"In other words," Davidson said slowly, "Mars has to be okay because there's nothing else for us to try."
"We could stay here. Live on here in the undersurface systems like gophers."
"We could not last more than another year. You've seen the recent psych graphs."
They had. The tension index was up. Men weren't made to live in metal tunnels, living on tank-grown food, working and sleeping and dying without seeing the sun.
It was the children they were really thinking about. Kids that had never been up to the surface. Wan-faced pseudo mutants with eyes like blind fish. A generation born in the subterranean world. The tension index was up because men were seeing their children alter and meld in with a world of tunnels and slimy darkness and dripping luminous rocks.
and slimy darkness and dripping luminous rocks.
Davidson searched the faces of the two technicians. "Maybe we could reclaim the surface, revive Earth again, renew its soil. It hasn't really gone that far, has it?"
"No chance," Young said flatly. "Even if we could work an arrangement with the Enemy there'll be particles in suspension for another fifty years. Earth will be too hot for life the rest of this century. And we can't wait."
"All right," Davidson said. "I'll authorize the survey team. We'll risk that, at least. You want to go? Be the first humans to land on Mars?"
"You bet," Halloway said grimly. "It's in our contract that I go."
The red globe that was Mars grew steadily larger. In the control room Young and van Ecker, the navigator, watched it intently.
"We'll have to bail," van Ecker said. "No chance of landing at this velocity."
Young was nervous. "That's all right for us, but how about the first load of settlers? We can't expect women and children to jump."
"By then we'll know more." Van Ecker nodded and Captain Mason sounded the emergency alarm. Throughout the ship relay bells clanged ominously. The ship throbbed with scampering feet as crew members grabbed their jump-suits and hurried to the hatches.
"Mars," Captain Mason murmured, still at the viewscreen. "Not like Luna. This is the real thing."
Young and Halloway moved toward the hatch. "We better get going."
Mars was swelling rapidly. An ugly bleak globe, dull red. Halloway fitted on his jump helmet. Van Ecker came behind him.
Mason remained in the control cabin. "I'll follow," he said, "after the crew's out."
The hatch slid back and they moved out onto the jump shelf. The crew were already beginning to leap.
"Too bad to waste a ship," Young said.
"Can't be helped." Van Ecker clamped his helmet on and jumped. His brake-units sent him spinning upward, rising like a balloon into the blackness above them. Young and Halloway followed. Below them the ship plunged on, downward toward the surface of Mars. In the sky tiny luminous dots drifted -- the crew members.
"I've been thinking," Halloway said into his helmet speaker.
"What about?" Young's voice came in his earphones.
"Davidson was talking about overlooking some vital factor. There is one we haven't considered."
"What's that?"
"The Martians."
"Good God!" van Ecker chimed in. Halloway could see him drifting off to his right, settling slowly toward the planet below. "You think there are Martians?"
"It's possible. Mars will sustain life. If we can live there other complex forms could exist, too."
"We'll know soon enough," Young said.
Van Ecker laughed. "Maybe they trapped one of our robot rockets. Maybe they're expecting us."
Halloway was silent. It was too close to be funny. The red planet was growing rapidly. He could see white spots at the poles. A few hazy blue-green ribbons that had once been called canals. Was there a civilization down there, an organized culture waiting for them, as they drifted slowly down? He groped at his pack until his fingers closed over the butt of his pistol.
"Better get your guns out," he said.
"If there's a Martian defense system waiting for us we won't have a chance," Young said. "Mars cooled millions of years ahead of Earth. It's a cinch they'll be so advanced we won't even be --"
"Too late now," Mason's voice came faintly. "You experts should have thought of that before."
"Where are you?" Halloway demanded.
"Drifting below you. The ship is empty. Should strike any moment. I got all the equipment out, attached it to automatic jump units."
"Drifting below you. The ship is empty. Should strike any moment. I got all the equipment out, attached it to automatic jump units."
"I'm almost down," Mason said nervously. "I'll be the first..."
Mars had ceased to be a globe. Now it was a great red dish, a vast plain of dull rust spread out beneath them. They fell slowly, silently, toward it. Mountains became visible. Narrow trickles of water that were rivers. A vague checker-board pattern that might have been fields and pastures...
Halloway gripped his pistol tightly. His brake-units shrieked as the air thickened. He was almost down. A muffled crunch sounded abruptly in his earphones.
"Mason!" Young shouted.
"I'm down," Mason's voice came faintly.
"You all right?"
"Knocked the wind out of me. But I'm all right."
"How does it look?" Halloway demanded.
For a moment there was silence. Then: "Good God!" Mason gasped. "A city!"
"A city?" Young yelled. "What kind? What's it like?"
"Can you see them?" van Ecker shouted. "What are they like? Are there a lot of them?"
They could hear Mason breathing. His breath rasped hoarsely in their phones. "No," he gasped at last. "No sign of life. No activity. The city is -- it looks deserted."
"Deserted?"
"Ruins. Nothing but ruins. Miles of wrecked columns and walls and rusting scaffolding."
"Thank God," Young breathed. "They must have died out. We're safe. They must have evolved and finished their cycle a long time ago."
"Did they leave us anything?" Fear clutched at Halloway. "Is there anything left for us?" He clawed wildly at his brake-units, struggling frantically to hurry his descent. "Is it all gone?"
"You think they used up everything?" Young said. "You think they exhausted all the --"
"I can't tell." Mason's weak voice came, tinged with uneasiness. "It looks bad. Big pits. Mining pits. I can't tell, but it looks bad..."
Halloway struggled desperately with his brake-units.
The planet was a shambles.
"Good God," Young mumbled. He sat down on a broken column and wiped his face. "Not a damn thing left. Nothing."
Around them the crew were setting up emergency defense units. The communications team was assembling a battery-driven transmitter. A bore team was drilling for water. Other teams were scouting around, looking for food.
"There won't be any signs of life," Halloway said. He waved at the endless expanse of debris and rust. "They're gone, finished a long time ago."
"I don't understand," Mason muttered. "How could they wreck a whole planet?"
"We wrecked Earth in thirty years."
"Not this way. They've used Mars up. Used up everything. Nothing left. Nothing at all. It's one vast scrap-heap."
Shakily Halloway tried to light a cigarette. The match burned feebly, then sputtered out. He felt light and dopey. His heart throbbed heavily. The distant sun beat down, pale and small. Mars was a cold, lonely dead world.
Halloway said, "They must have had a hell of a time, watching their cities rot away. No water or minerals, finally no soil." He picked up a handful of dry sand, let it trickle through his fingers.