Messages from the Deep by Theo Marais

CHAPTER 1
     
     
    Mariada de Villiers is lying in bed, bathed
in the light of a full moon shining through the open window. She is
dreaming as her eyelids flicker and her lips move slightly.
    She sees her parents, with her father saying,
“Do what you love best, what challenges your brain to the limit,
and what will help develop all life on Earth.”
    She sees her grandparents, with her
grandmother saying, “Work hard, look up to the stars, give your
love and laugh a lot.”
    She sees her Huguenot ancestors fleeing
Catholic France and, on arrival at the Cape, being told,
    “Speaking French is not allowed here. From
now on, you speak Dutch.” And one replying, “My wine will speak for
itself.”
    Many faces then flash before her, appearing
to go far back in time, until the face of a dolphin surfaces and
speaks directly to her. “Go beyond Earth. Go beyond Mars. Go to a
planet like Earth. You will find me there.”
     
    A presenter at a large conference introduces
the next speaker. “At this special sitting in 2024 of the
International Space Administration, we call upon Mariada de
Villiers to address us on ‘The history of the Life on Mars
mission.’ ”
    Mariada, a woman of about 40 years, begins
her talk. “I am honoured to have been selected to be one of the
first group of four to be sent, in one week’s time, to start a
settlement on Mars.”
    As she talks, a giant T.V. screen shows
archive footage of the events she describes.
    “The Russians were the first nation to send
rockets beyond Earth’s atmosphere, and the first human in space was
Yuri Gagarin in 1961 in Vostok 1. In 1969, America was first to
land people on the Moon, to take off again, re-unite with their
orbiting space-ship and return safely to Earth, all within a period
of about a week.
    Mars was the next target at the turn of the
century and three robot-controlled vehicles with cameras were
exploring the Martian landscape and analysing soil samples.
    The Life on Mars mission started in 2013 as a
private initiative, raising funds as a proposed Reality-T.V.
programme which will show our journey to Mars, settling on the
planet and our daily activities thereafter in establishing a
permanent settlement. Advertisements were published globally,
calling for volunteers, and thousands responded. By 2016, a
preliminary group of 16 volunteers was chosen, and I was elated to
be one of them.”

CHAPTER 2
     
     
    Mariada’s parents switch on their T.V. at
home and the title of the programme is ‘Life on Mars’.
    A presenter announces, “For the selection of
the final 16 crew, our show, ‘Life on Mars’, will be screening a
series of elimination rounds of the last 100 candidates now in
2016. This is a system where the voters are in three groups,
consisting of the candidates themselves, the T.V. viewers, and a
panel of experts. At the end of each week for 10 weeks, they will
vote to eliminate the 10 weakest for the first four weeks, and then
the five weakest for the next six weeks, thus eliminating 70
candidates over the 10 week period. In addition, each week the top
10 candidates will be voted for ‘promotion’ on the basis of
excellent performance.
    The final 16 will be chosen from the
remaining 30 candidates according to the most promotions
achieved.
    The locations for the elimination rounds have
been chosen in order to subject the candidates to almost every
conceivable psychological and physical situation, to see how they
cope and to test their resilience in these extreme conditions.”
    The background footage shows examples of what
is being mentioned.
    “In this first week, all 100 candidates were
subjected to basic medical and physical tests and exercises, with
rigorous recording and evaluation of results. They were also
evaluated regarding ability and knowledge in First Aid, emergency
care, diagnosis and treatment of a variety of medical conditions,
nutrition, medicines and other areas.”
    The footage shows some candidates in a
simulated