Losing Mars (Saving Mars Series-3)

by Swanson, Cidney

  The surgeon nodded and departed.

  “Kip, we can’t sit around here for a month doing nothing. There’s work to do back home. Back in Yucca, I mean. I can’t just sit here watching you recover.”

  "I don’t think that would be good, either.”

  “You’re giving up on the surgery then?” Now Jessamyn felt a pinch of guilt.

  “No, but I think you should go back to Yucca without me.”

  Jessamyn considered the idea. And then it struck her that her reasons for wanting to bring Kipper back were rather unattractive. Her first impulse was to keep this realization to herself. But after several moments of silence, she decided to admit aloud what she'd been thinking.

  “I wanted to bring you back like a … like a prize or something,” said Jess, her voice quiet with embarrassment. “Guess I just wish I could break my streak of trying to do the right thing and screwing it up. And bringing you back to Yucca would've felt like proof I'm capable of getting things right for a change.”

  “Hmm,” said Kipper.

  “I'm sure you can’t relate to anything that petty,” said Jess, keeping her voice low.

  “You’d be wrong to think so,” Kip said, her own voice soft, her cheeks flushing. “When you told me the other day that Mars regards me as a ‘planetary treasure,’ I shrugged like it was no big deal. But to be honest, it's everything I ever wanted: Cassondra Kipling, planetary treasure. I used to dream about it.”

  Jess looked up, half a smile on her face. “We all thought you dreamed of being Secretary General.”

  “Oh, sure,” said Kipper. “But only because it would give me that same status—that certainty of having become someone important. Someone who mattered to Mars.”

  “It’s not the same once it’s actually happened, though, is it?” asked Jessamyn.

  Kipper shook her head. “The past weeks, working with those who suffer—and knowing suffering myself—everything’s changed. I don’t know if it would have changed without the pain, though. Honestly, I think I would’ve been as eager as you to get back to Mars with all of you in tow like some sort of trophies I could parade around.”

  Jess laughed softly. “Who’d have thought we were so alike, underneath it all?”

  Kipper smiled. “I’m honored to be like you in any small way.”

  “Oh, Kipper,” said Jess. “You can’t mean that.” And then she started crying, because she knew, without her captain having to say it again, that Kipper meant it.

  It was a watershed moment for the two, and as they sat, Jess felt her heart swell with a new appreciation for her captain.

  “Things have changed so much,” said Jess at last.

  “And so fast,” added Kipper.

  “Kip, I’d like to ask you to make that video … denouncing your brother … before you undergo surgery. Just in case—”

  “Of course,” replied Kipper. “I’ll get that done and you can take it to your brother.”

  “Thank you.” Jessamyn felt a weight lift from her shoulders.

  “You know, you’re very lucky, having a brother like Ethan.”

  Jess frowned. “I thought you didn’t like Ethan.”

  Kipper shrugged. “Guess you’re not the only one who had some growing up to do.”

  The two finished their tête-à-tête agreeing that Kipper should undergo surgery, and they relayed their plans to Cameron.

  Within the hour, Jess stood beside her new ship, ready to depart, Kipper’s message to Mars safely recorded in Marsperanto.

  “Well, I suppose this is farewell, then,” said Cameron. “To you, anyway, Pilot Jaarda. Cassondra must, of course, remain with me until we’ve got her patched up and sorted.”

  Cameron turned to Kipper. “I can keep ye safe here. We must authenticate yer death back at the hospital, of course, and offer compensation to that doctor of yours. Fortunately, he’ll be motivated to cooperate and call it death and not disappearance, won’t he?”

  Cameron smiled brightly and Kip nodded in agreement.

  Jess looked solemnly at Cameron. “Do the best you can to get her well again.”

  “I’ll do all that can be done,” replied Cameron.

  As she climbed aboard the M-class, Jessamyn’s heart lifted. The clean lines of the ship were so familiar—so like the Galleon and the Dawn. But that was nothing compared to how she felt seated in the pilot’s hot seat. There was a great deal of hollering and shouting heard in the cockpit, which the ship kept to herself. Jessamyn flew back over Greenland, Hudson Bay, and Canada, heading into sunset.

  “Red Hope,” said Jessamyn as the sun flared blood-red, sinking in the west. “That’s what I’m calling you, my beauty. Red Hope.”

  29

  I DON’T CRASH EVERYTHING I FLY

  An hour later, Jessamyn descended silently to one side of the settlement, lodging her new craft in an old blast crater. Night had fallen hours ago and the desert was still as she made land. Walking back to the Gopher Hole, Jess wondered if her brother might still be awake. But as she took in deep breaths of the clean desert smell, she admitted it was Pavel she most wanted to see right now.

  Perhaps this was becoming home, she thought, wherever Pavel was. Aphrodite, but she’d missed him.

  Moments later, she awoke Pavel with a warm kiss. “Come outside,” she whispered. She could hear her brother’s even breath on the bunk above Pavel’s.

  The two moved quietly outside, hands held. Pavel’s grip was tight, as though to keep Jess from ever again leaving.

  “I’ve missed you,” she said once they’d paced several meters from the stairs.

  “Where’s Kipper? What happened?”

  “I left her in Madeira—”

  “Madeira?” asked Pavel.

  “Yes,” she answered. “I paid a visit to Cameron Wallace. Who wants to be friends with Brian again, by the way.”

  “Good news,” said Pavel, chuckling. “But how’s the patient doing? The transportation went without mishap?”

  “Kipper’s fine,” Jess replied. “She wasn’t in a coma anymore. She was Nurse Cassondra, like I thought. Oh, Pavel, I’m so glad I went.”

  “I’m a whole lot gladder you came back,” murmured Pavel.

  Jess felt her skin warming with delight.

  “She’s injured, though,” said Jess. “Her physician gave her the choice of working at his hospital or paying a visit to Lucca for interrogation.”

  Pavel whistled softly. “That was a bold move on his part.”

  “Apparently, he was badly understaffed.” Jess frowned. “Well, he is badly understaffed again, now. But Cameron Wallace promised to compensate him and assist in ‘authenticating death,’ if that phrase means anything to you.”

  “It means Aunt Lucca will believe the patient died before coming out of her coma,” said Pavel. “That was terrific thinking on Cameron’s part. So Kipper’s not dead and she’s safe from Lucca. Why didn’t she come back with you?”

  Jess explained about Kipper’s choice to seek relief from her attacks.

  Pavel shook his head. “She made the right decision. All I could have offered would’ve been pain meds. I’m no brain surgeon.”

  “I have something else to tell you about, too,” she said as they approached the blast crater. “Something I think you’ll really, really like.” Her voice had risen in pitch and now she sounded like a child about to open a birthday present.

  “Let me guess: you wrecked Renard’s ship and had to find him something new,” said Pavel.

  “Pavel,” said Jess, punching his shoulder. “I don’t crash everything I fly. But, yes, there was an … incident. Renard’s ship was stolen. And yes, as it happens, I did get him something nicer than what he had. But his new ship is, well, it’s sort of hiding inside the thing I want to show you.”

  “You want to show me the blast crater?” asked Pavel.

  “Nope,” said Jessamyn. “Guess again.”

  “Should I be jealous you brought Renard a present and not me?”

&nb
sp; “Don’t be stupid,” said Jessamyn. “What I’m showing you is for you, sort of, if you’re still interested in going to Mars with me.”

  “That hasn’t changed,” said Pavel.

  As he spoke, they reached a point where the tip of the M-class ship could be identified in the moon’s light.

  Pavel inhaled sharply. “Shizer, Jessamyn. Is that what it looks like to me?”

  Jess squeezed his hand. “You can see why I’m not giving this one to Renard.”

  Pavel’s head shook slowly back and forth as they approached the crater.

  “Careful,” said Jess. “The floor’s uneven.”

  Pavel stepped forward and began making his way down inside the crater. “She’s huge … I don’t believe it. This is impossible. Jess, she’s beautiful.”

  “I’m calling her Red Hope. Do you like it?”

  “The name? Perfect. The ship? Beyond amazing.” Pavel’s hands flew to his head and he ran his hands back and forth through his hair several times rapidly. “What body part did you have to sell to get this ship?”

  “Disgusting!” Jess said, punching his shoulder again. “I promised Cameron Wallace that I’d make a pitch to MCC to keep the tellurium coming for at least two more runs. Mars Colonial hasn’t really considered the impact it will have on Clan Wallace when we stop coming back for ration bars.”

  “Jessamyn,” said Pavel, his voice suddenly urgent, “please tell me this doesn’t have operational interplanetary engines—my aunt’s government looks for signatures from that kind of engine. We could be an hour away from Armageddon!”

  “Relax,” said Jessamyn. “No interplanetary drives. Well, there are some in the hold next to Renard’s replacement ship so that we can install them someday.”

  “Good.” Pavel’s shoulders dropped down from where they’d crept up to his ears. “Sorry for the freak out. Of course Cameron Wallace would’ve known about the engines. I just … I worried a lot while you were gone. About my aunt, and what she knows or guesses. I mean, there’s no way she hasn’t figured out Mars is still alive and kicking what with the Galleon crashing in the Pacific.”

  Jessamyn nodded. “Ethan said as much. He’s got programs monitoring the airspace within fifteen-hundred kilometers of here so we get a warning if she figures out where I went.”

  “It wouldn’t be much of a warning,” said Pavel.

  His dark eyes met hers, the moon casting light upon his face. Jess found his hands at her side and wound her fingers with his.

  “I was scared,” said Pavel. “While you were gone. I was scared I wouldn’t ever see you again.”

  He leaned forward until their foreheads just touched.

  “I’m glad you’re back,” he said.

  Her face cast a shadow upon his now and she couldn’t make out his expression. She let out a heavy sigh and placed her arms around Pavel’s waist. His hands slid gently down her spine and rested in the small of her back. Like they belonged there. Jess felt the warmth from each digit, the more solid warmth from the flat of his palm. She wondered if she could make out his pulse if they stood still like this long enough. She wanted this moment, a girl from Mars embracing a boy from Earth beneath the Terran moon, to stretch into an infinity of moments, without an ending, without a parting.

  “I can’t promise I won’t do something like that again,” said Jessamyn at last. “It’s who I am, Pavel.”

  “Next time take me with you,” said Pavel.

  Jessamyn smiled. “We’ll talk,” she agreed, her face tilted up to the great ship.

  “So show me your ship, Captain Jess.”

  “I’m not a captain,” she replied, flushing. “And this might sound weird, but can we just sit out here a few minutes? I want … I just want …”

  “Of course,” said Pavel. “I want to take it all in, too. She’s so beautiful with the moon on her like that.”

  By unspoken consent, they sank to the desert floor to admire the great ship.

  Pavel’s hand felt warm as he traced his fingers along the curve of Jessamyn’s cheek, brushing stray hairs behind her ear.

  “Now tell me everything about your trip while we look at your beautiful M-class,” said Pavel. “I want the long version, this time.”

  And so she told him all she could recall, as the moon moved steadily west until it sank from sight behind Mount San Gorgonio.

  “It’s dark,” she said at last, when she’d finished her tale.

  “It’s late,” Pavel replied, lacing his fingers through hers.

  “So tell me what I missed in Yucca.”

  Pavel grunted a small laugh. “You mean other than everyone who cares about you freaking out over your departure?”

  Jessamyn smiled.

  “Well, you missed an evacuation drill,” he added. “That was obnoxious, waking up to sirens in the wee hours, clambering I-have-no-idea-how-far underground.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  “Oh, and there’s a bit of sad news, too. Gran Odessa disappeared and she’s been declared deceased. There will be a memorial for her tomorrow—well, tonight,” Pavel said, gesturing to the east where dawn painted faded greys over the inky black of night.

  “Oh, no,” said Jessamyn. She thought of Gran’s attempt to make certain Jess would always have a home. “She was kind to me even though she barely knew me.” Jess let out a soft sigh of regret. “I guess I’ll have to make sure I show Renard how to find that lichen, now. Seeing as I’m not staying here once Mars gets close.” Jess felt an odd mixture of regret and anticipation within her. “It’s too good to be true, you know. The ship, I mean. Mars, Pavel. This means I can go home.”

  “I told you, remember? No way you’re stuck here the rest of your life.”

  “I know. But this makes it so much more real. She flies like a dream, Pavel, even keeping her down low like you said.”

  “I can get those deep-space engines installed easy, when it’s time,” said Pavel. “If Renard loans me some tools, I can help you give the ship a proper once-over, right now.” Pavel’s words trailed off as he looked up at the ship.

  Jessamyn, rising, tugged at Pavel’s hand. “We’ve got plans to make!” she said, her face split wide in a grin. “Come have a look inside.”

  Jess gave Pavel a swift tour through the habitation level and the hold, pausing to run her fingers over the five escape pods locked in place.

  “Don’t think about it,” murmured Pavel. “Everything worked out in the end.”

  She nodded, her eyes solemn. “Everything worked out.”

  “We should get back,” said Pavel at last.

  Together, they worked to open the large hatch that would allow Jess to drive Renard’s replacement craft out of the Red Hope’s belly. The sun had risen by the time they hovered out of the blast crater together.

  “Time for breakfast?” asked Jess.

  “Time for morning rations,” Pavel replied, grinning.

  30

  MELANCHOLY

  Pavel and Jessamyn’s plans for a shared morning meal were interrupted before they could step inside the Gopher Hole.

  A young woman jogged toward them, a tool belt jangling noisily at her waist. “Doc Pavel? Pearl would like you to come by and see after her new girl-baby if you can.”

  Pavel squeezed Jessamyn’s hand and whispered to her, “I’m everyone’s first choice with Gran gone. It’s keeping me busy.”

  Pavel followed the woman, leaving Jess to make her own way back to their dwelling. The sun blared down and Jessamyn raised a hand to shield her eyes. Everything was brown, brown, brown as far as she could see. But it didn’t look like home. There were too many growing things. The odd Joshua trees punctuated the view almost as if each knew exactly how far it ought to be spaced from its nearest neighbor. Like housing outside New Houston, she mused. You didn’t want to be too far from your nearest neighbor in the event of an emergency, but Marsians didn’t like packing in close as a rule either. How she missed the homely site of round dwellings scattered about
her own.

  Sighing, she made her way down the stairs and into her adopted home.

  “Hello?” she called.

  When no one answered, a wave of exhaustion rolled over her. She didn’t want to think about how long she’d been awake. With no assigned task to complete, Jess fell into her bunk and slept away most of the day, rising at last just as the sun was setting outside.

  “Hades, it’s hot here,” she said to Harpreet as she shuffled into the common room. “I thought deserts were cold.”

  Harpreet laughed softly. “Not upon this world, daughter.” She held out a cup of the tea that kept Yuccans from suffering radiation sickness. “Welcome home.”

  Jess took the cup. “Ugh. Hot. Gets any hotter here and I’m shaving my head,” she muttered as she blew on the tea.

  Harpreet laughed softly, a gentle sound in the harsh land. “I will not dissuade you, but I can teach you to arrange your hair to keep it off your neck. I believe your young friend Pavel is rather fond of that red mane of yours.”

  Jess flushed.

  “He’s a good man, that one,” said Harpreet. “You could do much worse, even upon Mars Colonial.”

  “I know,” said Jessamyn, a tiny smile playing upon her features.

  “Let us go outside, daughter. It is no cooler, but there is a breeze.”

  The two took their cups of tea and ascended the stairs, crossing out onto the desert floor. It felt several degrees warmer, but when the breeze passed over them, Jessamyn smiled.

  “Oh, that’s lovely,” she said.

  Harpreet nodded in agreement. “I don’t know that I’ll ever grow tired of the sensation of air moving across my skin. I once hoped to live long enough to enjoy a breeze upon Mars.”

  “Pavel told everyone about the ship, right?” asked Jessamyn.

  “Yes, daughter,” said the old woman. “I shall have to make a difficult decision some seventeen or eighteen months from now.”

  Jess ran her boot through the sand at her feet. “Surely not that difficult.” She felt very homesick as soon as she’d spoken the words and had to blink back a few tears.