“How’s it looking?” he said to one of the men scanning the surface for any signs of cracks.
“So far, so good. Looks good as new.”
MacDonald nodded. Not the answer he wanted. Better that it be damaged. Needing repair. Buy some time. As soon as Betruger announced another test, MacDonald hoped that something would be found to postpone it.
“Keep looking,” he said. “You find anything—any damage at all—let me know.”
He looked up to see Betruger walking down to the main lab floor.
That was another thing. Betruger had stopped talking to the team. Oh, he still gave orders, still told the team what to do, what was going to happen. But for anything else, Betruger was a closed book. MacDonald began to think;Something is wrong with him. The strain, the pressure—something—was making him snap.
He had tried to tell Kelliher that in his secret reports. But the UAC boss never came back asking for more details.Maybe all Kelliher wants is for the damn thing to work.
MacDonald felt someone touch his arm, surprising him. He turned around. “Ishii? What is it?”
He looked at Dr. Jonathan Ishii, the lead systems data analyst. He was the one person who knew as much as Betruger about what was really happening in the chambers.
“They got one!” Ishii whispered the words, but it was shrill, breathy, frantic.
“Easy. What do you mean?”
Ishii looked around.We do that a lot lately , MacDonald knew.All of us. Looking around. Seeing if Betruger is watching us. This place had become a paranoid’s heaven.
Dr. Ishii leaned close. MacDonald could almost smell the man’s fear.The guy’s going around the bend, MacDonald thought. He’d best put a word in with the medical team.Someone better have a look at him, and fast. The psych team on Mars City was beginning to work overtime.
Another breathy whisper…
“They got another human volunteer. I’ve been told by Betruger. We test again in twenty-four hours.”
Ishii grabbed MacDonald’s arm. No one trusted anyone, and he certainly couldn’t trust Ishii. “Okay, another test. Against my better judgment. Against yours too, maybe?”
Ishii’s eyes widened. “But you don’t get it! We can’t let him do it.”
“We can’t stop it, Jonathan. Betruger runs the lab. If some poor marine—”
Ishii’s eyes widened and darted right. MacDonald guessed that they soon wouldn’t be alone.
Then Betruger was there.
“Dr. MacDonald, Dr. Ishii—all in good order here?”
MacDonald answered. “Everything’s checking out, Dr. Betruger. No problems.”
Ishii still hadn’t said anything.
“And you’ve triple-checked all the data systems, Ishii?”
The other scientist nodded. He looked like a wreck.Definitely have to get him to the medical team.
“Good. I’ve set the time. For tomorrow. The new test.” Betruger nodded, as if speaking the words to himself. “Twelve hundred MMT.”
Ishii said something too low for either of them to hear.
Betruger, who wasn’t afraid to use his squat bullish body to make a point, took a step toward Ishii. “What’s that? What did you say, Ishii?”
“Midday. The—that’s midday tomorrow.”
Betruger hesitated, then MacDonald saw him smile.
“So it is. You’d best get to work. Not a lot of time, eh?” Then Betruger walked away. And when MacDonald turned back to Ishii, he too had hurried off.
And not for the first time MacDonald wondered:Are we allgoing to lose it up here?
20
UAC HEADQUARTERS—PALO ALTO
IAN KELLIHER OPENED THE DOOR INSIDE HISoffice. His personal assistant sat at a massive desk, just outside. One of two gatekeepers. Another receptionist sat at another desk beyond this room, controlling the electronic doors.
“Elaine, hold all calls and make sure that I’m not disturbed until you hear from me.”
She looked up and smiled. “Yes, Mr. Kelliher.” She was beautiful, but much more valuable as a trusted assistant than a potential mistress. Besides, he had plenty of those. Different women for different moods. All discreet and enamored of the power that being UAC head brought.
He shut the office door, hit a button, and his PDA screen projected itself into the air in the center of the room. “Stauf,” he said. A code word. An anagram of his own choosing. And the secret cache of reports from Mars became available.
“Today. Play.”
The screen showed Delta Lab, everyone ready for the test. Then he heard MacDonald’s voice.
“Sir, as you can see, plans are going forward full speed for the new test. Betruger says he has his volunteer. Unconfirmed as yet, and Dr. Betruger is confiding in no one. But if you don’t want this test to occur, I suggest you have only the next twenty-four hours to stop it. And as a reminder…”
Macdonald’s transmission then showed the still images from the last human test, even more horrific when frozen. The poor volunteer hacking, coughing out his insides on the lab floor.
The images made Kelliher’s stomach tighten. But the prize—you had to keep your eye on that. Though he appreciated MacDonald being his eyes and ears, Kelliher knew this: He had no intention whatsoever of stopping Betruger. Not when there were signs, reassurances that this time, with the new calibrations, with new adjustments to the chamber’s transmission systems, Betruger just might succeed.
Kelliher was willing to risk another experiment or two. Especially now that he would have his own people on site to shut it down.
Betruger’s chances and days might indeed be numbered. But there was no need for the scientist to know that.
“Clear.” Then: “Elaine—”
“Sir.”
Kelliher walked around to his desk. “I’m open for business again.”
“Yes, sir.”
And during the day’s affairs, the meetings needed to run the global empire that was UAC, Kelliher knew he’d only be half listening. Because he’d really be thinking about Mars, Betruger, and what was going to happen tomorrow.
21
MARINE COMMAND HQ—MARS
MARIA STOOD IN THE BACK OF THE MEETINGroom in the center of Marine Headquarters. Sergeant Kelly had ordered all the grunts on duty for the next twelve hours to assemble. But so far he was just flipping through his screens.
Rodriguez leaned close. “Hey, did you hear who volunteered?”
“Let me guess. An idiot?”
Rodriguez laughed. Easily entertained, she knew.
“Yeah, well, I almost did. Did you see the deal they’re offering? Fantastic. Never have to do this shit again. No, it’s that guy Wegner. Know him? Pretty quiet SOB. And man, he’s got to be old. Maybe even thirty, thirty-five.”
“Maybe that explains why—”
Kelly looked up and said, “Okay, listen up. Here’s what’s going to happen.” He closed the screens and put his hands on his hips, facing the two dozen marines standing in the room.
“We got a bunch of new jarheads landing in the next hour, and I’ve decided the best way to get these newbies all oriented to our lovely digs here is to assign each of you…one of them to babysit.”
“Christ,” said Maria. Bad enough she had been passed over for any grade advancements. No good deed went unpunished. But now this? Babysitting someone new?Shit.
“I’ll make the assignments when they arrive. Can’t get the damn roster on my PDA. But you know the drill. Get them outfitted. Weapons, supplies. Show them their quarters, give them the quick tour. No need for any monorail rides or treks to Delta, got it? And I want them by eighteen hundred to know this place as well as any of you screwups. Good. And oh yeah—I don’t want them hearing about any stupidass rumors you guys talk about. That’s the last sort of garbage they need. Okay. Make sure your own PDAs are updated with the latest schematics.”
Maria saw a hand go up to her left.
“Right, Bloom—what the hell you want?”
“
Any EVA, sir? Show them how to get to the Mars City egress points?”
Kelly paused. Something he hadn’t thought about. Not the brightest bulb in the box, Maria knew. But not a bad sarge. Talked straight and didn’t chew your ass unless you deserved it. “No. We don’t have time for that. Got to get these guys into the rotation by tonight. So they’ll have to figure that out on their own. Just—you know—show them what I told you. Okay, fall out.”
The space marines started milling out of the room. Maria looked around, then grabbed Rodriguez’s arm. “So this Wegner—he’s gone already?”
Rodriguez took a look around. “I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, he’s in our detachment so he should be here. Maybe he gets like a last meal or something.” Rodriguez leaned close. “Maybe some Martian poontang.” The last joke sent Rodriguez into a tricky combination of snort-laughs.
Guy must really do well on first dates.“Right,” Maria said.
Life on Mars—could it get any better?
22
ABOARD THE DARKSTAR—NEAR MARS ORBIT
JACK CAMPBELL TAPPED THE PORTHOLE WINDOW.“It’s looking on schedule, Swann. The place is nearly done.”
“Yeah—not without more money than budgeted, more people, more of the UAC’s resources. Not that that concerns you.”
Campbell nodded. “Right. It doesn’t.” He turned and looked at Swann. “You sure you’re ready for what we have to do?”
Swann shook his head. “You know, I may not have had your training, I don’t know ten different ways to kill someone with my thumb and index finger or any of that crap…but yeah, bring it on.”
Campbell laughed. “I actually know more ways than that. But good to hear. Because if things don’t work out, the next few days aren’t going to be pretty.”
“I just think that Kelliher should have given Hayden a heads-up about what this trip was really about.”
“He doesn’t trust him. You know he thinks that Hayden is in Betruger’s pocket.” Campbell turned back to the outside. Mars swung into full view now, filling the port window, the sun making it glow a brilliant, burnished red. “First we square away Hayden, then Betruger. We’ll earn our money over the next few days.”
“Right.”
For a moment they sat there in silence. The interior of the VIP compartment filled with the reflected reddish glow.
“I just wish—I mean, I don’t think this is going to be too easy. If we have to terminate Delta Lab…”
“Pulling the plug is never easy, Swann.”
A soothing voice filled their cabin. “Mars orbit stabilized. Landing in five minutes. Safety harnesses will now lock into place.”
Campbell heard the click, the criss-crossed straps again holding him tight to the seat.
“Cabin realignment sequence initiated.”
Almost imperceptibly, the chairs in the cabin began gliding back as theDarkstar prepared to enter the Martian atmosphere.
Campbell looked at Swann again. “Just don’t worry, Swann. It’s all going to be fine.”
And then the transport’s thrusters fired, guiding the ship carefully into the Martian atmosphere and down to the main landing area of Mars City.
The ship touched down with the gentlest of bumps.
Pretty amazing,Kane thought. Something this large, and he barely felt anything. He heard a click; the harnesses released.
“Welcome to Mars City,” the computer voice said.
“Cool,” Smitty said. “This is something, hmm?”
Something?Kane had to wonder. He had just done a trip that humankind had dreamed about for centuries, so how come he felt no excitement, no anticipation, just…caution?
Some of the other space marines had started standing up, recovering their packs from the compartments above and below the seats.
Then Kane flashed on the possible source of his unease. From the beginning he had found this posting, this whole deal, odd. The UAC Mars City project was well known to be a dumping ground, at least if you were in the military.But they wanted me up here for a reason. And nobody bothered to tell me what it was, Kane thought.
He pulled himself out of the contoured seat, reached up, and grabbed his bag out of the now-open compartment. He started down the aisle to the exit, and at the same time noticed Smitty hurrying to stay up with him.Guess I got myself a new friend, Kane thought.
The exit ramp led to an enclosed area of the hangar. The landing system allowed for the hangar to open directly to the Martian atmosphere while pressure systems kept both temperature and air at livable levels.
As soon as a series of suspended lights at the top of the hangar showed green—meaning the hangar was sealed—crews came running out to begin unloading the transport. Kane looked over to the metal crates being quickly offloaded, recognizing the shape and size from his own supply runs.
Weapons. Quite a lot for a research facility.
Then he watched one of the robot off-loaders open another freight compartment in the ship’s underbelly. And then it pulled out a really massive crate.
Now that’s…a big gun.
Two guys in suits walked over to the pile of crates, like kids inspecting what Santa left under the tree. Heavy weapons, heavy UAC suits…What’s going on up here?
One of the UAC men—stocky, looking like he could handle himself—crouched down and inspected the big metal case. Kane watched him slide his hand along the metal.Must be nice to be in love.
“Hey, you. Get over here with the others. Now!”
Kane whirled around to see a sergeant staring at him.
“Sure, Sergeant,” he said. The sergeant kept eyeballing Kane as he walked back to the rest of the new arrivals.
“All right, new marines, fall in, two lines. You goof-offs have a busy Martian day ahead.”
Marines…interesting. Kane wondered whether this guy had been recruited from the real marines and still couldn’t get his tongue around that word,space.
The new arrivals fell into two lines, Kane near the middle. Some of them, like Smitty, so damn young. Just kids.
The sergeant said, “My name is Master Sergeant Kelly. My voice will be—for you—the voice of Mars. When I say ‘move’ up here, you damn well better move fast. The same rule applies to jumping, running and every other damn bodily function that you newbies can think of. Now you grunts—follow me.”
The two lines of space marines walked behind Kelly past large doors and into an open room, which, Kane thought, looked surprisingly like the reception area of a sleek hotel.
“Welcome to Mars City,” a woman sitting behind the reception desk said. Guess no one told her that you didn’t have to actuallytalk to the jarheads.
Kane watched Kelly move fast, hurrying past the reception, into another large room, people moving quickly back and forth.Certainly busy here.
Then down a corridor to the left.
All resemblance to a hotel vanished as the corridor turned industrial, all massive tubes.Obviously we’re heading to the marine area.
Kelly held up a small device—probably his PDA—and doors swung open, and then into a room where other marines stood waiting. Like an ambush, Kane thought. Big grins on their faces.
“All right. Hold it up here. These marines here, they’re going to babysit you. You’ll each have your own personal tour guide to show you the Mars City layout, get your gear sorted, weapons assigned, where you eat, sleep—and do the rest of your stuff. You got that?”
Kane looked over the group, all making comments to each other. Looking at the new meat.This is gonna be fun, he thought.
23
“WHERE IS HE?” SWANN SAID TO HAYDEN.
“Keep your pants on, counselor. Dr. Betruger has been sent for; he knows you’re coming, and you can just be patient.”
Swann noticed how different Hayden’s tone was without Kelliher at the meeting. Hayden made no secret of hiding his disgust.
But then Campbell—sitting in a chair, looking at a table screen now synced to his PDA—spoke up. “You sure
you understand the seriousness of this, General? Do you understand what’s at stake?”
“I sure the hell do. I don’t need any reminders from you two.”
“There are,” Swann said, “liabilities. Things that could hurt the UAC. And we must make sure Betruger understands.”
That prompted a small laugh from Hayden, who walked over to Swann. “You think…do youreally think that after letting Dr. Betruger have control, complete control, that now you can—what—pull the reins in?”
“That’s what we’re here for. Especially if the new tests fail.”
Hayden looked from Swann to Campbell. “Well, good goddamned luck.”
Dr. Jonathan Ishii opened the file only two people in all of Mars City were permitted to see. He looked around to be sure that nobody stood around his workstation.
One file was filled with all that imagery that had started pouring from Site 3. From the start, Betruger wanted to control who had access to it. In fact, for the time being he wanted only two people seeing it, he said. Two people analyzing it.
So while the field team out at the site thought that a matching team was analyzing the information back in Delta, the truth was far from that.
Ishii licked his lips. Always so damn dry. Why was that? No sleep, dry lips, and Ishii knew that something was wrong with his heart rate. He could almost feel it, now fast, now slowing, as if someone was controlling it.
And though Ishii was the lead data analyst, there were many other people who could help analyze all this stuff, compare it to any known symbols, to identifiable runes—put everything found through so many filters and data systems. Wasn’t that the way things were supposed to be done?
There…just now!His heart sped up. Because he was thinking about his plans. Because he had thoughts that he wasn’t telling anyone else. Or maybe…maybe because he thought someone could read those thoughts. See them.
Doom 3™: Worlds on Fire Page 11
