Mars

MARS ARRIVAL

For all the months that they had coasted across the dark emptiness between worlds, the members of the expedition had watched Mars steadily grow from a bright red star to a ruddy disc to a fully three-dimensional globe that hung before their eyes like a gigantic prize waiting to be seized.

Once the two spacecraft established themselves in orbit around the planet Jamie found himself spending hours at the observation port watching the strange world of rust and brick and almost bloody reds. The window bristled with instruments now, but peering between them Jamie could see Mars sliding past his feasting eyes slowly as the spacecraft turned in its stately revolutions. Jamie saw massive volcano cones projecting upward like the turreted eyes of lizards, staring at him impassively. The vast twisted gash of Valles Marineris called to him with memories of river-carved canyons back home.

He saw dust storms spring up and sweep across a quarter of the globe before dying away as mysteriously as they had started. Huge craters smashed out by ancient meteor strikes; some of them had blasted out the smaller meteoroids that had eventually made their way to Earth to be found on the Antarctic ice.

“Are you ready to go down there and start to work?”

Jamie recognized Ilona Malater’s throaty voice even before he turned his head.

He nodded solemnly. “Aren’t you?”

She gave a wintry smile. “After nine months in this concentration camp I’d be willing to run along the sand dunes in the nude.”

Jamie laughed.

In the reflected reddish light of Mars Ilona’s haughty face looked almost as coppery as Jamie’s. Her short-cropped golden hair took on glints of fire.

“Have you remained celibate?” she asked, the corners of her lips curving upward slightly.

It was more of a challenge than a question, Jamie thought. He nodded once more.

“You must have interesting dreams,” Ilona said.

He felt a surge of anger heating his face. “You know, Ilona, you have a reputation for being the local sex therapist.”

Her smile widened. “And why not? Tony Reed assures me that no one aboard is carrying any communicable diseases worse than the cold you gave us all. Why not make life a little less tedious?”

“Less tedious, maybe, but a lot more tense.”

“Really?” Ilona arched a brow. “I would think that sex lowers tensions among us.”

“Not among the Russians.”

“Oh, them! Let them jerk each other off.”

Jamie huffed and turned away from her.

“You’re such a prude, Jamie,” Ilona said, still smiling. “I thought that once we made love you would relax, but you’re not the kind who can take sex casually, are you?”

“That’s why we’re here,” he shot back, jabbing a finger toward the observation window and the red bulk of Mars hanging beyond. “To explore that planet. Not for high-school fun and games.”

“My god, you’re so serious!”

“We’re on a serious mission, Ilona. Very serious.”

“I’m not hurting anyone. In fact, I think the tensions aboard this prison would have been a lot worse.” Her eyes were dancing with amusement. “Tony agrees with me; he says my contributions to the team’s morale have been invaluable.”

“Tell it to Mikhail and Dmitri.”

“Come on, now, Jamie. You could use some relaxation yourself.”

“No thanks.”

“Think of it as research,” Ilona teased. “I think you don’t really get to know a man until you see him with his pants down.”

He stared at her for a wordless moment. Then, “Do Katrin and Joanna feel the same way?”

“You mean, are they doing what I’ve been doing?”

He started to reply, but heard voices drifting toward them from the passageway. Tony Reed and Joanna Brumado turned the corner and stepped into the observation area.

“I thought it was you, Ilona,” Reed said amiably. “I’d recognize that sexy voice anywhere.”

Jamie realized his eyes were fixed on Joanna. With an effort he pulled them away.

The four of them chatted about the landing they would make the next day, keeping their talk strictly on the business of the expedition. Reed seemed casual and relaxed, as ever. Joanna was serious, as usual, her dark eyes focused on Mars as if she realized for the first time that she was actually going to go down to the surface of that alien world.

Jamie felt almost like an automaton. He answered questions they addressed to him; he spoke the correct words and kept up his end of the four-way conversation. But his mind was racing, remembering the brief moments of wild animal heat he had shared with Ilona, remembering the sad, solemn expression on Joanna’s face when he had kissed her, wondering why he could not relax and play with Ilona and forget about everything else.

“I must get back to my quarters,” Joanna said quietly, almost timidly. “My father will be calling in another few minutes.”

Tony Reed held out his arm for her. “I’ll escort you there, if I may.”

She glanced toward Jamie, then back to Reed. “Of course. Thank you.”

Ilona watched them leave the observation blister, an enigmatic smile playing across her face. Once they were out of earshot she turned back to Jamie.

“The answer to your question is that Katrin has been much more discreet about her amours than I. And little Joanna, as far as I know, has been completely virtuous. Does that make you happy, Jamie?”

He nodded, trying to keep his face from betraying his emotions.

“But have you noticed,” Ilona added devilishly, “that Tony follows her wherever she goes?”

Jamie blinked, surprised. “He does?”

“Watch him,” she said. “He trails after her like a dog following a bitch in heat.”

That sly, smiling bastard, Jamie thought. Who lectures him? Who doctors his food?

“Tony’s not satisfied with me or Katrin,” Ilona went on. “He wants the unobtainable.”

And so do I, Jamie realized. So do I.