White mars by Brian W. Aldiss & Roger Penrose. Chapter 6, 7

‘All the same, my suggestion is that we women require a larger water ration than men because of our periods. Men and women are not the same, whatever is claimed. Washing is sometimes a priority with us.

‘With none of the terrestrial laws in effect, and no money in circulation, education could play a greater role, provided education was itself overhauled. It must include current information. For instance, how much water exactly remains on this terrible planet.’

As I was to learn later, this vital question of water resources was already being investigated by the science unit. Involved in these investigations was our lady from Hobart, Kathi Skadmorr. I had noted Dreiser Hawkwood’s interest in her. He too had spoken to her by Ambient, and received a better reception than I had done.

Dreiser had offered to coach her in science – in what he was now calling ‘Martian science’. When he questioned her about her work with International Water Resources, Kathi had told him she had been employed at one time in Sarawak. I later turned up the record and heard her voice.

‘My bosses sent me to Sarawak, where work was being done on the caves in Mulu National Park.’

‘What are these caves?’ Dreiser asked.

‘You don’t know them? Shame on you. They are vast. Great chains of interconnected caves. Over 150 kilometres have been explored. The Malaysians who own that part of the world are piping water to Japan.’

‘What was your role in the project?’

‘I was considered expendable. I did the dangerous bit. I did the scuba work, swimming down hitherto unexplored submerged passageways. With faulty equipment. Little they cared.’

Dreiser gave a snort. ‘You do see yourself as a victim, don’t you, Ms Skadmorr?’

She replied sharply. ‘I’m Kathi. That’s how I’m called. You must have some knowledge of the mysterious workings of the authoritarian mind.

‘Anyhow, the fact is that I loved that work. The caves formed a wonderful hidden environment, extensive, beautiful, cathedrals in rock, with the water – sometimes still, sometimes racing – as their bloodstream. It was like being inside the Earth’s brain. So you’d expect it to be dangerous. What’s your interest in all this, anyhow?’

He said, ‘I want to help you. Come and live in the science unit.’

‘I’ve had male help before. It always carries a price tag.’ She raised her hands to her face to cover a naughty grin.

‘Not this time, Kathi. There’s no money here, so no price tags. I’ll send a vehicle for you.’

‘If I come to your unit, I want to walk. I need to feel the presence of Mars.’

The first I knew of all this was when Kathi paid me a personal visit. Her claws were not in evidence. She needed my support. She was eager to see science in action and wished to go to the science unit but also to remain a member of the domes and retain her cabin with us.

She had far more eyelashes, above and below her eyes, than most women. I agreed to her request without even consulting the other members of Adminex.

‘Wouldn’t it be simpler for you to remain in the science unit?’

‘I have friends here, believe it or not.’

She went. Although I do not wish to get ahead of my narrative, it makes sense to set down here what happened when Kathi came under Dreiser’s wing.

Our overhead satellite had revealed what looked like entrances to caves in the vast stretches of the Valles Marineris, a kind of Rift Valley. This formidable feature stretches across the Martian equator for a total of some 34,500 square kilometres, almost a quarter of the surface of Mars, so that one sector can be in daylight while the rest is in night. For this reason, ferocious winds scour the valley.

Marineris is like no physical feature on Earth. It is 100 kilometres wide in places and up to 7 kilometres deep. Mists roll down its length at daybreak. It is not a good place to be.

This enormous rift was probably caused by graben events, when the relatively brittle crust fractured. Analysis shows that lakes had once existed along the base of Marineris.

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