Yves Giraud - Kahnu

They stared a while at the captivating display. Ladli, finally finding the strength to pry her eyes away, glanced again at the door. Still nothing. She suddenly had an idea. “ Maybe it will open now …” She turned back her attention on the alien door and began waving her hands in front it again. But still nothing happened.

“Liu, what do you have on the infrared scan?” asked Dedrick.

The Korean biochemist raised the analyzer toward the sphere. “Nothing. No heat signature. Apparently, it’s completely cold. That’s weird…” she puzzled.

“Weird? Of course it’s weird. Everything is. Look at this place. I’m really not sure coming down here was such a good idea, after all.” Tendai sounded genuinely concerned, now.

“I don’t know what to think, here,” continued Liu. “This thing was pegging like crazy earlier. Now, it’s like… it’s not even there!”

“Dedrick?! What are you doing?” Ladli was watching the tall Russian approach the sphere, his hand extended in front of him.

“It’s OK. I just want to check something.”

“Dedrick?”

Kneeling next to the large round object, he gently pressed his hand down, and slowly moved it across the smooth surface. His teammates unconsciously held their breath. The purple vapor parted easily around his glove, creating undulating waves all around the object, like ripples in a pond. Checking the Thermal readings again, Liu barely noticed a rise in temperature. Keeping his and on the sphere, Dedrick turned around and stared at the door on the wall behind him with disappointment. He removed his hand, and the glowing gas reclaimed the space his glove had just occupied.

“Well, so much for that idea.”

For the next half hour, the group kept observing, and trying to interact with, the alien artifact and its surrounding. But they didn’t really learn anything else. The sphere seemed to react to sunlight. That much was established. As for the gas, its purpose was a mystery.

“Guys? I was wondering if one of you would mind heading back up here, so I can take a look down there. I’d love to see that thing up close.”

“Sure, François. I’ll come up!” offered Tendai right away.

“Thanks, buddy.”

A few minutes later, the Frenchman was down in the recess with the others. Tendai was glad to be away from the area. He had suggested to Ladli to follow him up, but she was too enthralled by the alien place to leave yet. Back in ARC 3, Tendai was updating Sabrina on François’ whereabouts.

“Yeah, he just went down there to check it out. I’m telling you, the place might be ancient, but that sphere is definitely not. It’s like someone put it there yesterday.” He was talking to her on the rover’s main monitor, while keeping an eye on the small group on the other screen.

“Wow! It’s all so surreal…” She was staring at the images as well, from back home.

“Personally, I think we should leave the whole thing alone. We really don’t know what we’re doing. Who knows what that sphere is for? And if we can’t open that door, that… portal, or whatever you want to call it, maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe, what’s inside is dangerous. Who knows? Either way, I really don’t think we should mess around with it. I mean, we’re talking about alien technology here. We’re way over our heads, here. This is pure madness.”

“You have a point, but how else do you want to find out what it is? Aren’t you the least bit curious?” replied Sabrina.

“I am, but I’m not sure it’s worth the risk.”

“Don’t worry Tendai, I don’t think we’re gonna stay much longer,” mentioned Dedrick who could hear their conversation in his headset. “OK, let’s make sure we have all the footage and pictures we need, and let’s pack,” he added to his three colleagues down below.

“Hey, Tendai?”

“Yes?”

“Can you ask François to bring back some samples from the enclosure, if he can? A few rocks would be nice.”

“Sure. Hey, François? Sabrina would like you to bring back a few rocks.”

“You got it.”

He carefully approached the edge of the terrace, grabbed a small hammer out of the tool kit and began chiseling away. After getting a few pieces into a small container, he sat a moment on the edge, his feet dangling above the abyss. Across from him, the other side of the narrow canyon was already in the shadows. Far up above, the sun had begun its descent beyond the plateau. Looking down at his feet hanging above the canyon below, he realized it would not be long before the shadow, cast by the facing cliff, had reached them too.

“What are you doing?” asked Dedrick.

“I was just admiring the view.” He got back up and rejoined the others.

Within minutes, the sunlight began to move back up the wall of the terrace, and the purple glow around the sphere disappeared.

“I guess we should start heading back soon. We only have an hour left on our tanks, anyway,” mentioned Dedrick.

Forty-five minutes later, they were all back in the rovers, leaving a long trail of dust behind them as they zoomed across the reddish landscape. Far in the distance, the sun was now setting behind the tall cliffs of Valles Marineris. Its light gradually shifting from bright yellow to soft orange, the ancient celestial object appeared to be following the racing rovers on their journey back, like a giant eye spying on the intruders. Occasionally reflecting on their windshields, its rays of deep rusty reds and crimsons cut through the canyons from above the immense geological formation, until it finally disappeared behind the high plateau above them.

That night, none of the Martian colonists would be able to sleep.

Crawling through one of the housing tubes between habitat three and its greenhouse, Chasma was holding her favorite doll, Sylvia that Vera had made for her almost four years earlier. Her long blonde hair flowing down her back, she had become quite a beautiful child. Everyone loved her on the base, and she was treated like a little princess everywhere she went. Something she loved, of course. She was turning five today, spoke three languages fluently, and a fourth one quite well. Her French was limited. François didn’t like using his French and was a reluctant teacher, when it came to his native language. He always pretended he couldn’t remember it very well, but they all knew he simply didn’t like to.

Chasma was of course fluent in English, the primary language of choice for all communication between members of the station, but her natural aptitude to juggling multiple languages showed already. She was also fluent in Russian and Spanish, and her Korean was good. She loved talking to each members of the base in their native tongue. She made a point to do so every day, and they all knew better than to tell her they were too busy, even if they truly were at times. François felt it was useless. They would never go back to Earth, so why bother? Regardless, she was relentless, always wanting to learn more, know more, and would chase them around the small base, asking questions and wanting answers. But her true interest was science. She would ask about the controls in the rover anytime she was allowed in the garage, or want to know how the water recycling systems worked. She was fascinated about the mechanics of the universe, why Mars’ atmosphere was almost completely depleted of oxygen, how different gravity was on Jupiter and other planets, and how the universe was created. Another favorite subject was biology and all the different plants in the greenhouses. Every morning, she crawled her way to the lab to go check on the progress of the vegetable gardens, always making to stop by the Blobus Viscus aquariums, and last but not least, have a look at her favorite flowers in greenhouse III: The tomato flowers. The tomato plants made beautiful yellow flowers. It was the only flower growing on the station at the moment.