Read Online Marsquake! by Brad Strickland, THOMAS E. FULLER - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Brad Strickland, THOMAS E. FULLER
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it?” Sean asked.
“Me, Ted Miles.” Miles was one of the biologists of the colony, and Sean knew that he was also one of Jenny’s tutors.
“What have you found?” Jenny asked.
“Dr. Ellman, permission to go private channel.”
“Go ahead, Miles.”
“Band one, you two.”
Sean adjusted his helmet radio, and Jenny did the same. “Got it,” she said.
“You receiving me okay?” Miles asked.
“Roger that,” Sean said, wondering what the secrecy was all about, and Jenny said, “Yes.”
Sean could see now that Miles’s gloved hand held a short, soft brush as delicate as a tuft of fur. He was still kneeling, and now he leaned forward and brushed the sand, grain by grain almost. “Look at this.”
Sean leaned forward. He could see a pitted surface, sand that had somehow compacted. In it, smaller than his little fingernail, lay a curled, spiky
something
—the same reddish color as the sand. It looked almost like the backbone of a tiny snake, coiled up and colored toexactly match its surroundings. “What is it?”
“A fossil,” Miles said, his voice sounding almost reverent. “I’m sure of it. A multicellular fossil.” He chuckled. “I could be the most famous biologist on Earth right now, if we could let Earth know. People have searched for these for decades. I couldn’t believe it at first—”
Sean became aware that others were crowding close. A stocky figure—Ellman, because Sean could make out the yellow bands on his arms—gestured them back. Jenny knelt close to Miles and leaned forward to shoot a picture.
“Go stereo and get in close, Jenny,” Miles told her. “Macro for as much detail as you can get. Let me provide the lighting to give as much relief as we can get in the stereo pics. You—”
“Sean Doe.”
“You, Sean, please back off and get shots of the surroundings—the sand, the position of the fossil in relation to the tunnel wall, everything.”
Sean shot several pictures before Dr. Ellman brokein impatiently, his voice sounding irritable in the helmet speakers: “This is all very good, but would you care to tell the rest of us what’s so interesting?”
“I found a fossil, Dr. Ellman,” Miles responded. “This whole part of the tube was flooded with water at one time. This soft sandstone is sediment—the edge of an underground sea.” The scientist gestured at the walls. “All this is mineral formation that comes with the slow leaching of water through the levels above us. Things lived here once. Multicellular creatures. I’m not sure whether this is a skeletal system or an exoskeleton, because it’s so small it’s hard to see clearly, but—”
“Take it and let’s get moving,” Ellman said impatiently.
“No, impossible. It’s far too fragile for me to try to extract it with the tools I have with me. I’m going to mark the location, though, so we can come back properly equipped and get this one.” Miles took out a tube about the size of a pen and clicked it. He lay this across the sand a few inches away from thecoiled thing with extreme care. “Yes, just look at the fine detail. It’s too delicate for me to risk removing it right now. I’ll return with trained personnel later. Okay, Sean, Jenny, switch back to main band.”
In a few words, Miles spoke to the whole group and explained what he had found. No one seemed very excited, and Jenny said impatiently, “This is like the Holy Grail of paleontology, everybody! The only other indications of Martian life have been microscopic, ancient fossils that may or may not have come from bacteria!”
“Everyone look down,” Miles pleaded. “There may be more. As we continue, please, everyone look down at your feet.”
The sandstone proved to be brittle and, as Miles called it, frangible. When groups of people stopped close together, the surface fractured, like thin ice on a pond. Miles pled with them to spread out more—who knew what frail little fossils might be broken to pieces by a careless
“Me, Ted Miles.” Miles was one of the biologists of the colony, and Sean knew that he was also one of Jenny’s tutors.
“What have you found?” Jenny asked.
“Dr. Ellman, permission to go private channel.”
“Go ahead, Miles.”
“Band one, you two.”
Sean adjusted his helmet radio, and Jenny did the same. “Got it,” she said.
“You receiving me okay?” Miles asked.
“Roger that,” Sean said, wondering what the secrecy was all about, and Jenny said, “Yes.”
Sean could see now that Miles’s gloved hand held a short, soft brush as delicate as a tuft of fur. He was still kneeling, and now he leaned forward and brushed the sand, grain by grain almost. “Look at this.”
Sean leaned forward. He could see a pitted surface, sand that had somehow compacted. In it, smaller than his little fingernail, lay a curled, spiky
something
—the same reddish color as the sand. It looked almost like the backbone of a tiny snake, coiled up and colored toexactly match its surroundings. “What is it?”
“A fossil,” Miles said, his voice sounding almost reverent. “I’m sure of it. A multicellular fossil.” He chuckled. “I could be the most famous biologist on Earth right now, if we could let Earth know. People have searched for these for decades. I couldn’t believe it at first—”
Sean became aware that others were crowding close. A stocky figure—Ellman, because Sean could make out the yellow bands on his arms—gestured them back. Jenny knelt close to Miles and leaned forward to shoot a picture.
“Go stereo and get in close, Jenny,” Miles told her. “Macro for as much detail as you can get. Let me provide the lighting to give as much relief as we can get in the stereo pics. You—”
“Sean Doe.”
“You, Sean, please back off and get shots of the surroundings—the sand, the position of the fossil in relation to the tunnel wall, everything.”
Sean shot several pictures before Dr. Ellman brokein impatiently, his voice sounding irritable in the helmet speakers: “This is all very good, but would you care to tell the rest of us what’s so interesting?”
“I found a fossil, Dr. Ellman,” Miles responded. “This whole part of the tube was flooded with water at one time. This soft sandstone is sediment—the edge of an underground sea.” The scientist gestured at the walls. “All this is mineral formation that comes with the slow leaching of water through the levels above us. Things lived here once. Multicellular creatures. I’m not sure whether this is a skeletal system or an exoskeleton, because it’s so small it’s hard to see clearly, but—”
“Take it and let’s get moving,” Ellman said impatiently.
“No, impossible. It’s far too fragile for me to try to extract it with the tools I have with me. I’m going to mark the location, though, so we can come back properly equipped and get this one.” Miles took out a tube about the size of a pen and clicked it. He lay this across the sand a few inches away from thecoiled thing with extreme care. “Yes, just look at the fine detail. It’s too delicate for me to risk removing it right now. I’ll return with trained personnel later. Okay, Sean, Jenny, switch back to main band.”
In a few words, Miles spoke to the whole group and explained what he had found. No one seemed very excited, and Jenny said impatiently, “This is like the Holy Grail of paleontology, everybody! The only other indications of Martian life have been microscopic, ancient fossils that may or may not have come from bacteria!”
“Everyone look down,” Miles pleaded. “There may be more. As we continue, please, everyone look down at your feet.”
The sandstone proved to be brittle and, as Miles called it, frangible. When groups of people stopped close together, the surface fractured, like thin ice on a pond. Miles pled with them to spread out more—who knew what frail little fossils might be broken to pieces by a careless
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