Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (103 page)

“Okay.”

Jeff climbed out of
Amos
and
they hiked to the top of the rim.

Abby gasped, “Oh my God! If this
were much bigger you wouldn’t be able to see the far rim.”

“Yeah. And this is a little one.”

“How old is it?”

“I dunno. It’s too small to be
named and, except for the THEMIS images and that one MOC image, I don’t think
anyone’s every studied it. Look at the chaos on the floor; this must have had
water in it at some point. It remind you of anything?”

“Yeah, looks like kind of a
miniature of the Aram Chaos. God, look at that wedge-shaped block on the north
side. It looks like somebody laid it out with a ruler and cut it with a knife.
How high do you think the walls are on that?”

“I dunno, maybe a hundred meters.
These down here,” he pointed to the crater floor just below them, “could be a
couple hundred meters.”

Abby pointed northeast. “You still
don’t think that notch in the rim is a water breach?”

“No, there’s no channel. Besides,
it’s on the wrong side. That’s the high side. If there was an outflow, it
should be right about where we are. I still think that was made by a meteor
that just nicked the rim.”

“The one that made that small
crater on the floor?”

“I don’t think so. It looks too new
and too small, and the ejecta is on the wrong side. But look just below and to
the right of that crater. That round depression? That could be an old crater.
Or it could have hit when this was full of water and just made a big splash.
That notch is pretty weathered. It’s old.”

“God, what went on here?”

“I dunno, one of the great
mysteries of the universe. You know, it took the Colorado River seventeen
million years to dig the Grand Canyon and it took a rock from space all of
about half a second to dig this hole.”

“Makes you feel kind of small,
doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

Abby took Jeff’s gloved hand. “You
think this is how the Apollo astronauts felt?”

“Probably, but they never had a
view like this.”

“
Nobody
has ever had a view
like this. Thanks for bringing me along.”

Jeff chuckled. “Thanks for coming.”

#

Jeff glanced up from the table as
Abby came out of the bathroom looking a whole lot fresher in a pale blue tank
top and grey sweat pants. “Feel better?”

She stuck out her tongue in a
little pant, “Yeah. That is just too much time to spend in a suit.”

“Yeah. It’s only thirty miles, but
it probably needs to be a two-day trip.” Jeff turned a rock over and over in
his hands. “Hey, look at this.”

Abby sat across the table. “What?”

“A rock I picked up just outside. I
think it’s pallasite. Look at that crystal, that look like peridot?”

“Yeah, it does. Or olivine.”

“Pretty much the same thing.”

“Meteorite, huh?”

Jeff nodded. “That’d be my guess.
This stuff’s really rare on Earth. Kind of weird to just be picking it up on
the ground here.”

Abby brushed her hair back and
leaned in for a closer look. “You think maybe that’s part of the meteor that
made the crater?”

“Hard to say. With so many craters
around here, it’ll be pretty hard to assign blame.”

She chuckled, “Yeah,” then sat back
and sighed softly. “Hey…”

Jeff continued to study the rock.
“Hmmm?”

“Could I ask a favor of you?”

“Sure.” She didn’t say anything and
after a moment Jeff glanced at her. “What?”

“Uh…”

He smiled and squinted at her.
“Abby, what?”

She wrinkled her nose and grinned
sheepishly. “Yeah, um… would you make love with me tonight?”

Startled, Jeff coughed and dropped
the rock on the table. “Uh, wow, that’s pretty direct.”

“Yeah, well, it’s been over two
months, and it’s kind of hard to get laid up here, so I thought I’d just get
right to the point.”

He nodded, sat back, folded his
arms across his chest and stared at her. “Uh, yeah. Hmmm.”

Abby raised her eyebrows
questioningly. “You’re not married.”

“No, not yet.”

Her smile faded. “Have you asked
her?”

Jeff nodded. “Yes.”

“What’d she say?”

“Yes.”

“When did you ask her?”

“A month ago.”

“Why haven’t you told Sue and I?”

“Because Gabe didn’t want to.”

“Why?”

Jeff stared at the rock on the
table and bit his lip.

Abby frowned. “Jeff, why didn’t she
want us to know?”

He sighed. “Because we still have a
long way to go and she thought there might be moments like this.” He looked
into her eyes. “And she doesn’t want to be selfish.”

She gasped softly. “I’ll be damned.
Huh. Didn’t see that coming.” She shook her head. “Never figured her for that
kind of enlightenment.”

“Surprised me too. Gabe’s not the
same person she was a couple years ago.”

“That’s a fact. She’s grown up.”

“Yeah.”

“Does she know you’ve slept with
Sue and I, other than our attempt at conceiving a Martian?”

“Yes.”

“What did she have to say about
it?”

“She said, ‘Good’.”

“Huh. And she actually thinks it
would be okay if we slept together… now?”

“Yeah. At least, that’s what she
said.” He paused for a moment. “She said we’re not like other people; the rules
for us are different, if there are any rules for us.”

Abby nodded. “And what do you
think?”

Jeff shook his head. “I don’t
know.”

“Jeff, what if it had been me?”

He frowned. “What do you mean?
Would I have asked you to marry me?”

“Yeah.”

He sighed and dropped his eyes.
That was a question he had hoped she’d never ask.

“Hmmm, I didn’t think so.”

“Abby, I love you, I really do.
But…”

“But you love Gabe more.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I do.”

“Well, then everything worked out
for the best, I guess.”

“I’m sorry.”

She stared at her hands for a
moment then looked at Jeff and rubbed her nose. “Well, the question still
stands.”

Jeff stared at the table, rubbed
his forehead, and whispered, “Yeah.”

Abby sat, sullen, staring at him.

He glanced away, still unable to
meet her eyes.

Tears welling, Abby slammed her
fist on the table and screamed, “God damn it, Jeff! I need you too!”

Jeff’s head drooped; he closed his
eyes and sighed. Abby was now sobbing. He slowly looked up at her, shook his
head and said softly, “Abby, I love Gabe with all my heart. She’s going to have
my child and going to be my wife. I… I… What you’re asking of me is hard.”

She wiped her eyes. “I know. I’m
sorry. But I have needs too.”

Jeff nodded, stood, and held out
his hand to her.

Abby looked up through the tears.
“What?”

He smiled softly and whispered,
“Come here.” She stood and Jeff wiped the tears off her cheeks, then wrapped
his arms around her. “You’re a mess.”

She buried her face in his shoulder
and chuckled. “Yeah.”

Jeff gently lifted her chin to gaze
into her eyes. “Can we start this conversation over?”

She whimpered, “Uh huh.”

“Good.” He kissed her cheek.
“Abigail…”

“Huh?”

“I think it’s going to be cold
tonight. Would you care to snuggle with me, and keep warm?”

She wiped her eye and smiled. “Uh
huh. I’d like that very much.”

He smiled softly. “Yeah, I would
too.”

Tuesday, January 17,
2017

MSD 50850.384 (Sol
101)

Jeff waved his arm at the horizon.
“Look at the west rim. The meteor must have come in low from the east. There’s
got to be a couple hundred meters of ejecta piled over there.”

“The east and west rims look pretty
steep, but this doesn’t look too bad.”

“I dunno, it looks steeper further
down, and it could be slippery. Take some pictures, I’ll go get a rope.” Jeff
walked back to
Amos
, opened the utility locker and pulled out a 150-foot
climbing rope.

“Man! This is fantastic. Did we
bring a tripod? We need to take some multiple-image panoramas of this thing.”

“Not with us here, but there’s one
in the hab. I don’t remember where, but it’s there somewhere.”

“Well, let’s not forget it next
time we’re out. Huh.”

“What?”

“There’s something on the ground.
Hang on a minute.”

Jeff started walking back to her,
“What’d you find?”

“I dunno, it’s… oh shit… damn…
HELP!”

Jeff’s blood curdled as he listened
to Abby scream for several seconds before concluding with an “Ooof,” and then
silence.

“Abby! Abby! Abby, god damn it,
answer me!”

He ran as fast as he could in the
pressurized suit toward where she had last stood. As he reached the slope, Jeff
felt his feet go out from under him and he promptly sat back on his butt,
digging his elbows in to keep from sliding further down the hill. There was a
layer of fine sand and gravel covering a very smooth slab of rock and Jeff
could see the marks made by Abby as she skidded down the slope and over the
edge. He lay back on the ground, gasping for breath and screamed, “No!” It was
over half a mile to the bottom of the crater. Jeff tightly squeezed his eyes
closed and clenched his fists, panting furiously. “No! God, no!” he cried.
After a moment he jerked upright. Her scream was short, she didn’t go all the
way down. “Abby, I’m coming! If you can hear me, hang on, I’ll get you!”

Jeff scrambled backwards, pushing with his boots and
pulling with his elbows until he was off the slope and back on solid ground. He
rolled over and pushed himself to his feet then looked down the slope and back
at
Amos
, “Too far.” He ran back to the rover, jumped in the seat,
cranked the engine and stomped on the throttle.
Amos
lurched toward the
precipice. At the last moment, Jeff slammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt
just a few feet from the drop off. He left the engine running and grabbed the
remote from the dash, simultaneously pressing the “Hold Position” button. He
then dove back into the utility locker and grabbed a figure-8 descender. At the
front of the rover he took the rope and threw three half-hitches over the tow
hitch then threaded a loop through the descender, clipped it to the carabiner
on his suit safety harness, and begin easing down the slope backwards, using
the rope’s tension to steady himself. Reaching the edge he looked down and was
both relieved and horrified to see Abby’s contorted body lying face down on a
rock ledge some fifty or sixty feet below him. Even though Mars’ gravity was
only 38% that of Earth’s, that fall was still more than enough to kill someone.

Jeff rappelled down the cliff as
quickly as he dared. Abby was lying on the narrow ledge, her left leg wedged
between two rocks just above her, the only thing keeping her from going on
over. He glanced down. It was probably a thousand feet to the next stop. “Abby!
Abby! Can you hear me?” There was no reply.

He dropped once more, landing on
the ledge beside her. Jeff tied a figure-eight loop in the line, reached under
Abby, and snapped the loop into the carabiner on her harness. In the process he
spotted a rough, dust-covered puncture hole, about an inch in diameter, in the
lower left quadrant of her PLSS. He gently pulled her boot from between the rocks,
noticing as he did that her leg twisted in a manner that it probably wasn’t
meant to, then lowered her until she rolled over and was held by the line’s
tension. Jeff grabbed her left arm and checked her vital signs on the
bioinstrumentation display. The good news was that she was alive. The bad news
was that her pulse and respiration rates were climbing rapidly and her suit
pressure was down to three psi, and falling. “Ah Jesus! Come on, God, give her
a break!”

As he was about to release her arm,
Jeff noticed something clenched in her gloved hand. He pried her fingers open
and found a shiny black rock. He was about to toss it into the crater but
suddenly realized it was what this was probably all about, so stuck it in his
suit leg pocket.

Jeff gave Abby’s suit a quick
inspection and could find only the hole in the PLSS. Whatever the problem was,
he couldn’t fix it on that ledge, and without oxygen she’d be dead in a couple
minutes. He grabbed the primary O
₂
inlet hose to her suit, gave the
connector ring a half turn and yanked it out. Then did the same with the outlet
hose. Without the connectors in place the suit cutoff valves closed and – in
theory – isolated her suit from the leaking PLSS. He checked the pressure gauge
again: two psi, but holding. Then Jeff pulled the actuator cable on the Remote
Control Unit to activate emergency oxygen flow from the Oxygen Purge System.
When her suit pressure was back up to eight psi, Jeff opened the diverter valve
on the front of Abby’s suit to maintain the flow. He pressed the STOP, RESET,
and START buttons on his Speedmaster. “Alright woman, we’ve got fifteen
minutes. Stay with me and I’ll get you the hell out of here.”

Jeff grabbed
Amos
’ remote
control, tethered to his suit, and ordered him to back up, dead slow. He instantly
felt tension on the rope, and they began to rise. Jeff pushed off from the
cliff face with his feet and walked them up, praying the rope would hold until
they reached the top. A minute later they reached the slope atop the cliff and
Jeff commanded the rover to stop. He got to his feet and pulled Abby up. He
heard her moan through the radio. “Abby, can you hear me?”

She moaned again.

“Abby! Say something. One word.
Anything.”

She whimpered. “Oh, it hurts. What
happened?”

Jeff sighed with relief. “Oh thank
God. You fell. You’re hurt pretty bad. Just hang on, I’ll get us back as fast
as I can.”

“Okay. Oh! God it hurts!”