“I would love that,” he said with a smile. He reached forward and gave Stacy a hug. “Thank you so much for talking to me. I think your advice will really help.”
Stacy kissed Dean on his cheek and said, “You’re a brilliant young man Dean. I think many great things are going to happen to you in the future.”
Dean couldn’t help but smile wide as a blush slowly crept up his face.
What neither he nor Stacy noticed, was Bill passing by the door during the end of their conversation. Had they been looking that way, they would have seen Bill freeze at the door, clench his fists tight, squeeze his eyes to narrow slits, and then turn back the way he had just come and stomp off down the hallway.
Chapter 11
Dean looked out the window set into the wall of his room and saw an amazing sight. Mars was so close, he could make out the polar ice cap with his naked eyes. He wished fervently he had brought along a pair of binoculars so he could study the planet in more detail. He resolved to be patient; the orb was growing larger with each passing day and he would soon be capable of discerning many more features.
He tore his gaze from the alluring image and moved to his small bathroom. He needed to take a shower and get himself ready for the day. He was scheduled to work with Stacy in the labs today and he didn’t want to be late.
Once he had showered and dressed, he exited his room intent on going directly to lab three. Once in the hallway, he heard loud voices coming from Stacy’s room, directly across the hall from his own. He didn’t want to eavesdrop, but for some reason he was unable to make himself move as he listened to the argument relayed through the thin material that made up the doors inside Destiny.
“I don’t care if you think it’s a bad idea,” a distinctly feminine voice said. “Just because I let you stay over on occasion, you have no right to try to control me.”
“I’m not trying to control you,” Bill’s unmistakable baritone retorted. “I just said it was a bad idea. Is my opinion worth nothing to you anymore?”
“Not when it’s shadowed by petty jealousy.”
“I am not jealous!”
“Whatever! I refuse to have this conversation again. Just get out so I can get ready for work.”
Dean panicked when he realized he was likely to be caught listening to their conversation. He turned, ran down the hallway, slammed open the door to the kitchen, and shut it just as forcefully behind him once he was through it.
“Someone’s eager for breakfast this morning.”
Dean hadn’t realized the kitchen was occupied when he made his abrupt entrance. Now, he saw Sarah standing next to the microwave oven with a knowing smile plastered to her face. “Uh…yeah,” he said lamely.
“Don’t worry about it Dean. The whole ship heard them. I wouldn’t want to get caught up in the middle of that either.”
Dean smiled gratefully and replied, “I just don’t understand how he can fight with her like that.”
Sarah walked over to the large table set opposite the kitchen area and took a seat. She pointed to the chair next to her and waited until Dean sat before explaining. “Relationships can be complicated, especially when there is a strong difference of opinion on a certain matter.”
“Why can’t they just respect each other’s point of view?”
“Sometimes our beliefs foster such passionate emotion; we refuse to even consider we might be wrong. When that happens, people tend to lash out at those that see things differently; even if they are the ones closest to us.”
Dean thought that over for a moment before saying, “Well, if I had a girlfriend, I wouldn’t argue with her just because she thinks differently than I do.”
Sarah smiled kindly and said, “That’s easy to say, but until you are actually in a relationship, it’s hard to know how you would react to something like that. I’m sure you will get your chance to find out when we get home though. I hear you’re still pretty popular with the girls back home.”
“I don’t understand that either. Before I won the contest, there wasn’t a single girl in school that would even talk to me.”
“Can you honestly tell me you are the same person you were when you began writing that essay?”
“I guess not. I am kind of afraid to go home. How am I supposed to deal with that?”
“You made it through your training; I’m quite certain you will survive the attentions of many teenaged girls. Just always remember who you are and don’t let the attention go to your head.”
Dean licked his lips and asked, “I don’t suppose I can just stay on Mars, can I?”
“Not a chance. You are going to be a national hero. You’re going to be paraded around the globe to meet with politicians and movie stars.”
“You know that doesn’t ease my fear any, right?”
Sarah chuckled and answered, “I’m sure it doesn’t. We will have a long talk about it on the way home. If we play our cards right, you can turn the situation into an amazing opportunity for yourself.”
“I’m just hoping I’ll be able to go to college and get a degree.”
“I’m sure we can make that happen. Speaking of which, why don’t you come by the med bay after breakfast. I’ve got some programs on my personal database I’d like to show you. I’ll let Stacy know I’m going to borrow you for the day. Probably best if we let her have some time to herself anyways.”
“Sure, I love going through the medical database. I finished the section on virulent pathogens last week.
“If you keep that up, I may have to present you with a medical degree before we even make it home. You have an amazing ability to absorb information and you would make a great doctor.”
“Well, please don’t tell Bill, but I think I would like to study engineering in school.”
“I promise not to say anything, but I would surely love to see his expression if he found out.” Rising from her chair, she looked to Dean and said, “Eat a hearty breakfast; I intend to work you until you see what you would be missing out on by not pursuing medicine.”
Chapter 12
The crew was gathered around the computer interface in the common room trying to understand what the computer was telling them. They had been in the process of celebrating the fact they had achieved Mars orbit. Three hours ago the engine had shut down and the computer had declared a stable orbit. The mood had been festive and even Bill was grinning like a fool. The Captain had broken out a bottle of champagne and he was immediately besieged with questions regarding how he had managed to sneak alcohol past the SpaceTek planners. Everyone had been ridiculously happy.
And then the computer sounded a tone indicating there had been a status update. The Captain had sauntered over to the display, still smiling happily. Dean noticed the smile fade as the Captain read whatever information was there. He walked over to stand next to him.
“What’s going on Captain?” he asked.
“Um, I’m not sure. Read it for yourself.”
Dean read the message displayed before him. Apparently, the ships computer had detected a radio signal coming from the planet’s surface. The computer had correlated the known locations of all known probes and rovers and had decided the signal was from none of them. By the time Dean had finished reading, the others had detected the change in mood and had come over to find out what was going on.
Having finished reading the information for himself, Bill said, “That doesn’t make any sense. A radio signal would have to come from a known object. Unless another country sent a probe here and forgot to tell anyone.”
“That is a possibility,” Captain Rogers said. “But look at the frequency. The signal is coming in on the exact same frequency that was used by the Viking One probe. And look how weak it is. It’s barely strong enough for Destiny to detect. It wouldn’t be strong enough to communicate with any of our orbiters, much less with Earth.”
“Where is it coming from,” Sarah asked.
Captain Rogers typed a command into the computer and was rewarded wi
th a surface map of Mars. In the middle of the map was a blinking dot. “It appears to be centered at the bottom of Valles Marineris,” he answered.
Dean ran his hand through his hair and asked, “What is it saying?”
“It looks like gibberish or random noise, but the computer says there is a repeating pattern.”
Bill grunted and asked, “So what do we do about it?”
“I want you and Stacy to work with the computer and try to find out if there is a coherent message in the signal. In the meantime, I am going to send a message to mission control and find out what they would like us to do about it.”
“What about me?” Dean asked. “Can I help?”
The Captain scratched absently at his cheek as he thought for a moment before replying, “You can do the same thing as Bill and Stacy, but I want you to work alone so that you don’t follow the same methodology as the other two. If we attack it from different directions, we have a better chance of deciphering any meaning that may exist.”
Dean watched as Bill rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed with the Captain’s logic.
“Perhaps we should just send Dean down to the surface by himself to solve the entire mystery,” Bill quipped.
“I’d be happy to, if you’re too scared to go,” Dean replied bluntly.
“Enough!” Captain Rogers took a breath while shaking his head. “You two have got to figure out how to get along. Now get busy before I kick both of you off the landing mission.”
Dean turned and made his way to his room, where he could use his private terminal. He realized he shouldn’t have said what he did, but Bill seemed to bring out the worst in him. Well, he thought to himself, if he could figure out the signal before Bill, maybe the engineer would finally see him as an equal. Sitting at the small desk attached to the wall in his room, he entered the commands necessary to bring up the information the computer had on the signal.
He studied what the computer had already deduced and began applying different algorithms to the signal to see what happened. Once he had exhausted every program the computer had available, he began to write his own.
It wasn’t until two days later that one of his programs had a small amount of success.
Chapter 13
“The Path? What are you talking about?” Captain Rogers asked Dean.
Dean was again in the common room with the others. He had notified the Captain that he had made progress with the radio transmission and the Captain had ordered everyone to assemble in the common room. Now Dean was trying to explain what he had found, even though he didn’t really understand it himself.
“Let me start at the beginning,” he began. “Due to the repeating nature of the signal, I started working with the assumption that it was encrypted. I ran every decryption algorithm the computer had and not one of them worked. I began writing my own programs and testing them on the signal. Finally one of my programs was able to show the pattern hidden in the signal. What it showed was four separate parts, each with its own encryption scheme. The first part, I was able to unencrypt. The others appear to get more and more complicated as you go down the list. So far, I haven’t been able to crack the second one and I have absolutely no hope of getting into the last two.”
The Captain grabbed ahold of Dean’s arm and said, “Forget the others; tell us again what the first one said.”
“As far as I can tell, the first one is simply an introduction by something calling itself ‘The Path’.”
“What in the world does that mean?” Bill asked.
“I have no idea,” Dean said with obvious frustration laced through his voice. “All I know is that the message says, ‘Beings of the fourth world, I am The Path’.”
Captain Rogers asked, “There’s nothing more than that?”
“No, that’s the entire message in the first part. You should know, however, the other three parts contain considerably more data than the first one. Especially the last part; it’s four times bigger than the other three put together.”
“Do you think you will be able to open the second part?” Sarah asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I will keep trying, but I’ve gone through all the information in the database on encryption algorithms and I don’t think we will be able to crack it. From what I am able tell, the first part had an encryption level of approximately one hundred bits and the second part has a level over five hundred. I can’t even determine what level the other two are at.”
“Alright then,” The Captain began, “the only way we are going to get any answers is to go find whatever is sending the signal; which is exactly what Dean, Bill, and I are going to do tomorrow.”
“But we weren’t scheduled to land on the planet for another week,” Sarah said.
“I know,” he replied. “And we are still going to make that landing as scheduled.” He held up his hand at the questioning looks he got from every member of his crew. “Let me explain. What you, and the rest of the world, were told was that we had enough fuel to utilize the lander four times. The reality is that we have enough fuel to land six times. Just like everything else on Destiny, the mission planners wanted us to have some backup just in case. Maybe we developed a fuel leak and needed the extra, or maybe we discovered something that would warrant an extra trip. I think this qualifies as the latter. So we have been ordered by mission control to make an unscheduled landing to find out what is behind the signal. I’m sure after hearing about Dean’s discovery, they will be even more adamant that we find the source of this signal.”
Stacy looked from face to face and then asked, “But what about the whole ‘first step’ video the people back home are waiting to see a week from now?”
“We will still do that. Only we will know that it isn’t actually the first step. We’ve been ordered to keep this landing a secret; as in national security type secret. I’ll make sure Dean is the first out of the lander so that we won’t be lying when we portray him as the first human on Mars.”
“And if something goes wrong?” Sarah asked skeptically.
“Then SpaceTek will tell the world something went wrong…a week from now.”
Chapter 14
Dean wished he hadn’t eaten breakfast. He was certain he would be unable to prevent it from spilling forth at any moment. He tried to look out of the window of the lander, but all he could see were flames of bright glowing plasma. He had assumed there would be no flames since Mars had such a thin atmosphere. He was wrong.
The lander bucked and jumped, like a city dweller trying to walk barefoot across a gravel drive. In this instance, Captain Rogers would be the farm raised man with feet like hardened leather. He was laughing gleefully at the discomfort both Dean and Bill were obviously experiencing.
“I don’t know why you’re so happy,” Bill said. “This is completely unnatural.”
“I agree,” Dean seconded.
“Whoa, did I just hear you two agree on something?” the Captain asked, smiling wickedly.
Bill looked at Dean, who nodded his head, before replying, “Yeah, I guess you did. We both think you’re crazy.”
Dean wished the Captain would pull down the tinted visor on his helmet so he wouldn’t have to see the huge smile plastered on his face. It wasn’t fair that the Captain got to enjoy himself at Dean’s expense.
Suddenly, the buffeting eased. Captain Rogers looked at the computer display beside him and said, “There, we’re through the worst of it. A few more minutes and the chutes will deploy. Buck up lads, we’re about to make history; even if no one will ever hear about it.”
Less than five minutes later, they felt a pop as the drogue chute released, followed quickly by a sharp jerk as the main chutes deployed. Dean thought of the nightmare he had to look forward to when it would be time to repack those parachutes. Those things were hard enough to pack with his bare hands. Doing so in the thick gloves and cumbersome pressure suit would be extremely difficult. He knew because they had made him do it dozens of times during training.
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Dean’s train of thought was interrupted when he noticed the scene outside the window across from him. He could make out the surface rapidly approaching. He was amazed at how much it looked like the desert outside Phoenix his father had taken him to when he was young.
He watched as the smooth terrain became rugged and then rock covered. In the blink of an eye, everything disappeared, to be replaced with a sheer cliff face. He knew they were now descending into the great chasm that was Valles Marineris. He was aware intellectually that the canyon was extremely deep, but as he watched the wall of rock continue on for a very long time, he felt as if he had fallen down a bottomless pit.
Finally, with a sudden jolt, they landed.
The Captain unbuckled his restraints and stood in the small space. “Okay, you guys know what to do. Bill, start the diagnostics and make sure we didn’t break anything. Dean, start checking over the equipment.”
Dean unbuckled and moved to the equipment locker just off to his left side. Opening the doors, he saw rows of equipment, neatly strapped down and prominently labeled. He began pulling each item out one at a time so he could inspect it and ensure no damage had occurred during the rough descent and even rougher landing.
Once everything had been checked over and declared serviceable, both equipment and lander, the Captain announced it was time to open the door. Dean nervously looked at the small airlock set into the side of the lander. He was suddenly unsure if he should be the first to go through it.
“Alright dean,” the Captain said with a huge grin. “This is your big moment; go on through.
Dean swallowed and stepped up to the airlock. He slowly reached out and pulled open the inner door. Taking one last look back he hesitantly stepped into the airlock and closed the door. He reached up to ensure his helmet was properly sealed and then pushed the control which would activate the pump to suck all the air from the tiny space. Once the light above the outer door turned green, he swallowed once more and pushed the outer door open.
The scene that greeted him was breathtaking. He had been expecting a monochromatic vista, but everywhere he looked there were subtle color differences that highlighted certain features in an amazing display. Slowly he gathered his courage and then stepped from the lander onto the Martian surface.