One Way To Mars

Chapter 26

Giavani scooped another load ofred dirt and spread it on the ground.

'Not so much of it, this time,'he said.

'I think we've emptied thepocket,' said Warner. 'Not a bad haul, though.'

'Do you think its a commonelement here on Mars?'

Warner shrugged. 'Hard to say. Itwas pure chance we found this on our last visit. I'd say Mariliumhere is like gold on Earth.'

'Maybe we can come back and findmore one day.'

'How many fortunes can you spendin one lifetime?'

'You don't know my wife.'

Together they collected theMarilium and filled the fifth container.

'This should do it,' said Warner.'Flooding the market would be counter productive, anyway. You mightas well add these to the collection. I'll go and see Mitchum.'

Giavani picked up the containers,and took them to the Moonstruck, then he secured them to the hullwith the others. He stepped back and smiled. One containers wortheach. Worth...millions. Even his wife would struggle to spend it all.

* * *

'How's it going, Mike?'

'Good. Just a couple moreconnections, then job done. How about you?'

'Five containers filled.Giavani's taken the last to the ship. I think that's the last of it.'

'It was a useful little pocket.I'm thinking of buying a little Pacific island where I can lie on thebeach at night and stare at the stars, and thank God I'm not spendinghalf my life in a stinking space suit.'

'You don't fool me, Mike Mitchum.Out of all of us, you'll miss space travel the most.'

'Yeah. Then I'll sip anotherMartini and get over it. Grab hold of this pipe.'

Warner picked up one end of theLuxotral pipe and they carried it to Joe Hancock who was fitting avalve to the length of pipe in the new bore hole.

'Finished, Joe?'

'One more turn should do it.There. Now we just need to lower the pipes back in the water and thenatural pressure should be enough to get a flow going. Once the airis out of the system, we can close off the valve, make the finalconnection, open the valve again and bingo.'

'Okay. Debbie. When Joe gives thesignal, you operate the crane and lower the pipes.'

Debbie stood by the crane, readyto lower the pipes. Joe waved and she moved the slide control thatlowered the crane head. At a slow and steady rate, the pipes werelowered into the water reservoir and a fountain of acidic waterspurted out of the top. She kept lowering until Hancock waved to tellher it was at exactly the right height above the ground for the finalpipe to be fitted. Avoiding the water gushing out of the elbow withthe new valve on the end, Hancock turned the valve off, stopping theflow. Then he and Mitchum got the final pipe fitted in place.

'Now we can seal around the borehole,' said Hancock.

Next to the bore hole was thesealer. Roughly the size of a human, the pressurised container offast setting sealer was ready to inject the expanding resin into thegap between the pipe and the bore hole. This was to keep the pressurein the reservoir, to force the water along the pipes. Mitchum andHancock wheeled the sealer in position and Mitchum held the nozzleprobe in place as Hancock turned the sealer on. Hancock joinedMitchum to manoeuvre the nozzle all the way around the gap, fightingthe back pressure. They didn't stop until the sealer was empty.

Mitchum high five'd Hancock.'Okay. Gear away. All done.'

All the equipment was stowed awayin the borer. Now, there was only one more thing to worry about.