Jann heard the whirr of a motor and turned to see Paolio drive in to the medlab in his scrapyard wheelchair. “How’s our patient?” he said.
“No change. But have a look at this.” She directed him to the microscope and hit a button to bring up a snapshot of Decker’s sample on the monitor.
“What am I looking at here?”
“A blood sample from Decker.”
Paolio examined the image. “Looks like a pretty bad bacterial infection, any idea what type?”
“I’ve seen something like this before. But not in blood, only in skin tissue.”
Jann looked at Paolio for a moment like she was considering what she was going to say next. “Paolio, how familiar are you with Mycobacterium Leprae?”
He thought about this. “Leprae?” He tapped his chin with a finger as he thought. Then it dawned on him. “Leprosy! Are you saying this is leprosy?”
“Do you know anything about the disease?”
Paolio screwed up his face as he delved into the recesses of his memory, trying to resurrect any snippet of information he had stored away. “Let me think. Not something that a medical practitioner comes across these days. I know it’s bacterial, affects the nervous system and that around 95% of humans have immunity to it. Other than that, not a lot.”
“You’re correct, it’s bacterial, and it attacks nerve cells. But it can perform a very remarkable trick. What it does is turn nerve cells into stem cells, cells that can become anything: muscle, bone, organs… anything. Not only that, it also alters the human DNA within the cell, a bit like a retrovirus.”
“No, I didn’t know that.”
“As you can imagine, this is of great interest to geneticists. Here’s a bacteria that can manufacture stem cells and alter DNA at the same time.”
Are you sure that’s what it is?”
“I did a thesis on it, that’s how I recognized it.”
“So, this is leprosy?”
“Well… no. It’s something very like it. A lot more virulent for one.”
“A mutation?”
“More likely it’s been engineered. Probably right here.”
“Holy shit.” Paolio looked over at the unconscious commander.
“Why? For what purpose? He was looking at the image on the monitor more intently now.
“If you wanted a way to re-engineer a human from the inside. ‘Mycobacterium Leprae’ gives you the tools. A bacteria that creates stem cells with your very own DNA payload.”
Paolio stared wide-eyed at Jann. “Jesus.”
“Yes, exactly. Playing God.”
Paolio looked back at the image and pointed to the cluster of cells. “Do you think that is the cause of the commander’s psychosis?”
“Well, it would seem to be a likely candidate. Then again, it could be something else entirely. If we could get the research lab up and running then I’d be able to do more in-depth analysis. I might be able to sequence it, or at least part of it.
“That could take a while.”
They both looked back at the image on the monitor and said nothing for a time.
“What about trying some antibiotics, see if that kills it? It’s old-school, but it’s just bacteria after all.”
“Worth a shot.”
“Okay, I’ll check what they have here and what we brought with us and see if one of them can kill it. If it does then we might just be able to bring him back.”
“I've also checked my own blood.”
“And…”
“I found nothing. Nevertheless, I’m doing a culture test, just in case. I’ll need to check everyone, though.”
Paolio rolled up his sleeve. “I’m sure mine is 80% caffeine.”
“Sorry, I feel guilty about taking a blood sample from you. You lost quite a bit already.” Jann unpacked a new syringe.
“A few ccs more isn’t going to make any difference now.”
When Jann had finished Paolio grabbed two more syringes and stuffed them into a pocket. “I’ll go and get samples from the others.”
“Okay. Oh… before you go, can you have a look at this?”
She walked over to where Decker was lying and lifted the dressing from his head wound. Paolio leaned in and examined him. He looked up at Jann with a raised eyebrow. “That’s almost healed. Quite extraordinary.”
“That’s what I thought, and see here, all the scratches on his face are gone, too.” Paolio sat back in his wheelchair and rubbed his chin. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like his body is in overdrive.”
“What could cause that?”
“I really don’t know.” Paolio was about to replace the dressing but there was really no point now. He backed up his chair and sighed. “Things are getting weirder around here.” He rolled across the medlab heading for the door. “No point in concerning ourselves with it now. I’ll go get samples from the others.”
“Paolio.”
He turned back. “Yes?”
“I think it would be best if you didn’t go mentioning leprosy to the others, for the moment.”
“You mean Annis.” He nodded.
“That’s exactly who I mean.”
16
Walkabout
First officer Annis Romanov felt, rather than heard, the hiss of the main Colony One airlock depressurizing through the thick laminate of her EVA suit. The outer door opened and she stepped out on to the dusty Martian surface. Ahead of her, to the east, lay the ISA HAB module. The others had effectively abandoned it now. With Paolio injured, Decker turned in to a lab rat and Malbec playing nursemaid, the decision had essentially been made for them to relocate to Colony One. After all, it had no shortage of space and food. Nevertheless, it was vital for Annis to establish communications with Earth, and it gave her a valid reason to spend most of her time in the HAB rather than in the contaminated biology of Colony One. She didn’t trust the place; the less time spent there the better, as far as she was concerned. Fixing the comms unit was as good a reason as any to isolate herself in the HAB. However, she wasn’t going to fix it—she didn’t need to. Fortunately she had a plan B. It was part of her mission brief with COM from the very beginning. And now was as good a time as any to execute it.
She looked out across the dunes towards the location of the ISA HAB. Its marker reflected on the heads up display on her visor. Another marker, farther from the HAB, identified the location of the fuel processing plant. And another outlined the Mars lander. This also doubled as the Mars Ascent Vehicle, the MAV. It served both to land on the planet’s surface and lift off again to rendezvous with the Odyssey transit craft, still in orbit. To return to Earth they first had to refuel the MAV with supplies from the processing plant. But that operation was a long way off, a few more months at least.
Annis was not heading for the HAB this time. Instead, she took a few paces out from the colony airlock and turned north towards the location of the old supply lander. This had been sent in the aftermath of the disaster, when all contact from Colony One was lost. It contained emergency supplies of food, medicine and survival equipment. There was one item that she had been instructed by COM to utilize once she found an opportune moment early on in the mission. These were instructions to her directly from COM—they were not part of any ISA mission plan.
It was clear to Annis that the mission had already suffered a major catastrophe with two dead, Paolio injured and Malbec’s crazy notion of helping the psychotic Decker. He should have been killed. He was still a danger and no amount of probing and poking by Malbec was going to change that. He had been contaminated by something in the colony and it was only when Annis left that she felt safe. If she had her way, they would leave this godforsaken place now. She was the first officer, the de-facto commander of the mission now that Decker had been compromised. She would not be brushed aside as if she were a minor entity, a bit player.
Annis moved across the dusty crater’s surface, picking her way through the detritus of abandoned equipment. Every now and then she w
ould pass the body of a dead colonist, a graphic reminder of the horror that had befallen the great Colony One adventure. After a time she left the main site behind and entered into the solar array field. Hundreds of black panels laid out across the crater, each slightly elevated to catch the maximum amount of sunlight. She looked up. A pale orb hung low in the Martian sky, bathing the solar array with life giving photons. She examined one of the panels. It was remarkably dust free. They had their own self-cleaning system, but they still needed regular manual maintenance to function at optimum levels. And the only way that could happen is if Nills went out onto the planet’s surface. “So he does EVA.” She was beginning to mistrust him even more. She moved on.
It took a full fifteen minutes to get through the array field and arrive at the location of the old supply lander. Its squat form rose out of the landscape like the conning tower of a submarine breaking through the ice. The bright red COM logo emblazoned on the side was still visible. The three and a half years of Martian dust and sand had still not etched it clean.
Annis located the hatch and worked the levers to open it. Once the bolts retracted she grabbed the handles, lifted the entire door off and set it down on the sand. The inside was jammed with equipment and supplies. She started unloading bags and boxes. None of these were of any use to her, what she was looking for was the emergency communications unit.
When this supply mission was being put together, it had been considered that the comms might be damaged, and that any survivors would need a way to communicate with Earth. COM still had its satellite in orbit around the planet, targeted on the colony site. All the comms unit had to do was connect with that satellite and two-way communications could be re-established.
It didn’t take her long to find what she was looking for. Two suitcase sized units, one a satellite uplink and the other the comms unit. She dragged them out of the modules and put them down on the ground outside. She then brought up her 3D display and tapped out the commands to call the rover to her location. It would take a few minutes so she repacked the supply module and replaced the outer hatch. Annis then moved the satellite uplink unit to the far side of the supply module so it would not be visible from the colony, unpacked it and extended the solar array. Having spent three years inside the supply module it was unlikely that it had any charge, in fact she was doubtful that it even worked.
She waited. Every now and then she would check the satellite unit to see if it showed any signs of life. She was beginning to think that it was totally dead when the unit responded with an orange charge light. So far so good. After a few more minutes the charge light turned green. Okay, time to see if this puppy works. She extended the dish antenna and hit the search button. The unit was now slowly tracking across the sky seeking out the communications satellite, and it didn’t take long to find it. The small screen came to life and showed the connection and signal strength. Excellent, thought Annis. In about thirty minutes time the old COM control center back on Earth would see the connection.
By the time Annis had finished establishing the satellite link the rover was already in sight, rolling across the surface, tracking to her location. Setting up the satellite link was only half the job. She now needed to unpack and power up the comms unit. Only then could she send a report. This however, could only be done inside. So when the rover finally arrived she threw the unit onto it and headed for the HAB. All going well, she should now be able to re-establish communication with Earth and talk directly to COM, without ISA snooping in on the conversation.
The closer to the HAB she got, the less paranoid she felt. It had become her safe zone. A place where she felt insulated from the malignancy of the Colony One environment. She unloaded the comms unit from the back of the rover and entered the airlock. She waited as it repressurized and decontaminated her EVA suit, removing any dust and particles that had accumulated. She wished it would decontaminate her as well. She was beginning to feel like her body was invaded by the contamination from the colony. The light went green and she wasted no time in stripping off her EVA suit before entering the HAB interior. The place was still a mess after Decker had trashed it. She should really clean it up. Some other time, she thought. In the operations area she hoisted the unit up onto the bench, opened it up and spent a few minutes connecting power from the central HAB source.
The screen illuminated and showed a schematic of the satellite's position and strength of signal. Everything looked good. Time to send her report. Annis kept it short and to the point, it was done in a few minutes. Nevertheless, it would take at least thirty minutes for it to reach Earth, and at least another hour before COM could digest her message and formulate a reply. She had time to kill, so she decided to take a shower and wash the colony grime from her body.
The prevailing paranoia that rumbled beneath the surface of First Officer Annis Romanov’s sanity was one of contamination. If Decker had succumbed to it then maybe it was only a matter of time until they all met the same fate. Yet none of the others had shown any signs of mental instability—at least no more than normal. And Nills said it only infected some. But then a thought struck her as the hot shower beat down on her back. Maybe he’s the one infecting them, maybe he's picking them off one by one—him and that robot sidekick.
Her arm hurt and she realized that she had been scrubbing it until it was red raw, trying to wash the contamination out of her. She stopped the shower and got out to dry herself. She still didn’t feel clean. It was like it was inside her and no amount of scrubbing was going to shift it. She dressed, tied her hair back and went over to the operations area to check on the comms unit. A message had come through. It was direct from Nagle Bagleir and started with the usual bullshit. Annis carefully listened to the message twice, to ensure that she understood what they required of her. When it finished she sat back in the chair, ran her fingers through her still wet hair and laughed. “That crazy hippie’s not going to like this."
17
The Analogue
All had gone dark—again. It looked like Rick Mannersman’s premonitions were turning out to be true. There had been no communication with the ISA crew now for over twenty-four hours and anxious eyes in mission control scanned satellite imagery for any clue as to surface activity—there was still hope. Peter VanHoff’s tablet pinged and the avatar that was Nagle materialized in front of his field of vision and spoke. “Some interesting developments, Peter.”
“This better be good news.”
“Good and bad. The good news is our agent, First Officer Annis Romanov, has re-established communications by utilizing the emergency comms unit, sent up on the last supply lander.”
“Excellent.”
“Indeed, it means we now have direct communications with her, outside the sphere of ISA influence. The bad news is that our worst fears may have been realized.”
“Don’t tell me… it’s happening again.”
“I’m afraid so. The ISA Commander Decker has developed a violent and destructive psychosis. So far he has killed Chief Engineer Kevin Novack and Seismologist Lu Chan.”
“Oh dear God, no.”
“Nonetheless, our agent has seen fit to contain the commander. He is strapped down in the medlab and suitably sedated. She has also set Dr. Malbec the task of establishing the cause.”
“Is that wise?”
“Only time will tell. What I do think would be wise is if Romanov redirects any analysis back to us, so we can get some clues as to the nature of this affliction.”
“Hmmm. I see. Does ISA know any of this yet?”
“The commander has also destroyed the ISA comms unit in the HAB, hence the reason there have been no reports to ISA. So no, they are still in the dark and we have not informed them, as yet. But there is another significant development. A survivor has been found.”
“You’re kidding me, after all this time?”
“Nills Langthorp, colonist number thirteen.”
“How in God’s name did he survive this long?”
&nbs
p; “From what we know of him he is a highly skilled engineer and very resourceful.”
“Well, I suggest we see how things develop before informing ISA. Because once we do, there goes our control again.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Has Romanov located the Analogue?”
“Not yet, the research lab is shutdown. They will need to bring it back online first.”
“Can she not EVA in there and retrieve it?”
“Difficult. If the entire facility were derelict then yes, she could. I know that was our initial plan, but the fact that it’s not makes the operation risky. We have to make it operational first.”
“I don’t like it. We can’t have them poking around in that lab. Particularly if this Dr. Malbec is involved in the analysis. That lab would be an Aladdin's cave for her.”
“It’s a risk we have to take if we want the Analogue.”
Peter VanHoff paced, a habit of his when he was thinking. He turned back to the avatar that was Nagle. “Fine, if we must. But once the Analogue has been retrieved that lab needs to be destroyed. No one must know what went on in there. Is that understood?”
“Yes. I will instruct Romanov on how to proceed.”
“Ensure that she is suitably motivated. She may be required to go well beyond the initial mission brief before this is over. Particularly if Malbec gets too nosy—or lucky.”
“Understood.” The avatar that was Nagle extinguished itself.
18
No Return
Colony Mars Ultimate Edition Page 12
