Chapter – 5
Mary climbed a steep Martian hillside, taking long and careful steps as her boots dug into the dirt with each stride. She was wearing a heavy coat, the hood wrapped tightly around her head to protect her face from the strong breeze of the Martian landscape. As she walked, she saw the trails of red sand blowing past her feet. She was very much alone, her home at the Terran Science Institute many kilometres away.
Stopping, Mary leaned against a boulder to catch her breath. She looked over the Martian expanse, stretching out in all directions. The air might be breathable, the water liquid, the sun shining and the people eating, but this was a dead planet. From where she stood, endless desert was all she could see. The terraforming of this planet had been a failure, and a mistake. A planet could hardly be considered alive if the only viable life was in human care. All plant life here needed human protection and nurturing, or it would disappear in a matter of months.
A piece of Martian scripture came to mind on the issue.
“Life is the plants. Life is the soil. Life is the sun. Life is the Martians. The harsh world beyond the Great Gardens is barren. The enemies of life are the storms, the droughts, the cold. These enemies want Mars to be dust and stone, like a jealous lover. Martians are the guardians of life. Without life, there would be no Martians. Without Martians, there would be no life.”
This however, might no longer be true…
Mary had chosen this place for her experiment because it was secluded. The odds of someone venturing this far from food or shelter were very small. It was a test site most people could have only dreamed of on Earth. Although, the last time she saw the planet, Earth and Mars had far too much in common, with desert, dead soil and a struggling population.
Sighing heavily, she turned back to the peak of her hill. Continuing upwards, she did her best to avoid looking at the desert on either side of her. She had ruined her mood with unpleasant memories.
Earth represented the grandest of human failures. Mary recalled the last time she saw the motherly orb, suspended in space, the day she left. The blue and green jewel of the solar system had become black and grey, the last signs of beauty withering away. Mary felt sick.
She shook her head, returning to her work. Climbing over the final cluster of boulders, Mary stepped onto the peak, shielded from the wind by surrounding rock. She looked up and smiled. In front of her was a small tree, almost a metre tall now. It was a Martian apple tree, the first of its kind.
It was still alive.
Mary planted the seed here four months ago, and had returned every month since. It was a long journey, one she kept a secret. She proved that genetic engineering could be the solution. This single genetically designed tree could survive on an alien planet with relative ease, and without human care, Martian or Terran. It would take hundreds of years to successfully develop an ecosystem, but every scientist would be following Mary's work, once she made her research public. She might have just brought Mars to life, for the first time in history.
The leaves were a vivid red, and the bark a healthy brown with a reddish hue, just as she had anticipated. The roots were protruding from the dirt in places. This plant could tolerate negative temperatures, and survive with hardly any water or sunlight. The only drawbacks were the apples, which took time to grow. It didn't really matter. The tree could produce fruit, and thus reproduce.
Mary could see it now, her grand unveiling of this genetic masterpiece. The institute would applaud her, reward her, then help her. The Martians, the intelligent ones anyway, would soon follow suit, replacing their outdated beliefs of Great Gardens with modern technology. She might have just solved looming political instability as well.
Shaking with excitement, she pulled a camera from her coat, aiming it at the tree and taking several shots. She made sure to capture the leaves, the roots, the bark, everything. Even the ground around it, and the sky above. She didn’t want anyone questioning of her claims, but the tree's location had to remain secret for now.
As she walked around the tree, she stepped on some soft dirt. Her foot sunk slightly into the freezing ground. She dropped her camera in surprise, then looked down at the soft spot on which she stood. Moving her foot, it became obvious the dirt had been disturbed before she arrived. There were hand marks.
Mary looked back to her tree, scanning it intently. There was no damage that she could see. Whoever was here didn't harm it. Looking back to the dirt, she fell to her knees and began digging at the ground. Her hole grew deeper and deeper next to the tree. Finally, a gleam of silver was visible. She reached for it, delicately lifted the five pearls free of the dirt, looking at them with interest. The middle three pearls were silver, while the top and bottom ones were a pale blue. These pearls seemed...important somehow.