Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (95 page)

Thursday, October 13,
2016

MSD 50757.359 (Sol 7)

Jeff poured a cup of coffee and
took a seat at the breakfast table. As he spooned scrambled eggs and sausage on
his plate, he gave Susan a broad smile. “Happy birthday.”

She returned the smile. “Thank you.
Kind of you to remember.”

“You’re welcome. Have any special
plans for the day?”

“I was thinking of going to the
mall and doing a little shopping, but it’s kind of a long drive.”

Jeff chuckled. “Yeah.”

“So, no, nothing special.”

“Well, if you’d like to go on a
little drive, we can go find the tractor and greenhouse, and get started on
that project.”

“Sure.”

He glanced at Gabe and Abby. “That
alright with you two?”

They both nodded. “Yeah, fine,”
said Gabe. “I’m looking forward to getting the greenhouse setup and start doing
some gardening.”

“Okay, let’s suit up after
breakfast and go find ‘em.”

“I know where they are.”

“You do?”

“Uh huh.”

“How?”

Gabe grinned. “Now that
Pathfinder
’s
on high ground, I was able to get a bearing and Doppler range on their beacons
last night. They’re actually pretty close together, about three kilometers
apart. But they overshot the LZ by around 15 kilometers. They’re roughly 28
kilometers northeast of us, in the foothills between here and the big crater.
The hills to the east of
Pathfinder
’s landing site blocked its view as
they came in, so all it knew was that they were somewhere out there in about a
700 square kilometer area. That’s why
Amos
and
Andy
couldn’t find
them.”

“Huh. I’ll be damned. Well, they’re
a ways away, but since we’re going to be visiting that crater this’ll also give
us an opportunity to chart at least half the route to it.”

“Uh huh.”

Four hours later they found the
tractor. The compact track loader was built by Mitsubishi in Japan with
engineering assistance from Caterpillar and JPL, and launched from China’s
Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island atop a Long March 5.
Big
Jake
, as it was affectionately called, weighed in at just over three and a
half tons and was the largest single mass landed on Mars to date – which the
Chinese government spared no expense in bragging about. In addition to its
loader, it also was provided with optional quick-coupling auger, backhoe, and
angled blade. The crew hoped to use it to “dig into” Mars and see what was up
to ten feet beneath the planet’s surface. Additionally, they hoped to sample a
variety of Martian soil types in the greenhouse, searching for something that
could serve as a growth medium with only minimal treatment. Like the rovers,
Amos
and
Andy
,
Big Jake
was powered by a CO/LOX burning engine, and
was fitted with an RTG to keep the batteries charged and its hydraulics from
freezing for up to 25 years. Being tracked, it was capable of traversing much
more difficult terrain than the rovers, but it was slow, with a maximum speed
of only seven miles per hour, and a maximum un-refueled range of only 50
kilometers. Further, it was “dumb.”
Big Jake
possessed no navigation, no
intelligence, and zero autonomous operation capability: it had but one mode –
manual.

Jeff looked the machine over.
“Well, it made it.”

“Amazing,” said Gabe. “I was almost
certain we’d find its mangled remains at the bottom of a very fresh crater.”

Jeff laughed. “Yeah, you’re not the
only one. Sue? You want to climb in and see if it’ll start.”

“Roger that.” She climbed into the
cab, not the simplest of tasks while wearing a Mark III suit and PLSS, settled
in, and cranked the starter.
Big Jake
fired up. “We’re running.”

“Cool. Alright, throw the switch on
those explosive hold-down bolts, and ease off the landing platform.”

“Rog.”

Jeff faintly heard a series of
‘pops,’ and the hold-down straps fell away from
Jake
. He walked around
the tractor, inspecting each strap to make certain they had all separated.
“Okay, looks like you’re good to go. Ease on down.”

Jake
’s landing platform had
no legs. The only things between the platform and the ground were the landing
engines, and they had been crushed into the sand by
Jake
’s mass upon
touchdown.
Jake
rolled forward and onto the Martian surface.

“Okay, that’s good, you’re clear.
Go on and head for home.”

“On my way.”
Jake
slowly
clanked off to the southwest.

“Now remember, you don’t have
enough air to get there. Watch your reserve, when you get down to two hours,
park, and holler. One of us will come get you, and we’ll pick it up tomorrow.”

“Got it.”

“Abby? You want to hook
Andy
up to the work tools trailer and haul it down? Then come back and get Sue?”

“Rog. On my way.”

“Okay, Gabe and I’ll go find the
greenhouse.”

“It should be around three klicks
north of us,” said Gabe.

“Rog. You drive.”

Twenty minutes later, Gabe said,
“It should be right up ahead.”

“Um,” said Jeff, “there’s a crater
right up ahead.”

“Yeah.”

Gabe brought
Amos
to a stop
at the rim of an old crater about 200 meters across, and around 15 meters deep.
They climbed out and surveyed the crater. Sitting near the middle of the crater
was the greenhouse. Jeff groaned. “Mother pussbucket!”

“Yeah.”

“We’re not gonna be able to tow it
out of there with a rover. The mass is such that a rover can barely tow it on
level ground, let alone up the side of this thing.”

“Yeah.”

“Sue?”

“I heard,” said Susan. “What do you
want me to do?”

“Seems the European Space Agency
made a hole in one. Turn around and get up here. We’re gonna need
Jake
for this.”

“Okay, turning around. At least
it’s intact.”

“That’s yet to be seen.”

“What do you want me to do?” said
Abby.

“Uh…” said Jeff. “Gabe?”

“Abby, take the work tools on down
to the station, then refuel and get back up here. Once Sue has this thing out
of here, she can tow it as far as she can, then you can pick her up. We’ll
finish the job tomorrow.”

“Roger that. Have fun.”

“Yeah.”

An hour later Susan arrived at the
crater rim with
Jake
. “Okay, I’m here. Where are you?”

Jeff and Gabe had already driven
into the crater. “Do you see our tracks?” said Jeff.

“Yes.”

“Follow them. It’s a fairly easy
route in; a little steep coming down the rim, but not bad. It’s just that we’ll
need
Jake
’s torque and traction to pull this thing back up the rim. We could
probably do this using both rovers, but I think this’ll be easier. Just
remember, on the slope go up or down, not sideways.”

“Rog. On my way.”

Ten minutes later
Jake
appeared on the crater rim and started heading down.

“Hold it,” said Jeff. “While you’re there, use the
loader and cut a little more gentle path over that rim.”

“Okay, I’m bottoming out right
here.”

“Yeah, we did too. Just dig a
couple feet out of the rim, maybe six meters wide, and dump it off to the side
somewhere. Don’t push it down the rim as it’ll just be more loose ground that
we’ll have to climb through.”

“Understood.”

While Susan did some excavating,
Jeff and Gabe inspected the greenhouse package. “Looks good to me,” said Gabe.

“Yeah, let’s disconnect the
parachutes and assemble the tow hitch while Sue’s playing in the sand pile.”

Gabe laughed. “Rog.”

As they finished, Susan said,
“Jeff, I’ve got a nice gap cut here, but this slope looks awful loose. What do
you think about me using the bucket to push some of this surface material down
to the bottom and try firming up the slope? It might give us a little better
traction.”

“Yeah, go ahead. How are you fixed
for air?”

“A little over three hours.”

“Alright, but let’s try to get this
thing out of here before we have to pull you out and plug you into a rover.”

“Roger.”

“Abby? Where are you?”

“Just about to the station. I
should be back up there in about an hour and a half.”

“That’ll work. See you when you get
here.”

Fifteen minutes later, Susan
trundled over to the greenhouse in
Jake
, and backed up to the hitch.

“Alignment’s good,” said Jeff, “six
inches. Okay… hold it.”
Jake
stopped and Jeff dropped in the hitch pin.
“Okay, it’s all yours. Take her away.”

Susan slowly pulled forward, then
clanked across the crater, up and over the rim, out onto the plain, and headed
for the station, while Jeff and Gabe followed behind in
Amos
.

An hour and six kilometers later they ran into Abby.
“Okay,” said Jeff, “that’s enough for today. Sue, park it and join Abby. We’ll
finish this tomorrow.”

“Roger that. I’m almost down to
reserve air and my boobs are sore from jiggling like bowls of Jell-O for three
hours.”

Jeff laughed. “Damn, sorry I missed
that.”

Gabe punched him in the shoulder.

“Ouch. Alright, tomorrow you can
drive
Jake
.”

She groaned.

Saturday, October 15,
2016

MSD 50759.387 (Sol 9)

Jeff stared at the survey stakes
they had set out to site the greenhouse as Gabe backed the trailer into place.
“Okay, stop. That’s good.” He, Abby, and Susan removed the tie downs, staked
the greenhouse to the ground, and then Jeff pulled the pin on the trailer’s
tilt bed. “Okay, Gabe, go ahead, dead slow.” As Gabe pulled ahead, the trailer
bed slowly tilted and the unassembled greenhouse package gently slid off the
back and onto the ground. “Excellent! That’s got it. Go find a parking space,
then come give us a hand.”

Unlike the rest of the habitat, the
greenhouse was sited directly on the ground; on a pad they had leveled the
previous day. It consisted of a geodesic dome, 24-feet in diameter, and 12-feet
high at the apex. Inside the dome was a plastic bubble that, when inflated,
expanded the dome from its packaged form to full size. As the dome expanded,
the aluminum frame struts and exterior triangular laminated-glass panes fell
into place. Beginning at the top, as each circular segment fell into place, the
crew bolted the struts and panels together. To protect them from Mars’ lethal
levels of ultraviolet radiation, the outer layer of the glass panes consisted
of polycarbonate with a thin protective gold coating, similar to that of their
helmet face shields.

 They fired up the air compressor
and utilized Mars’ atmosphere to initially pressurize the dome. Two days later,
when the dome was fully assembled, they depressurized it, cut away the portion
of the interior bubble that covered the hatch, and installed the slatted floor,
benches, and other interior features that would not fit through the
cross-connect.

Jeff frowned at Gabe and Abby as
they carried an empty six-foot long, three-foot tall, 54 cubic-foot medical
equipment transport case into the dome. “Okay, what the hell is that for?”

“Hot tub,” said Abby.

“What?”

“It’s our hot tub.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope.”

He chuckled. “Alright. This I gotta
see.”

“It will require a bit of
plumbing,” said Gabe.

“You think? Okay, just set it
somewhere and let’s get this cross-connect installed, and get some atmosphere
and heat in here.”

“Roger that.”

Sunday, October 30,
2016

MSD 50774.314 (Sol
24)

Jeff crawled out of bed, dressed,
and stumbled into the kitchen. It was 7:30 in the morning and apparently no one
else was up yet. He made coffee, poured a cup, returned to the commons, and sat
at the computer. “Well… news, sports, or weather?” As news and sports were
sadly lacking on Mars, he chose weather. He brought up the most recent set of
images from the
Pathfinder
orbiter, and mumbled to himself. “Hello Mars,
how are we today? Ah, sunny and a balmy four degrees above freezing. How nice.”
Suddenly, something caught Jeff’s eye. “Uh, what have we here?” He zoomed in on
the Hellas Basin, and stared at the screen. Within the two-mile deep,
1,400-mile wide crater was a swirling dust storm 1,000 miles in diameter. “Oh
shit, this ain’t good.”

Even
through two closed airtight hatches Gabe’s scream was quite audible. Jeff
leaped from the chair and headed across the commons. “Oh, Christ! What now?” He
threw open both hatches and jumped inside her room. “Gabe! What?”

She was
kneeling, staring at the bed, a look of horror on her face, and grasping her
head with both hands.

Jeff
followed her gaze. His eyes landed on a bloody spot on the sheet.

“I’m not
pregnant!”

Monday, October 31,
2016

MSD 50775.337 (Sol
25)

After
trying to go back to sleep for the better part of an hour, Jeff decided it was
a futile effort and got up. He shaved, brushed his teeth, dressed and headed
for the kitchen. The station seemed unusually quiet as he passed through the
commons. Even the dull drone of the ventilation system seemed softer than
normal. Stepping into the kitchen he found Susan and Abby sitting quietly at the
dining table. “Good morning.”

They both
looked up. “Good morning.”

Abby
stood. “I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”

“Thanks.”
He glanced back through the commons at Gabe’s door. “She up yet?”