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Besides, I couldn't stop her from coming. And it hadn't occurred to me to
stand in the way," he lied. "And the discovery of Mars-2," he tried to change
the subject. "That thing really is historic ... that was a great story for
her. I wish they had left it in place. I mean, it's a sacred spot."
Lena wore an exasperated-by-naivet expression. "They didn't know. They were
just a construction crew from the reactor, not historians."
Carter studied the screen.
...investigators close to the scene think Stafford may have encountered a
giant dust devil that could have damaged his vehicle. Recent photos have shown
dust devil activity in the area ... search continuing...
"That's another thing I can't figure," Carter said. "As far as we know, no
one's ever been tipped over by a dust devil, or sandblasted, or whatever the
hell's supposed to have happened."
"What was supposed to have happened?"
"You heard Braddock as well as I did. I don't know if he's right."
"And your theory?"
Carter remained silent. He had tried to avoid having a theory. If you stood
around and tried to explain what happened, it meant you're no longer actively
involved in finding out.
Carter studied her. She was smiling at him expectantly. A curious smile. A
Cheshire cat smile. Carter took a deep breath as if to say something, but
ended in a sigh. It felt like he was expelling something evil that had been
building up inside. It felt strange to begin to talk about an explanation.
"Well?" Lena repeated. She was trying to help him get it out. He had wanted to
try to work all this out with Annie, but with Annie he never felt free to
talk. No telling what would end up in print. Maybe he could work through it
with Lena.
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Out loud, his thoughts sounded like bullshit.... "Suppose Stafford is excited
after finding Mars-2. He forgets to be careful. He gets ina dust storm and
maybe can't see and drives off the edge ofa ravine. Or something. Wind speeds
and particle velocities are higher in a dust devil core than in your
run-of-the-mill dust storm, right?"
"Oh, yeah." She smiled. "You got that right."
"Do you think a dust devil could pit the windshield of a buggy so he couldn't
see?"
"Ummm. Maybe, yeah ... I don't know if anybody really knows."
"Anything like that I come up with, I can't figure out why he didn't just
radio back that he was in trouble.
Unless it was a sudden accident." Carter sighed again.
"Maybe it did something to the antenna, too. Something he couldn't fix. Then
there's always the dust sinks."
"Dust sinks."
"Drivers occasionally run into mushy spots. Vehicles sink in. Nobody knows how
they form. Nobody's ever hit one big enough to sink a whole vehicle, but
there's a sort of mythical belief that it's bound to happen. People have this
idea of whole buggies just sinking out of sight and never being found. I think
that's one reason Braddock doesn't want to spend more time looking for the
vehicle."
"He told you?"
"Yeah. Besides, Alwyn was his friend, too. I think Braddock thinks Alwyn would
be happier this way.
Out there ... Anyway, maybe a dust devil, maybea dust sink . It could have
been a dozen different things."
Carter considered. "Maybe maybe maybe."
She looked at him expectantly. "You may never find him."
"We ought to try."
"But don't you think, ummm..."
Carter took the plunge. "Look, Lena, I've got something else here. The new
pictures came in." He returned the screen to the images he had been studying.
"Look, you can see tracks leading west from the
Mars-2 area. Away from Hellas. Into the desert. When he was done, why would he
go farther into the desert?"
She was silent for a moment as he showed her. "That could be anything."
"No, it's tracks. Look. Here, still farther west!"
"And you think..."
"Now we have something to follow."
"Carter..."
"I'm onto something," he said. "I'm on his trail. Tomorrow we can find out."
"You need to take a break. I'll stand you a drink at the Oasis. You need to
talk, to unwind."
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