Fatal Discovery

Chapter 3

Section Three

Mars Base One, 1030 Hours, 2167

Mars Base One

1030 Hours

April 8th, 2167

By now most of the teams from the Excelsior had made it to the surface. The base was now teeming with life as people unpacked equipment and moved into their respective rooms.

There had been a problem with the liquid oxygen cooling tanks on one of the shuttles that had caused a delay in the transport of the airponics equipment.

There was to be a large airponics lab set up on the east side of the base which would provide food for everyone.

Alyssa sat at the desk in her lab looking over files on the base. She found a holo-map of the entire base that included the bunker underneath.

She hoped this would never need to be used since they were in place to protect people from radiation exposure if the main reactor ever ruptured.

She sat looking at the three-dimensional image floating over her desk.

The wireframe map of the base was blue and contained a red dot for every person on the base. Each persons comm-band had a tracking device in it so that people could easily be accounted for.

Alyssa looked at the map and found her lab and saw the red dot that represented herself and touched it with the tip of her finger; as soon as she did this, her name appeared above the dot and her personal profile opened to the side of the map.

She typed Tom’s name into the search bar via the holographic keyboard in front of her and one of the red dots in the main computer room blinked and turned green.

It then struck her that this was a very odd thing to do. She knew deep inside herself that she had feelings for Tom, but she didn’t want to admit this to herself.

Suddenly the door to the lab slid open and the jumped up and quickly erased the search.

“Oh hello Dr. Anderson, I’ve brought the ore treatment chemicals and another Fragmenter, I wasn’t sure if you had already brought one or not.”

“Oh, thank you Lin, I left mine in my quarters, I’ll bring it tomorrow morning.” Lin was Alyssa’s most trusted assistant. She knew she could count on Lin for anything she needed. “Where is the rest of the team?”

“They are on their way, they got caught up looking at the reactor core. It’s actually quite fascinating, you should have a look sometime.”

“I might just do that.” She turned to a small work space on her left. “This will be your workstation, it should have everything you need.”

“Thank you Doctor, I’ll set my things up now.”

As the hours went by, more and more people filed into the lab and the more people that came, the smaller the room seemed. By 1900 hours, the entire base was filled and set up. The entire crew of the base met in the mess hall for a meal of freeze-dried rations as the captain went over the base regulations.

Once everyone was finished eating, they were all given free time until 2200 hours. At 2200 the power systems in the base went into conservation mode which meant that all systems, except for life support and emergency lighting, were shut down.

The excavation would begin early the next morning meaning that the project would be in full operation.

Alyssa didn’t exactly know what she wanted to do with her free time, so she found Tom and went for a walk around the base.

He had already been around the base once, so he gave her a tour.

The base was set up like a star. The center housed the reactor core and then five tunnels each led to a different dome. All of these domes were protected by a meteor deflector screen that repelled any unknown descending objects.

One dome contained the labs (including Alyssa’s lab), two contained living quarters, one contained the shuttle bay, and the last was used primarily for storage.

After the ore was tested for purity, it was taken to the storage bay and locked in containers that would be taken to Earth by the Excelsior when it returned. The ore that failed the purity test was taken to an “extraterrestrial landfill” about a kilometer from the base. This was done using an automated transportation vehicle that had been brought by the team that had established the base.

After the tour, Tom walked Alyssa back to her room and said goodnight.

Once he had gone, she sat at her small desk, accessed her personal journal and wrote, or rather dictated, her thoughts on the past day. She found that expressing her true feelings to the computer made her feel better, because she knew it wouldn’t talk about her behind her back.

Alyssa Anderson personal log, April seventh, twenty-one sixty seven.

We arrived at Mars a few days ahead of schedule. I set up my lab and then spent some time with Tom, walking around the base. I fell guilty spending time with him when I know I still have feelings for Fletcher, but I can't help myself. I suppose there isn't much point in pursuing any kind of romantic relationship with Tom since he is seeing someone else, but I can't seem to get him off of my mind.

She stood and walked to the small circular window, gazing out at the dark, dusty surface and continued her entry.

I'm having a hard time dealing with out lonely this planet feels. Even though I'm surrounded by hundreds of fellow people, I can't help but feel alone. I can't imagine how anyone ever thought there was life on Mars; it's so dead out there.

She returned to her computer and saved her entry, dressed for bed, and tried to stay calm.

Alyssa had read a book, as a young girl, about several people that had gotten trapped in a cave while exploring; now she knew how those people must have felt, being completely helpless.

Then she thought of Fletcher and some how, she knew she would be safe, no matter what happened.

She laid down and fell asleep within minutes. That night she dreamt that she had become trapped in some kind of cave-in and Fletcher had saved her... or had it been Tom?