Return to Mars (58 page)
Unity and comradeship, Jamie repeated silently. Not likely.
After dinner Jamie went to the comm center, more to get away from the others than anything else. But it was not to be. Jamie had barely started reviewing the task assignments for the next day when Fuchida stepped in and wordlessly pulled up the second chair.
“What is it, Mitsuo?” he asked, dreading the answer.
Fuchida pulled a minidisk out of the chest pocket of his coveralls.
“I believe I know who our saboteur is,” he said, nearly whispering.
Despite himself, Jamie asked, “Who?”
Fuchida proffered the disk. “Take a look at this.”
Sliding it into the computer port, Jamie asked, “What is it?”
“I correlated every so-called ‘accident’ with the job assignments of each one of us,” the biologist said.
Jamie saw a bewildering chart on the computer display: eight jagged lines in eight different colors marched across a gridwork background.
“It looks like the Alps,” Jamie grumbled.
Hunching closer, Fuchida traced the light blue line across the graph. “Each line represents one of us. This one is me.” His finger moved to the red line. “That is you.”
“And the axes?”
“Abscissa plots time; ordinate plots the position of each individual. See? Here you are on the first excursion to the Canyon, with Dex, Trudy and Stacy.”
Jamie nodded. “Okay.”
“Now …” Fuchida leaned across and tapped the keyboard. Red arrows began flashing at half a dozen points along the bottom of the graph.
“The arrows represent times when ‘accidents’ occurred. This one, for example,” he touched the screen, “is when the garden dome was punctured.”
“Okay,” Jamie repeated.
Another few taps on the keyboard, then Fuchida said, “Here all the unnecessary clutter is removed.”
Jamie saw that most of the lines had disappeared from the graph. But the red arrows still flashed accusingly.
“Notice that only one individual was present at the time and place of each separate ‘accident.’ “
“The yellow line,” Jamie said.
“Exactly!”
“And who does that represent?”
“Stacy.”
“Stacy?” Jamie felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. “You’re saying Stacy is the saboteur?”
Gesturing to the screen, Fuchida said, “The facts show it.”
Jamie said nothing, but his mind was racing. It can’t be Stacy. Mitsuo’s got to be wrong. He’s just throwing together some half-assed statistics—
Fuchida interrupted his train of thought. “Stacy was alone in the comm center when the garden dome was punctured. The rest of us were in our quarters, remember?”
“Yes, but—”
“She was alone in the rover when the wheel bearing burned out.”
“She wasn’t anywhere near the kiln when Tomas burned his hand.”
“True, but she had been working on the kiln just before Rodriguez took over.”
“It can’t be Stacy,” Jamie insisted. “Hell, Mitsuo, we don’t even know that there is a saboteur. These accidents are probably just that—accidents.”
Fuchida shook his head sternly.
“Now wait, Mitsuo,” Jamie said. “What about your own accident? Up on Olympus
Mons.
Did Stacy twist your ankle for you?”
Mons.
Did Stacy twist your ankle for you?”
The biologist stared at Jamie like a teacher disappointed in a student’s recitation. “Some accidents are truly accidental,” he said patiently, his voice low, almost hissing.
“Then why can’t the others be accidental?”
“Too many!” Fuchida insisted. “I ran a statistical analysis and compared it against records of other expeditions.”
“There’s only been one other expedition here.”
“No, no, expeditions to Antarctica, deep sea missions, treks across the Sahara, that kind of thing. Our accident rate is twice normal!”
Jamie took a deep, deliberate breath. Stay calm, he told himself. Look at this rationally.
“All right, Mitsuo,” he said softly. “I appreciate all the work you’ve put into this, but I just can’t believe that Stacy or anyone else among us is trying to sabotage the equipment.”
Fuchida started to reply, but Jamie cut him off. “Why? Why would somebody puncture the garden dome or tamper with the solar kiln? It’s not rational.”
“That is my point,” Fuchida whispered urgently. “This person is not rational. She is insane.”
“But wouldn’t an insane person show other symptoms?”
Fuchida spread his hands. “I don’t know.”
“We can’t make an accusation without real evidence,” Jamie said.
“My statistical analysis is not real evidence?”
“Would it hold up in a court of law?”
“I don’t know.”
“Neither do I,” said Jamie.
“I am scheduled to return to Dome One tomorrow,” Fuchida said. “If Stacy realizes that I suspect her, she might try to arrange another ‘accident’ for me.”
“I can’t believe that,” Jamie said.
“I would prefer to remain here, away from her,” he said stiffly.
Jamie thought swiftly. If Mitsuo stays here, then Dex will have to go back to Dome One with Tomas. Trudy and Wiley are coming here. That means Dex will be with Vijay for the next four weeks.
“I’d rather you went as scheduled,” Jamie said.
“You could take my place,” said Fuchida.
Then I could be with Vijay, he thought. But he heard himself reply, “No, Mitsuo, I can’t do that. My place is here.”
“I don’t want to be in the dome with Stacy,” Fuchida said firmly.
Jamie looked at the biologist, studied his face, and saw that Fuchida was neither angry nor agitated. He looked scared.
“All right,” Jamie yielded, sighing. “I’ll send Dex back.”
He wondered if they weren’t all going rapidly insane.
STRANGE, JAMIE THOUGHT AS HE STRIPPED OFF HIS COVERALLS, THERE’S just the two of us in this whole dome, yet we hardly said a dozen words to each other all day.
Dex and Rodriguez were trundling back to Dome One, where the astronaut would pick up Trudy Hall and bring her back to the Canyon site. Rodriguez was whistling all the way, grinning like a cat with canaries on its mind.
We’re beating a regular road between the two domes, Jamie said to himself. Like the ruts the Conestoga wagons left across the prairies.
He hadn’t deliberately avoided Fuchida after the rover departed, and neither of them had suited up to work outside, hut somehow he and the biologist seemed to he on opposite ends of the dome most of the day. They had even eaten at different times, each one alone in the galley.
I’m sore at him, Jamie realized. I’m pissed off that he’s made me send Dex back to Dome One. Him and his paranoid accusations! Stacy’s no saboteur and she’s not a neurotic. She’s probably saner than all the rest of us put together.
Then who’s responsible for these accidents? Jamie asked himself. Nobody, came the immediate reply. They’re just accidents.
Still … Jamie thought about talking it over with Vijay. She’s the psychologist here, she ought to know about this. Yet he hesitated. What Fuchida had told him was in confidence; telling Vijay about it would be a breach of the biologist’s trust.
Which is more important? Jamie demanded silently. Keeping Mitsuo’s paranoia a secret, or protecting the mental well-being of the whole expedition?
He knew what the answer should be. Yet when he called Vijay it wasn’t to protect the expedition and he knew it. He called her because he wanted to see her face, hear her voice. Because for the next four weeks she would be with Dex and he’d be an overnight trip away.
She was awake. Her hair was down, hanging loosely about her shoulders. Which were bare. She was obviously in her own cubicle, preparing for bed. When she saw it was Jamie, she smiled warmly out of his laptop screen.
“Hi, mate,” she said cheerfully. “How’re the bots biting?”
“Bots?”
“Insects,” she said.
“No bites,” Jamie answered. “No insects.”
“One of the blessings we should be thankful for, eh?”
She seemed genuinely pleased to be talking with him, Jamie thought. Then he realized he must be grinning like a schoolboy at her. But he felt his grin fade as he remembered his reason for calling.
“I think I’ve got something of a problem here,” Jamie said, lowering his voice.
“Oh? Serious?”
“You tell me.” He swiftly outlined Fuchida’s behavior, leaving the biologist’s name out of it.
Vijay listened intently. When Jamie finished, she said, “This isn’t Dex you’re talking about, is it?”
“No,” he admitted, shaking his head slightly.
“And it’s certainly not Tommy.”
Jamie said nothing.
“So it must be either you or Mitsuo.”
“Does it matter who it is?”
“Of course it matters,” she said. “And since you’re so reluctant to name u name, I’ve got to assume it’s Mitsuo.”
“So much for keeping secrets,” Jamie muttered.
“How’s he performing? In his work, I mean.”
“Fine. As good as ever.”
“Why din’t he come back here this trip? He was scheduled to return here, wasn’t he?”
Jamie took a breath. “He didn’t want to be with Stacy. He’s afraid she’ll go off the deep end or something.”
“H’m,” said Vijay, her brows knitting. “Interesting.”
“Well?”
Vijay seemed lost in thought.
“What should I do about him?” Jamie demanded.
Her dark eyes focused on Jamie again. ‘ ‘Nothing much you can do. He’s not bonkers. And I doubt that he’s dangerous, unless …” Her voice trailed off.
“Unless?” Jamie prompted.
Vijay bit her lip momentarily, then replied, “Unless he’s been causing these accidents himself and projecting the blame onto Stacy.”
Jamie felt stunned.
“I don’t think that’s the case,” Vijay added quickly. “It was just a thought.”
“Some thought.”
“How do you feel about all this? Are you convinced these accidents are really accidental?”
“I was, but now … I just don’t know.”
“I see.”
“I’m getting paranoid, too,” Jamie said.
“Not unusual in these circumstances. Everybody gets suspicious of everybody.”
“What should I do?” Jamie asked again.
Vijay shrugged her bare shoulders. “Not much you can do, Jamie. Keep an eye on him. Listen to him sympathetically. Humor him. I’ll find a reason to come over to your site and talk with him.”
“Okay. Good.”
” ‘Fraid that’s all I can offer you right now, mate.”
“It’s a relief just to talk it over with you.”
She smiled again, but now there was a tinge of sadness in it. ‘ ‘Yes, it’s good to talk with you, too.”
He wanted to tell her that he missed her, he wanted to say that he needed her warmth, her comfort, her presence in his life. But he couldn’t form the words. Instead he simply said, “Thanks, Vijay.”
She too seemed lost for the proper words. For long moments the two of them simply stared at each other in their screens.
At last Vijay said, “G’night, Jamie.”
“Goodnight.”
Her image winked off. The screen went dark. Jamie stripped off his underwear and stretched out on his cot. He grinned up into the shadows of the darkened dome.
She’s coming here! She’s going to find an excuse to come over here. I ought to thank Mitsuo.
His last thought before he fell asleep was about her bare shoulders. Was she wearing anything while they talked? Had she really been naked?
Fuchida seemed to brighten once Trudy joined them. The two biologists started chattering together as soon as she came through the access tunnel. The following morning they rode the Buckyball cables down to the Canyon floor to work on the lichen together.
Rodriguez was obviously happier. He and Trudy bunked together, no pretenses and no questions asked. Jamie had to admit that Trudy made everything brighter. If only she didn’t thump around the dome before daybreak every morning with her incessant jogging.
The only sour notes came from Dex. He called Jamie each day to report on the progress of the next expedition’s preparations.
“Dear old Dad passed his physicals,” Dex said dolorously. “His blood pressure was completely normal. God knows how much medication he took before the test.”
The next day Dex reported, “My old man sent me a message about our attempt to get the ICU to claim our territory on Mars. He sat there behind his big fucking desk just as calm and cool as a glacier and told me if I tried another stunt like that he’d disinherit me.”
“Oh no,” Jamie groaned.
Dex’s grin was ferocious. “Like I need his fucking money. I can have my pick of university chairs when I get back home.”
Jamie warned gently, “A professor’s salary isn’t quite the same as the kind of money you’re accustomed to, Dex.”
With an impatient wave of his hand, Dex said, “I know how to make money, pal. Been watching my father do it all my life. Let him write me out of his will! I don’t give a shit! I’ll show him I can live damn well without him or his money!”
Sure you will, Jamie answered silently. Aloud, he said to Dex, “Don’t cut off your nose—”
“Bullshit!” Dex snapped. “He’s trying to chop off my balls. I’ll show him.”
It wasn’t until hours afterward that Jamie realized he was no longer worried that Dex and Vijay might be getting involved with each other. A few months ago such a realization would have made Jamie very happy, but now he was more worried about Dex’s father and his coming to claim this part of Mars for his business schemes.
He wondered why he no longer worried about Vijay and Dex. It wasn’t because he didn’t care about her. He did, more than he could admit to her. But all these personal relationships were tangled here on Mars. She’s right to keep it from getting too heavy. We won’t get things truly settled between us until we return to Earth, Jamie told himself. If then.
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