Martian Dawn

Epilogue 3: Departure

MY 54, Sol 577. August 1st, 2056

"All personnel: we will be accelerating out of orbit in fifteen minutes. Please report to your designated acceleration couch. Safety and security personnel will be checking on you. Thank you."

...

Once the seat belt sign was off, Beto Aguilar made his way across D Deck to the section that was cordoned off for repairs. Checking over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching, he ducked under the caution tape and proceeded down the corridor and around the corner. He knocked four times on the second door and said, "Dust Devils."

The door opened and a tall, thin redhead let him in.

Once the door was shut, she said, "Well, what do you think?"

He looked her up and down, and said, "I think they will still recognize you, even with the hair."

"But why?"

"There is a particular complexion and build that people develop after they've been on Mars for a long time. You have it more than anyone else."

"Then some time on the Aguila should help, don't you think?"

"If you work out in the higher gravity, you will put on muscle, certainly, but previous returnees never completely lost their Mars tan."

"It's not that different from photos of people I have seen from high elevations, or very sunny climates."

"True, but not typically in people so young as you. Dra. Herrera may have something to help; I am not sure. I must warn you again; I do not think you can go unrecognized on Earth. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Little late now, isn't it? Anyway, I have to," Dawn answered. "I wasn't ready for the Aguila, Beto; none of us were. I know I can't go incognito for the entire year and a half. I just want a month or two of quiet time with my grandparents before the craziness ensues."

"Then perhaps you will be glad to know that there will be no trial," Aguilar told her.

"What? But he confessed! How can they not..."

"He escaped," Aguilar interrupted.

"He's escaped a dozen times," Dawn agreed, "but he always comes back. He doesn't even try to hide; I mean, he logs his waypoints in real time."

"And he is still doing so," Aguilar told her. "They know just where he is."

"Then why did we leave without him?"

"He highjacked the zeppelin."

Her jaw dropped.

"So we know precisely where he is; it's just that no one can reach him. I imagine perhaps he will report back, now that we have broken orbit."

Dawn began to laugh. She laughed hard, even painfully, until the tears came and calmed her. "Well, I am relieved not to have to testify at his trial. The hearing was one thing--I knew everyone in the room--but I wasn't looking forward to the same thing in a room full of strangers."

"I don't think there would have been a trial anyway," Aguilar told her. "I believe he would have pled guilty."

Dawn shook her head, ruefully. "A dear friend of mine told me a story recently. Something similar happened to her as to me, and her... her assailant voluntarily left town so she wouldn't have to face him, but nevertheless, he just kept coming back into her life, whether either of them chose it or not."

Aguilar had no immediate answer for that. Finally, he said, "I want to apologize for bringing him to Mars."

"Of all the things you could apologize for, Beto, how is that your fault?" She asked. "You could not have known."

"You know there have always been questions about my choice of him," he began.

"Don't tell me I'm about to learn the truth?" she teased.

"I brought him here for you," Aguilar said.

Her gentle grin disappeared.

"I didn't really know you, at the time. I didn't know if you would be able to relate to any of my people," he explained. "My professionals and my campesinos are both so very different from you. I wanted to bring you a friend."

"And Danny Small seemed right up my alley?" Dawn asked, dubiously. "I've got to check my image."

"He did turn out to be challenging to like, didn't he?" Aguilar agreed. "But I did not see that, at first. I saw an academically accelerated American boy, just a few years older than you. Plus, he was a huge fan of your show."

"That's what I don't get!" Dawn exclaimed. "If I offended him so very badly that first show, why did he keep watching? He literally knew every episode, Beto!"

Beto shrugged, helplessly. Twice, he opened his mouth to speculate. Both times, he closed it again without uttering a word.

"So," she said, finally, "how did you arrange for me to have an entire corridor to myself?"

"Fifteen people stayed behind," Aguilar said. "Maintenance, surveying, electrical, telecommunications..."

"Michael is super-stoked about the sat-phone network," Dawn commented.

"Yes, radio might have been fine in the days when there was only one team on the surface at a time, but it was a nightmare with a hundred and thirty." Aguilar agreed. "I wish I had thought of it before we arrived."

"I don't think anyone was really ready for the arrival of the Aguila--no matter how many preparations we made. Now, Mars will be quiet again for three years. I am sad to miss that, to tell you the truth."

"Well, it will actually only last until next June," Aguilar told her.

"¿Por qué?" Dawn asked. "We won't be back until '59."

"Elon moved up his launch schedule. He now claims his ship will be ready to depart in October," Aguilar explained.

"He moved up his launch schedule by four years?" Dawn gawked.

"It's very much his style," Aguilar observed. "He now must do something big that I did not do, and he wants to do it before I can come back. His ship will be bigger--capable of providing a full gee--and he intends to establish his own dome before I can build mine."

"How many passengers?" Dawn asked.

"He hasn't announced," Aguilar admitted. "The details are fuzzy."

"Terra Aurora will crumble if he brings down the same number that you did and they only have ten months to prepare. This is why I need to go to Earth. I need to understand. I need to see this stuff coming."

"I think you are overreacting. Terra Aurora is in a much better position now than they were fifteen months ago. But, I do see your point. It is good for you to understand the planet that so drives your fate. And perhaps you will stay on Earth? You never know. There are places on Earth, Dawn, that are more beautiful than you can possibly imagine."

"I believe you, and I can't wait to see them," she agreed, "but Mars is my home. I will come back in '59."

"Alright. Still, I worry about how much personal responsibility you place on yourself. The fate of Mars should not rest on your shoulders."

"Oye, Beto, that is an Earth perspective," Dawn informed him. "On Earth, there are billions of Native-born inhabitants, and it is easy to assume that someone else can take responsibility for the fate of the planet. Mars only has me."