Impact! Read online

  Phil shrugged, “I don’t know, let’s just get samples of a lot of the rock in this region. I’m sure some of the red color is just iron oxide, but maybe some of it represents other ores of interest.” His eye caught on something glittering near the edge of the small shelf of rock they were standing on. “Huh, I wonder what this is.” He walked over and knelt to look at it.

  Whatever it was, it sparkled like silver. He knew you shouldn’t find raw silver free in nature though. Perhaps it was mica or something like that? He started to reach for his little prospecting pick and one of his baggies but then the ground under him shifted. At first he thought it must be a Mars quake, though they were pretty rare. Then he realized that a crack had developed in the rock of the ledge where he was kneeling. Phil started to stand up so that the port driven rockets under his upper arms would be properly oriented to lift him off the ledge, but then the rock broke free completely.

  In the low Martian gravity it felt like the rock of the ledge was sagging away in slow motion. However, it was falling just as fast as Phil, rendering him weightless. Since he’d been kneeling, his jets were oriented poorly for lifting him back up. At first he thought to himself, I’ve been weightless in space plenty of times, this isn’t any different! He began to windmill his arms in order to rotate his body towards the vertical and spoke to his AI, saying, “Use the jets to turn me right side up!”

  The jets on his chest and on the backs of his ankles had just begun to fire to turn him right side up when he hit the next ledge down into the canyon, striking it hard against the side of his hip.

  Agony shot through him. He resisted his desire to reach down and grasp his painful hip, instead keeping his arms out to the sides and his body as rigid as he could to allow his AI to reorient him to the vertical. A couple of seconds later he was upright and his AI fired the jets under his arm and began to slow his fall.

  In his ear he heard Carol, “Phil, are you okay?”

  At first he thought that surely he must be fine. After all, gravity was low here. But he’d fallen a long way before he’d hit that second ledge, and the more time that passed, the worse his hip hurt. Also he could hear a hissing sound, suggesting that the impact had made at least a small tear in a seam of the incredibly tough Mars suit. To Carol he said through gritted teeth, “I think I bruised my hip pretty bad. And it sounds like my suit might be leaking so I’m going to fly right back to the habitat.”

  “I’m coming with you,” she said…

  Chapter Five

  Dex stared at the objects which had just fallen out of the big fin on the new meteorite. Hies eyes were immediately attracted to a necklace of four glossy clear stones. Hie had seen pieces of quartz that were somewhat clear before, but nothing like these! The four pieces of quartz, or whatever they were, were so clear that they were hard to see. Hie reached out gingerly and picked up the necklace, wondering what in the world it could be for. Or maybe it wasn’t intended to be for anything—it was so beautiful that hie knew dalins would trade dearly for even one of those clear stones.

  As hie held up the necklace, staring at it. Hie could feel the other dalins in the cave staring at it with himr.

  The meteorite behind Dex spoke. “That is our first try at making something to serve as dust protective clothing for your eyes.” After a momentary pause, it continued, “The two big round…” Here it made an odd sound like it often made when it didn’t seem to know the correct word for something. The sound it made seemed like a combination of the words, “see” and “rock”. So what it said was, “The two big round see-rocks are supposed to go over your front eyes, while the smaller see-rocks are supposed to go over your back eyes. We don’t know whether they’ll really fit, or be comfortable, or stay in place like they need to. We’re hoping you will try them on like in this picture so that we can see how they’ll work.”

  Suddenly, red lines appeared on the wall of the cave. The dalins around Dex gasped. Like they had in the past, the lines formed a drawing of a dalin. The picture moved closer so that only the head and neck of the dalin was visible. In the blink of an eye, the necklace appeared around the dalins head with the see-rocks faintly visible over each of the dalins eyes. As if that wasn’t clear enough, the dalins head began to rotate around so that they could see it from all sides.

  Dex held the necklace up and inspected the see-rocks, touching them gently with a claw. To hies astonishment, hie found that they were shaped like tiny bowls and hie immediately understood how the hollow underside of the bowls could fit over hies eyes. With even greater amazement, hie recognized that although the clicking of hies claws on the surfaces of the see-rocks indicated that they were quite hard, that the under surfaces of the little bowls which would rest against the skin around hies eyes was quite soft. It seemed like there was a different material there, something like a soft leather.

  With trepidation Dex lifted the necklace and held it over hies head by the two big see-rocks. Closing hies back eyes, hie lowered the necklace and tugged the two big see-rocks into place over hies front eyes. The straps holding the four see-rocks together were stretchy! Hie reached back and turned over the posterior see-rocks so that they covered hies back eyes. With the see-rocks covering all four of hies eyes, hie could hardly detect their presence. Hie could feel the gentle pressure of the soft under parts of the cups against the skin around hies eyes but hies eyes certainly couldn’t detect any disturbance of hies vision!

  Dex turned to look at the other object which had fallen out of the new meteorite. Syrdian had picked it up and was gently inspecting it. White, it looked like some kind of extremely soft leather or fur. When Dex got close to it hie got the impression that it was woven somehow, like a basket, but much finer. As Syrdian plucked at it hie could see that it also was quite stretchy and very fuzzy-furry. Again, red lines appeared on the wall of the cave. The drawing showed the dalin from before, wearing the necklace over its eyes. Something appeared around the base of the dalin’s neck, where a necklace would normally appear. It was wider than a necklace and did not look decorative.

  Dex looked at the drawing, then looked at the object in Syrdian’s hands. Syrdian held it out to Dex and hie took it. Extraordinarily soft, hies claws sank into it. As hie turned it over hie realized that it had a tubular structure like a wide belt. Aha, this is what is around the dalin’s neck in the drawing, hie thought, looking back up at the wall of the cave. Hie lifted it up and pulled the furry material over hies head as well. It stretched easily as hie pulled it down toward the base of hies neck.

  Hie glanced at the wall again to check the position of it in the drawing. Sure enough, it covered the dalin’s air intake in the drawing. Dex realized it must be the “device” the meteorite had spoken about making them for their air intakes. With some trepidation hie pulled the soft material down over hies air intake, worrying that it would make it hard to breathe. Hie felt relieved when hie realized that although it slowed the air coming into hies intake a little, it wasn’t really very noticeable.

  The meteorite spoke in its flat voice. “We are hoping that you will try to go outside, beyond the fog baskets, to see if the air intake device will let you breathe even when there is dust in the air. Also, to find out whether the see-rocks will let you keep your eyes open in the dusty air.

  “Okay,” Dex said, turning towards the tunnel that led out of the cave.

  Behind himr the meteorite spoke again, “It would be helpful if you could carry your old meteorite with you so that we can see how well the air intake device and eye clothing works. We can tell that it frightens some of your fellow dalins when the meteorites fly on their own.”

  Dex turned and picked up hies old friend the meteorite, then resumed hies way out of the cave. Syrdian started to follow himr, but hie said, “I think you should stay with the children so that they aren’t frightened.” Syrdian’s wide eyes told Dex that hie was frightened as well, but Syrdian turned back as requested.

  Dex passed one of the fog baskets that had been placed in the
tunnel. It seemed to very effectively block the dust from getting back to where the dalins were staying deeper in the cave. Dex felt a little disappointment to find that it was still making fog. Hie had been hoping that rain had already cleared the dust outside and the fog baskets weren’t actually necessary any longer. Then hie realized that the basket might still be making fog even if the dust was gone. The fog from the basket got hies fur a little bit damp as hie passed it. Hie continued on towards the second fog basket which had been placed near the entrance of the cave.

  As hie approached the second basket, Dex realized that hie should be seeing some light from outside. “Is it already night time?” hie asked.

  “No,” the meteorite replied, “the sun is almost directly overhead.”

  Dex’s wings rose involuntarily in dismay, then sighed back down. Hie passed the second basket and its fog moistened hies skin like had happened at the first one. The area right in front of the basket was clear but the wind blowing from it swirled what looked like a great cloud of dust further out.

  Walking farther out of the entrance, Dex passed the swirling dust and entered the huge cloud of it. To hies surprise, hie was able to breathe fairly well. Hie felt a slight tickling as if some of the dust had entered hies intake, but it was much better than it had been the night before. Hie wasn’t blinking hies eyes like hie had the night before either, however hie quickly got the impression that hies see-rocks were not as clear as they had been earlier. Hie put a hand up right in front of hies eyes wondering whether it was just the dust. Hie felt pretty sure that hies vision was worse than it would have been from just the dust.

  The meteorite spoke. “Dex, has it become harder to see through your see-rocks?”

  “Yes,” hie replied.

  “Unfortunately, when you walked through the fog, the see-rocks got wet. Now the dust is sticking to them. It is also sticking to the see rocks on the sides of your meteorite which is making it difficult for us to see as well. Can you try rubbing your see-rocks with the back of your hand? We are thinking that your fur might clean them off.”

  Dex reached up and wiped at the see rocks with the back of hies hand as hie’d been instructed. Sure enough, although a little of the dust smeared into a kind of mud, hies hand cleared much of it away. “That helped quite a bit,” hie said.

  “Would you mind wiping the see-rocks on the meteorite as well? It would be very helpful if we could see better.”

  Somewhat bemused to find himrself helping the meteorite rather than vice versa, Dex bent to the task. A moment later the meteorite thanked himr. Hie went back to rubbing at hies own see-rocks with other parts of hies arm, trying to get them cleaner. Hie had some success though hies vision remained slightly smeary.

  Dex realized that hie must be standing on the big ledge in front of the cave. Instead of the bare rock of the ledge, hie felt dirt and sand beneath hies feet. The dirt and dust on top of the ledge was so thick that hies toes were submerged in it. Beneath that, however, hie thought hie could feel the rock of the ledge. Without the lights from the meteorite hie didn’t think hie would be able to see much. Nonetheless hie said, “Can you turn off your lights so I can see what it is like out here without them?”

  The light from the meteorite blinked off and Dex was plunged into darkness. Hie stood still, hoping that hies vision would improve like it normally did after hie stepped away from a fire in the night time.

  After a few moments hie was able to see a generalized glow in the dust. The luminance seemed to be filtering down from above, fitting with the meteorite’s claim that the sun was directly overhead. However, the light was no greater than the dimmest twilight just before the night became completely dark. In fact it seemed a little worse because in deep twilight hie would’ve been able to see outlines of things which were far away. In this light hie could only see things that were nearby like hies feet and hands. It reminded Dex of the times hie’d flown in fog, or up into the clouds.

  Despair filled Dex. Yes, the plants would die in the dark, and the plant eaters would die for lack of plants. But, blind, Dex wouldn’t have been able to hunt for the plant eaters even if they had been healthy. Hie turned to the meteorite, “If this dust doesn’t go away, we’ll all die. I appreciate the eye clothing and the device for my air intake, but it won’t be enough to keep us alive if we can’t find food. Can you help us with that?”

  “We don’t know,” the meteorite responded. “We have other meteorites flying around trying to find out what your world is like in places far from here. Perhaps you can fly to a location where there isn’t so much dust.”

  Despairingly, Dex turned back towards the cave. Hie said, “How can we fly anywhere? We can’t even see…” Hie tripped over a rock lying on the ledge. It must have been one of the ones that fell.

  ***

  Ell stared at the dark screens showing the view from Goldie’s rocket. They provided virtually no useful information. When the lights were on they showed nothing but dust. Remembering Emma’s comment, she said to Allan, “Let’s see what we can see with infrared.”

  The screens blinked and then came back with a picture in the deep reddish color that Allan used to display infrared information. Ell could see more than she could with visible light, but it still wasn’t great. The most obvious thing was Goldie slowly moving away from the rocket, evidently having forgotten that he’d set it down. “Allan,” Ell said. “Turn the rocket’s lights back on.” Then, she said “Goldie,” trusting Allan to translate it for her. “It looks like you’re going back to the cave, but you’re not going the right direction. If you’ll pick up the rocket and take it with you, we’ll be able to give you directions.”

  Without saying anything, Goldie turned and shambled back to pick up the rocket. When Goldie started back towards the cave, Ell said, “The entrance is a little more to your right.”

  Once she had guided Goldie safely back into the cave, Ell said, “Allan, has the rocket with the radar on it arrived at the cave area yet?”

  “Yes, it’s at the north end of the ledge in front of the cave. I have some imagery obtained with its radar during its flight to the cave. Would you like to look at it?”

  Allan had translated the radar imagery into false profile 3-D imagery that was fairly easy to understand. It was stunning, showing trees flattened in enormous swathes. It looked to Ell like 50-70% of the trees were down rather than the 30% that had been estimated for this kind of an impact on earth. Presumably the denser atmosphere transmitted the blast wave better, or the more slender tree trunks were less resistant to being blown over. As the rocket swept in over the meadow that lay just north and slightly higher up the mountain, the imagery showed a number of lumps in the meadow. “What are those bumps?” Ell asked. She’d seen the meadow a number of times and felt sure there weren’t any rocks in that region.

  “I don’t know,” Allan responded. “Would you like me to send the rocket back out to look at them more closely?”

  “Yes, fly up there and get close enough that we can confirm their shapes. Maybe they’re some of the large herbivores the teecees hunt sometimes?”

  “Lifting off,” Allan said. “You should be aware that Phil Zabrisk has fallen in the Valles Marineris on Mars. Although his life is not in danger, an x-ray obtained by the colonists’ doctor shows that he has broken his hip socket.”

  Ell frowned, “Will they be able to put him in a cast or whatever needs to be done?”

  “Apparently, fractures of the hip socket are complex injuries normally treated with surgery. It is far beyond the capability of the colony’s doctor to repair.”

  “Oh my God! Are they shipping him back to Earth then?”

  “That is currently the plan. However, the surgeon they have consulted with back on earth has advised that, by the time he arrives back on earth, the fracture will have healed in a bad position making the surgery extremely difficult or impossible. Apparently the results of such delayed surgery are typically poor.”

  “Nooooo,” Ell moaned, thi
nking that the timing was terrible, having this happen at the same time the teecees were in real trouble. “Connect me to him.”

  “Elllll,” Phil said drunkenly a moment later when they were connected. “Did you hear I fell in the Valles?”

  “Yes, sounds like they’ve got you on some pain medicine?”

  “Oh yeah. I’m hurtin’ almost as bad as I did when a certain someone kicked me in the nuts and hit me with her purse!”

  Despite feeling choked up over Phil’s injury, Ell found herself snorting at his attitude. “Well, hopefully this time you didn’t deserve it.”

  “Naw!” he scoffed. “I’ve been being such a good boy it’s disgusting! Hey, they tell me by the time I get back to Earth for my surgery my hip will be all screwed up. Can’t you just send me one of your big ports and shoot me back to earth right away?”

  Ell felt an icy hand grasp her heart. “We… could, but when we put animals through ports they have seizures.”

  “So give me some anti-seizure pills!”

  “The animals still seem to have seizures, even if we make them completely unconscious. When they wake up afterwards, they act just like animals do who’ve had a seizure.”

  “Well, tha’s okay,” he slurred, “I don’t mind having a seizure to save my hip!”

  “Um, the animals don’t do as well on mazes afterwards either.”

  “I don’t need to do any mazes.”

  “Um, mazes are kind of like IQ tests for the animals. Not doing well on the mazes suggests that it does something to their intelligence.”

  “Sheeit! I got smarts to spare! Losin’ a few IQ points ain’t gonna be a problem!”

  Ell snorted again, “I was thinking more along the lines that you needed every last bit of intellect you have!” She had a thought, “Why don’t you just let it heal on the way back to earth and then have them replace it with an artificial hip when you get home?”