BOUNDARY(125)

After a moment, she smiled. "All right, then," she said. "I will."



Without looking away from Skibow, she said: "I withdraw my objection."



"Fine." Hathaway cocked an eye at Madeline. "Any further questions?"



She shook her head.



"Anybody?" The captain waited a moment and said, "Then let's get to it."

* * *



"Not to sound pessimistic and all, Ms. Fathom," Bruce said dryly, "but you do realize that no one's alive who's actually done a landing on Mars? Plenty of simulations and all, but believe you me, that's not the same thing."



"I do. I've also been doing the simulations. Since no one else has, I guess that makes me the copilot. God help us all. But you do have actual experience in reentry landings, Bruce, even though the atmosphere here is a lot thinner."



"Yes, I do. No, you don't." Irwin was looking at her very skeptically. "And why in God's name has a security specialist been practicing flying a spacecraft anyway?"



She grinned at him. "I like to learn new things. And I already know how to fly a plane."



He maintained the skeptical look.



"I do! Okay, a small one. And, uh, okay, not very well, I suppose. On the other hand—" She drew herself up stiffly. "Unlike you, I've never crashed any sort of aircraft, either."



Bruce snorted, and gave Joe a glance that was even more skeptical. "You've never been on a flight with our very own Typhoid Mary, either. Now you'll have your chance—don't say I didn't warn you."



"Hey!" Joe protested.



Irwin ignored him and went over to study the map spread across the table. "Where will we be landing?"



Helen pointed. "The base is located here, in the southern portion of the Valles Marineris named the Melas Chasma. If you look at this image"—she put up a photograph on the screen—"you can see that the Bemmie base is located about where this chevron-shaped white mark is, close to the edge of this secondary valley or canyon. There appear to be several flat areas not too far from it, well within range of the pressurized rover."



Bruce studied the image. "At first glance, you look to be right. But I'm going to go over it carefully with A.J., get him to do some models of the approach and all. We're going to have to do a powered landing at the end, since there's not enough atmosphere for a pure glide-and-land. May be able to set us down right close."



"I'll get cracking on those models for you, Bruce," A.J. said, standing up. "We've got a lot of work to do, and I still have to go over the reconfigurations for my Fairy Dust. I hadn't expected to be bringing any to Mars quite yet."



After A.J. left, Helen turned to the rest of them. "Jackie and Gupta are selecting the equipment to bring with us, Joe, but you need to make sure you're fully checked out on whatever's sent. You'll be our only engineer. Dr. Sakai, Dr. Skibow, please go over the equipment listings as they're generated and make sure we have everything we need."



Joe nodded. "The lander has quite a bit of capacity—fifty tons mass plus passengers—but the rover's going to eat up thirty-five of that. And I'd prefer that most of the equipment be able to fit into the rover's maximum carry of ten tons. We don't know how close Bruce will be able to land us or how far we'll have to carry stuff, and you can bet the excavation equipment will take a big bite out of that. Plus food, water, and all the other necessaries. So be selective about what you take, okay?"





Madeline was the only one not given an immediate task. After everyone else had left, leaving her alone on the bridge with Hathaway, she cocked her head at the captain.



"Tell me why, Ken. Do you really think there's much danger? I shouldn't think there would be, myself. The technology is all tested, we are all very well trained, and we've been operating here in space for months with no problems at all beyond piddly stuff."



He shrugged. "No, I don't. But who really knows? And that's why I want you there." He gazed for a moment at the entrance to the bridge, through which the others had recently departed. "Those are all fine and wonderful people, each in their own way. Jane Mayhew, too. But what they aren't—not one of them—are soldiers."



"Neither am I."



He gave her that dark-eyed stare. "Yes, you are, in the one criterion that matters the most. Danger is something you take for granted. Something you've trained for. Something you expect. Which they don't."



He looked up at the huge viewscreen, which now showed the great reddish orb of Mars. "Remember what it's named, Madeline. And remember that this planet destroyed more unmanned probes than all the other planets of the Solar System put together. They still make jokes about the Martian antispacecraft defense network. We'd be damned fools to assume that the first humans to land on the face of the god of war won't encounter any grief. And if they do, I want you down there. I'd go myself, but I can't."