“They can’t be far,” she said.

“Then why didn’t they get in contact? They’re just wasting our time.”

“Maybe they found something interesting and have been busy?”

They turned and looked around the valley. It was a familiar sight. Barren, with sharp mountain peaks and hard-edged rock formations. There was rarely anything to cause surprise on Mars. Everywhere but their research base was a lifeless and desolate plain.

“Alright, get the scanner out, Larson, let’s see if we can find them.”

He hauled the big case from his shoulders and placed it down on the hard rocky ground. He lifted the lid of the ruggedized computer. The oversized keys to allow operation in thick gloves made it appear as a caricature of their own personal devices. He tapped a few buttons and brought up a circular scanning device. It read movement within a hundred-metre radius. The dial began to spin and search for any signs of life.

As Larson watched the display, Ruby looked around the area of the ship. It was hard to find signs of footprints on the surface of Mars, it being so hard to rarely leave imprints. The dust often covered over what few signs of life were left.

“Got anything?” she asked.

“No, hang on, just got a reading!”

Ruby moved up to his side looking down at the screen as the dial continued to track around the scanner. She saw it flash once again as it got a reading. She squinted to look down at what it was.

“Four objects? I thought this was a standard two-man research team?”

“That’s what we were told, maybe the scanner is reading wrong,” Larson answered.

“Yeah, maybe. Let’s go take a look, it’s just over that ridge, you can leave that here.”