This time the commander didn’t protest. He was leaning against the module wall — slowly sliding down onto the floor.
“Jann, give me a hand here.” Paolio was trowing Decker’s arm around his shoulder. Jann grabbed the other side and they helped him up.
“We need to go,” said Paolio, as he and Jann helped Decker walk back to the entrance airlock.
“Lu, Kevin, you both better get out here,” said Annis. There was no mistaking the note of urgency in her voice.
“What’s happened?” said Lu when she saw them holding up Decker.
“The commander is not feeling well. Everyone put their helmets on — now. We’re heading back to the HAB.”
They carried him into the airlock. He was conscious but seemed to be getting spasmodic cramps and would double over in pain. Yet, after a few moments it would pass and he seemed to breathe easier.
Once the crew were all back outside on the surface Annis hit a button on her remote. The rover awoke and started across the site towards their location. They bundled the commander into the back of the rover and started off. “We’d better hurry,” said Paolio. The rover bumped and rocked over the Martian terrain as they all pushed hard for the HAB. Decker was bounced around and swung in and out of consciousness. Jann watched all this from her permanent place as last in line. No one spoke.
Once inside the HAB they got the commander out of his EVA suit and laid him on a bed in the tiny medical bay. He was now unconscious. Paolio shooed the others away and started his examination. The crew retreated into the operations area.
“Anyone else feel unwell?” Annis had assumed command now that Decker was non-operational, as she put it. Grunts and head shakes rippled around the crew as they eyed each other like a clandestine group seeking out a spy in their midst. They were all okay — for now. The crew sat in silence for a long time, waiting for the verdict from Paolio.
“So what the hell is it?” Annis was pacing, it was a habit of hers. The doctor had finished his examination and re-entered the operations area.
“I think it’s possibly an allergic reaction. However, he’s stable now and I reckon he’ll be okay, once it passes.”
An audible sigh of relief emanated from the assembled crew.
“Do you think it was the air in the Colony?” Annis continued.
“I don’t think so. Since everyone else seems fine. But, it’s not possible to know for sure without some further analysis. Now, if you don’t mind, I need a stiff coffee.” He moved off to fire up the espresso machine.
“Everyone else is okay, aren’t they?” Annis looked around at the rest of the crew. They all nodded. Yet Jann knew they were all thinking the same thing. “Only time will tell.”
CHAPTER 5: VANHOFF
Peter VanHoff, president of the Colony One Mars consortium, stood watching the snow fall from a window high up in his isolated Norwegian mansion. It swirled and danced under the garden lights, accumulating where it lay, like a soft duvet blanketing the earth. He turned away from the window and set about poking the log fire that was burning in the hearth. Sparks flared up with each thrust of the fire iron. He hung it back on its stand and sat himself into a high-backed leather armchair. Winter had thrust its first icy fingers into the landscape. He liked this time. The natural world slowed down, hibernated. He felt it resonated with his condition and held it in check.
Born with a rare genetic disorder, akin to progeria, he aged at an accelerated rate. He was only thirty eight yet, he looked fifty plus. Peter touched the back of his hand, the parchment skin, the genetically flawed epidermis — an ever present reminder of his affliction. Was it improving? Was it getting worse? He couldn’t tell. At least maintaining the status-quo was better than succumbing to the inevitable entropy of his condition.
Yet, what would have been a curse for some, Peter VanHoff turned into a crusade, dedicating himself to the genetic understanding of the ageing process, becoming one of the foremost experts in the process. His research corporation made numerous early breakthroughs, resulting in lucrative patents and a considerable fortune for VanHoff. However, his greatest strides were made through the association with the Colony One Mars consortium, COM for short. This commercial partnership enabled his corporation to conduct research on Mars that simply wasn’t ethical on earth.
His ruminations were interrupted by the chime of his holo-tab. The screen flickered with a muted illumination and an icon rotated above its surface. He had a call — Nagle Bagleir, vice president of COM. What could he want at this time of night? Several disaster scenarios ran through VanHoff’s mind as he waved a hand across the screen. Nagle’s avatar shimmered into existence, hovered in the air over the tablet surface, and spoke.
“Extraordinary news, Peter. It looks as if Colony One is not as dead as we thought.”
Peter sat bolt upright and fumbled with his glasses. There was a moment’s silence as he considered this revelation. “What… alive… are you saying there are colonists still alive up there.”
“Not quite. But, we’ve just got a report in from the ISA crew. A significant portion of the facility is still intact and functioning. It also looks like there are signs of survivors, but we have no confirmation on that just yet.”
“After all this time — but this is impossible.” The implications of the discovery began to filter through Peter VanHoff’s stunned brain. “What about the Research lab? Is that still intact?”
“We don’t know anything about the lab just yet. However, what we do know is it’s going to be all over the news in less than an hour. The ISA have scheduled a press conference for 1:30am, your time.”
“This is incredible.” VanHoff stood up and began to pace. “If that lab is intact then there’s a possibility that the research data still exists.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
Peter’s voice became hushed. “We can’t let that fall into the wrong hands.”
“As in, the ISA?”
“You know who I mean. Everything the ISA do is in the public domain. Anything they find up there can’t be kept hidden.”
“Well, it’s a bit late for that now. You know as well as I do that after the collapse of the colony we had no option but to hand it all over to them. Otherwise we wouldn’t be back up there now.” Nagle’s avatar shimmered as it spoke. “That said, we do have some contingency on-site, Peter. But yes, I agree, we wouldn’t want it becoming public.”
“This is extraordinary. If that data still exists…” VanHoff didn’t finish the sentence.
“There’s another thing, it’s maybe nothing, then again…”
“What?”
“One of the crew has become ill.”
“Not our agent I trust?”
“No, the ISA Commander, Decker.”
“Is it the same symptoms as… you know?”
“Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet. Like I said, it could be nothing.”
There was a pause as VanHoff considered all this information. Nagle continued. “In light of these developments, I suggest reconvening the board.”
“Agreed, absolutely.”
“You are of course aware that there will be certain members getting jittery with this news, Peter. You know who I’m talking about.”
VanHoff grunted. “That research may be more significant to humanity than the discovery of alien life.”
“Be that as it may. But we’ve been all working under the premise that it was dead and buried — for ever. This changes everything.”
VanHoff stopped pacing the floor. “Your right, Nagle, let’s not be too hasty. Let’s see how things develop. After all we have our agent on-site. That may prove to be a very wise decision after all.”
“Yes, it may. I must sign-off now; I need to alert the others. I’ll keep you posted on the meeting.” The avatar that was Nagle extinguished itself like a church candle in a draught.
Before Peter VanHoff took over control of COM, the original members were an eclectic mix of Mars enthusiasts, scientists
and captains of industry, and they had all shared a common dream — to establish a human colony on Mars and lay the foundations for mankind as an interplanetary species. It had helped that most of them were newly minted tech billionaires. Yet, this in itself was not enough to launch a mission to the red planet. The complexities, and cost, of sending and returning humans had been such that no national space agency, at that time, could entertain it with any real vigour. NASA tried but its time-lines kept being pushed out further and further. As one commentator put it, ‘we’re ten years away from landing on Mars. And regardless of what decade you ask me this, we’ll still be ten years away’.
But COM had the advantage of being a private company, not bound by the politics of electoral consensus or the restraints of governmental budgets. They were also increasingly frustrated by the lack of progress in manned space exploration since the first moon landings. And so they conceived of a radical plan to establish a human colony on the red planet. Its success pivoted on one simple operational premise — remove the need to return. They would send humans to Mars, but they would not come back. The colonists would live out the rest of their natural lives looking up at Earth from 140 million miles away.
Of those early colonists, some said they were naive. Others said they were the embodiment of the human spirit. But many simply regarded them as crazy. Who, in their right mind, would go to Mars in the full knowledge that they could never return. Yet, potential colonists applied in their thousands and the stage was set for the greatest human adventure of all time.
In the early days, COM sought to fund these missions by turning the colonisation of Mars into a reality TV show. They broadcast and streamed everything from the selection process and training, to the first lift off and daily life on the red planet. It was a slow start but it proved to be an inspired move. As far as the viewers were concerned, it was people power writ large in the heavens, and boy did they love it. As evermore colonists made their way to Mars, their every word, every thought, every mundane activity was recorded, digitised, broadcast and analysed by the masses back on earth. Everyone who watched these incredible events had an opinion, and not all of them were favourable. Yet, in the end, even the most strident critics of the Colony One Mars adventure eventually succumbed to reluctant admiration. There was no denying it was the dawn of a new era for humanity, an era where the zeitgeist revelled in the optimism for the future of the human race. Just think, if we the people could do this then there was nothing that we couldn't do.
For a long time this mood prevailed as Colony One grew and prospered. But that was until the mother of all sandstorms hit. It darkened the sky and blasted the colony for a full six months. Communication became sporadic in frequency and erratic in content. There were rumours of colonists suffering mental breakdown, going crazy even. Concern was building back on earth, and as the weeks and months passed, this concern grew into fear. Fear that Colony One, and those who called it home, were being etched off the surface of the planet, one grain of sand at a time, like an hour glass running down.
Attempts at satellite imagery during this period were futile until the sandstorm finally passed. So it was a full six months after the storm when the first high-resolution images of the site were released to the public. They showed devastation. Worse, bodies of several colonists could be seen lying around the facility. It was clear that Colony One had totally collapsed as a human outpost. That was three-and-a-half years ago now.
An hour after Peter VanHoff finished his call with Nagle Bagleir, the news of the discovery broke to an unsuspecting world. It was a media frenzy.
CHAPTER 6: HAB
Jann couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned, and thumped her pillow a few times to try and beat some comfort into it. It didn’t work. She lay on her back and stared at the roof of the HAB for a while, but there was not much to look at. The sleeping compartment was cramped, like all the others. Some would find it even a little claustrophobic, but this was not something she suffered from. Being an astronaut was not a job option for anyone who had a fear of enclosed spaces. She sat up. There was no point in forcing it. If she couldn’t sleep she might as well get up and raid the galley for some comfort food, not that there was any. Unless you counted coffee, but it was a bit late for that. She still had hopes of a few hours sleep before taking on the trials of tomorrow.
She clambered out of bed and made her way to the access column, descending the ladder to the main deck below. In the dim light she could see Paolio sitting at the low galley table. He looked like he was reading.
“Jann, can’t sleep?”
“No, I’ve given up, for the moment.”
“Like an espresso?”
“God no. I’d be even more wired.”
“This is a myth, I can drink coffee any time and still fall asleep.”
“That’s because you’re Italian — anyway, you’re still awake.”
“Ha, yes… it’s because I’ve not had enough coffee yet to put me to sleep.” He gave a light laugh.
Jann smiled. She nodded in the direction of the slumbering commander. “How is he?”
“Good, I’m just keeping an eye on him. But I think he’ll be fine. His vitals have stabilised.”
Jann took a juice and a small oat bar from a storage compartment and sat down across from the doctor. She sighed.
“So how are you doing, Jann?”
“Fine, no symptoms… none that I can tell anyway.”
“I didn’t mean physically. How are you doing up here?” he tapped the side of his skull with his finger.
She sat back in her seat and cocked her head to one side. “Are you trying to psychoanalyse me, Paolio?”
“Hey… just talking to a friend.” He gave a lopsided grin. “So how are you coping?”
“So far so good. I’ve only fallen over once and I’ve managed not to get anyone killed, yet — so that’s a plus.”
Paolo didn’t reply. Instead he gave Jann a long hard look. Jann stayed quiet for a moment, examining the drink in her hand. “Well… if you really must know, ever since landing on the surface, I feel like a bit of a spare part. Like I’m just getting in the way.”
“I see.” Paolio took off his glasses, folded them and placed them in the top pocket of his shirt. He sat back. “And why is that?”
Jann smiled, “See, you are analysing me.”
“Well, I have a soft spot for you. And it’s as good a time as any. Here we are two doctors having a chat on the surface of Mars,” he waved his arms out and gave a broad smile.
“You’re the doctor, Paolio. I have a doctorate in biology; it’s not quite the same thing.”
“You’re right, it isn’t. And that makes you probably the most important ‘spare part’ on this mission — right now.” He leaned over and pointed out in the direction of Colony One. “We’ve just uncovered a dome full of biology out there, where we didn’t think anything was still alive. No one planned for this. They all thought it was dead. Now we’ve got a really big puzzle to solve and I think you are the one that’s going to play a vital part in solving it.” He sat back again.
Jann thought about this as she fingered her drink again. She looked out the HAB window at the night sky. “Yeah, no one saw this coming. I really hope I’m up for the task. I feel like there’s a lot of responsibility thrust upon me, that I hadn’t planned for.”
“Yes, well, sometimes we choose for ourselves and sometimes fate chooses for us, Jann.”
“Like me being on this mission in the first place. I chose to enter the training programme but, if Macallester hadn’t dropped out at the last minute, well… I wouldn’t be here, would I?”
“And how do you feel about that?”
“Unworthy, I suppose… I mean they selected me because I fit a profile not because I was fully trained for the mission — and now, I just don’t know.”
“It seems they picked the right person then.”
Jann laughed. “Ha… we’ll see. But somehow I don’t get that impression from…”
she didn’t finish the sentence. She just sort of nodded at the sleeping commander.”
“Ahhh… the Alphas.”
“The what?”
“Alpha males, and females for that matter. It’s not their job to like you, Jann. In fact they neither like nor dislike you. That’s irrelevant to them.”
“So you’re saying I’m just being paranoid?”
“Is that the way you feel?”
Jann looked over at the canny doctor. She liked Paolio, felt comfortable around him. He was always there to talk to. Still, she felt he was consistently keeping an eye on her. Maybe that was a good thing.
“Is that the way you think I feel?”
He laughed. “Ah… you’re getting wise to my ways, playing me at my own game.” He looked down, like he was thinking, and then slowly leaned in across the table and spoke to her in a precise tone. “What I’m saying, Jann, is do not underestimate yourself. And do not let your perceptions of what other people think cloud your judgment.”
Jann let this resonate in her mind. “Well, I generally don’t. I just wish that…” she sighed.
“What?”
“That the commander, and Annis, would give me a goddamn break.”
“Ahhh… so there it is,” he sat back.
“They have their job to do, they are ‘alphas’. In any successful group there is always the leader who charges ahead and whips everyone else in to shape. But they are seldom the smartest, no?” He touched a finger to the side of his nose. “The smart ones are the ones you never expect, they’re the ones still alive when everyone else is dead.”
“Like whoever is still in that colony”
“Yes, exactly.” He sat still for a moment looking out the HAB window, not that anything could be seen. “They’re hiding from us, don’t trust us, probably.”
“Maybe they have a good reason.”
“Perhaps — odd though.” He stood up and went over to the coffee machine. “Sure you don’t want one?”
Colony One Mars: A SciFi Thriller (Colony Mars Book 1) Page 4
