David Conklin slapped his hand down hard on the table. It was late evening in one of the private meeting rooms at Ace Corp’s Florida headquarters, and they were burning the midnight oil. “Goddamn it, we have to find a way to warn them!”
Errol Flux was leaning back on a padded chair, his cool demeanor unbroken. “How do you propose we do that? The entire Mars relay system is actively working against us. Even though we have the means of communicating with Eridu directly from here, the orbital satellites over the Red Planet are jamming us. I never even knew they had that capability.”
“We may need to take out those satellites,” David said.
“That’s what the Chinese are demanding,” Errol said. “But if we do that, then we’ve set back our plans for Mars colonization- perhaps permanently. We’ve got to give Stilicho more time. When we last got an update from Eridu Colony, Ed told me that they had made it to Batos Crater Outpost before he lost communications with them.”
“Stilicho’s team was the second search and rescue party you sent over there, Errol,” David said. “He could be dead too for all we know.”
“I’ve got faith in Stil,” Errol said. “He’s never let me down.”
“He’s up against a freaking madman, a former president’s son who became a cult leader and who probably baited Karl to get over there- and he must have suckered the poor guy into creating an unstoppable AI that’s now jamming our planetary communications with the whole of Mars,” David said.
“You don’t have to repeat what we all know, Dave,” Errol said.
“NASA is keeping the Chinese in check, for now,” David said. “But who knows how long that’s going to last. They want to send in the military right away.”
“I know what the Chinese want,” Errol said. “But it will take them weeks to prepare for a military launch and over a month to get to Mars orbit. And if the Chinese military goes out there, then the Air Force Space Command will have no choice but to follow suit. All hell will break loose. Stilicho has got to fix this.”
“We’ve got a fleet of transports full of tourists- in transit- just waiting to go down there,” David said. “Do we turn them around and head them back to Earth?”
“Not yet, if we lose this batch of tourists, we’ve lost the colony,” Errol said. “Break out the booze or something in the transporters-get them drunk for a few days. They’re still a few days away from orbit anyway.”
“That’s an insane idea!”
“We need to give Stilicho a bit more time,” Errol said. “If we could just find a way to communicate—” He instantly jumped up from his chair. “That’s it!”
David looked up at him in confusion. “What’s it?”
Errol’s eyes were full of energy. “When we set up the Mars relay network, we were able to get everyone to join in, right?”
“Yeah,” David said. “The Chinese, Roscosmos, NASA, the European Space Agency, JAXA, ISRO, Iran, Korea, all except…”
Errol winked at him. “Nigeria! They have the only orbital satellite that’s not part of the relay network.”
David scowled at him. “The Ombi-One-Kenobni? It stopped functioning over twenty years ago didn’t it? I have no idea how it’s still even up in orbit to this point.”
“Because it ran out of propellant, and the Nigerians couldn’t afford to pay us to tow it to a graveyard orbit,” Errol said. “So it’s just sitting there in low Mars orbit, unused and unknown. All we have to do is get the com-link codes from the Nigerians, reactivate it and we’re back in business!”
David tapped on his smartglasses to check on the technical specifications of the defunct Nigerian satellite. “It was launched, like- over thirty years ago. Jesus, it doesn’t even use quantum computers, its core systems has got a simple binary CPU.”
“That’s even better,” Errol said. “We can crack the passcodes on that baby without even asking the Nigerians. It doesn’t have an AI, which means it can function strictly as a message relay and nothing else. The hacked orbital satellites on Mars are concentrating their jamming over the Chinese and Eridu colonies. If we can use the imaging camera on the Nigerian satellite to locate where Stilicho’s team is, we can send a tight beam message over to him.”
David continued to scan the readouts. “The orbit is a little off, but I think the driveship maintenance crew at Phobos could probably do an EVA to fix that. It’ll take a few hours. We could reprogram it from here. But even if we can get it functional again, how would Stilicho or the people at Eridu know to link up to it?”
“We use the ACE Corp encrypted private network,” Errol said. “Only Stil and Ed would know about the proper frequency and passcodes. If they can figure it out, then we’ll be able to communicate with them.”
“If they figure it out,” David said.
“Have some faith,” Errol said. “Stilicho is the best troubleshooter in the company- after me, of course.”
Chapter 18
Maia’s voice spoke softly into his ear jack. “Stil, I’m, so sorry to wake you.”
Stilicho instantly sat up and opened his eyes. The light coming through the semi-transparent popup tent indicated that it was daytime. The slight reverberations on the flatbed meant they were still moving. “What is it? Are we in trouble?”
“Not exactly,” Maia said. “The vehicle sensors have detected a strange anomaly ahead, one that doesn’t coincide with what’s listed on the maps in my database.”
Stilicho looked around the bottom of the tent until he found his helmet. “Okay. Okay. Can you wake up Darian too?”
“She’s already awake,” Maia said. “I think she’s just finished eating and is now preparing to come out of her tent.”
Stilicho took a few sips of water and some aspirin before donning his helmet. “Where are we?”
“We are approaching Coprates Chasma, and should be there in thirty minutes at our current speed,” Maia said. “But just before reaching our destination, I detected a terrain anomaly at the edge of the Valles Marineris canyon wall.”
Stilicho manually sealed the neck ring just below the helmet and activated the life support backpack before he put on the shoulder straps. “Can you describe it?”
“It’s a small, unnamed crater located less than a kilometer from the canyon,” Maia said. “The terrain following radar on the robotruck seems to indicate that there is something in the depression.”
Stilicho slid his body forward, into the double-lined seal that served as an airlock. He used the remote controls on his suit to depressurize the small pocket before unsealing the outer covering and stepping out. “What do you think it is?”
“I don’t know,” Maia said. “Do you wish to investigate?”
“Yes,” Stilicho said. “If it starts to move, then veer away from it.”
“Very well,” Maia said. “We should be coming up to it shortly.”
After finishing her pre-breathing exercises, Darian came out of her own tent. It was clear that she had been listening in to the conversation. “We’ve only got one gun, Stilicho. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
Stilicho walked over to the front of the flatbed, just behind the vehicle controller module. “I got nothing better to do. Since we’re here, we might as well check it out.”
Darian moved forward and stood behind him, leaning over the vehicle’s sensor module. “If they’re jamming us, then I have a feeling the colony is on high alert by now. I told Administrator Davis that if we don’t report in after a week to send the cavalry in.”
Stilicho turned to look at her. “What does that mean exactly?”
“Alert the military,” Darian said.
Stilicho snorted. “It took us about a month to get over here, and that’s by using that synodic transfer orbit thingy. By the time the military gets here, we’d both be dead anyway.”
“Yeah, but at least they will put an end to these robots, and whoever is controlling them,” Darian said.
“That won’t matter,” Stilicho said. “When the public ge
ts a hold of all of this, Mars is finished.”
“What do you mean finished?”
Stilicho sighed. “ACE Corp is hanging on by a thread here. This tourist season will either keep everything going or we end up pulling out. If the military goes in, then it’s a lose-lose situation for all of us. The moment the news comes out that there’s killer robots out here then everybody is gonna be screaming for us to leave. Whoever is controlling those things out there wins.”
Darian was incredulous. “You seriously expect me to help you cover this up? I mean even if we could somehow fix this?”
“If you want to keep NASA funded and keep the whole planet from being evacuated, then yes,” Stilicho said. “We either take care of this now and quietly-or it’s all over.”
“You either know something that I don’t, or you’re completely insane.”
Stilicho winked at her. “Maybe it’s both. Darian Arante. How did you ever get a name like that?”
Darian shrugged. “My father was a Filipino and my mom liked the name Darian. What about you? How did you ever get the name Stilicho?”
“My parents were hipsters,” Stilicho said.
“Attention please,” Maia said. “We are coming up towards the unnamed crater now.”
It was a small depression that jutted slightly above the ground. The surrounding wall around the pit measured no more than three meters high. What made it stand out from the other nearby craters were the numerous wrecked rovers that were stacked along the side of its northern circumference. The three vehicles had been stripped of almost everything, and a fine layer of dust had partially covered them. Stilicho couldn’t help but realize what the fates of the occupants were.
The flatbed truck stopped just a few meters ahead of it. Darian jumped down, pistol drawn. “Maia, do you detect any movement at all?”
“No, Darian. Nothing on radar,” Maia said.
Stilicho walked over and stood beside her. “So it looks like whoever was behind everything wanted to leave a monument for his wicked deeds, or something like that.”
Darian moved closer to the vehicles as she used the smartglass on her helmet visor to scan the wreckage. “They must have been brought over here and scavenged for parts to make some of those robots that we encountered last night. I’m wondering why they didn’t completely strip the Mars First Colony site too.”
“Maybe because the Mars First Colony had outdated materials or something like that,” Stilicho said. “Wouldn’t surprise me they would strip ACE Corp tech. We’re undoubtedly the best.”
Darian put the pistol back into her holster. “If that was a joke, I’m not laughing.”
Maia’s voice carried a hint of enthusiasm. “Darian, could you pan your helmet camera up to where the second wreck is?”
Darian did as suggested. “What is it, Maia?”
“There,” Maia said. “The roof of the second rover. I think the com-satellite dish on it is still intact.”
“A lot of good that would do,” Darian said. “We’re being jammed by the relay network, right?”
“She’s right,” Stilicho said as he turned around and ran back towards the flatbed. Less than a minute later, he came back with a manual car jack and a toolbox. Stilicho spent the next ten minutes wedging the lifting device in between the two crushed rovers before he began to operate it. As the sun started to set, he was able to recover the radio dish and the main components. With Darian watching, Stilicho attached an interface stick into one of its manual ports while positioning the communications dish up to the sky.
“Accessing,” Maia said. “I’m getting a lot of interference from the Mars relay network. It seems that there is a planet-wide jamming going on. I am sorting through all frequencies and getting a lot of white noise. I highly doubt that Eridu or the Chinese would be able to get through this either.”
“That’s it,” Stilicho said.
Darian was confused. “What’s it? Your own AI just said that all the satellites orbiting this planet are working against us. How do you go against that?”
“If the jamming has gone planet-wide, then Earth knows something is wrong,” Stilicho said. “It’s the first big mistake our enemy has made.”
Darian pursed her lips. “I don’t see how this would help us.”
“Don’t you get it? The surprise factor isn’t there anymore,” Stilicho said. “If Earth knows something is wrong, then they’re making contingencies. It means that Errol is aware, and he ought to be sending a message to me. All I gotta do is to send a message to him.”
“How are you gonna do that?”
“In the event of an emergency I know of a secret way to communicate with Errol,” Stilicho said. “Maia, can you open a file in your deep memory titled Black Flag, please? I’m sending you the passcode now.” He used the keypad on his suit wrist to type in a jumbled series of letters and numbers, and then passed it on to the AI suite.
“Accessing. One moment,” Maia said. “It seems I have picked up an audio message coming from an unregistered carrier wave. It was hidden in parts using the navigation frequency that satellites use to warn each other of potential collisions. I have assembled the parts using the passcode you gave me and decrypted it.”
“Play it,” Stilicho said.
Errol’s voice came in loud and clear over the com-link. “Hey buddy, if you’re reading this, and I think that you are, give me your current coordinates using the same encryption suite I sent over to you. I got some news for you. It seems that our good buddy Silas Balsamic may still be alive. A French chick tried to interview a former Roscosmos colony commander, and she was killed to keep the secret. She was able to send out a simple text message just as they threw her off a building. It said that a certain S Drummond was alive on Mars. So in the end, he could be the problem, and he might be the one who got Karl to come there in the first place.”
Darian bit her lip. Everything fell into place. Silas’s second in command took a few people hostage in New York because he claimed that his leader was calling out to him. The voice message in Karl Rossum’s house was probably engineered by Silas as well.
“As you well know, Silas Balsamic was born as Silas Drummond,” Errol continued. “He was the eldest son of the late President Leonard Drummond, and he used his family’s wealth to finance Mars First a few years after his father died and he inherited it all. From what our people have gathered, he bribed the Russians to alter his looks with plastic surgery, then got them to smuggle him back into Mars after faking his own death. When we helped to evacuate the Russian colony, he wasn’t listed in their rolls. He must have just hid out for awhile until all the rockets left, then he had the whole of Gagarin Colony to himself.”
“Freaking hell,” Stilicho muttered.
“Anyway, there’s one heck of a jamming thing going over there,” Errol said. “The Chinese here on Earth are hopping mad, and they are threatening to deploy their military forces to go over there, but it’s just probably a bluff. The most any of us here can do is to send enough rockets to evacuate everyone and just get the hell out of Mars. Nobody knows about Balsamic except Dave and me, so if you could take care of this, then you’ll be flying first class on the way back. Good luck, and try to send a message back to me, pal. Take care.”
“That’s the end of the audio file,” Maia said.
“Use the same encryption and tell Errol we’ve made it to Coprates Chasma,” Stilicho said. “Tell him thanks for the info, and the team is proceeding to Gagarin Colony to neutralize Silas, or whoever is in there.”
“Message encrypted and sent,” Maia said.
Darian narrowed her eyes. “The team? There’s only two of us now. There’s probably a horde of robots out there that’s guarding him, or something like that.”
“Wrong,” Stilicho said. “There’s three of us. You forgot about Maia.”
Darian sighed. “Fine, but unless Maia can whip out her own robot army, then we don’t have much of a chance.”
“That is a good suggestion,�
� Maia said. “If you can find a way to upload my suite into the AI controller module, then I may be able to command the robots and stop the orbital jamming.”
Darian placed her hands on her hips. “Easier said than done.”
Stilicho looked out towards the canyon walls. The sides of Valles Marineris measured almost seven kilometers in height, and a fine mist had formed near the top of the opposite gorge. It was a dazzling sight to any newcomer. “Maia, what do we know about Silas Balsamic?”
“He was eleven years old when his father became president of the United States, and he was instantly thrust into the spotlight,” Maia said. “His father Leonard Drummond was a billionaire, and owned a number of different companies. President Drummond lasted only one term, due to the scandals surrounding his administration. He was due to be implicated in a number of criminal and civil suits, but the succeeding president pardoned him in order to contain the political fallout. Silas was being groomed to eventually succeed his father, and he did just that when the former president died a few years after Silas graduated from college. Former President Drummond’s wife, Silas’s stepmother Anastasia, attempted to file a civil suit to take half of his father’s fortune, but she was found hanged in her bedroom, her hands tied behind her back. Foul play was suspected, but no case was ever brought before a jury.”
“Wasn’t Silas involved in a family tragedy when he was young? I seem to remember an incident I read up on the net,” Darian said.
“Yes,” Maia said. “While campaigning to be the presidential candidate, Leonard Drummond suffered a personal tragedy. His youngest daughter Irene, six years of age, was found dead in the basement of his house with a broken neck. The police investigated but nothing ever came out of it. Public sympathy was high and one of the main reasons why Leonard won the presidency.”
The Piranha Solution: A Hard Science Fiction Technothriller (Ace of Space Book 1) Page 23
