With Mars and Earth in solar conjunction and communications between planets severely constrained, it was an opportune time to break from the explorations. Supplies were needed and so was maintenance. Astronauts are explorers as well as engineers and scientists, so breaking down the living quarters, packing Hab 3A, and turning away from the mysterious, underground city was disheartening. But there was so much to do before the next, and more serious, expedition could take place.

The highest priority was the refitting of 3A. Their temporary home for the last 26 sols had to be closely examined to determine the impact of exposure. It was designed to be used as short-term shelter for maybe 100 sols. It was important to monitor the condition of the fabric in light of the plan ahead and determine if they would need to bivouac in the transport or the lava tube to extend 3A's lifespan.

The crew left the excavator and some of the shielded equipment at the camp, giving them room on the trailer to return gear that had accumulated at 3A along with seats for the three of them inside the transport cockpit. They had spent so much of their waking time fully-suited that it was a relief to venture across Mars for three hours, helmets off, in the interior of the transport. Z volunteered to drive until she felt too tired to go on, and Dunlap rode backup while he wrote a report. Colin went right to sleep, a complete dead weight. Although the last week had been spent in constant motion transporting supplies, moving sensors, running tests, and refining scans, their exhaustion wasn't all physical; all of them felt the impact of the stress, the expectation to perform perfectly, and the nagging worry that maybe they were in way over their heads. The revelation that the city appeared to be deserted had instantly turned off the adrenalin flow and they had all come crashing down. So Z was very serious about the risk of falling asleep at the controls. The autonomous navigation provided a safeguard, but the rock field was a constant test at the speed they were travelling.

Z let her eyes wander along the horizon. Only a month of sols ago, the planet had been a rock onto which they were planting life. A month ago! That time would never exist again. Earth was no longer the only planet to have intelligent life. People had now seen proof that Mars was our sister planet; that we had not been alone.

When they arrived, they quickly stowed the things they had brought down the slope. Z begged out of any conversations and reports to curl-up in her module. Exhaustion weighed on her body like an anvil. Normally, when she felt depleted by stress she would strip to the skin and curl up in the soft caress of the sheets, newborn and free. Inside her mod, she could probably have gotten away with it, but she was too tired even to take off her bodysuit.

As she lay on her cot in the few moments before sleep, her mind drifted through the enormity of their discovery. They had found evidence not just of intelligent life, but of a large scale civilization, sophisticated in its art and architecture, and possibly linked by the lava tube along a trade route with other cities. There had been cities like it on Earth—Palmyra and Petra—grand, prosperous waypoints along trade routes. She thought about the rooms she had seen—cavernous, grand, ornate—a Martian Palmyra. They had stumbled upon someone else’s history, one that appeared to have been glorious and accomplished, but existed no more. If the city was truly deserted, where did its inhabitants go? She would have a little more than five months to find that answer, while also accomplishing the goals of the mission: to make ready for the first colonists. Sleep would help her confront her challenge better.

...

The mission team sat in a semi-circle facing Dan Sharp, who turned to the LiDAR scan of the Terminal on the wall screen. “If this city is abandoned, we won't have to build a base. We just seal-off a section and move in.”

The Administrator’s statement didn’t set well with the newest member of the team and the one least accustomed to the NASA chain of command, the archaeologist. She looked at Sharp with astonishment. “You have to be joking. You can't storm in there. This is the greatest find of all human history.”

Patrick was amused by her insolence. “I don't think Dan's recommending a wholesale assault. We can only send up a handful of astronauts at a time. We'll have a decade to explore, while we colonize.”

Sharp quickly added, “And sending an archaeological team will be a priority for the next mission. So, know that that's on the table. But right now, we should assume this is our primary choice for the future base and begin the preliminary survey.”

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Dixxon began, “Let's limit the first expedition to Nasri, Tanaka, and Dunlap.”

“Agreed,” Sharp noted. “Equipment?”

“Everyone will have helmet cameras.” Dixxon said, then made a note. “I'll have to confirm if those pick-up ambient audio. It was never a priority to have running audio of what was going on outside the suit.”

“We'll take flood lighting—a couple of instruments. That will help with larger rooms. Individual lanterns don't help much beyond thirty feet.”

The archaeologist interjected, “It would be valuable to get a detailed scan of the undisturbed site.”

Sharp again explained, “Agreed. That would be ideal, but I don't think we'll get very far if we go space-by-space, planting the scanner, taking fifteen minutes to scan the room while the team stands outside. We'll use the scanner on the pocket drone.”

The archaeologist jumped up from her seat and appealed to Sharp with some agitation. “But you know that isn't at all comparable to the LiDAR floor scanner. This is a significant archaeological discovery; at some point, very soon, we're going to have to begin treating it that way.”

Sharp sat calmly, looking straight at the archaeologist. “Your concerns are noted. We need to balance our priorities, though. I have an entire chorus of voices singing to me from all over the federal government with their priorities. So this will be one of those win-win situations where nobody completely wins. Understood? It just has to be that way.”

He could tell the archaeologist didn’t really understand, but the Administrator continued. “Getting back to your concerns, we'll direct the team to minimize disturbance in this first sortie—walk in each other's footsteps, look don't touch, get pictures and rough scans, then we go back later to start documenting. Good enough?”

“Does it matter?”

“No. But I wanted to ask.”

...

MESSAGE: Elizabeth Nasri to Patrick Burke CC: NASA Information Office

Pat:

My 8-hour summer vacation is now over and it's time to get back to work. Can you give me a quick briefing on the reaction to the drone fly-through and a preview of what coverage is planned for the upcoming descent?

Thanks,

Z

MESSAGE: Patrick Burke to Elizabeth Nasri CC: NASA Information Office

Z:

It's safe to say that everyone on Earth has been obsessing over the discovery. Your drone flight created the largest audience cloud in the history of communications. To give you a relevant measure of the demand, in the last month, my office has ballooned to nearly 60 staff to manage content systems and handle requests from the media. You're very popular, by the way, and I want to talk to you about spearheading a Life on Mars science education program for schools, sharing the real story of the discovery and the story of us colonizing Mars. I have no idea when we'll get to that—just file it somewhere and give it a little thought when you get a chance.

Another thought to file as you go into the next descent is that we're fighting a round-the-clock battle to keep the truth preeminent over what we're calling the Dream Network—tens of thousands of content sources around the world focused on creating every possible fantasy about the mission, Mars, Martians, the team, you, and anything that appears in a scan or video. I tell this to you because you and Dunlap and Tanaka are going to be in a hyper-stimulating environment and the whole world will be watching and listening. We'll have you on a 15-second delay that will allow us to soundscape over anything we don't want broadcast out, but this will be our chance for fact to rule over fantasy. So please, all of you skew your commentary toward accurate scientific observation and away from emotional reactions. Pretend you're in a court of law: everything you say will be used against you. I'll leave it to you to communicate that to the crew.

Your descent will go out live over 1.3 million recognized content outlets. There are an estimated 3,500 Mars-watching events of more than five thousand people scheduled (some in the middle of the night). Several, like Times Square, will be around a million people. Like I wrote above, we'll be retransmitting your helmet audio and we'll be capturing, but not retransmitting ambient external audio. You'll be going with individual helmet cameras, live-switched and iso'd, and the pocket drone. More to come as the day approaches.

Best,

Pat