“And you have me,” Rebecca replied. “There are certain terrain features that are more likely to be situated by water reserves.”
“I honestly didn’t know that.”
“For example, the base of craters, or northward-facing hillsides. Actually, pretty much anywhere that there might’ve been water in the past or where glaciers could have slid, but now the area is covered with soil.”
“Good. Then we know where we should look. Is that why you asked to come along?”
“No, I just longed to spend a few nights under the open sky,” Rebecca said.
“You’ll get more than just a few. The 40th parallel is unfortunately about 1,450 kilometers from the NASA base.”
“Oh.”
“Didn’t they tell you that?”
“Uh... not exactly. Only that we’d be traveling for a few days, and I should bring a few changes of clothes.”
“That wasn’t misguided. The drive will take about two weeks all told, plus however long it takes us to find water.”
“A two-week camping trip. Sounds great!”
“Maybe we’ll be lucky and find something sooner. It would be alright if the ice was located at a lower depth. Our radar can reach down about five meters.”
“We’ve done 220 kilometers,” Theo said. “That’s enough for the first day.”
“I agree,” Rebecca replied.
“Do you want to take a look around outside? Once we’re inside the tent, we’ll have to stay there through til morning.”
“And if nature calls?”
“Believe me, you won’t want to go out at eighty below, even if it’s urgent.”
“That explains the single-use bags.”
“Sorry about that. Camping out here isn’t nearly as comfortable as our five-star spaceship,” Theo said.
“How does the tent work?”
“Just a second,” Theo remarked as he walked to the rear of the Rover. An almost two-meter by one-meter board was secured between the two axles. He unfastened it. “This is our bed,” he said.
Rebecca felt the material. It was cushioned on one side, while the flip side felt like hard plastic. “Looks quite comfortable. Very cozy, too,” she commented.
Theo chuckled. “Yes, it isn’t very wide, but there isn’t more space underneath the Rover. How tall are you?”
“One-meter seventy-eight.”
“Then you’re lucky. The mattress is one meter eighty. I’m two centimeters short of two meters tall.”
“How will you fit on it.”
“In a fetal position, I suppose. There’s a reason why NASA will only accept candidates who are one meter ninety or less.”
“I can’t wait to see what comes next!” Rebecca said. She scanned the Rover’s interior, obviously searching for the tent.
Theo smiled. She had the wrong idea about what their lodging would look like. He opened a crate on the Rover’s loading area and tugged out something that looked like a sack.
“We’re sleeping in a sack?” Rebecca asked.
“Almost. But it doesn’t quite work that way. First we need to find a spot that is relatively flat.”
Rebecca looked around and pointed at a spot in front of the Rover. “There?”
Theo glanced in that direction. “Why not?” He set the plastic board down there. “Everything we need yet today has to fit on the mattress.”
Rebecca removed a small bag from the Rover and set it on top.
Theo fetched a bag of provisions and another clothing bag. He also picked up an oxygen bottle and a device that looked like a blower. “Do you have any electrical devices in your bag? We should leave them outside. Since we’ll be sleeping in pure oxygen, there’ll be a higher risk of fire.”
Rebecca shook her head. “I assume the suit doesn’t count.”
“It would be a bad idea outside,” he said.
“What about watching the romantic sunset, just you and me?” Rebecca winked at him.
“I suspect we won’t sleep particularly to leave it outside,” he said. Theo started to unfold the sack, which was surprisingly large. He then slid it under the board until the board was centered on the fabric. “Last chance to do anything well tonight. We could watch the sunrise instead.”
“Either way,” Rebecca replied, and Theo thought he detected a note of disappointment in her voice.
“Come on, then. Kneel up there at the front.” He pointed at the head of the bed, before pulling the sack up over their heads.
“Now somebody needs to seal the top up there,” Rebecca said.
“Pretty much. Do you see the drawstring at the edge? When I tighten it, the sack will be closed off.”
“And it’ll hold?”
“A small engine will help me with the last little bit. I’ll fill the final tiny gap with a special foam that will instantly freeze when it comes into contact with the outside air.”
Theo fastened the drawstring, finally letting it go so it fell lightly onto Rebecca’s shoulders. “Wait... I’m not done.”
“Good to know.”
It was almost dark inside the sack. Theo could only make out Rebecca’s silhouette. He looked over his shoulder and reached for the oxygen bottle before opening it.
“What’s that hissing sound?” Rebecca asked.
“I’m letting the air out for us.”
One more step and he’d be finished. Mike had explained everything to him in great detail, but in reality, it all felt very different, especially under the watchful eye of an attractive woman. He thought about what she had said earlier about the sunset—but she’d probably only been joking. Where had he put the exchanger? He ran his hands along the mattress.
“That’s my leg,” Rebecca said.
He finally located the device and pressed the large, round button on its front edge. “The exchanger will monitor, purify, and dehumidify the air inside here,” he explained. “It will also serve as a light source. If it glows red, then something’s not right. Wake me up immediately if that happens.”
“In other words, it’s going to burn all night long?”
“The regulations stipulate that, for safety reasons.”
The air pressure inside the tent was slowly increasing. The sack was gradually taking its true, spherical form.
“Like an ugly duckling turning into a swan,” Rebecca said.
“Yeah, not bad. This is the first time I’ve seen it, too.”
Ten minutes later, they were lying inside a two-meter tall balloon. It wasn’t a perfect sphere because of their weight, but it was still a majestic sight. The more the fabric stretched, the more outside light it let in. The sun hadn’t completely set yet. From inside the ball, they could still see it as a blurry spot.
“And if I accidentally prick the balloon with something sharp?” asked Rebecca.
“The material is quite strong. You’d have to intentionally cut away at it with something. It’s made from some kind of nylon, kind of like pantyhose.”
“That doesn’t make me feel any better. Have you ever worn hose?”
Theo shook his head. “My taste runs in other directions. But we could get undressed now.”
“Well, I think you should go first,” Rebecca quipped with a laugh.
Theo was glad he still had his helmet on. Otherwise she might have seen him blush.
For a few minutes, the only sound was rustling. Theo imagined what it would look like if someone could see them from the outside darkness—two silhouettes gradually growing thinner.
“If you need it...,” he said, pointing at a waste container. It then occurred to him that he was still wearing his diaper. A grown man in diapers. This profession really did have its downsides. Theo sighed.
“Are you alright?” Rebecca asked, obviously having heard the lament.
“Just fine,” he replied. He realized this wasn’t exactly true. Considering how forthright Rebecca had been with him earlier, she deserved better than this. “I felt lonely for a second.”
“Because we
’re so far from the others? Have you gotten used to the group?”
Theo snorted. “Not at all. I’m glad to be away from them. I always feel like we’re a crew, but nothing more than that. When you were telling me your story earlier, it was the first time in many months that I actually felt close to someone.”
“Thank you,” Rebecca replied.
For whatever reason, he never felt comfortable complaining about things. He saw himself as hands-on and practical. What was the practical value in regretting that things weren’t different than they were? And yet, it felt good to voice these thoughts. “What bothers me especially—or more like who, instead of what—is our commander.”
He looked over at Rebecca and found a smile spread across her face. Maybe he shouldn’t talk to her about other women. Wouldn’t he destroy everything by doing that? He had to stop while he was still ahead.
“I always thought you worked well together,” Rebecca declared.
“That’s definitely true. But... it feels like I don’t know anything about her. Sometimes she seems to be totally lost. Do you know what I mean? Like someone who is going down a certain path but has forgotten why. At the same time, that person knows that at the end of the path, some catastrophe is waiting for them. And yet it never occurs to them to turn around. Why is that? Because the person has already gone so far down the path that the end seems closer than the beginning, I suppose.”
“That’s a horrible feeling,” Rebecca commented.
In the glow of the lamp, Theo noticed that there was a glittering tear at the corner of her eye.
“I think my father spent a long time on that path. He’s already reached the end, though.”
Sol 10, NASA base
A trench measuring four meters deep, three meters wide, and five meters long stretched in front of him. It had smooth walls and a solid bottom as far as he could tell. The robot had done an excellent job. Lance could still recall what this site had looked like on Sol 4. The drill on its two chains had just begun to work, and now it was almost time to put the roof in place.
Sol 4 had been six Martian days ago, but it felt to him like ancient history. He must have aged at least three years since then. Once again, they had seen how quickly their best-laid plans could go awry. Once the lab was finished, the robot would help them build the greenhouse. In the new construction, the robot would only need to dig down to a depth of half a meter, and instead of a roof composed of melted rock, the covering of the greenhouse would be made of transparent plastic. They would still need to shine artificial light on the plants, but they would be able to use the sunlight, in part, to convert the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into biomass.
Lance tried to imagine what the future would be like. Would humans be able to run around the surface someday without suits on? “Couldn’t we use the plants in our terra-forming efforts since the atmosphere is so full of carbon dioxide?”
Sarah touched his shoulder. Their combined biologist-and-doctor was standing behind him. “You overestimate the density of the atmosphere,” she said. “You’re right that it’s almost completely composed of CO₂, but because the atmosphere is one hundred times thinner than what surrounds Earth, it still wouldn’t be enough for the plants. We will enrich the air inside the greenhouse with additional carbon dioxide from the air we’ll be exhaling.”
“You mean that we’ll be separating the CO₂ from the rest of the air?”
“We won’t need to take that step. We’ll just conduct the used air back into the greenhouse. Some of the microorganisms that live in the ground need oxygen. A pure CO₂ atmosphere would kill them off.”
“All the things you have to think about...”
“You’re telling me! I’m interested in seeing how long it’ll take us to get the greenhouse stable and functional. If the pressure is too low, the water will evaporate faster and the relative humidity will rise... Did you know that the dry Mars air can sometimes reach one hundred percent humidity? Considering how thin the atmosphere is, a little water is all it takes.”
Lance studied his colleague’s profile. Sarah wasn’t all that talkative, but when she got started on a biology-related topic, her enthusiasm was evident. He scratched his knee. He was finding the women on Mars distracting. Was that normal? His girlfriend was waiting on him—but he was always wondering if he felt more attracted to Ewa, Sarah, or Sharon. He should focus on his work instead of mulling over such questions.
Before they could connect the new room to the base, he needed to build a roof that would protect the lab against the radiation and cold. The robot operated autonomously most of the time, but he now needed a new tool.
“Could you help me?” he asked Sarah.
“Of course.”
They walked over to the depot situated on the other side of the base. It was comprised of various small containers that weren’t airtight. This was where the special nozzle for spraying off the roof had to be located. Besides that, the metal sheets for the base layer of the roof were stored here.
“Would you carry one of those sheets, Sarah?”
His colleague leaned down to pick up a sheet. Lance once again appreciated the fact that their suits were so form-fitting, but his pleasure quickly turned into feelings of guilt. He bit his tongue. He had almost said something he shouldn’t.
He picked up the robot tool. It was made of steel, and he wouldn’t have been able to carry it on Earth. However, here it weighed less than two buckets of water. He trudged over to the machine with it and set it on the ground.
“Simply slide the sheet onto the edge of the trench,” he said.
Sarah carried it over to the construction trench. Lance followed to make sure the installation went smoothly. Along the two long edges of the hole, the robot had dug out a thirty-centimeter indentation. This was where the sheet would be installed. Sarah handled this easily and marched right back over to the depot to fetch the next sheet.
Lance turned to the robot. He unfastened the drilling tool that the machine had used to remove the rocks and collect them into a cauldron. It was now heating the stone until it was viscous. Once it was done it would use the new tool Lance had attached to apply force to spread the molten rock onto the metal substrate. This was how a roof was created, crafted by human hand into a giant block of artificial stone.
He tried to jiggle the newly mounted tool, but it was solid. He pulled up the new program on the control panel and started the machine. The robot knew automatically what to do, so he could now help Sarah carry the sheets. They were done in five minutes.
Their interview was supposed to start any minute. That was the only reason Sarah was outside with him right now. The camera was set up on its tripod beside the base’s external hatch. They would be filmed together. The station had claimed that the majority of the audience would be men. This was why Sarah would be the one asking the questions that the station would send her in real time, and he, the rescuer of the Mars for Everyone crew, would answer them.
“Mike, have they been in touch?”
“No, the station hasn’t checked in yet.”
“Can you contact them?”
“Why—are you in a hurry, Lance?”
“I want to get this behind me. I hate giving interviews.”
“Alright, I’ll ask, even if I don’t see the point. It’ll take forty minutes for us to get the answer. By that time, we’ll already have the questions.”
“Just do it.”
“Yeeaah. In process. Have fun outside, you two.”
“Mike thinks we should be having fun out here.”
Sarah put her hands on her hips. “Does he honestly not think I have anything better to do than this?”
“He thinks the questions will get here any minute. It doesn’t make sense to go back inside.”
“That’s true. And how should we kill time?”
“You could tell me a story from your younger days.” Oh, that was stupid, Lance realized. It sounded like he was referring to Sarah’s age. “I mean, f
rom your past.”
“I have a better idea. Have you ever danced on another planet?”
“Ever what?”
“Danced! Based on the verb form ‘to dance,’ meaning ‘to move to the music.’” Sarah laughed.
“What in the world made you think about that?”
“I tried it on our way out, in zero gravity. Didn’t work well. But here? It should be lots of fun in this low gravitational field.”
Great, she wants to dance. That wasn’t one of the core competencies of most mechanics. He had taken two months of weekly dance lessons before graduating from college. Those were horrible memories.
“Trust me,” he said, “someone else would make a better partner.”
Rhythmic music started to pulse through his helmet headphones. Sarah must be transmitting it.
“You’re in good shape,” Sarah said. “I’m sure you’re a great dancer. Let’s give it a try.”
“Fine, but you lead,” Lance said.
“Gladly!” Sarah crowed, reaching for his right hand as she placed her right hand on his left shoulder.
“Close your eyes, listen to the music, and follow my movements,” she said.
Lance shut his eyes. He let the music seep into his consciousness. Other thoughts vanished in its wake. He then noticed her pattern. To the back, the side, he only needed to stay alert. If he didn’t try to intentionally set his feet anywhere, everything happened automatically.
“Hey, you’re good at this,” Sarah said.
Lance felt flattered. She led very well. He didn’t need to listen to the beat. He just had to follow wherever she moved. His legs followed his body all on their own. “You’re amazing at this,” he said.
“Thanks.”
The music was inside his head, and Lance felt himself relaxing, his muscles loosening. They didn’t have a choice, but he didn’t collapse either. Thank you for this experience, Sarah, he thought. He didn’t trust himself to say this thought out loud. She might have misinterpreted it.
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