Chapter 9-Sol 43

"NASA this is Jones, approaching site now."

"Copy that Jones, patching through to your team."

"Good morning, Indy!" a loud, cheerful, Middle Eastern accented voice said.

"Good to hear from you, Sallah" I replied.

"Thank goodness you are alive, Indiana. Now, time to see what the fuss is about" a much older voice said.

"Thank you, Marcus. I'll definitely get this back to the museum."

"Now you be careful, Junior. It might be Mars but you can never know what's out there" another older, English accented voice said.

"Dad, don't call me Junior!"

"Well I can't call you Henry, that's me! And I refuse to call you after the dog."

A few chuckles followed the little bickering. Indiana Jones felt more comfortable than he had in weeks.

"Ok, finally arriving at a few mounds of sand. Can you guys see this?"

"The feed is fine, Indiana" Marcus replied.

"It's Junior."

"Dad!"

Indiana began to climb over the sand. His special suit allowed for maximum mobility. Other astronauts didn't have this luxury.

Indiana stood atop the mound. Despite the storm that had left him stranded, it was almost untouched. It was almost eerie how similar the site looked to the few pictures he had seen. He approached the large stones. They all had similar carvings.

"This look familiar to anyone?"

"The ancient Aztec calendars" Dad said. "They don't look like circles, but the circular patterns are there."

"Now what is something from central Mexico doing all the way on Mars?" Marcus asked.

"Indy, get closer to the rocks, examine their material." Sallah said.

Indiana approached the rocks. Sure enough, the rock was Martian.

"Sorry, Sallah, this rock isn't from Mexico"

"Damn, and I had a whole theory ready on how it could have gotten there."

"Love'd to hear it some day."

Indiana continued. At this point he was further than the crew that had originally discovered the site. His heart was pounding. He then noticed something on the ground.

"Hey… hey! A cave!"

Indiana began to climb down. Everything started to get dark. He turned on his helmets flashlight.

"Indiana, we're losing video feed" Marcus said.

"Can you still hear me?"

"Perfectly, but our screen are getting fuzzier."

"Damn, sorry guys. I'll describe everything as best as I can, I'll send you this whole recording when I get b-"

"Indy?"

"Indiana?"

"Junior!?"

No response.