A sudden draft blew sand up the slopes below, and a quick cloud of dust flew past them.
“Does that scare you?” she asked.
“What?”
“Never going back.”
“Honestly, no. I never felt like I belonged there. I know it’s a bit extreme to say this, but I don’t really liked people, generally speaking. I mostly find them loud and obnoxious. Even back in school, I was never the popular guy. I was a bit weird, actually.”
“You, weird?” she said with a teasing smile.
“Yeah, I know. I was an introvert, though.”
She looked quite surprised. “You? An introvert? Yeah, right!”
“Oh yeah, big time. I was shy and quiet. The kid who doesn’t say much in the back of the class room. I think I feared people, in a way. That’s probably why I got into music, actually. It was my way of trying to overcome that fear of crowds. I also had to prove to myself I could do something big with my life.”
“Well, I think all of us here have had the same drive. Either way, we’re on this planet for good. This is our home now, and I’m glad I have you with me, François.” She looked into his eyes with love.
The dark patches of mineral-filled rocks down in the valley below were slowly shifting from their usual black-gray volcano look to the charcoal-blue texture they had come to love. A spectacle that was like nothing anyone had ever seen on Earth, a true treat when the sun reflected on them in this season. A thin wall of dust flew close by again, pushed along the cliff wall from winds blowing upward along the face of the steep slopes below. A couple of small dust tornadoes appeared and disappeared just as quickly. Far away, the other end of the gigantic canyon was barely discernible against the background, due to its considerable distance, giving the illusion they were covered by a hazy veil of pale orange. Further out to the left, the sun had almost finished its descent behind the plateau. Within the next few minutes, millions of stars would begin to glow in the dark skies. And before the cold reached temperatures unheard of on Earth, the small group of humans would soon close the door latch behind them, settling for the night inside their Martian outpost. Yes, Mars was home.
Mount Shamsi
The following months were fairly uneventful. Most of the team’s daytime activities centered around countless experiments and routine maintenance of the station. That last part was in itself a full-time job. Of course, the station computers were constantly checking all systems, habitat integrity, oxygen levels, and performing countless other diagnostics, but human supervision was still required. By now, the small group of four had grown to eight. MF2 had made it safely to Mars, landing on September 8th, 2027 without a glitch. Back on Earth, Mars First Headquarters couldn’t have been happier, especially after the near mishap of the previous year, when a cargo shipment, sent ahead of the second team’s arrival, had almost been lost on landing due to a sensor failure in one of its main landing gears. The second crew, comprised of Indian commander Najib Shamsi, South-Korean Biochemist Liu Xing, Irish Medical Officer Ladli O’Connor, and Zimbabwean Technical Engineer Tendai Nyandoro, had easily adapted to their new surroundings, thanks to the legwork of Team One, who had by now figured out all the kinks and quirks of their daily routine.
The station now counted five modules and three greenhouses. The latest addition, a garage to house two of the three rovers the colonists now had at their disposition, was designed in a similar way to the greenhouses. About ten meters in length and almost six in width, it was however, substantially larger. Although the huge additional cost had been frowned upon by Mars First investors, several incidents had called for a protective habitat for the vehicles. One of them had almost caused Tendai’s life, his first year on Mars.
Back on that fateful day, two rovers had been deployed to separate locations, leaving only ARC 3 at the station. At the time, it had seemed perfectly acceptable to get two teams to work at the same time. Four members in one vehicle and two in the other, the two could do research in different quadrants of the “grid”, and cover a greater area, speeding up the work.
Water was the focus of most outings. They had developed a grid system of several square kilometers and explored a new block daily. Starting in a low section of Candor Chasma, they were gradually moving towards the top of the range. Candor Chasma was a region of Valle Marineris, a giant canyon stretching several hundred kilometers south of the station. The area they were exploring was so large and the canyon so deep, that they knew they would never cover the entire region, no matter how many years they spent at it, but they didn’t need to. They just needed to hit water once.
Back at the Mars First station, Vera and Tendai had stayed behind, monitoring the two rovers outside.
“ARC 2, ARC 2, this is Mars First. Please come back, over.”
“Mars First, this is ARC 2. What is it, Vera?” answered Dedrick.
“Looks like it’s about to blow something serious over here. The numbers are pegging like I’ve never seen before, and outside visibility is already down to zero.”
“Crap! Are you in need of assistance? Should we come back?”
“I don’t know that that would do much good. You probably don’t want to get caught in this. I just wanted to give you a heads-up. It just appeared so quickly… We had absolutely no warning from the computers. It came out of nowhere. I just hope it won’t mess up our instruments outside. I’ll let you know if we start losing signal.”
“How do the internal systems read? Any problems?”
“No, so far, so good. All the life support checks are in the green. Tendai is keeping an eye on the radar and satellite info. At least you shouldn’t be affected where you are.”
“What about ARC 1?”
“We’re here. Nothing to report on our end. Sabrina and I have been monitoring your transmission. The two of us are ready to head back right away if you need our assistance, Vera. We are closer to you than ARC 2. Are you sure you can ride this thing?”
“Thanks François. We appreciate your concern. For now, Tendai and I are fine. Trust me, if we need you, I’ll let you know. For now, you guys are safer where you are.”
For the next twenty-five minutes, all three teams kept in close communication while the storm was active. It eventually let out over the small outpost and veered to the north, a direction Vera was glad to see it take, since the two rovers were southeast of the camp.
She was still monitoring the computers when Tendai, already partially suited up, called her on the intercom from the greenhouse.
“Vera, the storage unit outside of greenhouse III looks loose, I think I need to go anchor it before another gust of wind damages it further.”
“What? You want to go out now? I know the storm seems to have calmed down, but it could pick up again at any moment. Can’t this wait? I’d rather you did so later.”
“I know, but it’s pretty quiet out there right now, and as you said, that may not last. I need to go secure that thing while I can. I’ll take ARC 3. It shouldn’t take long.” Tendai sounded determined to go.
“OK, but please be careful!”
“I will”
A few minutes later, ARC 3 was approaching the storage unit outside the greenhouse.