“We won’t be out long,” Jamie said. “Looks like plenty of rocks strewn all around here. Joanna can do the collecting while I dig a couple of boreholes.”
“Just take it easy and don’t strain yourselves,” Connors said.
It was not until the astronaut had left the airlock that Jamie realized that Connors, too, had been sweating. As the airlock cycled down and the outer hatch popped open, Jamie wondered how Pete could be so absolutely cool at the wheel of the rover and perspiring now that they were safely on the canyon floor.
“Mikhail Andreivitch, I must speak with you in private.” Mironov said it in Russian, in almost a whisper.
Vosnesensky looked up from the comm monitor where he had been sitting for the past hour, watching Waterman and Brumado working on the canyon floor.
Mironov’s usually cheerful face looked very serious.
“What is it?” Vosnesensky asked, also in Russian.
Pulling up one of the flimsy plastic chairs, the cosmonaut said, “I don’t feel well. I feel sick.”
“Have you told Reed?”
“Not yet. I wanted to ask you if I should. It might not look right for one of us to be sick.”
Vosnesensky’s face contracted into a frown. “Then obviously you don’t feel sick enough to see the doctor.”
Mironov looked very unhappy. “I ache all over. I feel weak. It’s as if I’m coming down with the flu.”
“Let Reed examine you. We can’t afford to have an infectious disease spread through the whole group.”
“But what will they say back in Kaliningrad?”
Deliberately softening his voice, Vosnesensky said, “If you are ill it’s not your fault. The worst that can happen is that Kaliningrad will order you to transfer to the orbiting ship while they send Ivshenko down here to replace you.”
Mironov groaned. “That’s what I was afraid of.”
“If it must be done, it must be done. For the good of the mission.” Vosnesensky reached out and patted him on the shoulder, grinning. “Besides, Dr. Yang has a much better bedside manner than the Englishman.”
“You think so?”
“Once during training we had a very interesting discussion of Sino-Soviet relations, horizontally. I can vouch for her sympathy and tender care.”
Mironov’s hangdog expression brightened considerably. “Probably all I need is some aspirin, I suppose.”
“See what Reed recommends. I know you don’t want to leave the ground team, but if it has to be-well, there are some compensations.”
The cosmonaut pulled himself up from the chair with an obvious effort, sighed deeply, and went off toward the infirmary. Vosnesensky turned his attention back to the comm screen. He ran a finger along the inside of his collar, then called up the environmental control display on his screen. The numbers showed everything inside the dome was normal, except for one of the air circulation fans, which had been turned off for maintenance. The dome’s temperature stood just a hair below its usual twenty-one degrees Celsius. Strange, thought Vosnesensky. It felt warmer than normal.
Jamie felt totally exhausted. He sagged into the cockpit seat and reached for the communication switch.
“God, you look awful,” Connors said.
“I feel lousy. Just about had enough strength to get out of the hard suit.”
“You were outside too long.”
“Maybe.”
“A hot meal and a good night’s sleep are what you need.”
Jamie almost laughed. “You sound like my mother.”
Grinning back at him, Connors said, “Come to think of it, I sound like my mother.”
Jamie flicked on the comm system. Vosnesensky’s dour face filled the tiny screen on the control panel.
“Christ, Mikhail, don’t you ever take a break?”
The Russian grunted. “On our way back home I will be able to rest for nine months.”
“You’ve got a point there,” Jamie admitted. Sucking in a deep breath, he continued, “Okay, here’s our preliminary report from today’s EVA.”
“I am ready. The tape recorder is on.”
“We brought eight rocks aboard for testing. Dr. Malater and Dr. Brumado are sorting them out now in the lab section. Three of them have some sort of orange intrusions on them that we haven’t seen before. There are also similar orange streaks running along the cliff wall here and there. We took scrapings.”