First... Ch1.3

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The Major had explained in detail, again, what she planned to do. The risks were high, but the potential rewards were higher. She would load additional canisters on Rover Alpha. Rover Bravo would follow her to bingo air with the same load out and hold station. Rover Alpha would continue onward to the power source detected earlier. There would be no time for investigation beyond the initial sightseeing tour. If anything of significance was discovered, a second team would be deployed from Argos to investigate. The window for execution was short. She would have enough time to get out there and back before Hermes had to lift off. It was risky but she was used to taking risks. She was a starjockey lander. She was trained to go into inhospitable environments, survive, and return to report. This was just another mission within a mission. MOOS1 had approved the plan with exceptions. Hermes 1 was to rendezvous at point bingo if her timetable was not met. It would put them closer on fuel than anyone would have liked, but it was agreed that getting more initial information on the power source was worth the risk.

The Major oversaw the pack out. Everything except for the listening posts, experiments, and a marker beacon would be removed from the landing site. A small ESA flag was anchored deep into the rocky soil. The flag also contained information regarding Earth and ESA. There was hope that some other intelligent life might find the flag and the data. But the evidence thus far from Mars was it was not likely. Posterity then, she thought. She inspected the flag one last time. Saluted it and returned to her ground crew at Hermes.

 

“Everything is ready, Major. Any second thoughts or anything we may have left out of the plan?”

 

The Major eyed her second in command. Major Mark Dawson was an excellent officer and friend. He was every bit the leader she was. His fitreps marked him as an officer of distinction with a brilliant career ahead of him and an already envious career behind him. He might have been leading this mission if he had just six more months of seniority. It was that way with all five teams. Everyone was so well matched that any senior officer in the group could have been a mission commander. There was no jealousy. There was no animosity. Mark was an excellent member of the team and the best second anyone could have.

 

“Major Dawson, everything is green. You have command of ME1. I will see you at pick up.”

 

Major Dawson saluted. She returned the salute. They stuck out their hands and clasped them in a last “farewell.”

 

“You heard the Major. Pack it up. Make ready for lift off in 6.” Major Dawson walked off to begin herding the team into action.

 

“Okay, let’s saddle up. ME1-6 Hermes 1. Signal.”

 

“Hermes 1 ME1-6. I have you 5 by 5. Good luck, Major. Have fun.”

 

“ME1-6 Hermes 1. No luck to it. Just a drive in the park.”

 

The Major checked the Rovers one more time. Her number two on this mission was Captain Jeff Parker. A serious operator that performed extremely well under pressure.

 

“Everything is green, Major.”

 

“Roger. Saddle up, Captain.”

 

The Major sat in the pilot’s seat and strapped herself in. She began turning on various functions of Rover Alpha, including the locator beacon. It was decided it would best to have a clearer picture of where her Rover was as they departed away from Hermes. Checking her screen, she could see Rover Bravo’s beacon. On her screen, it was right next to hers. Looking right, she gave a thumbs-up to Captain Parker. He returned the gesture. The Major adjusted her seating position one more time. She laid back just a bit more then throttled up. The twin Rovers kicked up a small dust cloud as they headed in the direction of the marker beacon left behind just a few days ago. Immediately, she began the regimen of relaxation breathing that would allow her to enter the near-sleep-relaxed state. She steeled herself against the excitement of the unknown and drifted into a pattern of slow, easy breaths, minimal movements, and letting her eyes scan from the horizon to the panels to her teammate on her right.

It was in no time before they had visual on the marker beacon left behind earlier. This is where they had planned to leave Rover Bravo, but Captain Parker argued since they had covered so much ground and O2 levels were well above bingo, they should continue onward until he reached bingo. She agreed. They collected the beacon and continued onward. The Martian terrain never varied. It was all rock and sand covered in red dust.

An alarm sounded. The Major checked her panels. The Captain was at bingo. She motioned they should stop.

 

“I’m alone from here, Captain. Set the beacon and wait.”

 

“Major, I knew I forgot something.” She looked at the Captain questioning. “I forgot my cards. I could get in a few games of Solitaire while you are gone?

 

The Major just shook her head as she got back into her Rover. She toggled a switch. “ME1-6 Hermes 1.”

 

“Hermes 1 ME1-6. Copy.”

 

“ME1-6 Hermes 1. We are at bingo. Repeat. We are at bingo. I am moving forward to power source. ME1-4 remaining at bingo. Copy.”

 

“Hermes 1 ME1-6. Copy. ME1-4 at bingo. ME1-6 moving forward. Hermes 1 will be stand by in 1.”

 

“ME1-6 Hermes 1. Roger. You are in stand by in 1.”

 

The Major reviewed her panel. The signature detected was weak but still there. She throttled up and bounced away toward the source of the power signature. Instinctively, she restarted her regimen of breathing and relaxation. She was going far beyond what her vehicle and equipment were designed to do. She kept the telltale reading on her 0 and scanned the horizon. Topo maps showed no major valleys or craters in her path. It should be easy driving in front of her, she laughed to herself. Except for the constant bump and bounce as the Rover road over the rocks and rough terrain.

An alarm sounded. The Major looked down at the panels. Captain Parker was well behind her now. The alarm was her O2 sensor. She was in red now. The first challenge of the mission. Change out O2 without any assistance. The power signature was still distant from her position but she was closing on it. It should be on her screen shortly. The Major brought her Rover to a stop. She inspected the ground around her. Rocks and sand and red dust. Unstrapping herself from the pilot’s seat, she carefully stepped out of the vehicle. No sense in making any careless mistakes out here, she thought. Slowly she walked to the storage area of the Rover and unstrapped a spare tank. Taking a few deep breaths, she held one. With a quick twist and a hiss, she was without air. Acting calmly and slowly, she connected the nozzle to her suit. Click. It was in place. She released the valve. She could feel the pressure building back up in her suit. She looked down at the gauges on her wrist. Green and full. Carefully, she unhitched the air pack off of her back and replaced it with the fresh one. Carefully, she strapped the spent one to the back of the Rover. Only when she was seated back in the pilot’s seat strapped in and moving did she release the tension that was building.

Her new enemy was daylight. The mission had to be completed before the sunset over the horizon. The temperatures on Mars could get quite cold over night. And, the late evening dust storms could bury any sign of the power source. And her, she thought soberly. The Major pressed on keeping the throttle up, as high as she could safely go.

Three more bottle changes and she would be bingo for air. Captain Parker was at the edge of her screen and far behind her. Hermes was even farther. There was also something else on her screen. A small power signature in her 0. She was closing on it rapidly. In the far distance along the horizon, a dust wall was forming. Flashes of lighting could be seen as the static electricity arched across the sky into the sand and rocks below the brewing storm. There was something in front of her, in her 0. Something was out there. Something that showed on her screen.

The power signature was closing on her 0-0, but she still could not see anything. Whatever it is, it is small, she thought. The Rover bounced along kicking up its own little cloud of dust. It was her only telltale that she was passing through this way. The Major noticed the ground elevation was increasing. She looked to her panels. The Rover was definitely moving upward. The CO2 rich atmosphere made it difficult to visually tell small degrees in elevation. Some of the plateaus were so large and elevation so gradual you could be running up the side of the mountain long before you realized it. The elevation seemed to increase rapidly. The Rover was nearing a small ridge. It could be a crater, she thought. She slowed the Rover as it neared what appeared to be a low ridge. Looking at her panel, the low power source had to be nearby and still on her 0. Slowly she edged forward toward the top of the ridge.

The Rover crested the hill. She scanned the horizon along her 0. Increasing magnification, she scanned again. There. Something metallic was partially buried near the center of the crater. The Major observed the sides of the crater were not too steep. If she got in, she could get out.

 

“ME1-6 ME1-4. Do you copy?”

 

Static. The iron rich red dust played havoc with ground comms.

 

“ME1-6 ME1-4. Do you copy?”

 

Static.

 

The Rover’s comms were set to talk with Hermes which would still be on the ground and over the horizon. The Major got out of the Rover and set a beacon. At least this can be heard, she thought. The Major reentered the Rover, strapped herself in, and made ready to go into the crater. One last look at the panels. Everything still showed green. She pushed the throttle forward and the Rover rolled over the lip of the crater and into the bowl.

The dust was thicker inside the bowl. The Major reduced the Rover’s speed to limit the cloud it was making. The dust seemed to have the consistency of loose snow. Rather than going across the middle of the crater, she steered the Rover along the edge of the bowl. She didn’t know how deep the dust was along the bottom of the crater and did not want to find out. The power signature was close. The Major drove the Rover the last few 100 meters by sight rather than her panel indicators. She could barely make out something metallic protruding from the surface of the crater floor. She drove directly for it.

The dust nearest this metallic object was deep and very thick. The Major drove the Rover a bit up the crater wall, away from the thick dust. She unstrapped herself from the pilot’s chair and carefully tested the ground under this lake of red dust. The red dust covered her foot entirely to above her ankle. There was solid ground under the dust. Slowly and cautiously, she got fully out of the Rover and stood on both feet. This will be interesting, she thought. She picked up one foot partially from the red dust and moved it forward pressing down until she could feel the floor underneath her foot again. This will be like walking in mud and beach sand, she thought. Slowly, she waded her way closer to the metallic object.

The Major stopped. There was motion coming from the object. It was slight but there was definitely motion coming from the object. She waded laterally and toward the crater wall. She was careful to not move too quickly or to lose her balance. Circling around the object, she could see the machine was robotic. She moved in closer. She decided that it was mostly harmless and moved toward it with less temerity. She was nearly on top of it when she saw what looked like a small insignia on it. Carefully she moved close enough to it to push away some of the dust. ASA was still discernable. She pulled out her handheld interface.

 

“HHI on.” The small acrylic tablet came alive. Information flashed across the screen. A small box appeared in the upper right hand corner. It flashed the words “Link Active.”

 

“HHI. Earth tech. Mars missions. Vehicles. Search name “ASA.”

 

A scanning indicator flashed on the screen as it searched it database. It stopped and a box appeared listing numerically options to her questions. The Major read through the options quickly. One of the references showed “NASA” and “more.”

 

“HHI. Number 4. More.”

 

The box opened to information regarding the NASA organization, specifically vehicles sent to Mars. She saw an entry that said “land missions.”

 

“HHI. Land missions.”

 

A new box open listing land missions to Mars conducted by NASA. The Major saw “imagery” links for each one.

 

“HHI. Images. Mars. NASA. Vehicles. Landers.”

 

The screen came to life with pictures opening up.

 

“HHI sort by date.”

 

Again the screen came to life and the pictures were cascaded on the screen. And, there it was. “Spirit.” The Major looked down. The Earth tech buried in the dust was the same as in the picture.

 

“HHI. Access comm link files for NASA Mars Lander Spirit.”

 

The screen shifted and more data appeared.

 

“HHI. Activate and download.”

 

The screen on the HHI shifted again. The scanning indicator flashed and the HHI was trying to connect with Spirit. Spirit whirred, clicked, and jumped in response to the HHI. The Major was not prepared for the sudden noise and motion in the vast desert of Mars. The noise and the motion caused her to jump slightly. She lost her footing and slid. Before she had a chance to recover, she was on her back covered in red dust and sliding downward. She bounced and slid. Flailing for anything to stop her forward motion. Then nothing. She knew she was falling.

 

An alarm was sounding in her ears. She tried to open her eyes but all she saw was black. She tried blinking. Her eyes were open. Still black. She tried moving her arm. Nothing. It must be pinned, she thought. She tried moving her other arm. It moved but it was very heavy. I’m buried, she thought. I need to turn on my beacon. If it still works. The alarm continued to sound in her ears. Slowly, she worked her arm against the great weight upon it and found her chest. Slowly again, she worked her hand to the switch for her personal beacon. Click. Something moved underneath her. That’s not good, she thought. Great pain came searing up from her legs. She gritted her teeth. Meds… her brain strained against the pain. She struggled to move. With every attempted move, the thing underneath her twitched. She struggled to work her hand down to the control box on her waist. It twitched again. More searing pain wracked her body. She found the small control box. Numbly, she began sequences blindly. Pin pricks stuck her in various places until she found a combination that eased the pain. She relaxed. It twitched again. It didn’t hurt so bad that time. She hit the happy combination again. More numbing. She could feel herself falling into chemical slumber. One more time should do the trick, she thought.

“I’ll wait,” she said out loud. No one answered.

 

She began to relax herself into the landers’ semi-sleep state. She counted the number of seconds between each twitch. The counts grew longer. Whatever it is, it is calming down. She continued counting. The twitching all but stopped. The alarm continued. Her breathing became shallower. Her mind drifted as she counted between twitches. The pain was only secondary. The effects of the drugs in her suit did their job. Now, all she had to do was wait. The alarm continued. She continued to count. She slowed her breathing even more. And she waited. She felt her eyes shut. She fluttered them open. They shut again and she could see her mom and dad at her graduation ceremony. They seemed so proud of her. She was a giddy little girl; long hair, pretty dress, yellow graduation robe, holding her hat. How silly she thought she looked. But, Mom and Dad are so proud. Her mind wandered. Her breathing relaxed. She fell asleep.

 

Reviews

[SM Davis]

yes...the tension is supreme. Again, I am a bit out of my element in the information you've provided here, but I am enjoying watching her character unfold. She is multi-faceted, and again I find myself out of my element in reading your writing. Perhaps it is self-esteem rising to the surface, or lack thereof. I am in awe...

[TL Boehm]

wow. High tension and suspense in this one. I am fascinated by the suits complete with meds. thats a great device in this story....and what was moving underneath her.

[Dave "Doc" Rogers]

Okay, First is back. A big 'thank you' to those that gave this a read/review previously. Now to get back on track with the story.

Cheers!
Doc.