The suspicions surrounding Niels passed after sleeping. The team was back to normal and ready to complete the maintenance for the day. Some of the seeds finally began to yield food and could now be pulled out and collected. Asher and Albert sat to eat whilst Niels and Rosalind headed out to start working.
'Lets try and pick all the plants ready and we can make something nice later.' Rosalind instructed.
'Yeah, I'll head over there first. After this what should we do next? We have nothing to do for a while except maintain the equipment until the surface is more suitable for more people to visit.' said Niels.
'Lets just focus on these tasks and then we can worry about that later. We have a lot to do, I imagine this will take most of the day. Try not to damage the plants since we can just throw them on a pile and make some fertilizer once we take the edible parts.' said Rosalind.
Niels nodded and sped up to the opposite end edge of the field-like area. The surface of Mars was a dusty, rusty iron-red colour but the plants formed a green carpet. Whilst Niels and Rosalind cleared up the area, Albert and Asher finally left to start the maintenance.
'Ok, so let's get to work. We have to make sure all the power plants are working fine. Use the remotes on the sides and check all the numbers are ok.' said Albert.
'Ok, by the way... Do you think Niels has been acting wierd? Do you think he is ok?' asked Asher.
Albert thought for a little but eventually put his thoughts into words.
'Yeah. He is probably just lonely. He did leave all his friends forever. Something like that is hard for anyone. We just have to support him and do all we can to help.' said Albert.
Asher nodded his head with agreement. For Asher, coming to Mars was his chance for redemption. A life full of regret and sadness on Earth was left behind. Scarred by his past he was fighting to make a change constantly back home and now was his chance to be free. Alone with his thoughts and only 3 others.
Asher and Albert slowly but surely checked all the equipment. Luckily everything was fine.
'We are ready to expand, if we can get governments back home to send us more equipment we can prepare more space for others to come. It's relentless and boring but we have to do this. Think about the future, right now we are the four most important people. Earth has been put to its limits and we have to expand.' said Albert.
The truth was harsh. Earth was full and the natural resources were soon to be gone. The standard of living is high but all great things come to an end. The governments all across the world were hiding it from the public that water and food was running thin. Somehow no one could predict a population growing forever. All the models showing the growth would be stunted were wrong and now everyone would soon pay the price.
'Its fine I guess. We can manage.' said Asher.
'Yeah. It will somehow work out... Anyways we have one more thing to check. Lets hurry then we can rest for longer.' said Albert.
They both headed to the last power plant. During this time Niels and Rosalind managed to pick half the food ready to use and brought it back to the base.
'Ok, we can have a break. There is more than enough to eat so we can take care of the rest over the next few days.' said Rosalind.
'Ok, how long do we have?I'll take a short walk and look around.' asked Niels.
'Whatever, Just go for however long you want but make sure you are back before night. Take water and be careful. Make sure you have a quick meal before you leave at least.' Said Rosalind.
She suspected nothing.
Niels hastily ate then headed towards the ravine from before to learn more about what he was hiding from the team. 'How much longer can I hide this from them for?' He thought. Something that no one could imagine was about to be unveiled. A discovery that would effect the whole world.