The Imperative Chronicles, Books One and Two: The Mars Imperative & The Tesserene Imperative

by Mark Terence Chapman

  A quick look at the wall chrono told him that it was 20:33. I hope I can catch him before he leaves for the terminal. There was no answer to his call, so he left a message.

  “Hey, Daniel, that is good news! I’m looking forward to seeing you again. We didn’t have much time together last time, when I visited Barsoom.

  “You’re in luck. Living accommodations are in short supply right now, with most people having to double up; but I’m one of the fortunate few who has a room to himself. So when you get here, come right down to Sublevel 6, room 608, Princess of Mars Hotel. There’ll be a spare bed here with your name on it. James out.”

  Exhausted but cheerful, for the first time in days James had no difficulty falling asleep. Even better, he got through the night without dreams of lichen-covered corpses disturbing his slumber.

  * * * *

  When news that the air breach was caused by lichens reached Tennant, his first reaction was to order the extermination of all lichens not safely isolated in Dr. Shallitt’s lab. However, the doctor prevailed on him to hold off pending further investigation.

  When the investigation revealed that only those sections of flooring where bare metal was exposed were in danger from the lichens, Tennant’s order changed to one of repair, not extermination. By then, more than a thousand lichens had free rein of Site 23. Tennant also ordered anyone spotting the lichens to report them to Security for retrieval.

  That afternoon, the first human patients began arriving at the infirmary.

  * * * *

  The next day, James’ shift flew by. Buoyed by excitement over his friend’s impending visit, James’ walk back to his hotel was marked by a bounce to his step that had been missing for quite a while.

  He’ll be here in an hour or so. I’d better get cleaned up before he arrives.

  The left side of his mouth curled up in a self-deprecatory grin. Jeez, listen to me; I sound like a teenage girl getting ready for her first date! I hope Janice doesn’t get jealous.

  He hurried through a shower and a change of clothes and was ready and waiting by twenty-one-thirty. In contrast to earlier in the day, time now seemed to crawl as he eagerly anticipated Daniel’s arrival. After glancing at the wall chrono for the eighth time in ten minutes, James had had enough.

  Come on, Jamie, get a grip! His elevator only arrived forty minutes ago; it’ll take him at least another forty-five minutes to get here. This is ridiculous. He’ll get here when he gets here. Find something else to focus on in the meantime.

  He tried to concentrate on a holonovel, not expecting much distraction value; before he knew it there was a rap on the door. A quick look at the chrono showed that more than fifty minutes had elapsed. Whaddaya know!

  He rushed to the door and swung it wide. Daniel Lim’s wide grin matched his own.

  They hugged. “Damn, it’s good to see you again, Daniel!”

  “Hey, it’s good to be seen!”

  “Come in, come in.” He stepped aside to make room for his friend to pass.

  Daniel entered and tossed his bag on the bed. “How are you holding up, James? This must be some rough duty.”

  James’ elation at seeing his friend evaporated in an instant; his face grew somber. “I’d never seen a dead body before, and now I’ve seen too many. It’s not something I’d recommend. It’s horrible; the cold glassy stare, the body parts, the stench—” He paused to gather himself.

  Daniel spoke softly and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’m sorry I brought it up, James.” He shifted to a cheerier note. “So how’s Janice? Are you two getting serious yet?”

  James favored him with a crooked smile. “It’s hard to say. With our different schedules, it’s hard to find time together. V-mail helps, but it’s just not the same. And now, well, I haven’t exactly been in a romantic mood the last few days. She sends messages saying how much she misses me and wishes she were here to help. I respond with messages where I mostly grunt and stumble over my words. I’m too tired and too mentally overloaded every night to give her back much of anything emotionally.” He shrugged, then changed the subject.

  “Unfortunately this room came with only the one bed. I tried to get another, but they’re all in use. All I could find was a cot; we can alternate who gets it.”

  Daniel shrugged. “No biggie. I used to do a lot of camping; a cot’s fine for me. So, fill me in: how’s the recovery progressing?”

  James shrugged in turn. “The cleanup phase is almost finished; we’ve gotten nearly all of the rubble removed. The day before yesterday they recovered the last body. The current tally is eighty-six dead and forty-six seriously injured. That’s more than two-thirds of the people who worked here. More than a hundred volunteers from all over Mars have been helping out. There’s a lot of damage to repair; but you already know that.”

  “Right,” Daniel said. “Some of the buildings were damaged to the point where they have to be totally replaced. I’ll help supervise some of the construction projects—Winters worked out the details with Tennant. Fortunately most of the structures are prefabs, so they won’t take long to replace; but a few were built from native rock on-site and they’ll take more work.”

  “It’s great to have you here. We can certainly use your talents. Most of the relief crew are either miners or administrative. There aren’t many construction workers among the lot.” James switched gears again. “Hey, are you hungry? The temp mess isn’t much, but it’s open around the clock.”

  “Thanks, but I ate on the way down. Right now I could use some sack time. Those long elevator trips really take it out of me.”

  “Yeah, I know what you mean. Okay, we can get the door keyed to your palmprint in the morning and have your v-mail redirected to this console.”

  “Do you mind if we do that now? I’m not too tired to walk back up to the lobby. Besides, I promised Kim I’d let her know when I arrived.”

  “Of course. It’s too bad she couldn’t come with you. I know you aren’t here for pleasure, but it would have been nice to have the ‘im-crowd’ together again for more than a few hours.”

  “Yeah, but she couldn’t justify leaving the observatory to help down here. They have a small crew up there and they’d be hard-pressed to do without her for any length of time.”

  James nodded. “Say, while you’re here, maybe you could see about getting the elevator working again in this building. Walking down those six flights of stairs every day after a long shift is getting old. And while you’re at it, maybe you can get the restaurant reopened upstairs. The mess hall food leaves a lot to be desired. Come to think of it—”

  “Okay, okay, I get the point! I’ll get right on it!” Daniel tossed a half-baked salute. “Yes sir, right away sir!”

  The two exchanged happy grins. Two-thirds of the “im-crowd” wasn’t as good as the whole, but it was good enough.

  * * * *

  Leland Tennant, foreman for Mars Mining & Refining Site 23 slumped in his office chair, staring past his new door. He sat there, Sphinx-like, bleary eyes fixed on the rust-brown stain on the carpet in the reception area where Bella’s desk used to be. He’d been there, transfixed, for over an hour and gave no indication of moving anytime soon.

  A white-hot fury seethed just beneath his calm exterior. Around the middle finger of his right hand was a paper band from a Diego Corona cigar. It had been found that morning near the scene of one of the explosions, close to the wreckage of the transceiver used to trigger the blast.

  As far as Tennant knew, only one man on Mars had access to Coronas. By itself it wasn’t proof—not in a court of law, anyway—but it was proof enough for Tennant.

  For the first time in days, a smile played on his lips. It was a smile that held nothing of humor, or kindness, or charity. It was the kind of smile a shark on the prowl—or Doug Jardin—would understand. The kind of smile that spelled death for someone.

  I don’t care what it takes; I don’t care how long it takes; I’m going to find you, Dougie. I’m going t
o find you and then I’m going to kill you. Nothing is going to stop me. That’s a promise.

  * * * *

  “Lee, I know you don’t want to hear this, but we have another problem.”

  Tennant sighed; a lengthy from-the-tips-of-your-toes-to-the-top-of-your-head, down-deep, bone-weary sigh. “What is it, doctor?”

  “We have a number of patients reporting flu-like symptoms. Stuffed sinuses, irritated throats, coughing, sneezing, etc.”

  “Yeah, so?”

  “When was the last time you remember an outbreak of a cold or flu on Mars? Everyone’s inoculated before they get here. There shouldn’t be any way to catch or transmit a cold.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s happened before. Remember that time the germs got here in a load of cargo?”

  “Yes, Lee, I do. But this is different. That time it affected people all up and down the path of distribution—the ship’s Cargomaster, the ODF cargo handlers at both ends, site workers and so on. This time it’s only people here in Site 23. I don’t know anything yet for sure, but I suspect it might have something to do with the lichens.”

  Tennant closed his eyes and lightly rubbed his eyelids with his fingertips. “Doctor, you assured me that they were perfectly safe. I held off exterminating them on your assurances. Now you’re telling me, ‘Oops, sorry. I was wrong.’?”

  “Not necessarily; it’s too soon to be sure. I don’t want to start a panic. It may turn out to be something unrelated, and minor. I just wanted to give you a heads-up, just in case.”

  “Well, gee, Tom; thanks for the news. You really made my day.” He knew he wasn’t being fair to the doctor, who was only keeping him informed as Tennant had requested; but at the moment Tennant was too tired to care. He slowly massaged his temples.

  Too much. It’s just too much. Does it ever end? He sighed, shook his head and went back to work.

  * * * *

  Later that week, James sat in the mess hall listlessly stirring his breakfast porridge. “You know, Daniel, I’m really getting worried about Lee. Ever since the bombings, he’s gone nonstop. I know he blames Jardin for the deaths, but I think he also blames himself for driving Jardin to do it.”

  “That’s ridiculous! You can’t push someone to commit mass murder! They have to want to do that on their own.”

  “You know it and I know it, but just try to get Lee to see that! I’m afraid he’s going to have a nervous breakdown the way he’s going. He doesn’t sleep and I don’t think he eats much either. All he seems to do is work himself to exhaustion and brood over the deaths of Bella and all the others. Have you seen his office? He won’t let anyone replace the bloody carpet. He keeps it there as a reminder!”

  “Yeah, that’s pretty morbid, but what can you do? He has to work through it himself just like everyone else. Has he talked with a company counselor yet?”

  “No. I’ve suggested it to him. He says he’s too busy, but I think he wants to hold onto the anger. It’s what keeps him going.”

  Daniel shrugged. “That’s tough, James, but like I said, those are his demons. You can’t fix the problem for him.”

  James leaned forward in his chair, suddenly intense. “What if I could? What if I could locate Jardin for him so he could stop obsessing over catching him and concentrate on rebuilding the site, instead?”

  “And just how are you going to track down Jardin? Lee has half of Mars keeping an eye on his movements; but as soon as someone spots him in one camp he leaves. He seems to have a lot of friends watching out for him. No one knows where he’s going until he shows up at another base.”

  “Simple, compadre. Your girlfriend still works at Sagan, doesn’t she?”

  “Well sure, but what—?”

  “And she has access to high-res sensors aimed at the ground, right?”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “All she has to do is focus on Jardin’s Cat when he leaves one location and keep an eye on him until we figure out where he’s going. Then we can have someone meet him at the other end. But it’ll only work if we know where he’s going before he gets there. He has a way of slipping in and out of camps without being noticed—or perhaps people are being paid not to notice. Either way, we can’t keep tabs on him without Kim’s ‘eye in the sky’.”

  “Look, James, even if she wanted to, unless Kim knows where Jardin is to begin with, she can’t find him to track him. Besides, they have rules and protocols to follow regarding use of the sensors. There are privacy laws to consider—not to mention that Jardin hasn’t even been formally charged with anything.”

  “Forget all that, Daniel; Lee wants to question Jardin and that’s good enough for me. I can put Kim in touch with Juhi Pradesh, our security chief. Juhi can tell Kim where Jardin is as soon as someone reports in, and then Kim can zero in on his Cat and stick with it. I’m sure Kim can come up with a good excuse for focusing on a particular area. Or maybe we can officially request a view of a certain ‘geological formation’ or something. As for privacy laws, well, no one has to know what we’re doing but you, me, Kim, and Juhi. So, are you in?”

  Daniel shook his head in resignation. “I must be crazy to get involved in this. Have you forgotten that we’re technically still on probation?” He paused for a moment, then he winked at James. “But I think I can talk Kim into going along. That bastard Jardin can’t be allowed to get away with it.”

  “Good man. I can’t wait to see the expression on Lee’s face when we tell him we know where Jardin’s headed.”

  * * * *

  Lee Tennant pressed the Accept button on his desk console and Tom Shallitt’s image appeared to hover over the desk.

  “Lee, I just wanted to keep you posted about the status of those patients with cold-like symptoms.”

  “Okay, shoot, doc. Please tell me it’s good news.”

  Dr. Shallitt shrugged. “Yes and no. It turns out that the lichens are at fault, but at the moment it looks like it’s only a mild-to-moderate allergic reaction triggered in fourteen people. A few have also developed minor sinus infections.

  “I’ve treated the infections and given the patients an allergy remedy. I’ll keep them here and monitor their conditions until I see that the treatment is working. Also, I’ve talked with Jenkins in Environmental Systems about doing a better job of filtering out the spores in the air that are causing the allergies. So unless something changes, you can relax. We’re not being invaded by a Martian army with biological weapons.”

  “Glad to hear it, doc. At least something’s going right.”

  * * * *

  “Thanks for the information, Kim. It’s good to talk to you directly for a change, instead of by v-mail.”

  “Same here, James. I hope you catch him. That monster deserves to rot in a prison cell for the rest of his life!”

  “I agree. I’ll give the information to Lee and then I guess we’ll have to wait and see if the plan works. Thanks, again. I’ll let you know how it turns out.”

  “Bye, James. Give Daniel my love.”

  “Will do. Bye.” He disconnected the call.

  It had been two days since he’d approached Juhi Pradesh with the plan. At first she’d been reluctant, citing all the objections Daniel had raised, and then some. James had pointed out how obsessed Tennant had become with finding Jardin and that his health was likely to suffer if the lack of food and sleep continued much longer. It took a fair amount of convincing, but finally she agreed.

  Well, that was a healthy chunk of my next week’s pay, but v-mail would have taken too long. A Priority One call was the only way to be sure I got through to Kim immediately. Now I need to get the coordinates to Lee so he can have a security team waiting for Jardin when he arrives.

  This isn’t the kind of news that should be disclosed over an open phone line. He hurried to Tennant’s office, where he ran into Bruno Taggart just leaving.

  The older man shook his head in exasperation. “Maybe you can talk some sense into him, kid. He sure isn’t listening to me.” He thre
w his hands in the air as he exited into the passageway outside.

  James didn’t know what to make of that comment, so he filed it in the back of his mind and knocked on Tennant’s door. He interpreted the grunt as permission to enter and opened the door.

  He found the man hunched over his console, dictating a memo. Without a replacement for Bella, he was on his own.

  “Uh, Lee? I hate to interrupt you but I have some important information for you.”

  “Not now, James. I’ve got several things I have to get done in the next few hours. It’ll have to wait ‘til later.”

  “Sorry, Lee, but it can’t wait. I know where Jardin is right now, and I know where he’ll be in nine hours.”

  Tennant couldn’t have sat up straight faster if he’d been hit with an electric cattle prod. “What? You know where he’s going to be? How? Where?” The fire in his eyes burned brighter than ever.

  James briefly explained his plan. “I just got word from Kim that Jardin left Emerald Star Mining’s Base Camp 4 a couple of hours ago. He appears to be on his way to their Base Camp 7. There’s nothing else out in that direction. At his current rate of speed, he’ll be there in just over nine hours. That gives you plenty of time to talk to whoever’s in charge over there and have a security team waiting for him when he arrives.”

  Odd, I thought he’d be happier than that to hear the news. “Is there a problem?”

  “I don’t know. I’m concerned that the folks at Emerald Star might not be quite as cooperative as we might like. I think I’d better take one of our security teams over there personally, to make sure the job gets done properly. I will not let Jardin slip though our fingers yet again.”

  Something in the way he said this triggered alarm bells in James’ head. What’s he not telling me? Is he just being cautious, or is there more to it? Was Bruno’s cryptic remark somehow related?

  “James, I want to thank you for going above and beyond to help track down Jardin. If I’m right, he’s responsible for the deaths of nearly ninety people. He has to be made to pay for his crimes. I won’t forget this.”