“My mortification at this failure knows no bounds, Abbot, and I humbly subject myself to your disfavor and those of the brethren.” The prioress did her best to not upset Argon Noble any more than she could possibly manage.
“Your desire for redemption is duly noted, Prioress Han-su, and there may well be an opportunity for your martyrdom in the coming sols. But our priority now is to focus on the problem of Malbec and Langthorp.”
Han-su’s attempts at throwing herself at Argon’s mercy were only succeeding in digging a deeper hole. She needed to change tack, start offering solutions, prove her worth to the Order.
“They…eh…could be taken care of,” she said, a little hesitantly.
“They will, Prioress. But not in the idiotic manner I think you’re suggesting. You need to realize that they are founders of the colony, they go way back to the beginning. In short, Prioress, they are not people who can simply be brushed off. If their intention is to venture north to the enclave, then they will expect Xenon to receive them, and if this does not happen, they could cause us a lot of trouble. So, Prioress, this is exactly what will happen—they will meet Xenon Hybrid.”
Han-su’s eyes widened. “Is…is that possible?”
“With a certain sleight of hand.” The avatar grinned. “Hopefully, it will be enough to satisfy them. However, we now need to move the timeline forward.”
“But…” Han-su felt the panic rising within her.
“No buts. This has now become a necessity. We can only stall Malbec for so long. Time is not on our side.”
“Of course, we are here to serve.” The Prioress thought it best to return to being conciliatory.
“The date for Ares to Arise must now be brought forward by seven sols.”
Han-su reckoned this to be an almost impossible task, and just for a brief moment considered pleading with the abbot for more time, but there was no point. She would just have to find a way.
“Of course, a way will be found. We of the Jezero chapter will not fail.”
“See to it that you don’t, or you will be given the opportunity to become a martyr sooner than you think.”
The holographic avatar extinguished, and Han-su could breathe a little easier. This is my own fault, she thought. If she had not been so enthusiastic in her desire to impress the upper echelons of the Order by attempting such an audacious attack on the Earth-bound ship, then maybe they would not be in this position now. Yet all was not lost. The serendipitous discovery of Malbec at the waystation gave the enclave an advantage; they knew she was on her way, steps would be taken to contain the risk. Han-su should be rewarded for alerting the enclave, not put under even more pressure.
Her comms unit pinged. What now? she thought. She glanced at the screen. It was a call from Admissions, down at the entrance atrium of the House. What the Ares do they want? She hit connect.
With that, a video feed materialized on the wall monitor showing a wide-angle shot of the atrium. Two people were engaged in a conversation with a follower at reception.
“Prioress Han-su, we have a situation down here,” came a breathy voice.
“This better be important,” Han-su replied, with no attempt to disguise her exasperation.
“Eh…it’s Mia Sorelli. You know, the Mars envoy. She’s in the atrium. She’s requesting a visit to the enclave. What should I do?”
“Get rid of her, spin her some story, just don’t make her suspicious of anything. Wait a minute…where’s that guy going?”
On the camera feed, Han-su could see that Sorelli’s associate had disappeared; he was no longer in view. She gestured at the screen to bring up some of the other camera feeds in the House. She found him strolling down one of the private corridors.
“He’s gone inside the building,” Han-su shouted. “In the main corridor—he’s opening doors. He’s in the lab.” She was becoming frantic. “Get him the hell out of there, now!”
Two followers raced into the lab, confronted the intruder, and escorted him back out to the atrium, where he reconnected with Sorelli. There was a brief exchange of apologies and pleasantries, and then they left.
Han-su breathed a sigh of relief, yet it was only momentary. This was a major breach in security. Sorelli was a well-known ex-cop of some repute, and Han-su knew damn well she was not here to enquire about visiting the enclave. She and her sidekick were poking around, trying to peer into the darker corners of the Order’s House here in Jezero, and one of them had seen the lab. They would be back, perhaps not so overtly. And the next time, they might not see them coming. Security would need to be beefed up, but even still, Han-su knew she was dealing with a formidable foe in Mia Sorelli, if her reputation was anything to go by.
The vultures were circling. First Malbec’s journey to the enclave, now this. Deep down, the prioress knew she was partly responsible. Had she not sanctioned the attack on the spaceship, none of this would be happening. But she had so desperately desired the adulation of the Order. How else was she to rise through its ranks if not through bold action to advance its objectives? And to some degree, the attack had not been a complete failure. Flights had stopped, no more people arriving, and the wheels of commerce were grinding to a halt. All the better for the Order. All the better for their time to arise.
Yet there were some practical concerns that simply could not be willed out of existence, and more production time was needed. Han-su could not afford another mistake. Sorelli would have to be taken care of. An opportunity for martyrdom, perhaps. Not for Han-su, of course. That privilege would given to some other blessed soul.
9
Plains of Utopia
Jann, Nills, and Gizmo spent the night in the waystation without further incident. They slipped away in the morning quietly and unnoticed, disconnecting the rover from its docking bay by overriding the station’s security systems, and leaving no digital trace of having ever been there. Gizmo navigated the machine out from the waystation, shifting it northward toward the enclave of Xenon Hybrid while Jann and Nills settled in for the long journey ahead.
After a few hours of traveling, they began to enter into the region known as the Plains of Utopia, a vast, flat expanse of land extending as far as the unbroken horizon ahead. The road was in good repair, as much as any could be on Mars, considering all roads were dirt tracks, even the main transport arteries. Twice they met another rover coming in the opposite direction. It was the most exciting thing that happened on the long, boring journey.
After several hours of this monotony, a faint deviation began to grow out of the horizon, and as they drew closer, Jann began to make out the outline of Xenon’s fabled enclave, a population outpost on the very outer limit of colonization on Mars.
A vast domed carbuncle ringed with numerous communications towers grew out from the horizon. Around its base, more structures began to rise up as they advanced. Soon they could see that this was a sizable outpost, as big as a small town, and that was just on the surface. Nills informed her that there was also a significant underground substructure, at least three times the size of what was visible from up top.
The cockpit comms burst into life. “This is Utopia Station One. Six-wheeled rover advancing on southern route, please identify yourself.”
Jann glanced over at Nills. “What do you think? Should we comply?”
“I thought that was the plan—surprise them with our arrival.”
Jann looked back out through the rover windshield at the looming outline of Xenon’s isolated enclave. “Yep, that’s the plan. Okay, let’s see what happens.” She tapped an icon on the comms panel. “This is Dr. Jann Malbec and Nills Langthorp, requesting permission to visit the enclave.”
Jann sat back, looking across at Nills as they waited for a response. It came sooner than either of them thought.
“We welcome you to our community. Please make your way to docking bay A5.”
“Well that was a surprisingly fast response,” said Jann. “I thought our arrival would throw them into a tail
spin.”
“Doesn’t sound like it. Seems almost routine. Maybe this trip will be more pleasant than we thought,” Nills said with a grin. “Actually, I’m looking forward to meeting Xenon again after all this time.”
“Maybe,” Jann replied, a little unconvincingly.
Gizmo reversed the rover into the appointed docking bay, and as soon as a secure connection was confirmed and the cabin pressure equalized with the facility’s, both airlock doors were opened. Three figures, all in dark-red cloaks, faced them as they exited. A woman stood out front, her hood down, her face brimming with a bright smile. The two others stood behind her, their hoods up, concealing their faces in shadow.
“We are delighted and overjoyed that you should see fit to grace our humble community with your presence,” the woman said, a little ostentatiously. “My name is Anna. I’ve been assigned to your care during your stay.”
Her smile momentarily lost a little of its luster as Gizmo moved out from the rover.
“I’m very sorry, but droids are forbidden in our sanctum. It will not be allowed to enter.”
“What? I am not staying here all on my own.” Gizmo waved an arm around.
“I’m sorry, Gizmo, but those are the rules,” Nills said, the disappointment apparent in his voice. “You’ll have to wait for us in the rover.”
“Well that is just great. I never get to join in the fun.”
“We won’t be long,” Jann offered. “We’ll be back soon.”
Gizmo seemed to deflate slightly as it turned around and moved back into the rover. “Left on my own, again.” The outer airlock door to the rover closed.
“That’s, eh…a very unusual droid you have, or maybe things have moved on a lot since I last encountered one. Anyway, I’m very sorry that you have to do without your mechanical friend, but we have no robots in this sanctum. Everything here is done by our brethren. This is our way.” She smiled her best smile.
“That okay,” said Jann. “We can manage without it for a while.”
“Come, we have prepared some lodgings for you where you can refresh after your long journey.” The woman turned on her heel and moved off, beckoning them to follow. The two hooded figures took up the rear.
“When do we get to see our old friend, Xenon?” Jann ventured.
“Master Xenon is meditating at present. But he has been informed of your arrival and is looking forward to meeting you later, after you’ve had time to rest and recuperate from your journey.”
They entered into a large industrial elevator that had seen better sols and descended down a level, where they emptied out into a wide, circular rock cavern. The entire roof seemed to glow with a soft, even illumination. Jann nudged Nills and pointed up at it. “Bioluminescence,” she said. “I haven’t seen that used in quite a while.”
“Me neither, I thought it simply went out of fashion.”
“Here we are,” said Anna, her smile almost splitting her face in half. A low door set into the wall swung open to reveal a large circular room with a domed roof and the same overhead illumination. The walls were covered with numerous tapestries designed in muted colors and abstract patterns. At the far end was a large, comfortable bed piled high with cushions made in a similar style to the wall hangings. There were benches, tables, and a myriad of rough-hewn sculptures and ornaments dotted around. Red, brown, and yellow were the predominant colors. The entire space had a rustic, almost tribal feel.
“I do hope you find our humble lodgings comfortable,” Anna said, a little apologetically. “You’ll find a washroom over there, and we have left you some food and refreshments. Please make yourself at home, and I will call in on you later to update you as to when you can meet Master Xenon.” She backed out of the room with a bow.
“Where does this place remind you of?” Jann said as she looked over the cavern.
Nills stood in the center of the room and glanced over at Jann, then brought a finger to his lips before pointing at the celling.
Jann got the message: Be careful what you say. She nodded back.
From a pocket in his flight-suit, Nills took out a small cylindrical device, concealing this action as much as he could before flicking a switch on its face. He set it down on one of the tables.
“That should take care of any surveillance. It will disrupt any electronic devices in a ten-meter radius.” He glanced around. “It reminds me of Colony Two, back in the bad old days. Same eerie vibe.”
“Yeah, exactly. We’ve only been here a few minutes and already the place is giving me the creeps.”
10
By the Book
“Have you lost you mind, Zack?” They had reconvened outside the Xenonist clearing house in Jezero, and Mia was clearly angry at his actions.
“What…I thought that was the plan? You said so—snoop around.” Zack’s exhilaration at his solo-run was now tempered by Mia’s remonstrations.
“I didn’t mean that you should alert them to our true intentions.” Mia tapped her comms unit to flag an autonomous ground car. “I have to admit, Zack, I had you figured all wrong. I never thought you’d just rush off like that.”
Zack was breathless and his face still flushed from the adrenaline coursing through his body. “Sorry, but I’ve been dying to get a look inside that place for ages, and when I saw the opportunity I just…I dunno…went for it. I stumbled into a hi-tech lab, lots of equipment, at least a dozen people working in there.”
“We’d better not hang around here. Let’s get back to the hotel.” Mia grabbed his elbow and pushed him along. A few minutes later a car rolled up beside them, and they got in.
“What sort of lab was it?” Mia asked.
Zack shrugged. “What do you mean? It was just a lab.”
“I mean, was it for horticulture, or bio-tech, or something else? Robotics, maybe?”
Zack thought about this for a moment, running through the memory of what he had stumbled upon when he went opening doors he shouldn’t have. “Bio-lab, I think. I saw lots of those…dishes.” He made a circle with his hands. “Petri dishes, and hundreds of small vials stacked row after row, and complex-looking machines, all humming and blinking.”
Mia sat back in the seat. “Bio-lab, probably. But…it still doesn’t mean anything.”
Zack’s eyes widened. “What? But of course it does. They’re up to something—this proves it.”
“It doesn’t prove shit. They could simply be developing a better strain of cabbage.” She gave Zack a look. “No law against that.”
“But you saw how they reacted.”
The car came to a halt right outside the hotel. “Come on.” Mia gestured with her head. “Let’s get a drink. I really need one after that stunt you pulled.”
They exited the car, and Mia took a seat at one of the tables along the front of the hotel. The same waiter from before came out.
“What you having?” Mia jabbed a finger at a very sullen Zack.
“Water. I’m still on duty, remember?”
Mia looked up at the waiter. “Make mine a bourbon, on the rocks.”
The waiter nodded his approval and sidled off. Zack resumed his sullen demeanor.
“Look, I’m not saying that everything is kosher in there.” Zack’s face brightened a little at this. “I’m just urging caution. It’s never a good plan to jump to conclusions. All we know is that they’re operating a bio-lab of some kind, nothing more.”
“Then we need to go back, find out what they’re really up to.”
“And how do you propose we do that? Especially after your unsupervised walkabout last time. We’ve just given the game away.”
Zack went silent and slumped back in his seat as he contemplated this conundrum. “We break in—at night, when no one’s around,” he finally said.
Mia threw her head back and laughed.
Zack was clearly taken aback by this reaction. “What’s so funny?”
“Sorry.” Mia regained some control over her mirth. “It’s just you’re full of s
urprises, Zack. I had you pegged as a by-the-book kind of guy. I didn’t think breaking and entering was your style.”
Zack shrugged and looked a little sheepish.
Mia leaned in across the table. “So what you’re saying is, based simply on your hunch that ‘they’re up to something,’ you want to go all super-spy, break the law, and risk your job and career. Is that it?”
Zack scowled. “No. Maybe… I don’t know.” He shook his head. “All I’m saying is, they’re up to no good.”
Mia was silent for a moment as the waiter arrived with their drinks. When he left, Mia took a sip and relaxed a little. “Listen, Zack, a piece of advice. The hardest part of being a cop is not about knowing that something bad is happening. It’s knowing that there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s the hard part. It’s called the law, and it can be a pain in the ass.”
Zack screwed his mouth up. “Yeah, I take your point.”
“For what it’s worth, I too get a bad smell from these guys. But we can’t go in there all guns blazing. We need to do some solid by-the-book detective work. That means heading over to HQ and trolling through the archives to get a better picture of what these guys are doing. See if we can find patterns, incidents, suspicious activity, that sort of thing.”
But Zack didn’t answer. Instead, he yelled out in pain as something hit him on the back. He rose from the seat, gripping his right shoulder, and turned around to look back across the plaza. Mia now saw a short crossbow bolt protruding from his right shoulder.
She reacted immediately and whipped out her plasma pistol. “Zack,” she shouted, “get down.” She went to grab him, but two more bolts slammed into his chest. He collapsed across the table, which pitched over, sending him down on top of Mia. Another bolt slapped into the wall beside Mia’s head. As she moved to put the upturned table between her and the assailant, two more bolts thudded into it.
Plains of Utopia: Colony Six Mars Page 5
