Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (113 page)

            “No question. Just, please pass along our
congratulations and best wishes to Capt. Grey and Dr. Frederick.”

Gabe smiled. “Ah, that was nice.”

            “Thank you. I will definitely do so. Alright,
thank you all. There are copies of the announcement and photos down here. Help
yourself. And we’ll be releasing more information as we receive it.”

Jeff hit the STOP button on the
remote control. “Well, there you have it.”

“What now?” Gabe asked.

“We wait and see what the
editorialists and commentators have to say – not that I much care – and go on
about our business. We still have a mission to complete.”

“They were certainly surprised,”
Susan said, “but not incredulous.”

“No. It’ll probably take most
people a little while to mull it over and figure out what to make of it. We’ve
had years to deal with it. They just got it dropped in their laps today.”

Gabe leaned her head on Jeff’s
shoulder. “Chrissie did a good job.”

“Yeah, she did. She always does.
You look kind of tired, why don’t you go to bed? Get some rest.”

“Yeah, I should. Ghita will
probably wakeup hungry pretty soon.” She kissed Jeff on the cheek and headed
for her room. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Gabe.” Jeff sat up and
stretched. “Well, I’m thinking about bed too. You two should also get some
sleep. We’ve got work tomorrow.”

“What?” Abby asked.

“I’d kind of like to get the
interior fixtures installed on MAV-2 before you and I take off for your
favorite big hole in the ground. Then we can continue fueling it when we get
back and get that out of the way with plenty of time to spare. One less thing to
worry about.”

“Oh god, that’s a job,” Abby
groaned.

“Yeah, it is. But let’s get it done
sooner rather than later and be done with it. I also noticed the amps are
dropping a little on the solar arrays; they probably need cleaning again. With
the days getting shorter, we’re probably gonna have to do that more often. The
rovers are also about due for a Q-1 maintenance. Not quite, but let’s do it
before we go rather than just after we get back – just to be on the safe side.
It’s a long walk back from that crater.”

“Yeah. Okay, that’s a nice list.
We’ll get started on it first thing in the morning.”

“Alright, I’m off to bed. Sue, I’ll
look in on Gabe, you can just go to bed.”

“Okay,” Susan said. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight. ‘Night Abby.”

“Goodnight.”

Jeff got up and looked in on Gabe.

“I’m awake,” she whispered.

Jeff quietly walked in and knelt
beside the bed. Gabe was lying on her side, nursing Ghita. “How are you doing?”

“Fine, this one woke up hungry as
soon as my head hit the pillow.”

Jeff smiled. “Occupational hazard.”

“Yeah. You off to bed?”

“Uh huh.”

“I wish we had a big bed. Big
enough for the three of us.”

“Eh, this one’s big enough. Scoot
over a little.”

“Huh?”

“Scoot over just a bit.”

Gabe slid over to the edge of the
bed, gently pulling Ghita with her.

Jeff undressed and crawled in
beside them, wrapping his arms around Gabe’s neck and cradling Ghita between
them. “There, how’s that?”

Gabe draped her leg over Jeff’s,
and cooed, “Heaven.”

Tuesday, August 8,
2017

MSD 51048.462 (Sol
298)

Jeff awoke to find Ghita still
snuggled between he and Gabe, and both of them sound asleep. He glanced at his
watch; a few minutes past ten. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept
that late. He gently eased out of bed, trying not to wake them, dressed, and
headed for the kitchen. At the hatch he was met with the aroma of fresh brewed
coffee. Abby and Susan were seated at the table. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” they both replied.

“Have you two been up long?”

“No,” said Abby, “just long enough
to make coffee.”

Jeff poured a cup of coffee and
took a seat at the table.

“Are they still asleep?” asked
Susan.

“Yeah.”

“How did you sleep?”

“Fitfully. I kept worrying about
rolling over onto Ghita.”

Susan nodded. “If you and Gabe are
going to sleep together, you need to put her in the crib.”

“Yeah, I know. I didn’t mean to
sleep with them; I just wanted to cuddle for a while. Every time I woke up I
thought about getting up, but lying there with my daughter and her mother was,
um, too pleasant.”

Abby and Susan grinned.

“Any news yet on Earth’s reaction
to this?”

Abby shook her head. “No, just a
short note from Heidi saying a large file of news clips would be coming
shortly. Seems Ghita is pretty much dominating the news cycle and there’s a lot
to sift through.”

“I can imagine.” He chuckled.
“Think of it, a two-day-old baby 250 million miles away
is
the news on
Earth.”

Susan nodded. “You are going to
have a lot of interesting stories to tell her when she gets a bit older.”

“Yeah, and a lot to explain. I can
see her in kindergarten asking all her classmates which planet they were born
on.”

Abby and Susan laughed.

He shook his head. “It’s gonna be
interesting.”

“Well,” said Abby, “just remember –
it was
your
idea.”

“Yeah.”

Gabe came in carrying Ghita. “Good
morning.”

Jeff stood as they all replied,
“Good morning.” He peeked at Ghita, wrapped in a soft little blanket, kissed
her on the forehead, then kissed Gabe on the cheek. “Hi. How are you doing?”

Her smile was radiant. “I’m fine.”

“How’d you sleep?”

“Oh, okay. She wanted to nurse about
every two hours. I guess I’ll get used to it.”

“Uh huh.” He pulled out a chair for
her. “Have a seat. I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”

“Thanks.”

“Go easy on the coffee,” said
Susan. “No more than two or three cups a day until we see how Ghita reacts to
the caffeine. There’s not much that gets into your breast milk, but newborns
react differently to it. Some are fine with it, others get really wired.”

Gabe nodded. “I got it.”

The comm console in the commons
beeped with an incoming message. “I’ll get it,” said Jeff. He set a cup of
coffee on the table in front of Gabe and strolled into the commons. Looking at
the screen he smiled, then grabbed a laptop and returned to the kitchen. Still
smiling, he sat and opened the laptop.

“What is it?” said Abby.

“Just a minute.” He logged onto the
server email system and opened the first file in the message, spun the computer
around so they could all see, then got up, walked around the table, knelt on
the floor between Gabe and Abby, then reached over to the mouse pad and clicked
on PLAY. An image of the news ticker in New York’s Time Square appeared. As it
scrolled, it said, “
E.T. EXISTS! LIFE ON MARS!
”

Gabe frowned. “A bit over the top,
don’t you think?”

Abby rolled her eyes and shook her
head. “Oh my god.”

On the Sony LED screen just above
the ticker, a picture of Ghita appeared, as the ticker continued with the birth
announcement.

Gabe looked down at a sleeping
Ghita. “Too bad you’re not awake to see this.”

Jeff wrapped his arm around Gabe’s
shoulders. “She’ll see it one day.”

Abby nodded. “Yeah, and probably
wonder why all babies don’t get their picture up there.”

“Uh huh.”

“Like you said, when she’s a little
older, you’re gonna have a
lot
of explaining to do.”

He laughed. “Yeah.”

Abby chuckled. “I’m looking forward to hearing how
Gabe explains the birds and bees to her, and the part about there not being any
birds or bees here.”

Gabe groaned. “Oh god.”

Jeff stopped the video and opened
the next file. A banner headline on the New York Times front page appeared, “
CHILD
BORN ON MARS! EARTHLING OR MARTIAN?
”

Gabe shook her head. “Stupid
question.”

“Yeah,” said Jeff, “but probably
the one that everyone’s asking.” He opened another file. “What’s this?
Izvestia?” The headline read, “
Российско
Американский
космонавт
медведи
ребенка на
Марс с
помощником
российских
ученых и
инженеров
” Jeff
shook his head. Okay Gabe, what’s that say?”

She looked at the screen and
chuckled. “Russian-American Cosmonaut Bears Child on Mars with Aide of Russian
Scientists and Engineers.”

Jeff frowned. “Huh? You have some
Ruskies stowed away in a closet that I don’t know about.”

“No!”

“Well, I think they also claim to
have invented baseball, the electric light bulb, and pizza.” He opened the next
file.

At the top was a note from
Chrissie. “This is nuts! I wasn’t going to send it but Heidi convinced me that
you should see it.”

A Washington Post headline read, “
LUTHERAN
CHURCH PROTESTS MARTIAN CHILD’S NAME
.”

Jeff frowned. “Uh oh, seems we’ve
pissed off the Lutherans.”

Gabe shook her head. “You’ve got to
be kidding.”

“I told you this could possibly
have religious implications.”

“Yeah, but her name? That’s silly.
What’s their beef?”

“I dunno, read on.”

“
The Church of the Lutheran
Confession, the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (operators of the Concordia
University System), and the Concordia Lutheran Conference have issued a joint
statement objecting to the naming of the first-born extraterrestrial, claiming
the child’s middle name, Concordia, is entirely inappropriate for a being that
is not an earthling and is possibly not even a child of God. The announcement
states a Lutheran Convention will be called to determine the child’s status and
decide whether or not the child should be marked and avoided in accordance with
Biblical scripture.
”

They all sat silent, staring at the
message.

After a moment Abby said, “That’s
bullshit. Who the hell do they think they are?”

Gabe shook her head again,
frowning. “Instead of objecting, you’d think they’d be appreciative.”

“Perhaps we should inform them that
we have found the one true God,” said Susan, “and excommunicate the lot of
them.”

Jeff chuckled. “Forget about it.
Starting an intergalactic religious war isn’t in the flight plan. Ignore them
and they’ll go away.”

Gabe reached over and closed the
laptop. “I’ve heard enough. I don’t think I really care what Earth thinks. It’s
none of their business anyway.”

Jeff smiled and hugged her. “That’s
the spirit. Alright then, what say we cook up some brunch then, Abby, you and I
can suit up and get some work done?”

Thursday, August 17,
2017

MSD 51057.708 (Sol
307)

At right about 1600 Jeff instructed
Amos
to park about 200 meters below the rim of Abby’s crater. “Well,
we’re baaack.”

Abby, with a distinct lack of
enthusiasm, said, “Yeah.”

“You don’t sound very excited.”

She shrugged. “I’m not.”

“Why?”

“In case you forgot, I once had a
bad experience here.”

He chuckled. “A bad experience? Is
that what you call it?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll take it a bit slower and
more cautiously this time.”

“Good idea.”

“We made good time, since
Amos
now knows the way.”

“Uh huh. And it was a lot more
comfortable riding in here than in
Amos
.”

“That’s a fact. What do you think? It’s a little
late to do much today. What say we have an early supper, turn in, get a good night’s
sleep, and start up first thing in the morning?”

“Sounds good to me.”

“How’s the leg?”

“It’s good. Sometimes a little
stiff and sore in the morning, but a few minutes on the bike or treadmill and
it’s fine.”

“Good.”

“How long do you think it will take
to fill JPL’s laundry list of samples?”

Jeff shook his head. “I dunno, a
couple days.”

“I’m glad you declined their
request for samples from the bottom.”

He laughed. “Yeah. I told ‘em we’re
not going down there. If they want samples from the bottom of that thing they
can come get ‘em themselves.”

“Have you told them about the
gold?”

“I didn’t, but Sue did. She sent
off the usual description, analysis, and pictures.”

“Were they excited?”

“I dunno. There’s way too much
stuff in the mail to read, and I’ve got other things to do.”

She smiled. “Like help take care of
your newborn daughter?”

He nodded. “Yeah, that would be one
of them.”

“Did Sue tell them about my black
diamond?”

“No. Eh, we’ll keep that one under
our hat. You found it and paid a dear price for it. It’s yours, you keep it.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. But it would be
nice if we could find another one for them. So, keep your eyes open, but do me
a favor and stay out of that goddamn hole.”

Abby chuckled. “My pleasure. What
do you want for dinner?”

“I dunno. You choose.”

“How about sweet and sour pork with
rice.”

“Yeah, that sounds good. I like
that one.”

“So do I.”

Friday, August 18,
2017

MSD 51058.382 (Sol
308)

“Okay, Abigail, we’re gonna do this
like we were in space; tethered to each other and both independently tethered
to something solid. Okay?”

“Got it.”

“Alright then, here’s your leash.”
He snapped a carabiner with two climbing ropes double knotted to it to her
harness. “When we’re anywhere near the rim we’ll drive a piton into a rock and hook
us up. If we move, we’ll back away from the rim and start over. Understood?”