Where the Sky is Always Dark

The sky was a darker pallet of stars now, and he had no way of knowing how long he’d lain at the base of the hill. In fact, Bobby Davis was slow to recall how in the world he’s come to to be there in the first place.

Reflecting as hard as he could, all he could mentally picture was that he’d parked the vehicle, got out and walked to the edge of the precipice. After that everything was general blank until he awoke.

Instead of worrying over what had happened, he need to be in the present so he could safely assess himself for any possible injury before trying to roll over and stand up. Wiggling his fingers, he found that they worked; that same for his toes.

Slowly he moved every part of his body, finding he hadn’t broken anything. Davis concluded he’d jus’ ‘rang his bell,’ exceptionally hard before he rolled from his side onto his back and sat up.

“Holy crap,” he mumbled as he looked up the escarpment from where he’d tumbled. He could see where his body had left it deep impression in the red sand, between the even redder rocks, on its way down.

How he’d missed those rocks, Davis thought, “Only God knows.”

“Hello?” he finally asked, speaking into his headset, “Anyone there? Can you hear me?”

Nothing. Then he realized it had fallen off on the way down, so trying to talk to base was an impossibility.

He recalled a conversation from a while back, saying, “These head pieces are shit. They fall off and they stop working.”

“Well, don’t let it fall off then,” he was told by some smart-ass.

At least Davis knew where he could find it. Getting to it was impossible for the time being, so he set the idea aside.

Finally, he stood up and look at his surroundings. He could try to climb up the way he’d fallen down or he could find an easier and safer route to get back up to the Rover.

“Not the most auspicious beginning to a Mars mission in the history of manned-flight,” he chuckled as he limped, stiff and sore along the bottom edge of the massive, and thankfully smaller unnamed crater, “Maybe they’ll name it after me.”