But long before that we’ll be gone, Jamie thought. Our funding is petering out. We’ll have to leave Mars. Leave the planet and let it die.
Trying to shake off his feelings of impending doom, Jamie left his cubbyhole and went to the infirmary to take Vijay to lunch. Afterward he repaired to his shoebox of an office and pulled up the latest messages from Selene. The distance between Mars and the Earth/Moon region made two-way communication impossibly awkward. Even traveling at nearly three hundred thousand kilometers per second, it took light about four minutes to span the distance when Mars was closest to Earth. At the moment, the oneway lag in transmission was almost nine minutes, which meant eighteen minutes between hearing “Hello” and the next words sent from the Earth or the Moon.
So one side talked while the other side listened. Then they reversed roles. At the moment, Jamie was listening to Douglas Stavenger.
“We have a good deal of experience in developing life support facilities out of local resources,” Stavenger was saying. His handsome, smoky-skinned face was smiling genially. “The key to Selene’s success has been building a self-sufficient community out of what’s available here on the Moon.”
Jamie nodded to himself. During its war for independence, Selene was cut off from all imports from Earth. The embargo was brief, but it taught the lunar inhabitants a crucial lesson: they had to survive on their own resources.
“From what my engineer friends tell me, you’ve got an easier situation on Mars than we do here on the Moon. You’ve got an atmosphere, and it’s got some oxygen and nitrogen in it. All we’ve got is vacuum: we have to bake oxygen out of the soil—er, I mean the regolith.” Stavenger’s smile turned slightly embarrassed. “The tech guys would pound me if they heard me call it soil.”
Soil contains living creatures, Jamie knew. The powdery crust of the Moon was absolutely lifeless. And waterless, except for reservoirs of ice in deep craters near the poles where comets had crashed eons ago.
“Anyway, I’ve asked a few friends to put together a study on how you can make your base self-sufficient—or as close to self-sufficiency as possible. They’re mostly retired engineers and geologists, so it won’t cost you much. They’re glad of an interesting project to occupy their minds.”
And I’m glad it won’t be expensive, Jamie thought.
“They’ll be pestering you with questions,” Stavenger went on. “In time, one or two of them might actually want to come to your base and see the conditions there for themselves. I presume that will be okay with you. That’s all I’ve got for you at the moment. I’ll wait for your answer.”
Jamie activated his computer’s microphone and replied, “I’m delighted that you can help us, and I’ll be willing to field any questions your people send. I’ll get our most competent people to provide any information you need. One thing: remember that the, um, regolith here on Mars is loaded with superoxides. We can get plenty of oxygen from it, but we also have to bake the superoxides out of the soil if we want to try growing plants in it.”
He talked for another ten minutes while the computer typed out his words on its display screen. Jamie read the message, made a few corrections, then finally tapped the transmit key.
It’s all in the numbers, he told himself. Whether we leave or stay, whether we live or die, it’s all a matter of numbers.
But then the Navaho side of his mind corrected, It’s a matter of spirit, as well. Who will have the courage to stay on this red world? Who will dare to stand against Coyote and his devilish tricks?
Tithonium Chasma: The Village
This is what we’ve got so far,” Carleton said, bending slightly over the display that lit up the big, square stereo table.
It was late afternoon. Carleton’s digging crew was still out at the excavation site. The rest of the dome’s personnel were in their labs or workshops, except for a team of scientists and astronauts on their way back from an excursion to the Tharsis volcanoes, and the inevitable few people lounging in the cafeteria, on the other side of the big dome.
Jamie looked down at the three-dimensional image of a gridwork of lines. Most of them were straight and intersected in neat right angles, although along one side of the image the lines meandered crookedly.
“This is the radar imagery?” Jamie asked.
“Deep radar, yes,” said Carleton. Doreen McManus stood at his side, tall, lean, silent. The glow from the table’s display underlit her sculptured, serious face.
Carleton was much more animated. Pointing to a small red rectangle at one corner of the display, he explained, “This is where we’ve been digging. We’re already pulling up some blocks that might be bricks from the foundations of these buildings.”
“Those are buildings?”
Nodding vigorously, Carleton replied, “Certainly looks that way. Foundations, at least. The buildings themselves must have collapsed under the weight of the millions of years of dust accumulating over them.” Tracing the lines with a fingertip, “These were streets. They laid out their village in a grid, very orderly.”
“And here?” Jamie pointed to the lines that curved lazily.
“They must have been running along the edge of the river. That’s where the stream flowed.”
Jamie straightened up and focused on Carleton’s face. The anthropologist was beaming happily.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Carleton said. “We’ve only just begun to peck at one corner of this village.”
“Dr. Chang wants to send out teams to follow the ancient riverbed and scout for other sites,” said Jamie. “The satellite imagery shows some interesting possibilities.”
“Chang.” Carleton almost spat the word. “He’s a geologist. What does he know about excavating sites?”
“He’s the mission director.”
“And you’re the science director for the whole program. You outrank him.”
Glancing at McManus, Jamie saw that she was looking across the dome toward Chang’s office cubicle. Its door was firmly closed.
“I don’t want to get into a power struggle with Dr. Chang,” he said quietly.
Carleton’s jaw settled. “The man’s belittled my work since day one. I honestly believe he doesn’t understand the magnitude of what we’ve found.”
Jamie took a slow breath. “I’ll speak with him. He does have the responsibility for the whole team here, you know. You’re not the only—”
“I know I’m not the only scientist working here,” Carleton acknowledged. Then, with an impish grin, he added, “But I’m the most important one.”
McManus spoke up. “Have you seen the bricks that we’ve uncovered? They’re from the foundation of this building here.” She pointed with a bright red lacquered fingernail.
“You’re sure?” Jamie asked Carleton.
“Absolutely. It’s from their village. They lived down here where the water was, where the river flowed.”
“And the buildings up in the cliffs?”
Carleton shrugged. “Who knows? A ceremonial center, most likely. I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure.”
“Maybe not,” Jamie murmured.
“So you’ll talk with Chang?” Carleton pressed. “We need to expand the dig. That means more people working on it. We need to uncover the entire village, the farms around it, everything.”
Nodding, Jamie said, “I’ll talk to him. But don’t expect miracles. I don’t want to go over his head.”
“Somebody’s got to,” Carleton said darkly.