“What did mission control have to say?” Jann was prompting Annis to get to the point now that Nills had been softened up.
“They want the Research Lab brought back on line.”
Nills stopped eating and looked wide-eyed at Annis. “No way. It’s too dangerous. And besides, there’s every possibility that none of the equipment will work after all this time.”
“Well that’s what they want us to do — with or without your help,“ said Annis.
“What’s the difficulty in bringing the Research Lab back on line?” asked Jann.
Nills sighed and sat back in the battered armchair. “There are lots. For one it’s a power suck. That’s the reason we shut it down back during the storm. It uses a whack load of juice. Two, it’s been sitting in deep-freeze for over three years so if things start shorting then it could cause more serious power problems back along the line, jeopardising the main colony life support. Not something to take lightly.”
“But I thought parts of it are still up and running?”
“Yes, there are systems in there still powered up, they can’t be shut down, I don’t know why, but they were obviously important to them.”
“We could isolate all the ancillary equipment circuits, use a stand alone power source, bring life support up first, then power up the machines one by one as needed,” offered Gizmo.
Nills gave him a look as if to say ‘traitor’. He scratched his chin and then poked at the Indian take-out with his fork. “Maybe. But we would still need to recycle the air supply a few times to clean it out while keeping it isolated. That’s assuming there are no leaks, you know, that the modules can still hold one atmosphere of pressure. And the condensation buildup doesn’t short anything out.”
“We have to try. There probably is a lot of specialist equipment in there that may help us find answers to this infection.”
“Assuming that’s what it is, an infection. Who’s to say it not related to the Martian gravity or contamination in the soil or a whole lot of other things,” said Nills.
“What were they doing in there anyway; we’ve no record of it in our initial brief. In fact it doesn’t even show on anything we have.” Jann flicked through a sheaf of ISA notes and diagrams.
“Genetic research, at least that's what they said.” Nills was now biting in to an apple. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, leaned in and looked at them intently. “Four of them… they were a breed apart. They came shortly after the bio-dome was built and started creating the research lab. Dr. Venji and three others. Said they were developing new bio-organisms for the colony. But there was something about them, kept themselves away from everyone else. They had their own accommodation module, ate their own food, seldom mixed with the rest of us. Rumours started that COM was planning to return them back to Earth after… whatever it was they were doing was finished. I don’t know if that’s true or not. But one thing is for sure, they were up to lot more than they let on.” He sat back and waved the apple core in the air. “To be fair, they did bring a lot of advanced medical equipment with them — and supplies.” He dumped the apple core into the remains of the Tikka Masala. “About six months into their stay here they started doing tests on all the colonists. Medical checks they called them. They got more frequent as time went on.”
“What sort of checks?” said Paolio
Nills waved his hand. “Checks, I don’t know. They would lay us out in the Medlab and wire us up. Told us we were in perfect health, and all that.”
“We need to get that lab back on-line, and then maybe we can find some answers,” said Jann
“I doubt that any of it will still work.” Nills shrugged his shoulders. “But hey… if you think it’s worth trying then Gizmo and I will give it a go.” He stood up. “We’ll have to run a lot of diagnostics first so that’s going to take a bit of time.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know, several hours at least. Then we can try. But first, I have other work to attend to. What with all these extra mouths to feed.” He got up and moved off towards the bio-dome, Gizmo following faithfully behind.
Paolio sipped his coffee. “He’s probably right you know.”
“About what?”
“About none of the equipment functioning.”
“Maybe.” Jann wondered if now would be a good time to break the news. “I’ve done some preliminary tests on our blood samples.”
“And?” said Annis, sitting forward.
“I’ve found traces of the same bacteria in Decker in all of us.”
“Fuck,” said Annis. “You mean we’re all infected?”
“Except for Nills, he seems to be clear, as far as I can tell.”
“I knew it, don’t you see, he’s infecting us.” Annis was standing up pointing back in the direction of the bio-dome.
“That’s crazy. He’s just built up an immunity to it. He probably doesn’t even know himself.” Jann was now also standing facing off with Annis.
Annis seemed to back off a bit. “Maybe, but I still don’t trust him.” She started to pace. “Do you know what it is?”
Jann hesitated, she wasn’t sure how Annis was going to react. “It’s a genetically modified variant of Mycobacterium Leprae.”
“What the hell is that?”
“Leprosy,” said Paolio.
“Fuck, Leprosy? You mean this is a goddamn leper colony?”
“No, it’s a derivative, not the same thing.”
“So how do you get rid of it? Annis was leaning into the table now.
“We’re trying some antibiotics, but none have worked, so far,” said Paolio.
“Well that’s just great, just fucking great.” She sat down again shaking her head.
“It’s impossible to know with what we’ve got in the Medlab, Annis,” said Paolio. “That’s why we need the Research Lab up and running.”
“There’s one other thing,” said Jann, she might as well get it all out on the table, so to speak.
“What now?” said Annis.
“We can’t leave this planet until we find a cure.”
Annis was back on her feet again. “That’s bullshit.”
“No, seriously, we can’t afford to bring this back to Earth.”
“No way, I'm not staying on this rock any longer than I have to. I didn’t sign up for this crap.” She was moving around, waving her hands in the air. “Fuck this,” and she stormed out of the common room.
Jann and Paolio sat in silence for a minute.
“I thought she took that pretty well, all things considered.” Paolio said finally.
“Where’s she off to? Back to the HAB?”
“I’ll talk to her later, once she settles down a bit.”
“She’s losing it,” said Jann.
“She’s just under a lot of stress, we all are.”
“There’s one other thing,” said Jann.
“I’m not sure if I can take anymore. What now?”
“It’s Annis — her infection load is much higher than the rest of us.”
Paolio picked up his coffee cup from the table and looked over at Jann. “You think she’s a risk?”
“I don’t know. It’s nowhere near Decker’s, but it’s much higher that than rest of us.”
Paolo looked into his empty cup. “I think I’m going to need a lot of strong coffee.” He swung his wheelchair in the direction of the galley.
“I’d better go and talk to Nills.” Jann stood up and headed for the bio-dome.
Paolio turned back to her with a smile, “Oh, and Jann…”
“What?”
“Remind me never to have dinner with you ever again.”
CHAPTER 19: BIO-DOME
Jann went in search of Nills and found him deep inside the bio-dome. He was in an area where he had created the garden, as he liked to call it. It was a rustic vegetable patch, no hydroponics, no hi-tech lab equipment, no use of any twenty-first century technology. Of course, this belied the fact that all plants w
ere bio-engineered, the soil was treated with specially manufactured GM bacteria to cleanse it of Martian toxins and no pests would ever come to blight this crop. Nevertheless, it had the outward appearance of a typical kitchen garden, an oasis of low-tech simplicity in an environment of hi-tech engineering.
He was digging potatoes and piling them into containers. His fluid movements told of long practice at this very task. Jann watched him for a while from a distance, peering through the gaps in the overgrowth. His simple unhurried movements had a calming effect on her. Eventually, it was he that spoke first. “I won’t bite, you know.”
“Sorry I didn’t mean to spy.” She came out from behind a large hanging vine. He stopped and rested an arm on the handle of his spade and gave her a bright smile. If it wasn’t for the lattice work of the dome roof in the background he looked just like any artisan gardener, working in his allotment back on Earth.
“Want to help? It’s good for the spirit.”
Jann considered this for a moment. Paolio was talking to Annis, getting her head straightened out — hopefully, Decker was going nowhere and there was not much else she could do until the research lab was brought back on-line. “Sure, why not.”
“Here, let me show you.” He picked up a short handled fork. “You dig in like this, not too hard so you don’t skewer a spud. Then lift out the earth and give it a shake.” Four potatoes of varying sizes were resting on the fork. He leaned over to pick one up. “These bigger ones we store for eating, these smaller ones go into this container and we’ll keep them for replanting.” He handed her the fork. “Think you can manage it?”
“Hey, you’re talking to a farm girl here. I grew up tending vegetables.” She took the fork and went to work. Nills was right — it was good for the spirit. After a while they got into a rhythm. Nills went ahead and pulled up plants as Jann followed by digging out tubers. They harvested quite a bit in the time they were at it.
“Okay, I think that’s enough for now.” He wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Let’s get these stored.” They carried the boxes between them as they traversed the bio-dome over to a processing room. It was small and crammed with machines, most of which seemed to be of Nills’s own making. They laid the boxes on a long bench. Jann watched him as he fiddled with one of the contraptions and started it up.
“Did you ever get lonely up here — all those years on your own?”
“Yeah sure, well… at first there were three of us, after we got rid of the last crazy.”
“What happen to them?” Jann continued, now that Nills was ready to talk again.
“Johnathan… died of natural causes, not sure what exactly. He simply wasted away over a few months. It was hard to watch him go like that, after all he’d been through. That left myself and Bess.”
“Bess? Bess Keilly?”
“Yes, did you know her?”
“No, we… eh… came across her… body, in the stone hut, out past the big dune.”
Nills stopped sorting the potatoes and hung his head down. He said nothing for a while, then spoke in a soft tone, almost a whisper. “So that’s where she went. I should have known.” He looked up at Jann again. “We were close, myself and Bess. But the isolation began to get to her. She became more and more depressed as each day passed. Eventually, she just went out the airlock one morning — and never came back.”
“Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”
Nills shrugged his shoulders. “It’s okay.”
After a moment Jann continued. “Did you ever try to look for her?”
“Yes, but I started to get panic attacks when I went EVA. They got worse and worse each time I went out, eventually I just stopped trying.”
“So that’s why you don’t go outside?”
“Yeah. Fortunately Gizmo can go out for me if something really needs to be done, like cleaning the solar panels, that sort of stuff.”
“It must have been hard on you.”
He waved a hand, “Ah… it’s just this place, what happened, everything. It tries very hard to kill you, one way or the other; physically, mentally, emotionally.
“Do you ever miss Earth?”
“Sometimes, in the beginning I did. But after a while I realised what I really missed was the physical Earth, the natural beauty of it. What I didn’t miss was humanity’s desire to destroy it.” He turned back to the machine and adjusted some dials. “But tell me… would you miss Earth?”
Jann sighed. “If I don’t find an answer to this infection then I don’t think we’ll be going home. So, ask me again if we’re still here in a few months.”
“Ahh, I see. Sorry if I don’t look surprised. I could have told you that the first time we met.” He proceeded to empty the harvested potatoes into a hopper on the machine and started it up, it made a horrendous racket. He signalled to Jann with a nod of his head to move back into the bio-dome. Jann waited until they were in a quiet spot before telling him her news. “I’ve run some tests on the blood samples we took. We’re all infected — except you.”
He stopped. “I see. Do you know what it is?”
“I think your hunch was right, it’s caused by a bacterial infection.”
“And you say I don’t have it?”
“No, as far as I can tell, but I need to do more tests to be certain.”
Nills considered this for a moment. “You know, this all started to happen after the research lab was in operation.”
“Is that why you don’t want to reactivate it?”
“What do you think? Whatever is in that lab doesn’t need to get out again.”
“But if that’s where it came from then we may have a chance of finding out what it is… and maybe find a way to kill it.”
Nills scratched his chin again, like he couldn’t get used to not having a beard. He had shaved it off a while ago and it made him look even younger. Jann and the others still couldn’t quite get over his youthful appearance. Paolio had put it down to diet. He also postulated that maybe the one-third gravity had a beneficial effect on ageing. But this was all speculation. Nonetheless, Nills looked like a twenty year old, not someone the wrong side of thirty-five.
“If it’s bacteria then surely antibiotics would kill it?”
“We’ve been trying various types on Decker’s samples, but still no luck. It seems to be highly resistant to anything we’ve thrown at it so far.”
“Like it was engineered that way?” He stopped and looked at her.
“Yes, that’s what I’m beginning to think. We are dealing with something that was engineered rather than evolved here. You have to remember that bacteria can evolve relatively fast. I had thought that it was something designed for the eco-system here that had mutated.”
“But now you’re not so sure?”
“No. That’s why we need to get into the Research Lab and take a look.”
As if on cue, Gizmo sped into the bio-dome. “Nills, I’ve done the diagnostics and run through a number of activation sequences. My best scenario has a 78% success probability.”
“Thanks Gizmo.” He turned back to Jann, “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes, it’s the only option… if we are ever going to be able to return to Earth.
“It’s not so bad here. After a few years you might even get to like it.” He gave a laugh.
Jann smiled and looked around her, he did have a point, even if he was just joking. It had a beauty to it, like an oasis in a world gone mad, even it that oasis was 140 million miles away. “Yeah, I might.”
“Although it’s better when you have someone to share it with.” He smiled and at that moment Jann found herself quite attracted to this enigmatic soul. He radiated calm and serenity and Jann felt herself drawn in by its glow. She stopped short — and looked away. “I should go and check in with Paolio, see how the commander is doing. Maybe he has some good news with the antibiotics.”
“Okay, sure. Gizmo and I need to… eh, run through some more stuff anyway. If everything che
cks out then we’ll start reactivation tomorrow.”
“Great.” She walked out of the garden, heading for the Medlab.
Her meeting with Nills had left Jann feeling more optimistic, or maybe she was just less pessimistic. Either way she no longer had a tight knot of apprehension in her gut. She decided not to go and find Paolio just yet. He may still be talking to Annis and she didn’t want to interrupt that dialogue. Instead, Jann sat down in the common area on a battered arm chair and took some time-out.
Along the wall were pinned a number of sketches and artworks, presumably created by the colonists, back in happier times. They all depicted scenes from Mars. Some were landscapes, some portraits of people, some were even quite accomplished. One caught her eye. It was a well crafted landscape sketched with a type of brown charcoal. In the foreground two colonists in full EVA suits embraced. She stared at it for a while.
What was the worst thing that could happen? They would be stranded here. Was that so bad? Jann began to think the unthinkable and the more she thought about it the more she began to feel giddy. Was it so strange to imagine a life in a botanical paradise, shared with the radiant Nills? She shook her head, she was getting soppy. But then again, if this was worst case scenario, it wasn’t so bad after all, at least not in her mind. But what of the others? Paolio and Annis.
Yet there was something else she was not considering in all of this. What was it? Jann couldn’t put her finger on it. It was there in her subconscious trying to get out, a new danger, a deeper threat. There was something she was missing. The knot returned in her gut and gripped it tight. Was it the infection, malignly working away to undermine her sanity? A shiver ran through her body. The thought of it repulsed her and undermined any romantic notions she had of this place. Then another thought exploded in her mind, could she end up like Decker? A deranged homicidal maniac? “Oh dear God, don’t let me lose my mind.”
“Jann.” Paolio buzzed into the common room on his motorised wheelchair. “Did you speak to Nills?”
Colony One Mars: A SciFi Thriller (Colony Mars Book 1) Page 13
