by Josh Miller
Mars Conspiracy
Josh Miller
Copyright 2011 Josh Miller
The woman ran down the corridor of the spaceport. Her long brown hair was blowing behind her. In a few minutes the ship would depart. She thought back to the body she had left hidden away in the access panel. Her plan would be ruined if anyone found it. She looked down at the ID cards she had in her hand. 'Kalie Seranov' was the name written across one next to a picture of a young woman with dark black hair. On the other was a picture of herself with the same name. The first card she had taken from the body. The halls of the spaceport were completely empty, everyone was out seeing the ship off. The ship she had to be on. A voice came over the loud speaker.
"The Frontier will be departing in five minutes," the voice said. "All personnel embarking on this mission who are not already on board should report to the docking ring now."
She was almost out of time. She could see the ship now out the large windows lining the station's outer corridor. The Frontier was a long and narrow ship. In the top was the main living area where the passengers slept. Most of the main systems were in the elongated middle section. There was one lower deck for the crew's quarters and two huge cylinder engines flanked the ship on either side.
She reached the crown of people and had to struggle to get through. There was a man up on a stage giving a speech. His name was Gregor Reeshani, head of space division. The woman was careful not to let him see her.
She made her way around the stage to the loading area. The crews were starting to close the access port just as she arrived.
"Wait! Stop," she yelled to them. A young man wearing a brown leather security officer's jacket turned around. He was a little taller than she was and his hair was dark black. His eyes were dark brown in color. He looked to be about 27 years old.
"Where do you think you're going?" he asked.
"Sorry I'm late. I'm one of the passengers," she said handing him her papers and ID card. The man looked them over then handed them back to her.
"Looks like you just made it," he said as he extended his hand. "My name is Riker, I'm the security officer on board the Frontier. I hope you enjoy your trip." She shook his hand then turned to the access port to the ship. Riker paused for a minute to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything before following her on board. He looked up to notice the crowd had turned towards him. He gave them a salute before entering the corridor leading to the ship.
The Frontier launched from the space station in orbit of earth, unaware of what lay ahead. Its mission was to land on Mars, the first team of people on the red planet. The woman sat in her quarters watching the station as it began to grow smaller and smaller in the distance.
* * *
-- 2 Years Later --
INITIATE PROGRAM 555-6 DESTRUCT......
Riker woke up suddenly. He looked around the dark room. Something had awakened him, he couldn't remember what. There it was again, in the distance. It sounded like, an explosion!
Riker swung around on the bed and dropped his feet on the floor. He picked up a pair of dirty pants hanging over a chair and slipped them on. He quickly pulled a white shirt over his head and put on his boots. On his way out the door he grabbed his security personnel jacket and gun from the table.
The hall was silent. There was a third explosion in the distance. He sprinted down the hall towards the bridge, he had to find out what was happening. He came to the end of the crew corridor and grabbed on to the ladder leading up to the main deck. A few more explosions could be heard in the distance now along with a few screams. Riker had climbed halfway up the ladder when suddenly the wall above him exploded. Pieces tumbled down the shaft taking Riker with them. He landed hard on the floor below with a large flat piece of the wall on top of him. The last thing he saw before going unconscious as looked up was a blurry figure walking towards him.
* * *
He woke up in a bed, he wasn't sure if it was his or what. His head hurt. He sat up and looked around the room. It was someone else's quarters. The room was well lit and plainly decorated. The only furniture was the metallic government issue desk and dresser. He looked down at his left arm and saw it was bandaged, before standing up. His jacket was lying over a chair next to the bed. On the table next to he bed was his gun. Suddenly, the door opened. Riker grabbed his gun from the table and pointed it at the doorway. A woman with brown hair entered, she was dressed in a brown jumpsuit. She had long brown hair and blue eyes.
"Who are you?" he demanded, "What's going on?"
"My name is Alahna, I found you under some wreckage and brought you here," she responded.
Riker never lowered the gun. "What happened? What were those explosions?"
"Please, you've been hurt, you must lie down and rest," she said calmly. She stepped in and shut the door.
"What's going on, why won't you answer my question?" he asked.
She eyed him nervously for a moment, then answered, "There has been a malfunction, with the computer."
"Where is the rest of the crew?"
"I was out looking for survivors, I ... I think most of them are dead."
"Dead? How?" asked Riker as he lowered the gun a little.
"The computer went crazy, All the consoles on the bridge exploded, taking the most of the crew with them. You must have been the only officer not up there."
"I wasn't feeling well, I went to my quarters to rest. What about the passengers?"
"The ventilation system started filling their rooms with gas from the engines. Most of them suffocated. I was lucky to be down here when it happened."
Riker still wasn't sure if he could trust her and raised his gun again. "What were you doing down here? Passengers aren't allowed in the crew corridor," he asked.
"Please, this is all pointless, we have to turn this ship around, we'll die if we don't."
"You're avoiding my question. Why were you down here?"
"I was just looking around. The passengers quarters get pretty boring after two years of travel."
"Riker lowered the gun. "All right. We need to find a computer console so we can find out exactly what's going on here." He picked up his leather jacket and put it on, he put the gun in his pocket. "Let's go." he said walking over to the door.
* * *
SURVIVOR DETECTED.....INITIATE PROGRAM ZERO......
* * *
They entered the crew corridor. Riker led the way down to the end of the corridor where the ladder was, hoping that the passage wasn't totally sealed off from the earlier explosion. He reached the end and looked up the shaft and was relieved to see it was clear. Only the pile of wreckage that had fallen on him earlier was there sitting on the floor.
"This shouldn't be too hard. Before you know it we'll be on our way home," he said. "Too bad the Frontier's mission failed. Landing on Mars could have opened a new era for the human race. We are probably about halfway there."
"Not everyone thinks the idea is a good one you know. This could have been a sabotage. There are a lot of people who would love to see this mission fail so the government will put its money into better programs," she said.
Riker grabbed onto the ladder and started climbing. "I doubt it was a sabotage. There were way too many safeguards for just anyone to sabotage this mission. Only high ranking officials had the access."
"It could have been one of the passengers," said Alahna.
Riker stopped climbing and looked down at her. "I suppose you wouldn't know anything about that?" he asked suspiciously.
"Are you accusing me of...." she started before Riker cut her off.
"Shhh.... did you hear that?" he asked. They both stood there in silence for a moment.
"Hear what?" she whispered. There was a soft creak from down the hall.
"Th
at, I think someone else is alive," said Riker as he jumped off the ladder and started walking back down the corridor. There was another creak just ahead of them from the ceiling. Suddenly the ceiling burst apart and a large metal figure fell from the hole. It was a huge robot standing two feet taller than Riker. Its frame was just an exoskeleton, it looked like a metal human skeleton. Attached to its right arm was a large machine gun with four barrels. It raised the gun and pointed it at Riker and Alahna.
"Look out!" yelled Riker as he pushed Alahna out of the way and on to the floor. The robot fired its gun sending a barrage of bullets flying over their heads. They struck the floor down the hall splintering bits of metal from the floor. The robot stopped firing and held its gun up perpendicular with the floor.
"I am unit Zero, mobile destruction unit. My mission is to destroy all survivors on board the starcruiser Frontier. Prepare to be terminated," the robot spoke in its metallic voice.
"Run, I'll hold him off," Riker yelled to Alahna as he pulled her up and pushed her down the corridor. He pulled out his hand gun. It seemed pathetic next to the robot's massive weapon. He started running after Alahna firing a few shots off at the robot.
"Warning ! Target unit attempting to escape, prepare to pursuit."
"Riker reached the end of the corridor to find Alahna had already reached the top of the stairs. She was looking down at him waiting.
"Here, use this," she called down to him as she dropped a fist sized round object to him.
Riker caught the grenade and pulled the pin. He chucked it down the corridor then began climbing the ladder as fast as he could. He reached the top and slammed the airlock hatch shut. He heard the reassuring sound of the explosion and sat back against the wall.
"That was close. Thanks for finding that thing."
"I found it in there," she said pointing at he door just down the hall.
"That's the weapons locker," said Riker. "The locks must have malfunctioned. No one is supposed to have access to that except for me, the security chief."
"They must have gone off line when the computer went haywire."
"That surprises me, those locks are controlled by a separate computer. The government didn't want to chance them falling into anyone's hands."
"Why bring them along?" she asked.
"Hey, we were planned to be the first humans on Mars. Better to be prepared than to be dead. Who knows what could be living there. Of course now we'll be lucky to get home." They both sat for a moment.
"I guess we ought to try accessing the computer." said Alahna finally.
"The bridge is down the hall," said Riker as he stood up. "Why don't you head for the mess hall and see if you can find some food. I'm starving."
"What should I do if that robot comes back?" she asked.
"He pulled a communicator out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "Call me on this. Don't worry though. That grenade should have ripped through the outer hull sucking that thing into space. Meet me on the bridge when you find some food."
Riker turned and started down the hall towards the bridge. Alahna waited a moment before turning the other direction towards the mess hall. It was a short walk to the bridge from the ladder. Riker pushed the button on the control console next to the door, causing it to slide open. The first real signs of what happened were clearly visible now. The bodies of his crew mates were lying around the bridge. Some were still slumped back in their seats, while others were lying on the floor. The captain was still sitting in the center of the room, motionless in his chair. All of the bodies were burned beyond recognition from the explosion, he was barely able to make out who some of them were. The air reeked of burnt flesh. The ships crew had been 12 men, all of them dead now, all except him. None of them had expected it, Riker almost wondered how he had survived. He could only assume the worst for the passengers. They weren't allowed off the passenger deck until the ship reached Mars. Alahna had told him that the rooms had been filled with toxic fumes. This raised even more questions in Riker's mind as he walked slowly around the bridge checking to see if any of the consoles still worked. How had she survived? Was she in on what was happening? He stopped when he came to a small console in the wall that was still undamaged. It was currently displaying some mysterious information.
*Initiate program 555-6 Destruct....*
*Survivors detected..... Initiate program zero......*
*Must protect the daughter........*
Riker had no idea what any of this was. What was this program 555-6? What was program Zero? And who was the daughter? He pushed a few keys on the console and the information cleared off. He accessed the ships data log.
*Please input topic of search*
"PROGRAM 555-6" he typed into the computer.
*Information is classified*
Who would have classified information stored in the computer?
"OPEN FILE ON PROGRAM 555-6 AUTHORIZATION RIKER ONE FIVE"
*Authorization Riker One Five does not have clearance level to open file.*
Damn he thought. His access as security chief was higher than even the captain's. Only the high personnel back on earth had higher access to the ships computer than he did.
"OPEN FILE ON PROGRAM ZERO," he typed into the console.
The computer paused for a moment before displaying the information. A detailed blueprint of the robot he and Alahna had run into appeared. Next to the information read:
Program zero-
Program zero is a defense program used by the computer in extreme situations. It is activated by the computer when ninety percent of the crew have been incapacitated. The robot drone is programmed to protect the crew from any foreign invaders. The computer may order the drone to attack members of the crew should the need arise.
The rest of the file went on about the creator and origins of the Zero drone. Riker pushed a few keys so he could continue his search through the computer. He glanced over to the main view window of the bridge for a second when he thought he saw some movement. He waved it off as nothing and turned back to the computer.
"DISPLAY PROFILE ON ALAHNA," he typed, then paused. She hadn't told him her last name. He pushed the enter key hoping there hadn't been any other people on board with that name. The computer paused searching for the information. Then it displayed.
*There is no information for that subject*
So the computer wouldn't find her without a last name. Riker punched up the list of passengers and scanned it looking for her name. There were thirty passengers on board, he didn't see the name Alahna among them. Riker decided maybe she had lied about her name though he had no idea why she would. This only raised his suspicions more. He told the list to display only female passengers between the ages of twenty and twenty-five.
One name came up, Kalie Seranov. Riker pressed the button to display the information on Kalie. The computer paused for a moment accessing its database before displaying information such as weight, height, hair color, eye color, and a short dossier on the screen before him. In the spot where the picture was supposed to be read the words, "No image available." Riker knew that all the passengers were supposed to have pictures on file. He also knew that all the passenger files once had pictures because he had looked through them all once. That was one of the reasons he was suspicious of Alahna. He did not remember seeing her face when he had checked over the passenger files. At first he has just figured maybe he had missed her or just forgotten, but now he was sure she knew something.
Riker looked over to the window again. Something had definitely passed by it this time. He watched the window for a few long minutes. Then he saw it. The robot drone Zero he had blasted out of the ship, it was crawling around outside. It was obviously equipped for space walking. Zero raised the fist on its left hand and smashed the window. The glass cracked and a loud whistle filled the room as the air started spraying out into space. Riker knew the next time the robot hit the glass would break and he would be sucked out into the void. He made a fast break for the door. Zero
pounded the glass again, its fist smashing through this time. Riker felt the rush of air as the room depresurized. He made it through the door and pushed the switch to shut it just as Zero burst fully through the window. The sound of bullets striking the metal door could be heard. Riker didn't wait around, he locked the door then started sprinting down the hallway. He heard the robot slam its fist into the door as he rounded the corner into the weapons locker. Riker stopped at the control console in the weapons locker. He punched in the code that would slide the panels into place over the window in the bridge, if he didn't the whole ship would decompress when Zero made it through the door.
Riker picked up a few grenades and stuffed them into his pocket, also he picked up a shotgun and slung it over his shoulder. He heard the not so distant sound of the bridge door being flung off its hinges. The last thing he picked up was a small laser welder. Riker turned and left the weapons locker. He continued down the corridor towards the mess hall. He shut every door he came to and welded each one shut in a few spots before continuing.
It took Riker about ten minutes to reach the mess hall. He half walked, half ran around the tables to the kitchen. He saw Alahna in the pantry. He walked up behind her as he drew his gun. She jumped and turned around as he grabbed her from behind. He pushed her up against the wall and held the gun to her head.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"What do you mean?" she stuttered.
"Who are you really? I've been doing some checking through the files. Your little game is over," he said fiercely.
There was a short silence before she spoke. "I am Alahna Reeshani, daughter of Gregor Reeshani, head of Space Division."
"Why are you here? Are you part of this...this sabotage?" he asked as he pushed the gun harder into her cheek.
"No, I was hoping to stop it," she started slowly. "My father and the others at Space Division didn't want to see this mission succeed. It was supposed to bring peace to the world. With peace the Space Division loses its most profitable area, weapons manufacture. I really wanted to go on this mission but my father forbade it. My father knew that the mission was going to be sabotaged and he didn't want me to be killed. I came on board anyway. When I found out about the sabotage I knew I was the only that was able to stop it, so I came on board using fake identification and disguised as Kalie Seranov, I had taken her identity and erased her picture file. Just after take off I contacted my father, he was outraged. He told me everything would be all right and started tapping into the computer. At first I thought he would turn the ship around, but apparently he didn't have the access and knew he could never explain it to anyone. He transmitted one file before we were out of range. He told the computer to protect me, to protect his daughter."
