Colony Mars Ultimate Edition

by Gerald M. Kilby

  “Well in that case you will be dead approximately seven kilometers before reaching it.”

  “Thanks for letting me know.”

  “My pleasure, I am here to assist.”

  Mia looked at the droid for a moment. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

  “That is your prerogative. However, there is one possibility worth considering.”

  “At this moment Gizmo, I’ll consider anything.”

  “I can carry you. Across this flat terrain I can attain far greater speed than you can. That means we could reach the way station within the upper limit of your oxygen reserves.”

  “Carry me?”

  “Yes, I can carry you considerably faster than you can perambulate across the surface. There is just one caveat. And that is, you are very likely to sustain injury from the method I am proposing.”

  “Define injury, Gizmo.”

  “Minor injuries such as extensive bruising and possibly a fracture or two. Also, there is an added risk of damage to your EVA suit.”

  Mia looked at the droid for a moment. “Let me think. I can either sustain some injuries or die. Hmmm…. tricky one, Gizmo.”

  “I would opt for not dying. It would seem the better option.”

  “I’m joking, Gizmo.” She took a look out through the rover windscreen at the dry dusty expanse. “Okay, let’s get going.”

  Out on the surface Gizmo cradled Mia in both its arms. Mia also had a good grip around the robot’s head. Once it was satisfied with the arrangement it took off at high speed. Mia had no time to think about it as the vibrations buffeted her. Even cocooned inside a tough EVA suit she could feel it. Gizmo wasn’t joking. Mia felt every rock and rut as the robot ploughed on. She felt the pain mount as its speed increased. Eventually, it was all she could do to hold on.

  The journey seemed eternal to Mia. She gritted her teeth and tried to ignore the intense vibrations jarring every part of her body. Then her suit started flashing a low oxygen alert. But there was nothing she could do about it. She would either make it or not. Her fate was now literally in Gizmo’s hands. She felt like urging it to go faster and to hell with the pain. But she knew it was pushing itself to the limits of its ability, just to give her this one chance of staying alive. She felt herself getting weaker, she was losing her grip on the robot, and on consciousness. Finally, just when her suit was screeching its alerts the loudest, she blacked out and slipped into darkness.

  16

  Council Session

  Only on very rare occasions was an extraordinary council session called. This was partly because it took time to assemble the required minimum of members, and partly because decisions made with such a diminished number could be open to appeal. The other reason, of course, was that most of the time they were simply not needed. They were, by their nature, extraordinary, and so were only required when something unprecedented happened. This was definitely one of those occasions.

  The session had been in progress for a while as the formalities of calling for such a meeting were dealt with. Councilor Yuto Yamashita stood and presented the facts of the matter, as they were known to him, pertaining to the incident at Central Logistics. These facts boiled down to a courier by the name of Mia Sorelli, effectively stealing an unserviced colony rover and embarking on a reckless and wholly unauthorized journey in pursuit of her ex-boyfriend. This, by any stretch of the imagination, was a criminal act. But while this incident, heinous though it was, would not necessitate the gathering of an extraordinary council meeting, new facts had come to light that made it of major concern to the Council of Mars.

  Councilor Yamashita paused in his presentation to gain the attention of the assembled members. After they were all quiet and focused on him, he continued.

  “It transpires that this colonist, Ms. Mia Sorelli, only arrived on the planet six months ago. So how, you may ask, did such an inexperienced colonist get to be a courier? Not only that but it transpires that she didn’t even have any training. How is this possible?” He let the question hang in the air for a brief moment. “Well, it seems that our very own Dr. Jann Malbec has abused her position as a prominent statesperson of the colony to get this rookie a position as a courier.”

  The assembled members looked from one to the other, reacting with gasps and murmurings of incredulity. Finally all eyes settled on Dr. Jann Malbec.

  Councilor Yamashita continued. “All procedures were bypassed, all safety and training programs were simply… cast aside.” he waved his sheaf of notes to emphasize this point.

  Jann knew what was coming down the track at her.

  “But, if that wasn’t bad enough, she also chose to have that… semi-sentient droid of hers disguise itself as a G2 unit, threatening the safety of the wider colony population.” There was an audible intake of breath at this revelation.

  Jann realized that Mia, by virtue of her irresponsible actions, had just dumped her in the shit.

  The Chair banged hard with his gavel as the assembly descended into chaos. “Order, order. For heaven’s sake, can everyone please settle down? We’ll get nowhere like this.”

  It took a few more attempts before some semblance of calm was restored. Then the Chair turned to Jann. “So, what do you say to these accusations, Dr. Malbec?”

  What could she say? Plead innocence, when it was patently all true? So, she chose instead to go on the attack. “I have watched from the sidelines for too long as this colony that we fought so hard to create, has grown fat and complacent on its own success. But let’s not forget how this success was won—by knowing who our enemies were and meeting them head on.”

  Councilor Yamashita scoffed. “I can’t see how this has any relevance to the issue being discussed. This is just the usual paranoid bullshit we have grown to expect from Dr. Malbec.”

  The Chair rapped his gavel. “Councilor Yamashita, I insist that you show some respect here in the council chamber, and desist from personal rebukes.” He then turned to Jann. “Dr. Malbec, please continue.”

  “Thank you.” Jann nodded to the Chair. “You all know my opinions here, and yes some may say I am… overly suspicious. But it has served me well in the past. But for it, I wouldn’t be here—and neither would any of you, for that matter.“

  “Be that as it may, the past is the past. We have moved on,” said Yuto.

  “Yes, get to the point, Dr. Malbec,” urged the Chair.

  “The point is, I do not believe that the incident over at Nili Fossae was an accident. I think he was killed deliberately to hide something—something that could threaten all of us.”

  “This is nonsense. We’ve been over all this before. I think Dr. Malbec has finally lost her marbles.” Councilor Yuto Yamashita appealed to the Chair.

  The Chair rapped his gavel again. “With all due respect, Dr. Malbec, this is old ground. Your feelings on this matter have been discussed several times and, without exception, have been shown to be unfounded. I think you need to return to the matter at hand. Which is why you saw fit to abuse your position and set up a very inexperienced colonist as a courier?”

  “Because I’m not going to sit here and watch everything I have fought for be destroyed by the naiveté of this council. That courier was murdered, and since none of you were going to do anything about it, I decided to investigate. Mia Sorelli, far from being inexperienced, was a highly regarded homicide detective back on Earth. So in my opinion, she is the single best individual on the planet to find out what the hell is going on!”

  The council chamber again descended into chaos, and the Chair almost broke his gavel trying to regain order. When some semblance of discipline had been established he returned his attention to Jann. “If I may speak for the council as a whole, we have nothing but the greatest respect for what you have done in the past to help build the colony into what it is today.” He looked around at the assembled councilors. There was a tacit agreement, acknowledged by nodding and murmuring.

  “But it seems you misjudged this… Ms. Sorelli,
since she went off on her own wild goose chase, in pursuit of an ex-lover, of all things. This is not the modus operandi of a professional, wouldn’t you agree?”

  “She was tricked into that. In my mind it adds further evidence that someone is playing us for fools.”

  “The only fool around here is you Dr. Malbec.” This interjection by Yamashita allowed a flood of similar opinions to take over the proceedings for a few moments before the Chair could wrest back control.

  “Whatever your views on the incident, you simply cannot take the law into your own hands anymore, this is not the Wild West. Your personal paranoia over vague and shadowy plots has led to this unfortunate event. Furthermore, you have put the entire colony in danger, not simply by allowing this colonist to do whatever the hell she likes, but by allowing that robot of yours to go roaming around on its own.”

  “I don’t know why we allow that robot to exist in the first place. It’s just too dangerous. I say the time has come to dismantle it once and for all.” Councilor Yamashita was on his feet again.

  Jann jumped up from her seat and leaned across the table. “That robot has played a significant role in the formation of this colony. It has saved my ass more than once so I owe it, in fact you all do. It is my friend and anyone who puts a finger on it to dismantle it will need to get through me first.”

  “It’s a potentially dangerous machine, and the only reason it has been allowed to exist is because you and Nills Langthorp have such an attachment to it. You are supposed to keep it on a short leash, not let it wander off where it likes. You are putting us in a difficult position, Dr. Malbec.” The Chair sighed and sat back.

  “I think this might be a good time to take a break and let passions on both sides cool down. When we resume we will have to decide on what disciplinary action to take. That is all. We will resume in one hour.” The Chair tapped his gavel again and Jann stood up and walked out of the council chamber—alone.

  It was at that moment she realized how far from the levels of power she had fallen. With Nills too far away to make the session, she didn’t have a single friend on the council. They were all against her. What sympathies she mustered in some were evaporating fast. They were seeing her as a lame duck and running the other way. She was alone, she had to face the truth—the council were never going to listen to her. She had failed.

  Jann removed herself to one of the contemplative areas within the garden surrounding the council dais, far enough away that it didn’t interfere with her thoughts. This particular spot was her favorite, flanked on all sides by tall trees and trailing vines. In the center was a low fountain, and around it were several stone seats, hewn from solid blocks of Martian granite transported all the way from Elysium. She sat down and receded into her thoughts.

  It was not long before her reverie was interrupted by a tall figure entering her space. It was Evon Dent, operations director of the Mars Alliance Scientific Survey.

  “My apologies, Dr. Malbec. I do not wish to intrude, but would it be possible to have a moment of your time?”

  Jann eyed him with suspicion. What the hell does he want? She nodded to the stone bench opposite her. “Take a seat.”

  He sat down and looked around. Jann figured it was not because he wanted to take in the scenery, but more to check that they were alone and unobserved. “For what it’s worth, Dr. Malbec, I’m beginning to think there might be some validity in your… suspicions.”

  Jann’s ears pricked up. Had she heard him right? She didn’t reply, just looked at him intently.

  “I appreciate that we have not seen eye-to-eye on certain issues, and that…. well, there are those who view the work we do here as… overly clandestine. But…” and he looked around again before leaning in and lowering his voice. “I think that you may be right about the accident up at Nili Fossae… not being an accident, as such.”

  “As such?” Jann was intrigued now.

  Evon shifted in his seat. Jann was getting the sense that this was not easy for him to admit, considering all that had just transpired.

  “There is a general perception, I think, that MASS is one big homogeneous agency, dedicated to the advancement of scientific knowledge of Mars.” He paused. “I wish that were the case. But it’s not so. Not unlike the politics here in the colony, we too have our factions. Some who would choose to go beyond our remit.” He raised his hands, palms out. “I know, I know, this is also many other people’s perception of us, but I assure you it is not what we are about.”

  “I appreciate your candor, Evon, but so what? We all know this. Anyway, you know more about the accident than anyone as you’ve been sitting on the evidence, doing exactly nothing.”

  “That’s the thing. We don’t know, because every time I inquire as to the progress of the investigation, I get the feeling I’m being stonewalled.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning, that I think, like you, that someone or some group within MASS doesn’t want the results out in the open. In short, Dr. Malbec, I think someone is leading us on a merry dance.”

  Evon did another of his quick scans of their surroundings starting in again. “It may come as a surprise to you, but we have a gap in our records concerning Jay Eriksen. It seems that he disappeared from our official database for the best part of four sols. But if someone were to locate the rover’s recorder, we would know where it was during that time, and possibly get some idea as to what Jay Eriksen might have been up to.”

  Jann considered this revelation for a moment. “So how can we do that?”

  “I was hoping you might be able to help in that regard.”

  Jann considered this request. “Here’s the thing, Evon. I don’t know which is more disconcerting. The fact that I may be right in my suspicions, or the fact that you seem to have lost so much trust in your own organization that you want my help.”

  “Anyway, I don’t see how I can help. As you can tell from the reception I just got in the council meeting, I’m fast running out of options. Unless, that is, my errant agent decides to stop screwing around and come back on radar.”

  17

  Reboot

  A brilliant fluorescent light burned its way through to Mia’s retina and into her optic nerve. She shut her eyelids tight and instinctively moved a hand to cover her face. A sharp pain shot up her arm, making her cry out.

  “Mia, you have returned to the land of the living.” It was Gizmo. “For a moment there, I thought you might be past saving. But I see you are made of superior biomass than the average Earthling.”

  “Where… am… I?” Mia’s throat felt like she had just eaten a cheese grater.

  “At way station 29. We made it here just in time.”

  Mia sat up, very slowly. More stabbing pain punctuated her movements. Her chest burned. She looked down to find her flight suit had been ripped open.

  “CPR,” said Gizmo. It pointed to a defibrillator beside the bed. “I needed to reboot you. It took a few attempts before you restarted.”

  Mia clutched her chest. Her skin was raw and she felt like someone had driven a herd of cattle over her. “Thanks,” was the best she could manage. Mia could see they were in the small medbay. “Anyone else here?”

  “No, just us.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “Not long, approximately seven minutes.”

  Mia moved into a standing position, one hand still holding the edge of the bed. “Oh my god, my entire body is seriously banged up. I don’t think there’s anywhere that I don’t have pain.” She moved over to the small workspace and started to open drawers. “Painkillers, I need lots of painkillers.”

  It took Mia five minutes of searching and label reading before she could finally sit down in the main common area and take stock of her situation. The droid had not used the comms to send any distress message yet, even though they were now technically stranded. The rover was damaged beyond Gizmo’s ability to repair, so the only way back to civilization was to call for help. But that could alert w
hoever was trying to kill her that she was still alive.

  “Do you have a way of contacting Dr. Malbec that can’t be traced?”

  “I can send an encrypted message, but I will need to relay it through the way station comms antennae, as I do not possess sufficient range.”

  “Can that be traced?”

  “While the contents would be indecipherable, the transmission would indeed be noted.”

  Mia thought about this. Her only other option was to wait and hitch a ride on the next courier through here, but it could be several sols before anyone else showed up. And with the migration of all citizens to Jezero City for the celebrations, she would be stranded here until after that.

  “Gizmo, get a message to Jann. Tell her someone just tried to kill me and that we’re stranded out here.”

  “Will do.” It buzzed off to the comms desk.

  Mia relaxed a bit as the effects of the painkillers began to kick in. She knew there wasn’t much one could do for cracked ribs but she decided to bandage herself up, just to give her torso some support. Her left wrist was also swollen and extremely painful to move, so it too would need wrapping.

  As she tended to her injuries she considered why someone wanted her dead. It wasn’t because she knew too much. So far, she knew absolutely nothing other than hints. But whoever was after her knew that she was on the hunt, investigating, seeking out the truth. And it must be, that if she kept at it, then the truth would out eventually—whatever the hell it was. So she must be closer than she realized. But where would she find it? Where to next? Had Jay Eriksen also been searching? Did he find something that had got him killed?

  “Mia!” Gizmo came whizzing into the medbay. “I have picked up a rover, approximately five klicks east of us, heading this way.”

  Mia looked surprised. “That was quick.”