Stranded Page #4

-I need to replace an oxygen tank.

-Okay, I'll help you.

How many more daylight hours

do we have?

Judging by the position of the sun...

I guess about two, maybe three.

Exactly four hours, Herb.

How far are we

from the edge of the valley?

You've already covered

three quarters of the distance.

Oh, God...

-Susana, is everything okay?

-Yeah.

The landscape seemed to have been

carved out by catastrophic floods.

Millions of years ago, that dry surface

could have been a deep chasm.

The untamed beauty of Mars - its icy

indifference took our breath away.

We were the first creatures to ever

set foot on that alien terrain.

A mere anecdote

in the midst of that red desolation.

Have you ever seen such beauty?

More than 4,000 kilometers long

and 300 wide.

There's nothing like it

in the entire solar system.

Look at those strata.

I don't know if the video image will

record the subtle colors. It's beautiful.

It's quite clear, Susana.

Did they reach the valley yet?

This place is beautiful.

You might think that just getting here

has made it all worth while.

Look over there.

Yeah...

-We could try to make it to the fog.

-The ravine is eight kilometers deep.

But the gravity on this planet

is a third of what it is on Earth.

It isn't as difficult as it seems.

- What do you think, Susana?

-Let's go down and take a look.

-All right. Why not?

Let's go. We don't have time to waste.

Is that a joke? It's just the fact that

I'm tired that keeps me from crying.

-Oh, God...

-Let's go.

Good idea.

Unfortunately it won't work.

Their air supply is too insufficient

to make it to the valley.

Are you nuts?

I've turned off the microphone.

Don't worry.

-Besides, they already know.

-There's no need to remind them.

-Do you think our situation is better?

-We have a possibility of surviving.

We have a possibility,

if you listen to me.

A few years ago,

I dated a guy like you.

He thought he was the smartest guy

in the world, but he was a jerk.

So you've had one boyfriend?

F*** you, Luca. F*** you!

This is a form of madness -

nothing more, nothing less.

All of us are crazy. Otherwise

we would have stayed on Earth.

What would make a sane man

leave his wife and children-

-and climb down a deep ravine

on the equator of a frozen planet?

We must all be reasonably sane,

or we wouldn't have passed the tests.

I lied. I wanted to come here.

I was crazy enough to lie, but

intelligent enough not to get caught.

-Did you lie, too?

-No, I answered truthfully.

Hey, guys...

Remember that all this is being taped.

Some day you will be on TVon Earth.

So, careful what you say.

They wouldn't do anything to harm the

image. They'll portray us as heroes.

-With luck we'll all be on a pedestal.

-Shut up, Luca.

You are living proof

that psychological tests don't work.

What about your team spirit?

I guess I lied.

As I'm sure everybody else did.

-Except for Herbert.

-I didn't lie, Luca. I didn't need to.

Perhaps you're the only one who isn't

saying, "What an idiot I was".

I wonder how they'll see us on TV.

What thoughts will be running through

the minds of the people watching this?

I've seen similar situations.

You're sitting in your living room,

drinking coffee after lunch-

-and suddenly they broadcast images

of just before a disaster.

You see people who will be dead soon,

and you wonder how they feel.

What keeps them going?

-Have you found out?

-No, not at all.

I feel like I'm seeing this on TV.

I can't accept

that this is happening to me.

My mind can't fathom that my air

supply will run out in a few hours-

-and that it will be

the end of the road.

I'd like to suggest something. How

about concentrating on the descent?

As we talk, we're using up

more oxygen than necessary.

The escarpment was what geologists

call a chaotic region.

The path had been carved out

by a torrential flow of water-

-sometime in the Martian past.

Wait a second.

I need to replace a tank.

I'll help you.

-Let's stop here, Susana.

-Okay.

It's your last bottle.

Calm down.

You're using too much oxygen.

Yeah, I know.

-Are you all right?

-Everything's fine.

Herbert was on his last oxygen bottle,

and we didn't have much more.

We knew we were nearing the end

of the road, but no one said a word.

We simply concentrated

on taking one step at a time.

Look at that.

-What?

-Phobos.

-It's moving as fast as a satellite.

-It's so beautiful.

And Demios is that brilliant star

right next to the edge.

-It doesn't look that spectacular.

-It doesn't matter, Rodrigo.

-They are the moons of Barsoom.

-Barsoom?

Shall we continue?

Barsoom.

That was the name given to Mars-

-by the inhabitants

of the Empire of Helium-

-ruled by the beautiful princess

Dejah Thoris-

-and where Tars Tarkas, the warrior

with green skin and four arms, fights.

Herbert explained this to us

as we continued our descent.

And he told us

about the spired cities of Helium-

-and the emerald green banks

of the great canal of Nylosirtis.

-What are you talking about, Herb?

-John Carter's adventures on Mars.

My grandfather had all

Edgar Rice Burroughs's novels.

The Tarzan books

and those of John Carter.

But the Carter ones

were my favorites.

As a child, I spent hours

devouring those marvelous novels.

I dreamt of someday visiting the

kingdom of princess Dejah Thoris-

-and walking under

the two wild moons of Barsoom.

You two will have to go it alone.

I think I'll stay here for a while.

What are you talking about?

What's the matter, Herb?

I can't go on.

My air supply has run out.

I swear to you that I'd like to...

...but I can't.

We knew that this moment

would come, didn't we?

Susana, didn't we?

You're a good person.

We should have gotten

to know each other better.

The only happy people are those who

have made their dreams come true.

It was all over.

What were we doing?

Why were we continuing on down,

stubbornly, pointlessly-

-towards our own graves?

Herbert was back there -

alone under the moons of Barsoom.

He was the best of us all.

Fidel?

Susana?

Can you hear me? I can't get any

images. I'm not seeing anything.

I'm getting interference.

It looks like the end of the road.

We can't carry along here.

Oh, sh*t!

Do we have to retrace

the whole route?

Not me.

There was no way out.

But suddenly I saw it.

I realized immediately that there

was something strange in that cave.

The slope we had followed

led straight to it.

-Susana?

-Luca? Jenny? Do you read me?

-I can't get...

-Luca?

Fidel, you have to see this.

Wait, I'm coming.

Can you hear me?

I can't get any images.

I'm getting interference.

Sh*t!

What does that mean?

We're dead.

I don't know. What the hell...

-What are you doing?

-We can stop conserving energy.

We have a leak. It's not as airtight

as I thought. We're losing air.

The pilot indicator...

...indicates that the

internal pressure has dropped.

I don't understand why the sensors

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