Expedition

Eric Alain was in a sour mood. Every part of the journey, preparation and training had focused on his elite skills behind the stick of Earth’s most capable aircraft. He wasn’t just ‘some pilot,’ he was the pilot. A self-conscious elite.

At least, that’s what he was. Having finally reached Mars, having achieved everything he could possibly have aspired toward, he found himself as a cook. He wasn’t even the best cook on the station.

He looked over his offerings. Most of what was on the table was packaged rations from Earth that they had broken out upon landing: vacuum packed meals that left much to be desired. Min Li had tried to spice them up a bit but so far the only redeeming feature of the ration packs had been the fact that, not requiring being grown on the ship, they contained meat and vegetables that they had no access to on Mars. The breakfast rations even included much coveted coffee.

“Mars to Eric, are you in there,” said Li in a light voice.

“Oh um, yes,” Alain said, shaking his head slightly. He had been heating up soup and had zoned out in a haze of self pity.

“The chicken cutlets are ready, how’s the soup,” his girlfriend and kitchen partner asked.

“It’s almost ready.”

“Good, can you serve it up please, I have to attend to the disserts,” Li said, all buisness. Alain nodded and started decanting the soup into twelve matching bowls. He placed them on the rolling trays and took them out to the waiting patrons of his little restaurant.

“A cook. A cook on Mars. Merde.”

The rest of the crew was sitting around the kitchen chatting, sipping at tea, and patiently awaiting their meals. Alain’s eye passed slowly around the room. Everyone seemed so busy, so fulfilled. The colourful mission jumpsuits stood out against the grey of his and Li’s.

“Eric! You’re a legend,” a somewhat grubby looking Pamala Sheldon said as he approached. Her red jumpsuit was stained with red mud from her exploratory mining in spite of the fact that it was largely remote work.

“Yes, I am the legendary… cook,” he said, a fake smile masking his bitterness. Sheldon was sitting across from Hans Hermann, the only other person on the mission in a grey non-specific jumpsuit.

“What’s the soup,” asked Lyndon Carson, who walked over to Alain’s rolling tray. He sniffed at the soup with undisguised contempt. “Beef? Pass.”

“Whatever asshole,” Alain muttered under his breath. He headed back to the kitchen to get the rest of the meals. “At least it’s warm in here.”

“What did you say honey,” asked Li, leaning around the corner. She had her jumpsuit tied up around her waist and was wearing a white, soup-stained singlet. He walked over to her and gave her a playful smack on her tight, round butt.

“Nothing my dear,” Alain told Li, “I just came to get the rest of the food.”

“Thanks. Dissert is basically ready to be plated. I’ll finish up and we can go eat. Want to grab us some food and a table?”

“Will do,” Alain said, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. The two former pilots had just sat down to eat when Tara Dayton stood up and called for the crew’s attention.

“Listen up everyone, can I get your attention?” The room fell silent and looked to their leader. “Thanks. OK so we have some news we need to discuss.”

Alain was concerned. The last time Dayton had looked so serious addressing the crew the Green Mars Corp HQ had been attacked by SpaceY mercenaries. What was it this time?

“Some housekeeping first and foremost. As you all are aware, the low-pressure, water conservation system hasn’t been running as well as anticipated,” Dayton said, and indicated to the stains on her white jumpsuit. “I’ve told Earth and they’re going to work on a fix but in the meantime, we’ll have to accept that clothes are going to stain, and showers are going to be low pressure OK?”

“Guess it’s lucky I already wear red,” laughed Sheldon, indicating to her stained uniform. The crew chuckled; the problems with the laundry system had already become something of a running joke.

“Any questions on that,” asked Dayton before she continued. “Moving on. We have some news concerning SpaceY that will be interesting to the whole crew. Mister Carson can you roll out the folding screen please? Thank you.”

The projector was switched on and a solar system map updated to real time. On it were two blips, the Hermes on its way back to Earth, and the SpaceY vessel.

“SpaceY are here, just about a week away. This is, as you all know, significantly faster than we had anticipated. We now know why. The CEO, who we all know and love…” Dayton was cut off by some laughs. “Yes yes, he’s shit. Anyways, he decided, in his very finite wisdom, to use additional fuel and try to sprint to Mars to get here a full three weeks early.”

“Why though,” asked Raynor Schwartz.

“Cuz he’s a fucking idiot,” sneered Sheldon.

“He may well be,” agreed Dayton, “but HQ says that he’s been expressing worries shareholders are jumping ship, so he’s trying to get on the ground faster for his company credibility.”

“This shows you what profit motivations will do,” said Hermann as if addressing his congregation. “Greed will destroy everything humanity touches of this I am certain of this. That is why on Mars...”

“Yes well, money aside,” said Dayton tersely, cutting Hermann off, “the reality is that they are doing something incredibly reckless. The company tells us that they are running a real risk by doing this. If they used too much fuel or can’t slow down fast enough they’re in for a bad time.”

“What does this mean for us Tara,” asked Li.

“Well, a couple of things,” she explained. “The first and most obvious is that if they get here early, we have competition early. Not just competition, but also risk. We have no idea if they are planning to remain isolationist from us, or attempt to sabotage. We must be vigilant.” The crew nodded along.

“Then there’s the risks the SpaceYs are taking,” she continued. “If they fail to brake properly as HQ is concerned might occur, they will become a comet and we will have quite another problem on our hands.”

Alain was taken aback by this statement. Had they not calculated properly? How could that be? Would SpaceY actually be that wildly reckless?

“So we have to be vigilant. I will inform you all when I hear more but expect news inside a week. Any questions guys,” Dayton asked finally. “Ok if you’re good to go, then feel free to go back to what you were doing.”

The meeting ended and some of the crew headed to their rooms and others to the gym. Li and Alain, who had barely started their dinner when Dayton called them to attention, stayed and continued their meal, but were interrupted again when Dayton arrived at their table.

“Can I join you two for a minute?”

“Of course Tara,” Li said, indicating to a chair. “What’s up?”

“Well,” she began slowly, “I wanted to discuss the SpaceY issue a little more. You see, I need some contingency plans for the potential of something going wrong. There’s something… well something odd about this move by SpaceY. I feel like something else is at play here.”

“Yeah, something isn’t right about this,” commented Alain, his concern building.

“I agree. My private theory is that something is wrong with their ship so they’re trying to expedite, but that’s just an idea. In any case, I want you two to plan an expedition.”

“An expedition? To where,” asked Li. Sheldon chuckled.

“Well,” she said, “I don’t know. I don’t know yet I should say. If something weird goes down, I want you two to investigate it. They’re supposed to land some 200 klicks from here as the crow flies, so what I want is for you two and one other to head out soon in the rover. Thinking tomorrow or the day after if needs be.”

That got Alain’s attention. Finally something better than heating up bagged meals!

“Who should we bring,” Li asked.

“I’m open to suggestion,” explained Dayton. “And you don’t have to bring anyone. You two are the obvious picks for the task and we can afford a third if you feel it necessary.”

“What are we going to do,” asked Alain.

“Observe. If you leave tomorrow, you’ll be in time to see the landing. I want to know what happens. Observe and report everything. Stay in regular contact; you’ll be my eyes and ears. We must know what they’re up to. Plan for three weeks.”

“Three weeks,” repeated Li, sounding shocked.

“Yes. If they land normally, I want you to observe them in action,” Dayton instructed. “Discretion will be required; try not to be observed. Any questions?”

“I don’t think… no not right now,” said Alain after a moment to consider it.

“OK,” Dayton said, standing, “let me know if you will be able to leave tomorrow. Get your gear packed into the rover, and when you’re ready to depart I’ll give you formal written worders ok?”

The two pilot/cooks nodded, and she left them to their now cold meals.

“What… what do you think they expect is going to happen Eric,” asked Li softly. “Like, what do they expect us to witness?”

“A crash maybe? I don’t know. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

“It weirds me out hun,” Li admitted, and Alain nodded along. He too, thought it was weird.

“Do you think we need someone else to come along,” Alain asked. Li considered it for a moment before answering.

“Well, no, probably not. I mean like, we could for sure. I mean like, it could be fun depending on who, but I’m not sure we need to. The rover is so small…”

“I agree,” Alain said with a sigh, then, with a smirk added, “pity Ilsa is with Gabriel now.”

“You’re so bad,” giggled Li, “I’m happy for her.”

“Me too! It’s not that I’m not it’s just that… we had fun.”

“We did,” nodded Li, “but we’ll have fun out there anyways, won’t we?” Alain smiled. Of course they would.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur. The boredom and frustration of the morning had given way to excitement and the taste of adventure. Alain barely thought about the SpaceY ship at all and entirely focused on getting the mission underway. By the time they went to bed that night, they knew they were ready to go in the morning.

The pre-mission briefing happened in the dining hall. Like the polar expedition in Greenland, each person had a defined role and Tara Dayton outlined each in turn. Thanks to their quick preparation, they were able to leave by the suppertime the day after they first were tasked with the mission.

Alain found it strange that, after all the preparation to be a pilot, that he would be driving on his first expedition, but he was so happy he was going at all that it hardly mattered. The rover was small and confined, but he was used to much worse. They left just before dark that day.

They drove on autopilot for much of the night. Though the rover was fully autonomous, they kept a 24-hour watch on the systems from the driver’s seat, while the other slept. When they got bored, they would make love.

“Why do you think they haven’t communicated,” asked Li on the second day of their trip. “Like, the SpaceY folks. You’d think HQ would have heard something, even if it was encrypted, but nothing? It’s weird right?”

“It’s super weird honestly,” agreed Alain, who was sitting in the driver’s seat. “No data, no communications is strange. Very strange, actually.”

“Do you think something went wrong,” Li asked, a note of concern in her voice.

“We’ll see.”

The days passed and with each day, silence. The pair would sit together in the front seats of the rover watching the incredible landscape of Mars passing by. Craggy wind-swept mountains, dunes of red sand and the bumpy creases of craters as far as the eye could see.

Eric Alain realized he was on the greatest adventure of his life. Even if he was just the cook now.