by Chris Hawley
CHAPTER TWELVE
A VISIT TO THE FRUIT FARM
‘Time to get up, Bill,’ came a voice from a long way off. At first I couldn’t place the voice and I was not even sure where I was. I opened my eyes, expecting to see my mother’s face and to hear her harsh voice, wanting to know whether I was going to sleep all day, or what. Instead it was the face of Manu smiling down at me.
‘The day has begun. Did you sleep well?
‘Like a log,’ I replied, stretching my arms and legs and yawning.
‘You didn’t find the bed too hard?’
‘At first, yes. How long have I slept?
‘Exactly eight hours; that is if you went off at the same time as I did.’
‘More or less.’
‘Well, Bill, today I believe Michu promised you a trip to the farm. But first we shall bathe and have breakfast.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ I said, eagerly.
After visiting the toilet and folding my blanket, which I left on my bed, I followed Manu back down the way we had come the night before. Then we branched off and I recognised the pool where I had bathed before. Manu and I stripped off and we both plunged into the warm but refreshing water. We swam around for a while, before resting at the edge of the pool, holding onto the side.
‘How do you heat the water?’ I asked Manu.
He chuckled. ‘We don’t. Have you never been in a hot spring?’
‘No.’
‘The water comes from very deep down underground. It passes through fissures in the hot rock and that is what heats it. There are hot pools and some that are cooler, like this one. Convenient, isn’t it?’
‘Brilliant!’ I had to admit these Martians knew how to live simply and in harmony with nature. No burning of fossil fuels, no machinery, no pollution!
‘We use natural energy sources here. We know we are part of Nature and we know it is wrong to try to control Nature. Your people will one day come to the same understanding.’
‘And I am to be part of the game.’
‘That’s about the size of it, Bill! That is an expression you use, isn’t it?’
I was quiet for a bit, while I tried to digest this momentous idea, which kept coming up.
‘Manu.’ I said finally.
‘I’m all ears! Another expression from your country!’
‘It’s amazing; you know more English than the English!’
We both laughed.
‘But seriously, Manu, I am a bit worried about my parents. They must be frantic with worry. Suppose they call the police and make all sorts of announcements on radio and TV. Is there some way I can contact them? Just to let them know I am alright?’
‘Of course, there are ways. But I will have to get clearance from the elders. It is absolutely forbidden to make contact with other planets without their permission. Leave it to me. I’ll speak to someone today.’
‘Thanks, Manu.’
We climbed out of the water and dressed in clean tunics. Then we made our way to the dining area for breakfast. There were several people already seated on cushions when we entered the dining area. Some were eating. I spotted Michu, Sofu and Anamaru sitting together at the far side. As we crossed to where they were sitting, everyone greeted us warmly. As we came up to our friends, I noticed another girl with them. She was smaller than Anamaru, about 1.25 metres, had black hair and large dark eyes and the same smooth, pale skin.
‘Good morning boys. This is Diana; she is Manu’s sister,’ said Sofu, getting up. Diana bowed and I did the same.
‘I hope you slept well, Bill,’ said Michu.
‘Perfectly, thanks!’ I replied, sitting down between Diana and Anamaru.
Almost immediately, an elderly lady came from the kitchen carrying stone plates and a stone dish, containing a grey mixture that I was not able to identify immediately. She put down the dish and I saw what I thought were mushrooms.
‘That is exactly what they are,’ said Michu. ‘They are highly nutritious; much more than your mushrooms. We grow them in special caves. We eat them everyday….raw.’
I must have looked very doubtful because they all had a good laugh at my expense. However, once I had tried them, I had to admit they tasted better than they looked.
We all ate in silence. Once again everyone concentrated on the food. Only when everyone had finished did we start chatting, mostly about the trip we were to make that day. Michu told me I would not be allowed to attend the special meeting to be held in the evening, because of the very secret subject that would be discussed, though she did say that the elders would be giving me a special audience later, to tell me a bit of Similaria history and some other interesting information about Mars. I felt very important when I heard that. Imagine, the elders giving me a special audience!
The party to the fruit farm was to include Michu, Manu and the manager of the farm himself. We met at the foot of the tube that was to take us to the surface. Michu stood in front of the entrance and as soon as a bubble appeared, she stepped into it and was gone. Next it was my turn. I was a little bit nervous, having a clear memory of coming down the day before. I need not have worried because the bubble began very slowly, gradually increasing speed so that the effect was not too noticeable. It was pitch dark inside the bubble and it seemed to take ages. Just as I was beginning to wonder if I was moving at all, the bubble started to slow down and within another minute we were at the surface and I stepped out of the bubble into the chamber, where Michu was waiting for me. She smiled. A minute or so later, the manager appeared and then Manu. Michu then stood still and seemed to command the wall to open. I thought of ‘Aladdin and the forty thieves’ story. A hole appeared carrying a large bubble, which we all crowded into. On the other side of the wall we transferred to a larger, long-distance bubble, which hovered for some time in the soft light of the Martian morning.
‘The journey will take about half a somo, that’s about thirty-five Earth minutes,’ said Michu. ‘Similaria is some degrees north of the Martian equator in an area that your astronomers call Chryse Planitia. Incidentally we are not so far from the landing site of Viking I, the first unmanned craft to land on Mars back in 7428. We will be travelling south towards what you call Valles Marineris, a deep canyon, in some places more than 200 kilometres wide and clearly visible from Earth with a powerful telescope. The terrain is not too rough until you get near the canyon but by then we shall be there. There will not be time to see the canyon itself but maybe another day we shall do a tour and you can also see some of the largest volcanoes in our solar system.’
‘It seems a long way to have a farm,’ I ventured.
‘It’s true, but conditions are just right in that area, plus the mountainous scenery gives us good cover and NASA avoids that kind of terrain when choosing landing sites for its probes.’ Those machines cost a fortune to build. Why risk them landing on the edge of a big boulder and overturning?
‘I see. How far are these volcanoes?’
‘Around 2000 kilometres, but our flying bubbles soon cover the distance.’
‘Are the volcanoes likely to erupt?’ I asked.
‘It hasn’t happened for many thousands of years, so I wouldn’t worry too much,’ said Michu, laughing. ‘Now let’s be off.’
The sun was still low on the horizon as we set off across the red, barren desert. The sun was smaller than it appears from Earth. I mentioned this to Manuel and he told me it was because Mars is almost 80 million kilometres further away from the Sun than the Earth. No wonder Mars is so cold! He told me also that it appears much less bright than on Earth, due to the thinner atmosphere and the distance from the Sun. But I was very comfortable inside our bubble and I was thankful for that.
A few large boulders cast long, pale shadows. Other things of interest in the landscape were a series of deep, wide valleys that looked as though they were dry river beds and the odd impact crater, caused by meteorites hitting the ground. Manuel told me that the valleys were actually created at a time when Mars had seas and rivers. I
wonder what happened. Imagine, seas and rivers! And now Mars is nothing but desert. Manuel said the history of Mars would be explained to me another time. I thought to myself at that moment that I was the luckiest boy ever to have existed. What a story I would have to tell the boys at school!
‘You will have to swear to keep all this a secret before you leave Mars, Bill,’ Manu warned, frowning. If you go shouting about your trip to Mars, they will either come looking for us or they will put you in a mental home! One or the other, and neither would be good for you or us here.’
‘I understand, Manu,’ I said. ‘I am so sorry! I would never want you Martians to suffer at all.’ I was cross with myself for ever having mentioned it, even in thought. When you think something, it is as good as saying it because everyone knows what you are thinking.
Soon the scenery became more mountainous. We must be getting near that canyon Manu talked about. Our bubble negotiated the steep, rocky hills with no difficulty. Another few minutes and the bubble came to a halt. We were hovering half a metre above the ground at the top of a rocky hill. Looking down into a valley, the farm manager pointed ahead and told me that was the farm. I couldn’t make out anything definite, although I could see that the area was less red and slightly browner. We descended into the valley, the bubble moving slowly now.
Suddenly we came to a wall of what looked like an enormous bubble, twenty or more metres in height. The bubbles in which we were sitting merged into the wall and the next moment we were inside the enormous bubble. The scene that met my eyes made me gasp. Nothing could be seen from outside but inside was an orchard stretching away up the valley. The trees were of different kinds and all seemed to be loaded with fruit of varying sizes and colours. We came up to a nearby tree and I recognised the fruit we had eaten for lunch the day before. The farm manager picked one from the tree and handed it to me. I remembered to thank the almighty for the gift and then enjoyed it. The others also ate one.
When we had finished eating, the farm manager, whose name was Zigal, invited us to sit on some stones that were arranged in the form of a circle.
‘I wish to explain what we do here,’ he said in a deep voice. He was a small man with dark hair and curiously green-yellow eyes that fixed on me as he talked. He sometimes glanced at the others but mainly his talk was directed to me. I noticed his hands were unusually rough, typical gardener’s hands.
‘Apart from the fungus that is grown inside, all the food we eat in Similaria comes from here. We grow twenty-five different types of fruit. They provide all the vitamins and minerals the body needs. You may have a chance to taste all of them while you’re here in Similaria.’
He looked at Michu and she nodded, smiling at me. Then he went on.
‘The soil here is good and there is an abundance of water deep beneath the surface. Inside the greenhouse bubble the moisture and temperature is controlled by means of the warm water and air that is forced up to the surface. It is a self-sustaining ecosystem.’
I interrupted him. ‘What do you mean by self-sustaining system?’
‘I’m sorry for being too technical but I am what you would call a scientist, you know. A self-sustaining ecosystem is a system where the living things, in this case the trees, interact with the environment, the water, gases in the air and also the decaying vegetation, which is recycled in the soil and provides the nutrients for the trees, and so on. We don’t need to do anything. But what we do is important for us. You know that the Martian atmosphere is mainly carbon dioxide. The tees love it. And they give us the gift of oxygen. We don’t allow any of that precious oxygen to escape into the atmosphere. If we did that, it would drift off into space and be lost. We store oxygen and water vapour for use in Similaria. ’ He smiled, obviously proud of his valuable contribution to the clan’s welfare.
‘Zigal has worked here for eighty years,’ said Michu. ‘His father worked here and his grandfather before him. Now his daughter is being trained to take over from him in twenty years or so. She will show that girls can be good scientists too.’
‘Zigal laughed, his green eyes flashing. ‘My daughter may turn out to be the best in a long line of family fruit farmers. We are all the time developing news strains of fruit. That is my main job here. We cannot eat all that we produce. We barter our surplus harvest to neighbouring clans,’ said Zigal. ‘One clan supplies us with the tunics we wear and sleeping covers, another with stone containers.’
‘Where does the cloth come from to make the tunics?’ I asked.
‘It is imported from Zuron,’ said Michu.
‘Where’s that?’
‘Zuron is a planet in the solar system of Rigil Kent,’ explained Michu.
‘Another solar system?’ I cried.
‘Rigil Kent, or Proxima Centauri, as it is more commonly called on Earth, is the nearest star to our solar system, only 4.3 light years away.’
‘Wow, that’s fantastic!’
All three of them were amused at my ignorance.
Michu went on, ‘It is a civilisation that has specialised in cloth production. Their cloth is produced from plants that only grow there. The material is extremely hardwearing. It lasts as long as we do, or longer. We order only once every hundred years or so.’
‘More like two hundred,’ said Zigal.
I could hardly believe that something could last so long.
‘How do they transport it from there to here?’ I asked.
‘By spaceship, of course!’ said Zigal.
‘Sorry to be so ignorant,’ I apologised. ‘It must take a long time to get here.’
‘Yes, about thirty years,’ said Michu.
‘Thirty years!’
‘The spaceships are unmanned. The people on Zuron load them and sends them off. As the ship approaches Mars the supplier, the Martian clan that holds the franchise, receives a signal and they meet it with a transport bubble. Then they send the spaceship back to Zuron.’
‘Just like that!’ I said, shrugging my shoulders. ‘But how do they pay Zuron for the material?’
‘They don’t, actually’ said Michu.
‘They do it for nothing?’
‘Well, the Mars global council has a kind of agreement with Zuron. If ever they need help and we can, we have agreed to help them.’
‘What kind of help would that be?’ I wanted to know.
‘Anything. Nothing is specified. Maybe they will never need our help. It doesn’t matter. On Earth it is hard to find those who will do things for no immediate gain. Not all living beings think that way……fortunately.’
I could say no more. I was learning so much, and it was humbling.
We had a good tour of the fruit farm. At the far end was a field in which green vegetables were growing. These were the ones we had eaten the day before. Two Martians were picking leaves and tying them into bundles, for transport to Similaria, I was told.
At last our tour of the fruit farm was over and we made the journey back, after a meal of another kind of fruit, yellow and juicy. The sun was high in the sky. It must be midday, I thought.
At last we arrived at Similaria and made the descent into the cavern. As is the custom we all rested for some time. The rest of the day was spent meeting other Martians and getting to know the layout of the cavern. When it was time for the special council meeting, everyone made their way to the grand hall. Before she went, Michu took me back to the library and accessed the Earth Internet and I got up to date with the BBC news from home. Nothing much had happened, the usual politics and fighting in the Middle East and in Afghanistan. I half thought there may have been a news item about a missing schoolboy but there was nothing. But I enjoyed seeing the news of my favourite football and cricket teams. South Africa was thrashing Pakistan. Only a miracle could save them. In football, Manchester United was second in the League behind Arsenal, having beaten Chelsea 4-0 in the Saturday game.
It was late into the night when Michu returned to collect me. She looked strained. She didn’t want to say anythi
ng about the meeting but I could tell there was something very serious going on. She shed a few tears and I did my best to comfort her. I began to feel some deep attachment to her. At that moment she drew away from me.
‘No Bill,’ she said gently. ‘I am older than you and we cannot get too attached to each other. Soon you will go back to Earth and you may never see me again.’
‘I can stay here,’ I said quickly, and then I realised she was right. ‘What you say is true, Michu, but I will love you anyway.’
She held my head in her hands and kissed me on the forehead. She turned quickly away. Then we left the library and went our separate ways.
‘I could stay though,’ I said to nobody in particular.
‘Could you?’ said a voice behind me.
I turned to find Manu walking towards me.
‘Remember your mission on Earth, Bill,’ he said.
I said no more but I thought about Michu for a long time before falling asleep that night.
