Glory on Mars (31 page)

"Isolation means independence. That's a good thing."
Ruby's chin jutted out.

"No one knows how quickly we'll become independent or
how Mars will change us. We're already a new kind of human
community. I'll observe, like an anthropologist, really." Noah set
his elbows on the table, steadying his arms as he sniffed at the
protein drink.

"I like Liz's idea." William said quietly.

"On Earth I specialized in high risk obstetrics, so
I've lost my share of babies."

Liz gave his shoulder a squeeze. From his face, he
still mourned those losses.

"Colony Mars screened every embryo for genetic
strength. I'm going to spend the rest of my life with healthy,
normal Homo rufus." He smiled up at Liz, laying a hand over
hers.

"But babies have to wait - I'll only be doing
viability tests. Transplants will have to wait for Settler Five's
med lab. There's always the old fashioned method, of course."

"I can wait another jaar," Liz said.

"And risk losing out on first-mother-on-Mars honors?"
Melina grinned impishly. Sanni gave her shoulder a playful tap and
Daan began studying this cup. "We've got a pediatric doctor
now."

Emma's gaze wandered. A flash of caramel color caught
her eye.

"Hey, stop that."

The cat was pawing at banana leaves rustled by the
ventilation system. Liz and Emma had transplanted several trees to
large pots inside the Plaza. Melina snatched up the cat and
distracted him with a handful of toasted mealworms.

"That cat is getting fat," Liz said. "How often do
you feed him worms?"

'"Everyone feeds him worms." Melina grinned and
scattered a couple lunar cat toys from her pocket. The cat dashed
off. "Something smells good."

"This still isn't a proper fry up," Yin said when he
set pans on the serving bar.

"No eggs, no bacon," Yang said sadly. "Fried
mealworms aren't the same at all."

"The baked fish is quite nice, though."

"Beans and roasted tomatoes too."

"And..." Yin tilted a pan towards Emma. "Hash brown
potatoes for the American."

"You doctors better get the bioreactors set up," Ruby
said, eagerly filling a plate. "We clearly need more cooking oil,
and fast."

"Allow me..." Claude snatched up a plate, scooped out
potatoes, and set it before Emma with a flourish. She smiled at him
and speared an oily brown chuck.

***

For a few weeks they didn't worry about the storm
raging around them, aside from Yang's occasional moan that digging
out would be a miserable chore. But communications remained
down.

"What will MEX do if they don't hear from us?" Emma
asked over another of Yin and Yang's English breakfasts. "Could
they postpone the next mission?"

"Not for now, I expect," Noah said. He had spent his
last Earthside tour assigned to the steering committee at Colony
Mars and thought he could guess their reaction.

"Settler Five will only hit a potential launch-hold
when it's time to transfer the settlers and live cargo to the
ship."

"Even this storm can't last forever," Yang said.

"The worst that can happen is a delay till the next
launch window."

In her head, Emma was calculating her age in Earth
years, figuring when she would be outside Colony Mars' optimum for
childbearing.

Settler Five was
the
Kinderen Mission
. In addition to
the usual mundane supplies, they would bring the full cryo-bank of
embryos, a major part of Colony Mars' master plan. The embryos were
a diverse sampling of human genetics, donated by people whose
ancestors came from all over Earth, and the four S-5 settlers were
chosen for their desire to raise children on Mars. Once they
arrived, Kamp Kans could theoretically resurrect humanity without
further help from Earth.

"They won't launch a transport ship unless they know
we're alive and well out here," Ruby said.

"They also need positive results from my viability
tests," William said. "I'm feeling steady enough on my feet to
start work. Anyone want to help move the cryogenic chamber to the
medical bay after breakfast?"

"Too bad we can't raise the rabbit embryos," Liz said
as she and Emma followed William to the north habitat. The chamber,
connected to life support systems there, held two hundred human
embryos and two hundred rabbit embryos. William would only monitor
the human embryos. But he'd defrost a few of the rabbit embryos
each week and culture them until the conceptus stage. But that was
as far as they'd develop.

"Without a rabbit momma to provide an implantation
site, there'll be no little bunnies," William said. "Artificial
wombs are way too complex and need way too much support equipment
to haul to Mars."

"Unless someone invents a zero-g barnyard to send us
adults, we'll need artificial wombs if we want mammals on Mars."
Liz attached a hoist line to the chamber.

"If we could raise some creatures from every phylum
on Earth, Mars would be the ark we hope for."

"Colony Mars will keep an eye on the latest research
- incubation equipment's improving all the time. Maybe that will
happen if we get as far as Settler Mission Twenty," William
said.

Settler Mission Twenty, Emma thought. I'll be an old
woman by then.

***

Emma and Liz were transferring a batch of baby fish
to a growth pond and, as Liz netted the fingerlings to gently upend
them into a bucket, Emma checked the water temperature.

"The temperature's dropped two degrees," she said. "I
better check the other ponds."

She took readings throughout the greenhouse.

"All the ponds are down a little. I checked light
levels, too, and they're dimmed by five percent."

Emma left Liz to tend the fish and went looking for
Daan. He confirmed power levels were down everywhere.

William was trailing after him, comparing the Spine
to the mockup he'd trained on. As he noted, there wasn't much work
for a pediatrician yet.

"I thought it was good news when the outside
temperature rose a degree," Daan said. "Now I think microwaves from
the power satellite are heating up the dust instead of reaching the
receivers properly."

Emma glanced up at the arched ceiling. The thick
blocks of striated rock shut out all sound of the storm. It could
be a beautiful winter sol out there, but it wasn't.

"I thought the microwaves are tuned to penetrate
clouds."

"They are - or maybe, they were. The asteroid didn't
kick up a normal storm. Maybe the cloud's particle size
distribution is different. Maybe without Governor's feedback, the
satellite's generator has drifted off-frequency. Or the beam's
drifted off the receiver. There's no way to tell from down
here.'

Over the next few sols, power levels continued a slow
decline while the temperature outside the nederzetting crept
upwards.

Chapter Thirty-Eight:
Power

Daan was late sitting down to breakfast in the Plaza.
He'd been checking power readings in the Spine.

"Our power levels are still dropping," he said as he
reached for the coffee pot. "I'm afraid we need to reduce our
usage."

"I bet I know what that means," Ruby said. "Cold and
dark, I reckon."

"If I shut down some areas completely, we can keep a
small area warm and bright. Right now, I can power a habitat module
and a couple bays."

"Damn, we're going backwards."

"The fish module and greenhouse are our food sources,
so they have to have power," Liz said.

"I'm still working on the walkabouts in the docking
module and Claude has his rocks set up in the Plaza," Emma
said.

Daan shook his head.

"The Plaza's too big and open to other bays. Here's
the plan. We'll close every interior airlock, which will isolate
the medical bay, the fish module, and greenhouse. I'll give them
and the north habitat full power and cut back everywhere else to
minimal freeze protection, but no ventilation and no lights. No
power to the south habitat, either." He turned apologetically to
the New Four who were bunked there with Yin and Yang.

"Wall to wall sleeping bags," Ruby said with a
sigh.

"What about the alfalfa in the new garden bay?" Liz
asked.

"I guess winter is coming."

"And I guess this is our last breakfast in my new
Plaza kitchen," Yin said with a sigh.

Emma shared the group's stoic acceptance. This was
only an inconvenience for now.

***

"We'll make it through the storm," Claude said.

He was sitting with Emma in her bunk, talking quietly
while the others slept. Damn that worthless privacy flap, she
thought.

The wake-tone sounded and the smell of frying fish
seeped through the flap - meals were cooked in the galley again.
They waited for the shuffling and grumbling outside to die down
before stepping out.

The New Four accepted seats at the little central
table and Emma sat on a packing crate, balancing her plate on her
knees. The cat hopped from person to person, winding around their
legs and meowing for bits of fish.

"I'm going to record temperatures throughout the
nederzetting," Daan said as he got up. "The stone will hold heat
for a while, and I'd like to keep track of the cool-down
rates."

"Please check out the spot above the cryochamber in
Medical," William said. "The wall feels warmer than anywhere
else."

"There's a power receiver on the outside of the wall
there." Daan frowned. "I'll take some readings. Maybe a radiant
heater's just aimed poorly."

"Liz, we're not going to let the bananas in the Plaza
freeze," Emma said as she followed him. "I've got an idea."

***

The banana pots were waist high and equally wide
across, too heavy even in Mars gravity for Emma and Liz to lift.
But inside a walkabout using its robotic assist, Emma could handle
one by herself. Liz held the flatbed steady while she heaved the
pot up. The walkabout had to crawl on all-fours to follow Liz into
the greenhouse where Emma could stand up again and deposit the pot
in an aisle. They were back in the Plaza for their fourth pot when
Governor sounded an alarm.

"The medical bay is losing pressure." Governor's
calm, reasonable voice spoke in Emma's helmet. "William, leave the
bay immediately."

Emma galloped around the Plaza fish pond to Medical's
airlock.

"Is William still in there?" she asked inside her
helmet. Noah, Grace, and Hannah were gasping as they tumbled
through the door, so Governor replied.

"Yes, Emma. William is in the bay. He must leave
immediately."

Emma dived through the airlock, slamming the door
closed with her tail. Everything went dark, like she'd fallen into
a pit.

Power must be out, you fool, she thought, pushing
panic away.

"Helmet lights - on." She leaped across the empty
module, yanked the next airlock open, and crawled in.

The door to the bay stood open so she crawled over
the hatch frame into more darkness.

The bay was a confusing blur - smoke or steam, she
couldn't tell. She slid one claw along the bench tops towards a
dark moving shape. As she lumbered down the aisle, the shape
fell.

She hooked onto William's shirt, but he jerked away,
grabbing handles on the cryochamber. Emma swore and gathered a wad
of shirt into the walkabout's claw. She tried to shove William into
the airlock, but the cryochamber rolled away and he lunged for
it.

Emma swore and threw William into the airlock.

"Where's the cryochamber, Governor?"

"I cannot see it. I have no visuals inside the bay,
Emma."

She swept her tail across the floor.

"I can't find it."

Emma spent precious seconds backing the suit
carefully into the airlock to avoid crushing William. Dust swirled
around her. Some must be coating the door seals. She held the door
closed, telescoping the arms as far as they'd go so she could reach
the other door with her tail. She rotated the handle but the door
didn't budge.

Pressure in the module must be holding it closed, she
thought.

She slammed her tail against the door and it crashed
open.

By now, everyone was in the module. Still gripping
the door to Medical, Emma twisted to open the access, and rolled
out into Claude's arms.

"Are you alright?"

"Sure. Where's William?"

"They carried him to the habitat."

"Is the airlock holding? Governor, is the pressure
holding?"

"The medical bay is now at Mars surface pressure. The
airlock is holding."

"Let's go." Claude grabbed Emma's hand and they
jogged to the habitat.

Inside the habitat, William was wearing a medical
gauntlet as Grace tapped on her pad. Someone shoved a cup of tepid
tea into his pale hands and he gripped it tightly.

"The cryochamber," he said as they came in. "I lost
my grip on the chamber. Emma, did you get it out?" His voice was
shrill.

"Governor couldn't see it..."

"You were already unconscious," Grace said. "You
could have suffered permanent brain damage if she hadn't brought
you out immediately."

"What happened?" Yang asked. "Tell me exactly what
you saw."

"Dust tumbled down the wall, and then a banshee
screech." William was wide-eyed and trembling.

"It must be the microwave beam from the power
station," Daan said. "It's drifted off the receiver and heated the
stone till a seam cracked."

"What if the beam keeps drifting? What if it breaches
a bay we can't isolate?" Claude asked.

"I'll shut it down," Ruby said. She leaped to the
airlock.

For a moment, everyone froze in shock.