Colony Mars Ultimate Edition

by Gerald M. Kilby

  Nills tossed a small plastic package over to her. “Here. It’s cyclophromazine. There are three doses in there, each in separate syringes. That should be enough to kill him.”

  “Wait a minute. If it’s bacterial then have you tried just using a dose of antibiotics?”

  Nills paused before answering, “Well, no. We were too busy trying to stay alive. It’s hard to play doctors and patients when the patient is trying to bash your head in.”

  “So it might work?” Jann looked at them both in turn.

  “Attention… Commander Decker is on the move,” squeaked Gizmo.

  “Quick. Follow me… this way.” Nills raced out of the medlab and into the main Colony One operations area. He flicked a display table to life and a 3D rendering of the northwestern area of the Jezero crater ballooned out from its surface. They could see the colony on one side. Farther out were the HAB and lander. A red marker flashed beside the HAB. Nills pointed at it. “That’s Decker. Gizmo’s right, he’s left your HAB module.”

  “Of course I’m right.”

  Annis turned to the quirky robot. “I thought you said that he would sleep for hours.”

  “Gizmo did, but it came with a 72.6% probability caveat. So this action is in the other 27.4%.”

  They all watched the blip as it moved away from the HAB and then stopped. “What’s he doing?” said Jann.

  “He probably doesn’t know himself,” said Nills.

  “We’re wasting time. We need to get out there and take him in the open.” Annis was heading over to get her helmet. Jann was now looking at the package containing the cyclophromazine. “There’s no way this is going to penetrate an EVA suit. The needle is too short.”

  “Shit,” said Annis. By now the blip was on the move again. “Looks like he’s heading this way.” Nills pointed to the marker on the map.

  Jann considered what to do. They should at least try and contain the commander. That way they could help him and maybe even shed some light on the source of the affliction. “I think we should attempt comms, try and assess his state of mind.”

  “Are you joking? That might be just a red flag to a bull.”

  “Dr. Malbec has a point,” said Nills. “If he’s semi-rational then you might be able to contain him more easily. If he’s not, then it’s not going to make any difference.”

  Before Annis could answer Jann had strapped on her suit headset and pressed broad transmit. “Commander Decker, this is Dr. Malbec, what’s your status, over.”

  There was silence. Jann tried again. “Commander Decker, this is…”

  “I hear you. Where is everybody? What’s going on?”

  They all exchanged looks, like partners in crime, a conspiracy unfolding. Annis grabbed her headset, put it on and listened in. “We’re in the colony. How are you feeling?”

  “They’re crawling all over me… I can’t get rid of them… gnawing at my brain… I need to scratch them out… this… this contamination.”

  “Just stay calm, we’ll help you.”

  More silence. “Commander?” Then there was a sickening cry from the comms. Jann and Annis exchanged looks. Nills wore a concerned face, tinged with an experienced acceptance—he’d seen it all before.

  “Decker, can you hear me?” Silence. Jann whipped the headset off and flung it down. “We’d better get ready.”

  “What’s he sound like?” said Nills. “Batshit crazy, going on about ‘contamination.’ It makes no sense.”

  Jann looked at the blip on the 3D map. It was moving steadily towards them.

  “Can we trap him in the airlock?” Annis directed her question at Nills.

  “And then what? Wait till his air runs out?”

  “Is that possible?”

  “No, wait, let’s think. If we can contain him and get him sedated, then maybe we could find out what’s causing this,” said Jann.

  “Jesus, Jann. If we let him in here he’ll kill us or we’ll get seriously injured before we can take him out. No way.”

  “We just need him to take his helmet off before he leaves the airlock. Then we jab him in the neck, he’ll go down in a few seconds.”

  “Gizmo thinks the probability of successfully containing your Commander Decker without sustaining injury is 0.1%,” said the little robot.

  “Thanks for the analysis,” replied Jann.

  “Don’t mention it, my pleasure. I’m here to help,” said Gizmo.

  “We’re going to need some weapons. What have you got, Nills?” said Annis.

  “Knives, heavy tools, steel bars.”

  “Okay, show me.” They moved over to the workshop and in a few minutes Annis returned holding a long sharp knife in one hand and a heavy tool in the other. “Here’s the deal. If he doesn’t take his helmet off he stays in the airlock. If he does, and you don’t get that syringe into to him, then the first step he takes I’m going to gut him, no hesitation. Got that?”

  Jann nodded. The red blip was almost at the door.

  10cc of cyclophromazine would be more than enough to drop a large man in seconds. 20cc and it would be fifty-fifty if he lived. 30cc and he’s dead—no question. It was 5cc that Dr. Corelli jabbed into her when she lost it in the colony. Things had changed since then. Two crew were dead and the tables had turned. She broke the seal on the package and fumbled with the hypodermic. It seemed a very insubstantial weapon in the face of such a raging bull as the demented Decker. “Hold fast old girl—focus,” she said to herself.

  “At the door!” Annis had taken up position right at the interior airlock door. She had the look of a warrior, the long knife held at the ready. Jann looked around to find that Nills and Gizmo had disappeared. “Where’s Nills?”

  “Screw him, we don’t need him. This is our shit to sort out. Are you ready to do this, Jann? Because if you’re not then we keep him in the airlock and watch him die.”

  Jann hurried over to the door and steeled herself. “Okay, ready.” They heard the whirr of the pump as it started to depressurize. The alert indicator flashed red as the exterior door opened and in stepped Commander Decker. It was a tentative step at first. Like a wild animal sniffing out a strange box in the forest. Driven on by scent, held back by fear, uncertain of its surroundings. The door automatically closed behind him as he spotted Jann and Annis through the interior door observation window. He raced forward and crashed into it. They jumped back. Jann was shaken by the ferocity of the attack. He banged at the door several more times and then paused.

  “Jesus, he’s pretty pissed. I say we just go with plan A and keep him locked in there until he runs out of air.”

  “Do you know how to switch off the air?”

  They both realized that they didn’t know. The only one who did was Nills and he had gone back into hiding. “Shit, no.”

  “What’s he doing?”

  Annis peered through the little window again. “Just standing there. Wait a minute, I think he’s taking his helmet off.” Jann came back to the window and joined her. His face was blotchy red and scratched. Blood had congealed along his forehead and matted his hair. He looked at them but didn’t move. He seemed to be in pain and his face contorted as he brought his hands up to cradle his head. He mouthed a scream and dropped to his knees, he shook his head like he was trying to get something out that was gnawing away at his brain.

  Jann looked on in horror at this forlorn figure. A pale and tormented shadow of the Decker that commanded the ISA Mars mission. There was no rethinking this. She needed to help him if she could. Somewhere inside that tortured creature was still the soul of a human, one that needed to be saved, not killed. She looked over at Annis. The first officer was ready to kill him to save the mission. It was simply a matter of calculating the odds with her. The mission came first. The human second.

  Jann readied herself. Time to do this. “Okay, let’s open the door now he’s down. I’ll stick him in the neck with this and that should take him down.”

  “You really want to do this?”


  Jann nodded and placed a hand on the door release. She held the hypodermic high, ready to stab down at the first opportunity. Annis stood to her left, ready to end his life if need be.

  Jann hit the door release and slowly began to ease it open. Then something must have clicked in Decker’s tormented brain because he lunged at the door with tremendous speed. Jann was sent tumbling backwards across the floor with the force of impact. The syringe fell from her hand and skidded under a mound of workshop parts. “Damn.”

  She tasted blood in her mouth, her face hurt like hell and her right eye was closing up. “Shit.” Annis failed to counter Decker’s attack and he grabbed her knife hand at the wrist, the other hand on her throat, pinning her down to a workshop table. She kicked and fought but it had no effect. Decker was simply too strong and too crazed. “Shit, where’s the syringe?” Jann got on all fours and tried to find it. She had better hurry or Annis would be dead. She spotted it, picked it up and bounded over to Decker. He saw her coming, turned and literally threw Annis at her. In one-third gravity she sailed through the air like a rag doll. Jann ducked as Annis crashed down across a pile of machine parts. Decker grinned. Jann stood her ground. They faced off.

  He lunged. But it was primal, there was no fighting skill there. Simply the wild flailing of a rabid animal. Jann, on the other hand had a skill, kickboxing. It was a hobby, a way of keeping fit, nothing more—until now. She saw the way he moved, his momentum. She twisted sideways and brought the needle down on his neck—except she missed, the needle hitting the metal neck rim of his EVA suit. Decker careened past her and crashed to the ground. He slid along it with the force of his own momentum. The needle was broken.

  “Shit.” Jann rummaged in the pockets of her flight suit to extract another one. But Decker was already on the attack. Again she dodged but this time she swung a kick and caught him across the side of the head. He felt it because he crashed face down on the floor and took a moment to recover. Annis was now back on her feet and looking for the knife. Before Decker had time to get to his feet, Jann swung another kick to the head and again he went down. Annis found the knife and was ready to dispatch him when Jann finally jumped on Decker and jabbed him in the neck with the hypodermic. He looked at her with a kind of shocked surprise, then his eyes closed and he slumped to the floor.

  Jann rolled off him, breathing heavily and shaking with adrenaline. Her face hurt like hell. Annis came over and offered her a hand. Jann grabbed it and pulled herself up. “Where did you learn to kick like that?”

  Jann shrugged. “I work out.”

  “You’re one real badass—respect.” She patted Jann on the shoulder.

  They looked down at the forlorn Decker. “That bastard nearly killed me.” Annis kicked him hard in the gut a few times. Decker didn’t move. “Is he dead?”

  “No, but he’s out for the count for a few hours. Come on let’s get him tied up before he comes around. Drag him into the medlab.”

  Paolio, still unconscious, occupied the only bed in the medlab. But his injuries paled in comparison to the torment that afflicted Decker, so Jann had no qualms about relocating him to the floor, while Decker took up residence in his stead. Fortunately, the medlab operating table had restraints built in. Why, Jann didn’t know, nor did she care. They laid him out, strapped him down, and double checked. Then Nills showed up.

  “Well, where the hell were you? Hiding in your hole, no doubt.” Annis was pissed.

  “It’s served me well in the past. In case you haven’t noticed. I’m the only one left alive in here. I see you have managed to incapacitate the afflicted crewmember.”

  “No thanks to you,” replied Annis.

  “Enough,” said Jann. Her face hurt when she talked. She was exhausted—mentally, physically and emotionally. She sat down, grabbed a mirror and brought it up to her face. It wasn’t too bad. Not as bad as it felt. Just a lot of bruising. Could be worse, much worse. She could be dead.

  Annis sat across from her rubbing her neck. “You know, I need to get a report back to mission control. They’ll be wondering what the hell is going on up here.”

  “We have no comms unit, remember? Decker smashed it to pieces.”

  “I’ll do it from the HAB.”

  “Can’t it wait?”

  “No, it’s got to be done. I’ll take the mule, let it drive me.” She stood up and stretched her shoulders. “Let’s hope Decker hasn’t trashed the HAB.”

  14

  Caves

  Jann set up an IV drip to keep Decker sedated—to keep his violence in check. He was comatose and she hoped he would stay that way until she got a handle on the cause of his psychosis. And if she didn’t, then what? Let him die?

  “Come, I’ll show you where you can sleep.” Nills beckoned to Jann from the medlab entrance. Gizmo gently lifted Paolio off the floor. They weren’t going to leave him here, not on the floor and certainly not with Decker. The doctor was beginning to come around, he moaned and cried out as Gizmo carried him. Jann held his hand. “It’s all right Paolio, we’ll get you comfortable.” They all moved off to an accommodation module and the medlab was locked down—just in case.

  There were several of these modules dotted all over Colony One. Nills had powered up a unit just off the main common area. It was designed for twelve. They put Paolio in one of the bunks and settled him in.

  “There’s a shower in here, if you want to freshen up.”

  Jann slumped down on a bunk opposite Paolio. “Thanks Nills.”

  “Okay, we’ll leave you alone now. If you need anything, I’ll be in the biodome.” He left, Gizmo trailing after him.

  “Malbec?” Jann pressed the headset closer to her ear; the signal from Annis was distorted. The Colony One radiation shielding was playing havoc with the comms.

  “Annis, yes, I’m here.”

  “The HAB is trashed. That crazy bastard wrecked the place.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “He must have gone berserk inside, smashing things up. It’s still got integrity, life support is okay. Mostly it’s just the equipment inside, things strewn everywhere. The coffee machine is history.”

  “Paolio’s not going to be happy to hear that.”

  “Well that’s the least of our problems. The comms unit is dead.”

  “What?”

  “We have no way to contact mission control.”

  “Can it be fixed?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to run some tests and do an audit on the damage. I’ll touch base with you in the morning.”

  “Are you staying in the HAB tonight?”

  “Damn right. I’m not spending any more time in that colony than I have to. If you want to stay over there and play mommy, that’s your problem. I’ll see you in the morning—assuming you’re still alive.”

  The comms disconnected. Jesus, thought Jann. A whole new level of obnoxiousness—great.

  Her sleep was fitful as her mind spent most of the night contemplating the malaise that had turned Decker into a homicidal maniac. She rationalized the obvious first. It manifested itself as an altered mental state, probably due to a chemical imbalance within the brain. This could be caused by drugs, but she thought that unlikely. The other possibility was an infection, viral or bacterial. Either one could theoretically cause an imbalance. Nills had intimated that it was bacterial. But this was not based on any scientific analysis. It was simply an assumption on his part. Of course, Jann couldn’t rule out the possibility that it might be of alien origin.

  “Dr. Malbec, wake up.” Nills shook her gently. “Dr. Malbec…”

  “Eh… what…” Jann opened her eyes and stared up at the strange figure. As her sleep-fogged mind cleared, she remembered where she was. “I fell asleep. How long was I out?”

  “Eight hours. I was going to wake you earlier but you looked so peaceful so I left you.”

  She sat up rigid. “Decker?”

  “Still there… still comatose.”

  She sighed, relaxed a bit an
d then realized Paolio was also awake. He was alert and sitting up in the bunk talking to Gizmo—in Italian.

  “Paolio!”

  “Jann, you’re still alive I see,” he smiled. He was in good spirits, gone was the deathly pallor of the previous day. He was anxious to learn all that had happened, so they talked for a time. Nills and Gizmo left them to it, but returned a short while later with a homemade, motorized wheelchair.

  “Here. This might be useful. We made it… eh… for Marcella, I think. Long time ago now. She injured her ankle doing some stupid low-gravity stunt… can’t remember what it was exactly. Anyway, I checked it out and it still works pretty well.”

  Jann lifted Paolio out of the bunk and helped him into the wheelchair. She found the low-gravity tremendously empowering. To lift such seemingly heavy weights just didn’t get old for her. Paolio’s broken leg was kept extended by virtue of a metal truss attached to the seat. He played with the controls to gain some familiarity with their function.

  “I should go check on Decker,” said Jann.

  “I'm coming with you.”

  “You should really be resting, Paolio. Not taxing your body any more than necessary.”

  He looked up at her and smiled. “Who's the doctor here? Anyway, I think I’ve got the hang of this thing, let’s go. Lead the way.” He tapped the joystick and followed Jann to the medlab.

  The commander was still strapped on the operating table where they had left him the previous night. His life drawn out on the monitors in green and blue phosphorescent waves. Paolio spent some time examining him and checking his vitals. “Well, he’s not going anywhere for a while,” he said when he had finished. “How do you think we should proceed?”

  “Let’s start with blood, that might give us some clues.” Jann looked around the medlab. “This place is reasonably well equipped. It’s got everything we need to make a start. And then there’s that research lab, on the other side of the facility. That may prove useful if it can be brought back online. I wonder what they were doing in there?”