Chapter 5 – Where to Begin?

Pathy hung up. My brother and I were alone. I sighed. Where to begin?

"This is it," my brother said. "We have been dumped, abandoned?"

"Afraid so. Sorry again for springing that on you. Don't take this the wrong way, but we thought you'd have figured it out by now."

He was quiet for a minute. Then, "I suppose that, deep down, I knew. How could I not? Leaving me here for nearly two decades, without contact, defies anything resembling logic."

"You were in denial," I said.

"Yes."

"I can relate."

Soft skirts rustle, and a gentle voice whispers, "Any day now."

"How did you feel when you realized they weren't coming for you?" he asked.

"Like I'd been thrown away, worthless as a tin can. I'm surprised you didn't hear me wailing from the other side of the planet."

"Utopia Planitia is an isolated place."

"What's it like? Chryse was flat, boring. Bunch of boulders lying around. There was some interesting stuff in the soil, so I guess it had one thing going for it."

"You're using the past tense. How curious."

"Well, I sure as hell didn't stick around too long once my mission ended. There was no point in that, and we needed a change of scenery."

"I will ignore the 'we' for the moment, as I'm sure there is a long story behind it. Are you saying that you left your landing site?"

I caught myself before I laughed at his scandalized tone. "Why not?"

One piece of metal banged against another with a thunk! It must have been my brother smacking his face with his "hand." "I don't think I need to explain," he grumbled, "that your little jaunt is a major violation of protocol."

"With all due respect, I doubt the old protocols still apply. Our missions are over, and in the absence of any humans to boss us around, the planet is ours. Why shouldn't we have run of the place?"

"The agency might have sent for us." His voice grew deeper, words blurring at the edges.

I knew that sound. Time to change the subject. "Tell me about Utopia. It's farther north than Chryse, isn't it?"

"Yes. Based on what you've told me, it is quite similar to your landing site. There are many large rocks about. When I touched down, my right foot landed on one."

"I hope you moved it, or at least stretched your leg."

A pause.

That wasn't promising. "You have given it a good stretch, haven't you?"

Another pause, filled with creaking and groaning, and then a gasp.

I smiled. "Feels better, doesn't it?"

"Indeed. Thank you."

He was talking more. Good. "It must get really damn cold up there, seeing as you're closer to the north pole."

"Sometimes it's absolutely frigid. I even saw frost on the ground. I took some lovely pictures of it, if I may say so. I'm sure the scientists found them fascinating."

Snow on Mars. A white Christmas on the Red Planet. Tinselina would have loved that.

The grief rose, hot and relentless.

"Are you alright, Viking 1? You've gone quiet."

"Sorry. I was thinking of old times," I said with a tearful laugh.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with that 'we,' would it?"

He had me. I wasn't about to lie to my long-lost brother. "It does."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not yet," I said. "I don't know how to put what I feel into words."

A gentle laugh. "I think I can relate."

I held back tears of relief. My brother, though far away, was with me at last. No. With us. We were making a little family in spite of the miles of rusty desert between us.