People of Mars (15 page)

“On the right?” It
wasn’t clear to what extent Robert understood what she was saying,
but he looked interested.

“
The image refers to the sample collected from the
bottom of the core, therefore not exactly from the crack, but about
one and a half metres away. As you can see, the crystalline
structures are less ordered.” Instead of a polyhedron, only a few
tiny, irregular fragments were visible. “Shifting the framing.”
Anna let a finger scroll on her
folio
. “You can see more of them, but always very sparse. In
general the concentration of beryllium is low and it becomes even
lower in the samples which are farther from the crack or as you
move toward the surface within the core. It’s like these crystals
were available in the rock in deeper zones and they reached the
outside only thanks to the seismic event that created the
crack.”

“And the fossil
bacterium?”

“
The
presumed
fossil bacterium.” Now it was her playing the devil’s
advocate in the absence of Michelle. “It isn’t here. It was missing
even in the cores you’d done.”

“It’s as if the
ordered crystalline structure was determined by the presence of
beryllium, given that it is a bacterium,” he hypothesised, with the
air of an expert.

Anna gaped at him for a moment. “It’s exactly what
I think. I believe that behind this order is a biological process.
The fossilisation then
froze
this condition. I cannot prove this theory, but it could
make sense.”

“Yes, it makes sense
even to me!” Robert exclaimed and then laughed, infecting her with
his hilarity.

She had the impression
she was looking at the old Robert and that made her feel good. Then
she remembered she hadn’t finished with her explanation.

“The only problem is
there’s something wrong.”

He cast a puzzled
glance at her.

“In a sample taken the
other time, I’d found fragments of degraded RNA, which is a
substance similar to DNA and is involved in the protein synthesis.
I mean a sample from the corer. You had destroyed the other
one.”

“Oops!” he commented,
ironic, making her smile.

“Now I had the chance
to repeat the analysis on the new ones, both from the cores and
from the crack.”

“And …?” He appeared
anxious to learn the answer. “Come on, Sister, don’t keep me
guessing.”

“The nucleobases, I
mean, the RNA fragments,” she specified for the benefit of her
interlocutor, who wasn’t very expert on that stuff. “I’ve found
them again only in one sample, the core collected near the crack,
again in the deepest layer. There are also possible traces of some
amino acids, but the analysis is non-conclusive to this end, just
like the other time, so I hadn’t considered them. The
concentrations were too low.” She shook her head, putting aside the
subject of the possible amino acids. “Anyway … I’d hoped that this
difference along the core was somehow related to the amount of
beryllium.” While speaking, she had replaced the images from the
microscopes on the screen with the results of the analyses. “Save
that there isn’t the slightest trace of biological molecules in the
sample from the crack!”

“Where beryllium shows
the maximum concentration,” he promptly commented.

“Exactly!” she said,
exasperated. “I’m really starting to believe it’s an artefact
repeating. But I don’t understand how it is possible. I’ve
personally cleaned and sterilised again all probing pipes. I know
I’ve made no mistakes. Unless the steriliser is faulty, and that
would be a mess, because it might have compromised the results of
more analyses.”

“If you want, I’ll
have a look at it.”

“
Yes, thank you.” She had really missed the
technician
version of Robert, but the
truth was that they had a desperate need for new equipment and now,
who knew when it would arrive?

“Do you know how is
Dennis doing?”

The sudden change of
subject caught her unprepared. Taken up with her researches, for
some minutes she had forgotten about the dramatic situation they
were living.

“I guess he is
worsening …” Anna said, and resumed staring at the screen with sad
eyes. No, she wanted to think again about her sample. It made her
feel safer. She was accustomed to keeping the negative thoughts out
of her life and was determined to do so even in that
circumstance.

“Don’t rack your brain
about it, Sister.” Robert dared to give her a pat on her back. “How
is Moln?”

She looked at him,
puzzled. Now he was asking her about the rabbit?

“Let’s go for a stroll
in the greenhouse, to catch some fresh air,” he insisted with a
jovial tone.

“I have a lot to do,
Robert,” she tried to be courteous, but firm at the same time. She
had the feeling he was trying to dissuade her from her work for
some reason and she didn’t like that. “If there’s something you
have to tell me, do it. Don’t go looking for Dennis or the rabbit.”
She bit her lip right after. Perhaps she had been too rude.

Robert removed his
hand from her shoulder and resumed a serious expression.

“Sorry, I didn’t want
to disturb you.”

He rose and walked
away without saying another word.

She stared for some
seconds at the door, bewildered, wondering what he was hiding from
her. It was evident he wanted to talk about something, but had
given up. Perhaps it was about Hassan.

Anna shook her head.
What situation had she put herself in? Who knew what Hassan was
expecting from her now? Or maybe she was expecting something from
him. When, some hours earlier, she had gone to the infirmary to do
the check-up, she had kept herself to herself and he had behaved
professionally. She was a little sorry about that now.

She placed her hands on her head and resumed
looking at the
folio
. Then the
screen. And then the
folio
again.

It would’ve been
interesting to hear Hassan’s opinion about the data. He seemed to
be clear-headed just about everything.

Again, who was she
kidding? She was just looking for an excuse to see him again.

Five minutes later,
she was standing in the corridor beside the meeting room and
looking through the transparent wall, astonished by what was
happening inside. Michelle and Hassan were so taken by their
discussion that they didn’t realise they had an audience.

Anna couldn’t hear
their words very well. She just perceived their tone, but could see
their gesturing, the dark expression on their faces. Michelle was
touching his arm and talking to him. She looked submissive; from
time to time, she forced herself to smile. He replied. He appeared
annoyed, but it was like he was trying to stop himself.

Then he shook his
head, removed her hand and turned his back on her. Michelle became
imploring. She was ready to cry. She kept on speaking. She stopped
for a moment, then she said something. Hassan turned round,
perplexed. Now he was the submissive one and she was shaking her
head.

All of a sudden, she
had a surge of anger. “I thought I could count on you!” So loudly
shouted, her words made their way through the Plexiglas
barrier.

Anna gave a start as
she heard them. She felt guilty, wrong, staying there and spying on
them, but she needed to know. There was something going on between
Michelle and Hassan; she was sure.

He kept on speaking,
as if he was trying to calm her, but she was restless. She walked
back and forth. She stopped and said something to him, rage mixed
with desperation. She waited for a reply, which for her, however,
was too late in arriving.

So she turned to the
door. But then Hassan moved forward and embraced her from
behind.

Even Michelle looked
so little beside Hassan. It wasn’t a matter of height.

Michelle didn’t oppose
that hug; she let him go on holding her and give her a sweet kiss
on her hair.

A stab of jealousy hit
Anna. In that very moment she would’ve liked to disappear. In the
end, it would’ve been better to know a great deal less.

Michelle’s hands
reached Hassan’s and held them. They stayed this way for a while
without saying or doing anything, then she removed his arms and
came out through the door.

As she walked past
her, Anna froze, but the other woman ignored her, disappearing down
the corridor.

A moment later and
Hassan was stood in front of her. He wasn’t wearing the same
defiant expression she had seen on him the other day in the gym,
nor did he appear displeased or surprised that she was there and
had witnessed that conversation. He appeared devoid of any
strength.

That was the right
occasion to ask for explanations, to know once and for all what was
between him and Michelle. She opened her mouth to speak.

“I’m hungry. Let’s go
eat something?” He spoke first, leaving her speechless. And he
concluded with an exhausted smile.

The moment was gone,
all her determination too.

With an almost
imperceptible motion of his eyes, Hassan looked around, as if to
check if someone else was there, then he took Anna’s hand and
headed for the kitchen.

Perhaps it wasn’t
jealousy, but only her wounded pride, yet Anna was tense.

They all were in the
kitchen, save Dennis, obviously. Robert was searching the fridge
and the cupboards; from time to time, he took out something, which
he ate on the spot, still standing. Michelle was keeping herself to
one side, ignoring the others she patiently waited for her herb tea
to cool down.

“
If you don’t mind, I’ll download the data onto
my
folio
, so I can
have a better look at them tomorrow,” Hassan said to Anna, after
finishing his dinner. He placed a hand on her knee, with ease,
under the table out of the sight of the others, but at the same
time, he kept his eyes on his device, as it performed the file
transfer.

“How is Dennis?”
Robert asked Michelle, right before giving a loud bite on a
carrot.

“Not good,” she
murmured with bitterness, turning his gaze to Hassan, who, however,
insisted on pretending not to hear her.

A disgusted expression
appeared on Robert’s face. At first, it wasn’t clear whether it was
because of the carrot or the tone in Michelle’s voice, but then he
winked at Anna.

There was something
surreal in the entire situation. What made Anna most curious wasn’t
whatever was between that woman and Hassan, but what the hell they
had said earlier. It was as if she was accusing him of something.
Perhaps was it about the treatment he had given her husband?

Then Michelle stood up
and left the room, without uttering a word.

“And your herb tea?”
Robert asked, but too late. “Uh, and I’m supposed to be the one out
of his mind.” He gulped the last piece of carrot and finally closed
the fridge. “Well, guys, I’m withdrawing to my quarters.”

“’Night, Rob,” Anna
said. Hassan, instead, didn’t move.

Before leaving, Robert
turned one last time by the kitchen door. “Anyway, stop partying so
hard. Some people wanna sleep here!” And he laughed at his own
joke, which gained him a nasty look from Hassan and a half laugh
from Anna. The usual clown.

“Do you fancy talking
about it?” she asked, once they were alone.

He pulled back his hand to close his
folio
and returned hers to Anna.
“Actually, no,” he replied, serious.

“Ah.”

She stood up, put the
dishes in the washing unit, and headed for the door. If he didn’t
fancy talking, perhaps it was wiser to have a change of scene, and
she wanted to be the one to decide. She already felt too
humiliated.

Once in the corridor,
she heard his footsteps behind hers, but forced herself not to look
back at him. She would go to her quarters, take a nice shower and
watch one of the films coming from Earth. Among the benefits of
being the pioneers of a Martian colonisation was that they could
watch all the new films in advance and, for someone living in the
middle of nowhere, it wasn’t a little thing.

Placing a hand on the
controls, she unlocked the door and, as the panel opened, she felt
pushed inside.

“Hey!”

As she turned round,
she found Hassan in front of her. How dare he? She was furious.

“If you don’t fancy
talking to me, you can go,” she hissed.

He clenched his fists.
She could see he was undecided. But what for? That was the problem.
Anna had spent such a long time hating him for the most disparate
of reasons that she hadn’t ever understood with whom she was really
dealing. It wasn’t that she couldn’t understand those like him, as
she had told him the previous evening. Truth was, she didn’t
understand him. And that frightened her now.

She wanted him to
leave, but he didn’t seem inclined to do so. He stood between her
and the door, and stared at her. If only she could distract him and
run away.

Then Hassan moved
closer. Anna backed off, finding herself with her back against the
wall. He grabbed her shoulders and kissed her. She perceived a sort
of desperation in the gesture and couldn’t help but go along with
him, but right after he drew himself back. He let her go and left,
closing the door.

“Fuck off!” Anna
shouted at him, but he was already gone.

That man enjoyed
frightening her and she had enough of it. She rushed out of her
quarters, with the firm intention of stopping him and forcing him
to talk to her. But, when she reached the corridor, she realised it
was empty. Panting, she looked at one side and then at the other
one.