Expedition to a Dead Planet

Chapter Three

Preparing

Re-clipping her checklist Etsuko stretched, her small shipsuit outlining her curves, accenting her well defined form. No mere passenger, she was a Scientist, a Geologist in fact. The Geologist she corrected herself, even if you counted her shared assistant Samuel Franklin. She was the first to admit that Samuel was pretty good, but he worked for the Botany section too. Holding a dual Master in both subjects he'd been selected by lot just hours before departure. A friendly man, more importantly a competent man who knew his way around both a laboratory and the field. Etsuko herself had been third on the list, she hadn't expected to even enter space, then had found herself at Wells Station as first backup. Suddenly primary in a series of events that left two well qualified, and much older men in orbit. Doctor Harson, his family history of diabetes catching up with him had remained at Luna Base. He was her superior and neither much liked the other. Pahda, an Indian, had been backup but was assigned to LBJ Space Center in Houston Texas after his accident. Driving to the Cape he'd been purposely slammed into by a madman who wanted Mars 'kept pure.' It'd cost him an eye, not really a crippling injury on Earth, no more so than Harson's problem. But enough to bump Etsuko, to Professor Harson nothing more than a young glorified lab tech, up the list to primary.

It'd been weeks after departure before she'd found her 'place' in the expedition. She had made a few close friends, an enemy and learned how to function in what was now the most cut off human social group to ever exist. Even now there were some members she knew only well enough to say hello to. They though were on the other ships, making conversations limited to off duty IntershipNet messages with a few short videos and role playing games. Completing her task she finally returned to the viewport to look at Mars again. In thirty hours they'd be down there, they didn’t have the time or resources to spend weeks in orbit rechecking their decisions, decisions made on the long trip from Luna orbit to Mars. They would be living alone for a minimum of three years unless an emergency occurred. If everything went right, maybe for life, a handful of bacteria infecting yet another unsuspecting host. Would Mars prove as defenseless as Earth had? Or would there be antibodies, pre-existing Martian life ready to defend their home from the invaders? Etsuko giggled softly as images came to her mind. She'd watched almost every Mars movie made, maybe all of them. Would there be long legged women wearing nearly-nothing skirts to serve the expedition males? Or giant amebas to eat them alive. Prehistoric beings having devolved from a once mighty civilization or huge headed beings that wanted to shove crystals in her neck, then steal all their copper? Maybe three legged war machines with tentacled controllers or tiny little guys with high voices and way overpowered weapons. She shook her head at the images, now a flatcat...

Still fact was dry dusty fact. No huge expanses of water so no amoeba. Long legged women might be fun, she'd never limited herself to one sex and the image of those... It'd been a long time, over two years, almost three she admitted. But the women were far less likely that the copper thieves. More than likely Mars had complex life at one time, it may still but it'd never gotten beyond algae. Well, maybe a moss if it'd been lucky. No forgotten ruins of past civilizations, no noble last stand against the coming dry, no canales, no flatcats. No domes with broken wind turbines, its dissected inhabitants sitting around a meeting table. She knew her expertise would be tapped by the biology team. After all, a good geologist was part biologist and part paleontologist as well. Though her Doctorate was in Structural Geology she was just as comfortable in any other area of her chosen field and she was the only pure geologist in the expedition.

It was a fact that her first priority was to locate caverns. Places that could easily be converted to human habitation would also hold life, if any existed. She'd argued that anyone could hunt for holes in the ground but Dr. Harson had even put it in writing, giving a copy of that order to the Expedition Commander. He had no love of women in science, even less for, as he'd told her in private. 'A slant eyed China Doll slut Jap.' At least his opinion hadn't been shared by the people who selected her, not for the first time she wondered if that medical test that disqualified Hanson had been real or rigged. Hanson had made a lot of enemies in his life. True, no one was more qualified than him in this arena, but on a trip like this his attitude would have gotten him a long walk out of a very short airlock.

Sans suit of course.

Another chirp broke her out of her revere. "This is the Captain. Engine cutoff in one minute, prepare for zero gee environment. All landing crew attend your gear. Planned departure in twenty four hours. Good luck."

"The Captain" she whispered. Like Moses he would never set foot on the promised land, his job was to ferry them here, wait, then leave at a predetermined time for more supplies and the next group. Very few would return from the surface and even those few would probably be kicking and screaming all the way unless Mars proved deadly of course, then they'd dump everything and cram into orbiters meant for half their number. She wondered where they would land. There were twelve sites to select from, she had her favorites of course. That huge canyon was number one but final selection had been made in secret by the senior scientists, of which she wasn’t one. She'd given her list of three places in order of desirability but wither or not she 'got lucky' was out of her hands now. She couldn't get the image of forgotten ruins from her mind, a child's daydream of course, but an explorers dream as well.

A sudden silence caught her attention. Having pushed her all the way from Luna Orbit to Mars orbit the ion engines had finally shut down. Even now she felt herself float away from deck and wall. "Velcro slippers. I knew I forgot..." She turned for her shared cubical. Of all the things to forget, such a simple item of both comfort and safety.

Nami stopped at the sight of the man Carleton at her door. Soundlessly she moved back, waiting until he'd left. 'Carleton ' she thought. 'Tom-catting again.' Not that she hated him or anything, he even had a sort of attractive personality, as long as he was talking shop. Word had quickly spread among the fleet's women about him, and a few of the other men. Carleton seemed stranger though, less macho. It was like he was hiding something she thought, or afraid. Though it wasn't her business now, it would be before she decided to ever share genetic material with him. Or any of the expeditions males, even though Carleton was one of the better looking specimens. "More importantly, smarter where it counts" she whispered to herself. Word among the women was he had a vendetta and was taking it out on them by trying to have all of them. Men did that she knew, when they were angry at another woman or themselves. Dropping low she peaked out again. He'd gone so with a sigh of relief she returned to her cubical's door.

Door though was a misnomer. Plastic coated bubbled glass, it had about as much in common with the door of her childhood bedroom as an old bed sheet did with a ball room curtain. Though it provided some measure of privacy it was a known fact that even the slightest sound came through. Its lock too was a joke, a small draw bar of thin aluminum of which hers had broken the first week out. Carleton had fixed it, and fixed it right the first try. Talking shop she'd been excited to learn about his ideas and hadn't minded explaining what she did. At least not until he'd finished that job and turned his attention on her. Since then she'd made certain to never be alone with him, maybe in the future, but right now he had too much emotional baggage at the table. Thank Buddha everyone was clean medically. Suddenly she remembered a handful of computer mem-cells she'd smuggled aboard with her. Carleton would go nuts if he ever saw them, or discovered her little secrets. Morally she had to admit she wasn't any better than Carleton .

Maybe she just hid it better.

"This is the Captain speaking. All non-ships crew please return to your rooms. We'll begin launching remote’s in one hour, ships balance must be stabilized before then. Launch sequence will require two hours. You might as well get some sleep people, your gonna need it. Captain out." That announcement stopped Saski in her tracks. With a shrug, and short verbal explosion about missing her chance to view Mars longer she settled down and flicked on her cubicles monitor.