Black Star

Chapter Twenty-two

Maxtor and the professor headed out of the airlock and stepped towards the waiting Martian rover. Leroy came out last and Seiren had stopped dead in front of him.

"What's up? Forgot your keys?" he quipped. She ignored his remarks, staring blankly into the night sky.

"How about that?" she whispered.

Leroy stopped and peered over her shoulder, following her gaze into the early morning sky. High above them, what looked like a bright star twinkled with a slightly dimmer companion just below it. The pair were transfixed on realising what they were observing. The distant glowing globe was the planet Earth, reflecting the sun's rays, below it, the moon.

"Not something I ever thought I'd see in reality," uttered Seiren.

"Me neither," shrugged Leroy. "Me neither," he repeated as he walked past her and climbed aboard the rover.

The Martian Rover was a surprisingly smooth and quiet ride when driven at any reasonable speed on what was after all very unreasonable terrain. Rocks and larger rubble would cause the vehicle to roll slowly from side to side as its air suspension absorbed the impact. The journey to the edge of Jazero was taken mostly in silence, each passenger appearing deep in their own thoughts. As the rover reached the edge of the crater, the nose cone of the return booster rocket appeared to rise from the sand in front. At last, the rover swerved side on to the very edge providing them all with a premium view of the ship below. The sleek white body of the craft glowed under the powerful lights the drones had installed, presumably for human benefit. There was little activity, one or two small vehicles could be seen moving around and along the fuel lines. The ship looked to be physically in good shape and from here looked deceptively small, lost in the vast dried-up lake of Jazero. There had clearly been some dust storms, this was the reason it had been placed in the crater in the first place. The commander set the rover off again and began the journey around to the far side and down the ancient inlet where there was a natural slope. The ground was firm but required a few twists and turns to navigate the bigger dips.

On arrival, the crew stepped out of the rover and inspected the base of the ship. There was some sand storm build-up, but the drones had cleared most of it away. Maxtor satisfied himself that the fuel line seals were physically good and checked the fuel gauges. The ship was taller up close and it came with a sturdy lift tower to take its passengers to the top where the capsule was situated.

The fuel would be pumped in by the drones in the coming day, so it spent as little time as possible on the craft. Only then could they head back the way they came to the relative security of the Lazarus. Once Maxtor had acquired the thumbs up from the team they climbed back into the shuttle and set a course for the estimated launch area of Major Zero. 

The journey over was quiet and despite their earlier objections, they were reassured that the return booster was physically in good shape. The crew became lost in their own thoughts as the mountains of Mars crept across the horizon. After all the drama of the landing Seiren was finally realising the magnitude of their achievement. The professor fantasised about how it must have been for Major Zero and his crew to establish themselves on this barren rock of a planet with ancient technology. Having experienced what can be achieved on the outside, he knew full well the challenges here must have been many fold. It made their hero's return to Earth even more mind-blowing.

Finally, someone said it, it was bound to happen and everyone had thought it.

"Mother, eh, we could be driving right over her servers," said Payne.

"You think so?" said Seiren looking out of the window and down.

"Strange to think though. Imagine if we found Mother's servers up here and pulled the plug?" he said with a smirk.