Chapter 12

Footprints on Mars

It has been 8 months since the first settlement ship, the Victoria had departed to Mars. The Bourbon Street pub in the old town of Key-West Florida was full of heat as the place was crowed with people drinking beer and talking to one another. However, they all seemed rather nervous and their facial expressions were like a fully blown up balloon.

Somebody spoke from a grand TV screen on the wall, “We are continuing. It is an important moment. For the following 7 minutes, the control tower on Earth is not able to assist in any way.” Everybody turned their heads towards the TV set.

It was the day the Victoria was landing on Mars. TV news was explaining that the spacecraft had entered into the Mars’s orbit. When the video streaming was cut, the CG screen came up. The host coughed lightly and explained, "Now, about three minutes are left before the Victoria lands on Mars. It is the time when the Victoria cannot transmit signals to Earth. There is nothing we can do but wait for the signal to come back."

Even if the atmosphere is thinner than Earth, the floor of the lander, which falls six times faster than the speed of a bullet, will burn with frictional heat of more than 1,500 degrees Celsius.

The commentator spoke of his experience, “We have returned twice via Soyuz, once via Dragon. Each time, it was fearful when the spacecrafts entered into Earth’s orbit. It sure is different from when it went out of the orbit.” The host said, “The signal sent from Mars takes up 12 minutes time to reach Earth.” After a few seconds of silence, the host carefully continued, “So, the mission is already successful or...” “Mind your words! The Mars One explosion killed 30 people,” the ex-space pilot commentator raised his voice. He seemed to have forgotten that he was broadcasting live. He did not want to be reminded of the worst explosion of all times – the Mars One Project rocket explosion. The audiences also fell into disorder. But soon the next phase came up. “Ah! We can see the spacecraft approaching!” cried the host cheerfully. he was as excited as a sports commentator announcing a goal-in for a football tournament. “Look, the retro-rocket is working perfectly,” the commentator explained the screen being transmitted.

The camera on the surface of Mars had caught the command module of Victoria descending to Mars. 2 years ago, when the shortest window to Mars had opened, they already sent to Mars the remote control cameras. The commentator exclaimed with joy, “Oh! My Lord! The ship is heading to the correct direction.” 6 rocket motors on the side of the spacecraft have activated. Light yellow colored fire roared out. The Meridiani Planum greeted humans for the first time, and the Mars sand whirled up from the red terrain. The video was so vivid that the distance of 225,018,036km seemed unrealistic.

“Finally, at last, the landing!” said the host. “Yes! Successful journey to Mars! A brilliant triumph, a memorable moment in the history of mankind!” said the commentator with tears of joy.

All the channels worldwide broadcasted the same video. Swiftly landing spacecraft, about 100 people at the control tower rejoiced and swung their fists in the air. Everybody hugged with joy. The scenery at the Bourbon Street pub was exactly the same.

The first migrants descended from the ship one by one, wearing their Mars activity uniform. Together, they put their arms around each other’s shoulders and they all raised their right foot and stomped onto the ground, making mankind’s first footprint. It was indeed the highlight of the Mars landing event. Cameras closed up the footprints. Grand applauses and cheers came from every corner of the EarthSome people whistled cheerfully. Everyone was excited and happy as if they themselves stepped on the red sand. Considering the television penetration rate at the time of Apollo 11, the Mars landing was a tremendous event worldwide.

The heroine was none other than Rei. “We announce through this humble step...” Rei, standing in the center of the pilots spoke with a trembling small voice,“Humanity is no longer loners of the blue planet.”

Ayanami Rei, Stanley Hugh, Michelle Chang, Robin Alex. The four pilots. They set their steps for the very first time on Mars and have truly become the first Martians. Rei’s eyes twinkled inside the visor. She said, “By the time the signal reaches the Earth, that is, in about 20minutes, what would I be doing?” The camera closed up on Rei’s face inside the helmet. “Probably, I would be...” Rei linked her arms to Hugh’s and continued, “Kissing Hugh who’s standing right here with me. First, we should go back to the place we can take our helmets off!” Rei smiled a big smile, as beautiful as cherry blossoms.

“This was Rei, the first Martian.”

Everybody followed Rei’s word and shouted “Martian! Martian!”. The host continued on by praising Rei, “Yes, Rei...She was by far the most outstanding pilot from the audition process. Where does her charms come from? Of course, it would be difficult to meet her again on Earth. It is a grand pity, really.”

Someone hysterically put down the empty glass. Unlike everyone who gathered together to laugh and talk, the man sat at the very corner of the bar. The bartender glanced at the hunter eye Asian man.

“One more.”

It was Jay Robinson. He moved his fingers around the glass, gazing at the froth mark within it. He lay the glass down, and put his hand in his right pocket. He felt the coin with a hole. It was still there.

“Jay Robinson!”, a voice called Jay.

Jay turned his head to the direction, startled and astound. It was Key West in Florida where he had no acquaintance. From the day of the car accident, he did not carry any electric device with him to avoid tracking. A greyish blue eyes looked straight at Jay. She was a woman in her early 30’s wearing black suit with neatly cut brown hair touching her shoulders.

“Who is this...” Jay said. After having looked around, the woman spoke in a low voice, “We were looking for you, Jay.”

Jay made an awkward expression at such unexpected situation, and pointed his finger to his chest. The woman nodded without hesitation. Jay’s eyebrows trembled a little. He thought there was no time to lose. She didn’t seem to have any company. Jay lifted his left hand and gave her a sign to wait for a second, and picked up his glass. The woman followed Jay’s hand gesture, and at that instant, Jay smashed the glass onto the wall in front. It clashed and broke into pieces. The bartender screamed. Everyone looked to the direction. Jay ran off pushing the people away. Someone called on him but he did not look back. As he ran out of the door, rain was falling diagonally in the darkness of the night. Jay kept on running across the street. But he had no choice but to stop. From all directions, light so strong and bright shone onto him, blinding his eyes. A lightning flash hit Jay on his backside. He passed out and fell to the ground.

...

When Jay awoke, he felt his shoulders aching. White wall, bluish and cold light, metal table and chair, and at one side of the wall was a single mirror. It was a typical investigation room. What hit him was likely to be a taser gun. Jay blinked his eyes trying to get accustomed to the light. In front of him was the woman he tried to run away from.

The woman responded as Jay moved, “Are you awake?”

Jay raised his upper body. But he fell again onto the chair. He was tied to the chair. His ankles were tied with a plastic strap to the chair, and he had handcuffs on his wrist.

Jay shouted angrily, “What the hell is all this!”

He pretended to be overly angry to gain time. He needed to know what the current situation was. On the other hand, he was relieved a little, because whoever brought him here, if they were after his life, then he would already be dead, instead of waking up in this strange room.

“We thought that useless conflict was unnecessary,” the woman’s voice was calm. She got up slowly from where she was sitting, and approached to Jay. Jay reflectively tried to move backwards. The metal chair screeched the floor. The woman ridiculed Jay with a faint giggle and bend her waist right in front of Jay. Her white neck, defenselessly open to him. The woman released Jay’s handcuffs and cut the straps tied on his ankles. Jay thought quickly, 'It wasn’t a good idea. It was too reckless.' Even if he hit her on the neck and make her faint, that would not lead him out of the room. He did not have enough information. So, what she was saying to him was merely that Jay was helpless.

She got up and held out her hand, “Dana Catherine, FBI agent at the Space Forces." Jay touched his handcuff free wrists, and refused to shake hands with her. Catherine smiled a little and put her hand away,

“Sure, Formality is no more important than the essence”

With a table in between them, Catherine went back to her chair. She wasn’t wrong. A big fuss at the pub would have meant disclosing his location to the chasers.

“Who gave you the right to act this way? This is abduction! Listen, I

will make you be responsible for all this. You’d better be ready to take off your uniform!” Jay shouted. he pointed his finger right at Catherine’s face and said, “Call my lawyer.”

Weather she was a real FBI agent or not, nobody knows. She didn’t even inform about the Miranda Rights. Even if she was really a FBI agent, Jay had no reason to tell her the truth. He could not decide if she was trustworthy or not.

Catherine did not even blink her eyes. She nodded and said, “Of course, I understand perfectly why you are acting this way.” Catherine wrinkled up her brows and put her right hand in her pocket. “If you see this, I suppose you will think differently.”

In an instant, Jay thought she was getting out a gun. But it wasn’t a gun. It was an unfoldable personal information device. As the screen rolled open, there appeared on screen a pilot in a weightless state. Jay, who poured out his frustration, froze up. It was Rei. 'Is that Rei?' Jay couldn't believe what he see.

Catherine did not miss the moment. She smiled frigidly. In the screen, Rie was reporting about her situation.

“Victoria’s pilot, this is Rei. This is Level 1 warning, I repeat. Level 1 warning situation.”

Her black hair was pointing upwards to various directions. It shows that she was in a weightless state. Rei’s eyes looked nervous and uneasy. She wasn’t at all confident or proud as her usual self. 'Level 1 warning' was a sign that the spacecraft has a low air pressure caused by a hole, or when toxic air penetrates into the ship. It also means that pilots’ lives are in danger. It was an international warning system which started from the time of ISS. Jay remembered watching live broadcast on TV, the four pilots stepping down on Mars. He could not connect the scene with what he had seen just before.

Catherine seemed to read Jay’s thoughts. She said, “Just like the time of Apollo 13, some miracle may have come up and resolved the level 1 warning situation, and made them land on Mars. But, would that be true?”

If it was the case, Rei would have bragged about the story when she landed on the Mars. She had endlessly boasted about her accomplishment for the Earth orbit training accident. Rei was like that.

Catherine explained to Jay while showing him one more picture, “The Mars orbiting ship operated by the European Space Agency, the Mars Eye shot a video of Mars 2 touchdown point – Meridiani Planum. We got the video a little while ago.”

Victoria which has landed on the land of Mars had black dirt around it. It was a trace left by operating a rocket. Destiny module also stood exactly on its destination, about 200 meters away for the command module. It was a proof photo showing the grand success of Mars landing.

Catherine said to Jay who looked totally confused. “You may be wondering why I am showing this to you.” She pointed a part of the video with her fingertip. “But look over here. Next to the service module,” she said and expanded the satellite shot. Lines which were manually drawn came into their eyes.

“Someone had lined up the red hematites existing in Mars, so that it looks like a line. This is what an airplane pilot having landed on a desert island would have done. As if wishing that somebody up in the sky will notice it....similar to the Nazca Line,” explained Catherine calmly. The first line was set straight. Catherine continued, expressing regret, “But it is sad that the Mars Eye is not a stationary satellite. It cannot but move around instead of staying at the spot. It visits the spot about twice a day...” Jay attempted to refute her remark, “I should think there are more orbiters around Mars...” Catherine shook her head and made a sigh. She said, “Russia and India owns orbiters although they are not stationary satellites. We asked them via diplomatic lines but they all rejected in providing help. It totally does not make sense. Especially in this area where international cooperation is easily made. There must be something.”

'Victoria had successfully landed on the red planet, Mars. What’s the problem here? The whole world has seen the Mars landing just an hour ago,' Jay was puzzled and could not find the answer. Catherine said, “We received some data from Europe. There’s also NATO we presume will have more information.” Jay could not understand what Catherine was talking about. He tried to catch up with, “But Dragonfly....” Catherine said, “I know what you wish to say. Dragonfly sent tons of broadcasting equipment to Mars in advance : It also operates two satellites in orbit around Mars. However...” Catherine stopped talking and looked up at Jay. “Dragonfly refuses to cooperate. Surprisingly, it is saying that Mars is a territory where American government cannot perform its administrative ability,” said Catherine.

The information Dragonfly gathered in Mars was it's sole ownership. Meridiani Planum was under Dragonfly’s full control.

“The intention of the person drawing the red line seems clear. Although we do not know for sure who the person may be,” Catherine said. She pointed with her finger the red line in the picture and said, "the person has some important message he wants to send to the earth outside of Dragonfly's control. And the person desperately wants to."

Dragonfly’s Mars Two project had mostly adopted the Mars Direct Project designed by the pioneer of astronautics, Robert Zubrin. The project was of low cost and did not require the highest technical level, among all projects proposed on table. This also meant that more burden be allocated to the pilots.

“If the person wasn't desperate, he or she wouldn't have started doing it right after having landed on Mars. Because the person's life was in danger,” said Catherine.

If the pilots do not set the first residential module and covers them with mud brick, then the pilots may be in danger of losing their lives by the attack of cosmic ray and solar storm.

“What do you want from me? Why the hell did you kidnap me and bring me here?” cried Jay, all exhausted. Catherine seemed to be saying that she sympathized with Jay. She said, “We do not intend to make things difficult for you. It is just that, as it might be too confusing, we wanted to tell you one by one...”