“Well, I guess I’m ready to head out,” you announce.
“We really appreciate what you’re doing for us,” Victoria says.
“Be safe, my friend,” Cooper adds. Weak from the pain of his broken leg, he can’t pound you on the back like usual, and instead settles for a wave. You feel terrible to see him like this, but it makes you more determined to get back to base as fast as you can. And as you start your trek, you’re filled with the familiar nervous excitement you felt before your first space walk.
You head off in the direction the rover tracks take you. It’s easy enough to follow the path, but not as easy to walk on the uneven and unstable rubble. After carefully making your way for about half an hour, your feet are tired in your boots, and you’re grateful that you can sip water through a straw right in your helmet, and snack on a chewy energy bar that’s conveniently located near your chin. Soon enough, when you have to go, you’ll be glad your suit comes equipped with a waste collection device too!
About an hour into your trek, you notice that the air has changed, and that the wind is starting to pick up. Even though you can’t feel the air through your space suit, you can see the dust on the ground stirring. You wonder if this could be the start of a Martian dust storm, which could be a really big problem! You look around and see an extra large boulder that would be perfect to take cover behind if a dust storm does hit. But if nothing happens, you’d just be wasting time. The other option is to buckle down and keep on walking. If a dust storm develops, you could look for cover then, or keep moving at a slow pace.
TAKE COVER BEHIND THE BOULDER AND WAIT.
KEEP WALKING.
As tempting as it is to take the rover out for a spin, you decide to stick to making bricks, and go out to collect more clay for the next batch. Then, you take your time mixing the compound and pouring it into the molds while trying to stay focused. If I never see another brick in my life, it’ll be too soon.
Gene finally finishes up with his maintenance and testing of the oven, and he gives you some tips on how to keep the oven in top working order. You can’t help but wonder should I have gone out when I had the chance? You watch, envious, as Gene takes off in the rover. With a sigh, you head back to put a fresh batch of bricks in the oven to cook, and then take a walk around the construction dome to burn off some restless energy.
Half an hour later…BRRRRRRING! You hear fire alarms sounding! You rush back to the ovens and…WHOA! There is a blazing fire! You manage to get everyone out of the dome, through the air lock to the next dome. And you quickly call the Martian fire squad to tackle the fire.
Luckily, you reacted fast and were able to save the dome from going up in flames! Gene is sent to work in the Martian equivalent of the mail room, and you are thrilled when you are offered to take over his job…and his rover. Sweet! However, you soon realize that tooling around in the rover and performing maintenance on equipment isn’t all that exciting. As the months go by, the rover loses its thrill factor since you realize you never get very far from base. You can’t ever take the rover very far without special clearance, and if you bend the rules, you’ll end up in the mail room with Gene! Being tied down to the job also means you aren’t available for any major expeditions for the rest of your Martian stay. Bummer!
You get the keys to the rover, promise Gene you’ll be back before he’s done with his assignment, and…you’re off! It feels amazing to be cruising around. Driving the rover is easy, although you have to be careful to steer around rocks.
You imagine yourself making a big discovery, like a source of copper. Copper ore is most likely near sites with volcanic matter, so you head in the direction of the extinct Arsia Mons, which isn’t far away.
You crank up the satellite radio and are singing along when suddenly you spot…uh-oh…another rover heading straight toward you. You get a glimpse of the passengers, and your heart sinks. Commander Wen is waving to you, and it’s not friendly. He’s ordering you to pull over.
“Is there a problem, officer?” you try to joke as you stop.
“I’m sure you know that there is,” Commander Wen says with a grimace. He goes on to cite your violations: You shouldn’t have left your assignment, and you shouldn’t have taken the rover without permission. This stunt means a suspension of all rover privileges for the rest of the mission. For the next several months, you’re tied to the base, and that whole time, you pine for the Martian frontier. That’s hardly worth your joyride.
Several days pass on the spacecraft, and the crew continues with the daily routine, although travel weariness seems to have kicked in. Everyone’s a little quicker to get upset by something, and even the coolest personalities are being tested. Cooper isn’t his regular cheerful self, which seems to have brought down everyone’s mood. You’re being extra careful to be as helpful and friendly to everyone as possible, and you’ve been focusing on your work.
Then, during the next afternoon briefing, Victoria brings up a problem.
“I just noticed that the oxygen levels on board are slightly lower than they should be. It’s not a cause for alarm yet, but I wanted to let you know. I’m going to check into it and get back to you,” she says.
Victoria received special training on how to use and maintain the water electrolyzer, which is your main source of oxygen on Fire Star. You’re confident that she’ll be able to fix any problems. At the same time, you can’t help but wonder if the slightly decreased oxygen levels have contributed to the lack of energy you’ve noticed among the crew.
“I can help you work on it,” you volunteer.
After the meeting, you and Victoria go to the water electrolyzer, which breaks down water into hydrogen and oxygen.
“It looks like everything is in order,” Victoria says. “I’ll just adjust the electrolyzer’s levels a little so it produces more oxygen. We should be fine in a couple hours.”
But several hours later you are in the middle of dinner when you hear Beeeeeeeeep! An alarm is sounding!
“What’s going on?” you ask, with a mouth full of macaroni.
“Oxygen levels have dropped dangerously low!” Victoria reports. “Everyone needs to put on their reserve oxygen masks right away.”
You scramble to get your mask out of your locker, and put it on. Everyone gathers in the briefing area in their masks to get more details.
“We have about twenty-four hours of reserve oxygen before we’re in serious trouble,” Victoria reports. “But don’t worry, I’ll have this resolved before then.”
You head back to the electrolyzer, where Victoria starts to recheck everything again, referring to the electrolyzer manual and training materials.
“I don’t understand this. The system is producing less oxygen than usual, but there’s no sign of any malfunction,” she tells you.
“What can we do?” you ask.
“I’m going to crank up the power and give it a few hours, and we’ll see if that helps,” she replies, looking nervous.
“What if there was a small electrical short in the system somewhere? It could have caused one of the pumps to fail, which would make the electrolyzer produce less,” you suggest.
“But the system is designed to show us any failures. If it was a pump or a motor, we’d see that,” Victoria replies.
“Yes, but what if the electrical short is affecting the warning signals, too?” you explain.
“That’s pretty unlikely,” Victoria says. “Thanks for the input, but I’m just going to work on this for a while and try to figure it out.”
Wow. Victoria actually doesn’t seem very open to your input, but you leave the expert to work out the causes for the problem, and bump into Nico.
“How’s it going?” he asks.
“Not so good,” you reply. “Victoria is still trying to figure out what’s wrong.”
Looking at Nico gives you an idea. You read an article a while ago about making a do-it-yourself electrolyzer in a pinch. You remember the basic instructions, and if anyone on t
his ship can help you build one, it’s Nico.
“Hey, Nico! Do you think you could help me build an emergency electrolyzer?” you ask.
“Probably. But do you think we really need one?” he asks in a worried tone.
“Let me find out,” you say. You hurry back to Victoria, who’s in a conversation with Aneesa about the power source for the electrolyzer.
“Hey, guys, I have an idea,” you interrupt.
“What is it?” Victoria asks.
As you start to explain the do-it-yourself electrolyzer idea, you see Victoria’s expression change from interest to frustration. She manages to be polite as she says, “I’m sorry, but we don’t really have time for distractions right now. We’ll let you know if we need your help.”
Hmmm. Maybe she’s right. It is a bit of a far-fetched idea, and she is the expert in charge. Maybe you should just step aside and let her handle the situation. At the same time, you can’t help but wonder…what if they can’t get the electrolyzer working in time? Wouldn’t it make sense to at least try to build the emergency one as backup? You don’t have to involve them. Should you just ask Nico to help you do it anyway, without telling the others?
LET VICTORIA AND ANEESA HANDLE THE SITUATION.
TRY TO MAKE A WATER ELECTROLYZER.
“I think we should stick with solar panels,” you say. “We know that they work, and we can put more up really quickly.”
Even though there’s a bit of muttering from the people who disagree, everyone pulls together and hustles to get the new panels up. By the end of the week, you have enough power to sustain the base at a minimal operating level while the generator is evaluated further and search teams scour the landscape for geothermal power.
Even though the solar panels work, they have their limitations. It’s dust storm season, so there are a lot of particles in the air. That means the panels are quickly covered by a thin layer of dust, which blocks the sun’s rays. You all have to take turns going out with huge brushes to wipe off the panels, which becomes really annoying after a while.
The next week, you’re walking by Aneesa and Nico when you overhear them saying “robot” and “could’ve prevented this problem.” When you ask Nico about it, he says, “Don’t you think your climbing telerobots could have helped with the nuclear reactor?”
“Yeah,” you agree. “I bet they could’ve.”
“I wish we’d thought of that at the time,” Nico says.
You look away, hoping Nico won’t catch the guilt in your eyes.
But he does.
“You thought of it, didn’t you?” Nico asks, his eyes suddenly turning cold.
“Well, I did, but um—” you say as you search for an explanation.
“Why didn’t you mention it?” Aneesa asks, looking disgusted.
All you can do is shrug your shoulders as Nico and Aneesa shake their heads in disapproval.
Soon after, you start to notice other members of your team acting a little different around you—not talking to you in the usual manner, being a little less friendly. You know that the energy crisis is wearing on everyone, and it’s been stressful that it’s set back your mission significantly. Plus, with the power rationing that’s been put in place, people aren’t able to do a lot of the fun stuff they used to be able to do to relax. You can’t help but get the feeling that everyone knows you had a possible solution that you didn’t offer. As time goes on, you definitely feel a chill in the air when you walk by the other colonists, and it’s not just because the domes are heated much less than usual. The worst part is, you missed your chance to help, and you’re powerless to change their minds about you now.
You quickly pull out all the plants that have brown spots on them, thinning the crop by about a quarter. You put aside a sample of the plants to show Julie later, carefully sealing them in a plastic bag.
“Hey, stranger, how’s it going?” asks Victoria as she walks into the greenhouse. “Are you ready to get out of here? I’ve been assigned to do a greenhouse rotation, and you’re supposed to head back to the central dome.”
“Great! I’ll show you around first,” you offer, taking Victoria on a tour of the greenhouse. You introduce her to the goats, and then show her your log, the special prehistoric plant section, and the vegetable garden.
“Check this out,” you tell her. “These tomato plants looked sick, so I pulled them out to stop any disease from spreading. Make sure you keep an eye on the rest of the crop, and make sure these bags stay sealed.”
“Wow!” Victoria says. “This looks like blight—a really bad plant disease that spreads quickly. Potato plants can get it, too. Julie can confirm it, but I think you might have just saved the entire crop of tomatoes and potatoes!”
Your eyes go wide, and then you feel a surge of pride that makes you smile from ear to ear. Good thing you didn’t wait any longer before pulling the plants, or just fertilize!
You leave Victoria and head over to the central dome, where Commander Wen is waiting to meet with you and give you your next assignment.
“I’m hearing good things about your work,” Commander Wen says. “I know you were initially hoping for an expedition, and you’ve impressed me with your attitude and willingness to help out. Plus, you may have saved the base from a big setback by preventing that blight from spreading! You’ve been in that greenhouse for long enough, and you’ve more than earned your place on the next expedition.”
“Thank you, sir!” you reply.
“While the expedition is being organized,” he continues, “you deserve a little fun.”
Fun?
“What did you have in mind, sir?” you ask. Commander Wen is one of the most serious guys you know, and fun doesn’t really seem to figure into his lifestyle.
“I’ll show you,” Commander Wen answers with a smile, leading you by the arm to a new dome that you haven’t seen before.
“This is the recreation dome,” he says. “It’s part of the next phase of the colony. To create a healthy and happy life on Mars, colonists will need a place for sports and relaxation. It can’t be all work and no play all the time.”
Your jaw drops as you step inside the dome.
Whoa! You see what at first looks like giant birds flying around. But when you look more closely, you realize they are actually people, wearing huge nylon wings in bright colors strapped onto their bodies. They’re flying!
“The dome’s been pressurized to the Earth’s atmosphere,” Commander Wen explains. “Since we only have one-third of the Earth’s gravity on Mars, this can allow for some neat tricks! Strap on some wings; you’re taking flying lessons!”
You climb up onto a rafter and slide your arms through the giant wing straps. Next, you put on a crash helmet, just to be safe, and practice flapping your wings back and forth. Then, you step to the end of the ledge, and jump. Wheeeeee! This feels amazing! You’ve flown on airplanes before, not to mention hanging out in microgravity on a spacecraft, but there’s something really special about soaring through the air like a bird! Landing is a little trickier, but you’re glad the ground is padded. What a blast!
At dinner, you tell Nico and Aneesa about your adventures in flying, and invite them to come back with you to try it out.
“Definitely!” says Aneesa. “I’ve been dying to go there!”
With a frown, Nico says, “That sounds awesome. I’d love to come too, but since my last expedition ended, I’ve been really busy with my new telerobot assignment.”
Nico explains that he’s in charge of repairing and cleaning the telerobots on the base. There isn’t anyone else who can do the job as well as he can, and he does enjoy it. The robots are really cool, and can do pretty amazing stuff. Plus, they are an important part of the future success of the base. But it’s still work, and you wonder if you should offer to give him a hand, so he can finish the job sooner and come try out the flying. You wouldn’t mind learning more about the robots too. On the other hand, he’s already had his share of adventures on an exped
ition while you’ve been stuck in the greenhouse. And now you finally have a chance to have some fun. Do you really want to give it up to do more work? You could wait to go flying again later, but Aneesa is ready to go with you now, and it would be fun to try it together.
OFFER TO HELP NICO OUT WITH THE TELEROBOTS.
GO FLYING WITH ANEESA.
“Okay, Cooper, we’re going to go with your idea,” you say. While he talks you through it, you tear off the multilayer insulation from the rover’s propellant tanks. With Victoria’s help, you start to wrap Cooper up like a mummy with it. Then you work on Victoria. And finally, you do the best you can to cover yourself up completely. When you’re done, the three of you look like astronaut zombies. But it’s working—you are nice and warm.
“Make sure to cover your hands too,” Cooper warns. “Or else you’ll get frostbite.”
Cooper has the right idea. But what he fails to mention, unfortunately, is that you need to make sure that the exhaust line from your space suit is not covered up with the wrappings. While you and your crewmates are comfortably sleeping, the water vapor you breathe out is slowly freezing the layers of the insulation together. You don’t feel it, but by the time you wake up tomorrow, your suit will just about be frozen stiff—to the point where you won’t be able to move an inch. Ever wondered what it feels like to be a mummy for real? You’re about to find out—the hard way.
“I think I have a way we can clean off the radiators,” you blurt out, interrupting Commander Wen as he is talking to a scientist and reviewing the steps for the shutdown.
Ultimate Adventure Novel: Mars Page 6