It took most of an hour for the group to trudge through the shallow valley between the low, grey hills. The sun was already halfway down the sky, but Chris reckoned they still had well over an hour until sunset when the temperature would plummet. To his relief, the vertical shape of the fuel module, still a couple of kilometres ahead, came into view as they cleared one of the minor hills. The pink-tinged sunlight seemed to sparkle as it reflected off the stainless-steel surface.
"It looks like your gamble has paid off, Chris," Kate smiled at him.
Unlike the rest of the group who had been following in single file behind him, Kate was walking alongside. He smiled back at her.
"It does. Now, all we've got to do is get there before the sun goes down."
The sight of a module that appeared to have achieved a perfect landing improved the group's mood considerably and helped their energy levels too. With renewed vigour, they pressed on and, even though the gravel did not make for fast walking, they made it to the module in less than half-an-hour.
There were traces of scorching on the bottom quarter of the cylinder but no obvious damage otherwise. The hinged landing legs were positioned perfectly and the large-piston shock-absorbers had clearly performed their job exactly as they were designed to do.
"Fletcher, could you check that it's in as good condition as it looks?" Chris said as he peeled his rucksack off his aching shoulders. "Melissa, how long until that sun goes down?"
"Around forty minutes, Commander," she replied. "It's already feeling colder."
"Let's see if we can get into this thing then."
Chris dropped his rucksack on the ground and stooped a little to walk beneath the rounded floor of the cylinder. The charring was clearly worse under there, but he could see no indication of damage that had penetrated the stainless-steel skin.
The door-shaped airlock, positioned perpendicular to the left-hand side in the bottom of the module, was particularly blackened. He hoped that was not going to be a problem when it came to opening the airlock.
"Fletcher, is it fine to just open the outer airlock door?"
"Aye, Commander. If the motors still work, it should be fine," Fletcher replied immediately without looking away from the landing leg he was studying.
"I'm not going to get residual fuel poured over me?"
Fletcher laughed which set him off coughing again. "No, Commander. What's left in there will be gas and harmless unless you try to breathe it on its own."
"The internal ventilation system can clear any xenon residue?"
"Easily!" Fletcher replied. "The inner door won't open until the atmosphere inside is safe to breathe anyway. You're quite safe, Commander."
Fletcher gave the landing leg a gentle kick as though he was checking the tyres on a car and then joined Chris by the hatch. Initially struggling to grip it with his H.E.P.O. glove, Chris pulled off the heat-resistant tile, letting it fall to the floor then slid the thick cover plate beneath it that protected the airlock control panel to the side. It crunched noisily in its rails and resisted for the whole distance. The panel inside was bright and pristine in comparison.
Chris pressed and held the large green button until there was a buzz tone and the entire panel illuminated. The ten-centimetre touchscreen gradually displayed a list of system checks being completed before replacing the list with four icons. Pressing the first caused the word "Please wait..." to fill the centre of the screen.
A series of heavy clunks and strange whirring sounds from inside the module followed and then the words on the screen changed to "Ventilating."
"The external air-intakes still work then," Fletcher reported. "Any xenon residue should be vented in a mo', Commander."
"It's going to be tricky to get in and out of this module. It's supposed to be lowered onto its side before we use it as accommodation."
"We can't do that here, Commander," replied Fletcher shaking his head. "Not without damaging the module and the buggies in the nosecone."
"And that's something I can't risk," Chris added.
Now the process was complete, the door above them smoothly slid open revealing a space designed for one standing person to wait within, with an inner door above it. This layout would have worked well with the module on its side but, in its present orientation, it would involve suspending yourself horizontally without the use of handholds while the outer door closed and then the inner one opened.
Chris returned to the control panel and began overriding the system, forcing both doors open at the same time. He had to use his rank as Commander of the vessel to bypass the safety protocols but then the inner door slid open too. Now the problem was simply how to climb up through the airlock and into the large chamber above.
"Any ideas?" he asked as he tested gripping the surround of the outer door with his gloved fingers.
The rubber grips on the ends of the gloves' fingers were not up to the job.
"We could switch on the lights, Commander?" Fletcher replied, attempting to grip the metal surround himself but not having any more success.
Chris nodded and touched the control panel to activate the lighting inside the empty tank.
"Quickest way I can think of is me giving you a leg up," Fletcher suggested.
"Is there anything to attach a rope to inside?"
"Aye, there's a handgrip loop beside the internal panel, that would do it, Commander."
"Okay then, here's the plan. Everyone brings their rucksacks over here. You give me a leg up then pass the rucksacks up to me. Then I'll attach a rope and help the rest of you climb up too."
"I'll help from down here, sir, then climb up at the end."
"Good man!" Chris replied, lifting his foot into Fletcher's cradled hands.
It was not as difficult as he expected to make the required height, more due to Fletcher's help and the lower gravity than any athletic capability on his part, he suspected. He had barely scuttled onto the bare-metal floor before Fletcher passed up the first rucksack.
Little more than a minute later, Chris had all the rucksacks lined up along the wall opposite the airlock doorway. He had to remove his gloves to tie the rope to the recessed handgrip. As soon as the rope dropped through the hatch, the next person, Kate, began to climb up. Chris pulled the shoulders of her H.E.P.O to help her up and then moved on to help the next person.
"There's no furniture in here!" Kate sighed.
"It's just a shelter," Chris replied. "Everything else is up to us."
"We have to sleep on a metal floor?" she asked as Chris helped Lucy into the module.
"It's no worse than lying on the gravel out there and it's going to be a lot warmer in here."
Between them, Chris and Lucy pulled Amanda and then Melissa up through the airlock. Diego and Anil followed, leaving only Fletcher outside.
"I can't climb the damn rope," Fletcher called, clearly annoyed at himself.
"Reach your arms up," said Chris then waved to Anil to help him.
The two of them leant in from opposite sides of the airlock opening and grabbed Fletcher's outstretched arms just below the elbows. With one almighty heave, they yanked him off the gravel and lifted him enough for him to lift his legs and plant his boots on either side of the outer airlock doorway. Between the three of them, they got Fletcher up onto the stainless-steel floor. He rolled onto his side and paused to catch his breath before struggling to get up.
Chris pressed the sequence of icons to close both doors and, moments later, the fuel module was sealed again. Judging by the waft of icy air which had come in with Fletcher, not a moment too soon.
"Time to get those heaters out," said Lucy, looking around the largely featureless, circular room.
"Fletcher, how long could we run the built-in heating system off the module's batteries?" Chris asked.
"I wouldn't recommend it, Commander," he replied. "They'll use a lot more than the lights and air processing and we can't replace the energy in the cells."
Lucy, now staring up into the top of the tall chamber, said, "There's an awful lot of space above us. Can we heat that?"
Chris looked up at the voluminous space lit by rows of LEDs spaced equally up its twenty-metre height. He knew that if the module had been laid on its side before being used as accommodation, wall sections currently strapped into the nose end could be repositioned to sub-divide it into multiple rooms. With the module still upright, those dividers were completely out of reach. However they heated the module, they had no choice but to heat the entire interior.
The module is insulated for deep space," Chris replied. "It's easily up to the task of insulating us from the night-time temperatures outside. Now, I suggest we all spread out a little and sit down."
"We should eat," Kate suggested.
"And then get some sleep," Chris added. "Anil and Diego, can you two set up our heaters? Melissa, how long have we got until morning?"
"Morning? Hang on," she replied as she hurriedly pulled off her gloves and retrieved the navicom from her H.E.P.O. front pocket. "Almost six hours until the temperature comes back up to daytime levels."
"Thank you. So, get comfortable everyone. We eat and sleep and then make a good start in the morning. I want to get those buggies winched down first thing so we can drive everywhere we go after today."
After everyone had identified and retrieved their rucksacks, they all sat scattered around the floor to eat their next sachet of rations. Anil finished activating the fourth improvised heater and then collected his rucksack too.
While they ate, Lucy caught Chris's attention then nodded towards Melissa. He wondered if the artificial light was being particularly unflattering, but her skin was tinged with grey, she looked markedly more tired than anyone else and her eyes were heavily bloodshot in the corners. Slowly chewing his uninspiring ration of what had failed to taste much like Chicken Korma, he was wondering if she had been sleeping less than anyone else when he noticed that, while she held an open ration sachet, she was not eating.
He quickly finished his mouthful. "Melissa, you not hungry?"
She seemed startled for a moment before replying, "I'm just not in the mood."
"Are you feeling unwell?"
"Maybe I'm just not hungry right now?!"
"Okay! Sorry I asked," he replied before taking another mouthful of dried curry.
Melissa did not attempt to apologise. Instead, she shuffled nearer to the edge of the floor, where it curved rapidly up into the wall, positioned her rucksack as a pillow beside her and rolled over onto her side as though preparing to sleep. Chris decided not to push it any further.