Glory on Mars (13 page)

"That sounds doable now. Ruby could take you in the
jumpship."

"Maybe, at first, for reconnaissance. I've got to
figure out what would feel like real climbing. Your knarr brought
inflatable habitats for us to evaluate. Those could make good camps
along a climbing route."

"You need to try the walkabouts. I can tell you all
about them." Emma knew some experts inside Colony Mars thought
walking on the surface was a foolish, romantic notion. But her
father said Mars could never be home until settlers walked across
their world.

"The suits are mechanically assisted, aren't they?
I'll have to try one to get a feel."

"They're like rovers you wear instead of drive..."
Emma's explanation was interrupted by the bay's airlock door
opening. Liz stepped over the threshold carefully, balancing
herself with one hand on the door frame.

"I found the soil analysis kit," she said, holding it
up.

"You ladies sit and rest. I'll do that."

Liz sat down slowly, stretching her arms out for
balance. She handed him a vial from the kit. Daan dropped in some
sand, hopped through the airlock to the fish module, and returned
shaking the vial of sand and water.

"That's long enough." Liz reached for the vial and
dipped in a test strip.

"Somewhat basic, as we expect, though I should really
distill some water for a proper test. I'll check for nutrients
later, but I bet the magnesium, potassium, and chloride levels will
be what we expect, too. A decent beginning for garden soil. We can
transplant the herbs I brought as soon as you've turned over the
beds."

They had dwarf banana trees, too. During the long
journey from Earth, the plants were growing out of their pots. Liz
said they could harvest some herbs as soon as they were
planted.

"Let's put all the bananas in one bed," Liz said.
"It's not quite as warm or humid in here as bananas prefer, but
they'll be okay. I wish we had more light." She looked up at the
strings of lights running down the bay.

"I put every light we could spare in here." Daan's
chin jutted out.

"Of course. Potatoes need cooler temperatures,
anyway, and those'll be our mainstay. It's a good greenhouse,
Daan."

"Liz wasn't being critical of you," Emma said after
Liz left.

"First the water I use isn't good enough and now
there's not enough light. She should appreciate what I've done
here." Daan looked from the closed door to Emma. His antagonism
evaporated and he grinned.

"I'm glad you're here. You understand." He gave her a
hug.

Emma relaxed, happy his mood has passed. She hugged
him back.

"Why don't you show me everything you've accomplished
in the Spine?"

***

"S-2 brought the life support equipment to recycle
air, water, and waste in the bays. Installation was the primary
goal of our mission."

Daan had slipped into tour guide mode. His Master's
thesis was on Elizabethan sonnets, he said, and the only life
support equipment he used before joining Colony Mars was for
high-altitude climbing. He showed Emma a plenum enclosure and
various tanks, pumps, and compressors; filter beds, vacuum
distillation units, and a high-temperature catalytic reactor for
waste water; and air revitalizers with regenerable carbon dioxide
absorption. All the units were supposed to be sealed, but Emma
caught a whiff of the rank smell of sewage here and there. Nothing
is perfect, she thought.

"We take readings manually," Daan said as he toured
Emma through the systems. "Governor records the data for us, but we
tweak the valves and adjust the pressures by hand. It takes a lot
of time, but think of all the solenoids and sensors we'd need if
Governor ran the system."

"Settler Three brought tons of components for the
bays," Emma said. Though Emma's rovers and walkabouts gave S-3 its
name of the Explorers, the mundane parts in the knarr were more
important - macronutrient cylinders and the tubes, wires, lights,
and heaters that would turn cold dark bays into living space.

"I hope they survived the crash. It's a long wait for
the next launch from Earth. I pulled lights and heaters from the
Plaza for the fish module and greenhouse bay, so I'm going to help
get the garden going - make sure my efforts weren't in vain." He
grinned at her.

Emma smiled, suddenly feeling a bit shy.

Chapter Seventeen: Sun
Dogs

Yin and Yang worked their way deeper into the knarr
module and boxes piled up quickly in the docking module. Mostly
they contained parts for the Spine, but Melina checked the manifest
and dug out a replacement head for the food printer. The last drops
of nutrients in the old cylinders would come out in exotic
shapes.

"We'd like you, Ruby, to move Luis' ship to the
maintenance bay." Yin said over a late supper.

"Grapple onto it with Jumper One anyway you can and
fly it over," Yang added.

"No rush. Whenever you're comfortable flying the
jumper."

"There's nothing wrong with my ship," Ruby said.
"I've isolated the controls from Governor and there'll be no more
MEX uploads. No one but me's giving commands."

"We want you to come with us tomorrow," Yin said to
Emma.

"Take a look at these images," Yang laid his pad on
the table in front of her.

"The knarr is packed in three layers. You're looking
at the empty bottom, about three meters high."

"Did you examine the internal frame?" Emma frowned as
she scrolled through the images. The bottom third had been packed
with habitat supplies. The rovers were tied down to a middle frame
which was supposed to lower on four ratcheted pillars to the garage
door on the first level. But one pillar was bent and torn loose
from the floor.

"We should remove everything that's stowed around the
rovers first." Emma pointed to containers of lighting, heaters,
rolls of tubing, and sheets to form ducting - supplies they needed
to make the bays livable.

The next morning Emma joined Yin and Yang in the
airlock. She took a compression layer off its hanger and stood
uncertainly.

"The suit's impossible to get over a uniform," Yang
said. He turned pointedly away and pulled off his striped shirt.
Yin also stripped to his underwear.

Emma blushed. Of course she had trained to don a
surface suit with James and Claude, as well as Liz. She kicked off
her shoes and dropped her khakis. She only had the compression
layer up to her waist when Yin and Yang were shouldering their life
support packs. They waited patiently as Emma squirmed into the
suit.

"Sorry to be slow."

"No worries, love. We've done this every sol for
jaars."

The crashed knarr lay at the edge of the docking
module on the jumpship side. They went out the opposite surface
airlock. Emma turned to face the Sun and squinted against the
yellow blob in a saffron sky. Below a few streaks of thin cloud,
surrounded by tawny halos of dry ice crystals, were four bright
spots of light, commas in the sky.

"Sun dogs," Emma said over the helmet channel.
"Governor, be sure you record that image."

The horizon spread out in a hump - the gently sloped
flanks of the Peacock shield volcano. Sand extended smoothly in all
directions, washed out by the glare. It was like floating in space,
if space was beige. Tharsis Plain was beautiful.

She felt a tap on her shoulder.

"You awake in there?"

"Yes, yes. Let's go." Governor had turned on her
suit-to-suit comm channel. She followed Yin and Yang around the
module, trying a bouncy step like they used. Her feet skidded a
little backwards in the sand with each hop.

Through the gaping garage door, the inside of the
knarr was dark. Emma flipped on her helmet light. The empty lower
level was roofed with beams, panels, and the bottom of the rovers.
Rover One, on the module's crushed side, was partly off its tie
downs, tilted downwards towards the knarr hull. She examined the
broken pillar. There was no way to lower the second level
floor.

"Everything is bracketed from above," Yin said. "I
don't see how to start unloading."

"I think I can get through there," Emma said,
pointing at a space between some of the bracing above. Yin and Yang
lifted her, but her suit's backpack caught on the beam.

"I think the hose will reach." Emma unbuckled the
strap across her chest and loosened the life support pack on her
shoulders.

"Hold the pack while I climb, then pass it up to
me."

"Watch that airline." Yang held the pack up high.

"Damn. I can't get all the way up. Bring me down."
Yin lowered her, and Emma came down pulling a sack with one
hand.

"I think we can do this. I'll pull down stuff until
these's a big enough hole for me to climb up."

"I like you, Emma. You know how to get things done."
Emma couldn't tell if Yin or Yang had spoken, but she grinned.

The morning went quickly as Emma dropped down boxes
and bags of cargo. She carved out a space high enough to stand in,
shouldered her backpack, and opened a narrow aisle to the tilted
rover.

"Tell Claude I can see his drill rig drums bracketed
to the ceiling above me," she said at one point. "Not a scratch
that I can see."

"I'm listening." Claude's voice came across her
helmet link. "Thanks for checking."

"Rover One's track chain's still bolted to the
storage platform, but the rollers slid out. We should be able to
pull the tracks back into place once it's outside. But I can't see
one of the tensioners." She pushed on a box and parts tumbled out
of a split in its side. "The rover's crushed a whole bunch of boxes
against the hull. I'm gonna pull some of this loose..."

She passed strip heaters down through a gap in the
framing and tugged at some bags that had dropped between the
rover's tracks. A few small bags wiggled free, then a few more.

"Careful, love."

A shudder ran through the rover and Emma let out a
little shriek.

"Emma. What happened? Are you alright?" Claude and
Yin both called to her.

"I'm okay. The rover slid a little more. But..." She
grunted. "Aw, shit."

"Talk to us, Emma," Yin said.

"My backpack is stuck. I can't see what's wrong." She
braced her feet against a crosstie in the floor and pushed. Another
shudder ran through the rover.

"Stop whatever you're doing," Yang said.

"Now what?"

"Is anything pushing on your body?"

"No, I'm okay." She was jammed into the gap between
boxes and couldn't turn, but waved her arms and one leg. Yin and
Yang could see her through the framework.

"If I could just pull the pack out..."

"Don't move. Don't risk anything falling on you."

"I'll get another backpack from the airlock," Yang
said. "You can slip out of that one and leave it right there."

"We'll need some tools, too," Yin said.

"Yeah, we'll disassemble the ties where Emma climbed
up and both get up there."

"What do you need?" Claude asked over the suit
channel. "I'll stage it for you in the airlock."

"Emma. Can we leave you alone while we get tools?"
Yin asked.

"Yeah, go ahead." Emma had been scared but now she
just felt stupid. "No rush."

But as soon as she said it, Emma wished they would
hurry. It had been a long morning and she had to pee. They planned
to go back inside for lunch and she hadn't put the urine collection
pad inside her suit. It wasn't very comfortable and she didn't
expect to need it. Now...

Stop thinking about it, she thought fiercely. She
watched a clock in her heads-up display and resisted the urge to
call Yin and Yang, to ask what was taking so long. She
fidgeted.

"Emma." It was Claude. "They're cycling down the
airlock now. How're you doing?"

"Oh..." Emma had clamped her jaws tight. "I'm
okay."

"You sure? You sound funny."

"I'm sure. I better watch for Yin and Yang."

Finally helmet lights showed through the framework
below her.

"We'll do a kludge job down here and have you out in
a minute."

Emma fidgeted some more as Yin and Yang talked back
and forth.

They had to find the right size wrenches and angle
the ties to work them out of the way.

It was too late. The suit's compression layer was
tight against her legs. Emma felt warmth spread across her butt.
She groaned softly.

"Emma. Still alright?" Claude was monitoring the suit
channel.

It was another half hour before Yin stood in front of
her and loosened her shoulder straps.

"There's plenty of air in your helmet," Yin said.
"I'll disconnect your power and air hose. You drop down to your
knees and crawl out of there. Nice and slow. Yang has your
replacement pack."

The click reverberated through Emma's helmet when Yin
detached her hose. The air, suddenly stagnate, immediately felt hot
and humid. She took in a long breath, which cooled her face, but
left her clammy when she exhaled. Resisting the urge to gasp or
whimper, she crouched and lifted her arms to slide from the pack
straps.

"That was a tight squeeze. Good thing you're no giddy
kipper." Yang sounded pleased as he passed the hose over her
shoulder and Yin clicked it into her shoulder ring.

"I'll meet you in the airlock," Liz said over the
suit channel.

"I'm coming, too." That was Ruby.

Oh, god. Not Ruby, Emma thought.

Chapter Eighteen:
Rovers

Emma puzzled over how to extricate her rovers and
shared a plan with Yin and Yang.

"You said Ruby can lift the crashed jumpship and fly
it to Maintenance, right?"

"Yeah. Piece of cake."

"If we could cut off the top of the module, could she
lift out the heavy cargo from the top layer - the mules and the
walkabout suits?"