Mars & Beyond by Bud Sparhawk

Author:Bud Sparhawk [Sparhawk, Bud]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science fiction
Publisher: Bud Sparhawk
Published: 2011-03-29T03:00:00+00:00

The robots had found the location properly and were hard at work sticking their probes into the flow and working the survey plan as programmed. Taylor and Haley worked at a frenetic rate, trying to compress two hours of effort into less than half that time. Even so, they barely had solid rock under their treads before the quakes started and the really serious effects of the grand conjunction started to appear. The molten silicate river she'd seen earlier was turning into a raging torrent of orange lava. Huge, incredibly narrow waves roiled its surface. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but the river looked much more threatening than before, as if it would reach out to pull them into its arms were it not constrained by its steep banks.

The river looked the way she felt inside, heading toward some unknown destination, roiling with heated emotions, constrained by boundaries. Why was she so conflicted about Taylor? She'd certainly appreciated his stamina and enthusiasm during their brief interlude. He was a nice guy, but he lacked something that Matt had, a certain attitude toward life.

Maybe it was JBI, the corporation and the family that intimidated her. Or Taylor's age - hell, he was still on the damp side of thirty while she was . . . Never mind.

As they worked their way further northward Haley saw several new streamers spouting along the darkening horizon, sending thousands of tons of ejecta skyward from the new volcanos. This was far more violent than anything she ever expected. Even the aurora appeared brighter, the colors more intense. The entire scene was amazing, a wicked combination of lethality and beauty. "Matt would love this," she whispered absently. "I wish he were here."

"I don't understand you any more," Taylor said petulantly. "He's just a dumb prospector, working too close to the edge on this miserable hunk of rock, and in hock up to his armpits."

"Matt showed me the rainbow. He taught me how to see Io."

Taylor waved an arm to encompass the entire scene. "So what? Any blamed fool with two eyes can see what's out there."

Was the man that blind? "No, Taylor, not everybody. Seeing is more than vision, more than light and shadow, more than contour and edge."

"I don't understand." That was it. Taylor had just given her the answer: Matt saw beauty on Io where he saw only an engineering challenge.

"Yes, and that's why I'm not staying with you and JBI any longer."

"You'll be sorry."

"Maybe. But then," she laughed, "I've always made lousy choices in men, haven't I?" Then she looked south, toward the equator. Matt was down there somewhere, chasing his dream, trying to understand Io's moods, trying to win his rich prize. She wished him luck. She suddenly wanted him safely back. She needed his gruff comfort.

She needed him.

#

Matt's battered rover clattered into the garage more than a week after the grand conjunction. "An entire field of alkali --polysulfides actually-- one of the richest field assays I've ever done,"

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