A few hours after their disheartening discovery, the two and their cargo were welcomed back, but not without mixed feelings. The rest of the colonists had seen the video feeds sent by François’ and Tendai’s camera suits, and although the two had avoided filming much of the heartbreaking scene, their colleagues had viewed enough to wish they had not watched any of it.
The next day, Dedrick and François, along with a courageous Ladli, had volunteered to attend to what was left of their fallen astronaut friends, and without lingering much on the decision, had buried the bodies close to the crash site, right where the ship had originally been expected to land. The area had been nicknamed “Key Largo” long before the fateful accident, and all had quickly agreed to keep the name regardless. After a few days of hard work, four pyramid shaped monuments, each about two meters high, built using rocks found nearby, had been erected across the flat plateau. Dedrick had also asked Tendai to carve a commemorating stone tablet, since he had done such a good job with the one for Najib’s grave. Although sculpting a slab of rock with precision using one of the station’s forage drills was a challenging task, considering the bulkiness of the equipment, the Zimbabwean had done, once again, a remarkable job. Most of the base’s occupants had participated in writing the dedication with the exception of Chasma and Liu, the first due to her young age, the second because she was too emotional to do so. After a few words from Dedrick commemorating their lost friends, the group drove back home, and each couple retreated to their individual rooms, leaving the station strangely silent and ghostly for the rest of the day.
Kardium
A new chapter of their courageous journey was opening, and after the grim events of the past few years, Chasma was a happy change for the members of the station. If having an infant amid seven adults, cramped in a space no larger than a few small rooms, day in and day out, was a difficult challenge, doing so on Mars was a remarkable feat. Regardless, Ladli and Sabrina had been absolute life savers, caring for the baby while Vera, unusually weakened by the birth of her child, had been forced to rest and slowly rebuild her strength. The routine had only been disturbed a few days. Only weeks after the tragic crash of MF3, the small Martian community was refocusing its attention to the well-being and survival of its members. Tendai and Ladli had regained a more positive outlook on their situation. After all, the outpost had been a reliable and safe home for almost ten years now, and unless an unforeseen catastrophe was to jeopardize their dwellings, life at the Mars First base wasn’t all that bad. But they all understood, now more than ever, how precarious and precious their small outpost really was. The seven pods and three greenhouses their settlement now counted, would receive no more supplies from Earth. They were quite certain of that. They also knew very well their base required constant monitoring, and anything that happened to any part of their habitat automatically affected the entire base. Station Mars First was their oasis in a desert the size of a planet. They all knew their life depended on keeping their dwellings, computers, and machines performing perfectly. With no possibility of returning to Earth, and the unlikeness Earth would ever make contact again, they were all pretty sure they were on their own.
“So, I think we need to focus our efforts on greenhouse III, right now. Last night’s rock slide has weakened anchors five and six. If we use both ARC 1 and 2, one on each side, here and here, we should be able to move the new support in place with ARC 3 without exerting too much pressure on the frame,” said Dedrick pointing at a top view diagram of the station.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” asked François.
“I agree. Tendai, you and I take rover 1 and 2. François, you’ve got ARC 3. You know what to do. Let’s go.”
Most days on Mars, not even the slightest hint of a breeze would have been felt by anyone walking bare skinned outside, had such a thing been possible. Today was one of those days. The sun, high above the outpost, had brought the outside temperature close to twenty degrees Celsius, a nice change in contrast with the freezing cold of the previous night, which had registered a whopping minus seventy on the outside sensor. Such extreme temperature fluctuations could at times cause so much stress on the Martian geology, that rocks were known to crack and split open, as was the case under greenhouse III. Thanks to a multitude of sensors and check points put in place all over the station to monitor the complex integrity, an alarm had alerted the colonists of the mishap, allowing the team to address the problem quickly the following morning, before the dwelling got compromised any further.
The maneuver had been a success. The greenhouse’s stability was no longer an issue, allowing the experiments to resume. But most importantly, their oasis was once again safe. As the weeks continued, it appeared the small human outpost and its eight occupants were doing just fine on their own, after all. Soon the morale of the whole group was rekindled. The search for more water points was back on the schedule. Tomorrow, Tendai was scheduled to go drill a new access in a large pocket that had been discovered a few days before. The newly found deposit was a great candidate for being part of a larger group of underground water pockets, and a few station occupants were very excited at the prospect of finding more crystals, and more Blobus Viscus. Ladli had made Tendai promise he would bring back as many of the minerals as he could, even if he didn’t understand why she was so interested in the rocks. But today, he was on his day off, a concept that François had come up with, and presented to the group soon after the crash. Since there were seven of them, it was quite simple. Each one took in turn, a day of the week off, leaving six of the colonists to run the outpost on any given day. Although it augmented, somewhat, the load for everyone, they had all agreed it was worth getting a day a week to goof off and enjoy some personal free time. In truth, most of them still participated when needed, regardless.
Tendai was lying in bed, staring at a small collection of pebbles lined up on the nearby desk, while Ladli, seated in front of a mirror, was tying her hair.
“What are you doing with all these rocks?” he asked.
“I’m starting a collection. Aren’t they cool?”
“I guess. I like that one. What is it?” Tendai was pointing at a dark stone sitting to the right of her display, one of the larger specimens in the group. She turned her head to look.
“I named it Kardium. It’s from the batch you guys brought back from grid 4-23-A in the Karrad cliff a few days ago. I found several salt deposits in its composition. That’s what gives it these thin red veins.”
“I see. That’s neat. And why are you collecting all these again?”
“Well, first I thought they would be nice to decorate the room with, but then I realized that… Wait, let me show you. Come with me!”
She went through the latch leading to the greenhouse next to their pod, Tendai in tow.
Inside the vegetable garden, Sabrina was taking some measurements from a dark liquid in a container in front of her.
“Hola!” she said without turning around to see who was coming behind her.
“Hey, Sabrina. Mind if I show Tendai the new plants?”
“Sure. Go ahead,” she replied, pointing to her right.
They moved across a few vegetable beds and approached a row of tall tomato plants.
“Wow! These are huge! How did you…? Those are tomatoes, right?”
He turned to the two women, speechless. They were both giggling. The five plants were well over two meters tall, and were covered with fruit. Any farmer on Earth would have been proud to get such an abundant yield. Several had already turned red, and Ladli, cutting one right off the closest branch, handed it to Tendai. “Try this and tell me what you think.”