
Adam knew that Molly had grown close to Keller during the training in California; they were unofficially a couple that neither he nor Yeva told NASA about. Keller’s death was hard on her.
In between these somber thoughts, Adam remembered that he and Yeva had taken all of the full oxygen tanks with them. Molly didn’t have one.
Chapter 23
Molly had a simple reaction to the news about Keller. It hit her like a freight train. Part of her very being perished that morning in slow motion; her soul followed soon after. It was a mortal wound. After Adam and Yeva left to retrieve Keller’s body, Molly put on her pressure suit, neglecting to notice or care that it had no oxygen tank. She exited through the airlock and walked over to the gravesite that Adam had created. She kneeled down in front of the empty hole. Molly thought about Keller as she slowly consumed all of the remaining oxygen in her suit. She grew light headed. She didn’t fall over. She just sat in that position. By the time Adam and Yeva found her, she was frozen solid in a position of eternal mourning.
Yeva started sobbing uncontrollably. Her helmet was fogging up. She ran over to Molly’s lifeless body, wanting to help, but realized there was nothing she could do.
Adam let go of the body bag and ran over to Yeva.
“I should’ve stayed with her,” cried Yeva.
“Look Yeva, we’re all under tremendous stress. You couldn’t have known she would do something like this.”
She swung around in impatient anger.
“But I should’ve known!” yelled Yeva.
“What do you mean?” asked Adam, confused.
Yeva closed her eyes and asked, “Do you remember back during the training in California? You thought Keller and Molly were getting a little too close and it might jeopardize the mission?”
“Yes, we both remember that,” admitted Adam.
“Well, you were right on all counts. You should’ve said something to them! During the initial launch up to the Space Station, do you remember her vomiting in her helmet?”
“Yeah, she got motion sickness. I did too. It’s common.”
Yeva gained her composure back and stared blankly at Adam. She delicately swiveled her head side to side.
“No. Molly told me it was morning sickness. It was the first time she’d ever had it.”
Adam collapsed, his mouth agape. He leaned on the shovel that was sticking out of the dirt.
Yeva looked down at him.
“I take it you didn’t know?” asked Yeva plainly.
“No, of course not. I just assumed she was gaining weight.”
“Oh my God, are you serious?” asked Yeva with a look of disbelief and horror.
“Look, the alternative was unthinkable, right?”
“Unfortunately, the alternative was true. She didn’t even know for sure until after we’d left the Space Station. There was no turning back.”
With a lump in his throat, Adam asked, “Who knew?”
“She told Chris Tankovitch. About a week after we launched, he raised some questions about her medical readings. Chris decided against releasing the information to the public. Not until our return.”
Adam looked up at Yeva and asked, “Did Keller know?”
“Yes, she told him right before you guys left for the pyramid.”
Silence. Adam was reprocessing all that had happened. After a minute, he broke the quiet with an offer for Yeva.
“That’s really… that’s some pretty awful news. I need some time to think. Look, you go inside, and I’ll dig another grave. Right next to Keller.”
Yeva nodded her head and said, “You know what, I would rather stay here with you for a while.”
Adam took the shovel and started the arduous task of digging another hole in the hard sand and loose bedrock. He couldn’t help but thinking that he was actually digging graves for three people. Adam considered joining them.
Each shovel of dirt weighed more and more. It took longer than he wanted, but he didn’t care. He put Molly gently down in the new grave and slowly covered her in Martian sand and gravel. He carefully put Keller in his grave and started shoveling dirt on top of him. Halfway through, he halted, remembering that the anti-gravity cube was still in the body bag.
Oh no, he thought to himself.
Adam unzipped the body bag and removed the anti-gravity cube. He zipped it back up and finished the burial. The dry red dust swirled around as he shoveled one last scoop of dirt on top of the bodies.
Adam found the American and Russian flags they had planted early on and built a makeshift cross out of them, connecting them with some thin nylon r
ope from the golf cart toolkit. He stuck it in the ground between the graves. Adam said a quick prayer and asked for forgiveness.
Yeva didn’t say a word. She turned and walked up the dented ramp. She paused, tilting her head to figure out what was wrong with the airlock. She could see straight through it.
“Hey, Adam?”
He paused to lean on the shovel and look at her.
“Yes, Yeva?”
“Both ends of the airlock are wide open. I don’t think Molly bothered to close them when she came outside.”
Adam swung his head around quickly.
“The air must be all gone by now!” yelled Adam.
Yeva ran through the airlock, quickly followed by Adam. He grabbed both doors and slammed them shut. The inside of Big Turtle was at a near vacuum. The temperature had dropped to nearly -100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Adam, returning to panic mode, stated the obvious, “We can’t take our helmets off, and neither of us has much air!”
Yeva said, “Calm down, Adam. First thing’s first. We already sealed the door. Now, go over to the life support panel and crank up the oxygen generation system - if it still works.”
Adam sprinted over to the panel, but slipped and fell, smashing his helmet on the dinner table. The water supplies had exploded and frozen over, leaving an ice sheet on the floor. Adam heard a hissing sound coming from a growing crack in his facemask.
“Oh, please, please no!” he yelled as he stood back up and speed-walked over to the life support panel. Adam grabbed the oxygen system knob and cranked it up to its maximum. That would hopefully make the room breathable in a few minutes. Adam tried to focus his eyes on the crack in his visor, only three inches from his face. His gloved hand came up against the crack to help slow the leak.
That was enough to avoid disaster. The ship was finally pressurizing with a mix of nitrogen and oxygen.
Adam looked down the hallway connecting them to Little Turtle and noticed the door was shut.
“It looks like we had a bit of good luck for a change. Look over there, the door to the Little Turtle is shut. Our return supplies are probably still undamaged by the extreme temperatures. Maybe Molly was telling us to go home.”