Below is the prologue and an excerpt from Chapter 1 of Dave Barne's forthcoming climbing adventure novel The Red Curtain: Climbing Expedition to Mars 2043. The artwork was done by the talented climber Karmelo Onate.
|
The Red Curtain is fiction today, but time has taught us that, in our world, impossibility manifests only in you. When you are ready for the adventure, this limit dissolves. Thank you Dave for your inspiration, I'm ready for this adventure.
-- Thomas Huber, Germany |
This looks fun
-- Tommy Caldwell |
PrologueHumanity had become accustomed to sleeping with one eye open. Across the globe, people had experienced a rapid rise in access to education and healthcare in the 21st century. The populace was living longer, and they wanted more – always more – but Earth had given beyond its means.
Carbon emissions were now a significant threat. Temperatures had risen to such a degree that winter was now an extended spring – only the great Himalayan glaciers retained any recognizable form, and the rising oceans had caused human catastrophe, forcing migrations not seen since the last ice age. While America was struggling to keep its democracy intact due to a slow response to climate change, both politically and environmentally. The developed world was working with developing nations to improve antiquated energy sources and to decrease carbon emissions, but it wasn’t enough. Humankind was faced with a reckoning: a fight or flight for global health and a sustainable future. Amid these tensions, civilization looked to the stars, seeking to find out there the resources required to replenish the planet and to acquire the energy needed to see that through. Mars, being the closest Earth-like planet, became the new frontier of dream-catchers who were willing to risk all in the search for life-sustaining resources. |
|
With renewed commitment from global governments and industries, space agencies from every continent on Earth worked feverishly to travel to Mars, and a steady stream of satellites seeking data, rovers pursuing evidence, and expeditions desiring a stake in this new world set forth. The potential rewards were extraordinary, and even though no nation gave away its political or economic ambitions of exploring and exploiting Mars, it was not hard to miss the space race of the 21st century.
Amongst this noise, a whimper was heard in 2006 from a rocky outcrop in Antarctica. A small team of NASA meteorologists discovered sample ALH84001, a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite, a piece of Martian rock believed to have crystallized from a volcanic eruption. It was an eruption so powerful that it had spewed igneous rock all the way to Earth. The sample was widely believed to hold micro-organisms, evidence of life indigenous to the red planet. The veracity of the claim was scrutinized by every scientist who cared about astronomy, biology, chemistry, and astrophysics – of which there were many. Was this the real deal? Does life exist on Mars? The discovery on that Antarctic shelf began an enduring scientific debate that turned wonder into skepticism and pushed ALH84001 off its pedestal. Eventually, the rock sample was placed in a glass box in an undisclosed NASA laboratory in the United States. Out of sight, out of mind – perhaps.
It is here that our story really begins.
What was not shared by the NASA meteorology team, or by the government of the United States of America, was that there was another sample, found in the same rocky alcove less than thirty feet from ALH84001. This meteorite did not show evidence of fossilized signs of life, but it did contain a crystal of previously unknown composition. The crystal was unique, with properties unlike any geological specimen or mineral found on Earth. And one of those properties was remarkable.
The crystal produced abundant energy, energy that could provide warmth to homes and what’s more, do so without any external environmental additive or geothermal activity. The crystal somehow generated power. Even its touch felt warm. For Earth the crystal was environmentally sound for the ground and the oceans and clean for its sky. It was a holy grail of energy generation, as it could be tapped to produce energy – and staggering amounts of it – for a resource-hungry world.
This rock specimen exhibited similar chemistry to the other Mars meteorite, so it was deduced that it too came from the red planet. This second alien geological sample was named ALH84001(b). The b specimen was concealed from the wider scientific community and the media and secretly brought back from Antarctica, along with its more famous sister rock, to the United States for further study. The b specimen was much more inspiring and beautiful than its ALH84001 sibling, but far too valuable for a resource-hungry world to have knowledge of – at least not yet. Nations had fought wars for less. Its secret was kept in-house at NASA, and together with the mutual assistance of government agencies, further analysis of the b specimen began. Although this was a ‘eureka’ moment in the great energy rush of the 21st century, science would have to wait until technology and NASA could catch up. Firstly, the place from which ALH84001(b) originated on Mars would need to be located before an expedition could be launched.
Years passed and other nations and private space agencies launched expeditions to Mars, but NASA still held this ace up its sleeve – their ALH84001(b) card – while they searched and surveyed Mars, waiting for their moment.
Amongst this noise, a whimper was heard in 2006 from a rocky outcrop in Antarctica. A small team of NASA meteorologists discovered sample ALH84001, a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite, a piece of Martian rock believed to have crystallized from a volcanic eruption. It was an eruption so powerful that it had spewed igneous rock all the way to Earth. The sample was widely believed to hold micro-organisms, evidence of life indigenous to the red planet. The veracity of the claim was scrutinized by every scientist who cared about astronomy, biology, chemistry, and astrophysics – of which there were many. Was this the real deal? Does life exist on Mars? The discovery on that Antarctic shelf began an enduring scientific debate that turned wonder into skepticism and pushed ALH84001 off its pedestal. Eventually, the rock sample was placed in a glass box in an undisclosed NASA laboratory in the United States. Out of sight, out of mind – perhaps.
It is here that our story really begins.
What was not shared by the NASA meteorology team, or by the government of the United States of America, was that there was another sample, found in the same rocky alcove less than thirty feet from ALH84001. This meteorite did not show evidence of fossilized signs of life, but it did contain a crystal of previously unknown composition. The crystal was unique, with properties unlike any geological specimen or mineral found on Earth. And one of those properties was remarkable.
The crystal produced abundant energy, energy that could provide warmth to homes and what’s more, do so without any external environmental additive or geothermal activity. The crystal somehow generated power. Even its touch felt warm. For Earth the crystal was environmentally sound for the ground and the oceans and clean for its sky. It was a holy grail of energy generation, as it could be tapped to produce energy – and staggering amounts of it – for a resource-hungry world.
This rock specimen exhibited similar chemistry to the other Mars meteorite, so it was deduced that it too came from the red planet. This second alien geological sample was named ALH84001(b). The b specimen was concealed from the wider scientific community and the media and secretly brought back from Antarctica, along with its more famous sister rock, to the United States for further study. The b specimen was much more inspiring and beautiful than its ALH84001 sibling, but far too valuable for a resource-hungry world to have knowledge of – at least not yet. Nations had fought wars for less. Its secret was kept in-house at NASA, and together with the mutual assistance of government agencies, further analysis of the b specimen began. Although this was a ‘eureka’ moment in the great energy rush of the 21st century, science would have to wait until technology and NASA could catch up. Firstly, the place from which ALH84001(b) originated on Mars would need to be located before an expedition could be launched.
Years passed and other nations and private space agencies launched expeditions to Mars, but NASA still held this ace up its sleeve – their ALH84001(b) card – while they searched and surveyed Mars, waiting for their moment.
|
*
On a June evening in 2028, at 02:54 Pacific Daylight Time, a tired scientist from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) was eating corn chips in the limelight of her three laptops in the Space Science Center in Menlo Park, California. Dasha had worked there for several years, often alone, just as her predecessor had done, secretly tasked to find the origins of ALH84001(b).
Night after night, year after year, Dasha set prescribed coordinates to sectors of the red planet with similar geological compositions as the sample – and there were thousands of these. And night after night, Dasha manipulated her computer mouse in order to pivot the camera and sensors on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), a satellite platform that was able to take up to 300 high resolution pictures per day, searching for the elusive lodestone. Since 1999, the MGS had been orbiting Mars, sending back geological data for an array of scientific agencies. On this night, Dasha was going about her business of ghosting these transmissions, hunting for the home of the sample stone, or at least some evidence of a motherlode. It was an uneventful evening, until her computer began to ping. And it never pinged. |
|
Dasha recognized the ping from the satellite and sat upright, fumbling for her keypad and mouse. She began to sequence out a reference. She directed the MGS to take a second geological scan of that ping reference point and waited for confirmation.
It takes time for information to transmit to a satellite in Mars’s orbit – five to twenty minutes, depending on the planets’ relative positions – and the same time again for that data to return to Earth. Dasha continued waiting, anxiously pacing up and down the room and chewing on her pen. Her heart rate was pumping, really pumping.
"C’mon, c’mon..."
The computer lit up: a signal was coming through.
Ping.
There it was, confirmation! It was the sweetest sound to Dasha after so many years of fruitless searching.
Dasha's mind spun as she rummaged for her cell phone. She eventually found it under some papers on her desk. Dasha contacted her superior and relayed the coordinates she had received from the MGS.
By 0600, NASA was in overdrive, focusing its attention on the Martian sector labelled Echo Charlie 0281731. Computer imagery was able to focus on that ping, a location comprising only three square feet of Martian surface. Inside NASA, the excitement was palpable as it was confirmed that the geological composition of Dasha’s find was the same as the ALH84001(b) sample found on that frigid Antarctic outcrop.
Just as when Yahweh had told Moses to climb Mount Sinai to find a rock and liberate his people, this rock was calling for some gifted humans to go to Mars and do likewise. It turned out that the long-awaited ping was also located on a mountain – an extremely large one. Although NASA was commissioned to follow in the footsteps of Moses to go and save humanity, there was a slight issue. This was not your average Moses-sized climb – it was a sheer rock face higher than any on Earth, requiring the skills of world-class mountaineers to ascend it and attempt to retrieve a sample of the crystal. The stakes could not have been higher – the wall would have to be climbed if humanity was to be saved from an apocalyptic energy crisis and potential self-destruction.
This is the story of the chosen few, tasked to leave Earth to save it, an alpha team of highly skilled adventurers – the elite of the elite. This team was to go to where ALH84001(b) originated, to the source of its life-saving energy, in the only way possible, to secure site evidence of this remarkable geological phenomenon. They were to go rock climbing on Mars.
It takes time for information to transmit to a satellite in Mars’s orbit – five to twenty minutes, depending on the planets’ relative positions – and the same time again for that data to return to Earth. Dasha continued waiting, anxiously pacing up and down the room and chewing on her pen. Her heart rate was pumping, really pumping.
"C’mon, c’mon..."
The computer lit up: a signal was coming through.
Ping.
There it was, confirmation! It was the sweetest sound to Dasha after so many years of fruitless searching.
Dasha's mind spun as she rummaged for her cell phone. She eventually found it under some papers on her desk. Dasha contacted her superior and relayed the coordinates she had received from the MGS.
By 0600, NASA was in overdrive, focusing its attention on the Martian sector labelled Echo Charlie 0281731. Computer imagery was able to focus on that ping, a location comprising only three square feet of Martian surface. Inside NASA, the excitement was palpable as it was confirmed that the geological composition of Dasha’s find was the same as the ALH84001(b) sample found on that frigid Antarctic outcrop.
Just as when Yahweh had told Moses to climb Mount Sinai to find a rock and liberate his people, this rock was calling for some gifted humans to go to Mars and do likewise. It turned out that the long-awaited ping was also located on a mountain – an extremely large one. Although NASA was commissioned to follow in the footsteps of Moses to go and save humanity, there was a slight issue. This was not your average Moses-sized climb – it was a sheer rock face higher than any on Earth, requiring the skills of world-class mountaineers to ascend it and attempt to retrieve a sample of the crystal. The stakes could not have been higher – the wall would have to be climbed if humanity was to be saved from an apocalyptic energy crisis and potential self-destruction.
This is the story of the chosen few, tasked to leave Earth to save it, an alpha team of highly skilled adventurers – the elite of the elite. This team was to go to where ALH84001(b) originated, to the source of its life-saving energy, in the only way possible, to secure site evidence of this remarkable geological phenomenon. They were to go rock climbing on Mars.
|
Part I: The Mission
|
Inside a large domed tent, a well-built man – tall and untidy with a scruffy beard – donned his dark sunglasses. The man’s semi-disheveled appearance was often associated with those who live in the mountains and spit out hard climbing routes like a cowboy spits out tobacco. The man opened the tent door as the chopper’s downdraft met him at the entrance. Sunlight reflected off his glasses as his head swiveled to take in the scene. He slipped on his inner boots and strolled casually towards the landing bay.
The chopper’s rotors continued to whirl, the noise amplified by the surrounding peaks. A smartly dressed military officer in a dark blue uniform with AIR FORCE on its breast pocket stepped out of the chopper door and onto the pad. He was hunched over, cap in hand, to avoid the rotor blast and flying rock chips.
He shuffled towards the tall climber, shouting to be heard above the din of the machine. “Hello! I am an officer of the United States Air Force. I am here to find Conrad…” His voice was drowned out by the blare of the rotors.
The tall man removed his sunglasses, extended his hand and shouted, “That’d be me!”
Their eyes met as they shook hands, the officer’s face wincing as he felt the climber’s strength. “Can we talk, Sir? It’s a matter of utmost urgency.”
Conrad’s face was worn from weeks of guiding clients back and forth up Everest and its surrounding peaks. The effort and altitude had made him look old, but it was an old that silently articulated, don’t mess with me. His searing dark eyes did not suffer fools. In a deadpan voice, Conrad replied, “Make it quick, Sir. It's chow time here and I’m starving. I’ve been humping loads with my Sherpa crew all week, and we’re feeling pretty worked.”
“It’s of vital importance, Sir. I’m here with an urgent message from the President of the United States.”
The chopper’s rotors continued to whirl, the noise amplified by the surrounding peaks. A smartly dressed military officer in a dark blue uniform with AIR FORCE on its breast pocket stepped out of the chopper door and onto the pad. He was hunched over, cap in hand, to avoid the rotor blast and flying rock chips.
He shuffled towards the tall climber, shouting to be heard above the din of the machine. “Hello! I am an officer of the United States Air Force. I am here to find Conrad…” His voice was drowned out by the blare of the rotors.
The tall man removed his sunglasses, extended his hand and shouted, “That’d be me!”
Their eyes met as they shook hands, the officer’s face wincing as he felt the climber’s strength. “Can we talk, Sir? It’s a matter of utmost urgency.”
Conrad’s face was worn from weeks of guiding clients back and forth up Everest and its surrounding peaks. The effort and altitude had made him look old, but it was an old that silently articulated, don’t mess with me. His searing dark eyes did not suffer fools. In a deadpan voice, Conrad replied, “Make it quick, Sir. It's chow time here and I’m starving. I’ve been humping loads with my Sherpa crew all week, and we’re feeling pretty worked.”
“It’s of vital importance, Sir. I’m here with an urgent message from the President of the United States.”
|
That’s different, thought Conrad, somewhat bemused. Only once had he seen an American military chopper at base camp for an emergency evacuation. And he had certainly never received a message from the President of the United States, if this was even to be believed. He hid his initial skepticism.
“Come on inside then,” he said, motioning the officer through the entrance of the expedition tent. The officer followed Conrad inside, his Air Force lapels revealing his high rank – a full ‘bird’ colonel. Conrad knew that a colonel would not waltz into a remote and desolate climbers’ camp without sound reason. Closing the flap of the dome tent, Conrad turned to face the colonel and respectfully asked for the message. The man handed him a sealed envelope emblazoned with the insignia of the President of the United States. Holy shit, thought Conrad. Reaching for a nearby piolet, he sliced the envelope open and began reading. As he read, the legitimacy and significance of the message and its contents hit home, hard. Suddenly it made sense as to why the paper had been delivered in person by such a high-ranking officer. Conrad wobbled as he stood, more than a little stunned. He stared at the ice axe in his hand and then turned slowly to face his trusted friend Pete, the expedition chief, who was standing next to the expedition clerk. |
|
Conrad mumbled something unintelligible, then handed Pete the letter. The chief scratched his head. He read it, then locked eyes with Conrad and stepped towards his senior guide. Conrad and Peter embraced, patting each other on the back.
“This is your moment, buddy,” said Peter to his friend. “A once-in-a-lifetime shot. You’ve got nothing else left to prove to us here. I’ll find a replacement for you, no problem. But be careful, eh?”
Conrad stroked his beard, then nodded. He’d thought his time in the military was over; clearly that was not the case. He walked to the back of the tent to gather his personal belongings and climbing gear, knowing he needed to do this quickly before the sun set so the aircraft could depart safely. Well, at least as safely as a chopper could depart at dusk from so high in the Himalaya.
“Dammit man, where the hell’s my inner pack?!” exclaimed Conrad. The colonel’s message had sent him off balance, and he was fumbling as he located his gear and stuffed it into his pack. “And where’s my passport…”
“You won’t be needing your passport, Sir,” declared the colonel. “You’re now with the U.S. Armed Forces, and we have an executive visa and rite of passage for you.”
Peter, seeing that his friend was anxious, sought to reassure him. “Conrad, you’re got your shit together pretty much all of the time. I’m sure you’ve got your passport with you someplace, but if it shows up here, I’ll get the clerk to forward it.”
“Sure,” said Conrad, still a bit flummoxed. He forced himself to calm down as he gathered his personal items and secured them in his pack. He swung it over his shoulder and moved across the wooden floor to claim his climbing gear from a rack on the wall. As he made his way towards the door, the expedition clerk threw him some chapati bread. “I could hear your stomach growling, boss.”
“This is your moment, buddy,” said Peter to his friend. “A once-in-a-lifetime shot. You’ve got nothing else left to prove to us here. I’ll find a replacement for you, no problem. But be careful, eh?”
Conrad stroked his beard, then nodded. He’d thought his time in the military was over; clearly that was not the case. He walked to the back of the tent to gather his personal belongings and climbing gear, knowing he needed to do this quickly before the sun set so the aircraft could depart safely. Well, at least as safely as a chopper could depart at dusk from so high in the Himalaya.
“Dammit man, where the hell’s my inner pack?!” exclaimed Conrad. The colonel’s message had sent him off balance, and he was fumbling as he located his gear and stuffed it into his pack. “And where’s my passport…”
“You won’t be needing your passport, Sir,” declared the colonel. “You’re now with the U.S. Armed Forces, and we have an executive visa and rite of passage for you.”
Peter, seeing that his friend was anxious, sought to reassure him. “Conrad, you’re got your shit together pretty much all of the time. I’m sure you’ve got your passport with you someplace, but if it shows up here, I’ll get the clerk to forward it.”
“Sure,” said Conrad, still a bit flummoxed. He forced himself to calm down as he gathered his personal items and secured them in his pack. He swung it over his shoulder and moved across the wooden floor to claim his climbing gear from a rack on the wall. As he made his way towards the door, the expedition clerk threw him some chapati bread. “I could hear your stomach growling, boss.”
“Thanks, buddy. I’ll be seeing ya.” Conrad patted the clerk on the shoulder and took a bite of the bread. Then he followed the colonel out of the tent and into the chill mountain air.
By the time Conrad neared the helicopter, word had spread through camp of his imminent departure. Several Sherpa guides came to Conrad in surprise, their faces revealing brown teeth from poor living and broad shoulders from heavy lifting. Conrad and his Sherpas had tied in together often, united through sharing loads and enduring hardship. Seeing Conrad with his gear packed, their curiosity turned to tears as they realized that their brother was leaving, and in response these mountain men lifted the pack from his back and assisted him to the chopper. The respect offered by these men did not go unnoticed by the colonel.
Once the Sherpas had piled Conrad’s gear into the aircraft’s cabin, the expedition chief ensured that they, and some of the clients who had gathered, gave Conrad some space. He also ensured that they remained outside the downwind range of the rotors for their own safety.
The officer let Conrad enter the chopper first. Conrad threw another pack and an armful of climbing gear inside, then clambered into the cabin. The colonel closed the door behind them, turned towards the pilot and thrust his thumb skyward to signal it was time to depart. The rotors throttled up and the machine lifted, then rotated slowly before turning away and flying down-valley in the direction from which it had come.
Thud, thud, thud. The helicopter's noise became softer as it grew smaller. With blank stares of confusion, the climbers and porters at Everest Base Camp watched it retreat towards Kathmandu.
By the time Conrad neared the helicopter, word had spread through camp of his imminent departure. Several Sherpa guides came to Conrad in surprise, their faces revealing brown teeth from poor living and broad shoulders from heavy lifting. Conrad and his Sherpas had tied in together often, united through sharing loads and enduring hardship. Seeing Conrad with his gear packed, their curiosity turned to tears as they realized that their brother was leaving, and in response these mountain men lifted the pack from his back and assisted him to the chopper. The respect offered by these men did not go unnoticed by the colonel.
Once the Sherpas had piled Conrad’s gear into the aircraft’s cabin, the expedition chief ensured that they, and some of the clients who had gathered, gave Conrad some space. He also ensured that they remained outside the downwind range of the rotors for their own safety.
The officer let Conrad enter the chopper first. Conrad threw another pack and an armful of climbing gear inside, then clambered into the cabin. The colonel closed the door behind them, turned towards the pilot and thrust his thumb skyward to signal it was time to depart. The rotors throttled up and the machine lifted, then rotated slowly before turning away and flying down-valley in the direction from which it had come.
Thud, thud, thud. The helicopter's noise became softer as it grew smaller. With blank stares of confusion, the climbers and porters at Everest Base Camp watched it retreat towards Kathmandu.
*
Dave Barnes is the Assistant Editor for Common Climber and published his first novel "The Red Curtain:Climbing Expedition to Mars 2043." The novel is available at Amazon.com.