The Attempt (The Martian Manifesto Book 1) (24 page)

“Damn, you’re right,” Roy uttered.
As the ship curved in a descending circle, he could see in the distance in front of him and slightly to the right the two supply ships and the MMTV with the three astronauts who were waiting to aide them. It was obvious that they were going to land short since the panorama was slowly moving up from his perspective. “We’re going to hit hard, Sam. We don’t have any control to flare the nose up at the last minute to slow the descent.”

“Well, then, we have to take one more chance,”
Sam said as she hit the rear intercom. “Everyone, unbuckle yourselves and pile into the last two rows. Do it now! We need more weight back there immediately. This is urgent. If you value your lives, get up and to the back now! Lie down and cover your heads!”

In the rear of the ship, twelve
of the Called hastened to obey the pilot’s instruction. It was not enough to arrest the descent, but it made a small and critical difference. Sam and Roy felt the ship angle change slightly and the ship slow just before they hit tail first in the sand.

Bang!

Right after the rear hit, the Pegasus nose slammed down, causing dirt to fly in all directions. The plane skidded, spinning clockwise as it lost momentum. In ten seconds it was all over. Miraculously, the craft perched intact on the Martian surface. Roy and Sam sat in stunned silence looking out at the dry landscape as the adrenaline drained from their bodies.

Outside, the three astronauts from the Star-Kissed habitat stared at the spaceship
that was missing part of its wing. Now that the ship was close, their suit radios could finally reach it. “Pegasus, this is Commander Stiles. Do you read? We’re ready to assist and can be there in a few seconds. What’s your situation inside?”

Roy stirred, startled by the voice. “We’re okay on the flight deck, but need to check on the others. They don’t have any spacesuits, and I don’t know if we ma
intained air pressure back in the main cabin. Bring your transport next to the ship and any spare suits you have. I have to unlock the airlock doors so that you can enter. I’ll give you an update shortly.” Roy turned to his partner. “C’mon, Andromeda, it looks like Pegasus has saved us. Let’s go see how they fared in the back. I’ll go release the manual locks on the exit doors so that the others can get in to help while you check for anyone needing assistance.”

Sam jumped up, suddenly realizing that Jean and the other children in the ba
ck might be in grave jeopardy. She unlocked the door to the flight deck and flung it open. She was greeted with a chaotic scene. Bodies were lying everywhere. Many of the compartment doors had sprung open, and luggage was strewn about the cabin. As she took a step in, a hand reached up and grabbed her leg.

“Stop; help me,” Celia said. “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up. I think I sprained my ankle.”

“Geez, lady, I think others might need more help first,” Sam said stepping over her. She was suddenly confronted by Brother Jacobs.

“This is your entire fault,” the cult leader said flatly
as he stood in front of the astronaut. “If you two had not been so secretive and meddlesome, the Great Consciousness would have brought us safely to His bosom. Instead, you see the carnage that has resulted.”

“Oh really?” Sam retorted. “Why don’t you get your smug face out of mine and go
help your people for a change. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to do what you should be doing and provide assistance to those in need. Now get out of my way!”

Sam shouldered her
way past the man and saw Jean running towards her. Jean hugged her and said, “I tried to open the airlock doors but they stopped me. In spite of that, I knew you would find some way to get in and help us. I just knew it!”

“There, there. Are you okay?” the pilot asked.

“Yes, I’m fine, but my Mom was screaming. She and Sue slid down the aisle and I lost sight of them.”

Sam froze as
she looked over at the other side of the cabin. Bonnie was hunched over in the aisle with Sue hugging her from behind. Sam rushed over to them and crouched down. Bonnie was quietly sobbing and holding a small preemie baby boy in her hands. The baby was not moving. Behind her she suddenly heard a voice call loudly, “Who needs help?”

Sam turned around and could see that Roy had unlocked the exit doors, and the other astronauts
from the Star-Kissed habitat had entered the main cabin of the Pegasus. “We need medical help over here urgently!” Sam yelled. “We have a baby that’s not breathing.”

“Help! I need help too; I’m in agony!” shouted Celia, adding some hysterical sobbing to her cry.

“Brad, go tend to that lady,” Grant commanded. “Chuck, you’
re our best medical person. Let’s go see to the baby.”

The
Mars habitat Commander and the biologist rushed over to the other aisle of the Pegasus. Charles looked down and saw a young blonde woman cradling what was obviously a preemie, and an older lady who was hugging the woman. As the young woman looked up at him, Charles was struck by how pretty she was, in spite of her shift being covered in blood and having her hair in disarray. For all that she had probably gone through, he was surprised that she wasn’t hysterically demanding assistance like the other woman who was still shouting near the front of the ship. “I don’t know what to do,” the woman with the infant said to him quietly.

“Let me have him, Ma’am,” Charles said. The woman reached out to him with her two arms, holding the preemie gently, and Charles took the infant. He
turned the child over, face down, to pat his back to clear any obstructions, and then turned him back around and started small compressions of his heart using two fingers. “Grant, see if there’s any emergency oxygen on board,” he said as he puffed some air into the preemie’s mouth. As he continued the gentle compressions, he could feel the tiny bones in the chest of the preemie shift around. “Ma’am, what happened?” he asked. “Did the baby get smashed into something during the landing? It feels like his ribs are broken.”

“No,” Sue interjected, standing up. “We got flung all around, and subjected to incredibly intense gravity.
Then she had the baby. It’s all HIS fault!” she yelled, turning around and pointing at Brother Jacobs. “He tried to hijack the ship without the pilots!”

Brother Jacobs looked calmly back at Sue. “No, it is the Commander’
s and Pilot’s fault,” he said. “They lied to us. I did what I had to do, in order for us to meet the Great Consciousness and repair any damage by the meddling of these other NASA astronauts you see here.”

Next to Brother Jacobs and on the floor, Celia let out a howl. “Ow, stop that,” Celia cried. “It hurts!” She then proceeded to try to kick Brad with her good leg.

“Lady, it’s going to hurt more if you don’t sit still,” Brad said. “I have to get your boot off to see your ankle.”

“Fine, do your gorilla act and yank it off with your clumsy hands,” Celia snarled back. “You’ll answer to my husband, who will take care of you later!” Brad just shook his head.
“The gall of some people,”
he thought.

Grant rushed over
to Charles and the preemie accompanied by Roy and a bottle of oxygen. They assisted Charles with the emergency by trying to place the mask over the preemie, but most of the air simply bled away. After a few more minutes of futile compressions, Charles looked back at the young lady. “I’m sorry, Ma’am. It looks like his bones and internal organs weren’t developed enough to withstand the G’s and the battering you were subjected to. He was crushed; he’s not coming back,” he said as handed the little baby back to her. “I’m sorry. This is the best we could do, given the circumstances.”

“Yes, I thought so
. Thank you for trying,” Bonnie said softly with tears in her eyes.

“Your friend said you gave birth during the landing, and it looks like you bled quite a bit. Can I assist you?” Charles asked.

“I’m okay,” Bonnie replied, cradling the infant. “You should go see if anyone else needs help. Just let me sit here and rest for a bit.”

Charles was struck by how gentle and caring the woman seemed to be.
“She’s nothing like my ex-girlfriend Terri,”
he thought.
“Terri would probably have been threatening to sue someone about now.”
Out loud he said, “Well, at least lie down and put your feet up since you seem to have lost a fair amount of blood. Here, put this cushion under your feet.”

The commotion at the front of the Pegasus
was now in full swing. Sam, the Pegasus pilot, had her face inches from Brother Jacobs and was shouting at him. “You freaking idiot. You set fire to the cycler, you hijack the ship with no fuel, and then you refuse to let in the only people who could save you! And now you say it’s OUR fault?”

“Yes, exactly,” Brother Jacobs said as he
calmly stared back at Sam. “And you still need to set up our living quarters. I remind you that I paid for that. Then I want you to leave as soon as possible. You are interfering with our goals.”

Sam just stared unbelievably at the man. To think that he was demanding more work from the astronauts after what had occurred
simply incensed her. She balled her fists as she tried to control herself.

“Ma’am, it’s just a sprained ankle,” Brad stated
, still kneeling near the argument going on above him. “It’s hardly even swollen. Just get up and walk it off. In this light gravity, you should be fine.”

“George
, get this buffoon away from me. He doesn’t know what he’s doing,” Celia demanded.

“Lady, you are a piece of work,” Brad said, standing
and shaking his head. “I have better things to do right now.”

Roy and Grant arrived at
the front of the ship to take over the discussion, since there was nothing more that they could do for the preemie. Roy immediately decided it was best to step in before a fight started. “Alright, Sam, that’s enough for now. Jacobs does have a point. We need to get the habitat up for them ASAP. They can’t survive in the Pegasus for more than a day or so.” He turned toward Brother Jacobs. “I suggest you get your Platinums suited up to help us deploy your living quarters. Originally it would have taken a few weeks to set up everything robotically, but with everyone we have here we should be able to get it done in a day. Then we can leave you to stew in your own juices, for all I care.”

Roy turned to Grant. “Commander Stiles, I suggest that I take over command of the habitat deployment, since I trained for that. When we’re done, I’ll turn command back over to you.”

“You’re the senior Commander, Roy, so I don’t have any issues with you remaining in command,” Grant replied.

“But you know much more about the situation here on Mars,” Roy said back. “And there are four of you to only two of us. Origina
lly, you would have been headed back to Earth on the Cycler by the time we arrived at the Star-Kissed habitat. Now there’ll be six of us at the hab before the Cycler returns in a month. I assume we can all survive crowded together for a month before you leave for the Cycler.”

“
We’re not going. Given the situation here, we have orders to stay. It’s a bit…complicated. I’ll tell you more about that later, but it looks like we’ll all be working together for a few years.”

“Then
that’s even more reason why you should take command when we get back to the base,” Roy stated. “Don’t worry, I won’t resent taking orders, much,” he grinned. “Now let’s go see how our supply ships fared.”

Grant turned and called back to the biologist, “Let’s go, Chuck. We need to get their supplies unloaded and the living modules set up.”

Charles, who was still kneeling by the young lady with the dead infant, said to her, “I have to go now, Ma’am, but if you need anything, make sure you get word to me. My name’s Charles, or Chuck if you prefer.”

“Thank you,
but you look more like a Charlie to me. How about I call you that?” she said shyly.

“Sure,
Ma’am, Charlie works for me too.”

“Thank you, Charlie
. And, you can call me Bonnie, not Ma’am. This hair-raising adventure hasn’t made me that old, yet,” she said with a wry grin. She was amazed at herself that she could attempt a joke given what she had just gone through.
“If only Jeff treated me with the same consideration as this stranger,”
she thought.

Charles a
dmired the young woman’s pluck. He got up and joined the other astronauts who were already assembled by the airlock door and putting on their helmets. Soon the five of them were out on the Martian surface and headed for the two supply ships to verify the equipment and to start the unloading procedures. Sergey, who was back at the Star-Kissed base, assisted by remotely activating the bulldozer on one of the ships and driving it to an area unmarred by craters. He then proceeded to drive the bulldozer and level parts of the surface in preparation for the deployment of the greenhouse and living quarters.

When t
he astronauts began unloading the supplies from the other ship, they were unaware that the alien hopper, which had hidden inside, was no longer there. It had taken the opportunity while everyone was in the Pegasus to jump behind some nearby rocks. From there, it would be able to monitor the activities without being discovered. Its video feed continued to be avidly watched by Probe Spit and the Master as they awaited an opportunity to seduce a victim into their clutches.

# # #

Inside the Pegasus, Jeff, George and Platinum Three suited up and prepared to go outside onto the Martian surface to aid in the setting up of their new home. Brother Jacobs went into the airlock with them, and closed the inner door to provide privacy while giving them their final orders. “Work quickly, my Platinums,” he said. “I want to have our new living arrangements completed by sunset so that we can move in tonight. I want these troublesome astronauts gone immediately. As long as the habitats will sustain us, we can complete everything else ourselves. Be sure all critical items are completed today, and learn what final items will need to be performed after we move in.”

George looked at his leader. “Is that wise, Brother Jacobs? Perhaps we should wait another day to make sure everything is ready.”

“Unacceptable!” snapped Brother Jacobs. “I can feel the Great Consciousness is close, and these unbelievers block us from Him. The sooner they are gone, the sooner we will be accepted into His loving hands. Do not doubt now, Platinum Two. We have arrived safely, just as I foresaw, and everyone will continue to thrive as long as my orders are followed to the letter.  Having a day of inconvenience while we finish our home ourselves is a small price to pay for what will follow. We have arisen, and we have flown, and we have arrived, and now we shall succeed. Now, bend yourselves to the task, and move quickly. We still have much to accomplish.”

With that, the leader opened the inner door and returned to the inside
cabin of the Pegasus. “Go, my children, and make me proud” he said in parting to his three Platinums as the door slid closed again. He then looked at his flock in the cabin. “Please, everyone stay seated. Soon we can move into our new home and begin the final phase of our mission.”

“What mission is that,” Sue retorted as she helped Bonnie get up and into a seat. “Getting us all killed? See what you caused to happen to Bonnie’s poor child? Isn’t one death enough for you?”

“Peace, Sister Sue. It was but an unfortunate occurrence. Some sacrifices have to be made if we are to achieve the ultimate in existence. I daresay that a few more sacrifices might be needed in the future. But that future is glorious. I have seen it. We are all here on Mars, and soon we will be exalted.”

“Bah,” Sue muttered as she handed a blanket to Bonnie so that she could wrap her dead child. “Exalted my ass.  Bonnie, promise me you’ll watch out for yourself and your kids. I’ll help you in any way I can.”

Up front, Sue could hear Celia shout out, “Hallelujah, Brother Jacobs. We are with you. Oh, please let me kiss your hand in thanks.”

“Ugh,” grunted Sue
in disgust.

# # #

With five NASA astronauts, three Platinums, and a remote Sergey all working in unison, the setup of the new site went with surprising speed. Soon, the three new habitat modules were placed, inflated and then interconnected. The greenhouse was likewise inflated and connected to the side of the middle habitat so that the colonists would not need to don spacesuits in order to enter. The radar array that had been instrumental in the successful landing of the Pegasus was wired into the communications system so that the one shipped rover could be tracked and so any driver could always find his way back if lost.

Charles supervised the unloading of the starting soil from Earth that contained the necessary nutrients and bacteria for plants. He, Sam and George then set up the planting trays and tables and loaded the dirt into them. They also hauled the boxes of seeds into the greenhouse, along with pipes that would be used to divert water into the greenhouse f
or them. They then checked the water manufacturing mechanism, which was located outside, to ensure that it was working properly and had started to load water into the storage tanks.

Roy and Jeff had deployed and then checked the oxygen generators and carbon dioxide scrubbers that were critical for survival.
They also set up the solar array and hooked it into the main power panel of the habitats.

Grant, Brad and Platinum Three had checked the electrical supply for all of the rooms and the water recycling system.

As the sun dipped towards the horizon, everyone met in the central module of the colony’s new home. They took off their helmets and breathed in. The inside had a new car smell with a metallic tinge. Jeff spoke. “Commander Olstein, it looks like we have accomplished much. What is still needed before we can move in?”