Red Dirt

"Give me a whiskey and Shiner. And some more whiskey, Kathy. Please."

Juana peered up from her own drink to see an elderly woman wearing a jumpsuit red with Martian soil, splotched with random strips of duct tape. Her face was worn and hard. Gray and black hair pulled back in a bun made specifically for fitting inside of a pressure suit helmet. She looked like she could kick your ass before baking you an apple pie as she kissed away your boo boos.

"Let me guess," the bartender said. "it happened again."

"Of course it did," the woman said. "These fucking kids today. You give them a job and they expect to have an espresso machine that makes coffee and Adderall."

Juana gave a little chuckle. The woman put down her drink and glanced her way. She had a very intense presence about her that took Juana aback a bit. Juana wasn't any kind of wall-flower but this wasn't some old biddy.

"What you drinking?" the woman said.

"Um,rum and coke," Juana said.

"Kathy, make her another one, she's almost out," the woman said to the bartender. "You out of school or something? Doing a little day drinking?"

Juana eyed herself. The pair of jeans she was wearing were worn with leather sandals who had seen better days. With her hair pulled back, she sported a green t-shirt blessed with a mustard stain. All evidence pointed to her mediocre life choices and dwindling funds but that was not apparent to the woman at the bar.

"Yup. You got me. I'm, like, totally going to get my brunch on and go to Sephora and get totes hot."

"Don't bullshit me, girl," the woman said with a smile. "Pretty funny by the way, but you don't have that style."

"Why? Because my skin is brown and I have an accent?"

"Well I was going to say because I thought you might have a little more class but if you want to go with 'racist old lady' that's fine too." She turned her attention back to her drink.

At this point of the day, aided by booze, Juana decided a little truth would be cathartic.

"I moved out of my brother's house and I'm drinking here because I got nowhere to sit and drink in my new apartment."

The bare apartment with a mattress on the floor and a small TV in the corner popped into her mind. Not to mention the boxes stacked in the saddest fort anyone has ever seen.

"He got tired of you mooching off him?"

Juana smiled at this. "It's not my fault the economy sucks on New Olympia. You either be a teacher or work for Amazon, and I am not interested in dealing with shitty snot-nosed kids. And then there's teaching."

The woman snorted a little as she drank.

"I'm Mavis. Yes, I know, I have an old lady's name but at least it finally fits."

"I'm Juana."

"Well, Juana fate has given both of us an opportunity. You need a job and I need some desperate kid looking for a job."

"Well isn't that peachy. You with a job offer and me with no health insurance."

"Yeah I don't have that. You're gonna have to do Obamacare or whatever."

The rum and coke was quickly gone and Juana stared down at her empty drink waiting for her next one. The pause gave her time to think.

"So what's this fancy job of yours? I'm told there's an espresso machine."

#

New Olympia was the first settlement on Mars. It was established in 1979, almost ten years to the day of the first moon landing. Built as a single dome about the size of a city block, today the city's comparable to Denver with its own skyscrapers, noisy traffic, and football team. When Trump became president in 2016, he promised to bring back Mars to the glory days. He would wear a MMGA hat and promised to keep those dirty Earthers out. Someone should have told him that the good ole' Martian days back yonder weren't so great either.

Juana gawked at the massive segmented dome as she left the city and into the open Martian landscape. The opportunity to experience the dome from the outside hadn't happened since landing here almost six years ago. The structure reached towards the sky, the curvature giving some contrast to the rest of the building. An engineering feat that still awes many.

She turned to the red, dirty horizon of Mars. The tales of science fiction imprinted in the minds of story tellers no longer reached her imagination. Not anymore.

There were dirt roads leading from the New Olympia drive bays in all directions of Mars. Outside of the dome, Mars was very much an undiscovered country with endless seas of red dirt and sand. To the far west, the cities namesake stood. Olympus Mons was as massive as they said it would be. Bigger than a child's imagination, seeming to stretch to the sky but soon blending in with the rest of the drab, lifeless planet. There was little to see after the first few days of arriving on Mars. The tourists would go check out the first landing sites but nothing more. Endless red rocks was all anyone would find.

Juana and Mavis weren't heading that way. They went east.

"So where exactly are we going?" Juana asked.

"To a little excavation site that I bought a few years back. Hoping to find some chromite or whatever else might be of value. There are still a few of us out here that the corporate excavators out there haven't bought out. The majority establish by Olympus Mons. The contracts are with the government but there are still a few folks who sell independently to manufacturers." Mavis added.

A few buildings and sites out into the distance sprinkled the horizon. None bigger than a small landing trailer with a dirt road zig zagging between them. They all had a land rover similar to the one Juana was riding in now. She thought about how lonely this work must be and wondered if that would be a bad thing.

She inspected her phone, the last of her bars disappear. Mavis glanced at her.

"Don't worry, we got a dish that connects with the New Olympia internet services. I would go crazy too if I couldn't listen to my Spotify while I work," she said with a smile.

"How far are we going?" Juana asked, realizing how late the question was.

"Well, its about an hour out so we got about twenty minutes or so left. Its about fifty five miles out from the dome."

"Am I getting paid for this?"

"For a ride? No. Hell I should be taking it out of your paycheck for gas money. I'm messing with ya. It's part of your eight hour day."

Juana smiled at this.

"There is no way you can work more than six hours in this anyway," Mavis said.

Juana stopped smiling.

#

Juana got out of the land rover when they reached Mavis' property. The ride helped her acclimate to the pressure suit. Mavis said that we would save on air if only the suits were pressurized and not the whole land rover. She understood the reasoning but it didn't help with the claustrophobia in the beginning. Fortunately, it had subsided and Juana was starting to be comfortable in her second skin.

The site was similar to the ones they passed during the ride. There was a small building with massive tanks affixed to the side for pressure and oxygen control. Mavis walked past it to a sloping edge. Juana followed her and stopped right behind Mavis.

"Whoa."

The drop had to be at least a few hundred feet. Out into the landscape she spotted more small buildings and a weathered factory. The cliff appeared massive when she turned left and right to get a complete view. It was majestic but clearly man-made. Juana wondered if this is what help build the early settlement. She didn't know much about manufacturing or excavating but she couldn't help but judge that this was old, past its prime. Maybe standing on its last legs.

Mavis walked backed to the office and waited for Juana to catch up.

"We aren't going in yet. It's a pain to pressurize everything so we will come back here for lunch for some time without these helmets." She grabbed a small tank and spray bottle. "This will be your emergency air tank and sealant. You plug up holes and connect this to bring back pressure. Next, you move your skinny butt up here for safety. Just like the land rover, we can pressurize in an emergency but if you do it too quickly, well, that's a mess I don't want to clean up."

Juana was about one second from deciding that a fifty five mile hike back home was a good cardio workout when Mavis continued.

"Relax. These suits are top of the line nanotech. You're going to be fine. Mostly cause the workman's comp would totally kill me. So don't you worry. We'll be extra careful."

Mavis strapped the tank of air and spray can to Juana's belt and led them back to the edge. Juana observed a ladder going down by her feet into the dark cliff shadowed by the morning sun. It was difficult to view the bottom but she thought she made out a vehicle resembling a construction truck with a claw at the end. Mavis made her way to the ladder and connected a strap to a pole next to the ladder.

"Okay. So this is what we use as a safety measure when we are going down. If you fall, it will slow you down enough so that you can grab back onto the ladder. We clear?"

Juana nodded her head.

"Well lets get to it. You work three hours, a forty five minute lunch, another three hours before we leave. We will use that excavator down there to dig into the side of the cliff and hope we find ourselves something good enough to sell. We load up the elevator-", Mavis pointed towards a lift a few yards away, "-and we send it up for storage on the carrier. When full, we ride it back to the dome with the land rover. Easy peasy lemon squeezy," she finished with a smile.

"So I'm going to be a professional digger. That's cool, I guess."

"Who knows, maybe it will give you purpose."

#

Holy fuck, it was loud. Juana strained at the vibrations racking her entire body and the space inside her helmet. She wondered how anyone could listen to music or even their own breathing in this mess. Putting dampeners in her helmet still wasn't helping the noise. Mavis, on the other hand, didn't even blink as she maneuvered the drill around the cave, bobbing her head to some Rolling Stones or Tom Petty, regulars on her old lady music playlist.

"Okay," Mavis said over their helmet communicator. "A decent piece is poking out. Let's take a look."

She got out of the controls for the excavator and walked over to where Juana stood.

"That one's good," Juana said, pointing to a gray rock with a metallic hue. She was starting to improve at spotting the chromite.

"No, that ain't nothing," Mavis said.

Juana reevaluated her skills and shrugged. She moved behind the excavator and grabbed the controls for the flat cart. She put the cart into position and began loading a few rocks that Mavis pointed to. She used the controls to move out of the site and towards the lift. She then sent them up to be processed by a small graveler and to sort out the worthy from the imposters.

The work was boring and tedious but it was also calming, challenging. She flexed her arms in her suit, rubbing her shoulders. Low gravity bolstered the process, but lifting stones was still hard on the muscles. The raise Mavis gave her after working for seven weeks without quitting helped her buy cloths since everything she owned fit her baggy.

Mavis was an interesting commuter buddy. On their drives back and forth from New Olympia, she would tell Juana about her life and experiences. How she moved up in the late 1980s looking for work and adventure when it opened up to civilians and how she once crashed a dirt scooter on a sand dune when she was drunk. Juana told her of her family and how her brother was a successful computer engineer. Her mom wanted her to go to college but Juana didn't fit in. Or wanted to fit in but didn't, she wasn't sure. Either way, she dropped out, moved in with her brother, and worked awful Starbucks barista and waitressing jobs. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt this was a great move for her. Working with her hands and making enough to actually eat out every once and awhile. What else could she ask for?

"Wait, what?"

Juana snapped out of her day dream and looked toward the site. She hadn't noticed anything but Mavis was hustling out. Then she looked to the cliff and figured out what the problem was.

The cliff was coming down.

It started as sprinkles of dirt falling but grew into waves as the whole side was ready to slip off like a poorly built sand castle.

"For fuck's sake!"

She turned to find Mavis standing straight up moving out of the site, then swallowed by an avalanche of dirt. She turned to head in her direction, then the cliff came apart towards her. She turned and sprinted in the opposite direction. Sound never hit her ears but she sensed the vibrations in the ground as it followed her silently. Her breathing filled her helmet, startled by the crashing wave of dirt smashing the ground behind her. She was caught and pushed underneath. The rattling of dirt and stones off her helmet were deafening.

Juana was submerged in red dirt and sand. The rhythm of her breathing was the only sound she could hear and used it to focus. The sand fell of her suit easily as she got up from the ground. Larger stones either missed her or passed over with little effect. The suit stats on a small screen blinked above her wrist. After scrolling through some data, no warnings of breaks or malfunctions. She was in the clear. Was Mavis?

Juana found her footing and sprinted towards Mavis. Tapping her helmet radio and screaming her name was the only thing she could think of at the moment. Mavis survived pressure breaches and rock slides before, Juana thought. She just had to get to her.

"...hey...ock...get me..."

Juan heard Mavis' voice as she got closer. It started to clear up when she reached the site.

"...can...ou get me out of here? My leg is starting to cramp," Mavis said. "Looks like we are cutting out early today."

Juana tried to settle her breathing. She didn't speak and started breathing in and out to gain some control.

"Sweet. Getting off early and all I had to do was bury you alive. I'll remember this next time. By the way, where are you? Can you wave a hand or wiggle a toe?" Juana said.

Juana detected movement a few feet away and moved in that direction. She moved a heavy stone from the area and dug a hand into the soft red dirt. A hand grasped hers and soon Mavis was up and grumpy.

"Fuck. That scared the shit out of me. I'm not forty anymore, I can't deal with that." Mavis said.

"Doesn't your social security kick in? Why are you still doing this?"

"First of all, fuck you. Second, I like doing this." Mavis turned to the mess around them. "Except for that. That I don't like."

"Uh. Mavis?" Juana asked.

"Oh fuck, I think I got a small tear-"

"Mavis!"

"What? I am dealing with some shit here. What's so important?" Mavis finished and turned to see what Juana was looking at.

The color was gone on Juana's face and Mavis was following suit. The cliff was scarred from the avalanche, chucks missing from its sides leaving it exposed and open. Enough to free something buried in the red cliff.

#

"So you are seeing that, too? I'm not going crazy?" Juana asked.

"Yeah. I see it," Mavis said walking towards the opening.

But it wasn't simply an opening. It was a door. At a slight tilt, the door was cracked open. Mavis walked up to touch and study the entrance.

"Well, it's smooth like iron and leads to a small hallway to another door. There also seems to be some writing," Mavis said.

"Writing? What is this?" Juana said, speaking loud and animated.

"Well, let's find out." Mavis said, pulling on a chuck to open up the crack.

"Find out? What?! Are you nuts!" Juana started to pace from one foot to the other.

"Look. People are coming to check this out any minute now. We could wait for them to look inside or we can."

A missing chunk of door made the opening just wide enough to squeeze in. Mavis carefully maneuvered around so the sharp edges would not cut her suit and then disappeared into the darkness.

"Mavis?"

"Well, you're next kid," She heard from her radio.

Every alien movie jumped into Juana's head at once, giving her anxiety fuel. Was it like the xenomorphs in the movie Alien? Or like in Predator? Well, in those terms, the alien could be Alf. The sharp edges of the opening brushed her suit making a scraping sound but did not tear as she cleared the entrance. She turned on her helmet light and remembered she could turn on her camera as well. If this becomes big news, they were going to need some proof they were here first.

The walls had some strange writing in the middle of the hallway. The language was strange, with characters she had never seen before. She reached out her glove to touch them. It was made of cold steel but felt strange, waxy almost. Nothing rubbed off, leaving her gloves unchanged.

"This feels weird as if-. What are you doing!" Juana said.

Her voice was drowned out by two large doors being opened by Mavis. With no fear, Mavis walked through them and disappeared from Juana's sight.

Juana looked back at the opening at the far end of the hallway. She could leave, she thought. The suit had air and pressure for another three hours. Plus, someone would eventually be here to check out what happened.

All she had to do was go back outside.

"Fuck it."

Juana looked down at her phone to make sure if still had a charge and was connected to her helmet camera.

She couldn't let a crazy, stubborn old lady go in their alone. She took a deep breath and walked to towards the open doors. She switched on her radio.

"I deserve a raise and some god damn health care."

#

The darkness was illuminated only by helmet lights. Juana could make out a few feet in front of her. She walked slowly as to not be surprised by a random object or desk. Or even a scaly alien oozing toward her to suck out her brains and lay eggs in her torso. A clean metal floor with only the dust being left by Juana's shoes and suit went on into black nothing.

Juana stopped walking. And stopped breathing.

A cylinder stood a few feet away. Darker shades of metallic gray shined when her helmet light reflected off the object. A panel came up to her waist with criss-crossing patterns. Stepping lightly to the object, Juana put her hand on the panel and felt the fine grooves across her gloved hands. Vibrations shot up her arm and she pulled it back to her chest. Holes in her gloves were not visible. She flipped her hand back and forth, panicking, checking for tears.

Sliding metal brought back Juana to her surroundings. At the far end of the room a door was opening. The suit was soaked in sweat, making it hard to move forward. Light from the opening peered out in a haze and flowing ripples. Vibrations pulsed from the ground, matching her heart beat. The sound of her breath bouncing in her helmet helped her focus.

Turning back, Juana witnessed a figure leaning on a wall. Lean arms were crossed in front of their chest and a foot scrapping back and forth across the floor. Their eyes turned from the ground and Juana identified the figure as an older woman. Grey streaks of hair and a kind, wrinkled face, though she regarded Juana with sad eyes. Why did she seem familiar? There was no helmet on the figure's head and Juana began to depressurize hers. Fresh air powered her senses, like a spring morning on Earth. Had she been to Earth? Her gloves were removed and placed on the floor next to her helmet.

The door opened to a wall of water, reflective and bright. Curiosity took over Juana, moving towards the door without fear. What was on the other side? Juana's mind searched for caution but couldn't find any. Did she need to stay? She couldn't find an answer to that either. The door led to the unknown, danger, or at the very least, one hell of an inconvenience. Yet Juana knew what awaited her here. At least she thought she did. Why couldn't she remember?

Her boots slide on the metal floor but she kept her balance. The walls around the door were absent of any shape or color. Voids of nothing but for a door. The pulsing began to slow but got louder. Strands of hair on her face swayed, kissed by a gentle breeze. Fingers touched the door entrance and recoiled. A sensation of warm water. Her reflection moved with the small waves, welcoming her.

Juana turned back to the figure once more. No longer leaning on the wall, their eyes met and the woman gave her a smile. Juana waved a hand and smiled back. Peace washed over Juana with no ties left to anchor her here, she walked forward.

Maybe she would find purpose.

#

"God dammit."

Craig threw a peanut at the television screen across from his table. The bartender glowered at him .

"Sorry."

Tom Brady threw another touchdown and the Patriots were up twenty four to seven against the Bills. The warm beer in front of him was on its last drops. He was hoping for a decent end to his shitty day but his favorite team couldn't be bothered. Realizing he still had his ID around his neck, Craig opened up his phone and checked his back account. Did he have enough for one more beer?

Sadly no. And since his paychecks have now suddenly ended, he wasn't going to be visiting many establishments in the future.

Walking up to the bar, Craig took of his ID and threw it in the trash. "Hey could you close me out?" The bartender nodded, continuing to wash glasses before moving to a computer screen.

"Hey Bill, give me a Shiner and a whiskey, please."

"Holy shit. Its been a minute. How you doing Mavis?"

"Oh you know. Same ol', same ol'. Just trying to keep the lights on."

Craig turned to see an older woman in a Martian suite. Bits of red dust shook off as she moved, a mining belt on her side.

"Can I help you?"

"Oh, sorry. Just looking at your suite. Didn't mean to zone out."

Turning back to his bill, he cringed. It was a bit more than he expected. He gave a tiny tip and swore a bit.

"You alright there bud?" The old woman said.

"What?"

"You made a funny face when you scanned your bill. I have that look when the gas prices go up."

"Oh. Yeah. It's nothing." He slid the receipt back to the bartender and got up to leave.

"You forgot this."

Craig turned around and saw his ID in the old woman's hands.

"Nah. I just got let go. I won't be needing it anymore."

She smiled and put the ID back in the trash.

"Let me buy you a beer. I might have a job for you. How do you feel about rocks?"