by A. L. Mengel
The sun had not risen on Mars, but there was light somewhere.
Yes. That was it. She was on Mars.
Her mind did not allow her to see beyond the revelation; the familiar became real as the winds increased with ferocity. But there was a blank space. A chalkboard wiped clean; a distant memory that was floating through another galaxy which she could scarcely retrieve.
She struggled to move but the suit was far too heavy.
It was as if she were lying under a mountain of boulders; but she was not. The winds increased without warning as she felt the pressure of the sand and dust against her limbs; but she lay close to the ground as she saw in the corner of her viewfinder: the winds had increased; there was a storm approaching.
She held her arms over her face to cover from the force of the sudden winds instinctively, though the glass was rated for Mars windstorms.
She had thought that voices surrounded her, but all she heard on COM 1 was static. “Jere! Jere, where are you?!”
But there had been no answer.
She hoisted herself up.
She turned her back to the assault of the winds and cupped her hands around her eyes. She looked back towards the ROVER, its muted gleam was scarcely visible through the blowing sands.
Had the team still been there?
She noted the heaviness on her back and reached around.
She was still carrying the small, sandy backpack. Yes. She remembered that tiny detail.
She struggled to lift her feet. She grimaced, mustered her energy and trudged forward. “Jere!” she called out. His LCD panel was still blank. No response. Just the howl of the winds. “Winston! Eli? Are you guys still there?!”
She had called each of the names listed on the side column of her helmet control panel, but there was no answer.
Thunder crashed overhead as light flashed around her. She looked up towards the sky. The clouds appeared just as red tinted as the terrain. Certainly it would not rain, would it? And if it did, what would the rain consist of?
The winds abated and she saw the dark silhouette of the ROVER ahead.
Could be fifty or a hundred yards, but probably no more.
The winds and the sand had concealed it. But her vision had been so clouded. She looked up. There appeared to be a reddish tint to the sky.
No view of the sun.
Had they made it back to camp?
She trudged forward, towards the ROVER, taking each step with a wincing effort. She could feel the perspiration on her forehead just before the suit cooling mechanism engaged.
As she approached, a deep rumble emanated from the sandy ground as she stumbled and fell against the hard metal.
She looked down at the ROVER.
But it wasn’t like the ROVER she had remembered back on Earth. It was a similar vehicle. Large, with three rugged wheels along the side. Made of different metals and a new design, there was something quite foreign about this model.
She flopped around on her back, leaning on the side of the ROVER.
The sky appeared red.
More of a pastel; sand blew in giant, roaming dust clouds on a cloudless day. The sun was visible, she could see, as she raised her arms and shielded her eyes. As she peered up and towards the shining star, it was filtered; dulled, and cast a gray hue.
“Jere! Winston! Eli?”
Where had the team gone? She fought the door of ROVER open and fell inside, hoisting herself onto a seat, struggling under the weight of the suit. She reached over and slammed the door once her legs were on the floor. The winds were now muffled, and she looked ahead.
There was certainly something different about her location. She could see the Martian terrain through the front dashboard.
It was not the Earth which she remembered.
It was not the same ROVER either. She reached out and touched the buttons, lightly running her gloved fingertips along the red and blue buttons. She raised her head and looked ahead.
Swirling dark clouds moved overhead, racing across the sky. She pointed up towards the red sky. “Are those dust clouds?” Her voice cracked and sounded broken and muted inside her helmet.
But there was movement on the horizon that caught her eye. She did a double take and looked again, studying the ferocity of the winds.
She looked intently.
A crinkle formed in the center of her forehead as she watched the terrain for movement.
In the center of her visor, through the window of the dash, she saw a figure; something dark, blotchy. It could have been pulsating.
Or alive.
A shadowy figure.
Difficult to discern from the distance. Her vision was muted by blowing dust, and fading light. She looked up and saw the sun in the distant Martian sky – fiery yet faded, muted but still penetrating the clouds.
Through the dust clouds, she looked back down and saw the shadowy figure moving slowly across the horizon; a large, dark figure, an unclear shape, but the distance was great.
Her breathing was slow and shallow and then she caught her breath. “Jere! Come in! Is that you out there? Someone from our team?” She smashed her palm against the small, black screen on her forearm.
C.A. REPORTING. LOCATION?
She lumbered out of the ROVER, hoisting herself onto the sand and stood up.
She moved forward, and winced at the heaviness of her suit.
As the winds tore against the horizon, as the dust covered her visor, she reached up and wiped it away again.
Her strength appeared to be gradually returning, and walking started to become easier, but still took considerable effort.
She focused on the shadow ahead.
She held steady, standing against the assault of the sandy winds, watching the dark figure; studying it, intently, without distraction. Even the sand which gathered on her visor was wiped away with her hand, which she had not noticed.
For all she saw was the dark figure.
She took a short, quick breath.
Had it moved?
She reached up and wiped her visor again.
There was a mindless feel to the situation.
She did not recognize the commands her mind was sending to her body; but she did not act in surprise or shock when her right foot lifted from the ground, heavy it was, the weight of the suit contributed to the great effort of taking a step.
But she moved forward, slowly.
She struggled against the increasing winds, and despite the reaction of lowering her torso towards the ground, and leaning forward, walking into the fierce winds, she remained upright, focused on the dark figure. She wiped her visor again and looked ahead. It was a large blotch across the auburn sky, just at the horizon where it met the terrain; it was flat on either side. The darkness rose upwards, at an angle, reaching inwards and upwards towards the sky.
And then she felt herself moving again.
Slow, determined steps, the same heaviness in each leg. She broke her stare and looked down at the keypad on her arm. She paused for a moment and started typing.
JERE. COME IN? STRANGE DARK FIGURE AHEAD. GOING TO EXPLORE.
She looked back up and proceeded ahead not expecting an answer. Until there was a tiny beep in her ear, scarcely audible against the roar of the winds.
In the dark interior of her helmet, a small screen glowed to the left.
In the three small squares that had been only random electronic noise, one of them changed to black. But it was not a deep black as if the monitor had turned off, but rather a black screen, as if it were attempting transmission. And then she gasped as the words flashed on the screen:
INCOMING MESSAGE.
She gasped.
She stopped walking looked down at her forearm. Next to the keypad were three green buttons. She pressed the left button and typed on the keypad.
JEREMIAH? ARE YOU ALIVE?
The screen flashed and cut back to noise.
She reached around and smacked her helmet. The screen cut back to black and th
en another flash; a scene, just for a fleeting moment, of the ground.
She smacked the side of her helmet again.
The screen flashed again, and then the image held steady.
The ground was at an angle, on the right side of the screen. The helmet was lying on its side. And it was most certainly Jeremiah’s cam, according to the listing on the right column. He had to have been lying on his side. And the camera was working. She tripped over a rock and fell to her knees as she reached up and pounded on the left green button. Her hands shook as she typed.
LOCATION? I WILL COME TO YOU. SEND LOCATION!
The screen flashed to black once more, and then the image returned and held steady. It was at a slightly different angle; there was a dark blotch in the right corner.
And then she gasped and looked ahead at the dark figure nestled in the center of the terrain.
Could it have been where she was thinking it was?
HOLD POSITION. I AM COMING.
She wiped her visor and headed forward and ignored the heaviness of the exploration suit. Every few minutes, she reached up as she continued to wipe the sand from her visor, but did not break her stare at the dark figure.
She knew that it was much farther away that it had appeared, but the ROVER was far behind her; she was in an unknown location, alone, with no known transportation, no known rations.
No sense of where she was. Or how she got there. Or what had happened to her and her team.
*****
She approached the shadow of the dark figure as the freak sandstorm abated.
The sunlight was still muted and grey, the sky covered in orange tinted clouds, but she could see better, and since the sands were no longer blowing, she did not have to reach up to wipe her visor any longer.
The dark figure had not been a figure at all.
It looked like a giant mountain, reaching upwards into the clouds. It cast a dark shadow on the terrain, standing in command. As she looked towards the base of the mountain, she saw a glimpse of silver, or perhaps steel. Was that another ROVER?
She ran forward, gasping at the weight, but determined. As she neared the base, she recognized the ROVER design from before. She could remember now. Her mind was functioning again. It was the same ROVER that they had traveled in when they first hit the surface of Mars. Somehow had Jeremiah taken another ROVER to explore this mountain?
The fog on her mind was lifting; she remembered very specific details: Jeremiah had been with her. So had Eli and Winston. And Moses.
They had been sent on a mission to reach the Red Outpost.
She even remembered the details of this new ROVER; her mind saw visions of the coordinates of the second ROVER on the illuminated screens on the front dash.
But despite the revelation, there still had been a gap: a necessary exclusion in her thoughts. And the scene that played out in front of her, as she reached the base of the dark mountain.
The suit, which lay on its side at the threshold of the mountain shadow, was facing away from her, looking towards the dark rocks. It looked brighter than the rest of the sand and rock.
She ran to the dirty white suit, which seemed to glow in the fading light.
Was it Jeremiah?
The suit was lying on its side, the visor pointed at an angle, away from her, looking towards the base of the rocks.
She fell to her knees and tapped her hand on the visor. “Jere!” She moved around to the other side and she gasped.
The helmet was empty.
She smashed her palms against the legs, and the material collapsed. She shook her head and fell back into a sitting position.
The helmet was still on the side, pointing towards the dark mountain, and she looked at the monitor, still showing the same view.
She hung her head down, closed her eyes, and felt the warmth of fresh tears running down her cheeks.
There hadn’t been anyone.
There couldn’t have been.
She sat, in a tiny area in the red sands of Mars, in the dark shadow of an unknown mountain, sheltered from the raging winds just feet away. But the suit, empty.
Lying in the sand in the shadows, its visor and camera pointing towards the mountain.
Do you want me to go there, Jeremiah? Is that where you are? Is your empty helmet pointing the way?
She turned her head to the left and looked in the across the base of the mountain. She couldn’t tell with exactness in the dim sunlight, but she thought she saw a reflection in the center of the darkness.
A tiny beam of light reflecting back at her.
Could it be movement?
And then she looked back at the suit lying in the sand. The visor looking in that direction.
Are you showing me the way?
Her legs felt heavier than before.
And weaker.
As she struggled to get up, she almost lost her balance as she cocked her knees and slowly rose to a stand. She looked in the distance, as the reflection continued its call. The beam of light shined against her visor, and she turned her head away. Could something be so reflective in the dim light on the surface of Mars?
She trudged forward and looked down at the suit once again.
Where are you, Jeremiah?
It had certainly been his suit, no doubt. But where had he gone? The atmosphere was far too thin and toxic for humans to breathe. Had they set up a camp? Could he be there?
She shook her head in frustration and took a deep breath. There was no indication that she had come to Mars alone. And a huge memory gap. No matter how hard she tried, she still struggled with any memory concerning the specifics of her team.
Or how she got to the surface in the first place.
The reflection beamed in her face to near blinding effect as she arrived at the base of the mountain. She was deep in the shadows; the sand appeared black, dark grey in spots. But the reflection – brilliant, bright, white.
She waited several yards away and looked towards the side of the dark mountain.
It appeared to be its own source of light.
The sunlight was too thin and scarce this deep in the canyon. She turned and looked out towards the opening. The sky appeared lighter. The suit lay much further than she thought.
Had she really come that far?
And where were the other suits?
She looked back at the suit lying in the distance once more.
What are you trying to show me?
She shuffled forward, scanning the base of the mountain, turning her head to the left, and then over towards the right. She held her hands up across her visor as the light brightened; it emanated from a perfect rectangle in the midst of the dark mountain, like a star shining brightly, cosmic.
And then, towards the far right, she saw another shadow. A silhouette, something rising from the ground. She turned back towards the suit and looked at which direction the visor was pointing. She moved out of the beam of the light and headed towards the shadow.
Closer, and closer, until she stopped, fell to her knees, and hung her head. A flood of emotion washed over her, as she cried openly. There hadn’t been a time when she had felt so alone. So distant from anything familiar.
So far away.
She held her breath for a moment and wished she could wipe the tears from her eyes. She knew, as her vision, wet and clouded, slowly cleared, that the mounds could only mean one thing.
Had she lost them?
Had she buried them?
And why couldn’t she remember?
She sat, hanging her head down, next to the three mounds of dirt, wishing she had the answers.
*****
THERE WAS A CERTAIN VIEW of Mars.
The Red Planet.
The one that had been next to Earth for millions and perhaps – even billions – of years. In actuality, from the creation of the Milky Way Galaxy.
There were those who argued that Mars had once been teeming with life.
That water had flowed on the surface.
But humans could not harness the mystery of the planet; they were unable to travel and explore beyond the first mission.
It had been named SALVATION.
And on the days on Earth when the mission was scheduled to launch, news of the mission – and the name SALVATION – had become common in households across the world.
Mars to be Investigated for Life the headlines screamed. Many First-World countries contributed to the cause; the exploration of a neighboring planet, and the contribution to expanding humanity beyond their single, solitary home planet had been appealing to scores of governments and civilian organizations.
But then came the Great Shift.
And the objective changed.
Whereas people had a genuine interest in exploring outwards, it had been halted.
And the aura of the planet changed to survival.
There was a difference in looking upwards to the cosmos when water was crashing through homes and businesses as people rushed from the waters around the world.
But there had been one more mission.
It was the mission that no one had talked about.
No one had heard about it.
The news was silenced.
But a launch took place.
And even though the SALVATION had already landed on Mars, the second, secret phase of the mission planted Earthly DNA in a secure location in an area dubbed as “The Red Outpost”.
And no one on Earth had heard about it, until it was revealed many, many years later, on a rescue ship, on a mission to save humanity.
*****
She exhaled as her eyelids fluttered open.
All she saw was darkness.
There was a temporary ripple in her vision, as if her eyes were adjusting to the darkness.
A square cutout was in the middle of the wall at the opposite end of the room. Perhaps a window? It was long, rectangular, and there was a small, black line that surrounded another panel which matched the cream color of the wall.
