“Huh?”
“It’s an old sci-fi movie. The only survivor of a rocket ship that crashes on reentry is infected with some alien organism. It kills the guy, then goes on to terrorize London.”
“But it’s just a stupid movie. Patently false.”
“Maybe, but people are profoundly ignorant about space, and science in general.”
“You think the movies are where people get their ideas about space? Good Lord, I had no idea. I thought everybody knew they were just silly stories.”
Marc shrugged. “Unfortunately, most of the sci-fi movies are about all the bad things that could happen with alien encounters. Invading monsters make a better movie. Cute aliens are for kids.”
“So you think people believe that the Marsmat is a threat from space? And they got that idea from sci-fi movies?”
“That’s my thesis. Oh, the guy on the street wouldn’t admit it, but the movies are most people’s exposure to ideas about the future.”
“I have a hard time believing that.”
“Maybe, but remember that NASA quarantined the Apollo 11 astronauts returning from the moon.”
There was a short silence.
“Okay, okay,” Julia said. “Time to go on the air.”
Marc looked relieved. “I’ll go down below, do some packing.”
Julia narrowed her eyes. “Axelrod asked you to get me in front of the cameras, didn’t he?”
Marc looked sheepish. “Yeah, you are the biologist, after all.”
“Here goes.” She said in a hollow bass voice, “Creatures of Earth, I speak to you from Mars.”
Marc’s head jerked up, then he noticed the record button was still red. “Ha ha. The PR guys would’ve edited it out anyway.”
“Yep, they cut all our best stuff.”
She made a brief, clear statement detailing the vent descent. Their discoveries. A few shots of the deep vent life. A promise of further developments from her greenhouse experiments—”Which were unfortunately interrupted, as you all saw, by the unexpected, marvelous robustness of the vent life. This is hardy stuff, the product of tougher times than life has had on Earth. Now, that does not mean it’s going to walk all over us. Oxygen poisons these forms immediately—I tried it on several of them, and they withered into brown husks within minutes. There is no danger to Earth here!”
After she signed off, she said, “It shouldn’t be just me talking about the Marsmat, it’s your discovery, too, you know.”
“Yeah, only I haven’t got the investment you do. I didn’t nearly get killed out there, for my research.”
“Our research.”
“You’re the Lady of Life, as that TV show called you.”
“Hey, your name will be on the research papers, with mine.”
“Oh no, I have to write papers, too?”
She grinned. “Price of fame.”
26
SHE THOUGHT OF THE FOUR OF THEM AS BEING A KEYHOLE, THROUGH which billions of people were peering at an entire world beyond.
How to squeeze the immensity of Mars through that tiny knot? First and foremost they were pilots, engineers, scientists—not popularizes, but doers. They had made innumerable “squirts,” as Viktor called them, sent videos, commentaries, interviews. It had never been enough to feed the media maw, and now the appetite at their backs was far worse.
Still, the hardest message she had to send was to her parents. She had to sheepishly own up to not telling them the biggest story in history. DEADLY LIFE ON MARS! had screamed at them from the Sydney newspaper.
Her father’s calm, ironic rendition of the coverage carried not a hint of irritation or distress. “We understand you had to keep this out of all transmissions, sweetie,” he had said. She’d carefulldy scrutinized the vid: Did he look more tired? “Security and all, quite so, quite justified.”
But she had apologized anyway, and meant it. With all they were dealing with, they didn’t need to be awakened at 3:00 A.M. by some arrogant media type wanting their “reaction to their daughter’s near-death accident.”
Such seemingly minor emotional issues took up her time as she rested. Minor compared to the real issues coming remorselessly to bear, anyway. She had to keep matters in perspective. Her body had myriad little aches and oddities, all duly chronicled for the medicos.
By the next morning she was feeling fairly chipper. In a quick message for the doctors she said, “I got off easy, I know that. But a minute in vacuum! I’ll bet your research never implied that anybody could survive so long.”
Viktor overheard her and said, “Miracle now, standard trick in future.”
She was glad to have him say something; he and Raoul were obsessively readying for tomorrow’s test. “How so?”
“Big hassle to get in and out of suits, true? Easier in future to make short dashes as you did—not even holding breath.”
Somehow this shocked her. “But it was—scary.”
“First time must be. Second time will make news maybe.” He grinned. “Third, is habit.”
She recalled how staff at the Mars Society arctic station would run from the rover to the hab without bothering with the heavy down jackets and boots. There was a small zing to thumbing your nose at the elements. “Y’know, you’re probably right.”
