Mars Underneath The Sceptre of Eternity

Miscalculation

'In this strange planet, moon rises in the west and sets in the east; this peculiar phenomenon happens twice in a night and there is no new moon or full moon night' Léal remarked casually by looking lazily at the night sky of the Mars. The sky was full of numerous stars and planets; there was no purple coloured cloud in the sky; so, some of the constellations were clearly visible. The most interesting celestial phenomenon, one liked to observe from the Martian surface was looking at the Earth, which looked like a pale blue dot.

"We watch Venus from the Earth; but now we can watch our Earth from the Mars. One can easily understand that moon is moving around our planet." Vézian told his trainees at their first meeting on Mars. Now Léal was trying to sound like him; actually, he wanted to cheer him up, but his mentor was too busy to reply. He was reading an astronomical chart very carefully. Vézian was not using his digital screen; he was reading an old book like an old man.

"Sir, you can easily digitise the book and keep it in your Memory Chip." He once tried to advise him; but his mentor dismissed the idea, "I know paper books are out-dated in many thousand years ago and now we are not allowed to make papers by cutting the trees; but Léal, there is something on the Earth which you cannot discard as old."

"This is Mars, man, not Earth." He replied.

"Wherever you are; knowledge is true everywhere. I'm reading Scientist Gazboo's voluminous works in original form. It is the only surviving copy and I have collected it from the Astro-Library of Alpine District. Gazboo's works are found in many volumes; this one is about astronomy. He had studied the Martian sky and wrote this book."

They have spent one full week in that place. Mars also had twenty four hours day-length; so, it was easy to count the days; but Martian years were almost double than the Earth years. Now Léal was feeling bored but he could not say so. He came here in search of adventure and offered his mentor voluntary help in finding his missing sister or the truth behind her disappearance.

Vézian finally looked at Léal who was sleeping on a wooden cot just outside the green tent. The plastic bed was created by a three-dimensional printing machine. Léal had created a soft mattress and a pillow for his cot too. Vézian found it ridiculous.

"This moon is Phobos; our forefathers named it after some mythological character's name; a Greek God who personifies horror." Vézian answered; "It is one of the two natural satellites of this planet."

"But I thought earlier that, I could see two moons together."

"We see them; but the other one appears like a big star not like the moon and this one almost appear every day in the sky. Deimos, the other moon is larger than this one." Vézian tried to normalise the situation.

Léal smiled, he got up from his cot and came close to Vézian; he also sat on the bare red ground just beside his mentor and leaned over the astronomical chart which Vézian had discovered from that old yellowish book. Léal got a strong smell of the potion; his mentor regularly applies bookkeeping gels to preserve the document.

"My father was an antique seller; he had many old books like this one and regularly applied these strong sweet-smelled gels on them. I like its sweet, strong smell since my childhood."

"Remembering Earthian relatives in Mars? Really, you're going to suffer from Nostalgia. Anyway, you're not the only one, many of your predecessors suffered like this. Even when we came; we also remembered our parents so frequently that..." He suddenly stopped; he remembered his little sister Volga. She frequently requested the Captain of the settlement to arrange Video Communication with her parents. He again felt a sharp pain in his chest. Ten Mars years have passed after her disappearance; it meant nearly twenty Earth years. However, in this planet aging process slowed down and astronauts living here were offered Longevity capsules and anti-aging capsules to maintain their health in good condition. On the Earth, normally people survived up to two hundred Earth years; but rich men and those who want longer life wanted to come here for having better longevity; but unless and until Earthmen could occupy the Martian North; health tourism could not be promoted.