“We haven’t had hardly any problems so far, and it’s been almost 10 years.”
Ladli started crying. Tendai sat next to her, and tried to comfort her best he could, while François shrugged his shoulders at Dedrick.
Realizing he wasn’t being much help to anyone, Dedrick chose to quietly walk off to go check on Vera. After the catastrophic events that had taken place on Earth only a few months earlier, this new tragedy was a hard pill to swallow.
The little Martian
Several days had passed, and Dedrick couldn’t quite keep his focus on the task at hand. He and Tendai where bringing a new container of minerals to one of the greenhouses when Dedrick checked his wrist clock, again.
“I’d like to go check on Vera and Chasma, if you don’t mind.”
“What? Oh, yeah, of course, you go do that. I’m OK here. I got this. You go,” replied Tendai with a vague hand gesture.
“You’re sure you’re good?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Don’t worry about me. Seriously,” he replied in a reassuring tone that gave Dedrick some sense of confidence he could leave the Zimbabwe man alone. He had recently noticed a change of mood in Tendai that worried him.
Tendai watched the Russian leave the room. He was now alone in greenhouse I. He couldn’t help thinking of the absurdity of it all; the entire population of Earth probably gone, and the seven of them stuck on Mars, with a newborn. Ladli was right, what were their odds of survival if the air recycling system failed, or a compartment of the base got punctured or damaged in some way? Their predicament was looking quite desperate, to say the least.
Trying to distract himself from his dreadful thoughts, the Zimbabwean slowly looked around him. A long row of identical rectangular boxes without tops, containing half a dozen plants each, was taking a good portion of the long structure. His eyes landed on a small plant bed at the end of the row, right by the back wall, near his bench bed. A smile came to his lips as he remembered Sabrina telling him once about François’ attempt to grow weed in that corner.
“Ha ha! Leave it to the Frenchman to bring marijuana to Mars,” he thought, amused.
Sabrina had told him how François had tried to keep his own experiment secret from them, and especially from Mars First, back on Earth. Apparently, the young Frenchman had managed to sneak several seeds with him on board MF1 right before launch. A few months after their landing on Mars, the several experiments ran by the team in the greenhouse had begun to show signs of growth, but most of the plants seemed slow to thrive, except for one tray. Before long, François had been forced to confess his attempt. That he had managed to keep it a secret for so many months was quite a feat in itself, especially with cameras watching the team’s every move. Tendai looked up at the only cam still in place in that corner of the ceiling. At one point, the station had counted sixteen inside and five outside. Of course, most of the ones inside had been turned off months ago when the communication between Earth and Mars had come to an abrupt stop. No one was watching the colonists anymore, and there was no need to waste energy. Some had been added to the five cameras already outside to give the small Martian community a better view of their surroundings. Back when the first four had landed, the world had watched in fascination the daily progress of the astronauts thanks to all the video feeds received directly from the Martian outpost. It was a miracle the Frenchman had never gotten caught by headquarters back then, or worse, by the media.
He giggled at the thought of François having timed his mischievous work during the quiet hours of night when the station was asleep. The ingenuity of the devious French technician had become obvious once caught. He had confessed how he had managed to run a pre-recorded video of the greenhouse through the video feed, allowing him to turn off the cameras when attending to his “secret garden.” He had even gone as far as recording a new one each week, so not to raise suspicion, as all the plants and vegetables grew a bit more each day. Nonetheless, they had all had a good laugh at the whole incident, including François after the initial disappointment of the failure of his hopeful project.
After a last check on the greenhouse systems, Tendai walked back to his pod and, feeling truly tired, eventually fell asleep. Later that night, Ladli joined him, after her long day at Vera’s side.
“She’s feeling much better. She’s gonna be fine,” she told him quietly as she slowly climbed in bed, next to him.
“That’s good. I’m glad,” he replied from under the covers.
“Maybe tomorrow will be a better day,” he thought to himself before slipping back into a deep sleep.
#
The colonists had agreed to explore the area where François believed some debris from MF3 had landed, after analyzing the exact trajectory of the ship right before the crash. Both he and Tendai had offered to go on a reconnaissance mission, to see if anything was salvageable. They didn’t expect to find much, but considering their situation, any spare parts for the station would be extremely welcome. It was a strange mix of excitement and sadness when the two had found a portion of the vessel. As mall section from the cargo area, still holding several space suits and bins of various sizes full of supplies, mostly intact.
“What are the chances?” had said François when he had found, untouched in one of the containers, the small spacesuit Mars First had sent especially for Chasma. It was a revolutionary design that offered several customization options, including the possibility to expand the suit itself, to follow the child’s physical growth. Expected to fit Chasma from the age of one to at least her early teens, it was a welcome gift to Dedrick and Vera who had already envisioned with dread that Chasma would have no choice but to stay inside the station until her adulthood, when one of their suits would finally fit her. A sad prospect for both child and parents that they were all glad no longer applied. The news had been a wonderful surprise to Vera when François had announced his discovery over his radio. He and Tendai were now about to leave the site.
“No, nothing yet from the cockpit. But we’ve spotted a few more debris about a quarter of a kilometer to the north. I think Tendai and I have taken everything we could from here. We’re gonna go check it out. I’ll get back in touch when we get there. François out.”
Jumping back in the rover, the two men began to trace across the rocky plateau, toward the second site. The sky was clear, and the sun was shining brightly on the metallic surfaces scattered ahead in the distance. They were less than 200 meters away from their destination when Tendai, who was driving, brought the rover to a sudden halt, making the tires scrape the dry dirt below them. François, jolted in his seat by the abrupt stop, was about to voice his disapproval of Tendai’s careless driving when he spotted the reason for his companion’s action. About a hundred eighty meters ahead, a section of the cockpit, completely blackened by the intensity of the fire that had enveloped it, was lying on its side, a large portion of its outer shell missing. Near the center of the chamber’s floor, now resting at a ninety-degree angle, still attached by their central aluminum leg, two of the seats were hanging a few meters above the ground, their suited occupants still harnessed to them. Most of the wreckage was an unrecognizable mess, with countless wires and fried computer panels hanging everywhere. Amidst the carnage, pieces of burned suits, melted with the shriveled fabric of the chairs, and their charcoaled human remains were a difficult sight to look at. The two men were silent, unable to take their eyes off the gruesome scene. Both knew they would never be able to erase the image now seared in their mind forever. Tendai eventually resumed their approach.
The body on the right, although as black as the rest of the scene, showed an obvious skeletal arm and head, still fairly recognizable.
“Ebba!” thought François. “Fuck!” he finally said out loud.
A few hours after their disheartening discovery, the two and their cargo were welcomed back, but not without mixed feelings. The rest of the colonists had seen the video feeds sent by François’ and Tendai’s camera suits, and althou
gh the two had avoided filming much of the heartbreaking scene, their colleagues had viewed enough to wish they had not watched any of it.
The next day, Dedrick and François, along with a courageous Ladli, had volunteered to attend to what was left of their fallen astronaut friends, and without lingering much on the decision, had buried the bodies close to the crash site, right where the ship had originally been expected to land. The area had been nicknamed “Key Largo” long before the fateful accident, and all had quickly agreed to keep the name regardless. After a few days of hard work, four pyramid shaped monuments, each about two meters high, built using rocks found nearby, had been erected across the flat plateau. Dedrick had also asked Tendai to carve a commemorating stone tablet, since he had done such a good job with the one for Najib’s grave. Although sculpting a slab of rock with precision using one of the station’s forage drills was a challenging task, considering the bulkiness of the equipment, the Zimbabwean had done, once again, a remarkable job. Most of the base’s occupants had participated in writing the dedication with the exception of Chasma and Liu, the first due to her young age, the second because she was too emotional to do so. After a few words from Dedrick commemorating their lost friends, the group drove back home, and each couple retreated to their individual rooms, leaving the station strangely silent and ghostly for the rest of the day.
Kardium
A new chapter of their courageous journey was opening, and after the grim events of the past few years, Chasma was a happy change for the members of the station. If having an infant amid seven adults, cramped in a space no larger than a few small rooms, day in and day out, was a difficult challenge, doing so on Mars was a remarkable feat. Regardless, Ladli and Sabrina had been absolute life savers, caring for the baby while Vera, unusually weakened by the birth of her child, had been forced to rest and slowly rebuild her strength. The routine had only been disturbed a few days. Only weeks after the tragic crash of MF3, the small Martian community was refocusing its attention to the well-being and survival of its members. Tendai and Ladli had regained a more positive outlook on their situation. After all, the outpost had been a reliable and safe home for almost ten years now, and unless an unforeseen catastrophe was to jeopardize their dwellings, life at the Mars First base wasn’t all that bad. But they all understood, now more than ever, how precarious and precious their small outpost really was. The seven pods and three greenhouses their settlement now counted, would receive no more supplies from Earth. They were quite certain of that. They also knew very well their base required constant monitoring, and anything that happened to any part of their habitat automatically affected the entire base. Station Mars First was their oasis in a desert the size of a planet. They all knew their life depended on keeping their dwellings, computers, and machines performing perfectly. With no possibility of returning to Earth, and the unlikeness Earth would ever make contact again, they were all pretty sure they were on their own.
“So, I think we need to focus our efforts on greenhouse III, right now. Last night’s rock slide has weakened anchors five and six. If we use both ARC 1 and 2, one on each side, here and here, we should be able to move the new support in place with ARC 3 without exerting too much pressure on the frame,” said Dedrick pointing at a top view diagram of the station.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked François.
“I agree. Tendai, you and I take rover 1 and 2. François, you’ve got ARC 3. You know what to do. Let’s go.”
Most days on Mars, not even the slightest hint of a breeze would have been felt by anyone walking bare skinned outside, had such a thing been possible. Today was one of those days. The sun, high above the outpost, had brought the outside temperature close to twenty degrees Celsius, a nice change in contrast with the freezing cold of the previous night, which had registered a whopping minus seventy on the outside sensor. Such extreme temperature fluctuations could at times cause so much stress on the Martian geology, that rocks were known to crack and split open, as was the case under greenhouse III. Thanks to a multitude of sensors and check points put in place all over the station to monitor the complex integrity, an alarm had alerted the colonists of the mishap, allowing the team to address the problem quickly the following morning, before the dwelling got compromised any further.
The maneuver had been a success. The greenhouse’s stability was no longer an issue, allowing the experiments to resume. But most importantly, their oasis was once again safe. As the weeks continued, it appeared the small human outpost and its eight occupants were doing just fine on their own, after all. Soon the morale of the whole group was rekindled. The search for more water points was back on the schedule. Tomorrow, Tendai was scheduled to go drill a new access in a large pocket that had been discovered a few days before. The newly found deposit was a great candidate for being part of a larger group of underground water pockets, and a few station occupants were very excited at the prospect of finding more crystals, and more Blobus Viscus. Ladli had made Tendai promise he would bring back as many of the minerals as he could, even if he didn’t understand why she was so interested in the rocks. But today, he was on his day off, a concept that François had come up with, and presented to the group soon after the crash. Since there were seven of them, it was quite simple. Each one took in turn, a day of the week off, leaving six of the colonists to run the outpost on any given day. Although it augmented, somewhat, the load for everyone, they had all agreed it was worth getting a day a week to goof off and enjoy some personal free time. In truth, most of them still participated when needed, regardless.
Tendai was lying in bed, staring at a small collection of pebbles lined up on the nearby desk, while Ladli, seated in front of a mirror, was tying her hair.
“What are you doing with all these rocks?” he asked.
“I’m starting a collection. Aren’t they cool?”
“I guess. I like that one. What is it?” Tendai was pointing at a dark stone sitting to the right of her display, one of the larger specimens in the group. She turned her head to look.
“I named it Kardium. It’s from the batch you guys brought back from grid 4-23-A in the Karrad cliff a few days ago. I found several salt deposits in its composition. That’s what gives it these thin red veins.”
“I see. That’s neat. And why are you collecting all these again?”
“Well, first I thought they would be nice to decorate the room with, but then I realized that… Wait, let me show you. Come with me!”
She went through the latch leading to the greenhouse next to their pod, Tendai in tow.
Inside the vegetable garden, Sabrina was taking some measurements from a dark liquid in a container in front of her.
“Hola!” she said without turning around to see who was coming behind her.
“Hey, Sabrina. Mind if I show Tendai the new plants?”
“Sure. Go ahead,” she replied, pointing to her right.
They moved across a few vegetable beds and approached a row of tall tomato plants.
“Wow! These are huge! How did you…? Those are tomatoes, right?”
He turned to the two women, speechless. They were both giggling. The five plants were well over two meters tall, and were covered with fruit. Any farmer on Earth would have been proud to get such an abundant yield. Several had already turned red, and Ladli, cutting one right off the closest branch, handed it to Tendai. “Try this and tell me what you think.”
“It’s fantastic! How did you get them to grow so big? And so fast?!”
“The rocks,” offered Ladli. “We’re not sure how yet, but by placing some of these stones in the soil, the plants are growing faster than they ever have. This plant was barely a half a meter tall two days ago.”
“That’s unbelievable! And there’s so many of them. Martian rocks, really? Have you tried them on other plants?”
“Yes, some seem to react better than others. Obviously, as you can see, the tomatoes are doing great. So, did the cucumbers. Look!” She pointed at a
box full of them on a table nearby.
“Wow!”
“But it didn’t do much for the grapes. We think we haven’t found the right mineral yet. I’m hoping you’ll find new ones tomorrow, actually.”
“Ladli, why don’t you show him the algae?” asked her Sabrina with a nod.
“Oh, yeah. You’re gonna want to see this. Dedrick got a kick out of this one.”
They walked to the back of the greenhouse where two clear water tanks were setup. Bubbles of oxygen were floating forcefully upward in both of them in noisy columns. The tank on the right was filled with small pebbles and sand at its bottom. The rest of the tank was water. But the tank on the left was quite different. Along the seams of its walls, a thick line of greenish grime could easily be seen. Down at the bottom of the tank, a small rock, the size of a tennis ball, was glittering in the churning water.
“What do we have here?” he asked.
“Actually, we don’t know. We put this rock in there yesterday morning. I've analyzed it. Its composition is fairly common for a Martian rock. Nothing stood out in the numbers, except for one element the computer did not recognize. But it’s in very small quantity compared to the other minerals in it, so I don’t know if that has anything to do with it. All I know is that this tank was just as clear as the other one yesterday, and now this. I’ve taken a sample of that green stuff and started analyzing it. It’s a form of algae. Nothing found on Earth, but it’s the closest thing I can think of in terms of its biology.”
“Algae? That’s incredible.”
“I know. This tank was clean, but after we laid this rock in water, all this stuff started growing. I’m not done with my report yet, but it seems it’s gonna help us grow more food.”
Kahnu (The Guardians of Tomorrow Book 1) Page 17
