A New Day on Mars

ubmitted for the July 2023 Flash Fiction Contest

Adam looked at the clock on the wall. He was cutting it close.

He was almost done with the last batch of dried berries. He topped off each bag with extra dried blueberries. Those were finally starting to produce well, so he could be more generous with them.

“Today’s the solstice, first day of summer,” Phil said, while sorting the latest batch of dried tea leaves.

Adam acknowledged him curtly while sealing the last bags of berries.

“It’s turning into a warm day, too! Almost fifty degrees! Not that you’d notice in your suit.”

Adam dumped the last tray of bags into the cooler, muttering his checklist of what he needed. Phone in the suit pouch and plugged in. Two sealed five pound bags of tea in the cooler. Gloves and helmet on before he goes out.

“If we keep having warmer days, it should be easier to expand our growing area,” Phil added.

“Maybe,” Adam replied, briskly. “We do need as much of that as we can get, but we’re also still living in our store rooms.” 

“Lots of problems to solve,” Phil agreed.

Adam checked everything one more time, hefted the cooler and went through the garage airlock. He checked the electric cart, stowed the cooler, and opened the garage door. 

Before leaving, he checked the signal on his suit’s arm monitor. Pretty good. They must have fixed that cell tower. He sent a text saying that he was on his way.

Adam drove out into the brisk Martian morning on the gravel road to the main complex. It almost felt like summer. “Maybe this summer will be better,” he thought. 

Twenty minutes later, Adam arrived at the Hexagon’s airlock. He signaled to be let in, and the door light went green. He took the cooler and went inside. 

The waiting security guard, looking stern, asked, “Where’s your badge, Adam?” 

“On your desk!” Adam replied. They both laughed. Adam gave him a bag from the cooler.

Adam hurried to the commissary where his friend Erin was waiting. 

“Here’s the tea,” he said. “Ten pounds. I sampled it, and it’s our best yet. We’re getting the hang of it.”

Erin smiled. “We’re buying tea grown by our old computer guy. We know what to expect.”

Adam chuckled as she continued, “If it was as bad as your first batch, that’s still better than the company’s instant coffee.”

“I brought the berries for the crew’s morning break,” Adam said. “Did you send up the snack cart yet?”

“You’re right on time. The new hands are on their first shift; you should make a good impression.”

After putting the cooler on the bottom shelf of the cart, they took it to the central elevators and went up to the construction site. With the Hexagon mostly complete, the crew was now building the tower that would sit on top of it.

Adam looked around at the open steel frame of the tower. It was surrounded by a four-layered inflated bubble. The company had not cut corners on that at least. They learned from the early accidents.

The construction crew was filtering into the makeshift breakroom as Adam and Erin set up. As Adam handed out bags of fruit, he greeted the ones he knew and introduced himself to those he didn’t. Before long the room was filled and noisy.

Adam heard Todd and Jose, the lead welders and his oldest friends at the site, at their favorite pastime: swapping the latest conspiracy theories.

“I’m telling you, the aliens aren’t real. This is just some secret tech the Soviets cooked up.”

“That’s not it. The CIA has been working with the aliens for decades…”

“Speaking of the CIA, you know the real story of that lost outworld expedition? They were sabotaged as part of the coverup.”

Adam chuckled as he packed up. He couldn’t stay long. They couldn’t risk the site manager catching him mingling with the crew.

When Adam returned to the garage, the door was unexpectedly closed. When Adam opened it, he saw a battered, egg-shaped craft taking up half the garage. It looked almost like a small camper trailer, with struts for wheels.

He went through the airlock and took off his suit. Phil was standing nervously by his workbench, the tea neglected.

Nearby stood two unfamiliar figures. They had slightly short legs, long arms, and thumbs on either side of their hands. Both were wearing plain blue mechanics coveralls.

One of them was holding what looked like a text-to-speech translator device, with dual keyboards for English and the alien alphabet. His old coworker Richard, at the Earth office, had described them in a letter.

The taller alien used the device to say, “Sorry for the surprise. We were on Earth, trying to find someone to work with. Your friend Richard told us about this place, and about you. You should be able to help us, but we must keep it secret.”

Adam gestured for the device and with it replied, “Help with what?”

“You could say we are on a mission from God,” the tall alien replied. “We are Ardán, pledged to share the secrets of space travel.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Adam asked.

“You have skills, and friends with more skills. You are far from the Earth governments and no longer work for the company here on Mars. That means less risk that our knowledge will be held as trade secrets. We can teach you to read our books, show you how the ship we built works, and help you build your own.”

“What’s in it for you?” Adam asked.

“To know that we did our best to keep your people from being destroyed by our people if there was conflict. And so that you might show us how some of your marvelous devices work.”

Adam stood dumbstruck for a minute before he could accept their offer.

“As if my life wasn’t weird enough,” Adam thought. “Now I’m the alien conspiracy.”