“We did it! We’ve found it! We’ve hit water!”
“WHAT!?” she screamed, as her face lit up. “Oh, my God! I can’t believe it! Vera! VERA! Oh, my God. Wait until I tell the others. That’s fantastic!” added Ladli.
“I know.”
Vera stormed the control pod. “What? What is it?”
“They’ve found it. They’ve found water!”
“Ahhh!!” Vera screamed ecstatic. The two women jumped in each other’s arms and started dancing around the room, jumping up and down like two little kids.
“Vera. Vera?” called out Dedrick.
“Yes, yes, what? Oh, my God, oh my God! Heee!” she giggled, looking at the screen while still hugging Ladli.
“Calm down, love. Listen. I asked Ladli to turn off the satellite feed. I want to surprise Lars and the Mars First team back home during our conference call tonight. Can you guys turn it back on once you’ve regained some composure, and make up some story about having some technical difficulty, or whatever? Can you do that?”
Ladli spoke first. “How are we going to explain you asking me to cut the feed just now? I’m sure they heard that.”
“Good point… Tell them we had some technical difficulty and didn’t want to alarm them until we got things under control… I don’t know…”
“Hmm, right. Ok, don’t worry. We’ll figure out something.”
Vera agreed. “Yes, sure. We’ll think of something. Oh, my God! I can’t believe it!”
“I know, we’re pretty excited here too, believe me. We’re packing. We should be back at the base within the hour. See you soon,” finished Dedrick.
“Ok,” replied Vera. She turned to Ladli and the two started giggling and smiling again at each other like two kids in a candy store.
“Good evening, Lars,” said Dedrick in front of the flat screen monitor.
Dedrick was sitting right up front, with Vera leaning over his shoulder, her hand around his chest, smiling. The others were standing around them. François and Sabrina were seated on top of an emergency oxygen tank container, with Ladli and Tendai standing to their left. Liu was standing just outside the camera shot.
Although Dedrick and his team were using the latest technology to communicate with Earth, it would take fourteen minutes for their message to reach the Mars First team leader back on Earth; a delay that made any conversation extremely tedious, to say the least.
“How’s everything back on Earth? Anything exciting to report? We have some news of our own we’d like to share. First of all, Vera is doing very good. The pregnancy looks healthy and we are all quite excited, I tell you. Another few months and we should have a new member on the team,” replied Dedrick with a big smile on his face. “It’s still hard to believe I’m gonna be a dad, the first Martian dad, to think of it.”
He paused for a second.
“Also, we celebrated Sabrina’s birthday yesterday. Ladli made a pie that almost tasted like one. What was in it, again?” he asked her.
“Hey, you liked it, don’t lie,” she replied, feeling teased.
“I know, I know, it was really good, actually.”
“I agree,” added François. “That woman can cook,” he finished, giving her a lustful look.
“Oh, please,” said Sabrina rolling her eyes at him.
Dedrick giggled a bit and went on.
“We have something else to tell you. Something wonderful has happened. But I’d like to keep the suspense going. Why don’t you let us know how things are on your end first?”
He terminated the recording and pressed “Send.”
About thirty-five minutes later the team was back in front of the screen to watch Lars’ reply.
“Good to see you all. The picture is very good here today, by the way. I’m glad to see you are all doing well. Wonderful, Vera! We are really excited as well! And I must tell you, the arrival of the first newborn on Mars is fueling the media like crazy! Everywhere we turn these days, someone is talking about it. Newspapers, magazines, TV, the internet… You name it. It has become the most anticipated event of the year! We are really happy for you and Dedrick.”
He paused a short instant.
“So, what’s the other news you mentioned? We figured something was up when the video feed we were getting from you guys went from your forage mission to Ladli talking about the new greenhouse setup. Not that it wasn’t interesting, but I know you guys too well. I had a feeling you were hiding something. Now, you have us all intrigued. Waiting to hear back. Lars out.”
Dedrick started a new recording session. At the top left corner of the monitor, the number 42.204 appeared, the first two digits indicating the Martian year, a dating system put in place by NASA back in 1955. This was the forty-second Martian year since, and 204 was what scientists call the Ls number, a degree system adopted to represent the time of year. Dedrick and his colleagues gathered closely in front of the camera.
He turned around to look at his team.
“Ready, guys?”
And, after a quick countdown, they all shouted in unison, “WE HAVE FOUND WATER!”
“We made the discovery late this afternoon, in grid 6-55-B, at a depth of eight and a half meters. We don’t know yet how much there is, but we’ve analyzed it. Ninety eight percent H2O!” added Dedrick.
“Hoo hoo! Yeah man!” added François in a cowboy style scream.
“So, we are pretty excited here, as you can imagine. We intend to go back tomorrow and survey the rest of the pocket. We’re also hoping to find more sources in the surrounding areas. We’ve mapped out the terrain. Fairly common levels of materials and minerals found almost everywhere else in this part of Valles Marineris. We’re fairly confident this is just the beginning. François and Tendai have also begun introducing some of our plants to the new water. It will take several days before we know if they are any incompatibilities or reactions, but if that comes back negative, it will be very promising. We’re crossing our fingers.”
“Hey Lars, how about sending us some bathing suits?” asked François with a silly smirk on his face.
“Stop it, François! Don’t listen to him. But we’re still waiting on that bottle of tequila you promised us last year, remember?”
“I’m with Sabrina on that one. Some booze would be nice,” echoed Tendai with a smile.
“Hey Lars, what about some coconut rum? And we could really use some Pina coladas as well!” said Vera, laughing.
“Yes, that sounds really good. And some salt for the margaritas!” added Sabrina giggling.
“Don’t listen to them. They’re already drunk… No, I’m just kidding. Anyway, we’re gonna celebrate our own way, tonight. We can use a break. Don’t worry about us, we’ll make it a fun party regardless. Ok, looking forward to your reply.”
Dedrick leaned forward and clicked “Send.”
A few minutes later, back on Earth, Lars was getting ready to listen to the Martians’ new message. He was joined by two of his heads of operations, Sylvia, and Dr. Kovachev.
“Do you think someone else is pregnant?”
“I don’t know, Sylvia. That or they’ve found something at the digging site, today. They sounded pretty excited. That’s why I wanted you both here. I have a feeling this is going to be good.”
The past thirty-two minutes had seemed particularly long to the Mars First CEO. Dedrick wasn’t one for theatrical approaches, but the small group had convinced him to make Lars suffer a bit for his money.
A huge smile exploded on Lars’ face the moment he heard the team’s unified announcement. After listening to the whole message, he began composing his video reply in front of his own camera.