“Good god, it’s a full scale invasion.” Jann pointed at the armed figures entering via a damaged airlock. They now had access to a section of the facility with no atmosphere. Jann wondered how this was going to help them take over but then she realized they were sealing it up behind them. Once finished they would be able to enter the rest of the colony, without any loss of integrity. She struggled with her desire to do something—anything. Maybe she could get the colonists out of the biodome, hide them all down here. But that was pointless, the access route had caved in and even if she did manage to get them all in here, then what?
Another blast rocked the cave. This time it was an internal door being blown open. From the monitors Jann could see a firefight starting. COM had entered, the Chinese were firing weapons to try and repel the invasion. She could see two already down, injured or dead. The air was thick with dust from the blast and it bloomed with incandescent flashes from the pulse weapons. All she could do was stand and watch as the fate of Colony One was decided, once again, by violence.
14
Control
Peter VanHoff watched the battle for Colony One unfold from the relative comfort of the COM Mars lander. In the end it had gone exactly to plan, although it would have been better had Xaing Zu just vacated the facility. But, they had decided to make a stand. He admired them for that, even if it was a futile exercise. He assumed it had more to do with saving face than any real consideration of military superiority.
It had taken less than twenty minutes from the moment Commander Kruger had given the command until the facility was secured, and his people in control. Kruger had sent him the all clear so now it was time for VanHoff to finally set foot in the very facility where the Janus bacteria had been created. His hope, his wish, his deepest desire, was that it still existed either in the facility or within the biology of the clone subject Langthorp. Time to find out. He rose from operations and signaled to the two remaining COM crew. “The facility is secure and a rover is on its way to pick us up. Bring the clone to the airlock, I will meet you down there. And make sure he’s sedated for the trip.”
They encased Nills in an ill-fitting EVA suit so that he could be transported over to the medlab in Colony One. VanHoff and his genetics team needed him alive, at least for the moment. Nills was now strapped into a seat in the rover, his head bobbing and rocking as the rover bounced along the planet’s surface. Outside, dust and sand whipped up all around, visibility was poor and the driver operated by means of a heads-up display rendered on the rover windshield. The journey was mercifully short and soon VanHoff could make out the lights atop of the Colony One biodome penetrating the dust. The rover came to a halt outside the main airlock, time to EVA. This was not a procedure that VanHoff relished. Far from it. Being cocooned inside bulky life support brought on a rising panic inside him. He fought to control it. It was only a few meters to the colony entrance, surely he could make that. Yet, what this situation did highlight in his mind was just how much Malbec had corrupted his ambition. He could be back home, in the warm and comforting environment of Earth, free from the debilitating curse of accelerated aging, enjoying life. But no, here he was, having to travel 200 million kilometers to this hellhole of a planet. He steeled himself and stepped out of the rover onto the surface of Mars.
From just inside the airlock Commander Kruger beckoned to him with a free arm, gesturing encouragement to move. VanHoff focused on the figure of the commander, and excluded all other exterior stimuli. It worked, he inched his way forward and into the airlock. A few moments later he removed his helmet and tried to calm his breathing.
“Are you okay?” The commander gave him a concerned look.
“I’m fine… fine.” He composed himself for a moment before removing the bulky EVA suit.
By the time he arrived at the operations room in Colony One, the commander had brought him up to speed on the current status. He found it hard to focus on what Kruger was saying, as he kept looking around. It was hard to believe he was actually here, in the very place that had occupied his every waking moment for years. He sat down at the central table and surveyed the subdued figure of Jing Tzu, Xaing Zu Industries commander. His hands were bound behind his back, his head bowed in defeat.
“You should have left when you had the chance.”
Jing Tzu lifted his head up slowly and glared at VanHoff.
“It seems two of your crew are dead. A high price to pay for naught.”
VanHoff then turned to the commander. “What is your plan for them?”
“Fortunately, our Asian friends had the bright idea of incarcerating the current colonist population in the biodome. So I think we’ll just throw them inside and see how they get on.”
“Excellent. I trust you’ll keep their hands tied before you cast them to the lions, it should make for good entertainment.”
Jing Tzu was lifted out of his seat by two COM mercenaries, and dragged off to face an uncertain fate inside the biodome.
VanHoff now surveyed the monitors arrayed around the operations room. He was particularly interested in the video feed from the biodome, and could see clusters of colonists gathered together in various sectors. But there was one member of the colony population he was most interested in.
“Commander Kruger.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Before you deal with the Chinese, I want you to take a team, enter the biodome and find me Dr. Jann Malbec. Bring her to me—alive, if possible. I’ll be in the medlab getting things set up.”
“Yes sir.”
By the time VanHoff reached the medlab he was beginning to feel an increasing sense of confidence in the mission. They had successfully taken back control of both facilities, and the situation was now completely under COM control. What’s more, they had not sustained a single casualty. Now he was finally ready to get started on the main phase of the operation—to find the source of the Janus bacteria.
Already his team had moved the clone subject, Langthorp, onto the operating table in the medlab, where he lay sedated until they were ready. His genetics team were also in the process of moving in the new equipment that they had brought with them. VanHoff cast an eye around the medlab space. It was well set up, much better that he had anticipated. He did a cursory audit of its equipment as he moved from area to area. Finally he came to a sealed door. It was currently locked, access was via a keypad on the side. He peered in through the small window at its interior. It had been fashioned from one of the original landers, its circular interior was lined with units not unlike rows of safety deposit boxes in a bank vault. He looked back at the keypad and made a mental note to have his team get this door open.
It was some time later when his work in the medlab was disrupted by Kruger entering. He bore a concerned look, not something VanHoff wanted to see. The commander signaled to him to follow him outside. VanHoff obliged.
When they were out of earshot of the other crewmembers Kruger spoke. “We have not located Dr. Malbec yet. She’s not in the biodome and the colonists either don’t know where she is or are not saying.”
VanHoff stood silent for a moment. “This is a finite space. There are few places for someone to hide, she has to be here somewhere. And I want that woman found—now.”
“Yes sir, she will be found.”
“Wait a minute.” VanHoff stroked his chin again. “I have a better idea. Come, follow me. We’re going to talk to these colonists again. They know where she is, so let’s not waste any more time pussyfooting around.”
VanHoff and the commander were flanked by four well-armed COM mercenaries as the inner door to the biodome swung open. Inside, a knot of colonists were backing away as they advanced.
“You,” shouted VanHoff at a frightened looking colonist. “Over here.”
One of the mercenaries marched over, and grabbed her by the arm. “You heard the man.” He dragged her over to where VanHoff and the others were standing, and kicked her in the back of the knees. She dropped down on the floor, fright
ened and shaking.
VanHoff turned to Kruger and pointed to a stubby pulsed weapon he had tucked inside a holster around his shoulder.
“Mind if I borrow that for a moment?”
Kruger unclipped the weapon and handed it to him. VanHoff then moved to the kneeling colonist and placed a gentle hand on her head. “What’s your name?”
“M… Ma… Maria.”
“Well, Maria. Here’s how you can help us. I want to know where Dr. Jann Malbec is.” He stepped back and pointed the gun directly at her forehead.
“You’ve got ten seconds. Nine… eight… seven…”
15
Rock
Jann watched the events in the biodome unfold with a deep sense of dread, mixed with an equal measure of helplessness. The very fabric of the colony was being eviscerated before her eyes, and what was she doing? Hiding. She was doing what she always did—run and hide. Like when she was a child. At the first sign of trouble she would take off across the fields and disappear into her secret place, where the world couldn’t touch her, where her dreams were still tinged with hope. And here she was again, but this time there was no way out. Like a dystopian deja vu. The same, but worse.
The video feed showed Nills, unconscious on the medlab operating table. His chest rose and fell with each breath. Her hand reached out to touch the monitor, as if the action would make the reality… less painful. She had failed him. As she had failed the other colonists. They had placed their trust in her and now she had deserted them—run away. Now they knew the true Dr. Jann Malbec.
Her eyes moved from the prostrate form of Nills to the man standing over him. She knew that face. It was not one that you could easily forget. Old and haggard, limp fragile skin hung on brittle bones. It was Peter VanHoff. She could feel the cruelty radiate out from his being, even down here, under all this rock. His head moved, and for a brief second he looked straight at the camera. Jann recoiled and drew in a sharp breath.
“Holy crap, can he see us?”
“No, this is not possible,” replied Gizmo.
She stood up, walked away from the monitors and sat down again on a low seat against the cave wall. Jann put her head in her hands.
“I hate this place. I hate the dust, and the sand. I hate the constant fight for survival. I hate the naiveté of these clones. I hate the need to run and hide all the time. I just want to go home. Back to Earth. Away from this madness.”
“The probability of you returning to Earth is slim to none.”
“I know, I know. I am destined to be trapped here… in this cave. Watching Nills die slowly on the monitor—and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. This is what it has come to… this is my fate.”
“These events you speak of are yet to happen. And they are just one path of many possible outcomes. For it to come to pass a great many possibilities must line up in the correct sequence. Any disruption to that path, any deviation, no matter how small, will bring a different outcome.”
Jann took her head out of her hands and looked over at Gizmo. “What the hell… does any of that mean?”
“It means there are a great many ways that this can play out. Your premonition of Nills’ demise is just one possibility.”
“I think you have finally lost it, Gizmo. I’m pretty sure something hard must have fallen on your head. You’re not making any sense to me”
“What I am saying is, one rock can change the course of a river, if that rock is carefully placed. It will gather to it silt and sand and over time the river is moved.”
“Where are you getting all this… philosophy from? What happened to probabilities and analysis?”
“I have been researching the writings of Confucius, to gain a better understanding of our Chinese guests.”
Jann stood up. “I think I prefer Gizmo the analyst to Gizmo the philosopher. Finding a rock is not going to help us much.” She looked over at the video feed from the medlab, and the unconscious figure of Nills. “What are they doing to him?”
“It is the Janus bacteria that they ultimately seek. Nills must be important in that search.”
“We need to do something, we can’t leave him there, at the mercy of these bastards.”
“What do you suggest?”
“We can access the medlab from here so we wait until it’s vacated, then sneak in and take him down here.”
“Deja vu.” said Gizmo. “I have been here before, with Nills, at this same operations desk as he discussed rescuing you from the psychotic Commander Decker.”
Jann sat down and sighed. “But what would be the point of moving him? As soon as he was discovered missing they would rip the place apart and find us. We would only be buying time at best, giving ourselves away at worst.” She sighed again, stood up and walked back across the cave.
“This is hopeless. There’s no way out. They have us completely under their control and it’s only a matter of time before they find us down here.” She sat down and put her head in her hands again. “I’ve failed everyone, Nills, the colonists—there’s no escaping it.” She sat there in silence for quite some time, considering the hopelessness of her situation.
“Jann, you might want to see this.”
She looked over at the robot, “What is it?”
“Activity in the biodome.”
On the feed Jann could see Peter VanHoff holding a weapon to the head of one of the colonists. She was shaking uncontrollably, all the time pleading with them.
“Can we hear what’s going on?”
“No, we have no audio feed.”
“Damn, what’s she saying?”
“She is telling them… that you are hiding out.”
“Are you sure? How do you know that?”
“I can lip read, obviously.”
Jann spun around, her hand over her mouth. “Shit, shit, shit. They’ll find us.”
“Wait… she is saying… you are in Colony Two.” Gizmo looked over at Jann.
Jann stood silent for a while. “Are they buying it?”
They watched as VanHoff lowered the weapon, and handed it back to one of the mercenaries.
“Yes, he is not shooting the colonist Maria in the head.”
“Well, we’ve bought some time, nothing more. They’ll soon find out I’m not there and VanHoff won’t give up trying to find me. I’m a loose end, and he doesn’t strike me as a person who likes loose ends.”
The mercenaries started to move out of the biodome, but before the door shut, the four remaining Chinese taikonauts were unceremoniously shoved inside. They stood with their backs to the door, hands bound behind them. The colonists gathered around, closing in on them.
“This could get nasty,” said Jann, leaning her hand on the table as she peered closer at the monitor. “What are they saying, Gizmo?”
“Bastards… scumbags… let’s tear them a new asshole…” Gizmo looked over at Jann.
She pointed back at the monitor. “Xenon, what’s he saying?” He had stepped between and was appealing to the angry mob.
“Not enemy now… COM are the fight… don’t waste energy on these scum…” His appeals seemed to be having the desired effect. Their body language changed, the moment passed, but not before the taikonauts were pelted with rotten fruit. Xenon raised a hand, the rain of fruit stopped. After some time the colonists dispersed. The Chinese simply sat down on the floor and nursed their bruised and battered egos.
Jann sat and watched until it was clear the mood in the biodome had settled down. She sighed and looked around at the cave as if it might prompt some solution to her dilemma. She had time, but not much else, and even that was limited. Nills was incarcerated in the medlab, soon to be under the scalpel, no doubt. She could do nothing for him, just watch as he was slowly dissected by the COM geneticists, probing his biology in their quest to unlock the secrets of the Janus bacteria.
Jann looked across the cave and her eyes came to rest on the incubator where the last remaining sample of that bacteria still existed. She w
alked over to it and peered in through the observation window as she placed a hand on its glass. She stood there motionless, just looking at it for some time.
“Gizmo,” she finally said.
“Yes, Jann.”
She looked back at the robot. “I think we may have found our rock.”
“What do you mean?”
Jann looked back through the window at the petri dish. “This is what they came here for.”
“Are you going to destroy it? You still have some time.”
“No, Gizmo. I’m going to give it to them.”
The droid moved over to where Jann stood and looked in through the window. “Is that wise?”
“It depends on the manner in which it is given.”
“Now it is you that sounds like an ancient philosopher. I hate to admit it but I am confused.”
Jann stood back from the incubator and turned to Gizmo. “I’m not going to hand it to them, Gizmo. I’m going to release it to the environment.”
The robot was silent for a moment as it analyzed the ramifications of this strategy. “That would be more that just throwing a rock in the river. That would be a very large boulder.”
Jann turned back to the incubator. “The colonists are all immune to it, but the others…” Her sentence trailed off.
“It may give us an edge.”
“The repercussions of its release into the general environment are difficult to predict, Jann. Too much random chaos in the equation to enable any reliable analysis.”
“Chaos is our ally. If past performance is anything to go by, then by morning, they should all be fighting each other. My only concern is the taikonauts in the biodome. They could put the colonists at risk.”
“Their hands are bound, that would reduce the risk somewhat.”
Jann’s hand moved to the console on the incubator, her finger hovered over the button marked open.
Colony Mars Ultimate Edition Page 41
