Blue Sky of Mars

by Christopher R Wills

  As Jethro toured the Methuselah something else distracted him. He called Doc to one side.

  “Doc. Can you see those marks on the wall?”

  “Just about. What are they?”

  “I don’t know. What do you think?”

  Doc moved closer and stepped up onto a packing crate to have a look. She traced her fingers along the rock through the marks.

  “They look like scratch marks. Maybe metal on rock or something.”

  “That’s what I thought.” Jethro helped her down from the crate.

  “What does it mean Jethro?”

  “Keep this to yourself for now.” Jethro looked around to make sure nobody else was close enough to hear. “I think it means the Spiderbots have been in here.”

  “When?”

  “Not recent. The marks don’t look fresh. But who knows? I don’t want to scare anyone yet. Keep their minds on getting the Methuselah airborne.”

  “OK.”

  Gunny approached.

  “Sir. Your turn down the cavern.”

  Great. I love the Beatles.

  “Sir?”

  “Sorry, Gunny I was dreaming. Will I need my romper suit?”

  “No. It’s oddly warm down there.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Jethro.”

  Doc was approaching.

  “I got Brains to fix the Food Replicator.” She handed Jethro a flask.

  Jethro could see the expression on Gunny’s face.

  “RHIP Gunny.”

  Gunny smiled.

  Jethro thanked Doc and went to relieve Peck.

  “Everything OK?”

  It is oddly warm down here.

  “Yes sir.”

  “You hesitated.”

  “It’s nothing sir.”

  “Peck. Spit it out.”

  “I could be wrong but I thought I heard sounds coming from deeper down in the cavern's darkness. It’s probably nothing. Maybe it’s me hearing things.”

  Jethro heard his own sound coming from down down deeper and down in the cavern's darkness. It sounded like a combination of a lapping of water with echo and possibly the sound of metal on rock?

  “Like that you mean?”

  “You heard it too, sir?”

  “Yes Peck. I heard it.”

  Time for action.

  “Peck. Stay here. Condition Red. I’ll be back in ten.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Jethro had been worried about the deeper parts of the cavern since he arrived. The marks on the wall and now the noises. He didn’t want to find out what they were the bad way.

  He pulled in Gunny and told him of his suspicions. Gunny had already noticed the marks on the walls and the roof and had formed a similar conclusion.

  Jethro called Brains over.

  “Can the ship take off?”

  “Yes sir but the shields aren’t complete yet.”

  “Can we complete the repairs in space?”

  “Yes sir, if we take everything with us. It’ll take longer.”

  “Right. We’re moving out. Get all the repair tools and any spare metal you need loaded on the Methuselah and fire up the engines.”

  “Gunny. Get both rear guns and the forward gun manned and pull the outside guard in. I want everyone on the ship within five minutes.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  “I’ll fetch Peck.”

  Jethro turned down the cavern and headed for the point where the maintenance lights shone no more. Peck would be about fifty meters down from that in the pitch black.

  He heard firing and ran towards it. He could see flashes in the dark which must be coming from Peck’s gun. But he also saw flashes that appeared to be coming from above Peck. He fired towards the second source of firing whilst he was running.

  “Peck?”

  “Over here sir.” She sounded weak.

  Jethro had his goggles switched to infra-red fifty fifty and could see four Spiderbots heading towards them. Two were on the ceiling and the other two were crawling along the walls.

  Peck was on the ground.

  “Can you run?”

  “No sir. Leave me here. I’ll delay them so you can get away.”

  Not a fucking chance.

  Jethro ignored her and picked her up and threw her on his shoulders. The Spiderbots would kill her easily if he left her. He turned and ran, shouting orders on his communicator up the cavern. When he reached the top of the rise, he could see that everyone was on the Methuselah and its engines were fired up. He kept changing direction as he ran, but it would only be a matter of seconds before one of the Spiderbots hit him.

  Then the two rear guns of the Methuselah started firing. They wouldn’t kill the Spiderbots from the front but Jethro had an idea as he was running.

  He shouted into his communicator. “Not the bots. Not the bots. Shoot the ceiling. Shoot the ceiling.”

  The rear ramp was open and was about a hundred meters away.

  In training, they often had to fireman carry a fellow trainee wearing 26 kilograms of kit two hundred meters in eighty seconds. Ninety meters. Mars' gravity ensured Peck was a feather by comparison, although bony in places, but Jethro wasn’t at the peak of fitness he had achieved during training so it wasn’t as easy as it should be. Eighty meters.

  He heard the cannons from the Methuselah booming over his head almost deafening him. Seventy meters. Jethro could hear Peck grunt at every footfall.

  Raja and Gunny were on the ramp. Sixty meters. Jethro heard a boom and then an almighty crash behind him and he was thrown forward off his feet with bony Peck landing on top of him.

  That hurt.

  He struggled to get up on his knees with Peck still on his shoulders. He heard Gunny shout something but couldn’t see because all around him was dust and small rocks. He tried to stand up. Then he felt Peck being snatched from his shoulders and someone took his arm. He guessed from the size of the hand and the massive body that it was Raja. Jethro felt himself being thrown onto Raja’s shoulders like he was a rag doll. Then he felt Raja lumbering into a run through the dust and rocks. He now understood why Peck was grunting even though she was a woman.

  “Nearly there, sir.” Twenty meters, they had caught Gunny and Peck up. Raja was fit.

  Ten meters and they were on the ramp. Before Gunny had reached the top of the ramp, it was already being closed. Jethro was dropped onto the ground by Raja. Doc rushed up to him.

  Jethro could barely speak “Do Peck first. She’s injured.” He pointed towards her. “Gunny is everyone on board?”

  He nodded.

  “Take off now and head north and up into space. You’re in command until I reach the Bridge.”

  Jethro ached all over but got up with help from Raja. He went to see Peck. They had shot her in one of her legs and one of her arms but they were just grazes; serious grazes but she was very lucky. The lasers the Spiderbots were using could easily cut through human flesh and bone.

  Doc patched her up and sent her to the sickbay, then turned her attention to Jethro. She walked with him to the sickbay and made him take his top off. He saw her wince when she saw the state his body was in. He winced himself when he saw his reflection in the mirror. His chest and stomach were one massive red, blue and yellow bruise.

  “Lie down here. We’ll get that scanned.”

  Jethro lay on the bed and Doc waved the scanner over his whole body.

  “Just a few cracked ribs. You must lay off the exercise for a few weeks.”

  “How long Doc?” Jethro felt the Methuselah rise from the ground. They were on the move.

  “Oh, not long. Maybe six weeks.”

  “What? Can’t you give me something to speed it up?”

  “No, sorry.”

  Jethro tried to sit up, but he felt pain immediately. “What about for the pain?”

  “Does it hurt?”

  Yes it fucking hurts and you know it.

  “Yes.”

  “Shame.” Doc smiled. “I’ll see if I can
find something.”

  The caring profession.

  “Thanks.” The Methuselah must be out of the cavern by now because they were flying.

  Doc poured him some water and handed him a pill.

  “This should help.”

  Jethro felt her hand linger in his briefly.

  Was that compassion? Or was there more to it?

  “Remember. No strenuous exercise for six weeks.”

  Neither then.

  Jethro left the sick bay and went to his cabin to get dressed properly before he went to the Bridge.

  He was thrown to one side of his cabin, then the other.

  The Methuselah was under attack.

  chapter 28

  Ted: “And for the last few minutes of the News, we have the eminent Psychiatrist Professor Reed Uce. Welcome Professor.”

  Reed: “I’m a Psychologist, not a Psychiatrist.”

  Ted: “I am sorry. You’re perfectly correct. I wonder of you could explain, for the benefit of our viewers and listeners, what the difference is?”

  Reed: “Psychiatrists think they know it all because they can prescribe pills and we can’t.”

  Ted: “I see… err… Have you got any questions for our guest Alice?”

  Alice: “Thanks for that, Ted. I love you too. Professor Uce? So Psychiatrists are medically trained doctors and Psychologists are more of the science and research part of the equation. Would that be right?”

  …silence…

  Alice: “Professor Uce?”

  Reed: “OK. Yes. Psychiatrists are medically trained. But does that mean they have to get paid so much more than us, eh? Eh? We come up with the theories and do years of meticulous research and experimentation so the Psychiatrists have a new label to attach to a patient. All they do is give out pills. And for that they get paid more than us. It’s not fair.”

  Alice: “The reason we asked you to come into the studio today Professor Uce, is to talk about why people do strange things like booking on a cruise hoping to see a dangerous monster Kraken.”

  Reed: “Talking of why people do strange things. Why did I agree to come to the studio to be insulted? I’m not putting up with this anymore. Goodbye.”

  Door slams in the background.

  Ted: “That went well. So that was the World News for today. Remember people, unlike other news channels we deal in facts. We don’t make this up.”

  chapter 29

  “Captain on the Bridge,” said Gunny as Jethro lurched onto the Bridge.

  “At ease. Sit-rep Gunny.” Jethro sat in the Captain’s chair that had been created for him. He would have liked more time to savor the achievement of his childhood ambition, but they were under attack.

  “Two of those teardrop craft. They were waiting for us when we cleared the snow storm. No serious damage to engines or ship integrity so far.”

  “Gunny tour the guns.”

  Gunny left the Bridge so he could ensure the guns were OK.

  Another blast rocked the ship.

  “Take the ship down to one kilometer altitude.”

  “One kilometer altitude,” repeated Fraser on the helm.

  “That way all guns except the belly gun can bear.” Jethro didn’t need to explain his order, but he knew it helps motivate soldiers if they know why they are doing something.

  They heard an almighty explosion over the speakers, but the ship barely nudged.

  “One down, sir. One down,” Gunny reported.

  “Well done. Don’t lose your concentration.” Jethro and the Bridge were seeing it on the Bridge monitors.

  There was another explosion, but this time the ship moved a lot more than the nudge. Jethro was nearly thrown out of his seat.

  “Sir forward gun gone; forward gun gone.”

  Shit.

  “Concentrate guns. Concentrate.” Jethro desperately wanted to rush up aloft and take charge of one of the guns himself but he was the Captain and his position was on the Bridge guiding and controlling. He was learning the hard way that the Captain’s chair wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.

  More shooting from the Methuselah and return fire, presumably from the alien teardrop craft.

  “Sir, we’re on a head on collision course with the alien craft. We’re going to collide.” Walker shouted.

  It appeared all the Methuselah’s guns were firing at the alien teardrop craft but it must have its shields up because none of the shots appeared to affect it.

  “Take evasive action as necessary helm,” Jethro ordered unnecessarily because the helm should already be doing that.

  “Sir. She’s trying to crash into us.”

  That’s all we need. A kamikaze alien.

  “I’m taking the helm Walker.” Jethro switched helm control to himself. It was standard operating procedure for the Captain of a ship to assume full responsibility for a crash, even if he or she was in bed asleep at the time of the crash, and if Methuselah was going to crash it was going to be under Jethro’s hand when it happened.

  The alien ship was mirroring. If Jethro went up, so did the alien ship, but there was a delay of about a second. Jethro was playing chicken with an alien ship, and his ship and entire crew were the bait.

  “Crash stations everybody,” Jethro ordered. “Evacuate belly gun. Remainder keep firing.”

  “Ten seconds to collision,” Fraser reported.

  “Every second, Fraser. Thank you.”

  “Nine seconds.”

  Jethro went left.

  “Eight seconds.”

  The alien ship mirrored to stay on a collision course.

  “Seven seconds.”

  Jethro went right.

  “Six seconds.”

  The alien ship mirrored.

  “Five seconds.”

  Jethro went left.

  “Four seconds.”

  The alien ship mirrored.

  “Three seconds.”

  Jethro went right.

  “Two seconds.”

  The alien craft mirrored.

  Jethro banked left then hard up.

  “One second.”

  The alien craft mirrored the left turn but was too late to mirror the climb that Jethro had actioned at the last moment, so when the crash came it was not head on, but a glancing blow where the alien craft hit the underside of the Methuselah.

  On the Bridge the crew were all strapped in so although the crash rocked the Methuselah violently, the Bridge crew remained in their seats.

  “All guns fire when ready. All guns fire when ready,” Jethro ordered as he slowly turned the ship around.

  He brought the ship about and saw that the alien teardrop craft was almost stationary from where it had hit the Methuselah. It was obviously quite badly damaged and smoke was rising from the rear end.

  Jethro heard the guns firing away at the craft and saw it explode to a cheer from the crew. He let them have their moment before he dragged them back to the practicalities of the situation they were in.

  The Methuselah was obviously damaged again, and they needed to look at it before they attempted to get into space. They would have to put down somewhere. Jethro scanned his map of Mars. The last place he wanted to head for was anywhere near civilization because the aliens must have full control of those areas by now. The north pole was a possible, but it was a long way. He spotted the ideal place.

  “Brains? How far are we from the Olympus Mons?”

  “Olympus Mons?”

  “We need to put down somewhere to give the ship a once over.”

  “We’re an hour from the caldera sir.”

  “Caldera?”

  “The top of the volcano. The flat bit.”

  “Can we land on it?”

  “Perfect place sir,” said Brains “Often covered in clouds and dust storms according to the computer.”

  “Walker. Steer a course for the top of Olympus Mons.”

  “Aye aye, sir.”

  Jethro hoped they could get down, check the ship out, and back up again befo
re they were discovered. He chose a landing spot close to the edge of one of the six calderas that were on the top of the volcano.

  “Sir?”

  “Yes Fraser.”

  “I was watching the monitor I thought I saw a ship.”

  Not another alien attack.

  Jethro immediately put out an all points communication. “Man the guns. Prepare for an attack.”

  “No. Sir.”

  “What Fraser?”

  “I meant another ship on the ground. I think we’ve just passed a ship on the ground.”

  “What kind of ship?”

  “I only saw it fleetingly but it looked to me like an Earth Mining Vessel.”

  What?

  “Fraser circle round immediately. Put us over that ship.”

  Jethro didn’t stand the gun crews down because he wanted to be sure. It could be anything; Mars was being attacked by aliens. There were many EMVs in this part of the Galaxy. It could be an EMV from a hundred years ago that had crashed and been forgotten although that was highly unlikely.

  “There. There it is, sir.” Fraser pointed excitedly at the large Bridge monitor.

  Jethro zoomed in.

  Oh my god.

  There was stunned silence on the Bridge. The ship on the ground was the Blackbird.

  chapter 30

  Jethro told his crew he would pass over the Blackbird but not land straight away and they were to make detailed observations as they flew by.

  The crew viewed through zoom lenses and on monitors and via scanners but none could see any signs of life, not even footprints on the ground.

  “I’ll take her down the other side of that cliff in the shade where it’s dark.”

  The Blackbird was on a large flat plain of the biggest of the six calderas on the Mons Olympus. Two clicks away there was another, possibly later caldera sunken below the level of the large one. It was well defined with sides that cast deep shadows.

  Jethro instructed Walker to take the helm and land close to the cliff edge in the deep shadows where it would be difficult to see from the air. When they were safely down, he assembled the crew in the storage bay and by intercom and briefed the crew.

  “Our mission and our number one priority is to repair the Methuselah and get back to Earth with the inoculations and with the knowledge we have to prepare Earth for an attack by the aliens. Is everybody clear on that?”