“I know, Boris. Steel will fracture. So we’ll have to be careful. But some of the old equipment has connections that can only be opened with special tools. Engineers made them that way so not anyone with a screwdriver could mess things up. That was called sabotage.”
“‘Sabotage?’ Anything to do with the word Sabbath?”
“No, nothing at all. Anyway, we’ll need special tools if we’ve got to repair anything. And I’m assuming we’ll have lots to repair.”
“You’re probably right there.”
He carried the second box into the rover, because it too had a circle.
The cover of the third box was bare except for the M-19A in a white circle. Boris laughed. He knew it!
“What are you laughing at?” Geralt asked.
“Your numbering. It’s very unique.”
“It all has a meaning.”
“I’m sure it does. I also know it won’t make any sense to me. It’ll all go right over my head. I’m just a Snarushi, after all.”
“Haha. So says the one who got the Dragonfly to fly.”
“That was pure luck, Geralt. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“I don’t believe in luck. Where did Anna go? I wanted to congratulate her on her recovery.”
“She’s probably discussing the exact schedule with Jenna.”
“Typical, the women are sitting around, drinking coffee and eating cake, and we’re here doing all the work.”
“I don’t like coffee, anyway.” Boris hefted the box labeled M-19A. Grinning, he carried it outside and fastened it to the cargo surface over the cabin. Where were he and Anna supposed to stay? Either there was a tank close to the suspected hiding place of the ship, or they would have to take along a portable tank.
Anna and Jenna were probably planning the whole thing right then.
4790.8
Boris was sitting in the driver’s seat, right on time for their planned departure at 9 o’clock. Anna was next to him in the passenger’s seat. Their side of the rover also had all the necessary systems to take over control at any time if needed. And to make things completely safe, the vehicle could also be separated from the Wnutri cabin. The passengers only had a limited view of their surroundings, but their wide array of sensors compensated for their limited visibility.
“Everyone ready?” Boris asked over the radio link.
“Wait a minute,” Jenna answered from inside. “Shouldn’t we talk about the route first?”
“Oh, I was just... No, you’re right, of course, we should take a look at the route.” Boris turned his seat around 180 degrees to face the back. Now he was looking directly at the right front window of the cabin.
Anna also turned around. Jenna waved to them both. Geralt, who was probably checking over his boxes, was nowhere to be seen. Behind the cabin, Boris could see a trailer that was carrying a portable tank. It hadn’t been there yesterday, so some helpful little elves must’ve attached it to their vehicle overnight.
The cabin windows became opaque. Jenna projected a map of Titan onto the windows. “We are here, more or less,” she said, “below the Isa crater, at 5 degrees north and 60 degrees west. Farther west from this base is the Xanadu Highlands, with the Mithrim Mountains somewhat south of the equator at 126 degrees west. I believe you know those quite well already, Boris.”
Jenna had been doing her homework. He could well imagine how much she had worked these last few days to prepare herself for this expedition. Suddenly, he started feeling bad for being annoyed at her thoroughness. He was wont to simply let things happen and then try to do his best—pretty much always.
“Yes, it’s the best area for gliding,” Boris said. “Wind over the sand dunes before you reach Xanadu is forced upward through the mountains and forms a very dependable updraft.”
“I can see that. I’d like to go flying with you sometime,” Jenna said.
A Wnutri flying. He’d never seen that before. But she’d sounded so serious that he almost believed her.
“Unfortunately, that’s not the direction we’re heading today. Otherwise we could stop and give it a try,” Jenna said. “We’re driving southeasterly. I’ll show it on the map.”
A green line appeared between the mountainous formations.
“First, we go through the Fensal dark lands here. Then we turn more to the south to avoid the Quivira Highlands with the Chusuk plain. Then, about ten degrees south of the equator we’ll reach the Aztlan dark lands. Our destination is about in the middle of the western part of that region. Doom Mons, or, more precisely, Sotra Patera. The last part of the journey should be the most interesting, because we’ll have to cross the Mohini River, a system of frozen lava flows.”
“Is that dangerous in any way?” Geralt asked from the background.
“No, only tedious,” Boris said. “The dunes are harder on the body because there’s always a sharp drop-off on one side. The rivers and lava flows are just a matter of going up and down, up and down, over and over again. But I wouldn’t want to have to sit there in the cabin. You’re going to get shaken up quite a bit, I think.”
“Great. But before anyone asks—no, I’m not interested in leaving the cabin.”
“That’s too bad, Geralt,” Jenna said. “After all, you are our expert on old technology.”
“How long is this going to take?” Anna asked.
“I think we’ll get there overnight. Your base happens to be the one closest to the coordinates.”
“Ah, so were we chosen just for convenience?”
“No, Boris, you were the best one for this job. Or, more precisely, all of us together make the best team for the job. Together we’ll get this done.”
“Thanks. That sounds almost too good to be true.”
“Oh, come on, Boris, you know that you’re one of the Snarushi with the most experience in outdoor expeditions.”
That was true. He had always volunteered, no matter how dangerous the task. The result was that he had lots of unique experiences, of which he was very proud.
“And where exactly is the ship located now?” Anna asked.
“Well, we’re not exactly sure about that. We hope it’s on the slopes of Doom Mons.”
“We hope?”
“That’s the problem, Anna. The coordinates are only exact to within a few kilometers. But I’m sure we’ll be able to find it when we get close. It’s made out of a whole lot of metal, after all.”
“And where might it be, if it’s not on the slopes of the mountain?” Boris asked.
“In Sotra Patera,” Jenna answered.
“Patera. That must be a volcano, then,” Geralt said.
“Right. It’s the crater of a cryovolcano, and it’s about seventeen hundred meters deep. If we’re really unlucky, the ship’s at the bottom of the crater. It’s also possible the volcano’s activity could have moved the ship downward over all these orbital periods. We can see from Mohini Fluctus that the Patera has been rather active.”
“So how would we get the ship back up if that’s the case?” Boris asked.
“First, we’d have to dig it up, of course. It’s probably under quite a bit of ice. But you’ve got experience with that.”
Anna touched his knee. He understood the unspoken words behind the gesture. Stay calm, Boris, don’t get upset. She doesn’t mean to offend you. But what if she did intend to provoke him?
“Don’t worry, we’ve got it all planned out. One of the boxes has a methane torch in it, and all we have to do is connect it to our oxygen supply. With that we should be able to melt the ice away. So then, once the ship is free,” Jenna continued, “we’ve only got one more problem to solve.”
Boris thought he knew what she was going to say next.
“We’ve got to figure out how to start it,” she said.
Of course, that’d be a piece of cake. All they needed to do was make an ancient spaceship operational again, a ship that had been lying at the bottom of a volcanic crater for many, many orbital periods.
A nerdy archeologist, a young, overachieving scientist, a cynical loser, and a crazy daredevil—they were a dream team for completing a job like this.
Boris laughed and Anna looked at him strangely.
“Any other questions?” Jenna asked.
The screen transformed back into a transparent window, and Jenna’s face appeared. She was biting her lip. At that moment she looked rather cute. She was so eager for everything to work out. Full of energy and enthusiasm, she’d been assigned to lead the team, but he couldn’t help worrying about all his failures. Maybe the rest of the crew would help her succeed. He wanted that for her.
“I don’t have any more questions,” Anna said.
“Me neither,” Geralt added.
Boris thought, if we are going to Doom Mons anyway, why not? He might as well ask. Jenna wasn’t going to bite his head off, he decided.
“When we’re at Doom Mons, I’d like to go flying off of one of its two peaks,” he said. “Do you think that could be worked into the schedule somehow?”
“Absolutely,” Jenna answered. “Thermals should be excellent there.”
They had been driving for about 20 minutes. Large flakes of organic matter circulated through the air close to the ground like the thoughts repetitiously swirling through his mind. Boris switched to a private channel.
“Did you hear, Anna? ‘Together we’ll get this done,’ she said. She’s probably had group motivation lessons from a psychologist. She’s probably been waiting a long time to finally use that sentence on someone.”
“Huh. I didn’t know you’d become such a cynic, Boris,” his sister said. “Can’t you just give her a chance?”
Man, she wasn’t going to put up with any nonsense from him. Her comment hurt, but he had to admit that she wasn’t wrong. He should give Jenna his trust, even if just for his own self-interest, because if the expedition leader felt unsure, she would be more prone to make mistakes. And if she made mistakes, they would also affect him, and Anna. He didn’t want to put her in danger again.
Boris, you’ve got to pull yourself together, you old loser!
Even though his eyes were closed, Boris could hear from the noise of the wheels that they must’ve reached the Fensal region. Anna had been steering the vehicle for half an hour, and he’d been taking a short nap. He opened his eyes and looked at his sister. She was looking forward, deep in concentration. When she had been younger, she had often stuck her tongue out from the corner of her mouth when she was concentrating on a task. Now, her outer skin prevented her from doing that.
The rover drove over an inclined edge. Its axles creaked from having its wheels at different heights. The ground was just as uneven as before, but now they were driving over stone, which dampened the ground noises less. And it also reflected significantly less light than the ice that was the dominant ground cover around the base. It seemed almost as if the ground was sucking up the light from the headlamp.
It was not, in fact, any darker in the dark lands than anywhere else on Titan. But the dark color of the ground reinforced the impression of eternal twilight. The air’s light brown color transformed into a rusty brown here, and the air turned dark brown wherever the light from the headlamp didn’t reach. The sagas from Earth that Boris had read in translation as a child could’ve originated somewhere like this.
Boris yawned, and he felt hungry. “You got anything against me going into the tank for a little while?”
“Not at all. Is all this bouncing going to bother you?”
“I doubt I’ll even notice. I can take over driving afterward. Maybe we can drive through the night.”
Why did they still use the old 24-hour cycle, anyway? They had changed their calendar, now calculating in orbital periods instead of Earth years. Was the human body so bound to a sequence of day and night? The sun rose and set only every eight days. But Saturn, which permanently hung over his half of the moon, also illuminated Titan with reflected sunlight, so that there was little difference between night and day.
“We could suggest it to Jenna,” Anna said.
“I’ll do it later, then.”
“Should I stop?”
“No need.”
Boris climbed from his seat onto the cargo area, pulled himself onto the roof of the cabin, and jumped from the end onto the tank trailer attached to the rear.
“I’m there,” he said.
It hadn’t been tricky. With the low force of gravity, he wouldn’t have been injured even if he’d fallen onto the ground. He leaned down from the roof of the tank with his upper body toward the entrance, pulled apart the opening, and shimmied inside the tank through the gelatin. He was still somewhat flexible.
“Have a nice rest, Boris,” Anna’s voice said in his head.
“Have a nice rest, Boris,” the tank also said.
“Thanks.”
“Light on.”
“Of course, Boris.”
The tank switched on the interior lighting. Boris had to squint because it was so bright that it hurt. He stared at a support bar on the ceiling. It was rocking back and forth, so his senses hadn’t been fooling him. They must’ve reached the transition to the Aztlan dark lands. Why hadn’t Anna roused him? Because she thinks she doesn’t need you, dummy. No, because she doesn’t need you, she drives just as well as you do.
Boris closed his eyes again, but then his stomach started to feel queasy. The nutrient solution from the tank had gotten rid of his hunger, but now he felt like he was going to be sick. A little bit of rocking had never made him sick before! But it was an unmistakable feeling. He had to get out of there.
“Thank you for your visit,” the tank said as he rushed out.
Boris didn’t respond. He pulled himself up onto the roof of the tank. His guess had been correct. They were now crossing over two- to three-meter bumps, one after the other. It looked as if someone had scrunched the moon’s skin together. And, basically, that was what had happened. Two rocky plates must bump against each other here. The resulting fault lines were already strongly eroded. They had probably stopped moving millions of years ago.
“If you want, I can take over now,” Boris said. He clambered over the roof of the cabin to the front. Due to all the bumps and hills, this time he had to hold on tight with both arms, or he’d be thrown off the vehicle like loose cargo.
“No need. I can keep driving until we take a break.”
Boris switched to an open channel. “Do you think we should drive through the night? I feel well-rested now, and we’d save eight hours if we keep driving.”
“I don’t know about you, but I won’t be able to sleep if I have to ride my bed over this bumpy ground,” Geralt said.
“I’m all for taking a break, too,” Jenna said. “We don’t need to be in such a rush. Take a look.”
The cabin window transformed into a two-sided screen again. The route that they had already traveled appeared as a green line, and what still lay in front of them was red.
“The white spot to the east of us is the Coats Facula,” Jenna explained. “It’s an unusually bright area, maybe an iceberg. If you can believe it, nobody’s explored it any more closely than that.”
“Is this a proposal?” Boris asked. “I’m always ready for an extra side trip.”
“No, but maybe on the way back,” Jenna said. “I just wanted to play tour guide a little bit and show you the sights.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it,” Anna said.
“Okay, then is six hours enough for everyone?” Boris asked.
“Give us seven hours,” Jenna said. “Everything takes a little longer for us, washing, eating. It’ll be half an hour before we’re even in bed.”
“I already put something in the microwave for us,” Geralt said.
“It’s too bad that there’s no shower,” commented Jenna. “You wouldn’t believe what I’d give for a nice hot shower right now.”
“You could come with us into the tank,” Boris said.
“That might fit the ticke
t,” Geralt said.
“Unfortunately, there’s no direct access I could use without a spacesuit, and it wouldn’t make any sense to wear a suit in there.”
“That’s true, Jenna. Actually, why aren’t there tank accesses for Wnutri? Aren’t we all supposed to have equal rights?”
“And how do you propose to breathe in the tank, Geralt? As far as I know, every base has a universal tank that can be used for the medical treatment of both Snarushi and Wnutri,” Boris said.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to do without a tank visit today,” Jenna said.
“Too bad,” Anna said. “But it’d be awfully cramped with four of us in there. I think I’ll go now. Are you coming, Boris?”
“I’m not tired. Maybe I’ll stretch my legs a little bit.”
The walk was a good idea. He hadn’t properly moved his body yet today. The rover and its tank trailer had quickly disappeared from his field of vision. He could always ping it and use its homing signal to locate it if he had to when he wanted to return. Titan was an awe-inspiring world, and he was happy that it was his home.
Just then he had the feeling that he could manage very well here all on his own. Other people stressed him out. Anna was an exception. Why was that? Maybe because she understood who he really was, and he didn’t feel like he had to pretend around her.
Maybe, because he felt something similar to Geralt. He’d known the archeologist since the time before his transformation. They were about the same age and had played hide-and-seek together in the catacombs beneath the base. Boris felt barely older and not much more mature than when he’d been that age.
They’d once spied on a grown Wnutri while she was showering. The woman had discovered them watching her, climbed out of the shower, still naked, and soaked the two insolent young boys from head to toe. Boris always smiled when he thought of it. They’d been so afraid that the Wnutri would complain to their parents, but she hadn’t done anything else beyond her own punishment.
Boris knelt and touched the ground. He was wearing boots, as he always did when he was outside on a job somewhere. But he understood why Anna didn’t like to wear them. Whenever he wanted to know where he was, he always had to bend down and touch the ground with his hand. It went to the very core of living as a Snarushi—experiencing your environment directly.
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