DAWN: SOL 376
TRUDY WATCHED THE LAUNCH OF THE REPLENISHMENT MISSION on the comm center’s main screen, using the headset earplug so there would be no noise to wake Rodriguez, still sleeping peacefully next to her. The rocket took off from Tarawa in a roar of flame and thick billows of steam clouds.
Then she turned to the screen that displayed the garden monitoring system. Glaring red lights flashed across its top. The nutrient trays were dry, the sensors warned, IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED flashed in garish Day-Glo letters along the screen’s bottom line.
Immediate action, Trudy thought. Yes.
She turned on the greenhouse’s overhead lights. The plants already looked wilted. But looks can be deceiving, she knew.
She walked swiftly from the comm center, across the dome floor, to the open hatch of the airlock that connected to the garden greenhouse. Instead of a normal airlock, the dome and the greenhouse were connected by a cermet tunnel that arched overhead. The second hatch was closed, but Trudy easily swung it open manually.
Fifty rows of trays stood before her, lit by the overhead strip lamps, fifty rows of green living things that would soon die.
She began toting her sample cases filled with liquified methane to the nearest of the trays. For several days she had wondered how she would ignite the fire. There wasn’t a match or a lighter in the whole inventory of stores. Jamie and all the others thought they had been so clever about it, preventing anyone from producing an open flame inside the dome, but she had been cleverer. A simple electrical spark would do the job. All she had to do was to snip one of the wires that ran the length of the trays and then spark the methane.
It wasn’t as easy as she had envisioned it, but at last Trudy had the sample case open and the methane inside it boiling into invisible gas. With hands that trembled only slightly, she brought the two severed ends of the hot wire together. Now don’t give yourself an electric shock, she warned herself.
The gas whooshed into a sheet of flame, knocking Trudy back painfully against the tray on the other side of the aisle. The heat singed her face, and she raised her arms protectively. Crawling, she made it to the two other sample cases and began to open the nearer of them. The flames seemed to reach across the ceiling of the greenhouse and dive down toward her. She screamed.
The shrill screech of the smoke alarm yanked Jamie out of sleep. “What the hell … ?” He was instantly awake, the alarm’s scream freezing him momentarily with fear and confusion.
The only other time the smoke alarm had gone off was when Craig had burnt some chili he had brought along in his personal belongings. They had talked about turning off the detector, but Tarawa had insisted on the safety regulations.
Pulling on his coveralls on the move, Jamie half-hopped, half-ran out onto the dome’s open area. Dirty gray smoke was pouring out of the greenhouse hatch. He dashed toward the comm center and bumped into Rodriguez, stumbling out.
The shriek of the alarm roused Rodriguez from his tranquilized sleep. Adrenaline surged through his arteries as he saw the monitor screen’s flashing red lights.
“Trudy!” he called. “Trudy!”
He pushed himself out of the chair, still slow and. stumbling, and staggered for the comm center door.
Grasping Rodriguez by both shoulders, Jamie demanded, “What’s happened?”
“Dunno,” the astronaut answered thickly. “Trudy …”
“Jesus Christ!” Dex’s voice yelped behind him. “There’s a fire in the greenhouse!”
“Trudy’s in there,” Rodriguez gulped.
Turning toward the smoky hatchway, Jamie saw that all the others were running across the dome to him.
“Stacy, take the comm center,” he shouted, starting for the hatch.
Rodriguez seemed to shake himself and head after him, with Dex close behind. Jamie heard Craig yelling, “Close the goddamn hatches and turn off the air in there!”
“No!” Rodriguez bellowed. “Trudy’s in there!”
Jamie got as far as the hatch, but the heat and the blinding smoke drove him back, coughing and pawing at his eyes. Rodriguez pushed past him and dived through the hatch.
“Wait!” Jamie yelled, but it was too late. Rodriguez disappeared in the smoke.
“Here, use this.” Jamie turned and saw it was Vijay, handing him a breathing mask.
“That was quick thinking,” he said, slipping the plastic mask over his mouth and nose.
Vijay slapped the small canister of oxygen against his back and Velcroed it in place.
“All set,” she shouted over the crackle of the flames. Jamie felt the cold metallic tang of oxygen in his nostrils.
“Close the hatch behind me,” he said.
“No!” Vijay blurted.
“Close it!” he commanded.
“I’ll do it,” Dex said. “Just rap on it when you want me to open it.”
Nodding, Jamie ducked through the hatch. Instantly his eyes began to tear. The tunnel was hot, it felt as if he was walking into a furnace.
Blinking, cringing from the flames he could see ahead, Jamie edged forward slowly. Then he felt a shower of water pouring over him from behind.
Dex came even with him, grinning through the plastic mask. He carried a dripping packing case in both hands, water sloshing in it.
“Fuchida’s idea,” he said.
Jamie nodded. “Soak yourself, too.”
Through the open hatch Jamie could see that the greenhouse was a mass of flames and sooty smoke. Nothing can live in there, a voice in his mind howled. There’s nothing alive in there.
But Jamie pressed on, feeling the heat of the flames on his face, with Dex beside him, step for step.
At the lip of the second hatch he saw two bodies sprawled: Rodriguez atop Trudy, both of them blackened and blistered.
Dex threw the remainder of his water on them, then tossed the packing case to one side and bent down to help Jamie drag the injured pair clear of the hatch.
“Tell ’em to close the inner hatch,” Jamie commanded. Dex turned and headed back up the tunnel. Jamie imagined its walls must be red hot.
The hatch swung shut and the glaring, blistering heat shut off with it. Jamie sank to the floor. The tiles felt warm through the thin fabric of his coveralls. The smoke began to clear away. Dex, Fuchida and Craig appeared.
“Are they dead?”
“I don’t know,” Jamie answered. “I think Tomas is breathing, at least.”
Tenderly they picked up the burned bodies and carried them out into the main dome. Vijay began to cut off their coveralls with a tiny pair of surgical scissors as soon as the men lay the bodies on the floor. Rodriguez groaned, his legs moved slightly.
Stacy came out of the comm center, totally calm, under control. “The fire is out. I pumped the air out of the greenhouse as soon as the inner hatch was closed.”
“They’re both alive,” Vijay announced. “Let’s get them to the infirmary. No, there’s only one bed in there. Put Trudy in the infirmary, she’s worse off. Take Tommy to his quarters.”
Jamie, Dex and Fuchida carried the astronaut; his coveralls were burned through over his upper torso, the flesh blackened and oozing. Stacy and Craig took Hall while Vijay ran ahead to the infirmary.
After they lay Rodriguez on his cot Jamie’s legs felt rubbery. Dex slid an arm around his shoulders and said softly, “Come on, pal, you’ve earned a shot of orange juice.”
Sitting wearily at the galley table, Jamie saw Fuchida standing near, staring at him solemnly.
“You were right, Mitsuo,” he said weakly.
“I wish I weren’t,” the biologist replied, shaking his head.
“Which one of them was it?” Dex wondered, as he handed Jamie a mug of juice and sat down heavily beside him.
Jamie leaned back and stared up into the shadows of the dome. The place smelled of smoke. And sweat. And fear.
“That’s not important,” he said.
“Isn’t it?”
He shrugged. “No, the important thing is that this expedition has been ruined. We can’t stay here any longer. Too much damage has been done. We’ve got to pack up and go back to Earth.”