Deeper Into the Void (3 page)

Lawrence says nothing in response, yet all smile behind their reflective masks. Everyone seems to be relieved to have finally landed, and yet the silence seems to reveal that they all are feeling apprehensive as well. After the rig ascends out of the river bed, its metal wheels press through the soft sand and over the crumbled rock.

As they finally ride over the crest of the hill in front of them, the original landing shuttle, left by the first expedition, lay dormant and in ruin. Some parts have clearly been removed from it either by intent or by force. The front of the first shuttle is well dug into the wild sands.

Long draws in a deep breath and rolls his eyes. His subtle head shake is noticed by Mendez, who simply smiles in turn at his gesture.

What seems like hours of riding finally produce the dome up close as it crests over the final hill. Several minutes later, the team finally pulls up to the south entrance to the dome. The view of the inside still remains quite distorted from the outside. Dust-covered glass is eagerly brushed off with gloved hands, and yet the view still is not clear enough; there are several layers of glass to get through to see inside.

Lawrence finishes parking the solar rover. The faint humming sound of the motor fades into the stark silence of the background. Cardiff walks back to the rover, where Lawrence is still seated.

Cardiff turns around and points to Mendez.

Lawrence gets out of the seat; his first step out of the rover sinks a bit in the soft sand. He looks down at his boots and realizes that the trip around the outside of the dome might be a bit laborious in this soft sand. Lawrence pushes out of the deep sand, over to where Long and Ghent are standing. They are both still trying to make out some sort of view of the inside.

Cardiff and Mendez have already begun their ascent up the hill to the right of the airlock. Several large rocks cover the hill; they use these rocks to climb on as the sand presents a formidable obstacle. Lawrence begins his portion of the inspection to the left; he looks up at the enormous heap of glass to check for visible cracks.

Lawrence takes a glance back over his shoulder, and watches Long as he makes his way back down the road. Small and medium sized rocks seem to be absolutely everywhere, the two carefully step around these in the garden of obstacles. A bright glimmer from his left catches Lawrence’s eye; the solar panel array to the west reflects a bit of the sun’s light onto his helmet, almost blinding him.

Ghent walks over to the brown glass bottle, lying in the sand, and picks it up. He inspects the bottle for a second, rubbing his other gloved hand over the faded label. With his right hand, he pulls the bottle back over his shoulder and flings it out into the distance. The bottle shatters as it collides with a black rock. Glass shards coat the rock, giving it a sparkly appearance.

Lawrence looks on, toward the east side, and can see Cardiff and Mendez rounding the corner. The large hill behind them, where they are walking from, creates a beautiful backdrop to the dome. Shadows from jagged rock and outcroppings on the hillside add variety to the noonday view. As the women approach, Lawrence calls out to Cardiff over the radio.

Lawrence holds his hand out, with palm up, to beckon the others to head back the way that he had come. Each of the four walks in a tight cluster, avoiding the jagged rocks that threaten to tear their suits. Without uttering a single syllable, the team returns to the south side of the dome. A light breeze whips up some dust as they round the last bit of the dome.

Long has occupied himself by throwing a rock high into the air, and running to catch it as it falls. The rest of the team catches a last glimpse of this game as he notices their return; the rock that he had just thrown falls toward the rover, striking one of the solar panels.

Don’t let them get in the way out here. Stay away from making judgments; they will be the biggest obstacle you’ll face in reaching where you want to be.

Lawrence chuckles a bit over the radio. A “sure thing” is the only response that she’ll get from him on the matter. The airlock hard-lock indicator light is barely visible beneath the heavy layer of dust on the control panel. Accessing the main airlock controls proves to be quite difficult as the outside is plastered in thick dust.

After several long minutes, Lawrence manages to free the controls of the Martian dust long enough to manually open the outside airlock door. The sand stacked up against the outer door is difficult to remove; that is until the door seal is released, sending the sand flying out violently in all directions as the pressurized air rushes out.

Infinitesimal as the airlock appears in contrast to the rest of the structure, the tubular airlock is still sufficient to fit all five team members and their gear all at once. The outer door on the airlock shuts with a grind at first, followed by a subtle thud sound. The next sound that is heard by all is the air rushing through the pressure vents into the airlock. After the rushing sound of air ceases, the team just stands; everyone just looks around anticipating the next phase of the airlock procedure. After a brief moment of waiting, they grab at whatever they can on the inner door. The door slides slowly from right to left with considerable effort from Long, Ghent and Lawrence.

The path, upon which the crew is currently standing, will take them up the slight incline over to the buildings on the right. The buildings are quite simple and modest in appearance; not much time and effort was spent on the architecture or design of the buildings to make them more appealing. They are a simple rust red color of brick. Most of the buildings are adorned by frequent windows to take advantage of the natural light. The roofs are all flat, and aside from a few minor details, the buildings look more like adobe and less like a corporate outpost on Mars.

There are a total of six buildings within the complex, all surrounding a central plaza in the center. The laboratory, storage building and main utility control center are all along the right hand side. At the back of the complex is the dormitory building, which includes the lavatories and private sleeping areas for ten people. The two buildings on the left of the central plaza are the control center, and the mess hall.

To the left of the airlock, on the other side of the dome, the pond lay peacefully. Neither a wave, nor a single ripple in the massive body of water disrupts its mirror-like appearance. Behind the pathway, which connects the pond to the plaza, is a vast area covered in a variety of different larger plants, such as small trees and large bushes. In front of them lay a reddish-brown field of dust and sand, littered with small grasses. Almost all of the rocks have been collected, in years past, and hauled outside, the largest rocks were simply moved down by the pond.

The garden area is laid out close to the airlock, up above the path that leads to the plaza. The ground slopes up slightly from the pond until it reaches the highest point just beyond the buildings at the plaza.