ignored me as he removed his suit’s radiation skin, leaving only the biomaintenance layer, or what he called million-dollar long johns . The nano-plied material absorbed moisture, adjusted body temperature and used a powerful elastic netting to maintain the skin’s surface tension at about a third of Earth normal. Only the helmet held pressurized air. They were extremely efficient, but they fit too snugly, and mine was already chafing in sensitive spots.
We slipped through two overlapping seals to enter the main chamber and I was surprised by the noise from Nellie’s fans. She was pumping and filtering enough air to maintain half Earth normal pressure. Coupled with the heat she was generating to warm the burrow, it must be a huge drain on her batteries.
“So how long will Nellie’s batteries let us stay down here ? ”
Jack didn’t answer, but opened a flap, pulled a long clear tub from Nellie’s guts and looked at the water sloshing inside.
“Looks like she collected about half a liter,” I said. “Is that good or bad ? ”
He still didn’t respond.
“We’ll be stuck down here for hours, or maybe even days. How long are you going to keep up this childish silent treatment ? ”
He turned to glare at me. The dim light provided by Nellie’s lamps gave him a menacing appearance.
“Shut the hell up, Malcolm.”
I wasn’t going to leave it alone. This trip would be my last opportunity to see him face-to-face for years, or if his present state was any indicator, the rest of my life.
“You did this to yourself; why are you blaming me ? ” I yelled over the fan noise.
We’d been best friends since our sophomore year at Purdue and he’d never in fifteen years been so angry at me. I hadn’t caused the board to order him home, but I had supported their decision. To Jack, it was the same thing.
He glared at me for a second and then moved around the donut where I couldn’t see him. I followed. When he lowered himself to the floor against the outer wall, I sat down facing him, making sure he knew I wasn’t giving up.
“I warned you this would happen,” I said. “I tried to help you.”
“Did you ever consider—for even a second—that I knew what I was doing ? ”
“Well, yes, but—”
“And I wanted to take this last walk alone,” he said, barely audible above the fan noise. “I invited you to come on every walking trip I took, and you always turned me down. Why now ? ”
Because you didn’t invite me this trip, I thought, but didn’t say aloud. Jack could disable the locator on his excursion suit and with Nellie’s help, easily hide until the Earth-Mars cycler window passed. That would give him an extra six months.
“Because this will be our last chance to do this together,” I said. “You’ve been telling me for a year that I hadn’t seen the real Mars. Now is your chance to show me.”
He scrambled toward me on all fours, stopping inches from my face, close enough for me to smell his stale sweat. “Together ? Go to hell, Malcolm. I wanted you to see what I’d found, because you were my friend. But your job and that stinking corporation are more important to you than anything else.”
I shoved him out of my face. “Bull! I busted my tail to get you up here. I pulled strings and called in favors. Because you are my friend and I knew you would love it here, but you screwed it up. That stinking corporation flew you to Mars and is paying you a salary to find mineral deposits big enough to justify building a permanent colony. You need satellites and robot flyers for that. Not even a hot jock geologist like you can do it wandering aimlessly around the surface.”
He shook his head. “You’re a planetologist, for God’s sake. One of the first in history to actually walk on another world and yet you’ve never even seen it.”
“I spend every day studying this planet. I go out in the field—”
“Don’t give me that crap,” he said. “You fly to a spot, get out and walk
We slipped through two overlapping seals to enter the main chamber and I was surprised by the noise from Nellie’s fans. She was pumping and filtering enough air to maintain half Earth normal pressure. Coupled with the heat she was generating to warm the burrow, it must be a huge drain on her batteries.
“So how long will Nellie’s batteries let us stay down here ? ”
Jack didn’t answer, but opened a flap, pulled a long clear tub from Nellie’s guts and looked at the water sloshing inside.
“Looks like she collected about half a liter,” I said. “Is that good or bad ? ”
He still didn’t respond.
“We’ll be stuck down here for hours, or maybe even days. How long are you going to keep up this childish silent treatment ? ”
He turned to glare at me. The dim light provided by Nellie’s lamps gave him a menacing appearance.
“Shut the hell up, Malcolm.”
I wasn’t going to leave it alone. This trip would be my last opportunity to see him face-to-face for years, or if his present state was any indicator, the rest of my life.
“You did this to yourself; why are you blaming me ? ” I yelled over the fan noise.
We’d been best friends since our sophomore year at Purdue and he’d never in fifteen years been so angry at me. I hadn’t caused the board to order him home, but I had supported their decision. To Jack, it was the same thing.
He glared at me for a second and then moved around the donut where I couldn’t see him. I followed. When he lowered himself to the floor against the outer wall, I sat down facing him, making sure he knew I wasn’t giving up.
“I warned you this would happen,” I said. “I tried to help you.”
“Did you ever consider—for even a second—that I knew what I was doing ? ”
“Well, yes, but—”
“And I wanted to take this last walk alone,” he said, barely audible above the fan noise. “I invited you to come on every walking trip I took, and you always turned me down. Why now ? ”
Because you didn’t invite me this trip, I thought, but didn’t say aloud. Jack could disable the locator on his excursion suit and with Nellie’s help, easily hide until the Earth-Mars cycler window passed. That would give him an extra six months.
“Because this will be our last chance to do this together,” I said. “You’ve been telling me for a year that I hadn’t seen the real Mars. Now is your chance to show me.”
He scrambled toward me on all fours, stopping inches from my face, close enough for me to smell his stale sweat. “Together ? Go to hell, Malcolm. I wanted you to see what I’d found, because you were my friend. But your job and that stinking corporation are more important to you than anything else.”
I shoved him out of my face. “Bull! I busted my tail to get you up here. I pulled strings and called in favors. Because you are my friend and I knew you would love it here, but you screwed it up. That stinking corporation flew you to Mars and is paying you a salary to find mineral deposits big enough to justify building a permanent colony. You need satellites and robot flyers for that. Not even a hot jock geologist like you can do it wandering aimlessly around the surface.”
He shook his head. “You’re a planetologist, for God’s sake. One of the first in history to actually walk on another world and yet you’ve never even seen it.”
“I spend every day studying this planet. I go out in the field—”
“Don’t give me that crap,” he said. “You fly to a spot, get out and walk
Similar Books
