She smiled faintly. No amount of makeup could hide the strain in her face, the redness of her eyes. But maybe she could get past the cameras okay. The big story today is supposed to be the discovery of life on Mars, not our physical condition.
The two-way transmission lag between Earth and Mars was now more than twenty-five minutes, so a live give-and-take interview was impossible. Instead, the media reporters and the mission controllers had worked out a different protocol. Twelve reporters had been selected from the swarms that had descended on Kaliningrad, Houston, Washington, and other capitals the instant the news of life on Mars had been released. Each of the twelve was in a different location on Earth. Each would ask a question, to be answered by one of the Mars explorers. There would be no follow-on questions. Alberto Brumado, in Washington, would fill in the time between question and answer with commentary and chat among the mission controllers, project administrators, and politicians assembled in Kaliningrad and elsewhere.
Many politicians had come to place themselves before the cameras, eager to bask in the glow of the great discovery and allow the world’s media to interview them on global TV.
Jamie wondered if Edith would be among the questioners. Not likely, he decided. She’s just started with the network; she’s not high enough on their ladder for this.
The two women sat in the cockpit seats, with Jamie and Connors standing behind them. The hour had barely been enough time for Connors to dig out one of the rover’s wheels and then drag himself back inside. He had taken off only the top half of his hard suit, and stood beside Jamie with his boots still on and his lily-white leggings spattered with red dust that exuded the stinging odor of ozone, despite his efforts to vacuum them clean.
Vosnesensky was at the comm screen in the dome, Dr. Li up in orbit. The people on Earth could speak with any of the units of the Mars expedition that they wished to converse with.
Brumado came on the screen before the conference officially began. He congratulated his daughter, and Joanna sent him a loving thank-you. Jamie was almost jealous of the warm smile she offered her father. When her message finally reached him Brumado gave no indication that he was shocked or even worried by his daughter’s appearance; she had put up a smiling front without once mentioning their physical condition.
He’s probably too excited to even notice, Jamie thought. Maybe we’re all too worked up about how lousy we feel. If it doesn’t show on television, how bad can it really be?
The order in which the reporters asked their questions had been picked at random by the mission control mainframe computer in Kaliningrad. Everyone thought that was a fittingly scientific way to handle the problem of priority. The reporter selected to be first was Hong Kong’s foremost media personality, a strikingly beautiful woman with skin like porcelain and almond eyes that had inspired poetry.
'First, I wish to congratulate you on the most significant discovery in the history of the space age,' she said in flawless British English. Her voice was a silvery soprano; she almost sang out the words. 'My question is: Which of you actually made the discovery, and how did you feel when you first realized that you had found life on Mars?'
Joanna turned doubtfully in the chair toward Ilona, sitting beside her. The face of the Hong Kong woman was replaced with Brumado’s, who would fill in the time until their response reached Kaliningrad. The sound volume automatically went down to a barely audible level.
'I can answer that,' Ilona said, forcing a smile. 'Dr. Brumado was the first to realize that the forms she was examining in the microscope were alive. She is our biologist, and it is she who actually made the discovery.'
Joanna said, 'Dr. Malater was with me. We were working together on the samples we had gathered that morning. I merely happened to be the first to examine them in the microscope, but we worked together on the collection and preparation of the samples. You would have to say that we discovered them together.'
Ilona took over again, her husky voice more than an octave lower than Joanna’s. 'As for how we felt — it was the most exciting moment of my life. Better than sex.'
Pale as she was, Joanna flushed. 'It was very thrilling,' she agreed. 'I think that at the first moment neither of us could believe it. Then, when we finally convinced ourselves that it was real, that the specimen in the microscope was actually a life form, we looked at each other and could not say a word.'
'Which is very unusual for me,' Ilona blurted.
'We realized that this was one of the most momentous discoveries in the history of science. I felt… what is the word in English? Awed. Yes, that is right. It was an awesome moment. Truly awesome.'
'I felt like dancing,' Ilona said.
Jamie added silently, But you were too tired and weak to try.
'We must all remember,' Joanna added, more seriously, 'that it was not merely Dr. Malater and I who made this discovery. Dr. Waterman was the one who recognized that this rift valley would be the most likely place to find life. The other scientists and astronauts — without them we could never have reached this place. All the men and women of this great expedition, all the men and women supporting this mission back on Earth, they have each played their role in this discovery. We are a team, a team that reaches across more than two hundred million kilometers of space and embraces two worlds. Each of us has played an important part.'
Jamie said to himself, She’s her father’s daughter, all right. There’s a future for her in the politics of science.
The questions were mainly superficial. Connors was asked by a bored-looking Frenchman how it felt to be the only black man on Mars. The astronaut grinned a one-word answer: 'Terrific!' But once the screen showed Brumado talking with one of the opportunistic politicians, Connors muttered, 'Fucking pissant.'
When Jamie’s turn came he was asked by an American reporter how it felt to be vindicated in his battle to change the mission plan and make the traverse to the Grand Canyon.
Wishing that Edith had possessed the clout to make it to the news conference, suddenly lonely for the sight of her blonde cheerful smile, Jamie replied to the pinch-faced man: 'There was never a battle. We had a mission plan, but it had been made up on Earth long before we got here. Fortunately, the mission controllers and the expedition commander, Dr. Li — as well as Cosmonaut Vosnesensky and my fellow scientists — all saw the wisdom of altering the plan so we could take advantage of what we found here on the ground. We had the flexibility to change the plan, to take advantage of new discoveries.'
Jamie realized that there was another tremendous advantage to being on Mars: the interviewers could not interrupt you. Nor could they stop you from going on at length and giving the complete answer that you wanted to give.
'Another thing,' he said, forgetting his tiredness for a moment. 'It’s more than just simple lichen that we’ve discovered. Life doesn’t exist in one species alone; we know that from Earth. There’s got to be a Martian ecology here, a chain of living organisms. Certainly there must be organisms that are lower down on the chain of life than the lichen we’ve found. But the interesting question is, are there organisms higher on the chain? Or were there such higher organisms at one time in the past?'
He glanced down at Joanna, who was smiling encouragement at him. Connors patted his shoulder.
'Here in this Grand Canyon we discovered a rock formation that might not be natural. It’s a long shot, of course, but there may have once been intelligent Martians. We have the opportunity — the responsibility, really — to come back to Mars with expeditions that are equipped to stay for much longer so they can tackle some of these questions.'
Jamie enjoyed seeing Brumado’s eyes sparkle when his little speech finally reached Earth.
The next reporter threw away his prepared question and asked, 'Do you mean that there might have been intelligent creatures on Mars?' His eyes were wide with incredulity.
'Yes,' answered Jamie firmly. 'Might have been. We don’t know if there actually were. The chances against seem very high, but— we just don’t know enough about Mars to say, one way or the other.'
The display screen picture broke up momentarily as every one of the reporters tried to get in a question about intelligent Martians. Brumado restored calm only by shouting over their voices the name of the next reporter picked by the computer.
All of the following questions were about 'real, live Martians.' Most of them were directed at Jamie, who felt that their questions were generally trivial and terribly repetitious. He remembered a friend of his, a lawyer, who always replied to questions he felt to be redundant with a curt, 'Asked and answered.'
Joanna interrupted him once to say, 'I want to make certain that everyone understands exactly what we have found here on Mars. We have discovered living organisms, somewhat the same as terrestrial lichens. We
