CONDEMNED TO THE FUTURE

Chapter 28.

   It was the hottest day he had felt on Mars, lately. Finally panting, Georg shared his pack's load among the other three. At 30 degrees south latitude this surprised him; then he recalled it was just over a month till spring equinox, the time of max solar input in this hemisphere. The time he was supposed to change everything forever!

  And wasn't that what he'd first planned? Yet Bree'a's "revelation" from the Synergy last night had set him laughing hysterically. When the others had just watched in silence or confusion, he'd sobered and challenged anyone to prove such a ridiculous statement. Joan and the veerbug had stayed silent. Bree'a had then asserted it couldn't be proved to him outside the Synergy. Naturally!

"And you can join us anytime you wish," she'd added, as if he already should have understood this. He'd had enough of the parrying, so much so he hadn't even bothered to scan with his field and just snorted in derision. She'd only shaken her head in frustration.

  With finality he'd announced, "I'm going to follow my original plan. I'm walking to the Orrtan then the Meethlah Repositories, to learn what I can on my own, without your 'help.' If anyone or anything interferes, so be it. But be prepared to accept the consequences."

  Then he'd got his best night's sleep since his Reawakening. In the morning his open invitation to Joan, Bree'a, and even Thursday to choose to stay or go with him had met with no discussion at all. They'd fallen in behind him when he'd started on up the narrowing valley northwest toward their original goal. He expected no overt interference. A.H.'s veerbug was not visible, but no doubt peeped at a discreet distance. And he was sure the Synergy didn't need such a device, able to monitor them through its ubiquitous nanobots within the ground itself, if not through Bree'a herself.

    Suddenly, it didn't matter to him. He felt as free as he had at the base of Mt. Olympus; master of his immediate fate, at least. It was a euphoric adventure again! Or it could be just the continuing repair work done by his Tinkers. Even now he felt better than just fine, although the climbing sun and roughening marain were starting to make them all gasp and sweat heavily.

    "Let's take a break," he said without turning around to his troops. "I don't want our Tinkers going into overdrive." Now he could sense a sort of "pause" just before this would happen; he didn't want to pay the after-price again tonight. And they'd reached a crest at the northwest end of the long valley.

  Ahead, the land dropped gradually away from the crater fields forming it and onto a plain that stretched over the flat horizon on an arc over 200 degrees wide. Nothing but hot reddish grit. As with all Martian views, the horizon curved down far closer than on Earth, making it seem they stood atop a very large hill.

"How far across this?" he asked Joan. But Bree'a and she interrupted each other, then looked at each other without apology.

    Joan won the eye battle. "Just over 40 klics. And there's no water on it. Then we skirt one big crater and climb on up into highlands for another 80 klics to the Orrt site."

He nodded. "Two or three days, if we don't go into overdrive. How's everyone on water and food?"

As the others took stock, Bree'a now said, "The Synergy can make whatever we'll need here or at the other side of this."

    They stared at her, surprised at the offer. But Georg asked, "There's no nano on this plain?"

  She paused as if listening again and then replied, "No. There's no organic matter, or too little to make it worth or capable of extending the Circle here."

"Really! Now that's very interesting," he said with a smile. "'Cause that makes you as vulnerable as we are, doesn't it?"

Her blue eyes pleaded for a second before she looked away at the heat waves dancing downslope. "We can all still use our onboard nano to protect us from the sun and heat."