The Piranha Solution: A Hard Science Fiction Technothriller (Ace of Space Book 1)

by John Triptych

  Mary sat back, stunned. “So that’s twelve people missing now?”

  “Thirteen,” Darian said. “If you include Karl Rossum.”

  Edgar shook his head. “Two years out there on his own? No way he could have survived for that long.”

  Darian narrowed her eyes. “Wait a minute, Edgar. You were here when Mars First was forcibly evacuated weren’t you? Did you go to their colony site?”

  Edgar nodded. “Yes. I know what you’re thinking but I just don’t believe it. The Mars First habitats were in a sorry state. Their life support system was failing and their greenhouses had completely broken down by the time we got there. If we had arrived a few days later everyone in that colony would have been dead. Even if by some miracle Karl could have found a way to somehow reactivate and maintain the life support system, there’s no way he could survive out there without any food. He would have surely starved to death.”

  Darian rubbed her chin. “Didn’t some members in that colony resort to cannibalism?”

  “They did,” Edgar said. “But its way more complicated than just digging up a body and eating it. A corpse would average at about thirty kilos worth of food, maybe one cadaver would be enough to sustain you for sixty days if you rationed it. It was claimed that fifty-four people were buried in the colony site because those were the ones who were unaccounted for when we ran the final roll just before they were lifted off. While that gives one man enough food theoretically for four Mars years, one would still have to find a way to dig them up and cook it. Too much work for one man to do and still maintain the life support systems in the colony with no spare parts.”

  Darian pursed her lips. “But you admit that it’s plausible, right?”

  “I guess it’s within the realm of possibility,” Edgar said.

  Mary shook her head in bewilderment. “This is just … crazy.”

  Stilicho hissed. “So let me get this straight, your theory is that Karl Rossum is alive, is a cannibal, and he engineered this virus and took out a construction crew and a rescue team? Come on!”

  “Well, I’m still trying to figure out how he could overpower two teams of people,” Darian said. “But Karl Rossum is an expert on AI, and he could have easily wrote the malware that’s affecting the relay network.”

  “Maybe it’s a monster that’s out there killing people,” Stilicho said.

  Edgar bit his lip. “Come on, Stil. We’ve had no evidence whatsoever of any indigenous life on this planet that’s bigger than a microbe.”

  Darin looked at Stilicho. “So that’s why you came out here. You didn’t get on a last minute spaceflight just to find Karl Rossum, you’re here to investigate the missing construction teams, aren’t you?”

  Stilicho threw his hands up. “You got me.”

  Mary crossed her arms and frowned. “So what is ACE Corp going to do now?”

  “They’re going to mount another search mission,” Darian said. “On my way here, there were eight ex-military types in the transporter. So it looks like they’re going to try again.”

  “Congratulations, you’ve worked it out,” Stilicho said. “I was actually going to ask for NASA’s assistance on this.”

  Darian narrowed her eyes. “Meaning what exactly?”

  Stilicho smiled faintly. “I’d like to invite you and be part of the team, that’s what.”

  Chapter 10

  The main vehicle hangar had a cavernous interior and was fully pressurized, in order to give the maintenance crews a better hands-on ability to service the vehicles that were parked inside. The Martian dawn was just about to break over the horizon, and the two newly assembled rovers were undergoing final diagnostic checks to make sure their systems were fully functional. A third, fully autonomous robotic truck would follow them, making the final tally of the convoy at three vehicles.

  Stilicho yawned as he walked into the building from an adjoining service corridor. He didn’t get much sleep, due to the all-night meetings to prepare for the mission. The skinsuit he wore felt snug, and he loathed at the thought of spending days wearing nothing but a diaper underneath it all. He had heard that the Batos Crater outpost had a shower stall, but it was over eight thousand kilometers away, and assuming that it was still functional. They had planned to drive the rovers non-stop for at least four days until they got to the outlying outpost at Meridiani Planum, before continuing up for another two days of driving towards the Batos Crater boundary. Stilicho figured they would be making a number of stops along the way, since Rover-14’s transponder was still functioning, and it had been located at the southernmost part of the Ares Vallis riverbed, less than six hundred kilometers away from the first outpost stop at Meridiani Planum.

  Nick Verdeschi served as the head of security for the colony. He was a former police lieutenant and pushing fifty years of age. He noticed Stilicho walking into the hangar bay and immediately strolled over and held out his hand. “Good morning, Stilicho. How was your sleep?”

  Stilicho shook his hand and let out another yawn. “Two hours worth, if that’s any consolation.”

  Nick chuckled as he led him towards four men wearing nearly identical skinsuits, who were standing beside a worktable. “It’s a pity you wouldn’t let me come along. Two colleagues from my own department are missing out there, and I’ve had to put up with a deluge of inquiries from their loved ones. But judging from the replacements you’ve brought over, I think they’re better qualified at this, assuming that you’re expecting some trouble.”

  Stilicho walked up to the four men. All of them turned to face him. One of the men, who had short, graying hair came up to them and held out his hand. “Matt Trevanian. Thanks for choosing me as team leader, sir.”

  Stilicho shook it. Matt’s grip was as strong, as expected. “I’m pretty impressed by your dossier, so that’s why I wanted you to assemble a team for this.”

  “We won’t let you down, sir,” Matt said.

  “Call me by my first name, or just Stil,” Stilicho said. “You shaved your beard from when I met you last night.”

  Matt grinned as he ran his hand along his now smooth, chiseled chin. “Less friction, therefore less of a fire hazard- when we wear the skinsuits for EVA.”

  Nick glanced at Stilicho. “I thought you’d want all eight of them with you.”

  “Four ought to be enough,” Stilicho said. “If they can’t deal with it, four more won’t make much of a difference. I’ll leave the others for colony defense.”

  Matt nodded. He wanted to say otherwise, but he didn’t want to rock the boat. “Stilicho, let me introduce you to the other team members.” He pointed to the three other men beside him. “This here’s Brian Kano, he’s been with the security department on the colony for two years now, and a former police detective. I figured you wanted someone with field experience, so he’s the man.”

  Kano shook Stilicho’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Jones.”

  Stilicho smiled. “Call me Stil.”

  “These other two came in with me,” Matt said, pointing to two burly men with shaved heads. “Jason Barre and Noah Carranza.”

  Stilicho shook hands with them. Looking down at the table, he noticed that there were two over-sized battle rifles lying on it. He had seen guns before, but these seemed strangely different. There were what looked to be exhaust vents along the side of their long barrels. “What are these?”

  “Gyrojet rifles,” Matt said. “The first of these types of weapons were developed over a hundred years ago, but they were never adopted because they were useless at close range. This is the newest generation, though they’re still prototypes.”

  Stilicho was intrigued. “How do they work?”

  Matt held up a bullet so he could get a closer look. It looked like a standard caseless rifle cartridge, but there were exhaust ports at the rear. “These guns fire small rockets. It means that the ordnance will continue to accelerate as long as there’s fuel to burn. The exhaust gasses are vented along the barrel ports, so there’s no recoil for
the user. Rifling in the barrel spins the rocket for added accuracy, and the internal smart components allow the slug to change its direction once we paint the target using the smart scope.”

  “Pretty neat,” Stilicho said. “Why wasn’t this adopted sooner?”

  “When they first came out way back when, the primitive propellants they used made them very inaccurate and they had no velocity at short range- which meant that they would just bounce off people if they were fired too close,” Matt said. “With advanced propellants and smart bullets that we got now, these babies could eventually get into widespread use in the near future.”

  Nick noticed that the trigger guards had been enlarged. “Looks like you’ll be able to use these things during EVA with your skinsuits.”

  Noah grinned and held up a weapon mount. “We could also deploy them on the crab suits, sir. This here shoulder mount will be positioned just beside the helmet, and the smart scope will be linked to the helmet visor.”

  Stilicho placed his hands on his hips. “How many of these rifles have you got?”

  “Just these two,” Matt said. “We’ve taken out the trigger guards on the pistols and the carbines that we’re bringing along so we could use them while wearing skinsuits during EVA. The gloves on the crab suits are too thick, and so we would prefer to use the skinsuits if we need to go outside.”

  “You’ll have to do pre-breathing then,” Stilicho said. “I’d rather just use the crab suits because of that issue.”

  “While the crab suits are nice,” Matt said. “They’re slow and bulky compared to the skinsuits. We may need to be able to move fast, and with better feel for our hands, so we’re mostly going with the skinsuits for EVA.”

  “Suit yourself,” Stilicho said. Anyone who used a skinsuit to go outside would need to go through mandatory decontamination procedures when they got back, but he had a feeling they would all go through the protocols anyway.

  Edgar walked into the hangar bay, followed closely by Darian, another woman, and a middle-aged man. Edgar wore his ACE Corp uniform, but the other three were wearing skinsuits. Darian’s own suit had NASA insignias on it, making her stand out from all the others. Stilicho and Nick came over to them and shook hands. The other woman was Dr. Lisa Hicks, and the second man was Chester Yoon, an engineer.

  “I’ve got a few pressing issues this morning,” Nick said. “So I need to head over to the security office. I’ll see you all when you come back.” He turned around and walked back into the adjoining corridor.

  Edgar chuckled as he gave Stilicho a hug. “Goddamn, buddy! Those bags under your eyes tells me you must have been drinking all night.”

  Stilicho scoffed. “Puh-lease. I was busy with meetings all night. You were with me, remember?”

  “Yeah, I was,” Edgar said. “But I’m as alert as an owl. You look like you’re in a daze.”

  “I’m just not used to waking up early is all,” Stilicho said.

  Lisa was in her mid-thirties, and served as an emergency medicine specialist at the colony hospital. Verna had recommended her personally the night before. “Excuse me, Mr. Jones.”

  Stilicho turned to look at her. “Yes?”

  Lisa glanced around briefly. “Am I the only medic you’re bringing along?”

  “Officially, yes,” Stilicho said. “Aside from myself, you’ve got Darian here and Chester, who is an engineer with additional expertise in robotics. The security consultants that are traveling with us do have some training in emergency medical procedures too, so I’m sure they can help out.”

  Lisa had a worried look. “It’s just that, I thought this was supposed to be a rescue mission, but it looks like you’re bringing more military types instead of medics. Two of my friends from the hospital were part of the first rescue team, and I’m really worried about them. That’s why I volunteered.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” Stilicho said. He could normally handle concerns like this, but his mind wasn’t fully awake, and it made him more irritable than usual.

  “Well it looks to me like, you’re not expecting to find any survivors, and it’s only been a few weeks,” Lisa said. “Shouldn’t we be bringing along more medical personnel instead of ex-soldiers?”

  “The simple truth is, we don’t know what’s out there,” Stilicho said. “And until I’ve determined that the place we’re going to is safe and secure, we proceed as planned. Anyway, we can always call for more medical personnel once we’ve ascertained what’s going on.”

  Edgar took Lisa aside and started talking to her. Chester excused himself to go check on the drones that were being mounted on the bed of the robotic truck.

  Darian made eye contact with Stilicho. “So it looks like you’re not expecting to find any survivors.”

  “It’s been a month since the rescue team was sent out,” Stilicho said. “If any of them were still alive, they would have found a way to contact the colony by now. This is going to be a crime scene investigation.”

  “Just to let you know, I’m still pretty sure your boss Errol knew about Karl’s plan to smuggle himself to this planet,” Darian said. “And when I get the evidence, I’m going to nail him to the wall for it.”

  “Good luck with that,” Stilicho said before he walked away. Going past Matt and his security crew, he noticed Chester examining what looked to be a metal harness with thrusters mounted on its rear. Stilicho kept going until he was standing right beside the engineer.

  Chester smirked as he checked the control stick that was attached to the plastic and metal backpack. “Is this what I think it is, sir?”

  Stilicho winked at him. “Call me Stil. And yes, your eyes do not deceive you- those are rocket packs. I had Errol bring two of them over from ACE Corp R&D.”

  Chester continued to examine the components. “Methane-LOX powered. Have you used these things before?”

  “I had a personal jetpack on Earth and I would fly around with it as a hobby,” Stilicho said. “My unit was kerosene powered. You think these things will work on Mars?”

  Chester laughed a little. “Oh yes. It’s got its own oxidizer, so the low gravity will definitely allow you more thrust and use up less propellant, which can make you fly higher and faster. How long was your flight time on Earth?”

  “About fifteen minutes,” Stilicho said. “I had them bring along replacement fuel tanks, and it can also be refueled manually with a hose link.”

  “That’s good. You’ll probably have double the flight time out here,” Chester said. “Damn, I would love to have one of these just to play around with on my free time.”

  “Well, I’ve brought a pair of them with me, so once this mission of ours is over, you could keep one of them. It’s not like I’ll be bringing these back on the return trip anyway,” Stilicho said.

  Chester grinned. “Awesome! Thanks, Stilicho!”

  “My pleasure.”

  “Oh,” Chester said. “Since you’re bringing two of them along, who will be using the other rocket pack?”

  “Anyone who knows how to use it,” Stilicho said. “You got any experience?”

  Chester chuckled. “Sorry, not yet.”

  Stilicho nodded. “Okay, I got a question to ask. How far is the range for the aerial drones we’re bringing along?”

  Chester walked over to the foot-long quadcopter drones lying on top of the truck bed. “These things would normally have a twelve hour flight time, but under optimal conditions, they can fly up to a full day as long as half the time is spent on charging their solar cells during daylight. The main issue is communications and remote piloting. How long can the operator stay awake, so to speak.”

  Stilicho stood beside him and looked at the drones. “What’s their communication range?”

  “If we use the satellites, you can cover the whole planet with a one second lag time between relaying of commands,” Chester said.

  “Let’s say we lose satellite coverage and only go with local radio comms using the rovers,�
�� Stilicho said. “What’s the range of that going to be?”

  “Depends on the terrain blocking the signal, and the height of the drones,” Chester said. “It’s possible to get a command range of about eighty kilometers under optimal conditions. If the drone dips below hilly terrain, for example, then the range could go as low as five kilometers.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Chester,” Stilicho said, before walking back over to where Edgar and Lisa were standing.

  Edgar took Stilicho aside. “Lisa was a bit upset. But she’s okay now.”

  Stilicho nodded. “I hear ya. Is she still volunteering for this trip?”

  “Yes,” Edgar said softly. “Her best friend was part of the rescue team that went missing. I told her to expect the worst, and she’s getting over it. I need to get going, but I’ll be monitoring your communications at the command area. If you need reinforcements, I’m afraid it might take awhile to reach you, depending on where you are.”

  “I’ll only be calling on you to bring additional medical crews if we can’t handle the number of survivors- assuming we find any,” Stilicho said. “If it’s anything else, there’s no reason to ask for help if we can’t solve it. Then you’ll have to call in the military.”

  “I hear you,” Edgar said. “We’ve got a lot riding on this, so let’s go get ‘em.”

  “That we shall,” Stilicho said before he turned around and talked louder to make sure everybody heard. “Okay, people. Let’s gather up for one final meeting before we get going.”

  The vehicle crews gave a thumbs-up signal, indicating that the rovers were now fully loaded and ready to go. The team of seven formed a semi-circle around Stilicho. The security consultants were stone-faced, while Chester and Lisa had a mixture of worriment and anxiety etched on their faces. Darian’s face was unreadable.

  “Right,” Stilicho said. “As you all well know by now, two teams have disappeared. The first was the construction team overseeing the new colony boundary in Chryse Planitia, and the search and rescue team that was dispatched to find them. We don’t know what’s out there, but for the sake of the colony, and the future of manned habitations on this planet, then we need to find out. I wish we had some aerial transport that would get us over to the outposts much faster than the rovers, but this planet’s air density, or lack of it- makes it hard for the cool designers at ACE Corp to come up with anything that will take more than a small robot to fly with. So let’s decide who gets to ride with who, and let’s get started.”