There was a comment from the floor, Carol Stoker from NASA Ames. This should be fun, Rebecca thought. "Now wait just a minute, Norm. You are interpreting the nondetection of life by the Viking biology experiments as the confirmation of nonlife on Mars—that does not follow at all. Viking found extremely oxidizing conditions in the surface. It indicated that peroxides were present. It showed that there was a metabolic-like activity going on in the Martian soils. The Viking team's experiments did not show life, but they may have had signal-to-noise problems. They may have failed to detect life because they were too impatient to incubate a spore long enough to wake it up. The point is, they did not prove that there was no life on Mars—far from it. And to claim that they did, constitutes an unfounded, unscientific assertion."
So there is intelligent life on Earth. Rebecca had to cheer. "That's the way to tell 'em, Carol."
Another panelist took the floor, Oleg Galenko from the Russian Institute of Medical/Biological Problems. Rebecca muttered, "I doubt he'll provide anything useful."
"Never, up until now," Galenko said, "have people had so rich an occasion to examine the essence of man as today, in connection with the conquest of outer space. Therefore, recognizing outer space as a part of the environment, in attempting to know Mars, to a great extent we begin to understand mankind, man's place in the universe, man's place in the world, man's origin and man's future, what man really is, and how in essence he has to live."
Yuck! Rebecca turned to McGee. "Why do I always have to be right?" The historian shrugged sympathetically. She returned her attention to the TV.
Staritsa was next. An intelligent fellow, but irritating. "There are no secrets here, except for the secrets of nature itself, and to discover these we have set off to Mars. Finding life is not the issue. The most interesting things on Mars are the things that man does not yet know. Maybe men will see on Mars that which no human mind could possibly have imagined."
"In this day and age I have to listen to this chauvinist crap?" Rebecca vented. "They just don't get it. ‘Understanding what man really is,' ‘Maybe men will see that which no human mind could possibly have imagined.'" She shook her head in disgust.
Now Harwitz spoke again, his voice like fingernails on a chalkboard. "Getting back to the subject at hand, the fact of the matter is that Dr. Sherman and Professor McGee searched the dry lake bed and found no evidence of life—past or present. And, Dr. Stoker, I remind you that my evaluation of the Viking results is not idiosyncratic. The large majority of NASA's Mars Science Working Group agrees with my results. The question of life on Mars is a dead issue."
Was there no one on the panel that would rebut this? Ah, Carl Shaeffer.
"Nevertheless," Shaeffer said, "although I recognize that my position is a minority one in the scientific community today, I must insist that the paramount question with regard to Mars is the search for life. We are morally obligated to give it our best shot."
McGee turned to Rebecca. "At least it seems like the grand old man of Mars agrees with you."
"I should hope so. I did my doctorate for him at Cornell."
There was a question from the floor. The TV showed a heavily pierced young man in the dark brown clothing of an ecogoth. "Dr. Shaeffer, to change the subject somewhat, how do you feel about the ethics of human colonization of Mars?"
"That's a very interesting question," Shaeffer responded. "In the short run, and speaking as a scientist, I believe that it is very important that we avoid the premature spread of terrestrial biota that might confuse the results of the search for native life. However, in the longer view, and speaking as an environmentalist, it seems to me that the action of converting the dead or nearly dead surface of the Red Planet to a new lush and diverse biosphere would be the most ethical thing humanity could possibly do. It would be an enormous positive act of environmental improvement on behalf of the whole community of life."
"Excuse me sir, but as an ecogoth I must disagree with your flagrant humanism. It is one of the central findings of ecogothic science that all human actions that affect the environment are intrinsically harmful. This must be so, because human motivations are by nature homocentric rather than cosmocentric. Therefore, your claim of a possible positive cosmic environmental role for the human species is a clear self-contradiction. Furthermore..."
Rebecca rolled her eyes in disgust. "Ecogoths. Noir-minded adolescents striking an ultra-environmentalist ‘cosmocentric' pose. Antihumans would be a better term."
Just then, she heard the sound of the lower airlock outer door opening and closing.
"The rover team has returned." Townsend pushed a button that muted the TV, which continued to show images of scientists and the public debating.
Gwen entered the galley, followed by Luke Johnson hauling a bag of rock samples on his back, like Santa Claus carrying a sack of toys. "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!"
Rebecca confined herself to a single dry comment. "It's not Christmas," she observed. Luke just shrugged.
"Did you find anything?" Townsend asked.
He obviously had. Rebecca could see it by the triumphant expression on his face. This could spell trouble. A modest geologic find could divert the whole mission from what should be its true scientific purpose.
"Anything?" Luke dumped his samples onto the table. "Why, just about every type of metamorphic rock money can buy. And even some that it can't."
The rocks on the table were an assortment of some of the finest crystals Rebecca had ever seen. McGee picked one up. "Some nice gemstones here." An understatement. Luke was clearly enjoying himself.
"That's right, partner. The little rock you're holding there is a three-ounce ruby. And that one's a topaz, and that's an emerald."
The find was incredible. For a moment Rebecca let her scientific curiosity get the better of her. She picked a very unusual crystal out of the group. It was translucent, violet, and a perfect tetrahedron. She had never seen anything like it. She held it up. "And this?"
"That, little lady, is a gem with no terrestrial equivalent. And guess what? It'll scratch diamond.
That got everyone's attention. There were several seconds of silence, finally broken by Townsend. "Let me get this straight. You've discovered a rock that is harder than diamond? That can be used to cut diamonds?"
"Yep."
"Well, this is excellent. Why, this could be of some practical importance!"
Townsend would fall for that. Industrial stones. Ready-made practical applications. As if discovering clues to the nature of life itself had no practical importance.
"Colonel, partner, you have a gift for understatement."
All right, enough was enough. Is this a scientific expedition or an Easter egg hunt? Rebecca turned to Luke. "Did you find anything that provides clues to the nature of the planet's tectonic activity? Rift-formation processes? Any evidence for recent volcanism, recent hydrologic activity of any kind?"
The geologist gave her his best condescending smile. Rebecca found it completely enraging. "Hold your horses, little lady. This was just our first geologic sortie. We'll get to all of that in good time."
"Did you get any good visuals?" McGee asked, apparently oblivious to the tension in the air.
"We got some beautiful views of the mountains," Gwen answered dreamily. "And coming back we passed the most gorgeous little box canyons you ever saw. Just like the old strip mine gully I used to swim in when I was a girl. We used to go at night sometimes, my sister and I, and swim by moonlight."