Diamond Moon

by B K Gallagher

  He paused to reflect on his words and then hit the record button, shutting the recording off. He turned to Dr. Aman and Mara. “Anything either of you want to add?”

  Dr. Aman and Mara shook their heads no. Mara had a smile on her face, then she left the communication room and went to check on Hanson. As she entered the med-bay she heard Reese’s enthusiastic voice.

  “He’s doing much better,” she told her.

  Mara looked quickly toward the monitors. The vitals were registering strong and within normal ranges. The relief was overwhelming. She knelt next to Hanson as he rested, speaking loud enough for Reese to hear her.

  “It was the enzyme all along. I had been inoculated the entire time we were in quarantine,” she said. She turned to Reese with a wry smile, acknowledging they had never been in as much danger as they thought.

  She looked down at Hanson, and she noticed his body was recovering from the illness. His skin was no longer red or blistered. His color was returning. It was the enzyme. “What an amazing discovery,” she thought. She hoped to continue to study it. She turned back to Reese.

  “You got the samples, right?”

  Reese stared blankly for a second, then shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said, lowering her eyes to the floor. “We left so quickly. All I had time for was the immune-boosters.” Her eyes went back up to Mara.

  “I tried. I really did,” she said, shaking her head. “I couldn’t go in there. I’m telling you… I couldn’t even get close.”

  Mara felt a static sensation move down her body. She was despondent thinking that the return capsule had left without any of the samples or the diamonds. Reese must have sensed her disappointment.

  “It was too bright, Mara… I don’t think anyone could’ve gone in there.” She looked at Mara with a frightened expression, recalling her experience. “They didn’t want me in there,” she continued.

  Mara’s eyes narrowed, finding it hard to believe that the creatures could have been as bright as she was suggesting.

  Reese lowered her head, blaming herself for losing the samples. “All we had was the enzyme,” she said sadly. “And now that is gone.”

  Mara sighed. “What happened?” she asked.

  Reese shook her head slightly. “All I can tell you is the eruption, it just… swallowed them. I was in there when it happened. I saw it… I… I think it came for them.”

  Mara stared at Reese like she didn’t believe her, but she knew she wouldn’t be lying. She spent a moment trying to imagine what Reese was describing. It was a surreal thought.

  “It came for them?” she asked. “All that work, and we don’t have a single specimen? Not a single diamond?” She looked down at Hanson. The last of the enzyme, the very last of the samples they had procured below were in his body now, working their miracles for him.

  They looked at him for a moment as his body healed.

  “Did you bring EUNICE with you?” Reese asked.

  Mara nodded. “She’s in the Zephyr.”

  Reese’s spirits lift momentarily. She stood up straight from the medical bed. “Mind if I go check on her?” she asked.

  Mara gestured that she could leave, and Reese started to walk away, but then she stopped herself in her tracks. She turned and looked directly at Mara with a sad expression. “Murph?” she asked her.

  Mara looked up at her. She was trying to remember which one of the miners was Murphy, but she knew her answer was the same regardless. “He didn’t make it,” she told her. “None of them did.”

  Reese’s body slumped as she stood in the doorway to the rig. She tried to leave, but Mara wasn’t done.

  “Reese,” she said. “Do you think Julian was right when he said the creatures could predict the quakes?”

  Reese thought for a moment, surprised to receive the question. “It seems so,” she said. “He predicted that eruption pretty well.”

  Mara nodded. “But what about what Stenner told us? You know, about creatures being competitive with one another; creating weapons? You remember all that?”

  Reese furrowed her brow, not knowing where Mara was headed.

  “What if… I don’t think those creatures were predicting the quakes. I think they were using those signals to create them. Is that out of the question?”

  “Think about it…” she continued. “We had our first quake just as we drilled through the ice and hit the ocean. Another one when we got the sub to the bottom of the cavity. We had one right as I was cutting into one of those things. And then the mining crew ends up creating a massive eruption that forces us to launch and swallows the samples we collected? Is that all a coincidence?” she asked.

  Reese stared blankly at her. She was silent, not providing an answer to her query.

  Mara paused, deep in her thoughts. “Those first quakes were a warning, weren’t they? I think they were sending us a message. They were never predicting the quakes at all. They were warning us… warning us away.”

  Reese didn’t say anything, but she stayed in the doorway, and Mara felt that they had agreed to her theory in silence.

  Mara stood up from beside Hanson and walked to Reese, and she placed a hand upon her shoulder, happy to be alive and safe. Reese returned a smile and then left the room to inspect her sub.

  Sol 17; Mission time - 17:49

  Reese wandered into the Zephyr on her own. It was silent and dark inside the large vessel. She approached what had been the drill chamber while on the surface. She saw EUNICE suspended in the middle of the dome-shaped enclosure at the bottom end of the rig. It was tied down and held suspended in place inside the large drill cavity. She spent a minute inspecting the sub from the exterior, but she was here to look for something else.

  She went down one of the corridors, looking for the sleeping quarters the miners lived in. She had been here once before, and she found her way quickly. At the end of the corridor was the main bunk room. Several beds were lined up against the walls. They ran two high, and they stretched across the entire rear wall, twelve in total. She began to walk past each of them, looking for an engineer’s bunk.

  Then she saw schematics strewn about under a bunk, and more diagrams on the wall. Robotic components were spilling out from one of the storage shelves nearby. She flipped one of the cabinet doors open. Inside were the prototypes she had seen, as well as several completed versions. She picked one up and held it in her hand.

  She wrestled with the thought of not returning with the technology she had seen. She sorted through more of the diagrams, and then she looked through some of the computer programming notes on the desk. She picked up a disc that was sitting in the drawer. She placed it on a computer board nearby, and the master programming and schematics used to construct the robots came up immediately.

  She stood still, alone in the miner’s bunk room, and she looked around for more, for something she might have missed. When she was satisfied that she had everything she needed, she tucked the disc into her bio-suit, folded the notes, placed some of the components into her pocket, and she picked up one of the bots and quietly began to return to the Copernicus Orbiter.

  She had the robots that had helped with the ice on board the return capsule, and now she had the schematics and the programming, as well as some prototypes. A satisfied smile crossed her face that this technology would soon be hers, and it would soon be put to use on future NASA missions. She thought it would be what he wanted.

  She thought about Murphy. She thought about what he had said to her about being done with mining. As she exited the Zephyr, she turned and looked inside it one last time. She imagined meeting Murphy as she had a few days earlier, and she pictured his awkward smile, but she was sad when she did. She tucked the items she had taken under her arm tightly and walked to her room.

  Sol 17; Mission time - 19:35

  Hanson was gaining consciousness. He seemed disoriented but
was improving quickly. The enzyme had worked. It had fought off whatever microbes had infected his body, protected him, and quite possibly repaired the damage done as well. It was as much of a miracle that a day like this could provide.

  Mara had a smile on her face as she leaned by his side. “Hanson? How are you feeling?” she asked. Tears were nearly forming in her eyes at seeing him doing so much better.

  He didn’t answer her. His eyes turned to her slowly, and the subtle hint of a smile appeared on his lips. Mara knew a sarcastic comment was trying to work its way through his lips, but he was too weak to say it. She could tell his sense of humor was gratefully still alive.

  She held his hand, and he tried to squeeze hers in return. She could feel a small amount of pressure for his effort.

  “I know you can hear me,” she said. “We made it. We made it to the orbiter. The enzyme worked.” She flashed a restrained smile.

  Hanson’s body relaxed, and the tension in it seemed to escape into the padding beneath him. His head rested softly upon his pillow. Mara could tell her voice was soothing him.

  “I’m… we’re going to be okay?” he asked. His feeble voice was still trembling.

  Tears welled in Mara’s eyes as she nodded. “You’re going to be fine. I know it,” she said. She forced a smile through her tears.

  Hanson’s head fell heavy onto his pillow. His eyes started to water. Mara held his hand tightly against her chest. They stared at each other, relieved to be alive, and they could not contain their smiles.

  Despite Hanson’s recovery, Mara was still worried. She still had the bad news to give him about his crew. She did not want to bring it up, but she needed him to know what had happened to them.

  She drew her head away, creating some space so they could talk. “Hanson, Astromine is reporting the mining crew lost on the surface,” she said, pausing to let it sink in.

  There was little reaction, however. Hanson stared blankly toward the ceiling as she waited for him to respond.

  “Hanson, did you hear me?” she asked, and she wiped a tear from her face.

  “I know,” Hanson answered. His voice was still weak.

  Mara gave him a minute. There was a long silence. He had seen the crawlers falling into the abyss himself. He had watched as Johan gave his life to save theirs.

  Mara continued. “Astromine is also reporting the Zephyr mining rig and all equipment lost. They’ve sent a report to NASA, and we have confirmed it.”

  Hanson fixed his eyes on hers. He looked confused. “Reported the Zephyr lost?” he asked.

  Mara nodded.

  “Do they know I’m alive?” he asked her.

  She was silent, and she drew a long breath. “Stenner reported you missing with the crew. We don’t know what we are going to tell them. I thought… I thought maybe it would be useful for them to not know.”

  Mara was smiling for him as he thought about his future. “I’m going to get you something to eat,” she said.

  She stood up, but Hanson grabbed her arm before she could go. She stopped cold, and he turned her toward him, and he pulled her down to him. Her face went to his. Mustering his strength, he lifted his head to meet hers, and their lips met, and he kissed her…

  The relief from the tense day melted their lips together. A rush of contentment flushed through Mara’s body that she had only felt once before. It was a feeling she had known long ago; the comforting feeling like she had in Florida, or on the research vessel, with George. It was a feeling of contentment, a feeling of relief, and most of all — it was the satisfying feeling of fulfilling a promise to an old friend.

  Sol 17; Mission time - 20:04

  Mara wanted to stay, but Hanson needed food. She walked to the mess hall where she had started before. She hoped to find him some soup, some protein, something to help him regain strength. She rummaged through the cabinets and returned with a warm bag of soup and a protein bar. She sat with Hanson as he sipped his meal through a straw, and then put down his protein bar.

  Mara had a lot on her mind. There were a million questions about the future that would have to be addressed at another time, but they were all weighing on her mind now.

  Then Stenner knocked on the door, and as he was standing in the doorway, he invited himself into the room. He stood in front of them. “Hanson, it’s good to see you doing better. Mara, we’ve been getting messages from NASA. Can you talk?” he asked.

  “I think so. Things are settling down here,” she said.

  “Good. I think you will want to hear what Astromine is reporting.”

  “If it’s what we heard earlier, I’ve already told Hanson,” Mara said.

  “It’s that,” Stenner told her, “but there is more to it now. Astromine is calling the mission a disaster. They are blaming NASA for safety violations and threatening a lawsuit. They won’t be successful, so never mind that. Don’t even worry about it,” he insisted. He paused for a moment as Mara and Hanson listened, bringing his eyes back to theirs with a deadly serious expression.

  “Mara, they are threatening to sue based on reckless and misleading information from NASA. They are going to try and claim we mislead Johan about the nature of the quakes and the fissure… they are already trying to lay blame at us for everything.”

  Mara tried to stand up, but Hanson held her down next to him. “Did they say anything about the diamonds?” she asked.

  “No,” Stenner said. “I am not even sure they know about them. I think Johan kept that information to himself. I don’t think he wanted to share them with corporate. Besides… if they did know, it would only hurt their story to admit they knew about them… Astromine hasn’t said a thing as a result, and I don’t think they will.”

  Mara and Hanson sat still on the bed. It was a lot of information to take in, and they processed it together. They waited for Stenner to continue.

  “Look,” Stenner said, “Astromine is going to claim a total loss on the mission, including losing the Zephyr. They’re doing it for insurance purposes, you understand. You remember, I told them the rig was lost in the ice collapse? I confirmed that to them. You asked me to do that…”

  “Yes,” Mara said.

  Stenner made a quick hand gesture, preventing her from saying more. “They’re going to get a large settlement for it,” he followed, and he looked directly at Mara. He coughed just a bit before he began. “Here’s the deal. I told them I could salvage the Zephyr as it is, or leave it,” he said. “I gave them the option…” He paused for a minute, looking at her. “You know what they told me?” he asked her.

  Mara shook her head.

  “They told me they didn’t want it. They told me to leave it. They want the insurance check,” Stenner said. “They just want the money.” He smiled at her, knowing this would be good for Hanson.

  Hanson was listening, but not quite following what was being said, and Stenner patiently waited to see when it would strike him.

  “Are you saying Hanson can have the Zephyr?” Mara asked. “It’s essentially his?”

  Stenner nodded ambiguously, uncertain about saying it out loud. “Don’t let this come back on me, but I proclaimed the Zephyr lost on the surface. My name is on that… but if nobody says anything, we all get what we want,” he said. “The insurance company has no way of knowing where the rig is, and Astromine won’t say anything either,” he said. “Once they get the check. It’s as good as his.”

  Mara and Hanson sat silently while they ran the scenario through their mind. They made no arguments. Then Stenner turned and began to leave. “I’ll let you two have some privacy,” he said. He tapped his hand on the bed and then began to leave.

  Stenner approached the doorway, but Hanson then called out for him. “Commander Stenner,” he said, in a weak and raspy voice.

  Stenner turned, and they looked at each other in the eye. No words needed to be said. The Comm
ander left the room smiling.

  Mara looked immediately at Hanson. “The Zephyr is yours!” She yelled. “Can you believe it?” She had a wide smile on her face. “You can go mine an asteroid and pay off your debts. Then we’ll tell them we rescued you on the surface”

  Hanson placed his hand on Mara’s. He was smiling with her. But he winced noticeably in pain as he tried to lift his arm. He shifted his weight on the bed again, favoring his shoulder.

  “What is it?” Mara asked him.

  He motioned for her to help him with his bio-suit.

  She pulled the suit over his shoulders as high as she could, uncovering his blistered flesh where his wounds were still healing. She was forced to take her time with the damaged portions of skin. Now that she was looking closer, she could see the extent of his infection — how it had taken a larger toll on his body than she had realized.

  Hanson expressed relief as the suit was removed, and he winced in pain again as she exposed more of his tender skin. But there was something else. There was something else bothering him near his arm. She pulled on the suit further. Then, as she removed it from the bedding, she gasped.

  “Oh my god,” she said, staring at the bed where Hanson couldn’t see.

  His eyes tried to follow hers, but they wouldn’t reach to where she was looking. “What is it?” he asked her, fearing the worst.

  Mara remained fixated on whatever she was looking at beside him. She reached down onto the bed.

  Her mouth was wide open. There were several large diamonds lying next to Hanson on the bedding, one of them the size of a man’s fist. They had fallen out of his suit and onto the sheets. It was the diamonds that Johan had stuffed into his mask. She had forgotten about them. She held the largest one up in front of his face to see. It glistened with an iridescent sheen the way only one of these unique diamonds could.

  “So that is what I was feeling in my suit this whole time?” he said. They both let out a hearty laugh in complete disbelief at the situation.

  “I better go decontaminate these right now,” Mara said. She grabbed the diamonds and stood up from the bed, heading to the sterilization section of the med bay.