Daniel walked down the corridor following Rachel and a young Lieutenant. He was carrying the mountain of bags and equipment with him whilst Rachel had nothing more than a folder. They made their way down what seemed like a maze of corridors until they reached a small room that looked like it had been discarded for years. Daniel followed them into the room to find three people standing in the room already making it look cramped.
“And this is your team.” The Lieutenant said with a smile. “I’ll leave you guys to get to know each other better, if you need anything, anything at all then please do not hesitate to let me know.”
“Thank you Lieutenant.” Rachel said, the young girl having already left the room before Rachel could finish her sentence. “And she’s gone already, well wasn’t that sweet of her not to outstay her welcome.” Rachel looked around the room and smiled at the three strangers standing before her. “I’m Rachel Leaf pleased to meet you.”
“Sargent Donald Cot, US Marines Marm.” He said whilst giving a solute.
“Please no need for military curtesy.” Rachel said, hoping to come across as friendly. The glare she received from Cot suggested she had failed.
“I’m your military escort Marm.” Cot added.
“Great, great.” Rachel said, nervous by the fact that she hadn’t managed to break the ice with Cot. “And you are?” Rachel asked, turning to face a tall balding man in his early thirties with glasses.
“My name is Connor, I’m with the Weona Napl Cultural Office.” Connor said whilst extending out his hand.
“You’re the translator?” Rachel asked as she put her hand out to meet his.
“That’s right. But I hear your quite fluent in Weona Napl yourself.” Connor said.
“Vepep ne qaaep na setlin viefnoto nofe ne teep.” Rachel said.
“Very good but it’s uqqone not viefnoto.”
“Uqqone.” Rachel tried. Connor nodded as she spoke, pleased with her. “And of course I know you.” Rachel said, turning to face the small woman in the back of the room, hiding behind her thick glasses and short cut curly hair. “You must be Katlyne. So nice to meet you in person after all the times we’ve talked on the conference call.”
“Pleasure to meet you too.” Katlyne said quietly not wanting to draw to much attention to herself. Katlyne then noticed Daniel standing in the door way. “I’m Katlyne, military strategy.”
“You’re an expert in military strategy.” Daniel asked, confused by the sight of the nerdiest girl he had ever seen and being told that she was an expert in warcraft.
“Quite so.” She replied, nodding as she spoke. “And why shouldn’t I be.” Katlyne spoke with a hint of insulted in her voice.
“It’s true.” Cot added. “She might not be much to look at but she is one of the finest military strategists currently living.”
“This whole thing was her idea.” Rachel added. “Learn from your enemy.”
“Well I can’t take all the credit.” Katlyne said, embarrassed by the praise she was receiving.
“So how did you get into military strategy, you don’t really look the type.”
“It was whilst I was studying history at Oxford.” Katlyne said, speaking with more confidence now she was talking but happier university days.
“I thought you went to Cambridge.” Connor interrupted.
“I did, I went to both.”
“At the same time.” Rachel said hopping everyone else in the room would be impressed.
“How’s that possible?” Daniel asked.
“There was a mix up with the paper work.” Katlyne said, embarrassed again. “It was a clerical error.”
“It was fraud.” Cot added.
“I didn’t want to miss out on anything.” Katlyne said defensively.
“She created a false identity and used it to get into Oxford whilst already studying at Cambridge.” Rachel explained. “She would have gone to prison if the Martian Operations Agency hadn’t picked her up.
“I was studying when they recruited me too.” Daniel said sympathetically.
“Where?” Katlyne asked hopefully.
“MIT.” Daniel replied proudly.
“Oh I loved MIT, I did applied mathematics there.” Katlyne said gleefully, before realising that everyone was staring at her. “I don’t want to talk about it, not without a lawyer anyway.” Katlyne’s head dropped. “Although I did study at Harvard Law.”
“Daniel here is our technical expert.” Rachel said hoping to change the subject. “He’ll work with me in setting up the equipment and maintaining it once we are fully operational. Daniel walked into the room and put the boxes down onto the large table. “Well let’s get started shall we.” Rachel added.
The next few hours were spent unpacking boxes. Daniel realised early on that the room wasn’t big enough for the five of them not to mention the masses of equipment that was required. Daniel spent most of the rest of the day unpacking and organising. He knew it would take weeks to build up the equipment that they needed and then yet more time to calibrate it. As the day went on it began to drag. His eyes grew heavy, his hands shaked and he wasn’t able to focus on what he was doing.
“Are you alright Daniel?” Connor asked, poking Daniel as he spoke.
“Fine I guess, why?” Daniel asked.
“You’re practically falling asleep as you work.” Connor added. “Maybe it’s time you headed back to your quarters.”
“I’ll go when Rachel goes.” Daniel said defiantly.
“She went hours ago.” Connor replied. “Have you slept since you left Earth?”
“Maybe I should go to me bed.” Daniel rose and started to head towards the door. “Where is my bed again.” He chuckled to himself. “I have no idea when on this planet my bed is. That seems a weird thing to be able to say.”
“Your exhausted.” Cot stood up and put his arm around Daniel. “I’ll show you where you’ve been billeted.” Cot helped Daniel out of the room and the pair headed down the corridor. Cot practically dragging Daniel as they walked. As they headed down one of the many corridors suddenly Daniel became immovable. Even someone of Cot’s size and stature couldn’t make Daniel walk any further. Cot looked down and realised what Daniel had noticed. Daniel was looking out of one of the small windows which dotted the corridors. His mouth open, his eyes transfixed.
“You know I almost forgot where I was.” Daniel muttered, more to himself then to Cot. Cot turned and looked out the window himself, trying to see the Martian landscape for the first time with new eyes.
“Back on Earth I travelled with the Corps, I saw forests I saw deserts, every week a new country it seemed.” Cot looked back at Daniel. “I never saw anything like this place.”
“That’s a different planet.” Daniel replied.
“It is.” Cot nodded. “When I was first recruited to the Mars programme I assumed the landscape would be boring, dull repetitive.” Cot sighed. “I had no idea there were so many different shades of red.” Cot let the comment hang in the air for a moment. “Come on let’s get you to bed, Mars will still be there in the morning.” Cot dragged Daniel away from the window. Eventually the pair reached Daniel’s new quarters. Cot opened the door and dragged the young man inside, placing him on the bed. “Oh before I forget.” Cot said, realising that Daniel was already asleep. Cot slapped the young man across the face. “Before I forget if you have nightmares tonight you must tell us.” Cot shook Daniels shoulders, fighting for his attention. “Listen this is important, if you have nightmares you need to let us know.”
“Nightmares?” Daniel asked through his sleep deprived state.
“It’s this whole thing with the British, but it’s important, you must tell us if you ever have nightmares on Mars.”