Julie returned to the UNMI offices, still wearing her sweats which were slightly damp from her run. She should have felt dirty and clammy, but all those feelings were eclipsed by a range of emotions about the discovery of life on Mars all fighting for supremacy inside of her. Kareem’s excitement was contagious, but she also sympathized with the shell-shocked Russian scientist who had been dragged into the ICN studio.
“It’s impossible,” said Julie, feeling the ache in her legs as she climbed the stairs of UNMI headquarters.
“Right,” said Kareem, following her.
“We’ve been searching for life on this planet for three hundred years and found nothing: zero, zilch, zip, nada.”
“I know!”
Julie reached the second floor and opened the door that led both to her office and the communal office of UNMI’s terraforming experts. The excited rumble of many voices filled the space. Almost no one was sitting down at their desks. They were mostly standing, talking to others in groups and huddled around several screens where ICN was playing. Only a few sat in quiet contemplation at their own desks, staring at the news feed with its unrelenting headline writ large along the bottom: LIFE ON MARS.
Julie passed by them all. No one seemed to notice her. Or if they did, they ignored her. The head of UNMI arriving in sweaty exercise gear barely registered on the day’s news radar.
Inside the privacy of her own office, Julie turned the window onto ICN and watched the same feed that all the UNMI workers were watching outside. The same feed that everyone on Mars was probably watching, if not everyone in the solar system. A clip from the interview with the green-pallored Russian scientist replayed in front of her.
“I can confirm that a routine sample of water taken from beneath the construction site for Noctis City contained microbes which we believe are native to Mars. So, as you say, it appears that we have found the much-anticipated proof that life developed on Mars independently to that of Earth, and still continues to exist in microbial form on the planet, at least in this particular aquifer. But, I have to stress that these are preliminary results. It is unfortunate that they were leaked to the media before we were able conduct further studies.”
“You’re not suggesting that this historic news should have been kept from the public?” said the ICN journalist.
“Not at all,” replied the Russian. “Not at all. But we would have liked to have gathered more information. At the moment, we have one isolated test result. We need to return to the site to take additional samples and further testing needs to be conducted. Early analysis suggests DNA distinct from any microbes found on Earth, so we don’t think it can be contamination from any people or equipment we brought with us. But, as I say, these are early test results. We need to find out more. Until then, I’m afraid that I’m not going to be able to answer many of the questions that I’m sure you want to ask me.”
Julie flopped herself down in one of the armchairs. “Window, mute,” she said, and the sound from the ICN feed abruptly stopped.
Kareem sat down in the armchair beside her. “What do we do now?” he asked.
Julie raised her hands in a helpless gesture. “I don’t think we can get anything done today. Everyone’s going to be talking about life on Mars.”
“I meant, what are all of us going to do now? We came here thinking Mars is a dead world. Now that there could be native life here, that makes us invaders.”
She gave him a hard stare. “You’ve been listening to too much Reds propaganda.”
“I listen to all the arguments so I can come to an informed view,” said Kareem.
“We do what we always do: we continue to colonize the planet and we continue to terraform it until there are oceans and forests and humanity can survive on the surface without rad-suits. It doesn’t change the situation on Earth, it doesn’t mean that humans don’t need a new home, it doesn’t mean that we can’t take advantage of the resources here. The Martian microbes don’t need to build farms and cities and mining communities. We do.”
“You sound very certain.”
“We talked about it a lot here at UNMI before the formation of the Terraforming Committee. Just in case this sort of thing happened.”
“Even so, I feel different about what we’re doing here after that.” He nodded across to where ICN was still playing with images of an empty Noctis City construction site where all work had ceased.
“It’s understandable. But we can’t all get on a spaceship and go back to Earth tomorrow. The reasons why we left still exist: there’s not the room for us, nor the resources for us to eat and live. Humans are on Mars to stay and we have to make the most of it. Regardless of what microbes might lay beneath our feet.”
“I suppose all these arguments will be trotted out endlessly on ICN all day,” said Kareem.
“All week, I imagine.”
“I don’t know if I can just sit about watching it, but I don’t know if I can get on with anything else – do you know what I mean?”
Julie nodded. She knew exactly what he meant. “I wanted to set up another meeting with Mah Chynna about her financial records, but that’s not going to happen today.”
“Everyone’s too distracted.”
“We’ll have to wait a few days. This news has shocked everyone.”
“Indeed.”
Julie shifted uncomfortably on her chair. When she got up that morning, she had planned to come into the office and have a quiet word with Kareem. The auspicious news had derailed her plans somewhat, but as the conversation ran dry, her embarrassment at her actions at the restaurant came back to her.
“Kareem,” she said. “I wanted to apologize for intruding last night. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does. I was so caught up with what I saw in those financial records, that I didn’t think about it being your private time.”
“It’s fine. Areesha was actually quite excited to meet you.”
“Excited?”
“You forget, for people who were back on Earth when UNMI started terraforming Mars, you were somewhat of a celebrity.”
“I really wasn’t.” She felt herself blush. “So… Areesha… is she the reason you shaved off your beard?”
Kareem self-consciously rubbed his bare chin. “No,” he said, defensively. “I fancied a change, that’s all.”
“Well, it looks good on you. Areesha’s very lucky.”
A hesitant knock caused Julie to look up. The office door opened slowly and Alejandro tentatively entered. “Sorry to disturb you,” he said. “ICN are outside asking for a comment about life on Mars. What shall I tell them?”
Julie sank further into her chair and groaned. She had hoped her days of giving statements to the media were behind her following the formation of the Terraforming Committee, but apparently not. “Tell them to go sit out on Syria Planum without a rad-suit!” she snapped.
Alejandro’s eyes widened in shock. “OK,” he said, and hurriedly backed out of her office, closing the door behind him.
“No, don’t actually tell them that!” she called out after him.
Kareem laughed.
Julie pulled herself from her seat and rushed to the door. By the time she opened it, Alejandro was almost at the stairs. “Alejandro! Tell them I’ll be down in a minute. Got that?”
“Got it.”
He disappeared down the stairs. The few people who had stopped watching ICN to look at her, went back to staring at the news feed.
Julie returned to her office and stood before Kareem while she smoothed down her sweat top and brushed back her hair with her fingers. “How do I look?”
“Like you’ve just come out of the gym.”
“Good,” she said. “I’ll use that as an excuse not to say anything profound.”
She turned and walked out of her office, composing a bland statement in her head as she went, in the hope of disguising her true feelings on the matter.