dont think any of my aunts or uncles or the Klein BM managers agreed. Theyve kept it closed all these years in his memory, I suspect, but they think thats long enough, and there is the resource disclosure treaty to consider.
Why did he want it closed?
He wanted to bring Klein kids here for a history lesson. Exclusively. Give them a sense of deep time.
Charles walked to the spot of sun and stood there, arms folded, his suit and helmet dazzling white and gold against the dull blue-green shadows beyond. He looked wonderfully arrogant, at home with eternity.
That sense of deep time Charless father had coveted for his BMs children stole over me and brought on a bright, sparkling shock unlike anything I had ever experienced. My eyes adjusted to the gloom. Delicate traceries lined the glassy walls of the buried bubble. I remembered the paleoscape mural in Seans hospital room. The natural cathedrals of Mars. All broken and flat now except here.
I tried to imagine the godly calm of a planet where an immense, soap-bubble structure like this could remain undisturbed over hundreds of millions of years.
Have you shown anybody else? I asked.
No, Charles said.
Im the first?
Youre the first.
Why?
Because I thought youd love it, he said.
Charles, I dont have half the experience or the awareness necessary to appreciate this.
I think you do.
There must be hundreds of others
You asked to see my Mars, Charles said. No ones ever asked before.
I could only shake my head. I was unprepared to understand such a gift, much less appreciate it, but Charles had given it with the sweetest of intentions, and there was no sense resisting. Thank you, I said. You overwhelm me.
I love you, he said, turning his helmet. His face lay in shadow. All I could see were his eyes glittering.
You cant, I answered, shaking my head.
Look at this, Charles said, lifting his arms like a priest beneath a cathedral dome. His voice quavered. I work on my instincts. We dont have much time to make important decisions. Were fireflies, a brief glow then gone. I say I love you and I mean it.
You dont give me time to make up my own mind! I cried.
We fell silent for a moment. Youre right, Charles said.
I took a deep breath, sucking back my wash of emotions, clutching my hands to keep them from trembling. Charles, I never expected any of this. You have to give me room to breathe.
Im sorry, he said, almost below pickup range for his helmet. We should go back now.
I didnt want to go back. All of my life I would remember this, the sort of romantic moment and scene I had secretly dreamed of, though stretched beyond what I could have possibly imagined; the kind of setting and sweeping, impassioned declarations I had hoped for since such ideas had even glimmered hi me. That it aroused so much conflict baffled me.
Charles was giving me everything he had.
On the way back to the tractor, with ten minutes before we started using reserves, Charles knelt and chipped a square from the Glass Sea bed. He handed it to me. I know you probably already have some, he said. But this is from me.
Leave it to Charles, I thought, to give me flowers made of stone. I slipped the small slab of rock into my pouch. We climbed into the tractor, pressurized, and helped each other suck dust from our suits with a hose.
Charles seemed almost grim as he took the stick and propelled the tractor forward. We circled and climbed out of the canyon in painful silence.
I made my decision. Charles was passionate and dedicated. He cared about things. We had been through a lot together, and he had proven himself courageous and reliable and sensible. He felt strongly about me.
I would be a fool not to return his feelings. I had already convinced myself that my qualms before had come from cowardice and inexperience. As I looked at him thenhe refused to look at me, and his face was flushedI said, Thank you, Charles. Ill treasure this.
He nodded, intent on dodging a field of boulders.
In a special place
Why did he want it closed?
He wanted to bring Klein kids here for a history lesson. Exclusively. Give them a sense of deep time.
Charles walked to the spot of sun and stood there, arms folded, his suit and helmet dazzling white and gold against the dull blue-green shadows beyond. He looked wonderfully arrogant, at home with eternity.
That sense of deep time Charless father had coveted for his BMs children stole over me and brought on a bright, sparkling shock unlike anything I had ever experienced. My eyes adjusted to the gloom. Delicate traceries lined the glassy walls of the buried bubble. I remembered the paleoscape mural in Seans hospital room. The natural cathedrals of Mars. All broken and flat now except here.
I tried to imagine the godly calm of a planet where an immense, soap-bubble structure like this could remain undisturbed over hundreds of millions of years.
Have you shown anybody else? I asked.
No, Charles said.
Im the first?
Youre the first.
Why?
Because I thought youd love it, he said.
Charles, I dont have half the experience or the awareness necessary to appreciate this.
I think you do.
There must be hundreds of others
You asked to see my Mars, Charles said. No ones ever asked before.
I could only shake my head. I was unprepared to understand such a gift, much less appreciate it, but Charles had given it with the sweetest of intentions, and there was no sense resisting. Thank you, I said. You overwhelm me.
I love you, he said, turning his helmet. His face lay in shadow. All I could see were his eyes glittering.
You cant, I answered, shaking my head.
Look at this, Charles said, lifting his arms like a priest beneath a cathedral dome. His voice quavered. I work on my instincts. We dont have much time to make important decisions. Were fireflies, a brief glow then gone. I say I love you and I mean it.
You dont give me time to make up my own mind! I cried.
We fell silent for a moment. Youre right, Charles said.
I took a deep breath, sucking back my wash of emotions, clutching my hands to keep them from trembling. Charles, I never expected any of this. You have to give me room to breathe.
Im sorry, he said, almost below pickup range for his helmet. We should go back now.
I didnt want to go back. All of my life I would remember this, the sort of romantic moment and scene I had secretly dreamed of, though stretched beyond what I could have possibly imagined; the kind of setting and sweeping, impassioned declarations I had hoped for since such ideas had even glimmered hi me. That it aroused so much conflict baffled me.
Charles was giving me everything he had.
On the way back to the tractor, with ten minutes before we started using reserves, Charles knelt and chipped a square from the Glass Sea bed. He handed it to me. I know you probably already have some, he said. But this is from me.
Leave it to Charles, I thought, to give me flowers made of stone. I slipped the small slab of rock into my pouch. We climbed into the tractor, pressurized, and helped each other suck dust from our suits with a hose.
Charles seemed almost grim as he took the stick and propelled the tractor forward. We circled and climbed out of the canyon in painful silence.
I made my decision. Charles was passionate and dedicated. He cared about things. We had been through a lot together, and he had proven himself courageous and reliable and sensible. He felt strongly about me.
I would be a fool not to return his feelings. I had already convinced myself that my qualms before had come from cowardice and inexperience. As I looked at him thenhe refused to look at me, and his face was flushedI said, Thank you, Charles. Ill treasure this.
He nodded, intent on dodging a field of boulders.
In a special place
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