The small colony now counted two married couples, and one very concerned Frenchman.
The accident
“Najib? Dedrick? Guys, I’m having trouble hearing you. Can you repeat the last transmission?”
Vera had been monitoring the small group from pod one since they had left the garage, two hours, forty minutes earlier. She had just figured out that this outing was her seventy-ninth spent at the station, while her colleagues were out in the field. Dedrick had asked her many times why she so often volunteered to stay behind. Mars was out there, and the excursions were the best part of the day to most of them. Wasn’t she tired of being cooped up inside all the time? She always responded the same way. She loved the station and preferred staying home.
Sabrina figured she worried too much about all of them to feel comfortable letting someone else monitor the group. So most of the time, Vera preferred to stay in contact with them from the station, especially ever since the incident with Sabrina’s suit a few months earlier. It could have been tragic, had she not been only a few meters outside the station. That had given her just enough time to get back inside before losing all her oxygen.
Today, the mission was exploring sector 421, a rocky and treacherous area, but a promising segment of Candor Chasma for potential water deposits.
“Dedrick? Can you repeat?”
“I said, we’re coming back. The cave didn’t lead anywhere. We did some probing down three of the lowest areas. The samples all came back negative. Looks like that fissure was not made by water after all. Or if it was, there is no trace of it now.”
The members of the group were slowly emerging one by one, from the narrow passage out of the cliff. A week earlier, François had noticed the depression at the foot of a cliff while driving by the area. Judging by the shape of the embedded ridge, the team had speculated that water could have carved part of it.
“That’s alright guys, it was a nice try. I’m glad you’re on your way back. We have a storm coming from the west. If you hurry, you should be here before it hits us. By the way, Dedrick, can you pick up some milk and a dozen eggs on your way home, I wanna make pancakes in the morning.”
“Of course, Hun. Need any maple syrup?” he replied with a chuckle. “OK, guys, come on. Let’s go.”
Ladli and Liu were still standing at the mouth of the cave, waiting on Najib. The Bangalorean commander, a geologist by trade, never missed a chance to study any new mineral he came across, often bringing back small samples to the station’s lab.
“We’re waiting on Najib,” replied Liu. She was staring at the dark tunnel inside the cave, a fairly wide passage that led to a wide-open chamber, full of rocks and crevices, undoubtedly the work of some ancient seismic activity. She couldn’t see more than a few meters in. The rest was in complete darkness.
“What is he doing? He should be here by now…” she thought.
“Najib? Najib?” she called out through her headset.
“Where is he?” asked Dedrick walking back to them.
“I don’t know. He was just behind me,” replied Ladli with apprehension.
“Najib?” called out Dedrick.
“Najib!” called Liu even louder. Still no response.
“OK, you both stay here. I’ll go see what’s the hold up.” He walked right between the two women and started down the slope into the black tunnel. About thirty meters in, Dedrick noticed a light illuminating a spot on the ceiling of the chamber from the ground below. The light seemed fixed as if Najib was staring at something above him. Unable to see his colleague, he called out while still approaching.
“Najib? Najib?” No response. His first thought was a possible problem with Najib’s radio.
“What’s going on, Dedrick? Everything OK?” came Ladli’s voice in his helmet.
“Najib? Hey buddy, are you OK?” simply continued Dedrick without responding to her.
Liu’s voice came in next. She was rushing back inside the passage. “Najib? Najib! Dedrick, what’s wrong? Did you find him? Why isn’t he answering?”
A knot formed in Dedrick’s throat. Something was definitely wrong. He was now only a few meters from the light, but he still couldn’t see him or notice any movement. “What is he doing?” Rushing to the area, his fears materialized when he spotted Najib’s body lying still on the ground.
“Najib! Shit!” Now he could see the crushed helmet and a huge crack in his facial glass visor. Najib’s face, blotted and still, his eyes wide open and full of blood, betrayed his painful last moments as his mouth, partially agape, and his purple skin left no doubt he was already gone.
“Oh God,” said Dedrick as he kneeled down by the body. Najib had fallen from a small niche a few meters above. Scraping traces along the ledge where Najib had slipped, and the small pile of rocks around the body, told the obvious.
“No, no, NO!” screamed Liu who had finally rejoined the team leader.
“Najib! Oh, my God, Najib! We have to take him back to the infirmary. Come on, Dedrick, help me!” she screamed frantically, as she rushed to Najib’s inert body and began lifting his torso.
“Liu… Liu,” said Dedrick as he gently grabbed her arm. “It’s too late. He’s gone.”
“No! You don’t know that. We must take him back to the station. Vera will know what to do,” she replied harshly, as she pushed Dedrick’s hand away and kept tugging at the dead body.
“Liu… I’m sorry. There’s nothing we can do… It’s too late… Liu?”
Finally realizing the reality of Najib’s condition, she began to cry and fell back on herself, still holding Najib in her trembling arms.
“No, please God, no, not like that.” And the tears kept flowing. Her world had just been shattered.
“Najib is gone. My Najib. Please God, no,” she thought. “Don’t leave me. Najib… Please, not now…”
She felt like a thousand daggers had stabbed her heart. All of her being was crying out in pain. The feeling was excruciating. Her entire world had just collapsed, and suddenly, so did she.
A few hours later, Liu woke up in her bed in pod four. At first disoriented, the images of the earlier events came rushing back at her, as she jumped up and screamed. Vera and Sabrina tried to calm her down the best they could.
Two pods over, the three men were talking about Najib’s accident.
“From what I saw when I got there, I think he tripped and fell face first onto a sharp rock. The oxygen escaped instantly. The Martian air did the rest. He died in seconds,” said Dedrick.
“What I don’t understand is why you didn’t hear anything. He must have screamed or something…” puzzled François.
“I just checked his helmet. His radio was broken; probably from the impact when he fell. We had no way of knowing… Crap. I should’ve stayed with him,” finally added Dedrick, feeling guilty.
“It’s not your fault, buddy. It was an accident. There was nothing you could have done. He knew the risks; we all do,” François replied, trying to make his friend feel better.
Dedrick stared at the unforgiving landscape outside the porthole window, lost in thoughts. “By the way, I guess you realize we’re gonna need to talk to headquarters tonight about how to handle this. I was hoping we would never have to, but we all know the protocol in such a situation. We have to close the EPM.” François reached over and entered a command on the touch screen next to him.