Colony Mars Ultimate Edition

by Gerald M. Kilby

  Already, some of the fighters had returned, and there was a mix of joy and sorrow in their faces. Joy for what Mia had done in destroying the spider tank, and sorrow for those they had lost. Once Anka was happy that Mia needed no more help, she took her leave to go and search for Milo in the rubble of the battle.

  Lloyd saw Mia approaching first and raised a fist in the air. A cheer went up as the others realized she was still alive. Lloyd waved to her, then pointed at something. From out behind a stack of crates, Gizmo whizzed into view. The robot waved an arm. "Greetings, Mia. It seems I have risen from the dead yet again."

  "Gizmo, you're back." Mia ran over and put two arms around the droid in an uncharacteristic display of emotion. It must have been the near-death experience up on the warehouse roof that had her so off guard.

  "Mia," said Gizmo, "I do believe you are actually pleased to see me."

  "Do you still have the data from the search we did of the Leighton waystation?"

  "I think you only love me for my data." Gizmo feigned umbrage.

  Mia looked at Lloyd, who stood beside them. "What have you done to it? I swear it's becoming more human every time it's reanimated."

  "I have to admit, this new power source that Lloyd kindly retrofitted is most invigorating. I feel like a young droid again." Gizmo did a quick 360-degree spin.

  Mia looked from Lloyd to Gizmo and back again. Lloyd just shrugged. "It's your droid."

  "And yes, I still have all the data," Gizmo finally revealed.

  "Then we need to act now and get this information broadcast. With the Montecristo security forces in retreat, we can turn the tide on this battle and get the people on our side."

  "We've the comms all set up, ready to go." Lloyd pointed over to the desk. "All I need to do is make the data interface with the droid."

  There was a commotion at the entrance to the hangar as Marcus and his crew returned. His leg looked bloodied, and he walked with the aid of a makeshift crutch. They also wore the scars of battle. Marcus caught Mia's eye. "You did good out there, real good. I think we have the beating of them now."

  Mia nodded. "Thanks, but the war isn't over yet. Not until we get the message out."

  "Okay, we're nearly ready," said Lloyd. "We're just getting the last of the data dump from the droid."

  Mia glanced over to where Gizmo had parked itself. A bunch of wires trailed out from an interface port on its breast casing and trailed along the floor to a bank of terminals. Several techs sat watching a stream of data cascading down monitor screens. On one, Mia could see the video feed Gizmo had taken during their search of the waystation.

  One of the monitors suddenly flickered, and the stream of data stopped cascading. In its place was the MLOD logo. The tech overseeing this terminal cupped one hand over his right ear. "Boss, incoming broadcast alert from central."

  Everyone in the warehouse stopped what they were doing and focused their attention on the tech. A broadcast alert from central only meant one thing: major systems failure—usually life support.

  "What's it saying?" Lloyd shouted over to the tech.

  The screen started to flash a warning symbol, followed by a steam of text.

  "Decompression alert...maintenance sector."

  An audible shock rippled through the assembled group.

  "It says..." the tech continued, "the outer sector dome has sustained significant damage due to recent insurgent activity. Losing atmosphere at an unsustainable rate. Evacuation alert imminent."

  "This is bullshit," said Marcus. "There's no damage to the dome. It would take a nuke to put a dent in it."

  Outside, all across the sector, sirens began to wail, rising in pitch until they split the air with an ear-piercing shrill. It was the decompression alarm, a sound that struck fear into every person who had ever lived in a pressurized environment.

  "Shit, this is real," said one of the fighters. "We got to get out."

  "Bullshit. They're lying," said another. "No way this sector is losing atmosphere."

  Lloyd was now over at the terminal, studying data readouts. "Actually, we are. There's a minor drop in pressure." He looked up from the screen at the others. "And it's falling." He went back to the readout. "At this rate, I estimate we have twenty-seven minutes before isolation."

  "Isolation?" It was a term that awoke a deep-rooted emotional trauma in Mia, as her mind went back to the incident in the agri-dome in Jezero.

  "It means the sector doors close, isolating this area so that the other sectors are not compromised."

  "It means we have less that twenty-seven minutes to get out or slowly die by hypoxia."

  "They must be doing this—Montecristo," said an adamant Marcus. "They’re controlling the air pressure. There's no damage to the dome."

  "It's possible," said Lloyd. "They do control all the infrastructure, so they could do it, but they would need buy-in from MLOD. How is that possible?"

  "What do we do?" said Marcus. "We can't fight this."

  "We do what we planned to do all along," said Mia. "We get this data out to the people."

  "Then we don't have much time," said Lloyd.

  "Boss, incoming comms," a tech shouted over from a terminal. She had one hand cupped over her right ear, listening to something as a comms alert flashed on her terminal screen.

  "Who is it?" Lloyd answered.

  The tech swung around on her chair and looked wide-eyed at them. "Eh...I think it’s Vance Baptiste. He wants to talk to Major Sorelli."

  All eyes turned to Mia.

  "Baptiste?" Mia considered what this might mean. "Can we record it? Better yet, can we broadcast it?"

  The tech looked to Lloyd for guidance, unsure of how to answer.

  "We can, can't we?" Lloyd prompted.

  The tech nodded. "Yeah, we can do both...with a slight delay. A few seconds."

  "Okay, get it set up. I'll take the call." Mia moved over to the terminal. "Put a camera on me, but make sure there's nothing in the background we don't want them to see."

  It took the tech and Lloyd less than a minute to get set up. Mia stood facing the terminal, which had now been elevated and oriented so the background was just...empty space. Mia nodded, and the tech made the comms connection.

  On screen, the head and shoulders of Vance Baptiste materialized. In the background, several techs could be seen arrayed along a bank of terminals, presumably an operations center. And if Mia was not mistaken, it looked to be the interior of an industrial transport rover. Also in the background, looking away from the camera, was the unmistakable figure of Orban Dent, Montecristo's head of security, still wearing his long black coat.

  Baptiste spoke. "Ah...Major Mia Sorelli. What a pain in the ass you're turning out to be."

  "Glad to be of service," Mia was quick to reply. "So, I presume you want to say sorry for the destruction caused to the maintenance sector by Montecristo Industries, and offer reparations?"

  "Ha, ha... Good to see that you've retained a sense of humor, considering that you're now a wanted terrorist. The MLOD in Jezero are anxious to see you brought to justice, along with the other criminals you're consorting with."

  "You mean the citizens who are attempting to expose Montecristo's theft of vital spare parts—components that could have saved the lives of a great many people."

  Baptiste let a snort. "Enough of this bullshit. I'm here to give you all an offer. Not my idea, I assure you, but it would seem that you still have some hold over the council of Mars back in Jezero, and since they have kindly lent their support in our efforts to crush this little uprising of yours, I owe them one. So here it is."

  He took a breath. "No doubt you have noticed there is an area-wide alert just issued from central, indicating that the sector dome has been damaged by terrorists—that would be you—and that the sector is now losing atmosphere."

  Mia couldn’t stop herself from crying foul. "And we know it's bullshit. It's Montecristo Industries who are doing this."

  "If you and your comrades
were to surrender now, then the decompression alert will magically fix itself. There's no need for innocent people in the maintenance sector to die. So, I suggest you do the right thing."

  "Does Chief Becker know what you’re doing?"

  "Becker knows which side he's on. Law and order needs to be maintained."

  "At any cost?"

  "That's your choice. Personally, I rather hope you don't take the offer, as I would rather see you dead. But maybe there is still a way for that to happen—even if you do."

  "Like you did with Agent Dan Frazer?"

  "He was a fool, and like you he stuck his nose into places that were none of his business."

  Mia glanced over at Lloyd and nodded. That was her signal for them to start broadcasting the conversation.

  "You mean because of what he found out?"

  Baptiste gave a laugh. "Ha, is that what you think?" He leaned into the camera. "You and your bunch of merry men and women are all that’s between Montecristo Industries and control of that sector. And with that gives us control of the council, and with that gives us all of Mars. So, it’s time to grow up and realize just how out of your league you really are."

  "So that's what all the stockpiling was for, all those crates of vital components you've been stealing and hoarding. Just so you can take control. All those people who didn't need to die, all the systems failures that didn't need to happen."

  "Your time is up. The choice is yours."

  "Well, here's what I'm going to do: Arrest your head of security for the murder of Agent Dan Frazer, and you for crimes against the state."

  Baptiste let out a long, genuine laugh. "Ha-ha... I’ve got to hand it to you, Sorelli, you do have a great sense of humor." His focus flipped away from the camera as Orban grabbed his attention and pointed to something off camera. They had just realized that it was all being broadcast, along with the video feed from the Leighton waystation.

  He swung his head back to the camera, and his face had screwed itself into one of barely controlled rage. "You won't get away with this. You'll pay..." The connection terminated.

  Mia looked over at Lloyd. "Did it get out?"

  "Yes, all of it. The conversation, the video from the waystation, the data, everything."

  "Any reaction?"

  "Yes, but the picture is very confused." One of the techs scanned an array of real-time feeds. "We've got counter-comments from MLOD and Montecristo, some indications of people taking to the streets, and some people are panicking. It's a bit of a mess."

  "It's going to take time. Just keep repeating the broadcast," said Mia.

  "It won't take them long to block it," said Marcus. "Then what?"

  "Hopefully it will have done its damage by then. In the meantime, we've got fifteen minutes to get out of here."

  "I'm not going," said Lloyd.

  "We don't have a choice," Mia pleaded. "If we stay, we die."

  "Boss, the doors are starting to close. I'm getting reports of panic at the exits, people trying to get out."

  "I don't believe it," said Marcus. "How can they do this?"

  "Are you sure?" Lloyd turned to the tech.

  "The reports are very confused. But it seems panic has set in. Wait a minute..." The tech raised a hand for silence so she could concentrate, then swung around on her seat and looked at them. "They're putting all the other sectors under Montecristo control into lockdown. Nobody can move around the city."

  "Shit, can they do that?" said Mia.

  "It would appear so," replied the tech.

  "This is getting way out of hand," said one of the fighters. "We've only made things worse."

  "Bullshit," said another. "We're not the people pulling the levers on this. It's Baptiste who’s giving the orders. He's the one putting every citizen's life in danger."

  "Twelve minutes," the tech called out.

  "Let's face it, we're not getting out." Marcus slumped down on a crate. "How long have we got once the doors close?"

  "Hard to say." Lloyd was now checking readouts. "Depends on how fast they suck all the air out. The sector dome has a vast volume, so it could be many hours, maybe even days."

  "And we can't stop it. With all the other sectors going into lockdown, there's no way to get people onto the streets, no matter how riled up they are." Marcus winced as he stretched his injured leg out.

  "I can't believe that the MLOD and Jezero are just going to sit back and let this happen," said Mia. "Can we contact them? Try to persuade them to take action, do the right thing?"

  "Worth a shot." Lloyd turned to one of the comms techs. "Can you try to get a connection?"

  The tech's fingers danced across the control interface. Eventually she just shook her head. "No joy, we've been shut out. No outside comms, all dead."

  There was a moment of silence in the warehouse as the seriousness of the situation began to sink in. Evacuating may not be that simple; if the citizens were panicking and trying to push through the exit routes, people would get hurt in the clamor to get out. Staying, on the other hand, would be a long, slow death.

  "How are they doing this? Where are they controlling it from?" Mia directed her question at Lloyd, who was now over at the comms desk, trying to find out how they were being blocked.

  "They control the systems, they have the power." Lloyd waved a hand dismissively, and Mia could see a sense of frustration beginning to affect him.

  "No, I mean where from? Do they have a central operations center?"

  Lloyd stood up from the comms desk, seeming to accept defeat. He could not find a comms route out. He sighed and turned to face Mia. "Yes, somewhere. But what does it matter?"

  "Where?"

  "Over at their HQ, industrial sector. But there's no way we can get there."

  "Yes there is." Mia turned and pointed at the maintenance airlock, way at the back of the hangar. "You're forgetting—we still have a rover."

  Lloyd's eyes widened as the realization sank in. "You're not seriously thinking of trying to get into their HQ?"

  "Sounds like a good idea to me," said Marcus.

  Some of the others had now picked up on Mia's plan and began to gather around.

  "It could give us a chance," said one.

  "Better than staying here," said another.

  "But think about what you’re proposing, Mia," said Lloyd. "Even if you do manage to get there, how are you going to hack your way through their security?"

  A thin smile broke across her face, and she turned to the comms desk. "Gizmo, fancy another adventure?"

  "Absolutely. I am beginning to get a bit bored here anyway." The droid detached the cables that had been connected to it for the data transfer and whizzed over beside Mia. "When do we start?"

  "Wait a minute, let's think about this." Lloyd raised a hand in a halting gesture.

  "Nothing to think," said Marcus. "Let her do this."

  "Seven minutes," the techs shouted out.

  Lloyd turned to the assembled fighters. "Everybody, it's time to get out of here. We’ve got seven minutes until lockdown. We fought the good fight, but it's over. Go now, while there's still a chance to come out of this alive."

  But already their numbers had thinned out. Some had left as soon as the decompression alert sounded, its shrill whine still audible. Now more drifted off, leaving a small cohort of die-hards—those who would fight to the last. Those who would see it out to the bitter end.

  But there were also quite a few who were injured in the fighting. They were stuck here, whether they liked it or not. One of those was Milo.

  Anka had found him, still alive and buried under a mound of crumpled metal. His leg was broken, his left shoulder dislocated, he had burns and scorch marks all over his torso—he was not going anywhere, and neither was Anka.

  "Look, we’ve got people injured. None of them are getting out. So, let's not waste any more time or people." Mia turned to Lloyd. "Let me and Gizmo do this. Just tell us, how do we find this place?"

  "All I need are the c
oordinates," said Gizmo. "I can navigate, and I can also find the best route in."

  Lloyd looked around at the injured who had been laid out on the floor of the hangar and made as comfortable as possible. "I should stay here. If Gizmo can navigate and hack his way in, then I'll just get in the way."

  "I also have the advantage of not dying when exposed to the vacuum of space," said Gizmo.

  Lloyd pursed his lips and slowly raised one finger. "Actually, there may be another way."

  "Four minutes."

  "Can you knock that off?" Marcus shouted over at the tech, a little harshly. "Do we really want to know?"

  "A better way?" said Mia.

  "It's a distributed system. Meaning we don't necessarily need to gain access to Montecristo HQ. Control can be accessed from multiple locations—all you need is the right terminal and the authority."

  "You mean we could hack in from here?"

  "No, no. That's not possible. It uses quantum encryption, so any terminal won't do—we need a specific terminal. But there are any number of them throughout the Montecristo network."

  "Do you know where they are? Is there one we can get to without having to shoot our way into HQ?"

  "I'm certain there's one in that rover that Baptiste was operating from, and that would have less security around it than HQ."

  Mia thought for a moment. This possibility was tempting. Going after Baptiste and Orban would be a real coup, if she could pull it off. "Any ideas where it is?"

  Lloyd smiled. "Yes, I know exactly where it is. At least, where it was when they made the comms connection. I ran a trace on its location. Baptiste was so cocksure of himself that he didn't think to block it."

  "Gizmo, do you know where it is? Can you navigate there?"

  "I can get us to the last known position. We will need to exit onto the planet surface and then reenter the city on the outskirts of the maintenance sector. But there is a high probability it has moved from that location."

  "We'll take that chance." Mia turned to go.