One Way To Mars

Chapter 3

How long Foreman had been out,was hard to judge. Once again, he was surprised to find himself stillalive. Breathing was difficult, and when he looked at the gauge, thereading was well in the red zone.

'Monkley?'

When he got no reply, he rolledover onto his belly. In front of him, literally within reach, wassomething solid. Rock? He tapped it. It made a hollow sound. Notrock. The base. There had been no sign of it just before he hadpassed out, so how...? Little Monkley was lying face down in thedirt, like a large rag doll in a space suit. Foreman used the smoothwall of the base to haul himself upright. The effort was almostenough to have him dropping right back down again. Fighting to takein the last of the dregs of air, he managed to turn around. Therewere drag marks in the sand, where Monkley had pulled him along. Thelittle guy had given his all to save him. Dropping to his knees,Foreman shook Monkley.

'Hey, pal. Monkley? Can you hearme?'

Monkley lay lifeless, his armslimp to the touch. The air gauge read zero. Foreman looked at thecream coloured exterior of the base. He knew there were twoentrances, one regular man-size door, and huge doors for vehicularaccess. On this side were neither. Grabbing Monkley by the arms, hepulled him up and held him in his arms. There was no sign of life inthe GenMop. Staggering around the side of the building, Foreman twicecollapsed to his knees and as a last resort, dragged Monkley along asMonkley had dragged him. And there it was. The man-sized entrance. Heneeded no key, just to press the green button.

Still on his knees, he reachedup. Lack of oxygen had almost finished him. He had blurred doublevision, and he couldn't remember his own name, let alone why he wasthere. Something told him through the nightmare that the green buttonmeant something.

'You can do this,For...For...Foreman.' He smacked the button. Nothing happened. Hesmacked it again. 'Open, you useless piece of …'

There was a hiss. The dooropened. With his body screaming at him to stop, he got hold ofMonkley's arm and dragged him into the airlock. Now he had to thinkhard. He had to do something. What the hell was it? He stared out atthe Martian night sky. Oh, yeah. They were on Mars. He pushed thebutton to close the outside door of the airlock. Why were they inthis strange dark little room? He couldn't think. A voice inside hishelmet was screaming at him, a voice so impossibly far away, yellingat him. He couldn't make out what it was saying to him.

'Stop shouting at me,' hepleaded. He fell backwards, and his head struck the inner airlockbutton. A light came on. Pretty, he thought. Another light. One byone, dozens of lights lit up the cavernous base dome. It went beyondeffort, but with a twist, his helmet was off. Oxygen rich air,un-breathed by anything in years, washed over him, like the elixir oflife. He took a couple of sweet lungs full and he knew no air on anyplanet ever tasted so good. With his brain clearing, he took offMonkley's helmet.

'Come on, pal. Don't give up onme now.'

He opened one of Monkley's eyes.It looked dull and lifeless. He pulled off the suit and put his earto Monkley's chest. Was that a heartbeat? 'Monkley. Come on.'

They had all been given basicfirst aid and CPR training. Foreman went to work on Monkley, pressingdown hard on his chest. 'Come on, pal. I need you.'

There was a gasp and Monkley'seyes opened. He panted for air, trying to get the oxygen into hislungs. The rapid breathing slowed down, and his head rolled from sideto side. Then his breathing became stable. He looked at Foreman.

'Are we there, yet?'