He needed to increase the momentum he brought with him to the point at which the effect would be optimal. Theo sped toward the spot where the other rover should appear at any moment. This had to work. If he slowed down, he would lose valuable force. Had he calculated everything correctly? Ten meters, five meters, three—he then caught sight of the heavy rover coming up from below. It looked good! The other vehicle was relatively slow.
He aimed for its right front corner. Metal met metal. “Yahoooo!” he shouted.
Sparks flew in total silence. The heavy rover veered to the left. Yes, that was what had to happen. It had to turn perpendicular to the tilt since the gravitational force didn’t leave it any other choice, but Theo couldn’t see what was happening since his own vehicle was now spinning to the right. The momentum was so strong that their chassis couldn’t keep up. The rover skidded through the sand until one of its tires slammed into a boulder, which caused the rover to instantly tip over. Theo instinctively thought to grab onto something, but he knew that he shouldn’t do that. Otherwise he would be buried under the vehicle. I should have told Pierre what to do, he thought as he flew through the air.
Something hit him in the back. No, that was actually him crashing into the Mars surface. A stabbing pain radiated from his neck. Anything but paraplegia! And what had happened to the other rover? Had his plan worked? Was Pierre still alive?
Theo tried to raise his head, but then he passed out.
Sol 341, MfE Base
“Do you have the gun?” Ellen asked quietly.
“Here it is,” Rebecca whispered. “I packed it up unloaded, but the ammunition is with it.”
“How much of it?”
“Sixty rounds. The package would’ve been too heavy if I’d packed more.”
“Good. We don’t want them to start a civil war. They should just feel a low-grade potential threat.”
Rebecca wasn’t sure if this was such a good idea, but Ellen had convinced her to go along with it. Without alerting Gabriella, they had agreed to meet at four o’clock in the workshop to limit the number of people who knew that they were sending out the robot.
“I’m still not totally comfortable with this,” Rebecca said.
“We have run through everything thoroughly. There’s no better argument than a loaded gun.”
“But they outnumber us.”
“Exactly, Rebecca, exactly!”
Ellen held out her hand, and Rebecca handed her the package. The contents were no longer recognizable under the thick layers of packing tape. Ellen shoved the package through the numerous spokes and pushed it into the core of the robot, around the hub.
“Can you give me the duct tape?” she asked.
“If we attach it like that, the robot will no longer be balanced,” Rebecca said. “It won’t be able to run smoothly.”
“We have to take that risk. I think it’s stable enough,” Ellen replied. “All it needs to do is make a one-way trip to Mars City.”
“I hope you’re right,” Rebecca said. She cut a piece of duct tape from the roll and handed it to Ellen. Inside the perfectly designed interior body of the robot, the package looked like an ugly wart.
“It isn’t exactly subtle,” Rebecca remarked.
“That way they won’t have to search long for our message,” Ellen said.
“The main thing is that the robot cannot fall into the wrong hands.”
“We’ll have to send good instructions.”
Rebecca sighed. The robot would stop outside the Mars City limits and wait until it was picked up. She needed to transmit the precise coordinates to Theo and the other men—but how?
Rebecca kneaded her hands. Ellen was taking longer than expected. The funeral for Walter was supposed to begin in fifteen minutes, and Ellen still hadn’t returned from the surface. Why was it taking so long for her to activate the robot and send it on its way?
Someone tapped her on the shoulder. Rebecca flinched.
It was Germaine. “What’s going on?” she asked. “Are you waiting for someone?”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you—you’re the only one here.” Germaine laughed.
“I... I’m supposed to meet with Ellen to discuss something about the funeral.”
“And… where is she?”
“She told me that she wanted to take a quick walk.”
“Makes sense,” Germaine said. “Have fun waiting. See you in a few minutes.”
Rebecca nodded, then noticed that the airlock had been activated. The signal light glowed red indicating that someone had entered it from the outside. It was high time.
Five minutes later, Ellen was peeling off her spacesuit right next to the airlock. She was sweating profusely. After getting out of the suit, she also removed her liquid-cooling underwear. Rebecca couldn’t help feeling a stab of jealousy at the sight of her athletic figure.
“I’m sorry. There was a little problem with the robot,” Ellen explained.
“What happened?”
“I could turn it on, but it didn’t want to roll away.”
Rebecca slapped her forehead. “Of course, its recharging cycle. It charges during the day and drives around at night.”
“Exactly. We charged it up, but it didn’t care.”
“So it’s still sitting up there?”
“I dragged it out of the base,” Ellen whispered. “We’ll act as if it’s already set off.”
“Okay.”
“Sorry, but I need to take a quick shower. Tell the others that we’ll start the funeral ten minutes late.”
“Alright, I’ll do that.”
“You did what?” Germaine was staring at Rebecca with raised eyebrows. The others were whispering among themselves—except for Gabriella, who was sitting stiffly on a stool.
“We sent the robot off already,” Rebecca said.
“Why did you do that on your own?” Germaine asked. “Why’d you shut us out of your plans?”
“Yes, I’m wondering the same thing,” Gabriella added.
Great, Rebecca thought. And Ellen was nowhere in sight. How was she supposed to explain that they might have a spy in their midst? She couldn’t do that. She would have to lie like a trooper.
“Neither of us could sleep, and we just happened to run into each other in the kitchen. We decided to make good use of the time.”
“Exactly,” Ellen chimed in.
Rebecca turned around. Ellen must have just entered the bridge through the door behind her. She was wearing her MfE uniform, just like everyone else.
Germaine still looked dissatisfied. Gabriella pressed her lips together. Maybe she had guessed the actual reason. They needed to be more careful. The administrator had probably already been warned and would be searching for the robot.
“I suggest that we turn our attention to the actual reason for our gathering,” Ellen said.
“I think... oh, forget it,” Germaine said. “We’ll continue with this later on. Walter has earned our full attention.”
“Thank you, Germaine,” Ellen said. “Would anyone like to say something about Walter?”
Nobody spoke up.
Ellen ambled across the bridge before sitting down against a wall and crossing her legs. “That’s fine,” she said. “I know what you’re feeling. You don’t think that you really knew Walter, and at first glance, that’s true. After all, he never talked about himself much. He was an engineer, through and through.”
Rebecca smiled. That was indeed true. Walter had tried to solve every problem from a technical approach and had been astonishingly successful in his efforts. It was just that he hadn’t always noticed that a solution was even required. For him, sometimes problems existed merely for their own sake.
“But that,” Ellen continued, “says a lot about Walter. He expressed himself through his actions, through his practical knowledge. That was exactly who he was, and it brought him joy. We don’t need to analyze him. If we can hold him in our memories as an ever-helpful person and friend, the
n he will feel like we understood him.”
The bridge grew quiet. Even the life support system seemed subdued. Each of the eight women had taken a seat in a different pose. Rebecca studied one after the other. Was it coincidence, or did their manner of sitting reflect something about their characters? Rebecca was sitting with her knees together. Her mother had always told her to not spread her legs when sitting. That it wasn’t appropriate. She still maintained this practice although her mother had died years ago. Or was that perhaps the reason?
It felt strange to think about Walter. There was nothing they could say farewell to. For her, he was gone, not dead. He wouldn’t be coming back, but it didn’t feel to her as if he were irretrievably lost. It was an odd kind of purgatory.
“Thank you, Walter,” Germaine said.
That was a good idea. Walter had sent them the wheeled robot. One final act of generosity.
“Thank you, Walter,” Rebecca replied.
Each of the others repeated the statement. Sophie held her hands up to her face and wept. Tears trickled down Marilou’s cheeks. Rebecca didn’t feel sad. In some strange way, she felt happy for Walter, who had deliberately chosen his final path.
Sol 342, Mars City
“Theo? Theo?”
Someone was calling his name, and a warm hand stroked his cheek. Rebecca? Please, let it be Rebecca. All of this was just a stupid dream, and he would wake up any minute on the MfE base.
He opened his eyes and gazed into a nondescript face. Pale bluish-green eyes, facial stubble, and a receding hairline. The man leaning over him didn’t seem to have any other special characteristics. How old was he? Forty? Fifty? The hint of a seemingly unnatural smile played around his lips.
“Here he is, our hero.”
Theo recognized the voice. It was Rick Summers, the administrator. He had seen him several times, but he wouldn’t have recognized him. However, the voice was unmistakable. There was something silky about it, and yet you could tell that there was an intent driving it. What did the administrator want out here? And where were they actually?
A hand grasped his lower arm. He looked the other way.
A woman was bending down beside him. She was of Asian extraction and was smiling. The smile was warm and sincere. “I’m Maggie Oh,” she said.
Ah, the leadership ranks had gathered around his bed. Maggie was the bridge manager now that her skills as a pilot were no longer needed. Had they brought him back to the base? Like the administrator, Maggie was wearing a spacesuit, however without a helmet.
“I wanted to thank you personally,” the administrator said. “You have saved us from a potentially serious threat.”
“How is Pierre doing?” Theo asked.
“Pierre?” The administrator shrugged. “I don’t know that name.”
“The guard we sent out with Theo,” Maggie clarified.
“Oh, of course. Unfortunately, Pierre didn’t make it. The rover landed on his helmet and cracked it.”
“Oh no!” Theo cried. He had killed him. If he hadn’t executed that risky maneuver, Pierre would still be alive. The man had only just told him his name right before that. They hadn’t had time to become friends, and they might never have reached that point. But he had still told Theo about his wife.
“It was a swift death,” the administrator said, patting Theo’s cheek. Maggie tightened her grip on his arm.
“Did he have any kids?” Theo asked.
The administrator glanced over at Maggie. “No,” she said.
“He didn’t have any children,” Summers reiterated.
Theo’s spirits lifted a little bit, even though he still felt guilty. He turned his head to the side. They weren’t in the city. They were inside a rover. Theo couldn’t feel any vibrations, which meant that the vehicle was parked. “Where are we, and how long was I out?” he asked.
“You were asleep for ten hours. We’re located close to the accident site. After we saw your maneuver and its effect, we immediately sent out an aid vehicle,” the administrator explained proudly.
“What happened to Sam?”
Summers glanced at Maggie.
Doesn’t he know anyone’s name here? Theo wondered.
“We haven’t heard anything from him,” Maggie said.
“That doesn’t sound good,” Theo replied.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” Maggie explained. “We just haven’t checked out his rover. The cab on their vehicle wasn’t damaged in the impact. He still has breathable air and water.”
“And two corpses.”
“Yes, the two dead members of the recovery team. We will figure out what happened,” Maggie said.
“Absolutely” the administrator said. “Humans’ lives are irreplaceable here. Every loss tears a huge hole in our plans. We’re lucky we didn’t lose any women.”
What is Summers saying? I must have misheard.
“Don’t look at me like that, Kowalski. If humanity is going to survive here, it must grow in size. And for that, we are reliant on birth rates. Until men can bear children, women are more strategically important.”
Now it was clear to him why the administrator wasn’t married. The rumor mill had long speculated that he was gay. Theo shook his head. “May I stand up?” he asked.
“Of course,” Maggie replied. “According to the medic, all you have are a few scrapes and bruises. We couldn’t X-ray you here, unfortunately, so on the off chance that he missed something and you feel any sharp pains, speak up.”
“Will do,” Theo said. He reached for the edges of the cot, as the administrator and Maggie stepped back. Theo pulled himself up into a sitting position before swinging his legs to the left side of the bed. That worked well. No pain, just a light veil before his eyes. His circulation needed to warm up again.
He put his feet on the floor, first the left one, then the right. Shit. Something must have happened to my right leg. He gritted his teeth and stood up. A stabbing pain shot from his hip down his inner thigh to the knee. The medic had said that nothing was broken, so he trusted himself to put weight on it. He just needed to move around some. His body would get used to the pain. It was probably just a bruise.
Theo took several steps. The stabs of pain didn’t fade, but they also didn’t grow stronger. “And what happens next?” he asked.
“We are going to try to establish contact with the rover that took off on its own,” Maggie explained.
“Contact? I assume that nobody there is responding?”
“Not by radio, but we’ve run a cable between our two vehicles.”
A cold shiver ran down Theo’s spine. Is that a good idea?
“We’re being careful,” Maggie declared.
Obviously his shock was visible. Whatever had seized control of the vehicle must still be in there.
“Nothing will happen,” she continued. “The rover is lying securely on its side and can’t right itself on its own. And we won’t open the hatch until we know more details about what happened.”
The hatch, Theo thought. Is that really the greatest threat? Everyone seemed to believe that some kind of infection had killed the Chinese. That would be a natural explanation for whatever had occurred on Earth as well. But the infection must have sped around the entire world lightning fast. Was that even medically possible?
“The cable,” Theo said. “Has it been secured?”
“Of course, but that probably isn’t the problem. The rover isn’t letting us into its system. Our technicians are still trying to break into it.”
“But shouldn’t that be child’s play? It’s your own technology, after all.”
“Not completely. There’s a firewall between us and the rover, and we haven’t breached it yet. Probably some kind of Chinese technology. But shortly before you woke up, the technicians informed us that we are close to a breakthrough.”
“That’s good,” Theo said, although he wasn’t at all sure if it might not be more advisable to fear the breakthrough. He then remembered And
y, their IT genius. “If you stall out, you should contact Andy.”
“Maggie? Can you come here?” a man called from the nose of the rover. The former pilot turned around and moved toward the front, Theo right behind her.
“The computer’s going crazy,” the technician, a young man of about 23, declared.
Theo studied the monitor. Everything looked normal, but despite the fact the technician wasn’t moving his fingers, windows on the screen kept opening and closing. Had the Chinese security software somehow taken control? Theo reached for Maggie’s arm and pulled her multi-functional device toward him. She pulled her arm away from him, but he was stronger.
“What are you doing, Theo?” she asked in annoyance.
He held her arm up so she could see her small screen. “The oxygen content in the air. Look.”
Her eyes widened, and Theo released her hand. “Seventeen percent,” she said. It was enough, but still less than usual. That was how things had started in the other rover.
Theo glanced around. Two Spaceliner suits were hanging on the wall. The administrator and Maggie were already wearing theirs. The three technicians and he himself were not. But he must have had one on when they found him, right? Theo stooped down. Where had they put his suit? The two of them on the wall were brand new and clean. Under the cot! A dusty boot was sticking out. He pulled on it. This was his suit! Of course, he wasn’t wearing an LCVG, but that didn’t matter. Better to freeze than to suffocate. He quickly pulled the lower part on.
The administrator had apparently also realized what was going on.
“Out of here, immediately,” he commanded. “Or whatever happened to Sam will happen to us, too.”
The conclusion was logical. But there was one problem—they were short one suit. When Summers opened the hatch, one of them would die. Theo didn’t want to be that person, so he hurried to close up the top part of his suit. Where was his helmet? Hopefully, it hadn’t been damaged. He leaned back down. It wasn’t underneath the cot. He crawled around the floor. A new sharp pain shot through his thigh. There was his helmet! He pulled it out of a niche. The special glass was dirty and now exhibited several scratches, but it didn’t have any cracks.
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