suit’s magnetized outer skin was protection against the ambient radiation, but not huge solar flares. I fought growing panic as I turned in circles, looking for a cave, stone outcropping or even a boulder, but saw only dust and scattered rocks. The nearest ridge line was blurry with distance. Anger also grew in the wake of my fear. Nellie provided our only radiation protection, and Jack had taken her. They were probably digging in already, and I had to find them if I wanted to survive. I started running.
“Malcolm ? Jack ? This is base, do you copy ? ” I could hear the tension in the communication’s officer’s voice.
“I read you, Courtney,” I said, my voice jarred by running. “Why so little warning ? I thought we were supposed to get it days ahead of time ? ”
“I don’t know, but you and Jack had better get to shelter. There’s no way we can get a truck or the dirigible to you fast enough.”
“I’m trying,” I said and signed off.
Then Jack’s voice crackled into my helmet. “Malcolm! We’re coming back for you. Follow our trail to meet us and run!”
I ran faster.
Their dust cloud was visible long before I could resolve shapes, but they kept coming and soon Nellie’s squat hexagonal form appeared at the head of her rooster-tail dust plume. I didn’t see Jack. Five minutes later, I staggered and gasped to a stop next to the robot as Jack climbed down from her back. The creep never mentioned we could ride her.
She trundled back and forth over a large flat spot, then, finding a suitable location, jolted to a stop. Her treaded drive units separated and rotated on their mountings, raising the shoulder-high robot into the air on its toes like a three-footed ballerina. Panels slid open between the tracks, revealing large spinning cutters that folded out and locked into place. Nellie sank rapidly into the ground as sand jetted skyward from tubes on her back.
The alarm sounded again, this time giving us less than twenty minutes. I glanced at Jack, but he stared at the robot’s interface panel on his sleeve and said nothing.
Nellie disappeared below the lip of the hole and within a couple of minutes, the dirt stopped flying. Jack tapped out a few more commands and a cloud of dust poofed from the hole. He ran to look inside, then pulled an aluminum rod from his pack. With several twists and pulls, it became a telescoping ladder with rungs folding out from each side. He dropped it into the dark excavation and climbed down, motioning for me to follow.
I peered over the edge just as Jack opened Nellie’s top hatch and disappeared inside. I was confused, because there wasn’t room for us both, but followed him down and through. Once inside I understood. Nellie had split in two, with her upper half forming the airlock and her lower part a larder and mini-lab. The pieces were connected by a telescoping post in the center and mottled gray plastic surrounded us, sagging in pleats like a discarded skirt. Jack had designed her well.
As I dogged the hatch behind me, Jack flipped a switch, and Nellie started inflating the plastic envelope with oxygen she had collected through her rock melting electrolysis procedure. Air pushed the big plastic bag open until it tightened against the dirt and rock walls, creating a fifteen-foot-diameter by seven-foot-tall pressurized donut-shaped habitat.
“We’ll leave our outer suits here,” Jack said, indicating where we stood in the donut’s hole. “Use nose plugs until we’re through the second seal.”
When the status light turned green, Jack released his helmet seal with an equalizing pop. I did the same and held my breath until my nose filters were in place, then started breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, a routine everyone on Mars had mastered within the first few days.
“Can we get a comm link down here ? ” I asked, while loosening the seals on my excursion suit. “How will we know when the radiation storm is over ? ”
Jack
“Malcolm ? Jack ? This is base, do you copy ? ” I could hear the tension in the communication’s officer’s voice.
“I read you, Courtney,” I said, my voice jarred by running. “Why so little warning ? I thought we were supposed to get it days ahead of time ? ”
“I don’t know, but you and Jack had better get to shelter. There’s no way we can get a truck or the dirigible to you fast enough.”
“I’m trying,” I said and signed off.
Then Jack’s voice crackled into my helmet. “Malcolm! We’re coming back for you. Follow our trail to meet us and run!”
I ran faster.
Their dust cloud was visible long before I could resolve shapes, but they kept coming and soon Nellie’s squat hexagonal form appeared at the head of her rooster-tail dust plume. I didn’t see Jack. Five minutes later, I staggered and gasped to a stop next to the robot as Jack climbed down from her back. The creep never mentioned we could ride her.
She trundled back and forth over a large flat spot, then, finding a suitable location, jolted to a stop. Her treaded drive units separated and rotated on their mountings, raising the shoulder-high robot into the air on its toes like a three-footed ballerina. Panels slid open between the tracks, revealing large spinning cutters that folded out and locked into place. Nellie sank rapidly into the ground as sand jetted skyward from tubes on her back.
The alarm sounded again, this time giving us less than twenty minutes. I glanced at Jack, but he stared at the robot’s interface panel on his sleeve and said nothing.
Nellie disappeared below the lip of the hole and within a couple of minutes, the dirt stopped flying. Jack tapped out a few more commands and a cloud of dust poofed from the hole. He ran to look inside, then pulled an aluminum rod from his pack. With several twists and pulls, it became a telescoping ladder with rungs folding out from each side. He dropped it into the dark excavation and climbed down, motioning for me to follow.
I peered over the edge just as Jack opened Nellie’s top hatch and disappeared inside. I was confused, because there wasn’t room for us both, but followed him down and through. Once inside I understood. Nellie had split in two, with her upper half forming the airlock and her lower part a larder and mini-lab. The pieces were connected by a telescoping post in the center and mottled gray plastic surrounded us, sagging in pleats like a discarded skirt. Jack had designed her well.
As I dogged the hatch behind me, Jack flipped a switch, and Nellie started inflating the plastic envelope with oxygen she had collected through her rock melting electrolysis procedure. Air pushed the big plastic bag open until it tightened against the dirt and rock walls, creating a fifteen-foot-diameter by seven-foot-tall pressurized donut-shaped habitat.
“We’ll leave our outer suits here,” Jack said, indicating where we stood in the donut’s hole. “Use nose plugs until we’re through the second seal.”
When the status light turned green, Jack released his helmet seal with an equalizing pop. I did the same and held my breath until my nose filters were in place, then started breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth, a routine everyone on Mars had mastered within the first few days.
“Can we get a comm link down here ? ” I asked, while loosening the seals on my excursion suit. “How will we know when the radiation storm is over ? ”
Jack
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