it doesn't matter. they're going to die tonight anyhow. in an hour, the sun sets on mars. it's going to be minus 140. they cannot survive in the open. they're going to die. yow. everyone shuts up. it's ugly but true.
her orbit could degrade at any time. she could auger in and burn while they chat about old times and freeze to death. it's a waste. we should just bring her home. skavlem doesn't love it, but -
rocks. sand.
2,200 kilometers away. silence. they all stare at the pims. and then schlissel turns to a nearby tech -
we're not the only people who sent stuff to mars. other overlays come up on the maps. new colors. new symbols.
there was euro-malaysian sample return mission 2018.
an uzbecki probe from 2032.
it was built at the cosmos factory in garagin in 2031. the factory closed eight years later. and then it burnt down. all right, that's the end of that. and then schlissel spots a detail that means something to him.
it was designed by aleksandr ivanovich borokovski. he was the last of the greats in the russian space program.
there's no closing date on his bio. he'd be in his seventies.
he emigrated. he runs a deli in brooklyn.
what's a pentium processor?
it keeps crashing.
i remember this. the government had to bomb the factory in the end. borokovski nods. windows comes up.
and we warmed the place up and sent it something to eat.
he's singing classic music to keep his spirits up. the tech looks at him curiously.
i studied it in college. it's the beastie guys. most of the music we listen to today is based on the ground-breaking work they did before the turn of the century.
gallagher made it to the cosmos, won't launch, he's alive, she's gotta leave him.
there's secondary object in orbit.