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"Sounds like you're trying to get rid of me!" Even back in Albuquerque
he had pestered her with questions of why she had no boyfriend, why she did
not go to movies, why she had no social life. Taking it upon himself, Parvu
had dragged her off to dinners, forced her to go out to places normally
frequented by people her own age -- which meant that he himself looked
hopelessly out of place.
"Oh, Erika! It is for your own good." Parvu turned away, the matter
finished.
Erika did not answer, but instead walked out through the double doors
to her own quarters. Their open caviar lay on the table; several crackers had
spilled out of the package. She hoped he would feed them to the three lab
rats.
The speakers on the sound system began to play another selection from
Parvu's CD changer. She recognized it as Mozart's Requiem Mass. Angrily, Erika
switched it off. The music seemed too appropriate.
* * * *
Erika rode in silence next to Kent Woodward in the Mars rover. Once
again the gusting winds prevented any helicopter from landing near the NIL;
the Mars crew had been asked once again to perform a delivery service. Their
long Antarctic training schedule left many gaps with time to run errands, and
the astronauts did not mind the break in routine.
Erika wished that Parvu had driven her in the EOV. The Emergency
Overland Vehicle was delta shaped, with a cramped driver's compartment and an
empty space in the back to haul a passenger.
The EOV had been intended for use if one of the NIL people were injured
and needed to be rushed overland the 120 kilometers to McMurdo Sound Naval
Station, or even to the Mars base camp -- one of those "frivolous" emergency
measures that Parvu had not designed himself, and he had sworn he'd never use
the contraption except in an emergency.
In the rover, Kent Woodward kept jabbering, regaling her with stories
-- no doubt exaggerated to make him seem wonderful -- about his college days
in Arizona, about growing up in British Columbia, about mountain climbing and
off-trail hiking, and his aspirations and excitement about going to Mars. He
kept grinning at her, showing off his skill in the rover as if it were a
carnival ride, zipping over rock outcroppings and snow drifts that had been
packed down for countless years.
But Erika could think only of the comfortable, safe NIL she was leaving
farther behind each minute. She would probably never return. Her years-long
association with Jordan Parvu seemed ended now; they would become peers, not
partners. Why couldn't she be thrilled by the prospect? She'd be the first
person to study alien nanomachines! But if she had wanted glory and public
acclaim, would she have come down to the bottom of the planet?
She thought of her possessions wrapped up into a pitifully small
package stowed in the rear sample compartment of the vehicle. Did it all mean
that little?
"What's the matter?" Kent finally asked. Erika looked pointedly out the
window at the bleak landscape. "Are you okay?"
"I don't want to talk about it," she answered. "You're doing enough
talking for the both of us." Kent shrugged, then seemed to have no objection
about continuing to talk about himself.
Reaching the Mars base camp, Erika looked with a mixture of amazement
and nervousness at the tiny, cramped modules half-buried under heaped snow and
dirt. She saw two living canisters, one for backup; together, they seemed
barely large enough for one person, yet this facility housed six, stacked like
sardines.
The crewmembers had lived in such close contact for the three-month
flight in low-Earth orbit; now they were simulating the 600-day Mars mission
in Antarctic isolation. No wonder Gunther Mosby and Kent went out of their way
to take advantage of the NIL showers and living spaces.
Erika, who valued her privacy, wasn't sure she could last even one day
in this miserable environment while waiting for the C-141 transport plane to
take her to McMurdo Sound.
Kent dismounted from the rover as its methane engine puttered into
silence. He put on his best tour-guide smile and clicked the faceplate down.
The astronauts were required to participate in the simulation at all times,
but Erika herself wore only a heavy parka, scarf, and thick mittens. She wore
a radio headphone to communicate.
"Over there, we've got an optical communications telescope."
He gestured to a steaming mound several hundred meters from the base.
"Our own megawatt nuclear power plant is buried over there. Provides all our
electricity. Boy, oh boy, you should have heard the environmentalists squawk
about 'contaminating the pristine Antarctic environment.' As if it makes any
difference around here!" He smiled in the cocksure way that was already
beginning to annoy Erika. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]