CHAPTER 9

The long months in space started out as ecstatically hopeful for Brooke. The majority of the time was filled with the mundane necessary exercise routine that pent up her anxiety, until as they neared Mars orbit, it became unbridled anticipation.

Brooke stared out the viewport at the Red Planet in all its glory. When they passed within the orbital path of the moon Diemos, Mars had looked no more than a dusty orange ball, but as they entered the space between the moon Phobos and their destination, the details became clearer. Olympus Mons was visible. “Do you think we’ll find any gods there?”

Jesse looked up from where he sat on the exercise machine. “What?”

She turned to look at him. “Olympus Mons. Mount Olympus. Don’t you know your Greek mythology?”

He rose from the bike and moved over to look out the viewport. “A little. Home of the gods, right? Jupiter and Mars and all those others.”

“No, that’s Roman. Mount Olympus is Greek. It would be Zeus and Ares, not Jupiter and Mars.”

Jesse scratched at his head. His facial features contorted to scrunch toward the side he scratched, giving him a comical look. “So why did they give it a Greek name when the planet’s is Roman? Seems silly to me.”

“That’s why they call it Olympus Mons, not Mount Olympus. Olympus Mons is the Latin name for Mount Olympus. Latin is the language of ancient Rome. Don’t you know anything?"

“Well, then it is Roman, and I was right all along.”

“No, Roman mythology did not have the gods living on Mount Olympus because that would mean the gods live in Greece, not Rome. The Romans believed their gods lived wherever they were, in their homes.”

Their debate abruptly ended when a communiqué came in from Flight Control. “Eros I, countdown to insertion into the Martian atmosphere and landing has commenced. In one hour you will be setting down on the planet. Please begin landing procedures. Pressurized suits will go through a complete systems check in thirty minutes, so get them on.”

Jesse pressed the button to respond. “Copy that, Command.” He turned to face the rest of the crew. “Well, ladies and gents, you heard the man. Let’s get our gear on.”

Mark jostled Brooke with his elbow. “And make sure your tray tables and chairs are in the upright position.”

Along with Brian, she laughed, and began the process of putting on her suit. Although cumbersome, in no way did it compare to the one Robert wore on the moon. Mars had a lot more gravity and somewhat of an atmosphere, so the suits were leaner and offered greater flexibility. Still, struggling into them was really a chore in zero G. The point six gees they had maintained during the long trip by spinning until insertion would have really helped. But they had to stop their spin before entering orbit.

Satisfied that all the connections were sound, Brooke began to strap herself in. She was startled by the sound of a bell combined with the warning red light flashing on the console. Jesse read the screen and then cursed. “Brooke, you have a leak somewhere. My indicators show it’s at the helmet. Try taking it off and putting it back on.”

The monitor on her wrist flashed the warning as well. A moment of panic subsided to tenseness in her shoulders and hands as she worked to lift the helmet over her head. All eyes watched her go through the process. Please, not now. This isn’t fair. Not now!

She reattached the helmet and checked the connections once more. Jesse studied the screen on the console. Several moments passed and she grew impatient. He held up a hand and kept his eyes on the screen. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the green light blinked on. Once her suit had fully pressurized again, she exhaled the breath she’d held and gasped for more air. Everything was fine.

They waited until Control came back on. We’re reading a failure in the suit of Lieutenant Jones. Please advise, Eros I.

Jesse shot her a quick look and she gave him the thumbs up. His features relaxed behind his face shield. “Everything’s fine, Command. During the time lapse between communiqués, we fixed it. We’re ready for final descent.”

Her body slumped within the suit. She finished strapping herself in and settled back. More time passed before Flight Control came on once more. “Confirmed, Eros I. Insertion is a go. Good Luck!”

Mark gave a loud guffaw. “And now the fun part, seven minutes of hell.”

Seven minutes of hell. She knew of it well. Seven minutes of the ship screaming down through the Martian atmosphere. The years of preparation prior to lift off, the long months in space before arriving in Mars orbit, all boiled down to seven minutes of pure pandemonium when the craft would bear the full brunt of flaming its way down to the surface. Either the heat shields would hold, or they wouldn’t. The habitat had landed safely, as had the return rocket, but the percentages were stacking up; only one in five launches made it to Mars safely. Her hands clenched involuntarily onto the arms of her chair. She could sense her weight returning which could only mean they were within the gravitational pull of the planet and the outer reaches of the atmosphere.

It began with a mild shaking. Soon Brooke could hear a rumbling, growing in intensity. She glanced at the viewport. Flames flowed from where the heat shield would be. The vibrations continued to increase, but no worse than they were at lift off. “How many minutes left in this ride?”

Mark glanced at the readout. “Three and a half! Halfway there!”

The vibrations waned and the amount of flame shooting by the viewport decreased. Then, abruptly, they stopped. In the next moment, a popping sound was followed by the tug upward as the parachutes opened.

Brooke checked her screen. “Radar has kicked in. Ground telemetry is coming in. Landing rockets should fire when we reach an elevation of fifty meters above ground.”

Jesse took hold of the controls, preparing to land manually should it be necessary. “We’ve leveled off. I’m green lighting the computers to take us the rest of the way down.”

She could feel a new boost against their fall as the rockets kicked in. “There they go! Forty meters until touchdown…Thirty… Twenty… Ten…”

A jarring feeling passed through the ship as they hit the ground. Mark hit the release on his safety straps first and scrambled out of his seat. “And bingo! We’re on the ground! Hallelujah!”

The others chuckled and began to follow suit. Jesse hit the com. “Hello, Control. The Eros I has safely landed. We’re on the planet Mars. Open the champagne.”

They spent the next fifteen minutes checking all the sensors and systems on the ship. It had landed without problem and was almost perfectly perpendicular to the ground. They noted the external readings and temperature and atmospheric levels.

Brian pointed to his screen. “Hey, everyone. Good news. We’re only two hundred and thirty-two meters from the habitat. I’d say that was pretty pinpoint accuracy by the boys back home.”

Jesse stretched. “Then the first thing to do is go check it out. Who’s up for a walk?”

Brooke and the others chorused. “I am!” Another round of chuckles followed.

Mark kicked at the hatch. “Well, open the damned door already!”

Jesse held up a hand. “Just a minute. I’m waiting for Control to respond.”

As if on cue, the com came on. “Eros I, congratulations. You are a go to proceed to the habitat.”

Jesse hit a button, and the air began to cycle out of the ship. When the readings reached a comparative air pressure to what was outside, he hit the hatch release. A small hiss let Brooke know the seal was broken and Mark spun the locking mechanism and swung the door out. The red glow of the Martian sky flooded through the opening. He turned to Jesse and bowed. “After you, mon capitaine!”

Jesse paused in the doorway and looked back at them. “I’ve been thinking all the way here on what to say. When Neil Armstrong was the first to step on the moon, his words, ‘That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ were forever immortalized. It would be blasphemy to compare myself to Neil, but something needs to be said for this moment to be best remembered.”

He turned and faced the Martian landscape. “It is the nature of humanity to look out, to wonder, to question, to explore, to brave the unknown.”

Jesse stepped out, and Brooke followed right behind. NASA had given explicit instruction as to the order in which they were to step onto the surface. Poor Mark, for all his urgency, was to be last. Immediately outside the door, a camera would record and beam back the images as they planted their feet in the dusty red soil.

When she got outside, the first thing Brooke did was complete a three-hundred-and-sixty degree spin to scan the horizon in all directions. The landscape varied little, with what looked like rocky sand dunes everywhere. In the distance, she could see some hills, but not very high. The only break in the dusty red appearance was the discarded parachute some one hundred yards off to her left and the white gleam from the habitat to her right.

Once Mark had secured the hatch, Jesse pointed toward the habitat. “Okay, everyone, let’s go. We can do some sightseeing once we’ve checked into our new home.”

She fell into step beside him, with Brian and Mark bringing up the rear. “This is unbelievable! I’m actually walking on the surface of Mars!”