“It’s getting bad up there, Thao.”
“Mm.”
“You wouldn’t even know from here though. Just a little blue light. Our little blue light. It’s pretty even.” They stood side-by-side at the rim of the deep red gorge next to base. He put his arm over her shoulders, a gesture made even more awkward by the thermal oxy-suits they’d been wearing since outpost D.
Thao turned away from the gorge, shaking Javier’s arm off her shoulders, and folded her own arms as well as she could. She looked at Javier with no expression at all on her face. She didn’t say a word, just stared at him blankly through her mask.
“Aren’t you worried too?” he asked.
“Yes, Javier, I’m worried, but it doesn’t change anything up here. And there’s nothing we can do about it, now or ever. So why waste time talking about it?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because we have families and friends up there. We used to live our lives there. We were born there, for Chrissakes. Doesn’t that matter?”
“I don’t know, does it matter? Tell me… when was the last time you got a transmission, even a lousy ‘How’s the colony? The holidays are coming up and I’m thinking of you,” email from anyone earthside?”
Javier looked down from the sky to the ground. He kicked up a little puff of brownish red dust with the toe of his right boot. The dust quickly settled back down as if it were sand.
“A hundred fifty-seven days. Martian days, I mean. You?”
“I stopped counting when my mother died years ago.”
“So what’s your point?”
“My point is we’re not going back. We knew that when we left. Our lives are here, not there. The people inside those airlocks are our family. If people back on earth want to ruin their atmosphere, kill their rivers, and blow each other up, why should I care?”
“Yeah, so true. What I wouldn’t give for their skies, their water cycles, I mean, the pure amount of biomass. Oh man. It’s going to take us decades to make even 1/10th of that here. Those idiots.”
“Exactly.”
“Still…”
“Still, what?”
“Still, it’s pretty.”
“So?”
“So… have dinner with me tonight. To celebrate being back on base. I’ve got some fresh tomatoes I’ve been growing for a special occasion.” He winked at her through his mask, and continued in a singsong voice, “I know how much you love fresh veggies.”
“Ugh, Javier. No. We’re just friends. I’ve told you 20 times I’m not interested in dating you or anyone right now. There’s too much to do out here, and I’ve got too many measurements to take on the other side. I’m leaving again in a few days to make the perimeter readings. I won’t be back until ten-ten-twelve. I don’t have time for ‘dinner.’” She pantomimed quotes with her thick grey spacesuit fingers. “Anyway, you’re on the atmo crew. What if there’s another explosion and you die just like… I mean, what’s the point?”
“The point is I like you. Even if there were a dozen single women up here, I’d still like you.”
“I’m only one in a dozen, eh? You sure know how to charm the oxy-suit off a lady, don’t you?” She sighed and paused a long moment. “Javier, I’m flattered, but no thank you. If we were still on earth, and if we didn’t work together, and if if if a hundred other things that aren’t so, then maybe. But out here on the colony, if it doesn’t work out I’ll still have to see you every day. I don’t shit where I eat, you copy? Let’s go back inside.”
Javier looked at her, then back up at the starry sky for a several seconds. His mask began to fog up. “Good idea, the news transmission should be coming in shortly.”
“Earth news. Whatever.”
Thao walked over to the large corrugated aluminum and steel beam building nearby, ducked inside a red door, and turned off the large white LED lights that lit the area outside the hangar. She didn’t wait for Javier as she strode back out of the hangar. Neither said anything as they walked the 100 or so meters from the hangar back to the main airlock. Thao walked several steps in front of Javier, and Javier made no effort to catch up. When they reached the base, she hit the black door lift button, and Javier turned to look back up at the tiny blue dot overhead while the big, greasy, metal door slid slowly, soundlessly upward. Once the bottom of the door was high enough to clear her helmet, Thao stepped inside. Javier waited until the door fully reached the top before turning around and joining her in the airlock.
45 minutes later, freshly showered, back in base clothes, and feeling a little refreshed but mostly just ragdoll tired, they found themselves heading toward the big screen at the commissary coffee bar. A couple dozen or so people gathered around, mostly looking down at and tapping the screens on various gadgets, a few chatting nervously with each other. One woman looked up and smiled as they approached. Javier waved and then split off toward the coffee counter.
“Oh, hey, Thao. Good to see you guys again. When did you get back?”
Thao gave her a quick hug, kissed both cheeks, and said, “Hi Janice. Just now. Why’s everyone here look so… tense?”
“Well, today’s news was supposed to start 15 minutes ago.”
“Okaaay… is the central router down again? Did Rick reboot yet?”
“No, our local station comes in just fine. That’s what’s weird. We can’t even pick up the weak sat-TV or net broadcasts. We’re getting nothing.”
“Wait, what? All earthside transmissions are black?”
“Yep.”
“Our crew left 27 days ago and we just got back in. When was the last signal?”
“26 days ago for most wavelengths. The last ISS transmission came in exactly 14 days ago. They said it was pretty bleak on the blue-and-green, but they’d update us once a week. But haven’t heard a peep since then.”
“Seriously?”
“Most everyone thinks it’s all over up there. What it really means is anyone’s guess, but from what we saw in the last transmission, I’ll bet you a credit to fifty it’s the end for them. If anyone survives, it’ll take them centuries to rebuild.”
“Wow, I mean, I’ve been expecting this for years. It finally happened, huh?”
“It finally happened. Unless you’ve got a stash of rocket fuel or a handsome cowboy hidden in those research outposts, sweetie, it’s us and the little green men now. Speaking of, how’s Javier? You guys sure seem to spend a lot of time together lately.”
“Wow, I… I need a minute to process this.”
Just then, Javier walked up with two cups of bio-caff, full to the brim so he had to walk slowly so as not to spill, and set them on the table nearby. Janice gave him a lingering hug and a slightly wetter-than-normal kiss on both cheeks.
Janice said, “Oh, hi, Javier. So good to see you, cowboy,” with an extra-long emphasis on the word cowboy. “Listen, I’ve got to run, but Sweetie Pie here can fill you in on the news. See you two at JJ’s tomorrow? The nuke crew will all be there, and you know how well they hold their starshine – Bones’s tests showed they never did acclimatize right, sooo glad I’m not on nuke crew. Anyway, it should be another rager. Ciao ciao!” And off she went.
Javier tilted his head and cocked one eyebrow. He asked Thao, “So…what was that all about?” Thao paused a moment, watching Janice weave through the tables as she walked away. She looked back to Javier and touched his forearm lightly, then just as quickly pulled back. Almost inaudibly, she answered, “I’ll tell you over dinner. Your place at 1800?”