Logan Mitchell and the Ghosts of Mars

“Doctor Willard?” Logan Mitchell called out. He and Rami stood just inside the door of a large lab space. The lights were on, but the two boys were alone in the big room.
“Are we late?” Logan asked. “Or early?” Today was the pair’s first day of internship under Jonas Willard, PhD. Logan was excited and a little nervous. The scientist had a lot of projects going, so Logan wasn’t sure what to expect. He did, however, expect to find someone at the lab.
Logan looked around and spotted a yellow note stuck on the screen behind Willard’s desk. Logan walked to the desk and plucked the note from the plastic.
“Gentlemen,” Logan read the note aloud. “Grab your suits and meet me at the Landing Bay airlock. 1400.” Logan looked up at Rami. “It’s signed ‘Willard.’”
“Let’s see,” Rami said. “Fourteen hundred is military time for two o’clock in the afternoon.” He glanced at his watch. It was nearly one-thirty now!
“If we hurry, we can get to our locker and we might not be late!” Rami said.
Logan and Rami shuffled out of the lab space, careful not to hit their heads on the door frame. When they made it to the big round Cargo-Way, the boys started the long loping run that the low gravity of Mars allowed. Lunch was over. Most of their fellow colonists were back at work. They had the Cargo-Way almost to themselves except for the big self-driven crawlers moving freight.
Logan picked up his pace to start a race with Rami. He grinned at Rami over his shoulder. Rami returned the grin and matched him stride for stride. After a few steps, the much taller Rami turned on the speed and left Logan in his wake. When Logan reached the suit locker he shared with his friend Rami, Rami already had his suit out and was giving it a check-out. Logan lifted his suit from the rack and set it on the bench beside Rami’s. Rami grinned at Logan.
“How are you and John getting along with the storm beacon?” Logan asked.
“Pretty good, actually,” Rami responded. “We tested the prototype yesterday in the Faraday chamber. Now we need to wait for a real storm to hit.”
While they chatted, Logan gave his suit a thorough check. Twice. Logan and Rami both had good cause for being careful. Borrowing faulty suits had almost cost them their lives. He kicked his shoes into the locker and closed the door. Logan stepped into the legs of his suit and then shrugged his arms and shoulders inside.
Logan followed colony protocol and left the front of his suit open, since he was in pressure. Rami did the same. Easier to move in the suit when it was not pressurized. He tucked the helmet under his left arm and nudged Rami. They resumed their loping run to the landing bay. This time, Logan didn’t try to race. Being humiliated once in a day's time was enough for him.
The boys slowed their run as they neared the bay and walked inside just as Logan’s watch chimed 2 o’clock. Logan grinned to himself. He smoothed his thick red hair with his right hand. It sprang right back up immediately after his hand had passed over it. The two boys made an interesting pair. Logan was stocky and red-headed with green eyes. Rami was tall and slender with dark hair and dark eyes.
Logan spotted Doctor Willard standing just inside the airlock. He was suited up and was talking to the lock tech. Jonas Willard was a tall, slender man. He looked distinguished even in a pressure suit. Just the right image for the chief scientist of the first colony on Mars.
Willard looked up at Logan and Rami. He waved for them to join him. Logan returned the wave, and they shuffled up to Willard in a half-walk, half-run that let them move quickly without bumping their heads in the low gravity. Willard’s dark, unlined face split into a grin, showing even white teeth. He shook the lock tech’s hand, and she walked back to her station beside the airlock.
“Hello, Logan,” Willard said when the boys reached his side. “Hello, Rami.”
“Hello, Doctor!” Logan replied. “We’re looking forward to working with you!”
Rami nodded vigorously.
“Me too!” The older man replied. “I need someone with brains and young legs for my new project.” Willard looked down at the pair and raised his right eyebrow slightly.
“Lots of surface work too,” Willard continued. “Interested?”
“You bet!” Logan and Rami replied in unison.
“Sir!” Logan added. Willard chuckled.
“We can dispense with the military formality,” Willard said. “We are colleagues now. Fellow adventurers in the search for truth. Why don’t you call me Willard? Everyone else does.” Rami nodded, but Logan fidgeted visibly.
“I don’t know, doc…um, Willard,” Logan stammered. “The thing is, my mother would give me an earful I she thought I wasn’t being respectful.” Willard thought about this for a few seconds.
“Perhaps you can call me Doctor Jonas?” The scientist offered. “That has a nice southern ring to it.”
“Yes, sir!” Logan replied with a sigh of relief.
“Is that okay with you, Rami?” Willard asked.
“Perfectly okay, Doctor Jonas,” Rami answered.
“Tell your friends, too,” Willard chuckled. “I like the idea of getting that tradition started here.”
“Doctor Willard? I mean Doctor Jonas?” Logan said. The older man smiled.
“Are you perhaps just the slightest bit curious about what we will be doing?” Willard asked.
“Yes, we are,” Logan replied.
“You know,” Willard began, “you were chosen out of a pool of very qualified applicants for this internship.”
“Really?” Logan asked.
“Really,” Willard responded. Rami raised his hand.
“Yes, Rami?” Willard asked.
“What exactly ARE we going to be doing?” Rami asked.
“How about we close up and go find out?” Willard asked.
“Sounds like a plan!” Logan replied.
“Let’s go,” Rami added. Willard looked around.
“Where’s NOVA?” Willard asked. “I can’t remember a time when he wasn’t keeping you two out of trouble.”
“SPA day,” Logan replied. SPA was the colonist's shorthand for Scan. Patch. Align.
“Ah,” Willard replied. “Knew it must have been something like that. We can use him too when he is fit for duty.”
“I’ll tell him,” Logan promised.
Logan, Rami, and Willard busied themselves with the technical work of getting their suits sealed and checked. Logan watched Willard’s and Rami’s suits swell as he brought his own suit to pressure. Logan clicked his chin valve and did the same.
“Comms check,” Willard’s voice crackled through Logan’s helmet speaker.
“I read you five by five,” Logan replied, using the old style reply that meant the radio signal was strong and clear. “Oxygen at nine eight percent, you?”
“Oxygen at nine nine percent,” Rami chimed in.
“Oxygen at nine seven percent,” Willard replied. He turned to look at Logan. Logan could see the older man’s dark eyes. They were almost twinkling.
“Are you two ready?” The scientist asked.
“Yes!” Rami said.
“Yes, sir!” Logan replied. Willard just shook his head.
“Then let’s get out of here!”
Willard walked to the open airlock inner door and stepped inside. Logan and Rami followed. The inner door shut. Logan watched his suit pressure as the atmosphere was scavenged from the lock. The tell-tale lights next to the outer door changed from green to yellow to red. Logan and Willard both turned to the viewport and gave the technician a thumbs-up. She returned the gesture. The outer door swung open.
Logan turned to look at the surface of Mars. Pale blue sky, reddish-brown sand, and dark gray hills in the background.
“Never gets old, does it?” Willard said. He stepped out of the open air-lock and turned right. Rami was right behind him.
Dust was blowing gently away from the open door. Fans formed a curtain of the thin Martian air to keep the lock clear. Fans didn’t work well here, but they did work well enough to keep sand from piling up too deep.
Logan followed the older man onto the walkway made of the compacted regolith, loose dirt, and rock found everywhere on the Martian surface. Willard walked toward a runabout, a fast surface rover with fat tires and a white outer shell. A silver starship arced downward toward the far side of the landing pad to Logan’s left. He walked sideways to watch the landing. At the last second, a tongue of flame flared from the base of the rocket. Billows of rust colored dust rose as the ship settled into the big gantry arms. The dust fell quickly in the thin atmosphere.
Starship flights were so frequent now that most colonists no longer noticed. Logan was not among that group. His dad would be riding one of those spacecraft home soon. He never tired of watching them come and go.
Logan bounded to catch up with Willard and Rami. The tall scientist grabbed the handle on the runabout door. He motioned the boys inside as the door swung upward.
Logan settled himself in the far seat while Rami stepped into the back seat. Willard climbed in beside Logan. Willard pulled the door closed and fastened the harness across his chest. He glanced over quickly to see that Logan and Rami had done the same.
“Might as well plug in to the air supply,” Willard instructed. “We’re gonna be out a while. Let’s conserve our tanks.”
“Roger,” Logan responded. “Did you bring lunch?”
“Are you always hungry?” Willard asked, laughing.
“Pretty much,” Logan answered.
“No, we won’t be gone that long,” Willard said. “Do you think you’ll starve in a couple of hours?”
“I think I can make it,” Logan replied. “Maybe.”
Willard unlocked the runabout and moved the speed control lever forward. The runabout’s powerful electric motor began to turn. The little vehicle lurched forward. The Living Hab and its environs gave way to the more industrial area opposite the space port. Logan could see large pipes and finned heat exchangers sticking above the surface to take advantage of the frigid atmosphere.
Just to the right of the pipes was the old greenhouse dome. It was abandoned now that the colony had moved mostly underground, and looked like it. Red sand was built up around the base. The glass dome was covered in more red sand. The inside of the dome was white with what Logan assumed to be ice. Logan had a quick thought about how nothing stayed the same on Mars. At least not for very long.
Willard pointed toward a new set of pipes sticking up well away from the rest of the equipment. Dome Dogs in white pressure suits moved around the big pipes. The bright flash of an arc welder caused Logan’s visor to darken slightly against the glare.
“That new work over there is the cooling system for the Thorium reactors due in next month,” Willard said conversationally. “The new metal processing area will be just behind us. We should be processing Martian aluminum and other metals by next year. In five or six years, we should be making our own electronics and machinery.” Willard waved his hand beyond the metal processing area. “The new glass plant is over there. Fiber optics are coming off the line already.”
Willard turned the runabout slightly left. A new large building was being completed. Logan could see loading bays and a big airlock.
“Oh!” Logan said. “That is the new 1-G living Hab!”
“That’s right,” Willard said. “It’s on hold for now since we humans have adapted to Mars gravity better than we had hoped. The colony is looking at some options for using such a big space.” Logan thought about this for a moment.
“Isn’t that space like thirty meters tall by five hundred meters in diameter?” Logan asked. Rami whistled from the back seat.
“That’s big!” Rami said.
“It is a big volume,” Willard agreed. “I think we can use it for an air reservoir if nothing else. But, we’ll see.”
On the other side of the runabout, Logan could see work around the solar power array. A crane was lifting a bank of panels onto a support structure.
“New solar panels!” Logan said in an excited tone. “More power means more food.”
“And air and everything else,” Willard said, finishing Logan’s thought. “How would you two like to be a big part of the new Martian economy?”
Logan thought about this for several seconds.
“How do we do that?” Logan asked.
“WE,” Willard stated, stressing the work as a joint effort, “are going to start a Martian gold rush!”
Logan let this sink in. Willard pointed the runabout toward the empty plains away from the colony.
“So…where are we going now?” Rami asked. Willard turned his visor toward the boys.
“Have you gentlemen ever seen a ghost?”