Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (93 page)

“Roger
that. Okay, we’ll go ahead and dock, and then make some lunch. Maybe we should
eat in here and wait for the tuna cans to heat a bit before we launch into the
startup checklist.”

He
glanced at Gabe. She nodded. “Sounds good to us. We’ll finish pressurizing,
unsuit and change in the suit room?” He gave Gabe a quizzical look.

She
nodded again.

“Then
meet you inside.”

“Okay.
How’s lasagna sound?”

“Works
for me. Probably be about half an hour.”

Jeff and
Gabe crawled into the Genesis.

“How’d it
go?” said Abby.

“Fine,”
said Gabe. “Pressure’s up and holding, ventilation is running, and as soon as
the temperature gets up to something tolerable we can move in.”

“Jesus,
it’s about time.”

“What’s
the CO
₂
level look like?” said Susan.

“5,700
parts per million,” said Gabe. “About what we expected.”

“That’s
good.”

“About 15
times the CO
₂
level on Earth.”

“Yes, but
not dangerous.”

Jeff
smirked. “The global warming crowd would freak out up here. The whole planet is
nothing but greenhouse gas.”

“Yes, but
in our case, good greenhouse gas. Keeps the planet a little warmer, and should
significantly aid plant growth in the greenhouse.”

“True
enough. Hey, I’m starving. How’s lunch coming along?”

“All
ready.”

#

After
lunch Jeff and Abby again suited up and went outside, taking with them a three
foot by five foot sign they had prepared on Earth and sent inside the suit
room. Jeff climbed up on the back of
Amos
right in front of the airlock.
“Okay, hand it to me.” Abby handed him the sign that he secured in brackets
that had been installed on Earth for the purpose. He then attached a light
fixture with two LED lamps, one directed at the sign and the other at the
airlock door. And finally he made a couple of electrical connections with small
plugs to a jack above the airlock door. “Gabe, you there?”

“Yes.”

“Okay,
light it up.”

“Roger.”

The
lights came on and the sign read:

Grey Station, Mars

Post
Office, food, ice cold beer

Next
gas – 105 million miles

The sign
was also surrounded with blinking Christmas lights. The mileage display – the
distance to Earth – was digital and regularly updated by the station’s main
computer, plus or minus half a million miles.

Jeff
grinned. “Okay, that’s got it.” He climbed down off
Amos
and instructed
him to drive around the corner, park, and shutdown.

Abby
chuckled. “Excellent.”

“Yeah.
Okay Gabe, kill the lights but leave the mileage display on. We’ll take a
couple pictures, then be back inside.”

“Roger that. How’s it look?”

“Great.”

Once back
inside and out of their suits, Jeff and Abby headed to the kitchen for coffee.
As they strolled through the commons Jeff glanced at the floor beneath the main
video screen. “What is that?”

Gabe,
standing in the kitchen hatch said, “It’s the cat.”

“The
what?”

“The
cat.”

Curled on
the floor was a very lifelike stuffed toy cat.

He shook
his head. “And how much did it cost me to get that here?”

“You
don’t want to know.”

“Yeah, I
suppose not. Well, when we go out for the day, somebody remember to put the cat
out.”

#

That evening
the four of them sat down for supper at the dining table in the kitchen for the
first meal in their new home on Mars. Jeff looked around the table and smiled.
“We don’t usually say grace, but on this auspicious occasion it seems like a
good idea. Any volunteers?”

They all
took hands, but the three women stared at him blankly.

“Uh huh.
Abby?”

She
frowned. “Do I look like the grace-saying kind?”

“Ah, come
on, you’re a good Irish Catholic, surely you can think of something.”

She
sighed and stared at the table for a moment, then smiled softly.

“Some have hunger, but no meat;

Some have meat, but no hunger;

I have both.

God be praised!”

Jeff
burst out laughing. “Amen!”

Gabe and
Susan nodded and smiled. “Amen.”

“Where’d
you learn that?”

Abby
shrugged. “My grandfather used to say it.”

“I like
it. I’ll have to remember it.”

They
began passing dishes around the table.

Gabe
dropped a scoop of scalloped potatoes on her plate, pointed the serving spoon
at it and said, “Stay.”

Jeff
glanced at her and grinned. “Still not trusting gravity?”

“It was a
long seven months, I’m still adjusting.”

“Yeah.
Well, while you’re training your supper, how about passing the potatoes?”

She
handed him the bowl.

“And the
serving spoon? I don’t think you’re gonna have to beat them.”

She
handed him the spoon. “Sorry.”

“Thank
you. So, how’s the hab holding up?”

“Great.
Pressure’s holding, all systems are nominal, no problems.”

“How’s
everybody feel?”

“Tired.”

Abby and
Susan nodded.

“Yeah, me
too. What say we take tomorrow off, catch up on some rest, and just attend to a
few housekeeping chores?”

The
others nodded in agreement.

He
glanced at Susan and Abby. “You two get your suits moved into the suit room?”

They both
nodded. “Uh huh,” said Abby.

“PLSSs
plugged in?”

“Yeah, all of ‘em, and recharging. Now that we’re
in, I’m looking forward to doing a little exploring. See what this rock has to
offer other than sand.”

“Uh huh. Lot’s to see. I suppose the first thing we
need to do is get
Pathfinder
moved. Give us some decent communications
and tracking.”

Gabe nodded. “Yes. Our data rate with Earth would
be a lot better if we didn’t have to burden the orbiter with ground relay comms
as soon as one of us disappears over the horizon.”

Tuesday, October 11,
2016

MSD 50755.921 (Sol 5)

Gabe collapsed atop Jeff. “Oh, god
that’s nice.”

“Yeah, very nice.”

They lay together for a time,
panting, kissing, caressing, then Gabe rolled off and snuggled beside Jeff.
“You know, sex in space is very entertaining, but I really like gravity.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, it does have
its uses.”

“Uh huh. More, um… friction.”

“Yeah.”

“Uh oh.”

“What?”

“Uh, oh dear, big wet spot in the
bed.”

Jeff laughed. “Uh, that happens.”

“Not in space, it doesn’t.”

“A downside to gravity?”

“Yeah. Oh gosh, why doesn’t it all
just stay in?”

“I dunno, you’re the physicist, you
tell me.”

“Do you really want to know?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so.”

Jeff wrapped his arm around her
shoulders and pulled her close. “So, how do you like Mars?”

“I don’t know yet, it’s going to
take a little getting used to.”

“Yeah.”

“But I like this part.”

He chuckled. “Uh huh.”

Wednesday, October 12,
2016

MSD 50756.381 (Sol 6)

In the kitchen he found Abby and
Susan at the table.

Abby grinned at him. “Sleep well?”

Jeff returned the grin and nodded.
“Just fine, thank you.”

Susan nodded toward the counter.
“There’s fresh coffee.”

“Thanks. Back in a minute.” Jeff
used the bathroom then returned to the kitchen, poured a cup of coffee and sat
down at the table. He rubbed his forehead thoughtfully and glanced back and
forth between them. “Are you two still handling this?”

Susan nodded, “Sure.”

Abby stared off at the wall and
sighed deeply, then turned back to Jeff and nodded. “Yeah.”

Jeff smiled softly at her. “You
don’t sound too sure.”

Abby shrugged and nodded again.
“I’m good.”

“Okay. I’m gonna take you at your
word.”

“I’m good.”

Just then Gabe went running through
the commons wrapped in a blanket.

“Hey, there’s…” said Abby.

“Bathroom!” Gabe yelled as she ran
by. Eventually she returned, poured herself a cup of coffee and, still wrapped
in the blanket, sat down at the table.

Susan stared askance at her. “You
okay?”

Gabe grimaced. “Yes. Sometimes
gravity is inconvenient.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “Oh lord.”

Susan chuckled, Jeff hung his head and groaned.

“So, um, aside from that, uh, colorful
but unnecessary detail, how was your evening?”

Gabe just stared at her and
grinned.

Abby nodded and cast her a mildly
sarcastic smirk. “Yeah. Well that’s just great.” She abruptly stood. “I’m gonna
go jog.”

A minute later Jeff, Gabe and Susan
heard the treadmill and Abby’s rapid metronomic footsteps. Their smiles faded a
bit and they glanced back and forth at one another.

Susan nodded and looked at Jeff,
“I’ll talk to her. She’ll get over it.” Then she smiled. “And so will I.”

Jeff pursed his lips and took a
deep breath. “Yeah.”

Gabe frowned.

Susan reached over and took her
hand. “Don’t worry about it. You just do your part.”

Gabe smiled softly and nodded.
“I’ll do my best.”

#

Jeff looked around at the others.
“Everybody ready?”

They all replied in the
affirmative.

“Alright then, let’s move out.
Abby, the word of the day is?”

“Yeah, I know, caution.”

“Right. We don’t know what’s in
that ravine, so be careful. No heroics.”

Abby’s sigh was audible. “Yes
daddy.”

Jeff chuckled. “Okay, meet you at
the foot of the volcano.”

“Alright.”

Abby and Susan took off in
Andy
heading southeast across the plain toward a ravine skirting the northeast side
of the ejecta from the 10-kilometer crater they had named ‘Frying Pan,’ and the
extinct volcano to the south of it, while Jeff and Gabe, in
Amos
, headed
northeast toward a low foothill in the west ridge of the shallow canyon in
which
Pathfinder
had landed.

Five kilometers and half an hour
later Gabe pulled to a stop at the base of a sandy slope, about a 100 meters high,
the pass through the valley’s west ridge. “That doesn’t look too bad.”

“No,” said Jeff, “go ahead.”

She pulled forward.

As they ascended the slope, Jeff
kept eyeing the rover’s tracks. “We sure don’t sink in very much, this stuff
compresses more like dirt than sand.”

“Uh huh.” As they crested the hill
she stopped again. “Oops.”

Jeff stared down the other side.
“Uh, yeah. Um, where’d all the rocks come from?”

“I’m not sure. There aren’t any
impact craters around here.”

“Bedrock?”

“Probably. Three billion years of
gentle easterly breeze just kept blowing the sand over to the west side of the
ridge, and exposing the bedrock on this side.”

“Makes as much sense as anything.
Okay, proceed, but take it easy, this is gonna be bumpy.”

“Yeah.” She gingerly worked her way
down the other side into the valley avoiding large rocks and outcroppings. Near
the bottom she stopped and pointed to a rock formation about 20 meters south of
them. “Look at that outcropping.”

Jeff surveyed the low rock cliff.
“Yeah, what about it?”

“It’s layered. Look at the gravel
clasts, that’s sedimentary conglomerate. There was water here, and lots of it,
and for a long time. We should take some samples.”

“Yeah, but not now. Let’s stick to
the business at hand for today. This is less than an hour from the station, we
can come back here anytime.”

Gabe tsk’d. “You’re no fun.”

“Hey, as it is we’re gonna be lucky
to be home before dark, so what say we move it?”

“Oh, alright.”

A half hour later Jeff pointed
ahead. “There it is.”

“Yeah, I see it.”

“Good morning,
Pathfinder
,
how are we feeling today?”

Gabe chuckled. “I know where you
got that line from.”

“So do I.”

“But you’re not really a space
cowboy.”

“I’m more of a space cowboy than
you are. At least I’m a boy.”

Gabe punched him in the shoulder.

“Ouch.”

She pulled up alongside the
Pathfinder
lander and stopped.

Jeff keyed his radio. “Abby?”

“Yeah. What’s up?”

“Okay, we just arrived at
Pathfinder
,
where are you?”