Margaritifer Basin (Margaritifer Trilogy Book 1) (97 page)

“So do I.
And it suddenly occurred to me that our time together now is infinitely more
important than any time I may or may not have with you in years to come.”

He nodded
and kissed the top of her head.

“Haven’t
you seen my tattoo?”

“Your
what? You don’t have any tattoos.”

“Well, I
would if there was a tattoo parlor here.” She held up her left hand.

Jeff
peered at it in the dim light of the Martian sunrise displayed on the LED
widescreen ‘window’ over the bed. On her wrist, just ahead of her watch, were
penned the words,
Carpe Diem
.

“Can you
see it?”

“Yes.”

“Every
time I look at my watch, I’m reminded to ‘seize the day’, for tomorrow may not
come.”

He hugged
her tightly. “Is it working?”

“So far,
so good.”

“Will it
still work tonight?”

She
nodded. “I think so. I’ve been thinking about it.”

“And?”

“I’m
going to lay awake and think about you and Abby and… gastrointestinal
absorption of paternal immune modulating factors.” She laughed.

Jeff
snorted, chuckling. “Okay, that’s pragmatic.”

“Yes. And
I’m way ahead of her there.”

He smiled
and nodded. “Yeah.”

#

While
Jeff undressed, Abby took off her bathrobe, tossed it on the sofa and crawled
into bed. She watched him.

“Um,
convention would suggest that I’m supposed to watch
you
get undressed.”

She
smiled. “You just did.”

“That was
it? You’ve had better performances.”

“Do you
want me to get out of bed and start over?”

“That
won’t be necessary.”

“Alright
then, get on with it.”

“Are you
in a hurry?”

“In a
manner of speaking.”

He
grinned. “Uh huh.”

Abby
shook her head. “Gabe told me you’re on loan, I can’t keep you.”

Jeff
chuckled. “She did?”

She
nodded. “Yes. So the meter’s running.”

He stood,
just staring at her.

“She
meant it too, didn’t she?”

He
nodded.

“It’s
always been Gabe, hasn’t it?”

He
finished undressing, turned off the light, looked off into the dark and sighed.
“Yeah, I suppose.”

“Figures.
Tall blondes.” She tsk’d. “The rest of us just don’t have a chance.”

Jeff
grinned, and crawled into bed beside her. “Hey, I like tall redheads too.”

“What
about short Orientals?”

“Sure,
them too. I’m an equal opportunity employer.”

She
laughed, then snuggled into his arms. “When was the last time we made love?”

“Uh…
hmmm.”

“Am I
that forgettable?”

“No! It’s
just been a while, give me a second. Oh, yeah, about a year ago, in the hotel
in D.C. when we went down to train on the MAV sim… and you got me drunk on
those… whatever the hell they were?”

“Sex on
the Beach.”

He
chuckled. “Yeah, that’s it. Hell of a name for a cocktail. When you ordered
those, everyone in the bar turned and stared at us.”

Abby
giggled.

“Then you
started undressing in the elevator and left your bra dangling from the
handrail.”

“Yeah, we
were pretty drunk. We should go back sometime and check at Lost and Found.”

Jeff
laughed. “You go, I’ll wait in the plane with the engines turning.”

“Coward.”

They lay
quietly for a minute, Jeff gently stroking her hair. “Do you still think this
is a good idea?”

“I never
thought this was a good idea.”

“You
didn’t?”

“Well…
yes and no. Depends upon one’s point of view. I mean… god, it’s really nice to
be here with you, but what are we going to do if both Gabe and I get pregnant?”

“I don’t
know. Like Gabe said, we’ll figure it out.”

“And what
would we do when we got back to Earth?”

“Good
question. I dunno, we may just have to stay here.”

“Huh?”

“Well,
they have laws against bigamy on Earth. But here at least we can kind of make
up the rules as we go. One thing’s for sure…”

“What?”

“We’d
need a bigger bed.”

Abby
giggled. “Kinky. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Jeff
shook his head. “No, not really. I’m a monogamous kind of guy.”

“Really?
Could have fooled me.”

“Well,
this is kind of an unusual situation.”

“You
think? Maybe we could just work out a schedule. We could give you one night a
week off. You know, to rest up.”

“At my
age, I might need more than one.”

“You seem
to be doing pretty well.”

“I’m
sleeping well, that’s for sure.”

She
laughed softly. “I’ll bet. Sue explained paternal immune modulating factors to
me.”

Jeff
chuckled. “She did?”

“Uh huh.
I told her we started working on that a couple years ago.”

He
choked. “You didn’t.”

“Yeah, I
did.”

“What did
she say?”

“She said
it probably doesn’t count.”

“Ah.
Well, I guess we’ll just have to do the best we can in the time allotted.”

Abby
giggled. “Okay.”

He
delicately kissed her forehead, cheek, and lips, then pulled her close and held
her tight.

“Can I
ask you a question?”

“Uh huh.”

“What
will you do if I get pregnant and Gabe doesn’t?”

Jeff
rubbed his cheek against her head for a while, thinking, then sighed. “I don’t
know.”

“Could
you be happy with me?”

“Yes.”

“Would
you be happy with me?”

He didn’t
answer right away.

“You
don’t want to hurt Gabe, do you?”

He shook
his head. “No.”

She
nodded. “Well, Wrentham House is pretty big, and we’re sort of used to living
together. Maybe the four of us could raise a Martian and perhaps every once in
a while Gabe would loan you out to Sue and I.”

Jeff
chuckled. “Yeah, she might at that.”

“We make
a good team.”

“Yes we
do. But when we get back, the reason for being a team will be done.”

“Maybe,
maybe not. If we come home with a Martian, I think you’ll have to admit that it
was a group effort.”

“You’re
right about that.”

“So
raising a Martian may also be a group effort.”

“That’s a
distinct possibility.”

“Yeah.”

“But,
wouldn’t you rather have a man you could call your own. And one that was a
little closer to your age?”

“Have you
asked Gabe that question?”

Jeff bit
his lip and shook his head. “No.”

“Well
then? You’re a lot closer in age to me than you are to her.”

“Abby,
I’m not sure we’re gonna find the answers to this dilemma in deductive
reasoning.”

“No, probably not.”

“I think Gabe, surprisingly, may
have the right approach, and she said it once before… the day before we
launched. Do you remember?”

“No.”

“
Carpe diem
.”

She nodded. “Then, will you make
love with me tonight?”

“Isn’t that why we’re here?”

“Uh huh.”

“Well then, give me a PROCEED on
the DSKY and let’s get on with it.” And he pulled her atop him and pressed his
lips hard against hers.

Tuesday, November 15,
2016

MSD 50789.699 (Sol
39)

“This was a great idea you had,”
said Abby.

“Yeah, it does seem to work,
doesn’t it?” Jeff replied.

Abby was running a winch on the
back of
Amos
, pulling what amounted to a giant soft windshield wiper
across one of the solar cell carpets. The soft rubber blade wiped dust off the
cells and dumped it into a plastic tray that sat on a chamois wiper. With a
single pass, the solar cells were wiped clean of dust and returned to full
efficiency.

“You about done?” Jeff asked.

“Eh, 50 meters to go… I think. God
it’s dark.”

“Yeah, Tau’s up to 3.3. Looks like
we may be living in twilight for a while.”

“Yeah, or pitch black.”

“Gee thanks. I remember that movie.
Kind of wish I didn’t.”

 “Eh, I haven’t seen any signs of
man-eating pterodactyls lately.”

“Good, let’s keep it that way.
Alright, wrap it up and come get me. It’s getting darker by the minute out
here.”

“Be there in a few minutes.”

Jeff was checking the dust cover
tie-downs around the MAV. The ascent vehicle was effectively dust-proof, but
they didn’t feel like taking chances in a major storm.

A few minutes later Abby rolled up
beside him. “Hey Mack, you call for a taxi?”

“Yeah, it’s about freakin’ time.”
He climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up. “Home James.”

Parking
Amos
beside the
airlock Abby asked, “Should we cover it?”

“Probably wouldn’t hurt.”

They covered the rover with a vinyl
sheet, staked it down, then entered the airlock and pressurized it.

Removing her helmet, Abby observed,
“Another fine day’s work.”

Jeff managed a smile, “Yeah, maybe
our last for a while. It’s getting ugly out there.”

“One thing’s for sure.”

“What’s that?”

“We go out again, day or night, and
we’re gonna need lights.”

Jeff nodded. “Yeah.”

Saturday, November
19, 2016

MSD 50793.597 (Sol
43)

“You sure you don’t need some help?
It’s your rule that nobody goes outside alone,” said Abby.

Jeff shook his head. “No, I’ve got
it. Won’t be but a minute.”

He suited up, exited the airlock
and headed for the storage lot. The dust was now so thick it was like living in
perpetual darkness. He switched on his helmet lights and rifled through the
wall of mil-spec shipping cases until he finally found the one he wanted, and
hefted it back into the airlock.

Abby met him at the lock. “What the
hell is so important that you’d go out in this, and alone?”

“You’ll see. Here, clean the dust
off this while I get out of this suit.”

Abby grabbed some gloves, not
wanting to stick to the minus 80 degree case and vacuumed it off. “Okay, it’s
clean. Where’s it go?”

“Kitchen.”

“Kitchen?”

Jeff smiled. “Yeah.”

Hauling the case into the kitchen,
Abby was surrounded by Gabe and Susan.

“What’s that?” Gabe asked.

“Beats the hell out of me,” Abby
replied shaking her head. “Jeff won’t tell me.”

Jeff came in behind her. “Curious
folks, you are.”

Susan frowned. “And we shouldn’t
be?”

Abby set the case on the counter
and backed away to give Jeff some room.

“Okay,” Jeff said, “let’s see what
we’ve got here. Uh, you might want to stand back a bit, there may still be some
pressure in here.”

Knowing what he meant, all three
women took one giant step backward. Jeff opened the pressure release all the
way allowing a hiss of gas into the room.

“What’s that?” said Abby, with more
than a little nervous curiosity.

“Nitrogen. No big thing. Okay,
that’s good.”

Jeff released the latches on the
breadbox-sized container and opened it. “Okay, there you go.”

Gabe, Abby and Susan all rushed
forward to see what was inside. Abby waved her hand over it to clear away the
fog of vapor, revealing the contents.

Gabe gasped. “Oh my god, it’s a
turkey!”

Abby cast Jeff a look of stunned
disbelief. “You flew a turkey frozen in liquid nitrogen all the way here?
You’re insane.”

Jeff smiled. “Thursday’s
Thanksgiving and by god we’re gonna have turkey.”

Susan stared into the box. “That’s
got to be the most expensive turkey in the galaxy.”

Jeff grinned, “Yeah, about $3,700 a
pound, so let’s try not to overcook it.”

Gabe frowned. “Okay, so what do we
do with it?”

Jeff gently placed his hands on her
cheeks, shook his head and smiled. “You’re sweet. It’s not really difficult.
You thaw it in the fridge then cook it in the convection oven.”

“Oh yeah,” Gabe grinned sheepishly.
“I just never expected to see one here.”

Jeff hugged her. “This road trip’s
just full of surprises, isn’t it?”

Thursday, November
24, 2016

MSD 50798.472 (Sol
48)

“How’s it look?” Jeff asked Abby as
she stared at the systems monitor.

“Not good. Tau’s at 4.1 and still
rising, and we’re down to 393 amps, less than a third of capacity.”

“Ugh. Do you have an idea what the
average daily drop has been over, I dunno, the past week or so?”