Mars Madness

“Shit, John! What the hell?!” I screamed, the slug dropping Hui-Ying instantly.

His hands were shaking, which made his pistol, really a repurposed core sampler, that much more of a threat. “We’re gettin’ in that ship and taking off!”

As the best pilot we had, I guess I was still valuable. “But the orbiter’s still twelve hours out,” I explained, trying to bring him down.

“Bullshit!” He rubbed his temples, delirium controlling every response. “You’re going to get me off this goddamn planet!”

“John, you knew the risk – a long mission, maybe even a one-way trip. We all did.”

He wiped the sweat from his brow, his mind racing. I’d never seen anyone have such a breakdown before. Of course, we’d all been screened, but the shrinks obviously missed something. He paced anxiously, thoughts flooding his head as madness took over. The months in space, the weeks on Mars, the recycled air – the strain had finally broken him.

“We can work, through this,” I pleaded. “Just give me the gun.” I eased in, gesturing for the weapon, but he aimed the barrel directly at me, instead. “What about Hui-Ying?” She was motionlessly on the floor, still breathing. She’d hit her head, but the slug passed cleanly through her shoulder. “We can’t just leave her here.”

Definitely not her biggest fan, Hui-Ying always rode him hard. And she should’ve kept her mouth shut. But he had at least some compassion, because he conceded, “Fine, get her into a suit.”

“You’re the boss.”

“Exactly.”

Her wound was deep but not immediately life-threatening, so I tore the sleeve from her shirt, packed and stabilized the wound, before pulling the environmental suit over her head. Securing her helmet, I hauled her onto my back.

“Outside.” John motioned to the airlock with his pistol. A quick change in atmospheres and we were exposed to the biting sands of the Red Planet. The winds cut like a knife. “Let’s go!”

An unexpected gust, and I stumbled forward, nearly dropping Hui-Ying. So, I set her down, to correct my load. I suddenly realized John was close enough and quickly swept his arm away, before launching into him. We toppled hard into the sand, and he slammed my kidneys with the butt of his weapon. Next, he brought the barrel to my head and I barely managed to deflect it away as he fired. We struggled over the shifting dunes and I slammed his wrist into a large stone, disarming him. Another tumble and he kicked me away before charging back into me. Pinned beneath him, he was totally frantic. Then, with a crack, a rock smashed into his faceplate and he panicked, venting oxygen while charging desperately past Hui-Ying, toward our rocket.

Breathing heavily, she dropped the stone.

“You okay?”

She nodded, staggering a bit, then I bolted up the ladder after him, pounding, “John, open the hatch!”

Engines erupted, and the wash kicked up the sands, nearly tossing me away. So, I scrambled back to Hui-Ying and we covered behind a nearby outcropping as thrusters engaged. The ship took toward the sky. “Jesus, John!” In his madness, no one had untethered the ship.

Blasting skyward, brackets for electrical and environmental lines snapped, but the carbon-steel tethers still attached to our shelter were solid and tugged downward, straining with the load. Unfortunately, A small bullet hole in the fuel tank ejected liquid hydrogen into the thrust and, like a bomb, engines exploded, becoming a fireball from the sky. It consumed our shelter in flame and shrapnel, opening the entire structure to the winds and weather of Mars. At least the blaze didn’t last long in the thin atmosphere.

“Damn.”

“What do we do now?” Hui-Ying asked.

“I don’t have a goddam clue. That shelter was our lifeline.”

“And the rover?”

“Was docked with the shelter.”

“So, we’re just supposed to asphyxiate now?”

“Or dehydrate. There’s a survival kit and a dozen full oxygen cylinders with the survey equipment on the other side of the camp. But locked in these suits, we’ll run out of water, first.”

“You’re the mission commander, you must have some sort of plan.”

“Salvage any equipment we can and get out of this storm. There’s a cave on the ridge. Maybe we can rig something up there and survive a little longer.”

“Until when?”

“Until the orbiter comes around and try to call for rescue. We just need some time…”

“We’re dead, aren’t we?”

“Only if we give up.”