KR_IME

by Andrew Broderick

  Only when he had run seventy meters or so and skidded to a halt in a cloud of dust did he turn around and look back at the ship. It was substantially smaller than the one he had boarded. Two meters were missing from the top, where the parachutes had been packed, and two meters (including the heat shield) were gone from the bottom. The lower end bore scorch marks from the atmospheric entry.

  He decided, reluctantly, to go and please his masters. So he set up the flag, the camera – on a self-timer – and the tripod, and took the pictures. These, of course, were sent wirelessly to the ship, and from there straight to Earth. Then he picked up the sample containers, and the mesh bag to store them all in, and went off on a geological treasure hunt.

  Twelve minutes after the first pictures were taken, the crowd in Tiananmen Square, and countless other venues all around the world, went wild.

  66

  On board the Explorer, nobody stayed up for the big event. Fatigue had overtaken them all. They all woke up around the same time, and drifted sleepily into the hub like a family making their way to the breakfast table. The news played the video of Tung-chi's descent to the Martian surface over and over again, interspersed with the official photos of him climbing down the ladder and posing with the flag.

  “Gotta hand it to them,” Christopher said.

  “Yeah, even if they did lose one of our SEVs,” Martin grumbled.

  “Yes, I think the Chinese should pay up for that. They are worth at least 70 million dollars,” Aleksandr said. “Plus, we're more limited in our science excursions now, and you can't put a price on that.” The others nodded, as they watched the exuberant reactions from around the world. For now, the animosity toward China seemed to have been forgotten.

  “Won’t be long now, and our orbit will bring us back over Tung-chi’s landing site,” Nikita said.

  “Wow, we were asleep a while, weren’t we?” Christopher said.

  “Yes,” Aleksandr said. “I’m proclaiming a day off for everyone today.”

  “Woohoo!” Martin exclaimed. Kinuko smiled.

  “Incoming message from Mission Control,” the computer announced.

  “Accept.”

  “Good morning, IME crew. This is Sergey. It has been a tumultuous few hours, has it not? Everyone here at Mission Control, from the Flight Director on down, would like to congratulate you all on your excellent handling of this completely unexpected situation.

  “On that note, the CNSA says to expect Adventurous Fire to rendezvous with you tomorrow, at around 2:15 PM shipboard time, for the transfer of Tung-chi and the Martian samples back to the Explorer.”

  “I’m not sure I want that damn thing near my ship,” Aleksandr grumbled, under his breath.

  “It almost sounds like they’re announcing international arrival times, not the return of the prodigal son,” Alessia said.

  Sergey continued: “There is one bit of news that you should know: we have finished our analysis of the fluid on the outside of the reactor and it is indeed coolant, very likely from number four cooling panel. You’re going to have to shut down that panel, and run the reactor on no more than seventy-five percent power for the rest of the mission.”

  “Oh, crap,” Christopher said. The others looked at each other in concern.

  The Mission Control briefing concluded: “This means, of course, that a different trajectory will have to be used for the trip home, since engine thrust will be lower. This will affect the mission duration, since it will take longer. We are looking at our options, and will discuss with you over the next few days which launch windows are available to us. Mission Control out.”

  “The mission seems to be getting hit from all sides,” Aleksandr said in annoyance and exasperation. “We may have to leave for Earth earlier than planned.”

  Despondence settled over the crew. Nobody said much of anything.

  After a while, Nikita said, “I think we’re within radio communications range to the landing site again,” as he looked up at the orbital path display. Many other windows were still open all around the hub, like left-over party decorations from the night before. “We’ll just be coming up over the horizon from where he's standing.”

  “Let's get the telescope on it,” said Martin. “I know we won't be able to see his ship – I can't quite bring myself to say its name – even when we're passing right over there, but we can get a good look at the area.”

  “Good idea,” Aleksandr said. Martin closed many of the windows, and commanded the telescope to point to the exact landing coordinates on Mars. Its view was displayed in a large window.

  “Wow,” Alessia said. “Look at that thing.” The enormous bulk of the Ascraeus Mons volcano was shown in dramatic relief, since they were looking at it from the side.

  “It's hard to appreciate the scale,” Martin said. “It's almost 150 kilometers wide, so the height isn't that apparent, but it's actually twice as tall as Everest. The caldera is forty-plus kilometers wide and three kilometers deep. Looks like they've put him right on the edge of it.”

  “Good thing it's extinct!” Emile said.

  “Yeah – they think it's been there at least 100 million years,” Martin replied. “He’s very close to the edge. Hope our boy doesn't fall into it!”

  “Yeah,” Aleksandr said. “Shall we try and raise him on the suit comms?”

  “Let’s give it a go,” said Christopher. He brought up the communications interface, and selected the appropriate channel. “Tung-chi? Can you hear us?”

  The response was immediate: “Yes! I can hear you guys! You must be back over me again, or close to it.”

  “Not quite. We’re just coming over the horizon from where you are now. I see they put you down perilously close to the edge of a huge volcano,” Christopher said.

  “Yes. The view is really spectacular. I’m right on the caldera rim.”

  “Look at the western horizon.”

  Tung-chi looked. Phobos, visible even in the daylight, was just rising. His eyes teared up, and he said nothing for several minutes.

  “I should have never left you guys.”

  “Yeah, we know,” Christopher teased. “Now you’ve gotta hope that ship will get you back here.”

  He turned to the others. “So, will it be about three orbits from now when he takes off?”

  “About that,” Emile said.

  Christopher nodded. “Hey, Tung-chi, why don’t you show us around?”

  Tung-chi turned on his helmet cam. They were instantly engaged, as a large window appeared showing a first-person view so clear that it was almost like being there.

  “Wow…” Alessia said.

  “It looks kinda flat compared to the view from here,” Christopher said.

  “Shall I walk over to the edge of the volcano crater?”

  “Yeah! Do it!”

  They watched as he started to head over.

  “What’s it like moving about there?” Nikita asked.

  “Not too bad. There’s enough gravity that I can start and stop easily. If you trip, you don’t go flying for a hundred meters, unlike certain other worlds I could mention!”

  He neared the edge of the caldera. The ground in front of him dropped away abruptly.

  “Holy cow,” Martin said in awe. Others gasped. “That thing is immense!” The sun was beginning to dip as the afternoon wore on, so the jagged surface features cast lengthening shadows.

  “Now, turn around and show us what it looks like looking down the slope.”

  He turned, and his ship could be seen, upright on its landing legs, in the distance.

  “Actually, before you do that, walk back over to the ship,” said Christopher. “I want a closer look at it.”

  As he meandered back towards the ship, the upright Chinese flag could be seen twenty meters to the left of it. It was kept “flying” by suspension from a horizontal rod at the top, but it fluttered a little in the breeze. As he approached the rocket, the punishment and transformation it had been through since it was shiny an
d new was apparent.

  “Wow,” Christopher said. “That’s by far the biggest manmade object that’s ever made it to the surface intact, and it happened to have a human in it. Good thing you made it down in one piece.”

  “Yes. I almost didn’t.”

  “Looks like I was right about its design,” Christopher continued. “The heat shield dropped off, and the part above that was a fairing for the descent motor.” The large engine bell could be clearly seen now that Tung-chi was almost back at the ship. “Do you know what propellants it uses?”

  “No, I don’t, sorry.”

  “So they didn’t train you, or brief you in any way, for this mission?”

  “No.”

  “Unbelievable,” Christopher muttered. He muted the comms. “I don’t get it. Why didn’t they tell us they were going to do this, instead of making this childish bid for glory?”

  “I know, right?” Alessia said. “They could still have gone to the surface, but they could have built it into the mission and done it all with everyone’s blessing instead of sneaking the ship here and pulling a fast one on all of us. I’m sure none of the nations would have had a problem with China doing its own side mission.”

  “Maybe they were afraid someone else would then try and beat them to it,” Emile said.

  “That’s about right,” said Christopher. “So, they’ll totally violate the spirit of international cooperation, put people in danger, and lose one of the only four surface exploration vehicles we’ve got, just to make sure nobody pips them to the post?”

  “Uh-huh,” Aleksandr answered.

  Christopher un-muted the comms. “Show us the inside of the ship.”

  Tung-chi obediently ascended the ladder, crawled through the hatch with some difficulty, and showed them the tiny, spartan interior.

  “Really not designed for comfort, then?” Nikita asked.

  “No. These are the samples I already collected in here – see?” He opened the compartment under the seat.

  “Cool. Any specific types of rocks they’ve got you looking for?” Martin asked.

  “No. They just said get as many different kinds as possible.”

  “Right. I can’t wait to look at this stuff up close. Can’t believe you’re actually walking on Mars!”

  “Me neither! If you’d have told me this time yesterday…”

  “You haven’t had any sleep, have you?” Alessia asked. “Did you sleep at all before you left the Explorer, even?”

  “No.”

  “Are you going to be okay to fly back?”

  “The ship is completely automatic.”

  “So you don’t have to fly it at all?” Christopher asked, incredulously.

  “No. I just have be strapped in. Preferably with the door shut.” This brought some laughs.

  “Okay, buddy,” Martin said. “Don’t work too hard, and enjoy Mars for the rest of us. We’ll keep talking on and off, and watch through your helmet cam until we go out of radio range in a couple of hours. Good luck!” He muted the microphone.

  He turned to the others. “So, who wants to be him right now?”

  The reactions were mixed. “Not me,” Alessia said. “I like things predictable. I couldn’t just jump overboard and fly off by myself, even if it did mean I got to walk on Mars.”

  “I don’t know – I think I might have done it if I was in his position, just for the chance to walk on Mars,” Aleksandr admitted, “If I wasn’t Commander, of course.”

  “That didn’t stop you from being a boy racer at Stickney yesterday!” Christopher teased.

  “True.”

  “You know, once we lose his signal, it’s going to be night down there when we reacquire it,” Martin said. “And then the time after that, he’ll be getting ready to head back.”

  “Better enjoy watching him explore while we can, then,” Christopher said.

  They prepared breakfast and relaxed, while watching what they affectionately referred to as ‘The Mars Show,’ until they passed over Tung-chi’s eastern horizon and out of communications range. After that, Aleksandr, Kinuko, and Martin drifted off into the laboratory for a conference call with Mission Control. They returned two hours later.

  “Okay, guys, let’s huddle for a minute,” Aleksandr said to the others. “We’re cutting short the day off, because we’re going to start cramming in more science missions due to the shortened mission timeline. Martin, Kinuko, and Emile, I want you guys to do planning this afternoon for the next couple of excursions. We’re going to get a shift system going, so while one team of four is out exploring, the other team is analyzing and cataloguing samples. That’s actually twice as much work as collecting the samples, but we figure we can do some of it on the voyage back, too. Then, we’ll all meet at the end of each day to debrief.

  “We’re going to do one excursion tomorrow, before Tung-chi gets back. But,” – he paused for effect – “the day after that, we’re going to do our first circumnavigation of Phobos. One lucky team of four will go to the far side.” The others clapped and cheered. The atmosphere was now one of business again. As the science planning went on, routine maintenance tasks took place as well, in order to clear the decks for the new workload. The crew were finding their balance and routine again, and working around Tung-chi’s absence.

  At midnight, the IME came within signal range of the Adventurous Fire again. However, all was now dark and quiet, as it was 4 AM at the landing site. Aleksandr looked out of the port side dome window at the utter blackness and thought of Tung-chi alone, thousands of kilometers below; a speck of humanity in a vast and hostile wilderness. Since nothing was visible on the night side of Mars, it could have been a huge pit to the human eye; some kind of gateway into another dimension. It all felt slightly surreal, as if his friend and colleague had fallen off the edge of existence completely. Being on board the Explorer, even though she was millions of kilometers from help if anything went wrong, felt very safe and secure in comparison. He drifted off to bed.

  67

  T-plus 100 days

  Kinuko tossed and turned in her sleep, as much one can in zero gravity. She dreamed of figures in white. They were vaguely familiar – probably the crew. Maybe one of them was even herself. One special detail dominated the dream: a beam, like a searchlight, was moving back and forth, as though searching for something. Then the words, “It’s going to be okay,” were heard, uttered in a voice that was as reassuring as it was lacking in inflection or gender. As quickly as it started, the dream was over.

  The next morning, a sleepy Alessia floated out of her cabin and stopped behind Kinuko, who was waiting in line for the bathroom.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Kinuko murmured, still halfway between being asleep and awake.

  “What did you just say?” Alessia asked, suddenly snapping wide awake.

  “Um… I don’t know…” Kinuko replied, rubbing her eyes and forehead. “I think it was from a dream or something.”

  “You had the dream, too?”

  “I had a dream, but I don’t really remember it.”

  “White figures? A beam of light?”

  “Yes! That was it!”

  “Oh…” Alessia said, stunned. “I’m not sure why, but we had the same dream. I wish I knew what to think about it. I’ve had some strange dreams in my life, but never one that was shared with someone else.” (She had not told anyone on board about the dreams she had had earlier in the voyage.)

  An hour later, they were all gathered in the hub.

  “Come in, Mars Base One,” Martin said, into the radio.

  “I’m here,” Tung-chi replied.

  “How was your night?”

  “I don’t really remember much. I was out cold. The sunset was amazing, but I slept through the sunrise. I couldn’t deal with sleeping sitting up, so I curled up in a ball on the floor. It was most uncomfortable.

  “I’ve already been out exploring for hours. It’s afternoon down here. I got back in and repressurized the cabin about a
n hour ago.”

  “They said to expect you back at 2:15 PM our time. Any idea what time you’ll be taking off?” Nikita asked.

  “The computer in here says I’m taking off in one hour and fifty-three minutes.”

  “Okay… that’s going to make it around 9:50 AM our time, so…” Christopher said, calculating the interval, “that means your transit time is approximately four hours and twenty-five minutes.”

  “Sounds reasonable.”

  “So, are you ready to go?”

  “Yes – samples are stowed, and I’m all buckled in. I’m just waiting now. I wish there was some form of entertainment on this thing. I am supposed to make a final speech to the Chinese people again, before I leave. The screen will prompt me with what to say.”

  “Sounds like a blast,” Christopher said.

  “By Chinese standards, yes,” Tung-chi replied.

  “Sounds like the way Russian entertainment used to be in the Communist days,” Aleksandr interjected. “Mostly propaganda. Then the West corrupted us with shows like ‘Dallas’ and ‘The A-Team,’ and the Soviet empire crumbled.” The others laughed.

  “So, how come screenings of bad Western shows didn’t bring China to its knees?” Martin asked.

  “Oh, that’s easy: YouTube came along just in time, to distract us with funny cat videos,” Tung-chi replied, to more laughter.

  “We’re looking forward to having you back,” Aleksandr said.

  “Looking forward to being back.”

  “Well, we’ve got a surface excursion to plan, so we’ll talk again later.”

  “Okay.”

  Martin pinpointed a science target on the near side of Phobos, that would be an easy “grab” for a morning excursion. He, Kinuko, Alessia, and Nikita suited up and set out on SEVs 3 and 4 for Phobos. They enjoyed the spectacle of Phobos and Mars as they headed down. Alessia mulled over the possible meanings of her and Kinuko's shared dream, as the scarred and rubble-strewn surface of the tiny moon came up to meet them.