This is a fan translation of Road to Mars (Дорога к Марсу) by fifteen Russian science fiction writers.

This chapter was written by Anton Pervushin.

I claim no rights to the contents herein.

Note: Footnotes can be found at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 32

The Rescue Ship

Irina Pryahina was feeling hunted. Exhausted, twitchy, barely alive.

And all because of those jerks. Those bastards. Those… men!

She was already cursing the day she'd agreed to head the Space Council to the President of Russia. She'd dreamt of that moment! Strove towards it! Elbowed, schemed, served. Two PhDs in five years! That was a lot of gray hair! She'd been a fool, not realizing that the higher she climbed, the harder the fall would be; that any mistake, any failure would be blamed on her. Even if her ass was well-covered, they'd do it anyway. And no one was going to take her side, no one would support her. Everyone would just nod in understanding, and someone would inevitably say, "Korolyov was right. A woman at a spaceport is only going to lead to problems." [Footnote 1]

And there were plenty of problems. New ones were showing up daily. First that ridiculous story with the third crew. It was Ivan Serebryakov's crew that was supposed to go, not the backup to the backup. It had been plain as day that the "barrelnauts" weren't going to make it. But did the President listen? How did he put it? "It's not about you or me, Madam Pryahina. This is our last chance. If that ship doesn't leave for Mars today, then tomorrow we're all gone: me, you, and millions of others." Cheap populist! Man!

And then that race with the Millennium Boat. The trajectory change. The refueling that nearly ended in a disaster. Then the sail… All right, maybe unfurling the sail had been her idea. Want to beat the Chinese? Here you go! And then try to claim that she hadn't used all of the Ares's capabilities to win that dick measuring contest. Kartashov had been exposed to deadly radiation when installing the sail? That was his problem. The "barrelnaut" shouldn't have gone EVA! And the fact that he was now in great health implies that he'd been faking it all along…

Then the comet… The mad maneuver with the using up of the last of the resources… But the new plan took first place on the scale of idiocy. The researchers at the Keldysh Center clutched their heads when they saw the President's doodles. What moron was giving him ideas? A hard deceleration at nearly 6 Gs, at 140% of engine power! Docking with the Orion on an outer eccentric orbit without first going areocentric. Insanity! They'd be going way past critical even by the loss of reactor refrigerant alone. And would the reactor itself even be able to handle it? What about the Orion? It had been stuck at Phobos for two years now, and, to be honest, that equipment wasn't all that reliable… Whatever. The reactor and the Orion were the NASA administrator's headache: they were his responsibility. But now the Ares 2 had been dumped on her head. Did any of them even think that the ship had never really been prepared for interplanetary flight? That it had only been built for the sake of appearances, to act as an orbital lab? That they'd cut corners during the assembly? That it had only been proudly called the rescue ship just to shut up the journalists and others of heir ilk? And now they wanted that "rescue ship"! And if it didn't launch in three weeks, it would be her head…

And the Chinese… Liang Zongzheng suddenly appeared in her mind's eye, and her heart warmed slightly. But then Irina grimaced at her own reflection in the mirror, and ice once again covered it. Another man! He'd never cared about her, Irina Pryahina, only that his party comrades reached the damned Mars before the Topazes. She'd once dreamt of stepping onto the red soil, lifting her yes to the transparent sky with two bright stars speeding across it in eternal silence… Except that world wasn't for her. It was about time she figured that out…

There was an insistent knock on the door.

"Madam Pryahina," came her secretary's voice. "It's time."

"Thank you, Nikita, I'm on my way."

Pryahina gave her reflection another critical look. She tried to produce a wide smile, but it looked forced. All right then, she wasn't going to smile, she decided. After all, it was an extraordinary situation, so she had a right to look concerned…

There were over five thousand accreditation requests. Any other tie, the could've denied three-quarters of them without major problems, but this time the President personally told them to "please everyone." TsUP's Blue Hall would never be able to fit such a crowd, so, for the duration of the conference, they rented out the Kalinin Palace of Culture.

Pryahina's appearance on the stage of the packed theater hall was met with weak applause and blinding camera flashes.

It's always like this, Irina thought in annoyance. They never come to an ordinary launch, not interesting to them. But when it smells of a problem, there they are. Quill sharks. No, no way! Word processor jackals is a better name!

She recalled a similar case in the history of space exploration. The record number of requests came from the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery in September of 1988. A seemingly ordinary launch, except for the fact that the Challenger had exploded in the skies over Florida two years prior. Of course, one could say that the reporters had simply wanted to take a look at America getting back into space after a two-year break. But everyone knew that they were expecting a new explosion, not a triumphant return. Jackals! And it seems the American record had just been beaten.

The panel at the table already had all the players present: cosmonaut Ivan Serebryakov, head of the science program Victor Bykov, and head of TsUP's media office Antonin Kadman. Irina nodded to her subordinates and went straight to the podium.

"Good day, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues. We are gathered here today to discuss the aspects of a new unplanned mission to Mars. Please, Mr. Kadman," Pryahina addressed the head of the media office, "first slide… Thank you… As you know, the heavy interplanetary ship Ares 1 is currently entering Mars's gravity field. In order to shorten the procedure of landing on the surface, we developed a new sequence of maneuvers near the planet. Second slide, please… Our colleagues at NASA have reactivated the systems of the orbital ship Orion and sent it to rendezvous with the Ares. The docking will take place soon, after which astrobiologist Andrei Kartashov and pilot John Bull will transfer to that ship. The rest will remain on the Ares, continuously lowering the orbit to the level of the Martian moon Phobos… A month later, the Ares will dock there with the Rigel. As for the Orion… third slide, please… it's going to dock with the American Altair lander, and a week and a half later, Kartashov and Bull will step onto the surface of the most mysterious planet in the Solar System… I will remind you that the landing crew's tasks include… fourth slide, please… the gathering of samples in the Gale crater, where an American rover discovered fossils that, as many scientists believe, may have biological origins. The samples will let us put an end to the question of life on Mars once and for all. It is difficult to imagine a more significant discovery in the history of humankind! It may only be, perhaps, compared to the discoveries made by Copernicus and Galileo… Fifth slide, please… Initially, we were planning for the landing crew to spent thirty sols in the vicinity of the Gale crater in order to study the area. Unfortunately, we've had to reduce the expedition's time on the ground to one week. There are several reasons for that, but the main one is the fact that the expedition's resources are, unfortunately, running out. We never assumed that the flight to Mars would encounter such a great number of technical malfunctions. I'd like to underscore that it does not indicate a lack of preparation on our part. But this is humanity's first attempt as such a long journey, and there are many things that we simply couldn't have predicted. Still, we're confident that the mission will be successful, and all the members of the Ares 1 crew will return home safely. Sixth slide, please… In order to guarantee their return, the Space Council has made a difficult decision to send the Ares 2 to Mars. That ship, currently located in a geostationary orbit, was created precisely in case the primary expedition met with difficulties. We plan to load the Ares 2 with additional fuel, food, and water… Seventh slide, please… The ship's pilot is going to be an experienced cosmonaut who has been awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation medal twice, Colonel Ivan Serebryakov. He will fly to Mars alone on a long trajectory, which is caused by the necessity to conserve the resources of the Ares 2. Such an option carries a certain risk, but Colonel Serebryakov is prepared to take it to help his friends. He is well trained; if you recall, Colonel Serebryakov is the one who was originally supposed to lead the expedition to Mars but was forced to remain on Earth due to problems with the booster of the Rus' craft… This is how the new plan of the Martian expedition is going to look in general terms… I am now prepared to answer your questions…"

A forest of hands shot up. Irina Pryahina took a deep breath, as if she was about to jump into water, and prepared for battle.

Ivan Serebryakov left the Palace of Culture through the back entrance long before the end of the press conference after apologizing and claiming urgent business related to preparing the Ares 2 for departure. A security guard escorted him to the car and opened the door for him. The cosmonaut slumped on the back seat in relief, told the driver to take him to Star City, and only then noticed that there was someone else in the vehicle. A petite blonde in a black cloak was sitting next to the driver.

"Do I know you?" Serebryakov asked right away.

The man behind the wheel turned his head, and the cosmonaut realized that the blonde was far from the only surprise of the day. Instead of the driver Mikhail he was looking at an old acquaintance.

"Colonel Kirsanov? I'm glad you've decided to give me a lift to the training center."

"Good day, Colonel. I'm also happy at our unexpected meeting." Kirsanov turned away, started the engine, and carefully pulled the car out onto Tereshkova Street.

"Who's your companion?" Serebryakov inquired, having already realized that a conversation was coming but doing his best to show nonchalance.

"This is Yana, Andrei Kartashov's wife."

The blonde shifted in her seat and turned to let Serebryakov see her face.

"As far as I know," the cosmonaut said dryly, "Kartashov's wife was always a brunette. Just like her husband."

"There's nothing more fickle than a woman's hair color," Yana stated in a velvety voice. "I had to change my appearance, Colonel. Far too many people were recognizing me on the street."

"I see." Serebryakov nodded. "The burden of fame."

"Forgive me for talking to you like this," Yana went on, "but extraordinary circumstances have forced me to address you directly."

"I'm listening. What happened?"

"Two hours ago, I spoke with my husband… He's learned something…"

Kartashov's wife broke off, staring past Serebryakov, and he prodded her, "Is Andrei all right? I've been told that he had serious problems after an EVA."

"Yes, Andrei is fine…" Yana shook her fluffy hair. "You see, Colonel, you know a very different Kartashov. He's not just an astrobiologist and life support specialist. He's a member of a special group created for the purpose of initiating contact with an alien species. But, in order to go through all the necessary tests and avoid giving away his true mission, he had to undergo a procedure that involved deep psychocoding. Right now, all the blocks in Andrei's mind have been removed. He's once again a professional contactee with unique empathic abilities. And he has confirmed that he has established contact."

Serebryakov couldn't hold back a quiet chuckle.

"Sounds out of this world! Are you sure you're not reading the Sensations of the 21st Century blog?"

Yana twitched but didn't comment on that. Instead, she started into the cosmonaut's eyes with the hard gaze of someone sure of themselves, "We've been given a condition, Colonel. And we must fulfil it. You'll be taking another person with you to Mars. But no one must ever learn of your traveling companion. The President is going to sign the appropriate set of decrees within an hour."

Serebryakov was having trouble believing in the seriousness of what he was hearing. So he asked with a smile, "And who are you sending with me? Michael? Jacques?"

The expression on Yana's face was more telling than any words.

Footnotes

1) Sergei Korolyov was a lead Soviet rocket engineer in the 1950s and 1960s. He was highly critical of women in the space program.