She lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The guards had stationed themselves just outside the door, waiting for her to make a move. Seconds, minutes, hours. It all blurred together. Her reprieve could have been almost up when the door finally opened and John entered their living quarters.
“I got off early,” he said with a slight strain in his voice.
Patricia stood up and wrapped her arms around him. “I need your help.”
John pushed her away with a shake of his head. He placed his finger against his lips and said, “I think I’m going to lay down.”
Patricia looked around. They were listening somehow. Probably watching too. It didn’t matter where she went, they were going to keep tabs on her that complete twenty-four hour reprieve and she would be unable to clear her name in time.
“How was your day?” she asked in a defeated tone.
“A bit of a waste of time. Perhaps I’ll accomplish something useful tomorrow.”
Patricia flinched. Did he think she did it? She searched for a subject change. Anything. Something that she didn’t care if they heard or not. “I went for our appointment yesterday, with Xana.”
He sat up; his eyes wide. “That was yesterday?”
“Yeah. She and I talked for a while. It’s always good when…” Patricia stopped. She slapped her hand against her forehead and stared at John a moment. It would work. It made sense. “I actually think I should go see her now. She and I didn’t finish our conversation about some of the things that I need to do. Thanks.”
He slowly rose off the bed and approached Patricia. “I think I should go with you. I missed yesterday and I should hear the news, right?”
“Yes, you definitely should.”
Patricia led the way through the ship to Xana’s office with John and the incessant guards. Anyone she passed skirted to the outside with looks of fear, disgust or curiosity. All it did was upset her more. She could feel the fire within burning, yearning for a release.
Patricia knocked. “Xana, could we have a minute?”
Xana was with a patient who stood up startled at the sound of the door. She was crying, holding a tissue in her hand.
“I was just finishing up with this young lady. Perhaps you could come back.”
Patricia didn’t smile. She looked Xana in the eye and spoke harshly. “This can’t wait.”
Xana took the hint. “Very well, why don’t you take a few more of those pills and come back in a week. They should help.”
The woman stood up and left. The moment she was out of the room, Patricia ushered John in and closed the door, giving the guards one last smug look.
“What was that all about?” Patricia asked as she took a seat, John beside her.
Xana shook her head. “Early stages of space madness. Poor thing tried to kill her husband last night.” Xana took her seat. “What’s with the guards?”
“I have a twenty-four hour reprieve. Actually I’m down to probably fifteen hours now, maybe. They think I’ve stolen something.”
“So they caught you,” Xana said.
Patricia shook her head with a sideways glance at John. “This has nothing to do with the tablet.”
“You actually did steal something?” he asked incredulously.
Patricia shrugged. “I may have stolen something for the captain’s wife with Tuft’s help.”
Then he looked confused. “What could she possibly want?”
“It was a bunch of numbers. I don’t know what it was or what she was going to do with it. This has nothing to do with that.”
“Then what’s this really about?” Xana asked.
“Lance, that kid in my class, he’s framed me somehow for stealing something from the seventh floor, the one that’s highly guarded at all times.”
John scoffed. “Framed? I saw the footage. You were there.”
Patricia shook her head. “He doctored that. He had to have doctored it because I’ve never been down there.” Patricia shook her head. “Well, once with Troubalene because Lance beat the crap out of guard down there. That’s it. He probably used that footage to doctor over him being down there.”
“And how would he accomplish this?”
“He’s a computer genius. This kid can do things that I don’t even think you know how to do, no offense. I mean it’s obvious where he should work, but I don’t think he’ll try to help us accomplish our goal at all. He’s going to sabotage this mission.”
“Are you sure that he is capable of hacking into the ship’s surveillance system and doctoring the footage?” John asked.
Patricia nodded. “Definitely. And neither of you know about the tattoo.”
“He has a tattoo?” Xana asked with curiosity. “Of what? I’ve always wanted one. It seems so tribal. Juno looked down on them. Should have gotten one in Capena before we left.”
“It’s kind of a tattoo. More or less. It’s definitely imbedded in his skin. The problem is that it’s a working tattoo.”
“What do you mean?” John asked.
“It’s hard to describe. When he got sick, Troubalene and I were examining him because he’d had such a high fascination with the seventh floor and we found the tattoo on his chest. There’s a circle and numbers. If you push on a number, it appears in the circle then slowly fades away. I don’t know what he’s using it for, but I know Troubalene really wants to find out. She was requiring that I give her weekly progress reports on Lance ever since he was released from quarantine.”
“Then, he has good reason to frame you,” Xana said. “So what are you going to do?”
“The captain is convinced that I’m to blame. He never liked me.” Patricia rolled her eyes. “I can’t confront Lance because of my new security detail.”
“That is partially your fault,” John said.
“Why?” Xana asked.
“She attacked three guards in the middle of class.”
“First of all, they attacked me. And it was only two; the third ran away.”
Xana smiled. “At least you defended yourself.”
Patricia smiled too. “As I was saying, because I can’t confront him, I need one of you two to do it for me.”
The smile dropped from Xana’s face. “I can’t do that. I’m not much of a fighter and I have patients. If I go off on a vigilante mission, someone might say something. I could lose my job. Then what will I do. They could freeze me for the remainder of the trip for not being a productive member of the colony.”
“They are going to freeze me.” Patricia looked at John. “Can’t you do it? Please.”
John looked stern. “I will talk to him. But I won’t hurt him until he confesses. I’ll do what I can.”
Patricia sighed. She turned back to Xana. “There is something I want to ask you before we leave…before I spend the remainder of our journey locked away. If they freeze me, will it affect…” She looked down at her stomach.
“To tell you the truth,” Xana said with a slight shake of her head. “I’m not sure. Cryogenics have not been tested on pregnant women, but I will do everything in my power to make sure you both come out of it with no complications.”
Patricia nodded. She felt a soft hand touch hers and followed the arm to John.
There was an indescribable look on his face. One of a mixture of hope, of joy and of sadness. “You’re…”
Patricia nodded. “I haven’t seen you much and you did miss our appointment. I was going to tell you. I just didn’t think that…well, at least you found out before.” She paused. “I’m sorry about taking that stuff for the captain’s wife. You might want to watch out for her.”
“What was the file called?”
“Cynosure.”
“And how did you get it?”
“Tuft and I broke into the mainframe and I used your credentials to gain access. That’s something else you should know if I don’t come out of this for the better. I’m sorry about that too, for the record.”
“If you weren’t already in trouble, I swear
you and I would be having a long discussion about this. I think I may need to talk to Tuft later.”
Patricia sighed. “You can’t. I think they killed him. I haven’t seen him since and unfortunately, I saw them standing over his lifeless body. It’s not looking good.”
John nodded. “I’ll look into that too.” He patted her on the knee. “We should go. You need to go find somewhere to be while I find Lance. Any idea where he could be located?”
“I don’t. He probably took off the moment I left the classroom, but in the surveillance room they have a monitor that’s solely for him at the moment.”
“Then I’ll head there first. Xana, I’ll come by later to tell you how things go, either way.”
“If they go well, I should be with him,” Patricia said in a shaky voice. She managed to put on a fake smile and exited the room. The moment she was out, the guards gravitated to her. She decided the best course of action was to go to the cafeteria and wait for John there. She could at least have her last meal while she waited and maybe someone would be there to talk to about anything else.
The cafeteria was almost empty. It was apparently past dinner time and just before a shift change so she found a table with a small plate of food stuff and sat down with the guards. They didn’t grab food.
“I see your friends are still following you around,” Troubalene said.
Patricia smiled. “Yeah, my fan club’s getting a bit annoying.”
“Have you been able to resolve the issue?”
Patricia shook her head. “I’m working on it, but it would go a lot quicker if I didn’t have the security detail.”
“I can’t help you there.”
“Is there anything you can help me with?”
Troubalene smiled. “I assumed you were waiting on John.”
Patricia scowled. “We just left the doctor’s office less than twenty minutes ago. But yes, I was waiting on news from him.”
“Well, he’s not going to be able to make it. He’s being detained for a short amount of time.”
“What? What for?”
“Maybe you should visit the infirmary. It appears he may have been involved in an altercation.” Troubalene stood up. “By the way, if you do end up…well you know, I will keep working to find a way to clear your name. It won’t be forever Patricia.”
“Somehow, I don’t find that comforting.”
Patricia shoveled the rest of her food into her mouth and stood up, the guards doing the same. Then, with a bit of a burst of speed, she charged down the hall and into the elevator. The guards made it just before the doors shut and squeezed inside. It almost worked. Once back on level two, she made her way to the infirmary and found what she was looking for almost immediately. Just inside the door, Lance lay on a cot. He had two blackened eyes, a cut lip, and what appeared to be a broken arm which was being set.
Patricia smiled.
“You can’t be in here,” a hairy man in a white coat said. He folded his arms in front of his chest as he approached Patricia.
“And who are you?”
“I am Filonius, Chief of Medical Operations, and you need to leave immediately or I will call the captain.”
“Just wanted to see for myself, that’s all.” She turned, but just before she was back out the door Patricia looked back. “Don’t take it too easy on him. A little pain never did anyone any harm.”
Patricia couldn’t sleep that night. She kept having nightmares about being cold and having her extremities falling off. As she lay there, alone, since John never came back to the room that night, Patricia wondered how much longer she had. It wasn’t much into the afternoon. She’d decided to skip breakfast and lunch and had found no point in attending class. They’d just haul her off in the middle of it again, like the day before. The kids didn’t need that kind of entertainment. And with the exception of Lance, the other three didn’t deserve to be scared that way again.
The door slid open and the captain walked in. “Are you ready to give back what you stole?”
“I cannot produce what isn’t here.” Patricia sat up and climbed off the bed. “You can search my room, my classroom and me, but you won’t find what you’re looking for. Because I didn’t take it.”
“Or you hid it that well.”
“What good does it do me to continue to hide this thing from you if I’m locked away?”
“Your accomplice will be certain to fetch it the moment your gone.”
“My accomplice? And who might that be?”
The captain leaned in real close so she could smell his hot breath. “John will tell me eventually where you hid it. You can be certain of that.”
“If you think for one second that he would ever do anything to compromise this mission, something he has invested so much time and energy into, then you’re delusional. Have you been screened for space madness? I hear it’s going around.”
“Let’s go. I have no patience for someone like you.”
Patricia could almost hear the drums as they marched her to the cryogenics lab on the second level. She imagined herself in the past, being taken to the gallows. The knot in her stomach grew with each step and the lump in her throat became harder to swallow. She wouldn’t cry. She refused to cry. Not in front of them.
The captain pushed his way to the front when they arrived at the room and placed his hand in the biometric screener. It appeared to be more than just a handprint that it wanted because when he pulled his hand back out, he wiped a dab of blood from the tip of his finger onto his pant leg.
The room itself was slightly cooler than the rest of the ship. There were several tubes, all lining the walls and scattered throughout the middle of the room. Some had people in them, though not many were filled. She could just make out maybe twenty filled tubes. She wondered if they had begun the journey already frozen or if they had ended up that way as a result of their own misdeeds. One thing she didn’t see, one person, was Tuft. He wasn’t there and, with that, she felt her heart sink further.
“You could have prevented this,” Captain Creighton said.
“The sad thing is,” Patricia said, “ that you actually believe that.”
Two of the guards grabbed her arms while another opened one of the pods. She was shoved inside and the glass slid shut immediately.
The captain smiled at her. “We’ll see you at the end of our journey. Guilty or not, you’ll stand trial at our new home.”
Something pricked into her left arm. She could feel her heart slowing down. Then she felt a second prick and her eyelids grew heavy.
10
Final Communication
Gerald sat in Wallis’s office for the third time that week. He was beside Wilk at least, unlike the last two occasions when it had just been the two of them. A holographic image hung in the air between the three with pictures of the planet Earth and the new discoveries that they had made.
“The plan,” Wallis said after clearing his throat. “Is to land a bit further north this time. We’re curious how far the things stretch.”
“Can’t you do thermal scans?” Wilk asked.
“We tried that with the last unmanned mission. It appears that they don’t give off heat signatures or at least our sensors were not sophisticated enough to pick them up. My thoughts are that we may have to capture just one of the smaller ones to study the energy that would enable us to track them. Unfortunately many of my colleagues have described that plan as barbaric and crude. I suppose it might be a little inhumane to the one animal we take, but it’ll only be for a short while. I would ensure that the creature be returned to the ocean after we were through.”
“No offense,” Gerald said. “But I’d be more afraid of pissing something bigger off by doing that. There’s got to be a compromise.”
“What makes you think that we’re not dealing with just plain animals here?” Wallis asked in a curious voice.
“What do you think we’re dealing with?” Gerald asked back. He didn�
�t expect Wallis to answer. Gerald leaned forward and said, “I’ve seen these things in the water. We…” He indicated himself and Wilk. “…watched them for five, ten minutes maybe, but there was something about them, something in the way they acted that tells me their intelligent. I wouldn’t count them out.” He bit his lip and looked at Wilk who rolled his eyes. Gerald had told him his thoughts the night before and Wilk had called him crazy. Maybe, Wallis wouldn’t though. “I don’t think we should study them. I think we should make contact with them, try to communicate, because they just might be able to do so.”
Wallis smiled. “I appreciate the thought, but not many are going to agree with you.”
Gerald nodded. “Fine. How’s the progress coming on the probe?”
“Good. We’ve managed to dissect the creature you brought to us. If he had been alive, that one would have definitely been intelligent. He would have been able to communicate in ways we’re sure would have seemed advanced even by our standards. Unfortunately, he’s long since been dead. Now as for the probe itself. I’d say within a few hours they’ll have been able to retrieve the data from it. It must have taken quite a fall.”
Gerald nodded. “It landed on top of an old grocery store. I think the being was still alive when it landed though.”
“What makes you say that?” Wallis asked.
“There was a soft glow that he gave off when I found him inside. That same glow was on the wall of a gas station where weird symbols and numbers in like formulas were written. I think maybe he’d written them. Maybe a message to someone or just thoughts in his head he needed to get out. I’m not sure.”
“Could you draw them? Could you remember them?”
Gerald shook his head. “ I dream about it sometimes, but the symbols change from dream to dream. I think if I saw the original again I’d recognize it. I could just take you to the gas station and show you. There’s no way that things gone. No one’s there to destroy it.”
The Oceans of Mars Page 13
