Saving Mars by Cidney Swanson Page A

fingertips together as if in prayer. “Yet our time is limited by the length of the journey. So it will fall to us to create a course of action,” she said quietly, her gaze upon her hands.
    Kipper nodded. “She suggests we determine for ourselves whether the two tasks can be accomplished by five persons using only the Galleon. There are no other space-worthy vessels to send. The Galleon must retrieve rations for Mars. The question is whether or not we will also attempt to transfer satellite command from Earth to Mars Colonial.”
    “ Hades , yes,” said Jessamyn. “We’ve all seen what those death-rays can do.”
    The Captain bristled but did not reprimand Jess for the interruption. Instead, she continued. “I would like to ask Negotiations Specialist Mombasu to consider this matter. As the only one of us with prior experience of the conditions on Earth, I will be guided by her when I present my evaluation to the Secretary.”
    Jessamyn refrained from rolling her eyes at the Captain’s stiff formality. Jess had made the point she wanted. She hoped Harpreet would agree with it.
    The Captain addressed Harpreet. “Will you please prepare a recommendation for me by 06:00 tomorrow?”
    Harpreet bowed her acquiescence.
    “Very well,” said Kipper. “We will begin our deep-space rotations immediately. Crew dismissed.”
    The Captain, Harpreet, and Crusty, the on-duty officers, filed out of the rations room. Ethan remained and Jess approached his side.
    “You okay?” she asked softly.
    “The Galleon’s supply of tellurium must prove adequate,” he replied.
    Jessamyn frowned. “Adequate for … ?”
    “Harpreet must now convince our Terran contact that the supply of tellurium currently in our hold is as valuable as a double amount of ration bars.”
    “Oh. I hadn’t thought of that.” Jess shrugged. “Harpreet’s a shrewd negotiator.”
    “She will have to be.”
    “Hmm,” agreed Jess. “But you didn’t answer my question, Eth.”
    “The tellurium must be enough, so it will be. Ethan must survive this journey, so he will.”
    Half a smile crept onto Jessamyn’s face. “You amaze me, Eth.”
    Ethan checked the chrono-compass tattoo on his wrist. The deep red glow matched what Jess knew she would see on her own.
    “It is time for me to visit the observation deck,” said Ethan, rising.
    Jessamyn raised one eyebrow. “It’s time ?” she asked, following her brother on the brief walk.
    “I believe that regular visits, in six-hour intervals, will allow me to better manage the three weeks before us.”
    “Oh. That’s really smart, Eth.”
    The two entered the ob-deck, kept darkened for better viewing of the heavens.
    The stars! Jess saw them as sharp prickling points, scattered carelessly by a sower of star-seed. They swam dizzily before her as she tried to take them all in at once, differently colored and sized, in quantity beyond what anyone could number.
    “It’s beautiful,” murmured Jess, after they’d sat in silence for several minutes.
    “I find the outlook to have a balancing effect upon my autonomic nervous system,” replied Ethan.
    Jess laughed quietly. “Yeah, I guess that’s what I meant.”
    “You will pardon me,” said Ethan, “But I do not believe that is what you meant. Jessamyn finds beauty where others are not able to appreciate it. I do not believe that it is the beauty of what I observe that calms me. It is simply that when I view the vastness before us, I do not feel as uncomfortable as when I am confined to … other parts of the ship.”
    The two sat in silence before the canvas of ink-black, spattered with the bright dust of a thousand worlds. Jess felt a tugging grief, a Lobster-shaped space inside her that was now empty.
    “I can’t believe I’m not going to see him again,” Jess said.
    “Him?” asked her brother.
    “Lobster. All of them. You’ll miss Wu, won’t you?”
    “Wu was a formidable opponent in Monopoly,” said Ethan. “I will think of him