Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (109 page)

She gave a sigh of relief. “Yes. I
was about to reach for the fire extinguisher.”

He frowned and chuckled at the same
time. “Um, is this a cake or a pyrotechnic device?”

Abby grinned. “We’re just having
some fun at your expense.”

“Yeah. So what else is new?”

They set out plates and forks and
handed Jeff a knife. He cut the cake and served, and they all enjoyed the first
cake baked on Mars.

#

Jeff and
Gabe lay beside one another in Jeff’s bed, propped up on pillows.

“That was really very nice,” said
Jeff. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. But actually Sue
and Abby did most of the work. About all I did was engineer the cake pans.”

He laughed. “Did that require
consultation with Heidi?”

“No. I was able to manage that one
on my own. It’s kind of fun to think about all the things we might be able to
make from the remains of those descent stages. From some tubing and exhaust
nozzles, we might be able to make a fair selection of brass instruments.”

“Does anyone here play a brass
instrument?”

“No.”

“Well, then maybe you could make a
blunderbuss.”

“Why? Is there something here we
need to shoot?”

He chuckled. “No. But maybe we
could toss some rocks and shoot trap.”

“What would we use for gunpowder?”

“Oh, I dunno. There’s perchlorate
in the regolith. If we could leach out enough, we could probably make some kind
of low-grade explosive from that.”

She grinned. “That’s right, you’re
the chemist.”

“I just majored in chemistry in
college, I wouldn’t call myself a chemist.”

She
gasped softly.

He
glanced at her. “What?”

“I’m
being kicked.” She grabbed his hand and placed it on her belly. “Feel that?”

Jeff grinned. “Yeah. Oh, that’s neat. Wow, what
have you got in there? A soccer player?”

“Or a
Rockette.”

He
laughed. “Yeah, that’s quite a kick. You still sure it’s a girl?”

“Uh huh.
It just feels like a girl.”

“Okay,
I’ll take your word for it. Would you be disappointed if it’s a boy?”

She
scooted down in the bed and snuggled against him, resting her head in the crook
of his shoulder. “No, I know you’d like a boy.”

“Gabe, I
don’t care. So long as he or she is healthy and has the prescribed number of
eyes, fingers and toes, I’m not particular.”

She
leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Well, you’re easy to please.”

“Yep,
that I am.”

“Two,
ten, eleven.”

“Huh?”

Gabe
grinned. “
The Addams Family
. Eyes, fingers, toes.”

Jeff laughed. “Don’t even think about it.” He gazed
at her for a moment and grinned. “You know, I’ve noticed something about you
lately.”

“Oh,
what’s that?”

“You’re,
uh, getting some serious boobs.”

Gabe
giggled. “You think?”

Jeff
gently fondled her breast.

She
cooed, “Hmmm, that feel’s nice. It’s a good thing we don’t really need bras
here, cause I don’t have any that would fit.”

“They’re,
um, very nice.”

She closed her eyes, and smiled softly.

They lay quietly for some time,
entertained by their unborn young one practicing field goals. After a time of
kissing and caressing, Jeff rubbed Gabe’s belly. “Feels quiet in there now.”

Gabe chuckled.
“Yeah, I think she wore herself out. Now it’s nap time.”

“Do you like
being pregnant?”

“Uh huh. It’s a
nice feeling. Well, now that I’m past the morning sickness.”

“Hmmm, hard
part’s over, huh?”

“Um, there’s
still labor. Can’t say as I’m looking forward to that.”

“Eh, it doesn’t
last long.”

She gently
slapped his chest. “Fine, then you do it.”

“Sorry. But I’ll
gladly be your cheering section.”

She chuckled
softly. “Gee, thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Do you still like sleeping with
me?”

Jeff choked. “Good grief, what a
question. I’m in bed with a beautiful naked six-foot-tall blonde with really
long hair and big boobs. What’s not to like?”

Gabe giggled.
“Yes, but you’ve been here before.”

“True, but I
swear those boobs are growing larger as I watch.”

She laughed.
“Yeah, they are, aren’t they?”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m going to
have to buy all new bras when we get home. I’m pretty sure I’ll never again be
able to squeeze into the ones I have.” She cooed while Jeff gently scratched
her back. “Um…”

“Hmmm?”

“Do you love me?”

“You know I do, with all my heart.”

“That’s good,
because I love you too.” She rested her head on his chest and fell asleep.

Thursday, May 4, 2017

MSD 50955.478 (Sol
205)

Jeff found Gabe in the greenhouse.
She was wearing a set of coveralls that had been slit all the way down the back
and an 8” piece of cloth sewn in to expand the girth. He smiled. “Nice outfit.”

She turned from her gardening. “We
didn’t bring maternity coveralls, so I had to make do. It works, more or less.”

He kissed her and patted her belly.
“You’re getting there.”

“Yeah. Today’s the first day of my
third trimester.”

“Wow. Just three months to go.”

“Uh huh.”

He looked around. “So, how does
your garden grow?”

“It’s doing quite well. This is
actually a pretty good place to grow things. In spite of our reduced sunlight
intensity, the elevated CO
₂
level and the light spectrum – red
during daylight hours and violet-blue intensive in the twilight hours – is
really good for growing green plants. Combine that with our artificial lighting
scheme, and everybody seems pretty happy.”

“Well, great. What’s your next crop
that’s ready for harvest?”

“Well, over here we have hydroponic
tomatoes that are just about ready. Then we can break out some freeze-dried
bacon and you can have your bacon and tomato sandwiches.”

“Excellent. Except that we don’t
have any mayonnaise.”

“I’ll talk to Sue. Maybe she can stir something up.”

“Great! Just ask her for the
variety that doesn’t glow in the dark.”

Gabe giggled. “Okay. And here we
have soil-based corn that’s also getting pretty close.”

“Hmmm, corn on the cob.”

“Uh huh. And up here, we have
aeroponic radishes, carrots, onions, and turnips that are doing rather well.
Also the soil grown potatoes, sweet potatoes, and cabbage are doing nicely.”

“Amazing. Now if only we had some
corned beef.”

She smiled. “Sorry, no cows.”

“Right. What are you working on
now?”

“I’ve been planting winter wheat
over in the corner there, and I’m about to try some aeroponic rice. I think
rice may be well suited for an aeroponic medium.”

“Why rice?”

“Because you can do a lot of things
with it. Besides the standard food product, you can make milk, wine, sake, even
paper out of it. Aeroponic rice here would be a valuable product, so I want to
try it.”

“We have some freeze-dried shrimp
and crab. Sushi?”

Gabe grinned. “Hmmm, that sounds
good. But no soy sauce, wasabi, or ginger.”

“We don’t have ginger?”

“No.”

“Hmmm, poor planning. Talk to Sue.
See what she can stir up.”

“Okay.”

Jeff hugged her. “How are you
doing?”

“I’m doing fine. This is a whole
new feeling for me. I’m feeling… domesticated. And it’s not all bad. I actually
kind of like it.”

He kissed her. “You’re a wonder.”

She grinned. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Jeff looked over
a table of dead and dying plants in an assortment of trays. “What’s this?”

“Those are the DOAs.”

“Huh?”

“Dead On Arrival. They’re the
native soil experiments.”

“Looks like they need a little
help.”

Gabe shrugged. “Yeah, just a
little. The native soils run from inert to lethally alkaline. You can’t grow
anything in it without fertilizer and, in some cases, serious leaching. Even a
compost pile is useless without the introduction of aerobic bacteria. This
isn’t Earth. Mars is a dead rock. In fact, not only is it dead, it’s often just
plain lethal. These trays over here… the seeds wouldn’t even germinate. They
were dead as soon as I planted them. And these here, I transplanted healthy
plants into, and they’re all dead or dying. We brought enough with us to
satisfy our requirements for our comparatively short stay, but for a permanent
colony there would have to be some kind of implemented biodiversity. As I said,
this isn’t Earth. And what grows on Earth is not going to grow here without a
whole lot of help.”

“I gotcha.”

“And the flip side of the coin is
that if one were to introduce the necessary microorganisms to create a useable
and sustainable organic cycle conducive to Earth-type plant life, one would
also risk introducing all of the wonderful harmful pathogens that are also
found on Earth. It’s kind of a ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’
scenario.”

“Does that surprise you?”

“No, not one bit.”

“Me neither. Any luck with algae?”

“Sure, over here. But it’s like
everything else. In an isolated environment I can make it grow. But if I expose
it to Mars, it’s dead in seconds.”

“What kills it?”

“Lack of oxygen, low temperature,
soil alkalinity, ultraviolet radiation… take your pick. The same things that
would kill us if we went outside without a suit.”

“So terraforming is a non-starter?”

“You could say that. For one thing,
the planet doesn’t have enough gravity to even retain an atmosphere much beyond
what’s here now.”

Jeff nodded and smiled. “Well,
aren’t you glad you came?”

Gabe grinned. “Yes, I am. It’s an
interesting place to visit, but I don’t believe I’d care to live here.”

He chuckled. “You are living here.”

“Yes, but someday I expect you to
take me home.”

Saturday, May 6, 2017

MSD 50957.378 (Sol
207)

Jeff leaned back in his chair at
the breakfast table and took a sip of coffee. “Okay, first day of autumn and
we’re approaching the halfway point. Time to get to work on the MAVs. Abby,
let’s get suited up and go get the cryo plants connected.”

She groaned. “It’s Saturday. You
know, the weekend?”

“Only on Earth. Here it’s just
another workday.”

“Slave driver.”

He grinned. “Come on, suck it up.
Pressure’s building in the LCH
₄
tanks and we need to bleed off the
gas, re-liquefy it, and pump it back in. And we can’t start filling the LOX
tanks until the plants are in place. And we’ve got just over 300 sols left
before liftoff, so let’s get busy.”

“Ugh. Alright.”

They climbed into
Andy
,
drove to the Sabatier plant, took the LOX transfer tank in tow, then continued
20 kilometers northeast to the MAV landing site. JPL had managed to set down
both MAVs, along with two crates of support equipment and final assembly parts
on a tilt-bed trailer, about 200 meters apart and near the west end of
Magellan
’s
drop line, where they had a good view of
Pathfinder
during descent. The
parts crates contained two small solar-powered cryogenic plants, one for each
MAV, which would recycle the liquid methane and LOX boil off. They also
contained the interior fittings – one set to accommodate the crew, the other
for sample return. In consultation with Northrop Grumman they had decided this
was the safest procedure in the event one of the MAVs failed to land in
serviceable condition or, for whatever reason, was unable to lift off. Their
only trips to the MAVs so far had been to fuel two of the four LCH
₄
tanks – and then return to steal some of it in preparation for the dust storm.
JPL had already performed a full set of diagnostics on both MAV’s flight
systems from Earth, and assured them that both were fully operational. But JPL
could not verify the MAV’s structural integrity.

Jeff pulled to a stop near MAV-1,
the primary crew vehicle. “Okay, let’s drop off this service tank here. You
climb inside and start the physical inspection and I’ll go get the parts box
and setup the cryo plant.”

“Okay.”

Jeff pulled the service tank around
to the fueling manifold side of the MAV and parked it about ten feet away. Then
unhitched it and drove a quarter mile over to the parts trailer, hitched it up,
and returned to the MAV, pulling the trailer between the MAV and the service
tank. He removed the tie down straps from the rear container, unlatched the
tilt-bed catch and ratcheted up the bed until the container gently slid to the
ground. He then climbed back into
Andy
and pulled forward until the
container settled onto the ground. He lowered the bed, secured it, returned to
the container, and removed the cryo plant panel. Inside were the control panel
and four hose fittings with insulated hoses attached, and the other ends
capped. All the fittings, caps, and hose connectors were color-coded.

He proceeded to one side of the
container and again removed the panel. Inside was the folded four-square-meter
circular solar array, attached to the container by an articulated arm. Jeff
pulled it out and up, latched it in place, and unfolded the array.

“How are you doing?” said Abby.

“Fine. Just got the solar array up.
Hang on a second.” He returned to the control panel and checked the array’s
voltage and amperage. “Okay, we’ve got power and batteries are good. How are
you doing?”