The True Nature of Mars

The minutes passed slowly. Daylight had returned, still it could not really prevail, as time and again the atmosphere of Mars rushed at the lander, which seemed to jolt but perseveringly remained bolted into the ground.

"What would you say, if one of your children wanted to become an astronaut?" Elena asked. Jean smiled thoughtfully.

"I could understand it, that goes without saying. I would be very proud—and I''d try my best to talk him or her out of it." Looking at the watch his dark eyes suddenly reflected a kind of seriousness exceeding the brink of alarm. "Oh, William, you''ve been out now for more than 25 hours."

At first Elena did not understand why Jean had mentioned this figure so explicitly, but then an inexorable fact flashed through her mind. The oxygen supply provided by the life-support system of their spacesuits was calculated for 20 hours at the most, emergency packs already included. Even someone breathing very shallowly would hardly be able to survive longer than 25 hours on the external oxygen supply, unless he was a Tibetan monk able to temporarily fall into a deathlike trance. Elena raised her head. All self-control she had so desperately tried to muster crumbled like a house of cards.

"We should have searched for him!" she screamed at Jean. "Prospects weren''t good, I know that, but doesn''t luck or a miracle help sometimes? Maybe our efforts would have been in vain, but we didn''t even try it. All we did was save our skin. That''s so mean!"

Jean said nothing. He had no choice but to leave the Communication in the dark about their situation. They still could not get any transmission through.

"That''s true," he finally acknowledged Elena''s rebuke, "William has always relied on me. Though I acted reasonably, I didn''t come to his help."

Elena stared at the endlessly passing dust clouds. Thinking that William could no longer be as vivacious, certain, and master of the situation as she had always known him, seemed absolutely absurd. She pushed this thought firmly from her mind.

Another hour had passed when the local dust storm ceased, subsiding as swiftly and abruptly as it had emerged, leaving only a scarlet glow in the sky. Jean had made a new fruitless attempt to contact William, now he reached for his helmet.

"Come on, Elena," he said, "it''s time to find him one way or other. I think he must have tried to take shelter among the rocks and then got trapped there. Locating him will be difficult and we don''t have much time, so we should separate to optimize our search. Can you cope with that, or should I stay by your side? There''s no point in fooling ourselves. We must be prepared to recover him dead."

Elena looked at Jean in surprise. All she could feel was a deep emotional void that only allowed for functional considerations. Thankfully she adopted Jean''s energetic attitude. She continued as if she were moving hand over hand above an abyss, enduring the situation moment by moment.

"I can do it," she said.

"Okay." Jean clasped her hand. "I''ll turn to the right and you to the left, we''ll stay in contact permanently. Please report immediately if you see anything or if you''re not okay, promise?"

Elena nodded. She closed and secured her helmet. Life was passing through her mind like a movie. She could watch herself while adjusting the pressure level of her spacesuit and only one thought crossed her mind: I don''t want to find him. Don''t let it be me.