Annie Dixxon knocked, then entered the Administrator’s office without waiting for a response. “We need to talk about a few things.”
Sharp leaned back in his chair. “That would not surprise me.”
Dixxon took a seat. “I understand the plan for entering the lava tube, but this was not the mission they trained for. They don't have the equipment they need. They're geologists and structural engineers, not astrobiologists, diplomats… or soldiers. They couldn't have been less prepared for this. So, what's the plan if there's a living civilization under them?”
“Well, one thing to keep in mind: we've sent landers, rovers, drones, habitats and now this geology expedition to Mars. They've never reacted. If they were an aggressive civilization they would have been all over us by now.”
“But let's say they don't like to come to the surface. They've been ignoring us. But now we've decided to drop in.”
“We're not going to send the crew—that crew—into harm's way. Based on what the drone shows us, we'll decide the next step to take.”
“What if contact happens?”
“I just talked to the White House. The short version is: If they find living creatures, they should observe as much as they can without interacting. Then they should break camp and go back to the ship. They are not the team to make contact. We'll train and equip another crew specifically for that.”
Dixxon stood to leave. “I hope the White House gives them more than that to chew on,” she muttered.
...
Once again Z was at the controls of the transport, heading up the slope on what was becoming an established path of wheel tracks. The transport was pulling a trailer on which rested a small, multi-function grader, excavator, and drill. As she monitored the driving, she let her mind ponder her temporary home. Everything about Mars, visually, would lead you to believe that you were on a hot planet. The nearly-cloudless sky. The quality of the surface soil. A landscape devoid of plant life. The sand and dust that drifted across the surface. It all reminded an Earthling of the desert—and the deserts along Earth’s equator were excruciatingly hot. But outside the windshield it was -80 degrees. Then she spoke out, as if communicating her conclusion to Mars, itself, “If something went wrong, I wouldn't cook, I'd freeze. No, I'd be freeze dried.” She opened her arms to the rocky slope ahead, “What kind of creature could live in this environment? Or more accurately, what kind of creature would build a city underground in order to live on this planet?” She considered the question for a moment. “People like us.”
Z pulled the rover up to Hab 3A and, after donning her helmet, opened the hatch, took a big step down onto the fender and lowered herself to the ground. Colin met her.
“Hey, Z. How was the trip?”
“Actually, quite beautiful. It gave me time to wrestle with some questions.”
“We got a message from MCC. Guidance from the White House Science Advisor.”
Inside Habitat 3A, Z read the instructions from the White House out loud to Colin and Dunlap. “Remember, gestures that may look hostile to us may not, in fact, be hostile. If the creatures hurt somebody, try to communicate that it hurts, but do not retaliate.”
Colin grabbed his shoulder with a wince of feigned pain, “Ow! My arm just came off. That hurts. Please put it back!”
Dunlap grimaced, “Geez, that’s their advice?”
Z shook her head. “They have no idea what we’re going to encounter tomorrow. Of course, neither do we.”
Dunlap looked down at the floor. “You know, I'd completely given-up on there being any walking, talking life in space—at least I was sure we'd never find any in my lifetime. I just wanted to build shit on another planet. Colonize. Now, here I am, of all people, prepping to possibly shake hands with a Martian.”
“Me? I'm keeping my distance from it,” said Colin.
Dunlap batted Colin’s shoulder. “Come on, Colin. What if it is a she? Wearing some slinky Martian thing? Boots. High-heel boots.”
Colin laughed. “Then we’ll throw you to her as a peace offering, Robert. But you better be really good or it’s curtains for all of us.”
Z grinned, “No pressure, Dunnie.” Z read a few more instructions to herself, then summarized, “This doesn’t help. We don't know what we're going to find, if anything. The drone will make the first contact, not us. And if it finds someone scary, we withdraw to the ship and take the long way home to Earth as soon as we can. Let's walk through tomorrow’s plan and then try to get some sleep.”
Dunlap pulled up a high resolution image showing a slight mound tracing the course of the lava tube, then an indentation. “It'll be about ten minutes, max, to the collapsed section of the tube,” he explained. “The collapse is about eight feet below ground level and the scan is showing that the tube is no more than twelve feet high. The slope down to our entry point is gentle and we should have no trouble driving the excavator and digging. There's even a keyhole that we should look at as a starting point for our excavation.” Dunlap changed the view to show a GPR slice lengthwise along the tube and pointed to the collapse. “If we enter here, the closest down ramp is a short flight. We should be able to get well into the city before the battery gets low.”
Z looked at Colin and Dunlap and spoke in a measured tone of voice. “And at the first sight of a living thing, I’ll hover the drone and you guys get away from there. I don’t want to pull out the drone and have an alien follow it back to you. Any questions?” There were none. The planning session was over. They closed down for the night, dimmed the light and climbed into their sleeping bags. Then the three of them lay silently awake in the tiny habitat, pondering the coming day.
Z thought through every alien encounter she could remember from books and movies. Now, her crew was going underground to look for aliens. In science fiction, nothing good ever came of that idea. She tried to think through contingencies, but at last she resigned herself to having no way to anticipate if they would find life, or what that encounter might be like. Within 24 hours, they would surely know something about this mysterious culture; within 24 hours, they may be the first humans to make contact with an alien civilization; within 24 hours, they may find themselves in mortal danger. And she was in charge. She thought back to the first day after the discovery, when she liked the idea that once upon a time, creatures inhabited Mars. Now, she was not so sure that having company was a good thing.
...
The next morning Colin was at the controls of the transporter. Behind him, on the trailer, the excavator rode a few feet higher than he. Inside it sat Dunlap, boots up on the control console, enjoying the stunning panorama of the rock field slope of Arsia Mons and, in the far distance, Pavonis Mons.
Getting to the collapse, unloading the excavator and driving it down the slope to the entry point was so easy it seemed mundane—as if they had come out just to make a routine geologic survey. At the collapse they found the keyhole but it was jagged and a little too small to squeeze through in an EVA suit with the drone, so Dunlap rolled the excavator over to the hole, extended the arm, and bit into the ground with the bucket. As he pulled it back, the slope collapsed and a neat cave opening appeared. Colin walked toward the breach.
“Hang on,” cautioned Dunlap. “Give it a minute. Let’s make sure the entrance is stable.”
Colin stood back by the transporter while Dunlap backed the excavator away from the entrance and jumped to the ground. Since nothing had happened, Dunlap grabbed a lantern and leaned into the unknown. “Sun visor up. It's going to be dark.”
It was. Dunlap lighted the way down the pile of rocks and dirt. Colin took careful steps following him, carrying the drone. When they reached the bottom and stood on flat ground, they took a moment to paint the area with their lanterns. The interior of the lava tube was craggy and irregular, like the inside of a cave, but coated with a glass-like surface.
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Dunlap pointed his lamp at the wall. “Look at that. What do you think, Colin? Is that obsidian?”
“It's like a volcanic glass, but volcanic glass wouldn't coat so evenly, and it wouldn’t coat the entire lava tube.” In unison, they turned their lanterns down the tube, the light beams fading into the distance.
“Good sign, Colin. No one here to meet us.”
“They're just tardy, by habit.”
“Sure they are. Let’s get to it. You set the drone. I'll plant the repeater, then let's get out of here.”
Colin opened a small box and took out a palm-sized drone while Dunlap set-up a small, artichoke-shaped antenna. When they had both finished, Dunlap reported in to the base, where Z waited at the drone controls. “We're set up, Commander. Go ahead and test the controls.”
Z pulled two sliding triggers on her controller, the propellers whirred, and the drone lifted off the floor. She tilted left, then right, forward then backward.
Colin watched the drone go through its test maneuver. “Looks good to go, Commander. How’s your signal?”
“Doing fine. No lag. Here goes.” Z positioned the drone a few feet away from the explorers and panned the camera across them.
Colin waved. “Safe flying. We're going back outside.”
After the pan, Z set the drone on a trajectory down the tube. Once she got the feel of the controls, Z hovered the drone then pointed the camera at the ground. She swept the camera and light across the floor. “Look at this. It looks like granite, but it's smooth and uniform. Look where it meets the walls of the tube.” The floor, flat and level, met the wall with a neat seam. “So the floor looks like a manufactured surface. It’s flat. You could drive on it.” She pushed the drone farther down the tube. “This is almost pristine.”
Tanaka commented from downslope. “It’s completely sealed. But there's a very light film on everything.”
“Probably the filtering of dust from the breach,” Z answered.
The drone continued through the darkness, Z controlling it from the temporary Habitat, Dunlap and Colin watching from the cab of the transport, and Ellis and Tanaka watching from downslope. It was hard not to observe the exploration without being reminded of the horror movie scenario where the light suddenly falls on a dead body or a horrible creature. But there wasn’t a single indication of life.
Suddenly, Z hovered the drone again. “Wait.” She scanned the camera across the floor again. “Notice the dust? No marks. No tracks. No footprints. If there are living creatures, they haven't been up here in a while.”
She tilted up the camera and flew forward. Down the tube, just catching the first light from the drone, fingers of what looked like metal lattice arched across the ceiling. Z pushed the controller forward. Ahead, the ceiling was crisscrossed by supports, like a giant, ornate stent.
Dunlap, who monitored the drone position on the map, noted “We're about 100 yards from the down ramp.”
“This looks structural,” said Z, “but I wonder if it isn’t something more, like a sign to travelers that they’re approaching a ramp.” As the drone flew down the lava tube, the weave of the supports became tighter until the direction of the weave pointed to a giant archway.
“Look, those scratches, right where you'd put a sign. That might be their writing.” Z remarked as she steered the drone down the ramp. “Here goes.”
The ramp was wide, and made a long, gentle descending arc to the next level. The ceiling and walls were covered, quite differently now, in patterned tile. Every fifty feet, a support arced across the ceiling. Within less than a minute, the drone entered a hall so large that the drone light diminished to darkness in any direction. Switching to LiDAR and rotating 360-degrees produced a representation of a cavernous space. The walls appeared to be made of blocks. Thirty-foot columns, spaced at regular intervals, supported vaulted ceilings. Like the tiled down ramp, the architecture did not feel like it belonged in a technological age. It was strange to think that a spacefaring civilization would build classical revival structures. There were small piles of rubble, here and there, and the LiDAR registered a row of large objects in a corner. Z steered in that direction to get a look in visible light. The light revealed hulking, box-shaped vehicles that stood on large ball-shaped casters, not wheels. Next to them were smaller vehicles and near those, containers.
“Looks like a transportation hub. Yes, I can see loaders, at least I think that's what they are. I'm going to fly along the walls to get some detail and see where tunnels intersect.”
Colin chimed in with a reality check. “Just letting you know, you're at 65% battery. The LiDAR is cutting into your time.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
Back at NASA West, the mission team had been given an upgrade in accommodations, thanks to the discovery of the city. No longer stuffed into a cramped, meeting room-sized control center, the entire project team, laptop by laptop, had been moved to the comparatively-luxurious Primary Mission Control Center, a cavernous theater with a sloping floor of workstations facing a multi-story mission dashboard. In the back was an observation landing for NASA brass and, above it, the VIP gallery for press and guests. Center screen, streamed video from the lava tube of Arsia Mons. Surrounding it was an array of readouts for every aspect of Habitat infrastructure. Given the interplanetary time delay, the rows of scientists and technicians were just now watching the footage of the drone flying into the hall. Mission Control had the anticipatory energy of a theater at the start of a film, when no one knows what will happen next, but everybody has a guess. In the back of the room, on a raised observation deck, Patrick watched the screen with Dan Sharp.
“Now we get our first real clue what we're dealing with,” Patrick said, keeping his eyes fixed on the center video frame.
“Well there's no light in there. Maybe they're mole people,” Sharp quipped. Then the screen changed to the LiDAR image and the Administrator gasped. “My God! That's a gigantic room. Imagine carving that out.”
Patrick, too, was taken aback by the size of the underground cavern; and according to the aerial scans, this was only one room out of many. Then an odd sensation came over him: when he had entered the MCC, moments prior, he had been prepared to witness the exploration of an alien environment, any of multiple kinds of alien environments. He was not prepared for the familiarity of the architecture he was now observing. “It's funny,” he said to Sharp. “This looks like something on Earth.”
Sharp wasn’t asking himself big questions; he thought about what would best serve the PR need. “So far, this will be good footage to release. Maybe you edit it down to greatest hits and go through it with the press.”
But Patrick saw a different opportunity. “Let's see how this turns out. I think it might be worth letting this run unedited. Let the press experience the suspense. And we'll gain credit for being transparent.”
Inside Mars Hab 3A, Z stared at the monitor with myopic intensity. She had turned off the LiDAR to conserve battery. Before her, the drone camera showed openings for what appeared to be workrooms, some offices, and rows of seating. The drone passed different machines and devices that had probably been used in loading or servicing the vehicles. Then, she pulled back from the wall and turned on the LiDAR. It scanned across the wall, revealing two twenty-foot-high arches where tunnels joined the terminal.
“I'm picking the right tunnel. Random choice,” and she flew the drone inside. There was little to remark on. The walls were smooth. There were occasional alcoves, some with seats, some filled with boxes. Z sped the drone down the tunnel.
Colin noted, “Battery at 45%. You have about 5 minutes, Commander.”
On the right was a doorway, and Z slowed the drone to enter through a portico. It led to a landing overlooking a large, ornate ballroom or receiving room. The LiDAR revealed two sculpted staircases descending from the landing, and two large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.
Z let out a short gasp. “This is remarkable. Who could've expected this?”
“Two minutes.”
“I'm going to position in the center of the room and do a 360 scan and a 360 optical. Then I'm leaving.” Z positioned the drone and sent the command for a circular scan of the space. One long wall was painted with a faded fresco, the other held large rods on which had probably hung some swaths of cloth, and there were rows of large, carved chairs down either side of the room. At one end were three large throne-like chairs. Behind them stood a table near an alcove.
When the scan was complete, Z was tempted to glide over to the painted wall, but she knew that would take time and there was so little battery left. She quickly pointed the camera at the floor. There was less of a dust film, but the deteriorated fabric that had hung from the walls had scattered particles onto the surface. She slowly moved the light around the floor trying to get an angle that would highlight the residue. For an instant, she lowered the drone too close and pieces flew into the thin air like dandelion seeds. But through the cloud of swirling fibers she found the answer she sought. She elevated the drone and set a flight path upward and back toward the portico.
“Again, no sign of any footprints or tracks. I think we are the first disturbance this room has had in a thousand years.”
In Mission Control, Patrick turned to the Administrator. “I say we let it run. It’s great.”
Colin was less concerned about encountering something inside the lava tube after having seen the video from below. He crouched at the foot of the debris pile and shined his light down the tube, partly so he could see the drone approach, partly so Z could home-in on his location. After a few minutes, he heard Z on the intercom.
“I've just left the down ramp. The drone's getting sluggish; the light is dimming. I’ll have to turn it off soon to conserve battery. I'll let you know if I need you to go retrieve it.”
But that would not be necessary. Just then, Colin picked up the drone in his lantern beam. Z guided the bobbing aircraft toward him. It touched down and slid along the surface, twenty yards away. Colin walked to where it had landed, boxed it and returned to the transport where Dunlap was waiting.
...
In the heart of the city, it had sensed motion and now watched the drone skid across the floor to the visitor. “Is it a dead machine? And this visitor?” It was about to power-up the systems but, seeing the astronaut leave, thought better of it and left everything asleep.