Second generation, p.11
Second Generation, page 11
“The last tunnel could have caved in a long time ago and the ice above it may have backfilled,” said Hal.
“We’ll be sending drones into the tunnel adjacent to this one, tomorrow,” said Peter. “Perhaps that’ll give us some answers.”
“I think it’ll raise more questions,” said Jan, rubbing his silver bearded chin. “I hope you folks on the Armstrong find something on Earth to illuminate it.”
“It may have nothing to do with Earth,” said Leo, thoughtfully.
Jan raised his eyebrows, “I hope it is. Most of the alternatives are too mind numbing to comprehend.”
“What do you mean?” asked Georgia.
“We have five working hypotheses, so far. One: it’s a historic Earth mission made before the impact with Goliath, and it was conducted in secret. No records. This would seem most plausible to me. Two: it’s a recent Earth mission made by survivors of Goliath, perhaps looking to find us. Highly unlikely given the trauma Earth has suffered. Three: it’s a secret mission made by the Mars colonists. Even more unlikely because it would be almost impossible to hide an undertaking of this scale. Four: it was made by creatures, intelligent or otherwise, indigenous to Mars. That’s mind blowing, but not wholly impossible.”
“You’re right, some creatures make strange marks in their environment, some of which have regular patterns, like the hexagonal honeycombs of bees,” agreed Georgia. “You said you had five theories.”
Jan shrugged, “You won’t like it. Five: it was an intervention that did not originate from either Mars or Earth…”
There was silence between Georgia and Leo as they took this in.
“The scenarios get exponentially wilder as they go from one to five,” said Hal, “but we’re not ruling out any of them yet. Indeed, we’re open to further suggestions.”
“Not from Mars or Earth…” muttered Leo, trailing off.
“Bimpe’s tests have proved the shells belonged to insects indigenous to Mars,” said Georgia. “Perhaps they created an effect which sculpted the ice?”
“That egg-shaped object doesn’t look it belongs anywhere,” said Hal. “Nor do the insects have to be related to the tunnels. That chamber could have just been a convenient place to gestate. Protected from the extremes of cold, sealed off by the ice.”
“Just because the insects were born on Mars, doesn’t mean they originated here,” said Bimpe. “Just like me and you, Georgia.”
Georgia shook her head, trying to take in what they were saying, “But the old Earth project, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence spent decades searching for signs and found nothing.”
“And yet we are responding to a signal from a planet we believed to be barren,” said Leo, “and they’re staring at inexplicable tunnels containing unknown insect remains and a… a fabricated egg.”
Crew Chamber, The Armstrong – Demetria Philippou
“How’s Hal?” Demetria asked.
“Puzzled,” said Georgia. “We all are.”
“Just gets more and more weird. Radial tunnels. Dead bugs. Fabricated eggs. We might not find anything more than algae and a few extremophiles on Earth.”
“If you really thought that you wouldn’t be here,” smiled Georgia.
“I guess not. But it does seem they’re making all the discoveries.”
“Because they didn’t have to travel hundreds of thousands of kilometres to get there.”
Demetria nodded. The enormity of their voyage was beginning to sink in. Like many others, she had focussed on the arrival at Earth. Their potential discoveries. Although they had preparation work to do, it was plain that they would get very bored very quickly. Bored and fed up with each other. “Stef said having a ship full of fifty colonists on the way to Mars helped to stop boredom.”
“We’ll have to work harder to get on with each other,” said Georgia.
Demetria knew Georgia was thinking about Leo in particular, but instead she asked, “How’s Katya? She rarely shows up at mealtimes, and she shuts herself away on the bridge.”
“I take her tea twice a day. Ask her what she’s doing. She says she’s running simulations of the docking procedure for when we reach Earth orbit. I reckon she’s missing her partner, Bingwen. Just like some of the others.”
“You mean Ursula missing Lena?”
“Yes.”
“Weird that Lena didn’t turn up to say goodbye, don’t you think?” asked Demetria.
“She’s quiet. Verena said Lena’s much like her own mother, whom she was named after. She said her mother couldn’t bear to come and say goodbye to her when she left Earth to come to Mars.”
“Poor Verena.”
“Poor Ursula. She gets on with her work, refining the systems for our exoskeletons and running diagnostic checks on the ship AI. But you can see she’s subdued. Not herself.”
“Glad you’re here Mum.”
“Thanks Demetria, I’m glad I’m with you.”
There was a gleam of mischief in Demetria’s eye, “This way I don’t have to keep taking loads of calls from you.”
“Thanks a lot!” Georgia rolled her eyes.
“How are things with you and Dad?”
“… Professional.”
“Oh. That bad, still?”
“No, I don’t mean it like that. We’re okay, we just keep conversation to work is all.”
“Are you glad he’s with us?”
Georgia put her head on one side, considering. “So far. Let’s see how we all feel in a few weeks time.”
Bridge, The Armstrong – Leo Meier
“What the hell, Pawel?” cried Katya.
“Maintenance,” muttered Pawel, surly.
“But you had that fan out only a few days ago. The pieces floated all over the bridge, bouncing off screens and me. Now you’re back again!”
“Perhaps he just needs to check its running alright?” offered Leo, who’d been told by Demetria to bring Katya tea. He held the sealed cup and straw in one hand while gripping a rail with the other.
“Perhaps he’s just getting in my way on purpose,” retorted Katya.
Pawel glowered, then deliberately let go of the fan casing which drifted over his shoulder.
“Put that back before it hits someone!” Katya complained.
“You can’t just let equipment float free, Pawel, especially on the bridge,” said Leo, wishing he hadn’t been caught with the tea duty.
“Fetch it yourself,” mumbled Pawel.
“Shit! That nearly hit me,” cursed Katya, ducking, as the casing floated over her head.
Stef arrived and caught the casing like a frisbee. “Who threw this?” she demanded.
“Pawel,” Katya pointed an accusing finger at him.
“Did you agree this work with anyone before starting?” asked Stef.
Pawel shook his head, “Just needs doing.”
“I don’t doubt it,” she said, “but from now on, you will agree what you do and when you do it directly with Katya or me. Understood?”
Pawel scowled but nodded.
Stef returned the casing to him and stood over him until he secured it. As he was packing his tools, she turned to Katya, “Rather than sit there complaining, agree a maintenance schedule. We don’t want the Armstrong to fall apart before we get there, neither do we want the bridge in chaos.”
Katya glared at Stef.
Leo gently took Katya’s hand and placed the cup of tea into it. “Anyone else for tea, Stef…Pawel?”
He decided to pick up an empty cup and withdraw without orders in the silent vacuum that followed.
When he returned to the kitchen quarters, mid-way between the crew and biodome chambers, he saw Georgia making a sandwich for herself. She was applying plenty of vegetable mayonnaise to glue the doughy part-baked slices of bread together. Another zero-G survival technique Stef had been teaching everyone.
“Oh, hi Georgia. Sorry, don’t want to get in your way,” he apologised. Although there was a dining area for a dozen people, the actual food prep area was narrow.
“Don’t keep apologising, Leo.”
“Sor… er… okay. It’s just that so many people seem on edge over the last couple of weeks. I walked in on Katya and Pawel having another argument.”
“We’re bored. In a confined space. It’s not surprising. You seem okay though, if annoyingly apologetic.”
“I’m… enjoying this.”
Georgia raised an eyebrow.
“I suppose I’ve been talking to more people since I’ve been on the Armstrong for six weeks than I have all the time I spent in the observatory at Tithonium. Vid calls with Hal and the North Pole team. Calls to Mission Control. Demetria… you.”
Georgia gave the hint of a smile. “You can make me a cup of tea to go with my sandwich,” she said with a nod at the empty in his hand.
Leo washed out the cup and made a fresh brew, handing it to Georgia. He hovered for a moment, watching her long dark hair float freely in the zero gravity. It made her features seem less serious. Less severe. A touch of the unkempt and casual. It made him feel a little easier near her. It reminded him of when they had first got together, when they were only nine Martian years old. He had known her since they were tiny, when she was toddling around after her mum, Sofia. She had looked like a Sofia-doll, all dark serious eyes and straight fringe. As Georgia grew, she lost a little of that severity. She laughed more. They both had.
Then Leo’s awareness of himself and the importance of who he was to other Martians grew. He became more aware of his mother’s ambitions for Mars and, by contrast, how unimportant his own goals seemed. He just wanted to have fun. Mostly with Georgia. For a while they’d been happy. They were blessed with Demetria. But then he overheard more comments which started to get under his skin. ‘I wonder when he’ll make something of himself?’ and ‘So different from his mother,’ or ‘you’d think he would have found his calling by now.’
He had found himself spending more time at the observatory, peering at Earth. Avoiding careless comments. Avoiding everyone, including his own family. Until, one day, he came back to their apartment and found a note written by Georgia. ‘Staying at Hal’s apartment while he’s away exploring. Visit us if you want.’ He had been dumbstruck. Part of him wanted to shout, ask why she had taken Demetria away. Part of him knew exactly why she’d left. He had already left her.
Now he felt awkward and apologetic. He wanted to say sorry to her, and to Demetria, for being so wrapped up in himself. But after so long, he found it hard to know where to start. He looked forward to the vid calls with the North Pole team because he would be sitting right beside Georgia. He could watch her dark eyes as they scanned the vid projections. He could smell her hair. And at the end of each call, they’d chat over what had been discovered, as if there had never been a drifting away. But eventually, Georgia would stand and go. And Leo remained sitting there, wondering what else he could have said.
He realised he had been standing over Georgia, a little too long. He cleared his throat, smiled then left.
As he floated down the corridor, back to the crew chamber, he screwed his eyes shut and cursed himself. So he didn’t see anyone coming the other way.
“Hey, watch out!”
Leo opened his eyes as he collided with Feng. “Oof! Sorry Feng.”
“Looks like you got a lot on your mind there, Leo,” he laughed. That was what made Leo so comfortable in Feng’s company, he rarely got angry, he just laughed.
“Yeah, well… not really,” Leo found it hard to talk about his thoughts, even to his close friend, Feng. “Glad you’re not as tetchy as some of the other crew.”
“We got a way to go yet. Hope we can all stay chilled.”
“I think Pawel has been winding up Katya.”
“I know, I’ll have another word with him. But to be fair, Katya is easily wound up.”
Leo nodded, “Demetria says she’s missing Bingwen. You must be too.”
Feng shrugged, “I call my brother daily, while we can. The distance ’ll make conversation too hard before long, but I’ll still send messages. It’s different for him and Katya. They’re real close.”
“I wonder why Katya came on the mission?”
“I think she felt it was her duty, being the only other pilot.”
“She was helping to train others.”
“Yeah, and they’re doing fine, but it just became clear how much more she knew.”
“She’d only flown sims until now.”
“Those sims are kind of realistic. She’s doing fine. Stef’s got an eye on her.”
“It worries me sometimes. We’re all finding out how much we rely on Stef, but she’s nearing her forties. Her mid seventies in Earth years, so that’s getting on a bit.”
“She looks real fit to me. Doctors checked her out like they did the rest of us. Said she was bomb-proof.”
“No one is bomb proof. What if she were to fall ill?”
“Then your daughter ‘d fix her up.”
“What if she couldn’t?”
“Then we’d have to muddle through. That’s why we have two pilots, two technicians and two engineers on board. A bit of good old fashioned engineering redundancy.”
Leo smiled, “Nothing worries you.”
“Sure, it does, I just don’t let it eat me up.”
Biome chamber, The Armstrong – Demetria Philippou
Demetria lay back against the hydroponic tank in the biome and sighed with relief. She was surrounded by the relaxing sight of green crop leaves.
“Looking to re-stock the pantry?” asked Chen.
“Looking for an escape. Somewhere less heavy. Somewhere quiet,” said Demetria, blowing out her cheeks. The biome was another drum which spun on its axis, like the crew quarters, but the rotation was slower because the plants did not need to build muscles in preparation for Earth. Unlike Demetria, who was exhausted just standing on the rotating floor of the crew chamber now.
“Oh, sorry, I’ll leave you to it,” apologised Chen.
Demetria shook her head, “Stay.” She patted the floor beside her.
“We’re all struggling,” admitted Chen. “I keep asking if people want tea so I can go to the galley on the central axis and relax.”
“I come here. I find floating around in zero G almost as tiring as standing in Earth gravity.”
“We’re only at seventy percent,” said Chen.
“Shit! You mean it’ll get worse?”
“’fraid so.”
“How the hell did people manage on Earth?”
“They were born to it, I guess.”
“No one was born for spaceflight. There’s only eleven of us in the ship that fifty came to Mars and I’m bouncing off the walls. Literally.”
“Everyone’s edgy. We’re all used to having more personal space. Tithonium is huge compared to this.”
“At least Katya and Pawel seem to have made a temporary truce.”
“Because Stef banned Pawel from the bridge and Katya goes into hiding there. Only comes out when Stef tells her to get some physio training in.”
“That’s getting harder and harder too. A hundred laps of the crew chamber, push ups, squat thrusts, weight training… I joined the crew to see Earth and look after us, not to get ripped.”
Chen smiled then looked away, hiding his eyes under his mop of dark straight hair.
“What?”
“Just imagining you ripped,” he mumbled.
“You don’t think I can do it?”
“Oh, sure you can do it. Might be sexy.”
Demetria’s mouth hung open a moment then she slapped his shoulder.
“Hey! I’m sorry, okay?”
“Don’t look sorry. Wipe that grin off your face.”
Chen laughed.
Demetria liked it when Chen laughed, he had the same easy manner as his uncle, Feng. She was also a little taken aback that he might find her sexy. She smiled to herself then changed the subject to avoid embarrassment.
“How’s your gran, Hannah?”
“She’s good,” said Chen. “Sent me a vid again today, telling me about life in Tithonium. Asking after me and Feng.”
“I bet she’s proud of you both.”
He smiled and looked away again, pulling a leaf from the potato crop tank beside him and turning it over in his hands, “Yeah, I guess. Guess Sofia’s proud of you too.”
Demetria nodded, “She was glad I showed an interest in medicine. She’s impressed with Georgia’s achievements, but she really wanted a protégé. Someone to talk shop to.”
Chen continued playing with the leaf, running his fingers over its edge, “Glad you’re with us.”
Demetria looked at Chen and he held her eye. For once he seemed serious. Genuinely glad. Because she would look after them all? Or did he mean something more? Demetria felt her cheeks colouring and got to her feet. “Better go pump iron,” she said, as straight faced as she could manage. “Bet I’ll have bigger biceps than you.”
Crew Chamber, The Armstrong – Leo Meier
Leo sat beside Georgia for their next briefing with Hal and the North Pole crew. They were waiting for the projection to start, taking the weight off their legs induced by the gradually increasing spin. They were so far from Mars now they had to listen to a report, then send a list of questions back, waiting for a second vid with answers. Georgia flicked through notes on her tablet. Leo looked at the side of her cheek, following the familiar curves of her face with his eyes.
Georgia sat back and caught him looking.
He turned away, embarrassed.
She seemed to brush his hand with hers by accident. Was it?
He looked at her hand. Wanted to hold it.
The projection flickered to life and the pre-message pips sounded. Hal sat between Jan, Bimpe and Peter, staring seriously into the cam lens. “We have been able to analyse the egg-shaped container. We can confirm that it’s made from a compound using nano-tube tech.”
“It’s advanced,” said Jan. “My guess is it was made by the same people who developed the space elevator cables. The tech is very similar. So far, the evidence is pointing back at some intervention from Earth.”
