“To answer your question, yes, I’m doing good. We’re all doing well. As you have probably seen on TV, we are ahead of schedule with our second greenhouse. Seems the new panels allow more light in, so the plants have been thriving. And yes, Mom, I’m eating well. Don’t worry. I won’t bore you with the technical stuff, but our meals have been planned according to our individual metabolism and are ideally calibrated for each one of us. We don’t eat the most tasteful cuisine, but we are all healthy and fit. The greenhouses have become the focus of our current mission. We’ve started growing several vegetables successfully. We’ll soon have tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, kale… even parsley and onions.” He was counting on his fingers at the same time. “It will take a few more weeks before we can harvest anything, but we’re pretty excited about it. As I said, the packaged space meals are not bad, but I think we’ll all get sick of them eventually, and we’re definitely looking forward to some real food mixed in for a change. Anyway, please don’t worry, we’re doing good. We’ve been on Mars for almost two weeks now, can you believe it?” he smiled. “François and I went on our third trip to the ridge this week. It’s so grand and beautiful. I wish you could see the canyon for yourselves. The videos don’t do it justice. Tomorrow, Vera and I are celebrating our eleventh year together. It’s crazy. Eleven years already. Anyway, she thought we should take a trip to Lavida’s crevice. There’s this amazing view over the whole channel from the plateau above. I think it was in one of our videos last week, remember? Anyway, we’re looking forward to it. We’ll have a rover all to ourselves. It will be nice to get away from everyone for a few hours. That’s what’s weird here. We have this entire planet all to ourselves, just the four of us, yet we are together all the time, all cooped up in this small station. I’m not complaining, of course, we all get along nicely, but it’s hard to have any privacy, you know? Well… tomorrow should be nice… Let me see, what else? Sabrina brought back some interesting samples of that rock slab she found yesterday in sector four. François is helping her analyze them now. There’s very little chance this is anything more than an odd-looking boulder, but it’s worth a check. That’s why we’re here, right? Who knows, maybe we’ll discover something. Anyway, I miss you both and I look forward to chatting with you again soon.” He reached across the desk and pressed the “send” button on the screen.
“I should’ve asked them how they were doing… maybe I did… oh well…”
He logged out of the video session and turned off the camera.
Olympus Mons
Weeks turned into months, and it wasn’t long before the small Martian outpost had spent its first year on the lonely red.
By now, most of the world was following the “Fantastic Four,” as the Chicago Tribune had renamed them, wanting it or not. Dedrick had been the first to mention how wrong the newspapers and media were, when they had mentioned the group had been on Mars seven months, since a year on the red world was almost twice as long as it was on Earth. François had been just as quick to point out that he could not call them months since that word was derived from Earth’s Moon itself. Vera and Sabrina had rolled their eyes at them. Regardless, their names and faces had found their way into the marketing of countless products and commercial goods all over the globe. From coffee mugs and shampoo bottles to fast food chains and even car manufacturers, the four “Martians” were everywhere, and the Mars First Corporation was making money hand over fist, something Lars Bruininck had banked on from the very first day.
A few interesting discoveries by the colonists during their research experiments had made the news several times, but so far, aside from some promising new minerals, the search for liquid water had so far brought no results. The Mars First company wished the group had found some by now. It would make things easier for the future expansion of the colony. Although a bit concerned, they were now too busy preparing for the departure of MF2, less than a year away, to dwell on it. It would happen eventually, everyone was fairly certain of it. Dedrick and his companions would just have to keep digging further and deeper.
In the meantime, the day at hand was all about celebrating the group’s first year on the red planet. Vera and Sabrina had managed to decorate greenhouse II with colorful bed sheets and clothes borrowed from everyone’s living quarters. They had also garnished several plates with packaged sweets and dried fruits, and a homemade drink they had jokingly named “Olympus Mons” after the large Martian volcano, a punch of sorts containing “secret ingredients” the two women would not divulge. This centerpiece was by far the most talked about delicacy of the evening by the two men. François had brought out his ukulele and promised he would sing a song he had just written for the occasion later. Dedrick had hurried to turn on the computer’s playlist he had put together at the insistence of Vera.
The Police’s, “Walking on the Moon,” came on through the speakers.
“Oooohoooo! Turn it up! shouted Vera in excitement. Her and Sabrina were making their way to the center of the room, dancing. François joined in. Dedrick walked to the table and poured himself a glass of Olympus Mons. He then turned around to face his three friends, leaned his butt against the edge of the table, and watched them dance away with a big smile on his face. Here they were, millions of kilometers from Earth with nothing but rocks and dust all around them, alone on a desolate world, and life was wonderful.
Back on the blue world, flat screen TVs and computers were re-transmitting the small celebration. That night, as countless candles were lit across the globe to commemorate the anniversary of MF1’s historical landing on Mars, the people of Earth felt more as one than they had in a long time.
The following morning, the “Fantastic Four” woke up with a mild headache, but not all in their own bed. François had spent the night in one of the passing tubes leading to his pod, still wearing the top half of his spacesuit.
The day started off for most of them, dragging their feet when their 5:30 AM alarm got them up. No one was saying much. Dedrick, being first in pod one, was checking several containers of scientific equipment for today’s mission when Sabrina entered the room.
“Morning!”
“Morning!” he replied.
“Have you seen François?”
“No. Why?”
“He wasn’t in bed when I woke up. I don’t think he came in last night.”
“He’s probably lying somewhere. We all had a bit too much to drink, I’m afraid. What was in that drink anyway? Did you check the greenhouse?”
“Yes. He wasn’t there either”
“Weird…”
She was about to turn back when the Frenchman made his entrance.
“Hey! What’s up, guys?”
“There you are. Where were you? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”
“Me? Well… eh… I…” he attempted to say, pointing at the passage.
“Yeah, OK, whatever. I’m going to help Vera clean up the greenhouse. We’ll talk later, mister.”
“Wha… What did I say?” He turned to Dedrick with a puzzled look on his face.
Grabbing one of the container’s handle, Dedrick simply replied, “Wanna help me load these in?”
After shrugging his shoulders, he walked to the Russian and grabbed the other handle. One convenient feature in the design of the rovers was that their back could connect to the outside hatch of the pod, allowing access to the vehicle without the need to go outside or wear a suit. The two men finished loading up and climbed on board. After closing the hatch behind them, they slid into their suits and François turned on the dashboard computer. A line at the top left of the screen read: Captain’s log, star date 21342.7 — 09:28