Read Offworld for Free Online Page A

mean, it's got to be some
kind of ..."
    Trisha decided that all she could do was return to what she
knew.
    Focus. just focus on the work. And get Terry focused on it too.
    "Let's start simple," Trisha suggested. "We need to know how
widespread this is. Have they evacuated from this area alone? Is it
bigger? All of Florida? Even farther? I want you to see who you can
reach. Cast a wide net-try for military installations, weather stations,
police radio, truck drivers, HAM operators. Even foreign governments.
Just talk to somebody. I don't care who."
    Terry nodded and made his way to the communications station.
Trisha watched him. He was extremely unnerved by the idea of coming home to the absence of a welcoming party, but she could see
him compartmentalizing it, just as she had. Just as all four of them
would have to.
    Training always took over in high-stress situations. She wondered
how long those reflexes would last.

    `Any particular frequency?" he asked.
    She cast him a glance, dead serious. All of them."
    When he turned to the radio without comment, she visited various
workstations around the room, doing routine checks on the status
of the complex, what was left of their ship, and Mission Control's
records. She stood and craned her neck to see out the big rear windows to Launch Pads 39A and 39B three miles in the distance. Launch
Pad 39B was currently home to Athena, Ares' sister ship, which was
scheduled to launch the second manned mission to Mars just days
after the Ares returned. They would pick up where the Ares crew
had left off, using the same ground habitat as core components that
they would add to. The large ship and its booster rockets appeared
more or less ready for launch, but where were her ground engineers
and crew?
    After a few moments of working in silence, Terry spoke again.
"Trish?"
    "Yeah?"
    "What if everyone's gone? I mean ... like everyone? What if
there's nobody but us?"
    "That's impossible," she said, then hesitated. Was itpossible that
all of NASA could just disappear? "We just need to figure out what
happened and why. And how."
    "But what if they're all dead? Like, what if everybody was wiped
out by some kind of fast-acting super virus, like in The Stand?"
    "Then there would be bodies everywhere, wouldn't there?"
    "Or what if they didn't go?" Terry wondered. "What if they were
taken against their will? What if ... what if it was some kind of
invasion?"
    "I don't recall seeing any little green men on Mars," Trisha
replied.
    "But what if-?"
    "Terry," Trisha said, stopping him.

    "I know, I know," he said, his shoulders slumping. "Focus. Do
the job. One step at a time."
    "I have people I've been waiting a long time to see too," said
Trisha. "We all do. Friends, family. For right now, we know only that
Kennedy has been evacuated. Guessing and worrying will only make
us crazy. We're going to put aside our fears, and we're going to figure
this out. Okay?"
    "Okay," he sighed. "But I'm getting nowhere with this radio. Dead
silence on every channel."
    Trisha frowned. `All that tells us is that no one's using their radios.
Or maybe the ones at Kennedy are all broken. Hmm," she said, moving to another workstation. "I wonder if I can bring up some satellite
images. Who knows, maybe they had to evacuate the base due to
a hurricane."
    "In early July?" called out Owen's booming voice. Trisha turned
to see him and Chris descending the stairs at the back of the room.
They both looked as worn and battered as she and Terry did, but at
least Chris' color had returned. "Hurricane season is still a few months
off," Owen added.
    `And I don't see any clouds," Terry said, turning to face the bright,
translucent windows.
    "Chris, are you okay?" Trisha asked.
    "Super," he replied. "What have you learned?"
    "If anybody's out there, they're not feeling chatty," said Terry.
    "I can also confirm," Trisha reported, "that it was the Ground
Landing System that guided the Ares to Kennedy.