pebble.
It breaks away from Station Three and begins a slow plummet towards Mars. Tiny attitude jets guide it away from the city far below, and towards the desert beyond.
Time, Hatsuye says.
Watch, Evelyn says.
Catrine stares through the viewport at the receding mining station, and the eroded moon beyond it. She can see stations one and two as well, slowly tracing their arcs around Deimos.
What am I watching for? Catrine asks.
But then it happens, and she knows.
• • •
Deimos lights up from within, like a revived coal in a dead fire pit, and then it seems to bulge. And then it breaks, shattering like a hunk of gray ice thrown against a wall.
Catrine gasps.
Hatsuye inhales deeply, and slowly lets her breath out with a pleased smile.
The mining charges explode in a great chain, and asteroid-sized chunks of the moon are blown outward. The women watch in silence as the debris flowers outward, tearing through the dark sky.
Stations One and Two are quickly swallowed up in the hailstorm, and Catrine holds her breath as Station Three, still large in her view, is punched full of holes. It breaks into large pieces, and then one very large rock smashes into the east wing of the station, vaporizing it.
Hatsuye, Evelyn warns.
That same rock hurtles toward them.
Hatsuye, Evelyn says again.
Hatsuye! Catrine shouts.
All three of them scream, and the rock cuts a blistering path past the jettison pod, so close that its wake batters the pod and accelerates them toward the planet far below. The pod pinwheels, and Catrine fights a losing battle with her stomach as Mars flies in and out of sight through the viewport.
Uprising
The women crawl slowly out of the jettison pod, alive but bruised. The pod lies in the red dirt, huge dents hammered into it, scorched metal hot to the touch.
Catrine falls to the ground, gasping inside her helmet. The glass fogs up quickly, and she realizes she's crying.
Everyone... okay? Evelyn asks.
Hatsuye is the last out of the craft. I'm okay, she says. My arm is broken, I think. I don't have a signal from it. I can fix it later. Are you two okay?
I feel like I've been run through a grinder, Evelyn says, but I think I'm okay.
They both look at Catrine, who rolls over on her back.
Catrine, Hatsuye says. Are you alright?
Catrine's tears subside, and she realizes she's not crying anymore, but laughing.
I don't -- I don't know what's -- what's wrong with me, she says.
She's hysterical, Evelyn says. It'll pass.
Get up, Hatsuye says.
She holds out a hand, and pulls Catrine to her feet.
We should try to contact -- Hatsuye begins, but Evelyn taps her shoulder.
Look, Evelyn breathes.
• • •
They are miles and miles and miles from Olympus. The city is a bright jewel on the horizon. But what has caught Evelyn's eye are the flaming streaks in the sky above it.
Jesus, Hatsuye says. It's going to work.
I can't tell, Evelyn says.
High, high above Mars, Deimos is a hazy nebula of dust and ground-up rock. A thousand tiny fissures appear in the sky as bits of the moon fall into the Mars atmosphere and burn out.
The larger pieces don't burn up so easily. They light up in the atmosphere and carve great fiery arcs through the night.
The fall seems to take forever, and the three women huddle together without realizing they're doing so. The first rock to strike Martian soil is startlingly near, just a couple of miles away. It slams into the ground and sends a terrible vibration through the surface, and the women jump in fright. A giant plume of red erupts into the sky and hangs there.
Fuck me, Hatsuye yells.
Hatsuye, that's too close, it's too close, Evelyn says, turning for the jettison pod. We have to get out of here, we have to go, we have to go.
Stop it, Hatsuye says, suddenly very calm. There's no way we get clear on foot. Maybe it was an outlier.
We're going to die, Evelyn says.
Catrine says, I think we'll make it. Look.
Another rock
It breaks away from Station Three and begins a slow plummet towards Mars. Tiny attitude jets guide it away from the city far below, and towards the desert beyond.
Time, Hatsuye says.
Watch, Evelyn says.
Catrine stares through the viewport at the receding mining station, and the eroded moon beyond it. She can see stations one and two as well, slowly tracing their arcs around Deimos.
What am I watching for? Catrine asks.
But then it happens, and she knows.
• • •
Deimos lights up from within, like a revived coal in a dead fire pit, and then it seems to bulge. And then it breaks, shattering like a hunk of gray ice thrown against a wall.
Catrine gasps.
Hatsuye inhales deeply, and slowly lets her breath out with a pleased smile.
The mining charges explode in a great chain, and asteroid-sized chunks of the moon are blown outward. The women watch in silence as the debris flowers outward, tearing through the dark sky.
Stations One and Two are quickly swallowed up in the hailstorm, and Catrine holds her breath as Station Three, still large in her view, is punched full of holes. It breaks into large pieces, and then one very large rock smashes into the east wing of the station, vaporizing it.
Hatsuye, Evelyn warns.
That same rock hurtles toward them.
Hatsuye, Evelyn says again.
Hatsuye! Catrine shouts.
All three of them scream, and the rock cuts a blistering path past the jettison pod, so close that its wake batters the pod and accelerates them toward the planet far below. The pod pinwheels, and Catrine fights a losing battle with her stomach as Mars flies in and out of sight through the viewport.
Uprising
The women crawl slowly out of the jettison pod, alive but bruised. The pod lies in the red dirt, huge dents hammered into it, scorched metal hot to the touch.
Catrine falls to the ground, gasping inside her helmet. The glass fogs up quickly, and she realizes she's crying.
Everyone... okay? Evelyn asks.
Hatsuye is the last out of the craft. I'm okay, she says. My arm is broken, I think. I don't have a signal from it. I can fix it later. Are you two okay?
I feel like I've been run through a grinder, Evelyn says, but I think I'm okay.
They both look at Catrine, who rolls over on her back.
Catrine, Hatsuye says. Are you alright?
Catrine's tears subside, and she realizes she's not crying anymore, but laughing.
I don't -- I don't know what's -- what's wrong with me, she says.
She's hysterical, Evelyn says. It'll pass.
Get up, Hatsuye says.
She holds out a hand, and pulls Catrine to her feet.
We should try to contact -- Hatsuye begins, but Evelyn taps her shoulder.
Look, Evelyn breathes.
• • •
They are miles and miles and miles from Olympus. The city is a bright jewel on the horizon. But what has caught Evelyn's eye are the flaming streaks in the sky above it.
Jesus, Hatsuye says. It's going to work.
I can't tell, Evelyn says.
High, high above Mars, Deimos is a hazy nebula of dust and ground-up rock. A thousand tiny fissures appear in the sky as bits of the moon fall into the Mars atmosphere and burn out.
The larger pieces don't burn up so easily. They light up in the atmosphere and carve great fiery arcs through the night.
The fall seems to take forever, and the three women huddle together without realizing they're doing so. The first rock to strike Martian soil is startlingly near, just a couple of miles away. It slams into the ground and sends a terrible vibration through the surface, and the women jump in fright. A giant plume of red erupts into the sky and hangs there.
Fuck me, Hatsuye yells.
Hatsuye, that's too close, it's too close, Evelyn says, turning for the jettison pod. We have to get out of here, we have to go, we have to go.
Stop it, Hatsuye says, suddenly very calm. There's no way we get clear on foot. Maybe it was an outlier.
We're going to die, Evelyn says.
Catrine says, I think we'll make it. Look.
Another rock
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