Chapter 7
Heather was captivated by the complexity of Mars from the air. There were some expected features, such as vast deserts, and completely unexpected artifacts, such as tiny slivers of oases. They passed over a canyon that had vegetation and a river. They passed over a crater that was enclosed by a semitransparent canopy. Strange creatures, clearly reminiscent of dinosaurs, moved inside. There was no end to new things, and instead of bothering Jon with a million questions, she listened to Eos informing her about the sights. On the horizon were structures that seemed like pine cones, in a circular formation. Even before Eos explained they were artificially constructed habitats, she had assumed this much. Jon explained they were printed habitats, and that this was one of the newest human colonies, having been established twenty years ago. There was a mound in the midst of these, which Heather assumed was the first structure- perhaps a dome that was buried under Martian soil to protect against radiation while the other habitats were being built. Her assumption had her suddenly worried about radiation exposure, to which Eos explained she was safe.
The chopper landed, a good walk away from the habitats. Jon got out and came around. He asked Heather to get out. He demonstrated how to open the stretcher’s canopy and asked her to put the pack and the blue box inside the cab. He went around to his side and moved two packs, and his mail bag to the cab. No sooner than they had done that, there were people nearly upon them, walking towards them. They were armed. Men and women. One of them came forwards. Heather came up behind Jon.
“Jon,” the man said.
“Kevin,” Jon said.
“Who’s the chick?”
“A friend. Heather,” Jon said. “The supplements are on the stretchers.”
Kevin motioned his people forwards. They took every item from both sides, leaving the stretchers empty. Kevin and two officers remained with Jon and Heather as the others retreated back to the homes. From here she could clearly see that the structures were two stories, windows defining the upper and lower floors. The structure itself had the appearance of having been a coiled rope, as if the printer had been pushing polymers from a giant toothpaste dispenser.
“I can’t tell you how much I enjoy seeing that chopper,” Kevin said. “Reminds me of my youth.”
“You’re not looking so good, Kevin,” Jon said.
“Jon,” Heather said, shocked.
“We opened something we shouldn’t have,” Kevin said. “You know how it goes.”
“You should have asked for meds, not supplements,” Jon said.
“You know we can’t take your meds,” Keven said.
“That’s just stupid,” Jon said.
“I don’t make the rules,” Kevin said.
“These conventions will be the death of us,” Jon said.
“Probably,” Kevin said.
“Anything else I can do for you?” Jon said.
“Nope. Thank you,” Kevin said.
He turned and walked away. The two officers lingered, walked backwards for a moment, then turned and followed after Kevin. Jon turned and went back to the chopper. He moved the stuff from his seat back to the stretcher. Heather imitated him without being asked to do so.
“What was all that?”
“Paranoia, mostly,” Jon said.
“No, what did he mean, they opened something they shouldn’t have?” Heather asked.
Jon looked at Heather, then nodded at the colony.
“You see that mound?” Jon asked.
“Yeah,” Heather said.
“That’s the entrance to an underground base. It was abandoned 400 million years ago,” Jon said. Heather no longer looked skeptical; she accepted the information and filed it away. It was to her as if she were in a dream. ‘Never question the dream.’ “All of Mars is basically and archeological site. So is the Earth’s moon. There is tech so far advanced that very few can make heads or tails of it. We are comparable to chimps picking up rocks and thinking it’s just a rock.” Heather still said nothing. She just looked at him. “Alright, think of it this way. Imagine you’re living in the 1400s and that you have just unearthed a nuclear power plant that had been buried. People would go in, try to understand it, maybe take it apart, and everyone that went in would die of radiation poison and not even know why they were dying. They would say they were cursed. Now, imagine that the Ark of the Covenant was the equivalent of that, but a hundred thousand years more advanced than any nuclear power plant. The inhabitants of Mars are archaeologists and engineers, and everyone is trying to find the prize that will liberate their colony. If anyone here accidentally backwards engineers something, or turns something on that they can actually control- they’re likely to either rule the planet, or be destroyed by the conglomeration of other colonist. You think earth’s game of nationalism is harsh, well- that’s just kindergarten to what’s going on here.”
Heather remained silent, but her frown suggested she was emoting. She climbed in to her seat.
“They won’t take your meds, but they will eat your supplements?” Heather asked.
“There is a convention that any shared food will be pure, no tech,” Jon said. “No one violates that rule.”
“So, the supplements are organic?” Heather asked.
“Everything grown is organic. I can tweak a tomato genome and it still be organic,” Jon said. “What ‘no tech’ means is no nanotechnology imbedded in the supplements.”
Jon put on his headset, started the chopper, and lifted them into the sky. Heather put on her headset.
“If all of this tech is so precious, why do the Martians allow the humans access to archaeological sites?” Heather asked.
“Mostly, they’re tired of dying while unpacking their history,” Jon said. “Sites are awarded by lottery. There is absolutely no privacy. All colonies are monitored by Indigenous Martians, non-terrestrial visitors, and humans from Earth.
“No privacy?” Heather asked.
“Privacy is an illusion, a construct of modern society. It’s treated as a commodity on Earth because economic and political value has been attached to it,” Jon said.
“Even in your home…”
“No privacy,” Jon said.
Heather made a face.
“If it’s any consolation, no one is really interested in us,” Jon said. “We’re too boring to get eyes.”
“But, anyone could see us?”
“Sure, if you have the right tech or you’re psychic spy,” Jon said. “Can’t stop that.”
“I guess they can read minds?”
“We broadcast our thoughts the way radios transmit radio frequencies,” Jon said. “There is no privacy. Even on Earth, there is no privacy.”
“Do they know what they’re giving up when they come to Mars?” Heather asked.
“You couldn’t get here without knowing,” Jon said.
“I got here,” Heather said.
Jon gave her that.
“How many human colonies on Mars?”
“Most the first world nations of Earth have a standing colony. Earth pays Mars a tax for the rights to dig.”
“Really?”
“Where do you suppose the trillions of dollars that the government can’t account for went?” Jon asked.
“Why would Mars want money?”
“It doesn’t come in the form of money,” Jon said.
“What form does it take?”
“The only currency that has any universal value,” Jon said. “Life.”
निर्मित
Mars is not just red. There are grey, yellow, and white sands. There is soil just waiting for the return of water to allow life to return. Seeds in the soil. Creatures in the soil, deep hibernation, just waiting the return of the water. Flying over Santa Maria crater revealed shades of blue at the bottom of the crater, and sands that looked as if they were sculpted by seas. Then more deserts, hills and dunes. A scattering of debris littered the surface. Heather remained awake the duration of the flight, attentive to everything. She pointed out something that looked like a top of a pyramid sticking out of the sand.
“It is,” Jon said.
“Really?” Heather said.
Jon looked at her. “Really. Opportunity took a picture of it. Lots of conspiracy theorist pointed to that and said that was evidence of intelligent construction.”
“Why didn’t NASA just run Opportunity over there and prove it one way or the other?” Heather said.
“Because NASA isn’t doing real science,” Jon said.
“That can’t be,” Heather protested.
“Real scientist would have run and looked at it. Anyone with half an eye would have run over there to look at it,” Jon said. “Real scientist wouldn’t box all the high definition film rolls from the lunar landings, then lose it, and not hand it directly over to a University to store it. Shall I go on?”
“Maybe it was too risky to run the rover over there?” Heather asked.
“Or, they were ordered to go around, which was actually crazier terrain than getting closer to the artifact. But more likely, they don’t want to look at anything that most humans would automatically gravitate towards. Why else do you think they cut the video feed every time an interesting object approaches the ISS?” Jon asked. “They’re scientist, they should want to zoom in and look at everything, especially if it’s just debris because it could potentially be a threat to the space station. But every time something shows up on camera, they cut the feed. Every time. Coincidence?”
“Maybe they just don’t want a lot of UFO speculation and people going nuts over nothing?” Heather said.
“Okay. I accept that as plausible explanation, but that’s not science,” Jon said. “Military footage of our fighter jets chasing UFO’s gets complete dismissal by scientist. It’s got human eyes on it, radar contacts, and these objects have no traditional means of propulsion, and they’re out performing our top military aircraft. Not one scientist interviewed said, ‘oh, this is interesting. Can I get more footage of this?’ They dismissed it. They refused to engage in useful speculative discourse, and to a one said, ‘not aliens.’ How can they say it’s not aliens if they don’t know what it is?”
“I hear you,” Heather said. “I have wanted to believe in aliens. I love the idea of aliens. I just find it hard to accept that NASA is part of a conspiracy to defraud the public.”
“Well, it’s more complicated than even that,” Jon said. “It’s not really deliberate. It’s a fight or flight response to high strangeness. If people aren’t prepared, they can’t see things. An alien could walk past them on the street and they wouldn’t see it. A gorilla could walk through a basketball game and no one see it. Even when they’re prepared and an alien is pointed out, they look away. They don’t watch the alien; they watch everyone interacting around the alien and they see that no one else sees it, and they return to blindness. Or they find an excuse to be elsewhere. Men in Black don’t have to use a Neuralizer to erase memories; people erase their own memories and keep on keeping on.”
Heather thought about it and then looked back on the range. “Then why does NASA alter the photos from the rovers?”
Jon looked back to her. She was now arguing for conspiracy.
“Go on,” Jon said.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would swear I was on Earth,” Heather said. “The sky is blue. There are clouds. Though sparse, there is vegetation and water on the surface.”
Jon nodded.
“Surely the rovers see all this. Which means, they’re pushing images through filters…”
“My Iphone took better pictures than the rovers. NASA is compelled by a greater agency to not reveal the truth of Mars being habitable at this time,” Jon said. “There is a sense urgency growing on Earth, and if people knew they could leave Earth, there would be a mass exodus. There would be riots with people demanding to travel, and 90 percent of the people will get refused. People are not ready to be out there. Also, people owe a debt to the Earth and each other that they’re not wanting to pay. That has to be settled and squared before we can venture forth in mass. There are planets ripe for humanity to inherit, when we become adults.”
“The conspiracy theory that we have fleets of ships. Space Warden?”
“Solar Warden. They’re real,” Jon said.
Heather sat back and stared at the horizon. “My head hurts.”
Jon nodded.
निर्मित
They passed low over Opportunity and landed in front of it. It did not move fast. Its camera didn’t seem to care that a helicopter landed in front of it. Jon got out and approached it on foot. Heather followed him. Their boots left prints in the sand. Opportunity left a trail. At a certain proximity, it stopped. Camera came about to spy on them. The debris field in the immediate area had a scattering of stone reminiscent of buildings that had been unearthed in a major archeological dig. There was no denying its structure.
“It sees us?” Heather asked.
“It senses an object blocking its path,” Jon said. “Eos. Get NASA on the phone, please.”
“Wait,” Heather said. “It takes twenty minutes to send a message.”
“If you’re using radio waves, yes,” Jon said.
He motioned with his hand and the audio portion of his phone call became available to her. An auditory menu was present, which Eos was navigating for Jon.
“So, I could have called home?”
“Probably not,” Jon said.
“Why?”
“If you’re being blocked from teleporting back home, you’re probably going to be blocked from making telephone calls,” Jon said. There was music in the background. They were on hold.
Heather looked at him calculating, and then looked directly into the Mars camera. “My name is Heather Geach. I have been kidnapped and brought to Mars.”
Jon frowned at her. “Seriously?”
“Hello, this is Gina. Who may I ask is calling?”
“This is Jon Harister. May I speak with James, please?” Jon asked.
“I want to speak to her,” Heather said.
“Hello, Jon. How are you?” Gina said.
“I am great, thanks. In roughly twenty minutes, your Opportunity team is going to get pics of me and a young lady standing on Mars. If anyone can read lips, they will likely discern her name is Heather Geach and she has been kidnapped,” Jon said.
“So, you finally got lonely enough to kidnap someone?” Gina said.
“I didn’t kidnap her,” Jon said. “Precisely.”
“You could kidnap me anytime,” Gina said.
“Um, yeah. It’s just not the same if you tell me to do it, is it? May I speak with James?” Jon said.
“James isn’t in,” Gina said.
“He’s never in,” Jon said. Heather pinched his arm. He glowered at her. “Can you hear Heather?”
“I cannot,” Gina said.
Jon turned to Heather. “Don’t hit me.”
“I am not hitting you. I want to talk,” Heather said.
“Are you fighting with this special someone?” Gina asked.
“She isn’t a special someone,” Jon said. He grabbed his arm where he was punched. “Ow!”
“Do you want to call back later?”
“Wait wait wait,” Jon said. “Heather, wait. Gina, I need you to turn Opportunity around and direct it back to Endeavor crater.”
“Opportunity has been down since 2018, Jon,” Gina said.
“Oh, so, you don’t mind if I disable the power supply?” Jon asked.
“Hold on,” Gina said.
Heather drew closer to Jon. Jon retreated.
“Would you stop?” Jon said.
“I want to know why she can’t hear me,” Heather said. “Did Eos turned my mic off?”
“She wouldn’t do that. I don’t know why you have no voice. We will likely understand more once we speak to Namid and his wife,” Jon said.
A man was now heard on the line. “This is Mr. Bridenstine. Mr. Harrister?”
“Oh, last names are too comical. Jon, please,” Jon said.
“Who is this woman you kidnapped?” James said.
“Yeah, no, we’re not talking about her,” Jon said, ‘ouch.’ “Stop it. Turn Opportunity back around and take it to its assigned perimeter, or I will be forced to disable it.”
“Are you aware of how much that cost the taxpayer?”
“Don’t care, actually,” Jon said.
“You should care,” James said.
“I care about a lot of things. I am sure if you put it to a vote, lots of people would have liked you to stop and investigate a rock that you ignored,” Jon said.
“We can’t investigate every single…”
“Not every rock! Just the weird ones that look like something, whether it is something or not,” Jon said. “Tax payers want to see what they’re seeing, not what you want us to see. Hold on.” To Heather, “What?!”
“I want them to get a message to my family,” Heather said.
“Can you get message to Heather’s family, please?” Jon asked.
“Nope; that’s on you,” James said.
“Come on. It’s a small thing,” Jon said.
“I don’t know anything about her or what sort of game you’re playing,” James said.
“You know what,” Jon said. “We’re done with this call.”
Jon pulled out his Torch. Heather stepped back. She clearly recognized what the object appeared to be.
“Is that a Lightsaber?” Heather asked.
“It’s a Torch,” Jon said.
“Jon, what are you going to do?” James asked.
“Nothing. You haven’t been in contact with Opportunity in 2 years? Nothing is happening here,” Jon said.
“Wait!”
The camera on the rover swiveled to see Jon igniting the Torch. It gave a loud retort, like a firearm sounding. The golden blade of light extended so fast from the hilt it was as if it just blinked into existence. Jon did a simple, controlled stab directly into its battery, severing wires and disconnecting solar power cells. He was lucky the thing didn’t explode in his face. It did smoke. And just to make sure it was dead, he cut all the appendages, dropping camera and panels to the ground. He severed wheels from the axel. He powered down the Torch, and held it at an angle, allowing it to cool before putting it back into his pocket.
“Jon!”
“James, I am through babysitting your rovers,” Jon said. “If I get called out to another black sheep gone astray, I am going to do the same thing.”
“You really shouldn’t have done that,” James said.
“Take care, James. By Gina,” Jon said. He terminated the call.
“That could have gone better,” Eos said.
Jon faced Heather. “Are we done?”
“Are you going to kill me?”
“No!” Jon said. “No. I don’t want to harm you at all. I am trying to alleviate this situation, but if you keep pushing my buttons…”
“You’ll what? Hit me?”
“I am trying not to hit you,” Jon said. “I don’t want to enact Taming the Shrew or John Wayne’s ‘Quiet Man.’”
“What does that mean?” Heather said.
“Do your own math, wild cat. I am not healthy. There is a limit to my patience. I get that you’re out of place and not in sync with your expected reality frame,” Jon said. He touched the tip of his torch, found it still hot. “But attacking me is not going to help you.”
“I didn’t attack you,” Heather said.
“You got in my space, you touched me, you pinched me, you punched me…”
“I didn’t hurt you,” Heather said.
“I want this boundary of no touching unless invited,” Jon said. “Can you honor that or not?”
“And if I don’t?” Heather said.
“You can leave,” Jon said.
“And go where?”
“I don’t care,” Jon said. “Go stay with a colony. Go live with Namid’s people.”
“I am not going anywhere but back home, and you’re stuck with me until I am back,” Heather said.
“Touch me again, and I will leave,” Jon said. “Is that part clear?”
Heather nodded. Jon touched the tip of his torch. It was cool enough to put back in his pocket. He went back to the chopper and pulled out a pack. One button deployed the pack and a tent unfolded.
“Sleeping bags are in your pack,” Jon said. “The tent has a toilet if you’re needing to go.”
Jon walked to the chopper, grabbed his mail bag, and began to walk off.
“Where are you going?” Heather called out.
“For a walk,” Jon said.
“Can I go?” Heather said.
“You’re safe here,” Jon said.
“Can I please go with you?” Heather said. “Please.”
“Come on,” Jon said.
“Can I pee first?”
“Go,” Jon said.
Heather hesitated.
“Go, I’ll wait,” Jon said.
Heather hurried inside the tent. She emerged to find Jon still waiting. They walked in silence. Space between them.
“I am…”
“Don’t,” Jon said.
“Don’t what? Talk?” Heather asked.
“Don’t say sorry,” Jon said.
“Don’t say sorry?” Heather asked.
“You’re not at fault. Let it go,” Jon said.
“I wouldn’t tolerate what I did to you from anyone else and I don’t know why…”
Jon stopped. He didn’t look at her. He looked at his shoes in the dirt. “We all do this. We all have days like this. I understand this is not what you wanted and you’re scared and you want people to know you’re alright,” Jon said.
“And that’s why I should say sorry,” Heather said.
“I am not injured. I am not angry,” Jon said.
“You seem angry,” Heather said.
“Well, I am not,” Jon said.
“I am sorry anyway,” Heather said.
“Okay,” Jon said.
They walked.