Lost in the Red Hills of Mars

by Jackie Hunter

  “Dad’s alive? Dad’s alive?”

  “Yes, child. I saw a great canyon next to the cluster of hills. Do you know of such a place?”

  Celine’s heart raced as she thought of seeing her dad. “Enisi, there are many red hills here.” She sucked her teeth. “Dad could be anywhere.”

  Celine pushed her shoulders back and held her head proud as she stifled her tears. “I will find him, Enisi.”

  “You cannot do this alone, Celine. You are not ready for such a journey yet. You must prepare. You must be strong. Your dad has what he needs to live.”

  “Why hasn’t he come home? Or called us?”

  “He cannot.”

  “Why? I don’t understand.”

  “Just know, little one, he would come home to you if he could.”

  Thoughts raced through Celine’s mind. Mom won’t have to marry Morg. I won’t have to take my Brain Booster. This gave her strength.

  “I haven’t had a chance to speak with Mr. Rittenhouse.”

  “Mr. Rittenhouse has hired Mr. Morg to help him locate the Olivine ores. Somehow Mr. Morg has won Mr. Rittenhouse’s trust. You cannot depend on him now.”

  “How do you know that?” Celine asked.

  “You know I used to work in the Company. I still have friends there. They keep me in the loop,” Enisi replied.

  “You must get the boy, Alex, to help you. You cannot do it alone, Celine. Goliga?” (Understand?)

  Celine nodded. “I’m supposed to show him around the Compound today. What do I tell him?”

  “Tell him you know your dad’s alive and that he has the coordinates to the Olivine ores. That is all you will need to say.”

  “You are right, Enisi. I am full of joy, but…” Celine rolled her eyes upward and exhaled. “I’m scared.”

  “Be strong, Celine. Never let fear lead you. I know your dad’s alive, and with Alex’s help, you can find him.” Enisi swallowed. “Get him back home.”

  “Asehi, Enisi,” (Yes, Grandmother.)

  “Gvgeyu, nigohilvi.” (Love you, Granddaughter.)

  “Gvgeyu, Enisi.” (Love you, Grandmother.)

  The transmission ended.

  Celine remained seated at her computer, feeling numb. She returned to her Chakra lecture but heard none of it. Even the warmth from her light therapy box felt chilled. After listening to the lecture a second time, Celine placed her mom’s blanket on the floor and sat cross-legged on it in front of the drawer that contained her flute. Her mother had asked her to not play it, but she had to. Something about its haunting melody seemed to calm her. She lifted and held the flute as if it were sacred, then pressed it to her lips and began to gently blow into it. The melody was soft but rich, and somehow it evoked a calmness and strength.

  Uji appeared and stood behind her and swayed its head side to side. Sometimes Celine wondered if Uji knew it was only an AI.

  Suddenly Uji stopped swaying and said, “You have an appointment with Mr. Morg. Time to go.”

  Celine played one more bar, then carefully placed the flute back into its resting place.

  She stood up and took a long stretch. “I can do it,” she said.

  “Punctuality is very important,” Uji said.

  Celine smiled. She turned to the desk where the family’s precious mirror hung, and she studied her profile. “Nice,” she said after staring into her big brown eyes. She began to pat and smooth her curly hair with her fingers.

  “I honestly can’t believe Morg is giving me this assignment. This is the nicest thing he’s ever done for me.” Celine looked at her image in the mirror. She had dark, curly hair like her father. She pouted. “But you’ll never be my dad, Morg.” With confidence, she stepped into the corridor and headed for the commons where Morg was waiting at a table.

  “Hi, Morg,” she said. “Thanks for the tour assignment.”

  “Sure. Your mom told me you’re a big fan of his. She said you have more photos of Alex on your computer than you do of your own family.” He grinned. Celine looked away.

  “By the way, Dr. Baylor is also a big fan of Alex’s.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “She has some of his latest adventures if you’re interested.”

  “Really?” Celine shifted from one foot to the other.

  “Sure, I’ll let her know you’d like to see them.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Here are your clearance badges for the tour. Take good care of them. They’ll give you access to every place in the Compound.”

  “Yes, sir, I will.” Celine took the badges and attached one to the magnetic strip on her chest pocket and held the other in her hand. “Oh, Mom said you have passes for us to go out on the surface.”

  “That’s right, I do. I figured you could use some natural sunlight.”

  Morg’s Com hummed. He tapped it and listened. “We’re on our way. Let’s go, Celine.” They headed for the Porta. “I guess we all could use a little sunlight after spending six months underground. It’s been a cold winter. Might get you well sooner. Gotta keep the baby well,” Morg said playfully, gesturing toward Celine.

  “Don’t call me that,” Celine said. “I’ll be thirteen this year.”

  “I know,” he said. “But you’ve gotta understand: you’re the only child ever born here, so to me you’ll always be the baby.” He reached into his jumpsuit pocket, pulled out the two passes for visits to the surface, and handed them to Celine.

  Without saying a word, she took the passes, placed them into her jumpsuit pocket, and straightened her suit.

  Morg took a wrapped meat jerky stick from one of his pockets as they waited for the Porta.

  “Want some?” he asked.

  “No, I’ve already had my morning rations.”

  “So are you excited about having your birthday celebration?”

  “I don’t want to talk about that, Morg.” Celine looked down at the panel. “I wish this thing would hurry up.” Just then the door to the Porta opened.

  Morg dropped his wrapper on the floor. That irritated Celine, but instead of confronting Morg, she stepped into the Porta before its door closed. They descended forty feet below ground where the colonists had expanded their facilities.

  “Remember to take good care of your badges,” Morg said.

  “I won’t let them out of my sight.”

  The door opened, and Alex and Admin were waiting by the isolation room.

  “Good day, Admin,” Morg said.

  “And so it is.” Admin nodded to Morg and then Celine.

  “Good day, Alex,” Morg continued. “You remember Celine? We were in the infirmary earlier today. She’s taking you on a tour of the Compound.”

  “Good day,” Alex said and nodded at Morg and then Celine.

  Celine thought she saw his lips curl when he nodded at her. He doesn’t know the correct response to the greetings here.

  “I’ll take my leave,” Morg said to Admin Rittenhouse.

  “Dismissed,” she replied. She turned her attention to Alex and Celine. “Celine is the only child on this planet,” she said fondly. “She’s our first true Martian.”

  Alex’s lips turned down as if he smelled something rancid.

  Oh, is he already bored with the Compound? Celine thought. She had wondered if there was enough action in the Compound to keep an interplanetary traveler like Alex entertained.

  Alex folded his arms in front of his chest and stared at her as if studying a specimen. Then lifted an eyebrow.

  What was that all about? Celine thought. “Alex, I really am your biggest fan,” she said nervously.

  “Really?” His voice revealed no appreciation.

  “Yes! I have thousands of images of you in my files, and I’ve seen all of your adventures on Space Flick.”

  “Great!” Alex responded mockingly. “Let’s get this tour started.” He scoffed as he strutted to the Porta, leaving Celine standing with Admin.

  “Did I say something wrong?” Celine asked.

/>   “He’s had a tough morning—a little conflict with his dad,” Admin replied and then laughed.

  Why does Admin think that’s funny?

  “Maybe you can cheer him up.”

  “I’ll try…” Celine said and then ran to the Porta to join Alex.

  “Here,” she said as she handed Alex his badge. “Put it on your magnetic strip. You can use it to open any door in the Compound.”

  “Really,” he said and raised a devious eyebrow.

  Something about Alex’s expression made her uncomfortable. “I, personally, would never abuse its power,” she said matter-of-factly.

  Alex snapped on his badge and grinned. “Neither would I.”

  They entered the Porta together and arrived in the commons shortly after.

  Oh, this is going to be so exciting! I’m giving Alex Rittenhouse a tour! I’ll have to pinch myself. He’s literally the cutest boy on Earth. I will make sure that this is the best tour of his life!

  “So, the commons is the busiest place in the Compound. It’s where most people work. We have our meals here and sometimes entertainment,” she said proudly.

  “What kind of entertainment?”

  “Poetry readings, storytelling…”

  “Poetry?” Alex regurgitated the word.

  “We also have holographic movies.” She pointed to a small marquee set close to the wall next to one of the four exits. “The winter list is still up.”

  Alex scrolled down the list of movies on the marquee and then turned up his nose.

  “These are old.”

  “Oh,” Celine said, feeling deflated. “Well, they’re new to me,” she recovered.

  She pointed to one of the food printers. “This is where everyone gets their meals. We can choose anything we want.”

  “We brought our own food from Earth,” Alex said. “Freeze dried. Much better than this synthetic crap.”

  “Well, I like it!”

  “That’s because you don’t know any better. Is this it? Is there anything else to see?” Alex asked.

  Celine had never met anyone so rude. In fact she had never technically “met” anyone up until this point. She racked her brain for something that might impress him. “Maybe you’d like the fitness room. It’s the most fun place on the entire Compound.”

  “Fitness room? Let’s go.”

  They walked down one of the four corridors that extended from the commons. Soon they arrived at the fitness room. Everyone was required to use it at least thirty minutes a day.

  “It’s the second-largest room in the Compound,” Celine said. “I used to come here all the time to climb and swim with…” She hesitated, and memories of climbing and swimming with her father flooded her brain. “I used to come here every day with my dad.”

  “Climb?” Alex looked around the padded room and walked over to the manager panel.

  Celine joined him. “Here are my simulations,” she said and placed her thumb on the panel. “I love climbing.”

  “I do too.” Alex grinned.

  Celine smiled. She was happy that she finally found something that Alex enjoyed. “Maybe we could do some climbing together.”

  “Mountain climbing?”

  “No. Wall.”

  “That’s nothing. I don’t wall climb. Where’s the challenge in that?” he rolled his eyes, and it was clear that he was not amused. Celine, fed up, mustered up enough courage to blurt out, “Are you always so rude?”

  “Most of the time,” he replied and then chuckled.

  Celine opened her mouth but was speechless. She rushed out the fitness room, through the commons, and to her quarters. She then flopped on her parents’ bunk.

  “He’s horrible!” Celine wailed.

  Uji appeared. “He’s horrible?”

  “Yes, Alex is the most obnoxious boy I have ever met.”

  “You have never met a boy.”

  “Well, he’s still obnoxious! I’m deleting every single picture of him from my files.” Celine flopped down at her desk, ready to delete all photos and videos of Alex, when the buzzer to her quarters rang.

  “Enter,” she said, expecting to see one of the colonists. Instead, in walked Alex.

  “So, this is where you live?” he said, eyeing their cozy quarters from the doorway.

  “Yes, this is it,” Celine said. She gritted her teeth and flared her nostrils.

  “Small,” he said.

  “What do you want?”

  “Look, I’m sorry. When I am at home, it’s just Dad, the guys, and me. We mess around a lot. You’re just too sensitive.” The words tumbled out.

  “I’m not sensitive! You were rude to me…And I was your number-one fan.” Celine bit her lip. She was determined not to cry.

  Alex’s mouth remained parted to continue his critique of Celine’s behavior, but he said nothing.

  Celine thought he looked uncomfortable. They locked eyes for a moment before he looked away.

  “I will accept your apology,” she said softly.

  “Thanks,” Alex said, turning to leave.

  “What’s ‘messing around’?”

  Alex chuckled. “It means to joke around.”

  “Oh. I see. Strange.” She smiled.

  “You live here with your parents?”

  “Just Mom and me.” Celine swallowed. She wished her dad was there to give Alex a piece of his mind. “My dad was lost in a sandstorm right before winter.”

  “I’m sorry. That’s tough.”

  “Yeah. I miss him.”

  “Sometimes I wish mine would disappear.”

  “I don’t understand that.”

  “Sometimes, he…Never mind.” Alex appeared to be in deep thought. “How did it happen exactly?”

  Celine studied Alex’s face. He seemed melancholy, and he appeared to have a faint haze of blue outlining his body. She glanced at herself in the mirror and was relieved to see her eyes were normal.

  “Celine?”

  She looked up at Alex, snapping out of her hypnosis, and she could no longer see the blue haze around him. “Oh, sorry,” she said quickly. “Um, all right…Where do I begin?” she whispered. “Dad and Mr. Takei, dad’s assistant, had been out gathering samples of rocks in the Aureum Region. It’s about thirty kilometers away. They were on their way back home when the storm came up. Dad called Mom on his Com. I could hear him shouting over the winds. He said it was a small storm, nothing to worry about: a little lightning and a few dust devils.” Celine paused to moisten her lips. “Dad said that he and Mr. Takei had found shelter…But then there was static, and his Com signal died.” Celine swallowed. “That was the last time I heard my dad’s voice.”

  Celine stared into space. “Well,” she continued. “Turns out the ‘small storm’ actually developed into this insane sandstorm covering the entire planet.”

  “I’ve learned about those,” Alex said referring to the sandstorm.

  “Yeah…” Celine responded, slightly annoyed that he chose to respond to the most irrelevant part of the story. “Anyway. I could hear the winds howling and the sand swishing overhead against the top of the Compound. No one could go looking for them or take them oxygen or water.” Celine cleared her throat. “We lost our power and were in complete darkness for hours. The maintenance crew finally got everything working again after a few hours, but it was tough. The storm lasted for days, and when it finally stopped, the exits were covered with sand. We had to dig for hours just to leave this place. Then Morg and his crew went out to search for…” Celine’s voice faded, but she was determined to finish the story. “My dad’s body. No one expected them to survive, especially since no one truly knew whether or not they had shelter.”

  “You don’t have to tell me anymore if you don’—” Alex said.

  Celine noticed he sounded slightly choked up. “I want to,” she interrupted. “I need to talk about it actually.” Celine continued. “They couldn’t pick up his life signature or Mr. Takei’s. After searching for two days, they found Mr. T
akei’s body…He was a kind man. They found him near a cave, but there were no signs of my dad.”

  “Sorry, Celine…That’s awful.”

  For a moment, they were both dead silent. Then Celine spoke. “My dad is an awesome person. He’s one of smartest people I know.”

  “You said ‘is.’”

  “Yesterday my grandma called me from Earth.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Enisi—my grandma—is a spiritualist. Do you know what that is?”

  “I think so. Someone who speaks to spirits, right?”

  “Yeah, kind of like that. Anyway, Enisi had a vision about my dad.”

  “She saw your dad’s spirit?”

  “No, the opposite.”

  Alex’s eyes widened. “Get to the point.”

  “She had a vision. Enisi saw my dad inside a cave beneath some red hills. She said he’s alive, but he needs my help.”

  Alex ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t get it. I thought you said your dad was dead.”

  “They never found his body, but I never believed he was dead. And now Enisi confirmed that he’s alive.” Celine paused to gauge Alex’s reaction. “Alex…I need your help to find him.”

  “Sure.”

  “You will?” Celine responded eagerly; she didn’t pick up on his sarcasm.

  “I hardly know you, and you want me to help you? And what about Mr. Morg? Isn’t that his job? Why don’t you ask him to help you?”

  “I don’t trust Morg. He doesn’t want my dad found.” Celine rubbed her hands together nervously. “He wants to marry my mom.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Your mom and him are engaged,” He chuckled. “I heard Ms. Armbruster talking about them.” Alex left the doorway and sat next to Celine. “Even if I were to help you, you’ve got another problem on your hands. My father thinks the world of Mr. Morg.”

  “I know. See why I need your help?”

  “Why mine? Isn’t there someone else you could ask?”

  “Everyone thinks Dad is dead. They think I’m just a kid who can’t face the fact that my dad’s gone.”

  “Just a kid.” Alex repeated. “I know the feeling,” he muttered. “This seems dangerous: just the two of us looking for your dad on the surface. We might get caught in a sandstorm, Celine.”

  Then Celine remembered Enisi’s message and said, “My dad has something your dad wants.”