William certainly didn't want to see Olympus Mons erupt for real.
This was a volcano with a diameter larger than the entire area of England. If a major eruption did occur, it could potentially alter Mars' climate conditions. It was foreseeable that glaciers near Olympus Mons might vanish as a result of the eruption.
The water vapor from those melting glaciers would rise into the sky and eventually condense into ice crystals, which would then scatter across the entire planet.
Whether this scenario was good or bad was anyone's guess.
With that thought, William signaled a fifteen-second countdown to detonation to Sunday. Grabbing the live-streaming drone, he smiled and said, "Alright, folks, that's it for today's stream. I need to get back to the ship, grab something to eat, wash up, and get a good night's sleep."
As he made his way toward the ship's boarding ramp, a low rumble echoed across the landscape.
The summit of Olympus Mons began to shake, and rocks on the ground bounced up and down.
"What's going on?"
Feigning confusion, William glanced around as if trying to figure things out. Suddenly, as if realizing something terrifying, he yelled in shock, grabbed the drone, and sprinted up the ramp in a few quick strides, rushing into the ship.
He slapped the button to seal the hatch and cursed angrily. "Just my damn luck! A disaster that hasn't happened in tens of thousands, maybe even millions of years, and I'm the one who has to run into it!"
Meanwhile, many people on Earth began wondering if it was really possible that, as William had said, a volcano that hadn't erupted for centuries on Mars was actually blowing its top now that he was there.
Once inside the cockpit, William activated the ship's systems. Through the large window, he saw ominous fissures glowing with dark red magma begin to spread across the multi-kilometer-wide crater of Olympus Mons. Soon, thick plumes of smoke and boiling magma started to bubble and erupt like boiling water.
"Activate the automatic control system. Initiate emergency evacuation protocol!"
"Boom!"
A jet of molten lava suddenly shot up just a few meters from the ship, prompting William to curse in panic. "Damn it! Get the ship moving! Take off! Now!"
"Sir, the external power converters haven't been retracted. Starting the ship now carries a 21% risk of damaging the energy system. I recommend severing the external power interface."
"Cut it! Cut it now! And get us in the air immediately!"
"Understood, Sir. The external power has been disconnected. Commencing takeoff."
Another eruption sent lava splattering onto the ship's front window and hull.
"Fuck!" William roared, manually taking over the controls. "You useless AI! Your response time for emergencies is garbage! When we get back to Earth, I swear I'm going to wipe your code and rebuild you from scratch!"
The engines roared to life with a series of "whirs" and "hisses." William lifted the ship off the ground, aiming to accelerate away from the danger zone. However, just as the ship rose about twenty meters, a blast of lava struck its underside, causing the vessel to lose balance and wobble violently in midair.
Thankfully, Sunday quickly took over, stabilizing the ship and steering it toward the nearest edge of the crater, navigating through a barrage of erupting magma.
Just as William thought they were finally safe, Sunday issued a new warning:
"Warning: Lava has entered the engine exhaust ports. Estimated time to blockage—fifteen seconds. Searching for a suitable landing site for repairs."
"No!"
Viewers on Earth, equally anxious, heard William shout, "Increase power output! Maximize energy output! I don't care about engine damage—just do it now!"
"Understood."
The ship accelerated rapidly, becoming like a wild horse bolting through the sky. It punched through several rising streams of lava on its way out of the volcano's range.
Once they cleared the danger zone, William took a deep breath and asked Sunday, "With the ship in its current state, can we pull off a high-speed spin?"
After a brief pause, Sunday replied, "There's a 78% probability it will succeed without issue."
"Then increase power output again. If we spin fast enough, those lava deposits should get flung off the ship. Let's go!"
Gripping the control seat tightly, William braced himself. Sunday initiated the maneuver, sending the ship into a rapid series of spins. After about a dozen rotations, the ship stabilized.
"Sir," Sunday reported, "the lava has been expelled from the engine exhaust, but approximately 67% of the ship's outer hull is still covered in cooled lava. We need to find a safe landing site to assess the damage. Without repairs, thermal expansion and contraction could cause micro-cracks in the outer materials, compromising future space travel."
"Damn it," William muttered under his breath. He knew he was technically just acting, but with over two-thirds of the hull coated in solidified lava, he couldn't risk taking the ship into space. The outer heat shield and cold-resistant alloy layer would likely crack under the extreme temperature changes.
Such damage could then compromise the structural integrity of the layers beneath.
In other words, unless absolutely necessary, he wouldn't dare leave Mars in this condition.
Fortunately, England had already shipped a second replacement hull to the London Space Center after the first support ship's shell had been damaged. The new hull was currently being fitted with other components.
Meanwhile, construction on a second ship was well underway in the Sahara Desert facility, with additional support ships from the X-17 planet expected to arrive in just a few days.
With one jump through a space warp, they could reach Mars in under five minutes.
In reality, the volcanic eruption wasn't as dangerous as it looked. The molten rock couldn't penetrate the ship's high-temperature-resistant armor, capable of withstanding 4,000 degrees Celsius and small meteor impacts.
However, for the sake of appearances and to minimize the risk of a major eruption, Sunday guided the ship toward Valles Marineris, Mars' largest canyon system. They landed in a natural rocky overhang to avoid being blanketed in volcanic ash, which could hinder future engine starts.
Fortunately, surveillance footage from a nearby base showed that although Olympus Mons had shot lava hundreds of meters into the air, the eruption only lasted about an hour. The pressure from the red mercury core bomb had been fully released.
After cooling, the summit's lava layer actually receded by several dozen meters, forming a massive basin several kilometers across and over two hundred meters deep.
(End of Chapter)
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