Red Desert - Point of No Return (9 page)

Crawling on my knees
and my hands, I drag myself to the edge of the rock. I could let
myself fall and die in a moment, without having to suffer the agony
of cold and pain. But I don’t even have the strength to do it.

I lean against a
boulder and gaze at Earth once more. I wonder if I’ll die before it
disappears from my sight.

Slowly I lose the
perception of my body. It seems to me I can see Jan seated beside
me. He holds my hand and whispers words I can’t understand. Or
perhaps it’s the wind.

“Look at that light,”
his voice says in my head.

I try to follow the
direction he’s pointing in. There’s a light down there in the
middle of the darkness, in the valley. It’s getting closer and will
soon surround me.

My eyelids become
heavy. It’s time to let myself go.

An unbearable heat.
The seatbelts were holding me so tight under the acceleration
thrust that I could barely breathe. Every part of the
Isis
was vibrating, causing a deep rumble. She seemed about to
break.

I could see Dennis’s
seat in front of me, with his helmet sticking out. Beyond were the
spacecraft’s controls, useless at that very moment.

Then the sky became
clear and the lander stabilised.

“Okay, we’ve entered
the atmosphere and we are still in one piece,” Dennis exclaimed.
The intonation of his voice revealed an evident satisfaction.

His announcement was
welcomed by Michelle and Robert’s jubilation. I was too busy trying
not to vomit.

“But don’t relax too
much,” he added then. “We still have to land.”

“The hull seems
intact,” Hassan said, in a serious tone. Seated on the co-pilot’s
seat, he was checking the information provided by the on-board
computer. “Life support is working at one 100%. Secondary
parachutes are armed. Primary parachutes are armed. Airbags are
armed. The descent trajectory is within the defined limits.”

“Alright, brace
yourselves.” Dennis’s satisfaction had become excitement.

“Commander, we are
tied like salami, we don’t need to brace ourselves,” Robert
joked.

Michelle laughed and
turned to look at me. “You alright?”

I did nothing but nod.
I wasn’t as hot as earlier, but I continued to be in a cold sweat,
in the grip of nausea.

“Activation of
secondary parachutes,” Dennis announced.

Soon after I perceived
an abrupt braking. It flattened me against my seat, causing a
temporary sense of relief. Then the
Isis
resumed
pitching.

“There’s a strong wind
against us,” Hassan explained. “It’s forcing us to go down too
straight.”

“Okay, activation of
rear propulsion,” Dennis said. “In three, two, one … ignition!”

I noticed a slight
acceleration forward, and then it seemed as if the ship had
stopped, except that I could still see the landscape moving past
us.

It was an enormous red
desert, a flatland, which spread out as far as the eye could see.
For the first time I was looking at Mars’s surface with my own
eyes. The rosy sky stopped abruptly, giving way to a rust-coloured
terrain. The sun shone high, lighting that beautiful and, at the
same time, disquieting sight. Almost without realising it, I
started smiling.

“We are again en
route,” Hassan notified. “But we are going down a bit too
quickly.”

“Prepare primary
parachutes,” Dennis said.

“Ready!”

“Activation of primary
parachutes.”

This time the braking
was more violent. Michelle and I let slip an exclamation on the
rebound.

“Altitude three
thousand metres,” Hassan said.

“Station Alpha
detected.” This time the inexpressive voice of the on-board unit’s
artificial intelligence spoke; it had remained silent since Dennis
took the manual control.

On the main screen a
bright point was superimposed to the landscape, indicating the
position of our habitat.

“Connection with
Station Alpha successful.”

As we got closer to
the surface, I began to distinguish the details. There were some
areas that were darker than others, where the ground rose slightly.
Some whitish stones stood out in the dust. As time passed they
became bigger, revealing them to be rocky formations with an
impressive surface.

And there it was, down
there, Station Alpha.

“Altitude one thousand
metres … nine hundred … eight hundred …”

Dennis raised a hand,
gesturing Hassan to stop it. In the meantime the figures scrolled
fast on the screen.

“Airbag
inflation.”

None of us dared to
speak, to avoid disturbing him during the manoeuvre.

“All airbags
inflated,” the AI confirmed after a few seconds.

When we passed two
hundred metres, I held my breath.

“Landing in five
seconds, four, three, two, one …”

The impact was abrupt
and then we were still. As the airbags deflated, dust clouds rose
all around the
Isis
, blocking our view of what was outside.
A surreal silence gripped the cabin. Nobody dared to emit the
slightest sound.

Then I heard the
loudspeaker activate and Dennis’s voice said with nonchalance:
“This is your commander speaking. Welcome to Mars, Lunae Planum.
It’s eight zero two, local time. The sky is clear. The external
temperature is minus eight degrees Celsius. Please keep your
seatbelts fastened until the seatbelt sign is switched off. NASA
Spacelines wishes you a pleasant stay and hopes to welcome you
again soon on board one of its spacecrafts. Goodbye.”

There was a general
burst of laughter in the cabin. We tried to applaud, but our suit
gloves didn’t provide the right sound. So we started screaming with
joy. Even Hassan, who during the entire manoeuvre had remained
impassive, let himself go to the exultation.

Meanwhile the dust
outside was settling, offering us a view of our new home, which
silenced us at once. It was a large, white building, surmounted by
a parabolic antenna, with two massive Aeolian turbines on its sides
and a roof covered by high efficiency photovoltaic panels. An
important part of our nutrition would come from the small garden we
would create inside it. On the other side was the chemical plant,
which included a small reactor that sucked in the carbon dioxide,
widely available in Mars’s atmosphere, to generate oxygen for the
habitat and remove the carbon monoxide. Not far from it were two
large water tanks, whose content would be used in the most
efficient way, by recycling it almost completely. This would allow
us to be self-sustaining for several years, while we tested the
mobile laboratory, which would eventually extract more water from
Martian soil’s regolith.

It looked like a cosy
place, a safe shelter from the terrible desolation surrounding
us.

“Station Alpha ready
to receive the crew,” the AI announced.

“Well, what about
doing some extravehicular activity?” Dennis asked with enthusiasm.
“If the guys down in Houston haven’t made a fool of me, there
should be a bottle of champagne waiting for us in a fridge inside
our new home!”

“I’m in!” Robert
exclaimed, unfastening his seatbelts.

“Oh, yes, I definitely
need it!” Hassan said.

“Hassan, I’m surprised
at you! I thought you Muslims didn’t drink alcohol?” Michelle
asked, amused.

“I’m sure God will
forgive this little sin of mine.” He seemed to struggle to keep a
serious tone. He unfastened his belts and turned to us. “I’m not
even sure if this rule also applies on Mars!” And he laughed, while
our eyes met.

I was listening to
them joking and that was when I realised I was living the best day
of my life.

I was happy.

What’s happening?

Something is touching
my leg, my ankle. I shout at the top of my voice!

I’m still breathing,
and it isn’t too cold.

Am I still alive?
Where am I?

I hear a hubbub,
something is moving around me. I try to open my eyes, but it’s so
difficult. I sense light through my eyelids.

How have I ended up
here?

Finally I open my
eyes. My sight is dim. I see a white environment, with dark
figures. One of them is close to my legs. I’d like to move,
retract, but I can’t. I’m sore, terrified.

That touch again,
followed by the pain.

“Jack, I think her
ankle is sprained.”

Who spoke? Perhaps I’m
still dreaming. It sounded like a female voice, hoarse.

Another silhouette
comes closer. It becomes bigger and darker, casting a shadow on my
face. I open my mouth to speak, but no more than a gasp comes from
it. I feel my vocal cords locked. I try to raise my head, but I’m
dizzy. I try to move my hands and they hit on something wrapping my
body. Something warm. A blanket.

“Can you hear me?” the
figure over me says. It’s the deep voice of a man.

“Jan…” I murmur.

It looks like the man
is shaking his head. “No, I’m not Jan.”

He reaches out over me
to touch something on the white wall. Another light comes on. This
time it’s brighter. I start seeing more details. His face is close
to mine. He is a man with dark eyes and a benevolent smile. His
hair is white. His face is run by long wrinkles, as deep as
canyons.

Like Valles
Marineris!

I was there. I was
dying. Am I dead? Am I looking at God’s face?

No, his name is
Jack.

“Welcome, Anna
Persson.”

I think I can hear a
child laughing in the distance.

###

Do you want to know what happens
next?

The second book,
“
Red Desert – People of Mars
”, will be published on 1
September 2014. Join the mailing list (
www.anakina.eu
)
to be notified every time a new book is published.

In the meantime you
can follow
Anna Persson
(
@AnnaPerssonDR
)
on Twitter!

Did you like this
book?

If so, don’t forget to
click “Like” in the book’s page on Smashwords (or in the online
store you’ve bought it from) and to share it with your friends.
And, if you fancy it, write a short review.

Acknowledgements

I’d like to thank all
those who contributed to the creation of this book:

- Richard J. Galloway,
who carefully revised and improved the English translation;

- Martina Munzittu,
for her suggestions during the English translation;

- Julia Gibbs for the
accurate proofreading of this book;

- my cousin Alberto
Casu, for his precious help in the design of the cover (the Martian
desert’s background is his work);

- Fabio Delfino, who
created the book trailer;

- Polydream, who gave
me permission to use their song “Catch Me If You Can” for the
promotion of the series;

- the Italian ESA
astronaut Luca Parmitano, for his friendliness and constant
inspiration;

- my whole publishing
team in Italy, who worked with me on the original version of the
“Red Desert” series: Veronica De Lorenzo, my aunt Gabriella
Serrenti, Alessandra Fadda, ChiaraOB1, Stefania Mattana, Diego
Luci, Luca “Adso da Melk” Cassia, Emanuele Piccolini, Marco Mark,
Giovanni Venturi, Germano Dalcielo, and all those who encouraged my
work with their comments and support;

- Omar Serafini and
the whole FantaScientificast.it crew, who supported me in
Italy;

- my parents, who on
this occasion turned into science fiction fans;

- and above all
Federico Fadda, my first reader, for his constant and loving
support.

Bibliography

“Red Desert” is a
science fiction work, so part of the scientific aspects are the
result of my imagination, but the remainder is mostly based on what
is reported in the following sources, which sometimes served just
as a hint and which I suggest you take a look at for a thorough
examination.

“
The Case For
Mars
” by Robert Zubrin (non-fiction). Latest edition: Free
Press, ISBN 9781451608113. Also available for Kindle. – Information
on Mars. Technologies for reaching, exploring, and colonising the
planet.

“
First Landing
”
by Robert Zubrin (novel). Edition: Ace, ISBN 9780441009633. Also
available for Kindle. – The story of a first manned mission to Mars
set in 2010.

C.O.S.M.I.C.
project
(
CRS4
).
– Technologies for human survival on Mars patented by the
University of Cagliari, Italy.

NASA Official
Website
(
www.nasa.gov
). – United States
space agency website, including all information on present and past
Mars missions.

More books by Rita Carla Francesca
Monticelli

If you read Italian,
you can already find the remaining books of the “Red Desert” series
and other novels by this author.

“
La morte è soltanto
il principio
”, Smashwords, 2 March 2012, ISBN
9781465722867.

“
Deserto rosso –
Abitanti di Marte
”, Smashwords, 27 November 2012, ISBN
9781301420551.

“
Deserto rosso –
Nemico invisibile
”, Smashwords, 28 April 2013, ISBN
9781301337606.

“
Deserto rosso –
Ritorno a casa
”, Smashwords, 28 September 2013, ISBN
9781301541867.

“
Deserto
rosso
” (La serie completa), Smashwords, 12 December
2013, ISBN 9781310691997; also available as paperback, CreateSpace,
6 December 2013, ISBN 9781494358693.