by John Coon
“We’ve been over this three times now,” Sam said, cutting him off. “Norah needs to be isolated until I can determine if an alien pathogen has infected her.”
Anger radiated from Cliff’s eyes. His face hardened into a stony stare.
“You can’t expect me to stay away when she needs me by her side. I love Norah. She means the world to me. Let me help her.”
Sam sighed. Cliff knew the Earth Defense Bureau protocols for situations like this one. They could not risk carrying a potential disease back to Earth. Until her blood tests turned up negative, that meant isolating Norah, Rudra, and himself from everyone else on Phobos Station. Sam sympathized with Cliff’s desire to do something to help his partner. But he also refused to further jeopardize their lives and safety beyond what already happened.
“I wish none of us were in this situation,” Sam said. “I’d love nothing more than to hop on the space elevator and get the hell off this rock. But this is our cross to bear for the moment.”
Cliff slammed his fist on a console next to the laptop screen. Sam flinched at the sudden noise.
“This is our cross to bear? That’s what you have to say to me? Good God! Do any Earth Defense Bureau officials possess actual human feelings or are you all robots housed in flesh?”
Sam threw up his arms.
“What do you want me to say? Coming down here is too dangerous. Just stay on Phobos Station if you don’t want to get sent back to Earth for good when this is all said and done.”
Cliff mashed a button on his laptop keyboard. The screen flickered and his image vanished a second later. Sam sighed again and rubbed his hands across his eyes and cheeks. Why was Cliff so determined to make things tougher than their current state? His hands were tied, and he damn well knew it. Sam did not want to ponder what repercussions lay in store if he made an exception to quarantine protocols.
Earth had already dealt with enough pandemics on its own. No need to introduce another extraterrestrial pathogen into the mix.
A slight groan greeted his ears. Sam glanced over at Norah. She lay on a twin bed pressed against a wall inside her living quarters. Two blankets covered most of Norah’s body, leaving only the injured wrist, her head, and her neck visible. Her eyelids remained closed. A promising sign. The sedatives were working. They bought him time to figure out what else to do to lessen whatever pain still afflicted Norah.
Sam walked over to her bedside. He ran a handheld digital thermometer over her forehead. The thermometer displayed a temperature of 38.1 degrees Celsius. A mild fever consistent with fighting off an infection.
Exactly as Sam feared. An alien virus or toxin invaded her system. Her body cranked up the temperature to burn out the invader.
If venom or a pathogen indeed infected Norah, killing the alien and studying its corpse offered the best path for effective treatment. Then, Sam would have a chance draw venom from the stinger and Rudra could run some tests. If all went well, they would cobble together an anti-venom antidote on the fly and stabilize Norah enough to return her to Earth for further medical treatment.
Sam cast his eyes at a circular window above his head. Rudra had not checked in for a while since leaving the habitat unit to track down the mining vehicle. He wondered if the scientist’s attempt to breach the outer walls had been successful. Sam double checked and triple checked the door leading into the tunnel connecting to the laboratory while Norah remained sedated. He found no evidence the alien had breached the other habitat unit and escaped into the tunnel.
For now, he found himself stuck in a desperate waiting game with no exit.
Where is Rudra? He should have checked in by now.
These thoughts gnawed at Sam. He marched over to the laptop sitting outside Norah’s living quarters. Sam planted himself on a short stool in front of the screen. It displayed both Coordinated Mars Time and Coordinated Universal Time back on Earth. The clock showed Rudra had been absent for 33 Martian minutes.
Not a good sign.
Sam pulled up the video screen and tried to connect with Rudra through his helmet camera. Static popped up at once on the screen. It took a minute before a grainy video feed broke through and he saw the colonist. A clear protective visor shielded Rudra’s face. A protective suit and helmet encased his body. Video feed from his helmet camera had a definite shaky-cam vibe as the mining vehicle’s wheels bounced over rocky Martian terrain.
“How’s Norah? Ran … some trouble … engine seized up for …”
Rudra’s voice mirrored the choppy quality of the video feed. Sam clicked on the video call settings and adjusted the feed to try to buffer out the static.
“Where are you, Rudra? How close are you to the laboratory walls?”
“Five minutes … I hope … works.”
“Me too. Check back with me once you punch a hole through the regolith. We’ll need to retrieve the alien creature’s body once it has been neutralized.”
Rudra nodded. The video feed cut off again a second later. Sam clasped his hands behind his head and pinched his eyelids shut. How would he explain everything that happened on Mars to Director Marks at the Earth Defense Bureau? This simple mission had turned into a complicated nightmare.
Two years had passed since the debacle in Utah. Sam counted himself fortunate to keep his job with the bureau after so many things went wrong during that first contact situation. The odds did not favor him this time. Two dead colonists and another one battling a serious wound and a potential pathogen.
Under his watch.
Sam had considered taking early retirement once he returned from Mars. Now, the bureau would take the choice out of his hands. His career as he knew it would meet an end. General Daly gave him some latitude. Marks, his successor, viewed every situation through a no-nonsense accept-all-responsibility lens.
If I’m finished, at least I can go down swinging and save Earth from this alien threat.
Sam tried to comfort himself with this thought as he rose from his stool. He walked over to a porthole in a center column running down the center of the unit. The column housed a hydroponic garden serving as a primary food source for the colonists. He rubbed a green leaf between his fingers. Everything would work out. Rudra was on the verge of boring a hole through the walls. They would neutralize the alien creature. Things were going to become normal again down here.
Peace would return soon enough.
On the other hand, what happened if the aliens who left this creature on Mars returned? Did they have sinister plans formulated for a direct attack on Earth?
Don’t think about that right now, Sam told himself. One problem at a time.
Two rapid beeps greeted his ears. Sam sprinted back to the laptop screen. Rudra popped up—his video feed still choppy. Drilling noise alternated with heavy static.
“What’s the word?” Sam asked. “Have you breached the walls yet?”
Rudra tapped a gloved index finger on a screen inside the mining vehicle. He glanced up at Sam and nodded.
“The computer shows the drill penetrated both wall layers.” Rudra’s eyes darted back to the other monitor. “That alien should suffocate within two or three minutes.”
“Understood. I’ll meet you down at the lab.”
Sam made his way over to a locker and donned his specialized Mars space suit. A heads-up display popped up once he snapped his helmet in place. It displayed critical data ranging from life support status to environmental conditions. A camera and microphone embedded inside the helmet allowed Sam to be seen and heard through his protective gear.
He plodded down to the ground level and exited through the airlock. Sam cast his eyes toward the Sun hanging low on the horizon. Sunset approached. Wispy clouds laced traces of water ice diffused violet hues into the usual butterscotch colored Martian sky. Back in his NASA days, Sam studied Martian sunsets in photos sent back by rovers. Seeing one in person
seemed a little surreal. No matter how many times he gazed out at the horizon, it never quite sank in that this same sun journeyed across blue skies back home. The Sun appeared so much smaller here, resembling an alien star revealing itself to Sam for the first time.
Rudra exited the mining vehicle just as Sam reached the building perimeter. He waved to Sam and beckoned for him to join him at the airlock leading into the lab. Sam embraced Rudra and gave him a couple of hearty pats on the shoulder.
“I started to wonder what happened to you out here,” he said. “You were out of contact for over a half-hour.”
Rudra shrugged.
“Sorry about that. The mining vehicle’s solar power reserves were depleted. The engine seized up twice. Didn’t think I’d make it over here.”
Sam cast his eyes at the habitat unit’s outer wall.
“You made it here and you drilled the hole. That’s what matters.”
“Indeed. It’s only a few meters wide, but deep enough to get the job done.”
Sam’s eyes darted over to the fresh hole. Rudra drilled a nice circular chunk out of the regolith wall. Patching up the hole and repressurizing the unit would be simple enough for the colony robots to do once he and Rudra cleaned out the dead bodies and sterilized the laboratory. Sam shuddered as scenes from the brutal deaths of Sergei and Mei unfolded in his mind a second time.
What would become of the Mars colony? Sudden tragic deaths were bound to scare participating Earth governments and underscore dangers facing future colonization missions. Would Russia and China pull out from Mars and yank their contribution to colony funding? Sam was not convinced his own government would keep the colony going. The United States could not keep untimely deaths of Martian colonists out of the public eye, especially with high-profile global media coverage surrounding this colony from day one. Learning the fates of Sergei and Mei would only precipitate calls by opponents to cut funding and scrap the colony.
Sam did his best to shut those concerns out of his mind as Rudra opened the airlock. His focus needed to center on their immediate problem—gathering the dead alien and loading it on the space elevator to send back to Phobos Station for further study. No question remained on what threat it presented to humans. Now they needed to learn how to effectively combat these aliens if others from the same species showed up on Earth at some point.
The lab door still hung on its hinges. Bulges and dents from repeated assaults pockmarked the steel. Yet, the alien did not dislodge the door. Chaos reigned inside the lab. Broken and overturned equipment lay scattered across the floor. Lengthy cracks decorated lab walls. Sergei’s corpse and Mei’s corpse remained in the same spots where they had fallen. An eerie silence blanketed the whole lab now.
“Where’s the alien?”
Sam jerked his head toward Rudra. The same question popped into his mind. His eyes darted from wall to wall. He spotted only two dead bodies inside the lab.
No sign of a third one anywhere.
“This isn’t possible.” Sam faced Rudra again and shook his head repeatedly. “Exposure to carbon dioxide atmosphere should have killed that thing.”
Rudra lifted his head and cast his eyes at an air duct on the ceiling. Sam let his eyes trail in the same direction. A gaping hole blanketed a spot formerly occupied by a vent cover.
“The alien created an escape route before I drilled,” Rudra said. His eyes stayed glued to the ceiling. “Damn. I never expected it to be this smart.”
“How in the world did it escape? It should be dead. No oxygen is left in this unit.”
“That’s not entirely accurate.”
Sam lowered his head at the same time as Rudra. He cast an unblinking stare at the colonist.
“What do you mean? Unless the alien somehow breathes carbon dioxide, there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell it can survive oxygen deprivation.”
Rudra pressed a gloved hand against his helmet and peered back up at the ceiling.
“We have an automatic failsafe inside the unit. In case of containment breach in the lab, all remaining levels are sealed off from this level.”
Sam’s heart sank as he pondered the implications behind Rudra’s words.
“So, what you’re saying is a deadly alien is alive and roaming an upper level in this unit?”
“Exactly.”
Sam crossed his arms, each hand gripping the opposite upper arm. His breathing quickened. This redefined worst case scenario. If the alien were smart enough to escape the lab, they had no way of knowing how much damage it could still inflict.
“Do you have explosives?” Sam asked. “Or any combustibles to spark a large fire?”
“A fire won’t burn without oxygen.”
“Plenty of oxygen is left on the upper levels where the alien is hiding.”
“Isn’t burning down the habitat unit risky?”
“We’re running out of options. We can’t evacuate Norah until we get back conclusive evidence an alien pathogen isn’t infecting her. And the longer this alien lives, the slimmer our own odds for survival become.”
Rudra tossed up his hands.
“Fine. Let’s try your plan.”
Sam and Rudra tracked down explosives the colonists used to blast regolith in mining operations. They attached a payload of explosives to a small robot. Then, after unsealing a door leading from the lab into the outer staircase tunnel, Rudra tucked the robot and explosives under one arm and entered the tunnel.
“Wish me luck,” he said.
Sam saluted him.
“Godspeed.”
Rudra turned and started climbing stairs leading to the upper levels. Sam closed the door behind him. He switched on a laptop and brought up multiple video screens. One screen connected to a video feed from the robot. A second screen showed the feed from Rudra’s helmet camera. Other screens showed feeds from cameras on each level of the manned habitat unit.
Sam’s eyes darted from screen to screen as he hunched over the laptop, searching for any visible sign of the alien creature. Dimming sunlight allowed immense shadows to spring up across each level. Burgeoning darkness only complicated his efforts to spot the alien inside whichever room where it skulked.
“See anything on the second level?” Rudra asked.
Sam squinted at the corresponding screen. Nothing showed in the light or shadows.
“I don’t think the alien is in there. Try the next level.”
Feeds from both cameras bounced a bit as Rudra trudged up the stairs with the robot. Sam’s eyes drifted upward to the third level room camera. At once, he spotted movement within the shadows. His heart began pounding. He straightened up and instinctively jumped back from the screen.
“I see it. Third level.”
Rudra paused outside the door. A worried sigh greeted Sam’s ears.
“Let’s do this. Arming the explosives now.”
He flipped a control switch attached to the payload and set the robot on the ground. A digital timer clicked on, and numbers appeared. 60 seconds. Rudra spun the wheel and cranked open the door leading into the room.
“So far, so good.”
He activated the timer. The robot rolled past the open door with the speed of a remote-controlled toy car. Sam drew a deep breath and clasped his hands together. This would work. This had to work. He had no alternative ideas on how to destroy this alien threat if their current plan failed.
Without warning, a chair flew from across the room. It struck the robot and knocked it over on its side. Sam froze. His muscles tensed up and his eyes stayed glued to the screen. The alien ran forward and scooped up the robot. It glanced down at the digital timer and turned to face Rudra.
“Get out of there!” Sam shouted. “Get back here now!”
Rudra backpedaled from the door and stumbled into the tunnel wall. The alien snarled and charged toward him. It hurled the
robot and explosives straight at Rudra. Both objects hit him in the breadbasket, and he let out a pained grunt. The impact sent Rudra tumbling down the closest stair as the alien pulled the door shut again.
BOOM.
Shockwaves rocked the staircase. A fireball ripped through the length of the tunnel. Shards of polyethylene plastic rained down from the tunnel walls on the stairs. The visor on Rudra’s helmet cracked like an eggshell and his video feed cut off a second later. The robot’s video feed also stopped in the explosion.
Sam sank to his knees. His eyes widened and his mouth hung open. He began panting and quickly slammed his fist against the floor. Twice they had tried to outsmart this alien and failed both times. Now Rudra joined Sergei and Mei in a growing list of casualties on this mission.
Sam closed his eyes for a moment and tried to calm his breathing. He did not want to die on this god forsaken planet. Little hope of creating a different outcome for himself remained.
He could not risk hopping inside the climber with Norah and riding up to Phobos Station in her condition. And the alien already resisted two attempts to kill it. Only one course of action remained for him and Norah. He needed to warn the Earth Defense Bureau about what happened here. Then, Sam had to destroy all escape routes from Mars.
If dying on this barren planet ended up being his fate, he damn well would make this murderous alien share the same fate.
13
No sign of a planet showed up on the sensors when the stolen Thetian vessel dropped to sub-light speed. Kyra frowned and furrowed her brow.
“These are not the coordinates for Earth.” She cast a hard stare over her shoulder at Xttra. “Why do you insist on lying to us?”
Xttra shrugged and did his best to suppress a smile threatening to break free from the corners of his cracked and bleeding lips. He was not entirely successful.
“I could have sworn this is the place. If we keep looking around, we’ll stumble upon it eventually.”
Xander whipped out a melter from a holster on his belt. He pointed the weapon right at Xttra’s face and rested his finger right in front of the trigger, ready to press it at a moment’s notice.
