18
Gangis
Their first major expedition was postponed several days by the funeral and then by construction of the Overlook, which everyone actively assisted on. Will, in his infinite geology experience, had once learned how to build with dry fieldstone, and his experience proved valuable; Martian stones fit together just as well as terrestrial ones. In two days they had a very nice structure finished, six meters in diameter just like the habitat that took them between the planets, defined by a circular stone bench with a back rest broken by three entrances.
The expedition, consisting of both rangers and portahabs, occupied by Will, David, and Sergei, left the Outpost on December 1 and headed east for three hundred kilometers, generally staying close to the escarpment except when an interesting feature caused a detour or a massive landslide deposit necessitated one. They explored several craters that punched all the way through the sedimentary rocks filling Aurorae Chaos, allowing them to study the sequence of catastrophic floods layer upon layer. They also shot the escarpment frequently with the laser to measure the chemical composition of various strata, and recovered samples from the boulder pile at the base.
On December 24 they reached the entrance to Gangis Chasma, an immense gash in the Martian crust seven hundred kilometers long, two hundred wide, and two to three kilometers deep. They explored its northern escarpment for twenty kilometers, then crossed the valley mouth—only sixty kilometers wide at that point—and explored twenty kilometers of its southern escarpment and the point where it joined with the northern escarpment of the main Marineris canyon system. Then on December 28 they turned back. Once they had crossed the mouth of Gangis back to their original route, they stopped and unloaded everything surplus they could; a tonne of water, five hundred kilos of solar panels, empty methane and oxygen bottles, and a small electrolysis unit and Sabatier reactor. They hooked everything together and set up a depot where the water and atmospheric carbon dioxide would slowly be converted to methane and oxygen. Then they hurried back to the Outpost, stopping only to pick up plastic bags of samples that they had dropped off on their way. The rangers returned to the Outpost the afternoon of December 31, still loaded with a considerable amount of methane and oxygen.
They celebrated New Year’s and took a week off to rest and recuperate. The rangers and portahabs needed minor repairs, but they had held up extremely well under Martian conditions; they were based on lunar vehicles, which had broken down often until their designs had been improved. They had a tonne and a half of samples to unpack and many required additional research; email requests for x-ray crystallography, scanning electron micrography, microscopic photography, and elemental analyses poured in, keeping four of them busy constantly. January was a continuous round of background research. The quantity of data they generated was so great that several standard publishers of articles about Mars said that henceforth they wanted papers that involved more analysis; too many papers describing individual rocks or short field stops were being submitted.
January was also the occasion to plan their second long field trip, which filled the month of February. It took Will, Ethel, and Sergei deep into Gangis—within a hundred kilometers of the carbonaceous shale deposits—then back to the Outpost. They hauled another half tonne of solar panels to the supply cache developing at the mouth of Gangis, raising its output of methane and oxygen to fifty kilograms per day, and they left yet more water there. The methane and oxygen that had already accumulated proved essential to get home safely, since the 1,200 kilometer round trip exceeded the ranger’s standard capacity.
They returned from their second expedition on February 28, the first anniversary of their landing on Mars. They celebrated, then devoted March to follow-up research, repairs, and rest. As April began Will, David, and Laura set out on mission three, to reach the fossiliferous deposits in central Gangis some seven hundred-fifty kilometers from Aurorae Outpost. The first three hundred kilometers were routine; they had traversed the route twice already. The supply cache had a tonne and a half of methane and oxygen waiting for them, more than enough to replace the fuel they had burned to get there. They refueled and pushed to the end of the route they had cleared in February. They proceeded at twenty-kilometers a day—about as fast as one could go and clear a decent route back—making very few daily geology stops. In a week they reached the two-kilometer-high pile of rocks located in the middle of Gangis. They were a remnant of the highland plateau left behind as the rift valley opened to the north and south of them: the record of 600 million years of deposition from a constant bombardment by asteroids and the associated sheets of ejecta, volcanic eruptions with their lavas and ash, crudely sorted deposits of sand and gravel left by flash floods and steady trickles of water, evaporites and hematite in salt marshes and temporary salt lakes, and layers of dune sandstone of loess from the wind. The thickest ejecta deposits often were followed by the thickest fluvial deposits, suggesting that impact heating had temporarily increased the available running water. The entire 2,000 meter stack had six significant lenses of carbonaceous shale, representing temporary quiet water conditions where life was able to thrive.
Laura was driving one ranger, David the other. They made straight for the first known pile of carbonaceous shale debris on the talus slope below the eroding cliffs. They quickly suited up and climbed the rock pile to get access.
“We’re finally doing something the rovers never could do!” exclaimed Will, scrambling over the last few boulders between him and a huge, smashed pile of black shale. He jumped over a rock, then bent over and grabbed a piece. He held it up triumphantly, then brought it to his helmet. He pushed a button on his suit and a magnifying lens swung down in front of his right eye.
“Does it have spherules?” asked David. He was a few paces behind Will.
“Oh, yes; lots of them! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to recognize them!”
“Hey, watch the rocket scientist crack,” joked Laura. She was coming up the debris slope as well. She was there just a few seconds behind David.
“Ah!” she and David said almost simultaneously as they picked up samples and began to look. “Looks familiar,” she added.
“No question,” agreed David. “We’ve got to check a lot of other sample types as well; we’ve found spherules in just about all the strata, here.”
“Except this is the first time we’ve confirmed the spherules in the shale from this outcrop,” reminded Will. “The samples we had access to, until now, were all float of uncertain provenance.” Will stood up and look at the smashed mess of shale around them. A chunk the size of a bathroom had broken off high above, broken into a few large pieces on the way down, then shattered on impact. “You know, I bet some of the float down below was debris that flew a long way through the air after impacts like this.”
David scanned the ground beyond the talus slope. “Maybe. The nearest piece was found sixty meters or so from here. That’s a long way to fly through the air.”
“But this chunk could have broken off pretty high up,” said Will. “And a sliver could have been propelled laterally.”
“That might be possible,” agreed David. “The guys in science control will figure it out. I just wonder how many tonnes of this stuff we have to take back to Earth!”
“They’ll advise us about that as well,” said Laura. “I think we’ll be loading the shuttles pretty full.”
“You know, this stuff could be sold to Mars fans for the price of gold,” said Will. “That could raise a lot of money.”
“Dream on, Moonman,” replied Laura. “NASA would be afraid its reputation for science would be forever compromised.”
“One reason they never seem to have enough money,” exclaimed Will, smiling.
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For half of April they drove along the sedimentary stack in the middle of Gangis, circling it completely, then returning eastward along the southern escarpment of the canyon and its associated chaotic terrain. They had to fill up completely at the fuel cache because they had so much rock with them; almost three tonnes of samples. Every piece was filled with microfossils, trillions of them. The analysis would take at least six weeks even when they skipped many steps and left many rocks unexamined until they were brought back to Earth.
The first afternoon back, Will, David, and Laura had to give Shinji blood samples; he was checking their electrolytes and determining such issues as decalcification of bones. Fortunately, the intense physical exertion necessary to wear a suit tended to strengthen their bones. The next morning—a day off—Will and Ethel walked up to the overlook.
“You know, it’s incredible that we’ve built so much in thirteen months,” said Will, looking across the outpost. “We’ve now got one lush greenhouse and another one that’s greening fast, two complete habitats, wells, power. . . really amazing.”
“While you were away, Sergei and I sprayed another ten tonnes of water on each habitat,” added Ethel. “They’ve now got a nice, thick ice coat; excellent radiation protection. And the Sunwing Hanger is finally finished. I made the last dozen polyethylene roof supports and anchored them into the sandbags, then tied down the parachute roof sections.”
“That’s for only one Sunwing though, right?”
“Yes, but we can pull the second one up against the first one and tie it, so we have shelter for two if we need it. Of course, they can stay in the air for weeks at a time, so it’s easiest keeping them aloft.”
“Not while we’re all away. It’s not clear we can keep them both up for nine months.”
“We can cover them both with parachutes before we leave. We won’t be able to take them up and land them.”
“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Will. He looked at Ethel. “I have a proposition for you. It’ll take a minute to explain, so you’ll have to bear with me. Everyone calls me Moonman, but over the last thirteen months I think I’ve found a world more interesting than the moon. And I’m under the impression that you’ve found a pretty interesting place as well.”
“Here?” Ethel nodded. “The Outpost has been fascinating. It’s been fantastic. I’ve been making more items than I’d ever make at ISS or Shackleton, repairing a wider variety of things, working on the greenhouses—much more interesting than I thought—and there’s even a view.”
“That’s my feeling, too. I’m thinking that you and I might consider. . . staying another two years. And getting married.”
“What?” Ethel looked at him, startled.
“Well, where else in the solar system can two astronauts be married together, do their careers at the same place, and not be separated for months at a time? We could stay two years, or even four if we wanted to; then when we’re ready to retire from active duty, whenever that is, we can return to Earth.”
“Huh.” Ethel considered. “This is a rather shocking suggestion. Or maybe I should say suggestions, because there’s staying and getting married! I’m not sure which is more far-out.”
“Well, the first suggestion fixes the problems of the second suggestion.”
“Maybe. It’s not a very romantic approach!”
“Like I said, bear with me. I don’t think I have ever gotten to know a woman under stranger circumstances than this mission. We have very little private time together, except outside like this, and we have no physical relationship at all. Right now I can’t even kiss you! But Ethel, I’ve thought about you a lot. I miss you when I’m not with you. I want to be with you and do things for you. In short: I love you.”
“I love you, too.” She laughed. “And this has been a strange situation to be in, not even holding hands. I wonder whether NASA would want a married couple on Mars. The problems of uneven team-building and favoritism remain, and there’s always the worry about children.”
“We’d have to find out about NASA, and I suppose we’d have to be very careful about children. Because this would be a very strange and difficult place to have a child.”
“We don’t even know whether it would be possible. The rabbits and chickens are having healthy-looking offspring, but their biochemistry may not be completely normal; we don’t have the instruments for detailed testing. And in the last month, sitting inside, going outside very little, Shinji says I lost about one percent of my bone density, based on an x-ray he took. Unless one exercises a lot, the gravity here is not good for one’s cardiovascular system and skeleton.”
“Unless one exercises a lot, terrestrial gravity is not good for one either,” noted Will, wryly.
“Good point,” said Ethel, chuckling. She looked around. “This would be a lonely place with only two.”
“It would be. We’d have to be careful. No field trips, and we’d both have to go out together when we went outside. But there’s plenty of work to do inside the habitat for nine months; we have tonnes of rocks to study, six rovers to drive, and two Sunwings to fly.”
“And we could provide support when Columbus 2 arrives, if anything goes wrong. I wonder whether NASA would consent to our staying?”
“There’s only one way to find out. I think they would agree to it, eventually. They’re recruiting Columbus 2 based on the idea that at least two crew would stay for an extra two years. Until we have faster space vehicles, crews can’t overlap each rotation unless some people stay two rotations. It’s the only way.”
“But you were talking about staying even longer.”
“Who knows? If we decide to get married, it’ll be a mutual decision. I’m open to staying longer, but I don’t know how I’ll feel in two years. I still don’t know how you feel about marrying me.”
“Well, I love you, Will. I said that to you last July. Balancing my love for you and my career is the tricky thing. I could be tempted to return to Earth and marry you there even if it is risky to both the relationship and the career. Mars might be less risky to both, but it’s not an ideal environment, either. And while we don’t want kids now, what if we want them in the future?”
“There’s still time. We’re 35. If we stayed here even five more years, it wouldn’t be too late to start a family.”
“Though we might need some pretty powerful fertility assistance to do it! We could certainly stay two more years, though. Will Elliott, you’ve made my simple life so complicated!” And she laughed.
He took her gloved hand in his. “Well, sometimes life is complicated. Feelings make it complicated.”
“They do.”
“So, what do you say?”
“Give me a few hours to think about it. This is too sudden and too big to make a snap decision. I need to think.”
“Okay. I understand; I was up all last night thinking about it.”
“You were?”
Will nodded. She smiled; it was romantic.
They both rose and headed back down to the Outpost. They could see Laura and Sergei working on one of the automated cargo landers; they were transferring propellant tanks from two landers to a third one to increase its total transport capacity. Laura and Sergei had spent the night together; they still did occasionally.
Will and Ethel entered Habitat 2, where David was hard at work on the samples from Gangis. Ethel headed to her manufacturing area, suit donning facility 2; it had doubled well as a manufacturing facility. She looked at the bars of iron she had made from meteoritic material, two meters long and a centimeter in diameter. They were sitting on the floor; some had been used to reinforce the hanger’s walls of stone and sandbags and a few others had been used to support the floor of Habitat 1, which was beginning to sag seriously. They reminded her that the carbonyl separation process had also recovered some platinum and related elements. She opened the carbonyl unit and looked at the top tray; it has a shiny, silver coating on it. There should be more than enough metal to make two wedding rings. That was something to think about. She stared at the greenhouse nearby, the less lush of their two but still greening quite nicely. The two greenhouses together could feed four people once they were mature, and they would be mature in a few months. Wheat, corn, tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, soybeans, peas, cucumbers, squash, eggplants, strawberries, peppers, mint, cilantro, basil, mushrooms, chickens, eggs, rabbits; a small range of foods, but balanced and reasonably nutritious. Coffee and tea were running out, but mint tea had been a pleasant substitute. From wheat they could make pasta, bread, couscous, and cakes; from soybeans, soymilk, soy ice cream, tofu, and soybean oil. Even with advanced food processing equipment fresh foods were labor intensive, but they had better flavor than the frozen foods imported from Earth.
That reminded her: Shinji was having the time of his life studying the fossils. Ethel headed for Habitat 1, where she assumed she’d find him, since he hadn’t been in Habitat 2. She was right; he was in the medical area analyzing the blood samples he drew the day before.
“Good sol.”
He looked up. “Good sol.”
“I have a strange hypothetical question for you, one you cannot talk to anyone about except Will and me.”
“Really? If it’s about birth control pills, I’ve got plenty left.”
“No, that’s not the question, though it may lead to that question. Shinji, it seems to me you really love this work here. If a group of us were thinking of applying to NASA to stay here an extra two years, would you be interested?”
“Staying? Who’s thinking of staying?”
“Will and I.”
“You and Will. And me. I doubt NASA would agree to it.”
“Maybe not, but let’s say we asked.”
“Hum. Maybe I’d stay two more years. I’m not sure what I’ll do when I get back to Earth. I haven’t thought about it a lot, yet, but I want to continue working on these fossils. The facility being sent will be quite advanced; the size of an entire habitat. I’ve helped design it, too.”
“I know. Do you want to work in it?”
“That’s the question, I guess. It would be very interesting. Let me think about it. I would be interested.”
“Let me know.” Ethel turned back to her work area. She headed straight to the platinum; she wanted to make Will a wedding ring. As she pulled the tray out of the unit, she realized she was convinced. She would stay and marry him.
Meanwhile Will went through the motions to do his work, but he was unable to concentrate. “Come on, Will, I need some help,” said David, gently.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t sleep last night.”
“No? You did fine on the trip.”
“I just asked Ethel to marry me.”
“Really? I thought she said she didn’t want to give up her career.”
“I asked her to stay here on Mars with me for another two years or more.”
“Really!” David was shocked. Will nodded. “What did she say?”
“She has to think about it.”
“That’s a lot to think about! This isn’t the Australian Outback with a mall a twenty-hour drive away. It isn’t Shackleton, four days’ flight from Earth.”
“I know. This is an entire planet. A fascinating, complex, ancient planet. An isolated, lonely one, too.”
“Not to mention a planet that can kill you in ten seconds.”
“I know.”
David looked at him. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know whether it’s a great idea and very courageous, or crazy.”
Will shrugged. “I don’t know, either! And I don’t think Ethel knows.”
“Wow. This means we won’t be exploring the moon together any more, Moonman.”
“Maybe not. But who knows, twenty years from now we might both be going there still.”
“I suppose that’s possible. Malika and I have been talking. Once I’m back, we’re moving the family back to Paris.”
“I thought she didn’t want to live there.”
“She fears for the kids; it’s a seductive place. But if I’m with her, she’s willing to live there. That’ll allow me to work for the Mars Project office in Paris. So we may still be working together. I wonder what NASA will say.”
“If Ethel says yes, I guess we’ll find out.”
They went back to work; having talked through some of his feelings, Will was able to concentrate a bit better. A bit before noon Ethel came in, smiling. Will saw her and turned toward her. She walked over to him, picked up his left hand, and tried to slide a ring on his finger. “What’s this?”
“My crude attempt at a wedding ring.”
“Oh?” Will smiled.
“Congratulations!” exclaimed David.
“It’s platinum, from the carbonyl unit. It’s way too big, I see; I was guessing the size.”
“I suppose we can’t use NASA’s platinum.”
“This is temporary; I thought I’d make us rings. By the way, I will stay here with you and marry you.”
“I figured! Here, let me give you something, too.” Will stood and kissed her. Ethel smiled.
“Thank you, even though we are on duty.”
“I won’t talk,” replied David. “I’m really happy for both of you. You’re two of my favorite people in the world.”
“Who’s on kitchen duty today? Shinji?” asked Ethel.
David nodded. “I think so, and all he has to do is heat up leftovers from last night’s supper.”
“Let’s stop at the metallurgical facility on our way to lunch,” said Ethel. “My ring is still cooling. And I want to measure your finger so I can adjust your ring.”
“No, it’s fine! It’s not that too big. I can add something to it to make it fit better.”
“I can melt it down and make it again; it’ll take an hour this afternoon and then it’ll be right. Come on.”
Will nodded and walked with Ethel to the metallurgical unit, where they picked up the other ring. Then they strolled through Greenhouse 2, arm in arm, into Habitat 1. Laura and Sergei had just come through the airlock and were taking off their suits. They saw Will and Ethel with arms locked and were surprised. Will and Ethel just smiled and kept walking.
A few minutes later all six of them were in the Great Room, so Will decided it was time to make the announcement. “Okay, attention everyone! Ethel and I have news to announce!”
“What?” asked Laura, sensing what was coming but uncertain.
“We’ve decided to get married,” exclaimed Ethel. She held up her wedding ring; so did Will.
“Wow; congratulations!” said Laura.
“Great, congratulations!” added Sergei.
“Where and when will the ceremony be? On Earth?” asked Laura.
“No; it’ll have to be here,” replied Ethel. “Because we’ve decided to volunteer to stay two more years.”
Laura was startled. “You’re kidding! I don’t think you can!”
“We can ask,” said Will. “The habitats are rated for fifteen years each. We’d have two portahabs and at least one shuttle, so there would be plenty of living space. We’d have two greenhouses to supplement our food supply—which is enough anyway—and plenty of electricity to make water and oxygen. Everything has proved extremely reliable. There’s no significant danger.”
“But do you really want to stay here another two years?” asked Sergei. “You’ve said you didn’t. I know I wouldn’t want to. I’ve enjoyed my stay and the work I’ve done, but I’m also looking forward to going home.”
“Me, too,” added Laura. “I’m looking forward to a tickertape parade in New York City.”
“I’ve really enjoyed the work, and I’d like to stay another two years,” said Will. “I’m not sure after that.”
“The same for me,” agreed Ethel. “This has been the best assignment I’ve ever had. If Will and I get married and go back to Earth, we’ll be flying on different missions and won’t see each other very much. Here, at least, we’ll be working together.”
“That’s true. But this is no place for kids,” said Laura.
“We’re not planning to have children while we’re here, if ever,” replied Ethel.
“But just two of you; that’ll be lonely,” said Sergei.
“I’m willing to stay as well,” exclaimed Shinji. The others were startled; Ethel hadn’t even mentioned her conversation to Will.
“Really?” Laura said.
Shinji nodded. “Yes, I’ve been thinking about the idea all morning, after Ethel and I talked. You’re right, Ethel; staying another two years is a unique opportunity for me. This is the beginning of the real biological exploration of Mars. Columbus 2 is arriving with the essential equipment that we don’t have. I’ve already identified three species. With enough time and the right equipment I can identify a lot more.”
“Three personnel; NASA will be more willing to consider the request with three, especially when one is a physician,” said Laura. “You know, I think the marriage plans and the plans to stay are really two separate issues, especially with Shinji wanting to stay as well. My suggestion is that this afternoon the three of you and myself tape a message to Mission Control where the three of you volunteer to stay and I endorse the idea. I wouldn’t say anything at all about getting married. They consider it their business, but I think we should treat it as none of their business. Let them decide about your request to stay, first; then announce the wedding.”
“What if they ask? They might,” said Will.
“I wouldn’t lie to them, but I’d start by saying that’s not relevant to the question of staying.”
“NASA cannot deal well with questions of love and marriage,” agreed Sergei. “We’ve already seen that on this trip. Their policies make sense for short missions, but not for long ones.”
Once the wedding is announced, you’ll probably want to emphasize the decision not to have children here,” added Shinji. “Mars is no place for children, and won’t be for a long time. Having children here raises all sorts of mythic issues of radiation damage and kids with two heads, too.”
“I agree,” said Will. “That’s easy enough.”
“Are we sure staying another two years is a good idea?” asked Sergei. “It seems to me we have the spare equipment to keep the life support systems of both habitats running for nine months until Columbus 2 arrives.”
“We’ll probably want to stay close to the outpost,” added Shinji. “With three, we could send out two on an expedition of a few day’s length if we really had to, but it’d be better to stay here.”
“There’s plenty to do here,” agreed Ethel. “There are tonnes of samples to analyze, rovers to run, and I can make all sorts of furniture and basic items needed for Columbus 2, which means when they arrive everything will be ready for them. We don’t need to go more than a kilometer from here.”
“If we can keep the wells going for the nine months, when Columbus 2 arrives we’ll have all the water we need for several years,” added Will. “The wells are maturing and putting out more and more water vapor all the time. Pretty soon we’ll be getting a tonne a day. We’ll also have a hundred thousand tonnes of rock heated to two hundred centigrade by then; even if we get a bad dust storm that cuts off the sun for three or four months, we’ll be able to extract heat from the hot rock during the entire storm, so the outpost will stay warm.”
“And the greenhouses will be in much better shape if they’re kept functioning nine months,” added Shinji. “Rather than killing all the rabbits and chickens before we leave, we’ll be able to keep the species going. That means Columbus 2 can bring other species, knowing that Columbus 1’s species will be available as well.”
“The arguments in favor of continuous habitation are pretty strong,” agreed Laura. “Mothballing the Outpost for nine months is not an optimum situation. The dangers are the unexpected; an explosion that kills one and injures another, for example. There won’t be any explosions in a mothballed outpost, but one being used actively could have one. We know three people can stay here for nine months because the facility is designed to keep all six of us alive if we had a massive failure of the shuttles.”
“If eight arrive on Columbus 2 and there are three here, that’s eleven people on Mars,” said Will. “The habitats are designed for six each, so we have sufficient capacity.”
“Especially with another habitat is coming,” added Laura. “Capacity for eleven is fine. My only suggestion would be that they bring two more greenhouses instead of one, so they can raise food for up to eight.” She looked at David. “Can you devote the afternoon to updating the inventory? I want to know whether there are shortages that preclude a crew staying here nine months until Columbus 2 arrives.”
David nodded. “We should think about what changes to Columbus 2’s inventory this will require,” said Will. “So, this afternoon we’ll call Mission Control about the proposal that three of us stay.”
“And say nothing about the wedding,” agreed Ethel. “We better not talk to our parents yet, either.”