Kira Chan warmed her hands on a cup of tea as she waited for her husband, Siegfried Halberson, and the third crew member, Antwon Harris, to return from replacing half a dozen solar panels that had some faulty cells. As she poured two more cups, Kira reflected on the pleasure of letting problems stack up before venturing out to fix them. During the first half of Red Planet Challenge, season one, before they cooked batches of methanol to use in fuel cells, each glitch sent them scurrying, gripped with anxiety about their only energy source for warmth and oxygen, the solar array. Now, methanol- burning fuel cells were an alternative to batteries for backup power. It afforded a peace of mind that was missing. Delaying repairs no longer would court a death sentence or force them to abandon the challenge.
A clunking sound heralded the entry of her costars into the tricked-out, dirt-covered, used rocket fuselage where they spent so much time. Her husband’s head emerged in the doorway to the kitchen. She smiled and said, “Hi, Siggy. How’d it go?”
He smiled back. “Mission Accomplished, babe.
Kira preferred hot liquids in a glass cup, but every gram counted when shipping stuff to Mars, so they put up with plastic. She passed each a cup. Antwon took his and said, “We got a transmission from the Story Editor. Feedback on ideas for filming scenes when the crew supplement arrives tomorrow.
She pictured Sampson Riley’s puffy face and suppressed an eye roll. “Of course! So looking forward to that. But let’s eat first.” Supper was the usual pellets with a perfect balance of fiber and nutrients in one of ten flavors, reconstituted with water into a hot, edible stew. While they ate, the three chatted and listened to soft music.
Siggy asked, “Did you check the manifest while we were out?”
She answered, “Sure did. And I can guess what you want to know. Spare parts for the gypsum dehydrator aren’t there. But they did load more solar equipment and four six- packs for a celebration.”
Anton snorted. “Hah! Luxury! Nothing but the best for the stars of 2033’s top-rated reality show in the entire solar system.
Siggy frowned. “Beer is great. Beer is welcome. But I don’t like depending on a single source for water. The gypsum crusher in the dehydrator is noisy and could break any day. I grant you we don’t use it as much now that we have a brine well, but…”
Kira sighed. “Issue acknowledged. I’ll repeat the request more forcefully.””
Siggy said, “Good. Good.” He poked at his stew with a spoon. “Meanwhile, I’m sure looking forward to Sergeant—I mean, Bill Mackenzie’s arrival. The man’s a wizard in a kitchen! It shouldn’t take long for him to grow something that beats this.”
“Amen to that.”
Anton asked her, “Coming out for the ship flyover tomorrow? Calculations showed we can get a good look at it on one of its aerobraking passes. Should be well lit.”
That cheered her up. “Bet! This will be the most interesting - in a good way, that is - thing for months.” She chuckled. “Technically, it’s needless radiation exposure, but boredom is deadly, too.”
In the morning, they abbreviated their exercise and centrifuge periods, another no-no. Then all went outside at the same time - a safety protocol breach that might earn a lecture from the production coordinator at Red Planet. They walked east from their V-shaped camp about half the 500-meter distance to The Candle, looking like three crawling ants as it loomed above them. They considered several nicknames for the empty ship sent ahead to deliver essential equipment before they arrived, some of them not suitable for broadcast, before settling on that one. Among other goodies, it carried equipment that converted hydrogen from Earth, plus Martian atmosphere, into methane and water, using the Sabatier reaction. That water, plus more brought from Earth, was electrolyzed to provide oxygen they could use to burn the methane for a ride home - someday.
They spotted the incoming ship carrying their new teammates as it dipped into the atmosphere during the closest portion of its elliptical orbit. On Mars, the scenery changed very little from day to day. It was rather like gazing across the fields of a large Earth farm on a calm day, but much more stark. Watching something new that was moving represented a tonic for variety-starved souls.
To preserve the filming schedule, their new teammates left home outside the period of the best Earth-Mars alignment, thus entering orbit with more velocity than the ship that brought the season-one cast to Mars. The new ship had rendezvoused with a heat shield parked in Mars orbit before it arrived, to help them safely achieve circular orbit. There was a noticeable increase in its brightness as it arced overhead, a sign that the heat shield for aerobraking and landing was working. Once it was out of sight, they retraced their steps to return to quarters and prepare a welcome for the newbies.