Reed cut in, “And what will you be doing for the next ten days? And nights?”
She drew herself up to her full height, almost equal to Reed’s. “I intend to be a good scientist and to behave myself properly. A field trip is no place for game playing, Tony.”
“No. I suppose not.”
“Definitely not.”
She walked away, leaving the wardroom, leaving Reed standing there as the microwave beeped that his breakfast was ready and Monique tried to make it clear that she had not been eavesdropping.
They’re both leaving me, Reed said to himself as he took his tray to the table. Ilona and Joanna. And the Navaho. They’re all leaving me behind.
Monique smiled at him in her dimpling motherly way, then excused herself and left. Reed sat alone, picking listlessly at his food, feeling as abandoned and lonely as the time he had been left in the hospital to have his tonsils removed.
SOL 34: AFTERNOON
Pete Connors frowned at the rover’s control panel as he said into the pin microphone of his headset, “The blamed fans still won’t power up to one hundred percent.”
Vosnesensky’s face was on the display screen in the center of the panel. “How high will they go?”
“Eighty, eighty-two.”
Sitting beside the astronaut, Jamie tried to keep the worried impatience tingling inside him from showing to the others. We can’t put off the departure because the air circulation fans won’t run up to max. That’s no reason to delay the traverse.
Vosnesensky’s eyes went down to the checklist in front of him. “Eighty percent is within tolerable limits,” he said doubtfully.
“I don’t think it’s gonna cause any problems, Mike,” said Connors. “The fans have always been kind of cranky.”
“You can increase the oxygen ratio if necessary,” Vosnesensky said.
“Right. Let’s go with it. We’re ready to roll.”
Connors looked deadly serious, determined. Jamie thought that the man had lost weight since they had arrived on Mars. His face looks thinner, almost haggard. I guess we all do.
Ilona was standing behind Jamie’s chair, her hands on the seat back. Joanna stood behind Connors, expectant tension drawing her lips into a tight line.
Come on, Jamie urged silently. Let’s get this show on the road.
Vosnesensky’s face pulled together in a morose little frown. He puffed out a deep breath, more of a snort than a sigh. “Very well,” he said at last. “You are cleared to proceed.”
Jamie let his own breath out as Connors nodded and replied, “Right. Here we go.”
“Dahsvedahnya. Good luck!”
“Thanks, Mike,” Connors said. He licked his lips, then nudged the accelerator pedal. The rover surged forward. Jamie turned off the comm screen before Vosnesensky could change his mind.
“We’re off,” Ilona murmured.
“Next stop, Tithonium Chasma,” said Connors, trying to sound cheerful.
Their excursion plan called for them to go directly to the canyon, stopping only at sundown and starting again at the next sunrise. There were to be no EVAs, no stops along the way to go outside and explore. Their goal was Tithonium Chasma and nothing less. Jamie wanted them to have as much time and as much food and water and other consumables at the canyon as they possibly could.
The impromptu maps that had been stitched together from the photos taken by the remotely piloted airplanes had shown that it might be possible to descend to the canyon floor along the slope of an ancient landslide that had partially filled in one section of the canyon’s cliff wall. It would be tricky going at best. Most of the old landslides had slumped down below the canyon rim, leaving a drop too steep for the rover to handle. Some of the avalanches completely filled in the canyon floor and even rode up the southern cliff face.
This one, though, seemed usable, and was within the range of their rover. Not too steep, it extended from the lip of the cliff wall down to the bottom without totally covering the canyon floor. It was narrow, compared to most of the others, barely a kilometer wide. But that would be plenty of room for the rover. If the rubble was firm enough to ride over without getting bogged down. If the slope was gentle enough all the way to the bottom; the aerial photos could not catch all the details of every inch of the slide.