Connors said, “No way around it. We’re gonna have to tell Reed about this.”
Jamie nodded reluctantly. “What about drilling a deep core while we’re stuck here?”
“No sense starting to unpack the power drill if we’ll have to break it down and stow it away again when the storm hits. We’re in no great shape for heavy work anyway.”
“But if there’s no storm we’ll have wasted the whole damned day.” Jamie realized he was starting to sound like Patel. For the same reason: precious time was being stolen from him, time he needed to do his work.
“We ought to know if the storm’s going to happen in an hour or two,” Connors said.
“Maybe,” said Jamie. “And maybe Toshima’s just going off the deep end.”
“Want me to ask Mikhail?”
Jamie knew that Vosnesensky would simply repeat what he had already said: Stay safely inside the rover and take no risks.
Joanna was doggedly finishing her breakfast, spooning up the last of the frozen fruit dessert. “I can at least spend the day examining the rocks and soil samples we brought in yesterday,” she said.
Ilona murmured, “I will assist you. I think I can manage that. The ones with the bright orange intrusions look interesting.”
“Like Jamie’s green rock?” Joanna forced a smile.
Ilona smiled back. “These are orange.”
Jamie said, “I’d appreciate it if you’d analyze the core samples first.”
“Not the rocks?”
He started to shake his head but the motion brought fresh pain. “There’s heat coming up from below the surface and water in some form that makes up the morning mists. I think the core samples have more to tell us than colored rocks.”
Joanna cocked her head slightly to one side. “If you wish,” she said, sounding unconvinced.
“I’m going to call Reed,” Connors said, sliding out from behind the table.
And I’m going to sit here like an idiot with nothing to do. The lab module was too small for three of them to work in it simultaneously. “I guess I’ll clean up,” he said.
The women went slowly back to the airlock and through it to the lab module. Connors was already up in the cockpit calling Reed. Jamie stood alone at the narrow table littered with the remains of their breakfast, feeling a dull ache in his joints and a sullen throbbing in his head.
It can’t be the flu, he told himself. We would have come down with it months ago if it was flu or any other kind of infectious disease. It’s something we’ve caught here, something from Mars. Can’t be anything else.
He remembered his dream and shuddered.
He’s lot the cat out of the bag, Tony Reed said to himself as he studied the face of Pete Connors on his communications screen. Is it my imagination or has his complexion gone sallow?
The astronaut was perspiring lightly, that much Reed could easily see. His eyes were bloodshot, his speech a bit slower than usual. And he had reported that all four of the people in the rover were feeling sick. Vosnesensky can’t hide that from Li. No matter how much Mikhail Andreivitch wants to cover this up, Connors has spilled the beans.
“And you say that all four of you are in the same condition?” Reed asked.
“Pretty much,” replied Connors. “Ilona seems the worst off. Jamie’s in the best shape-or at least he’s not complaining as much.”
The stoical Indian. He’d probably refuse to utter a peep even if he were being roasted at the stake.
“Any loss of appetite?” he asked aloud.
Connors frowned with thought. Then, “Doesn’t seem to be. But we’re all so damned tired, it’s hard to tell.”
“Hm, yes.” Reed chewed his bottom lip momentarily. “And you’re taking your vitamin supplements?”
“Yessir. I see that they all take the pills every morning.”
“You’ve only been out two days,” Reed muttered, “so it shouldn’t be any dietary deficiency….”
“It feels like we’re all coming down with the flu or something,” Connors volunteered.
“I see.” Reed scratched his chin, fingered his pencil-thin moustache, ran a smoothing hand over his sandy hair. The same symptoms were showing up in the dome.
“It’s difficult for me to do much for you remotely,” he said to Connors. “I’m afraid it would be best if you started back before things get any worse.”