Red Dust of Mars

by Christopher Wills

  “Sir. What can I get you?”

  “You could get me a double shot of some of that Single Malt GlenMarrangie. But I’ll have a Diet Coke.”

  “Two Diet Cokes please”

  The barbot fetched two glasses and poured two Diet Cokes from one of its fingers. Jethro’s voiceprint was enough to debit the cost from his credits.

  “What brings you to the bar Jethro? You don’t normally drink, although I see you’re not drinking now.”

  “Sir, you know I have a friend on Mars”

  “Yes, you’ve told me about her. Is it Mary or something?”

  “Maddy. She’s sent me a message.” Jethro paused.

  “You didn’t come to the bar to seek me out just to tell me that.”

  “No sir. She says she’s being attacked by aliens.”

  Major Misere tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling. “Did she now?” He didn't laugh.

  “Yes sir.”

  Major Misere looked at Jethro. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Sir. She said they had killed her parents. She wouldn’t joke about that.”

  “No I guess not.”

  “Did she say anything about the aliens?”

  “Not yet sir. I’ve replied to her with questions but it will take a couple of days to get a reply.”

  “Yes.” Major Misere took a deep breath.

  “Is there anything we can do about it sir?”

  “There is nothing you can do Jethro.”

  “You mean we’re going to do nothing?”

  “I mean we’re going to obey orders Jethro. That’s what we do. We obey orders. When you get a reply run it by me, OK?”

  “Yes sir.”

  Jethro put his glass down without finishing his drink and left the bar.

  Two days is a long time in space. Jethro tried to busy himself with things to do but all he could think of was the message from Maddy. Was she alright? Where was she? What was she going to do if no help came? How long could she last?

  Major Misere was in charge of the EMV Blackbird and their mission was to find mineral deposits on Asteroids. They had robots to do all the work. If the Asteroid they were visiting was large enough, and the largest were approximately a thousand kilometres in diameter, they would land and send out the robots to do the drilling and soil sampling. Jethro would get to stretch his legs on those large Asteroids because Major Misere didn’t like traipsing about on something that small.

  If the Asteroids were too small to land on, they would send the drilling and sampling robots down on jetdrones to do their work. There are almost 2 million Asteroids larger than a kilometre in diameter and many more smaller ones so the job of the Blackbird wouldn’t be finished in Jethro’s lifetime.

  Jethro joined the military for adventure and excitement and this was definitely not adventure and excitement. He did get to fire the Bow gun and Gunny had to gently remind him not to fire off too many times as they were wasting energy.

  After two days Jethro got the reply from Maddy. He immediately took it to Major Misere.

  “Read it to me Jethro.”

  Jethro read. “Hiding in bunker. Food and water for two weeks or more. I confirm aliens. One metre high, Squid like. Look weak. But body armour bots make them powerful. Love you.”

  Major Misere put his hands together and gave the appearance of someone who was thinking. After a minute or two his hands came apart. “I’d like to forward that message as an attachment to my daily log report to Earth if that’s OK?”

  “Yes sir. What about the first message?”

  “I reported that back on the day you told me about it Jethro.”

  “But I though you said we do nothing.”

  “No Jethro. I said you do nothing.”

  “I thought you didn’t believe me sir.”

  “I neither believed you nor disbelieved you. I’ve worked in intelligence. We used to have a saying. If one report says you are a dog, ignore it. If two reports say you are a dog start asking questions as to why they say that. If three reports say you are a dog, buy yourself a kennel. Now Earth will have at least two reports and who knows how many more. Now we wait for orders.”

  “Orders? But we won’t get sent to defend Mars from an alien attack. We’re an EMV with only a tiny force of Space Marines.”

  “We’ll see Jethro. We’ll see. In the meantime. Make sure all personal weapons are cleaned and tested.”

  “Yes sir.” Jethro thought the Major knew more than he was letting on. Maybe life was going to get more exciting after all.

  Jethro threw himself into ensuring all personal weapons were cleaned and tested and personal kit was inspected and worked to a high standard. It wasn’t easy because he wasn’t allowed to tell the men and women anything in case they messaged folks back home and a panic started. Scuttlebutt hadn't got wind of anything yet. And luckily Gunny was a fearsome character who backed him to the hilt and didn’t ask questions.

  “Sir. The Major wants to see you right away.”

  Jethro checked his gun back into the armoury and went to see the Major. He was in the bar and he was drinking his favourite single malt whiskey.

  “Jethro have a drink.”

  “Thanks but not at the moment sir.”

  “Jethro I insist.”

  He wasn’t drunk but he appeared as though he was happy which was the first time Jethro had ever seen him like that.

  “OK sir. I’ll have what you’re drinking.” Jethro had never drunk GlenMarangie single malt but he had heard Major Misere go on about it enough times.

  “What are we drinking to sir?”

  “Jethro. It gives me no pleasure to tell you this. But we are drinking because we may be going to war.”

  “War?”

  “We have been tasked to go to Mars and investigate your reports.”

  Jethro was stunned. He took a sip of the drink.

  “Why us?” he tried to say but all that came out was a croak. He hadn’t allowed for the bite of the single malt as it slid down his throat. “We’re only a lightly armed EMV. We don’t have the troops to mount a war.”

  “We are being asked to do a recce. Get in. Assess the situation. Get out and make a report. That’s all.”

  “But why us?”

  “Because Jethro, Earth has not received any communication from Mars for two days, and because we are the nearest vessel to Mars.”

  “I thought we were days away.”

  “We were but the last two nights I had the pilots put us into hyperdrive to get us into this position.”

  Crafty old devil.

  “Don’t smile Jethro. War is a shitty business even if you win. People will die, mostly the innocent. The war against Mars was terrible.”

  Jethro had learnt about the war in history at school. It was a dirty war where families and friends were split and fought against each other. Thinking of that war sobered him up.

  “Drink it down Jethro. You may need it. I’m closing the bar at midnight and I’ve stopped all messaging from the old bucket.”

  Are we really going to war?

  chapter 12

  “We’re going to land here.” Major Misere pointed to a spot on the chart. “I’ll take a patrol on hoverbikes to the city. I want you to secure the ship. Then take a small patrol to find this friend of yours.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Nice one. Thought I was going to be lumbered with protecting the ship.

  “Maddy could be the only real evidence we have, so it’s vital you get her back here to the ship and wait for me. If I’m not back in seventy two hours. Leave for Earth without me. I will do the same if you’re not back in seventy two hours. Do you understand?”

  “Yes sir. Seventy two hours.”

  Jethro had ten Marines including Gunny Brown. They were on hoverbikes older and a lot slower than the one Jethro had at his parent’s farm. Jethro spent hours on the Mesh at home reading and learning about engines so he could improve the performance of his hoverbike. He asked the
Major if he could do the same to the military bikes but the Major gave him the obey orders speech again.

  He was probably right, but Jethro took it to mean the Major didn’t want him messing about with other hoverbikes and he began to mess about with his own military issue hoverbike to give it a few more horse power, nowhere near as fast or as powerful as his bike at home, but it was a start.

  His team assembled for his briefing.

  “We’re going on a patrol to retrieve a civilian and bring her back here. Is that understood?”

  “Sir.” The chorus lead by Gunny.

  “You all have the location on your communicators. The mission will be complete when we return here with the civilian. Then we are to secure the area and wait until the Major and his team return when we can go to Earth. In seventy two hours from now the Blackbird will return to Earth whether we are on it or not. Is that understood?”

  “Sir.”

  Jethro wasn’t convinced. “Trooper Walker. When will the Blackbird leave for Earth?”

  “When we are back here sir.”

  “Gunny? Walker has just volunteered for the next detail, whatever that is.”

  “Aye aye sir.”

  “Walker. The Blackbird will leave for Earth in seventy two hours whether we are here or not. Do you understand?”

  “Aye aye sir. Seventy two hours whether we are here or not.”

  “Good. Gunny? Have we packed the thermal tents?”

  “No sir. I thought it was straight out then back here. They’ll slow us down.”

  “Maybe. But I don’t want to be caught out there in the open when the temperature gets to minus seventy.”

  “Packing them now sir. Walker?”

  Jethro continued.

  “Operational State Yellow, weapon on, safety on, shoot only when ordered. Any questions?”

  Trooper Peck, raised her hand. “Do we have any information about the enemy sir?”

  “We have some uncorroborated information from a civilian that the enemy are about a metre high and are made of a Squid like substance.” There was some laughter and high fives amongst the team.

  Jethro didn’t stop them but he waited until the hoora had died down.

  “Ladies. The civilian is my friend. She watched these...” Jethro didn’t know what word to use so he settled on “...aliens kill her mother and father. They appear to have a metallic armour. Earth has had no contact with Mars for four days. I suggest extreme caution until we have more data. Do you understand?” He put his best Major Misere tone on. It must have worked because the faces looking at him were more sombre.

  “Yes sir.”

  They mounted their hoverbikes and started them up. The Major’s party had already left and Jethro placed sentries around the Blackbird in two concentric cordons with electronic surveillance bots flying high above to give a ranged surveillance for the Blackbird. He also made sure the crew were ready to take off at a moment’s notice and that the turret guns were manned at all times as they were the most powerful weapons available to the Blackbird crew.

  He saw Conrad in the loading bay and approached him.

  “Jethro come back safe. I don’t want to be the one to have to tell Bronte, if anything happens to you.”

  “Thanks sir.”

  “Please. Call me Conrad. You’ll be a two ringer within a year.”

  “Thanks Conrad. And take care. I’ve got a bad feeling about this planet.”

  Conrad offered his hand. Jethro took it. It felt kind of final but it was good and made him feel good.

  They left the ship heading in the opposite direction to that of the Major.

  They were in a desert at the equator and Jethro wondered how anything could grow in these conditions. The temperature during the day was not far away from that of earth but during the night temperatures got well below freezing which would kill anything not protected. Jethro knew there was water, mostly pumped from below the surface and distributed by a series of canals.

  That was one of the strangest things about Mars. Early astronomers believed Mars was covered in canals until that proved to be untrue. Then when Mars became settled and water was discovered in huge seas below the surface irrigation canals were built to distribute the water, mimicking early beliefs about Mars.

  The farm was around fifty clicks south of them which should take about an hour as they were not rushing. Jethro sent out a forward scout and one on each flank and had a drone up to make sure they didn’t come across anything unexpectedly.

  After about forty five minutes Jethro halted the team for a final brief.

  “We’re close now. I don’t want any mistakes.”

  They were just about to get mounted when Jethro received a report from right flank.

  “Sir. Party of four, um I don’t know what the fuck they are but they look like robot spiders with six legs. Two metres high. They look armed and dangerous. Closest point of contact to you based on trajectory. Two hundred metres to your north in about twenty minutes. Over.”

  “Thank you. Stay well clear and observe. Do not engage. I want video footage but do not get close. Over.”

  “Well clear and observe only. Video footage. Out.”

  Jethro turned to Gunny. “Did you get that Gunny?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Move the team south about a hundred metres and dig in. We do not want to engage these OK?”

  “Aye sir.”

  Jethro brought the drone down in case whatever was out there could see it.

  Major Misere was well read and had been supplementing Jethro’s training in the long and boring days on the Blackbird. He told Jethro that a very important decision to make is to know when to engage the enemy, and it is never a good idea to engage until you have as much data as possible.

  These four robots or whatever they were could be the ones who killed Maddy’s parents and, although Jethro had the urge to charge towards them all guns blazing, he respected the Major’s experience.

  He joined the team and they waited. There was a light breeze and combined with the light dust covering the ground there shouldn’t be any tracks visible if the robots crossed their path.

  The twenty minutes took a lot longer than it felt like and after a while the right flank patrol returned to them. Jethro sent out another right flank to cover.

  The flank showed Jethro and Gunny the video footage.

  There were four robotic spider things walking across the sand. As reported, each was about two metres high and they were made of metal.

  “Shall we attack them sir?”

  “No Gunny. Our mission is to retrieve someone and collect data. We don’t know what their capabilities are and we can’t achieve our mission if we are dead.”

  “Aye aye sir.”

  “Can you zoom in on one of them?”

  The flank zoomed in close to one of the robots.

  “They’re not robots, they're mechanical suits.”

  Jethro could clearly see that there was some kind of alien thing inside the mechanical suit.

  “Maddy reported that there were Squid like aliens about one metre tall.”

  “That must be them. Can’t we take one out sir?”

  “No Gunny. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of opportunity to take one out before the day is done and I want more information before I go head to head with one of them.”

  “Aye sir.”

  Jethro moved the team further south still heading for the farm where Maddy lived, but also increasing the chances of avoiding a confrontation with the aliens. They were a few minutes from the farm now and may have entered farm land because the desert appeared to have ended and they were crossing flatter more fertile land that looked as though it had been prepared for crops. But there were no crops.

  “Stop here Gunny. Ring defence.”

  They stopped and Marines were dispatched to set up a defensive ring.

  Jethro looked at the irrigation channels. Channels had been dug to supply the fields with water but the channels were damaged
and the sides collapsing. Jethro was sure in an earlier communication with Maddy that the irrigation channels were dug then fitted with plastic piping to reinforce the channels.

  “What are we looking at sir?”

  “See these channels?”

  “Irrigation?”

  “Yes but they should have plastic piping in them. Also there should be a climate dome around the area to protect the plants from extreme temperatures. It looks as though it’s been removed.”

  “How do you know sir?”

  “Maddy told me they were fitting plastic piping to all their irrigation channels and there is evidence of something smooth having been in the channels and now that it’s been removed the channels have caved in from the sides.”

  “Yes sir. I see. But what does it mean?”

  “I don’t know. Any ideas team?”

  The team shook their heads except for one. A very bright young girl, they called Brains, who should have been an officer except for the fact that she often found it difficult to explain things to those with a lower IQ than her and Einstein. Jethro always encouraged her to speak her mind in the hope it would bring her out of herself more.

  “Come on then Brains. Tell us what you’re thinking.”

  “Well sir. I was thinking that under the circumstances…”

  “The point, Brains, the point.” Jethro knew that if he let her ramble on they might be there until dark.

  “The point sir is obvious. If the aliens took the plastic irrigation pipes and the climate domes, it is because they wanted them or needed them.”

  “Is that it?” asked Gunny.

  “Yes I think that is it,” said Jethro always quick to praise where it was needed or due. “Well done Brains I think you’ve hit the nail on the head.”

  “She has?” asked Gunny speaking for the rest of the team.

  “Just an idea Gunny. I’ll confirm it shortly when we get to the farm. Mount up everyone.”

  They headed for the location of the farm buildings. The navigator on the hoverbikes took them straight to the spot where the buildings were.

  Except they weren’t there. There was nothing. The farm had disappeared. And where was Maddy?