EXT. MARS - DAY
Mark and Mackenzie had uncovered Pathfinder. They stared at it with a similar gleam in their eye. Then he dragged the Lander to the back of Rover 2, and the two began lashing it to a makeshift hitch.
Sol 109
EXT. HAB - DAY
Sojourner sat beside the watching as Mark methodically, at a workbench outside the Hab, tooke apart the Lander while occasionally giving Mackenzie instructions.
He removed the battery and replaced it with an environment heater. He locked the heater into place, and it clicked.
INT. JPL GARAGE - DAY
PATHFINDER LOG: SOL 0 BOOT SEQUENCE INITIATED TIME 00:00:00 LOADING OS... PERFORMING HARDWARE CHECK...
INT TEMPERATURE: - 34C, EXT TEMPERATURE: NONFUNCTIONAL, BATTERY: FULL, HIGAIN: Okay, LOGAIN: Okay, METEOROLOGY: NONFUNCTIONAL, SOLAR A: NONFUNCTIONAL, SOLAR B: NONFUNCTIONAL, SOLAR C: NONFUNCTIONAL, HARDWARE CHECK COMPLETE
BROADCASTING STATUS
LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL... LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL... LISTENING FOR TELEMETRY SIGNAL... SIGNAL ACQUIRED.
INT. JPL GARAGE - DAY
Vincent, Bruce and the JPL team saw the words come main screen. The room began to buzz.
EXT. HAB - DAY
Mark and Mackenzie stared at the high gain antenna on the Lander. It started to move, angling towards Earth. Mark began to dance and Mackenzie cheered.
INT. JPL GARAGE - DAY
Vincent and Bruce clustered around the station of Tim who said, "As soon as I received the high-gain response, I directed Pathfinder to take a panoramic image."
"Have you received it yet?" Vincent asked.
"Yes, but I thought we would all rather
look at this black screen instead of a vibrant red planet."
Bruce, off Vincent's look, said, "Tim is our finest comm tech, and we all appreciate his acerbic wit." He mouthed "I will fire you" to Tim.
"Incoming."
On the screens, the panoramic started to appear, one stripe at a time.
"Martian surface... more surface..." Vincent said.
"There's the Hab!" Bruce cried.
"What's that? Up on the- It-" The image revealed a handwritten note, posted on a metal rod. ""Mackenzie and I'll write messages here. Are you receiving?"" The image revealed two more notes, spaced a few feet apart. ""Point here for yes." "Point here for no.""
"Thirty-two minute round trip communications time," Tim said. "They can only ask yes/no questions, and all we can do is point the camera. This won't exactly be an Algonquin round table of snappy repartee.
"Tim," Bruce called.
"Roger that. Pointing the camera..."
EXT. MARS - DAY
Mark and Mackenzie watched as the camera moved towards one of his notes.
"YES."
"So here's the rub..." Mark began.
INT. HAB - DAY
Mark addressed the camera. "Somehow, we need to have complex astrophysical engineering conversations using only a still-frame camera. From 1996. Luckily, the camera spins 360, so Mackenzie and I can make an alphabet. We just can't use our alphabet. Twenty-six letters plus question card into 360 gives us 13 degrees of arc. Too narrow. We wouldn't know what the camera was pointing at. So. Hexadecimals to the rescue..."
YOU ARE READING
Til the Stars Turn Blue // Chris Beck
Science FictionMackenzie and Chris are newly married when they embark on a journey to the stars. But a coming storm makes one fear the worst and one, once finding out the truth, vows to rescue their significant other no matter what it takes. *I don't own The Mar...
