Page 2 of Alone
Louise>>They're in a stable condition, no change. Any news?
Control>>Our scientists are working on a solution. They're thinking of creating a vaccine to protect them from contracting the virus.
Louise>>But there isn't time to send a vaccine from Earth to Mars.
Control>>They'd give you instructions to produce it yourself.
Louise>>Are you kidding me? I don't have the supplies or experience. I'm a geologist, not a doctor.
Control>>There will be detailed instructions and we'll adjust them to only take into account the tools you have in your medical lab. Hopefully you still have antibodies in your blood that can be used for the vaccine.
Louise>>You want me to inject my blood into them?
Control>>Simply put, yes.
Louise>>Fuck you.
***
ITHINK BASTIAN ISmy favourite. He's called Sebastian but I imagine him having a nickname. From his file, it sounds like he was popular on Earth. A rugby player, a fighter jet pilot, then an astronaut. He's been in space several times, but he's never set foot on another planet. I hope he's going to get that opportunity soon. One week has already passed since they arrived and we're still no closer to a solution. There are scientists working on it on Earth, but they're going to have to relocate soon because of the Drowning, which will delay everything even further.
A stray lock of dark brown hair is lying on Bastian's cheek and like every day, I'm tempted to brush it away, but there's no way I can do that. The cryogenic pods are sealed until we have that vaccine. It bothers me though. He looks so perfect except for that one strand of hair. It draws my eyes away from his slightly curved mouth and his angular jaw. Just like the other five, he's got the beginnings of a beard, but for now, it's not much more than a five o'clock shadow. The substances they were injected with before the launch slowed down their bodies so much that they're in complete stasis. When I underwent the same procedure, they explained it to me like hibernation. I was going to be alive, but wouldn't need food or water to sustain myself. When I woke up months later, I had to cut my fingernails, but that was about it. Before the Drowning, Earth's scientists really made amazing advances, enabling us to explore the universe. Now, they're lucky if they manage to survive.
The people at ground control are refusing to show me footage of what's happening on Earth. Too distracting, they say. They're probably right, but that doesn't mean that they don't piss me off with their refusal to be honest with me. It would likely be different had I family left there, but the fact that I don't made me such a good candidate for becoming a Mars settler. No attachments, no baggage.
I force myself to move on to the next cocoon, leaving Bastian and his stray lock of hair behind. It's become my routine: staring at each of the six men for a while, familiarising myself with their file and their features. Once they finally wake up, I'll know them a little already. Just like they will already know me. As soon as I signed the settler contract, my life became public knowledge. They will have been able to look through footage of me as a baby, read my school reports and even examine my medical tests.
To not stand at a disadvantage, I'm now taking the time to read their files. With six new guys on the station who already know each other, I don't want to be the odd one out. I outrank them all, at least in terms of experience.
Next to Bastian lies Jim, the oldest of them all. He's got close cropped black hair and a thin scar running along his cheek, ending just above his left nostril. According to his file, he got it in a car accident when he was a boy. It left him an orphan, just like three of the others. They mainly send people with no family up here. A planet of broken people, Joanna called it when she was still alive. I shake my head, driving out the ghosts of the recent past. There's no time for memories of the people who filled the station's corridors only months ago. I have new settlers to focus on.
Tobias is the third man and the most athletic, as far as I can tell. All of them are fit; they have to be to survive here. Only the strongest get sent to Mars, although strength isn't always measured in muscles. I'm the best example for that - I was chosen based on my academic achievements, not on my physical. Still, I had to go through two years of training and exercise and still have the muscles to prove it.
Toby, that's what I've started to call him, has blond hair with light brown highlights. I've been trying to figure out if they're natural or dyed ever since I first saw him. It's driving me crazy not to know. It's a surreal situation, having people around but not being able to talk to them. They're only half alive, in a way, and I could just as well be mute. There's nobody to talk to. Even my conversations with ground control are text based now, after some of their equipment broke. With the floods affecting most of the power stations built close to the sea, Earth is starting to have major outages. Spending all that extra energy on having a visual link with one lone Martian settler just isn't worth it.
The communicator in my breast pocket vibrates. Just when I was thinking of ground control...
Control>>How are you?
Louise>>Good joke. Could do with a break.
Control>>Believe me, so could we. Another space port was flooded this week. But we have good news for you. We think we have found a solution.
Louise>>For which one of all my problems.
Control>>Sending attachment now. Our scientists have written instructions for you to make a vaccine. Everything you need should be in the station, although you may have to repurpose some tools.
Louise>>How long will it take to make?
Control>>It depends on how much time you can spare from your daily tasks. A few days, perhaps.
Louise>>Is it safe?
Control>>
Louise>>So it isn’t?
Control>>76%. But it’s better than the alternative.
