Chapter 17: Solar Fields Forever

He took a deep breath and peered out the window at the vast Martian landscape. The taste of strawberry muffin was still in his mouth, and it gave him a familiar comfort. Mack always ate one before his land walks. He continued putting on his suit, hooking up his air pack, and letting his supervisor give it the once over to make sure there are no tears in it. The surface is full of radiation and a tear could be deadly. 

He went through his personal mantra, "Continuance and humanity, the future of these rest on me".  He made sure he had the note from his daughter when she was 3 tucked safely away in his breast pocket under his suit. "I love you, Daddy." scribbled in green crayon. His good luck charm. Then he touched the screw above the red 'open' on the airlock, the same one he had been touching for 15 years, and he pushed the button and went out. 

Every time he went out it was similar to someone jumping out of an airplane, you never know what's going to happen out there and you can't get too cocky. Enclosed in his suit and protected from the elements, it was still frightening entering the surface of the planet. The door opened and the pressure from the outside pulled him forward as if the planet wanted him in the hellish landscape. 

His job was maintaining the solar fields. He had to inspect them, clear any debris off, fix any of them that were broken. The importance of his job tended to be understated in the colony, he was a solar field technician. Today he had to check the ones by The Canteen, which was his favorite area to fix because as people had lunch he could wave at them. Similar to being a fish in an aquarium, but he loved the attention he got while he was out there. His job was otherwise pretty thankless. 

He felt a quiet sort of peace while on the surface. He was the only one allowed to go alone because he was the only veteran of the crew. It was a special request they indulged him in because he had experienced so much loss over the years. Most people came and went, his supervisor, a man almost 20 years younger than him, hadn't even been to the surface more than the required times for his position. 

"Testing. Testing. Making sure my walkie is in range. Over." He beeped on his intercom device. 

"I can hear you, Mack. How are you doing out there? Over." 

"It looks good out here, not much damage from the last dust storm. Most of the panels appear to be intact, but I'll know more as I get closer. I'll let you know if we need to send a crew out. Over." 

"Sounds Good. Over." 

Mack made his way through the rocky Martian regolith. There were a lot of slippery spots, but he became accustom over the years to finding them and spotting them quickly. One bad fall can ruin a life. He'd seen it happen time and time again. They'd get up ok but as soon as they would return, they would get ill from radiation sickness, usually it was a tear in their suit or a crack in the helmet. It's very important to walk carefully on the surface. Radiation sickness wasn't always fatal, but it was never good and almost always led to permanent damage of some sort. 

As he approached the solar fields to check on the equipment, he noticed something odd. Looked like a piece of fabric torn on the bottom of one of the panels. 

"Kevin, has anyone been out here recently? Over." As Mack investigated the panel, he saw it wasn't torn. It gave him a chill. 

"I'll check the logs Mack, but I don't think so, at least not authorized. Over." 

He got a little closer. "There is a piece of fabric to the left side panel. SFP 15 Looks like it was put here intentionally and not from a suit because it's tied on here. Over." 

His level of concern rose. Mack felt almost ill looking at it. Who would do this and when? How did they even get out here and why? His mind was racing. 

"We've had reports of some rogue scientists taking unauthorized trips out to the panels. I don't know what they are up to, take some pictures of it and we can put it in the log. Do not remove it or touch it. We don't know why it's there. Over." 

"Ok Kevin. I'll just wipe the panels off with the dust after I take the pictures. There isn't much else going on here. No damage. I want to get out of here before the next dust storm starts. I do not want to live through that again. Over." A gust blew into him as he spoke and even though he was completely suited up his body shivered from the thought of the danger that surrounded him. 

Mack was remembering a time he had to ride out a dust storm in cycle 78. It was bad. He had to run to a cave and wait. He had enough oxygen to last for 3 hours and thankfully this storm only lasted about an hour. He was lucky. But others have died waiting out dust storms. The tanks and suits only last four hours at a time, the red rovers could come through and pick someone up, but it really depended on how bad the storms were and how far the technician was away from the dome. 

After he finished his cleaning and inspection, he looked in the windows of the Canteen and gave a little wave to some people finishing lunch. They looked fascinated and he was delighted to see the looks on their faces. 

He headed back to his airlock carefully, watching each step on the rocky loose soil. He pushed the button on the airlock, entered and pushed the green button. He made it back again. His 86th trip to the surface was over. He patted his breast pocked where the note stayed safely tucked in next to his heart. After the blowers were done blowing any stray regolith off him the second door opened, and he entered to people in protective gear to help him remove the suit and a woman with his iodine pill. A necessary precaution every time someone returns from the surface. 

He completed his journey with one final ritual, "Thank you Mars for my safe return."