Glory on Mars (23 page)

"I don't know yet," Emma said.

"You've been screwing around with those suits
forever. This is my first chance to do what I came to Mars for. I
want to go now." He glared at her.

"I'm working as fast as I can," Emma said.

"The rover's been sitting out there a long time."

"So what? You think someone's gonna steal it?" Emma
glared back.

Her father insisted on a series of tests inside the
docking module before releasing the walkabouts. Emma gritted her
teeth, stretched each joint, and adjusted the tension after each
trial, certain she already had the setting correct.

That night in her bunk, Emma pulled out her mother's
holograph projectors. Right now her mother was probably at some art
gallery opening or coffee house poetry slam, dressed in a colorful
billowy blouse, wearing gaudy, dangling earrings, surrounded by
friends. Her mother was always the life of the party. Emma bunched
her eyebrows against the urge to cry. She'd never liked poetry
anyway. She scrolled through the file of images.

The last image's metadata caught her eye. Medium -
oil. Title - Family Vacation. Artist - Norman Rockwell. An old,
antiquated artist was hardly her mother's style. Oh no, she
thought. It's got to be a corny tear-jerker. That would be her
mom's style.

The hologram floated above the base, a family in an
old fashioned car, boat tied on top, grumpy grandmother in the
back, parents in the front - together. Kids and a dog hung out the
windows, wild with excitement. She touched the caption's audio and
heard her mother's voice.

"Your colony's your family now. I hope it'll be the
family your father and I couldn't give you. I'm so proud you
followed your dream. Enjoy your robots - just remember, it's people
that make us happy. I miss you, dear."

Emma swallowed a silent laugh. She was right. It was
corny. And it was a tear-jerker.

Chapter Twenty-Nine:
Return

Emma was needlessly polishing a walkabout seal when
the message arrived - her father was finally satisfied with the
repairs. Daan was sitting in his chair, examining his
fingertips.

"Hey Daan. Wake up. You can have your damn lights
back."

He looked confused.

"I'm done with the lights. The walkabouts are fully
charged and pressurized. Hey - want to try one?"

That broke Daan out of his stupor and he levered
himself out of the chair.

The suits were lying on their bellies, which made
entry easy. Emma got Daan settled inside one before she slid into
the other.

"Run the checklist, Governor. Comms, life support,
power..."

"What do I do first?" Daan asked.

"Crawl into the airlock on your hands and knees.
Leave room to open the outer door. If you lay flat, I can crawl on
top of you so we both fit at once."

They played outside for hours like kids in the
snow.

"That was great," Daan said when they crawled back
inside the docking module.

"Tomorrow I'll arrange with Yin and Yang to dock the
suits to Rover One. Then we can retrieve Claude's drill and Rover
Two."

"I'll be happy to help."

Emma smiled. It had been good to get outside again.
Her headache was almost gone.

***

There were plenty of volunteers to retrieve the
abandoned rover. Emma and Claude were going of course, and Yang
offered to drive Rover One - he said he needed more practice
driving.

Daan also joined them - the first step towards
Olympus, he said. It was good to hear him talk about his old
dream.

The easiest way to get the walkabouts attached to the
rover was for Emma and Daan to maneuver out the north airlock and
meet Claude and Yang in the rover coming up from the south dock.
Getting them docked without Governor's help took a while, but
eventually the crane hoisted Emma up into place and she felt a
satisfying tug backwards as the suit engaged its clamps and the
seal hissed closed.

Yang followed Rover Two's tracks, still visible
despite the dust cloud that had chased Emma and Claude home.

Daan stared at Peacock Mons.

"It would be a long slog up the slope," he said. "But
not much of a challenge until you get to the cliff at the caldera
lip, I suppose."

"Sounds like you plan to try," Emma said. Daan smiled
over his shoulder at her.

"I've focused on utilities for too long."

"You've got to focus on utilities, mate," Yang said.
"That's what we need to keep expanding the nederzetting."

"You get to see Kamp's construction from the
outside," Daan said. "Claude's right - too much time living inside
a glorified culvert isn't good." He began alternating between the
satellite views on his pad and staring out the window.

"You can climb to the peak if you want," Claude said.
"I'd rather fly up."

The journey passed in relative quiet, each settler
lost in thought.

They spotted Rover Two easily. Despite a film of dust
muting its bright blue hull, it stood out against the reddish
sand.

The dust had been so fine it wafted away without
forming drifts. Yang circled the rover. The portable habitat was
still attached to Rover Two's airlock and still fully inflated.

Claude hopped to a walkabout access hatch. "Governor,
tell the drill swarm to return to storage configuration. Emma, are
you coming with me?"

"You go with Claude," Emma said to Daan. "Get a feel
for the walkabout doing real work. Tell me if it feels real enough
to use when you climb Olympus."

"Damn," Claude said in a good natured way. "I'll have
to wait for a new sand bunny to hop around before I get any
help."

Claude led the way to the crater floor where the
drill stood upright with a pile of cuttings dribbled down the
sides. He folded up the power receiver while Daan dumped the
ballast cylinders.

"All secure," Claude said when they'd loaded the
drill on Rover Two's bed.

"You guys might as well retract the inflatable," Yang
said over the suit channel. "You've got to go inside to do that, so
might as well drive it home, too."

Emma sighed softly. She had hoped to ride home with
one of them.

Claude and Daan hopped to the access hatches and
extracted cleaning clothes from their tool pouches. By extending
the suits' arms, they could reach the seals and wipe each one
thoroughly.

"Here goes nothing," Claude said, maneuvering into
docking position.

"Your suit is sealed to the rover, Claude. I am
opening the suit's access," Governor said. "Daan, your suit is
sealed to the rover. I am opening your suit's access."

Emma let out a cheer.

"I knew it would work," Yang added.

"Emma and I never did go into the inflatable," Claude
said. "Want to come with me, Daan?" They donned the two surface
suits hanging in the airlock as a precaution.

"Everything looks good," Daan said when they were
inside the inflatable. "I'm taking off my helmet."

"Are you okay?" Emma could see Daan and Claude
through the multi-layered plastic windows - vague shapes moving
inside.

"Give the man a minute, love," Yang said. "I think
I'll see what Yin packed for lunch while we wait."

"It's cold," Daan said. "I'm sick of being cold. I
suppose there's a heating unit that goes with this thing?"

"No, just a circulation fan."

"That may be a mistake. If this is going to be a
habitat, I don't want to wear a surface suit the whole time."

"Even with that foil roof, I feel naked to the
radiation," Claude said. "This thing gives me the willies. I'm
going back to the rover. Besides, I'm hungry."

"There's a man with his priorities straight," Yang
said, returning to the seat next to Emma with a bowl of fish and
chips in each hand.

***

When they returned to Kamp, Emma stored the
walkabouts with their mules in the maintenance warehouse. Governor
could operate an empty suit, so she left Governor to dock each suit
to a mule and walk it back to its corner, dragging a power cable
and dangling the suit. She'd have to wait for her first camping
trip.

"I hate coming back here," Daan said as the rover
approached the north docking module. "I felt more like myself on
this trip, and I'm coming back to the same old problems."

"If I can spend half-time with my samples," Claude
said, "I'll be happy stringing lights in the medical bay the rest
of the sol. You, Melina, and Sanni can get some extra sleep.

Yang docked at the south habitat and, when Emma
hopped through the airlock, she found Claude waiting for her. They
trotted through the Plaza to the Spine.

"Hang on." Claude interrupted Emma's turn towards the
north habitat. "I have something to show you."

"Go ahead," Yang said. "I'm hungry - hope someone's
cooked supper." He hopped through the habitat airlock.

Mystified, Emma followed Claude into the fish module,
on to the greenhouse, and stopped in surprise.

A table built from packing crates filled the center
aisle - Claude had to hop up on a garden bed wall to walk around
it. He faced her and swept a welcoming arm above the table. It was
set for supper with a bowl of fish stew in the middle and Claude's
pouches of beer.

"We never did get to our date. How about
tonight?"

"This is great." Emma pulled a stool from under the
table. "Who did all this?"

"Liz. She also swiped something from your bunk." He
pointed to Emma's tin of cheese and salami, setting on the edge of
the garden bed.

"I hope that's okay..."

"Absolutely." Emma grabbed up the tin and pulled off
the lid. "Salami goes with beer, doesn't it?"

Claude grinned as he picked up a ladle. "Allow me to
serve..."

I owe Liz for this, Emma thought as she poured the
beer, holding the pouch carefully so not a drop spilled. She
deserves a full report on our date.

***

The Settler Four mission would break Earth orbit in
three months, October seventh on Earth, sol three oh six on Mars.
Settler Four was called the Doctors' Mission because, in addition
to vital but mundane supplies, doctors and medical equipment would
arrive.

And a cryochamber of embryos.

The embryos would be housed in the new medical bay,
so Liz encouraged Emma to spend her time installing utilities. She
mentioned them often when Emma took time for a chat.

"Just think - Settler Four will bring two hundred new
settlers for Mars," she said. "And if the viability tests go well,
enough blastocytes will arrive with Settler Five to yield -
assuming we can maintain an eighty-three point two percent success
rate - to yield a population of two thousand in six or seven
generations. A self-sustaining colony on Mars."

Emma shifted uncomfortably. She hadn't thought about
the embryos lately. The S-5 mission would carry the only all-woman
crew Colony Mars planned, to get a jump on filling Kamp with
children.

Emma had never felt the need for children. When she
was a little girl playing with dolls, her dolls didn't have babies.
They built things and traveled to distant lands. But no babies.

Obviously a colony needed children to succeed, and of
course more genetic diversity than four adults per transport could
provide. It didn't make any sense to immigrate to Mars if you
weren't going to raise children.

But there'd be no pregnancies until after S-5
arrived. There was time enough to worry about it then.

***

Daan, Melina, and Sanni managed to keep up with
maintenance in the Spine and two habitat modules but had no time
for the medical bay, so Emma and Claude installed utilities. It was
surreal working in a puddle of light within a cold, dark, silent
bay, so they talked as they worked - Claude especially. Emma
developed an interest in rocks.

Claude spent most of the time talking about his
samples. He was eager for the analytical instruments S-4 would
bring, but made progress using old fashioned analytical techniques
like scratch tests, so Emma got a lesson in history as well as
lithology. The new radiant heaters felt warm against her skin, but
the stone benches and bay walls were still cold and sucked heat
from the air.

From time to time Claude lapsed into silence, so Emma
went over walkabout plans in her head. She agreed with Daan - she'd
felt like herself on the crater trips. As soon as the nederzetting
work-schedule allowed, she wanted to take a walkabout and one of
the mules out for a test run. A mule would give her the option to
stay out for three or four sols, sleeping under the dusty stars and
traveling far on robotic feet.

As weeks dragged on Claude spoke less. Emma was cold
and stiff every evening and her headaches returned, dull heavy
sensations in her eyes and sinuses.

Utilities were nearly completed in Medical when Yin
and Yang opened another new bay - another greenhouse. This bay
attached directly to the Spine with no module in between. Its air
ducts were built into the stone floor, which eliminated the sort of
ventilation work the medical bay had needed. Even before fans were
installed, cold flooded into the Spine. Heat and proper lighting
would have to wait until S-4 arrived with more components, but Liz
got started on the garden beds right away.

Emma helped harvest alfalfa to spread on the new beds
of sand, carrying the sheaths into the cold bay after sweating in
the warm greenhouse, trying not to trip over the raised beds
visible only in light spilling in from the Spine. They'd dig the
alfalfa into the raw sand later.

"I don't know what you're grinning at," she said to
Yin at supper as she carried a baked potato to the table and sagged
into a chair. "Every bay you open just dumps us back into the
deep-freeze."