Return to Earth

Chapter 8

Kierst could still feel his bones rattling from entering Earth's atmosphere long after they had pierced it. He wasn't alone in the unpleasant effects that seemed to linger in them all. Nothing could prepare any of them for the horrible shaking they all felt, since none had ever been warned it would happen. Until they entered, the effects were a mystery left to scientists to ponder, since no one on Mars had ever experienced anything like it.

He was glad Petrovitch was the one at the helm, since he doubted anyone else could've maintained control throughout the nightmare of the ship threatening to come apart; at least that was his belief. The alarms never went off, but that kind of shaking had to have damaged something. If the alarms had stopped working, which was the only explanation he could think of, there would be no way to know what else had been damaged.

Petrovitch had made it clear the Medjay hadn't been damaged, but Kierst couldn't believe him. There was no way a ship could go through anything that rough and not be damaged. Kierst waited for the inevitable fall to their deaths, but it never came as they soared between the clouds and sky.

The storm moving across part of North America hid their approach from anyone who may have looked and seen something. It wasn't likely during the day, but not impossible. Petrovitch had made it clear it wasn't in their interest to be spotted by anyone, since there was no way to know how their appearance in the sky would be viewed by those on the ground.

Had someone been able to pierce the clouds to see their descent, it wouldn't have been a natural act, since there was nothing natural about what they were doing. To be seen by anyone was to let it be known they weren't from Earth, which would've likely led to a panicked people. As far as Earth knew, there was no Mars colony.

Kierst had no reason to doubt Petrovitch's concerns, since there had been the occasional riots on Mars. Human nature, with or without technology, was an unchanging force that had led great discoveries and great terror. Had it not been for the innovative part, there would be no one on Mars, even if it came at the cost of occasional destructive notions that gripped people to take foolish actions.

From what he had seen of human nature, Kierst was better off at a distance. They had more tendencies towards destruction than innovation, which had caused real problems when the destructive parts met the edge. On the few occasions it had reached that far from the cities, it always led to him being pulled away from his necessary duties to work in close proximity with others to repair what had been destroyed.

Kierst knew the simple solution to protecting the edge was to turn the reefs into walls, but the scientists would never consider something so simple. They believed the reefs were all that was needed, since that's the way it had always been. For people who were supposed to be the smartest Mars had to offer, they weren't particularly innovative.

Kierst knew there was no getting out of staying on Earth once they landed, but he figured out a way to keep the return trips limited as he forced his voice to leave his throat. "I've been thinking about Dima and Min, Security Officer Petrovitch."

Petrovitch snapped at him with a rather unpleasant tone. "Focus on your own group, Kierst. Don't worry about people that you can't do anything about."

He held back the anger that was starting to grow. "I am. There's no way the scientists are going to let you get away with anything other than a full search of Earth, unless you don't have all three groups."