Is There Life On Mars? (part nine)

Note: This is the ninth part of the story Is There Life on Mars? If you missed the beginning, maybe you should start there (just click on the link.)

 

Day 2 on Mars

We have landed!!! We are on Mars!!!

Our lander was the first to separate from the Susan Constant. No one was sad to say farewell to it. Other parts of the ship detached and landed shortly after us, at a safe distance from the base. The rest will separate and land gradually over the next two weeks.

The ship’s mainframe will remain in orbit for the time being. In about a month, a team consisting of some of our engineers, assisted by the lead engineers from Base X, will go back there to disassemble it and bring it down to the surface.

No junk should be left in space.

 

After entering the atmosphere, our lander slowed down and headed for the landing pad.

Kudos to James, our captain, for getting us safely to our new home.

The automated landers, the ones without humans on board, landed as planned a few kilometers from the base, although one of them seems to have crashed. Most of us are not so secretly hoping that it was the one with the pigs.

The recovery team is supposed to retrieve it later today, or at least assess the situation.

As soon as we hit the ground, a very audible sigh of relief spread through the cabin. Some people even started applauding. I’ve always found this practice on airplanes to be totally stupid, but in our case, I was happy to join in, as did everyone else. Not just applause, but cheers, laughter, and tears of joy.

And oh my God, what a moment it was.                                  ← Here, I’m going to leave this part of the page blank. This is where a tear fell as I wrote these lines and reminisced. What a moment!

It was the actual end of this hellish journey and the official beginning of our new life. 

Finally!

 

The next step was… waiting for the welcoming committee.

Only it never arrived. 

When we contacted Base X, Noel told us that a sandstorm prevented them from getting here in time. They tried their best. Some of them were willing to risk coming no matter what, but it was just too dangerous. He apologized profusely for letting us down on such a day.

 

We had to go to Plan B.

It worked like this: the MPV drivers, that’s me and Arthur, suited up and left the lander. Yes, we were the first of the Susan Constant crew to walk on Mars (I now have lifelong bragging rights). We went to the garages and brought two “Big Wheels” to the lander. We attached them to the doors and people walked off the lander and into the vehicles. It was a little more complicated than the original plan (the welcoming committee was supposed to do everything), but it worked. It took us three trips each to get everyone into the base.

 

The first group decided to wait for everyone else before leaving the security vestibule and actually entering the base.

I won’t even try to describe the feeling when the door finally opened and we stepped inside. Everyone had very different and personal reactions. Some jumped and cheered as if they had won a world championship, while others entered in total silence and almost religious contemplation.

 

 

Personally? Excitement at first, sure, but the reality of the hard work ahead of us with no time for rest dawned on me very quickly. Rest is what most of us have spent the last few months doing anyway.

It was a little stressful not having the Base X team here to help us on the first day. Fortunately, the basic systems (heating, air, plumbing, etc.) were automatically and remotely turned on by Base X a few days ago. But some things we need right away are missing.

The most important are drinking water and food. We have enough in the lander to last a week. We will have to get the rest of our supplies from one of the automated landers nearby. I’ll be the one driving. We leave at dawn tomorrow.

 

During our first hours at the base, we toured the living quarters and began to make ourselves at home. It’s literally our new home. This is it! We are Martians now! 

And being a Martian feels a lot like camping underground right now.

The natural tunnels where part of the base is built have breathable air; they’re sealed. The temperature is also in the livable range, even though we had all forgotten what it felt like to be cold. However, amenities are scarce. Most of what we need is in our cargo. It will have to be retrieved soon.

Also, only the bare minimum is working at the moment. For example, the lighting is quite dim, interplanetary communication needs to be installed, and many other things are not yet available. Fortunately, communication with Base X works perfectly.

Noel was able to tell everyone on Earth that we are all safe. 

We can’t send personal messages yet. Sometimes, many of us have to remind ourselves that this is not a normal space mission. There is no trip back home. Planet Earth is no longer our home. There is a reason our ship is called Susan Constant and not Apollo or Hermes or whatever.

 

(to be continued)

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