Striking Mars (The Saving Mars Series-5)

by Cidney Swanson

  Pavel’s eyebrows rose.

  Ethan spoke. “It is unlikely we would succeed in taking the Chancellor hostage.”

  “We’re not just sitting here,” snapped Jessamyn. “At least, I’m not.”

  “So, what,” said Pavel, “we go in with guns blazing?”

  Jess spun to face Pavel. “What’s wrong with guns blazing?” she demanded, her eyes flashing fire.

  Pavel raised his hands as if to say, Nothing at all.

  “We are regrettably undersupplied in either weaponry or the means to make a successful journey through Earth’s atmosphere,” said Ethan.

  “Shizer!” snapped Jess. Excess energy bounced around inside her like hot atoms in a high pressure tank. “We could steal a ship from the Ghost,” she said at last.

  “The Ghost has acquainted me with his vehicle repertoire,” said Ethan, “and he is unfortunately lacking in vehicles to carry more than himself and a passenger.”

  “All I need is room for me and a very big gun,” said Jess, glowering.

  “We have no means to construct weaponry,” said Ethan.

  The calm in his voice made Jess want to hit something. She settled for punching her fist into the wall beside her.

  “If you are planning either to pilot a ship or fire a weapon with accuracy, you would do well to preserve the integrity of your knuckles,” said her brother.

  She glared at him but refrained from expressing the sentiments on the tip of her tongue.

  “Jess,” said Pavel, “You can’t seriously be considering this.”

  She crossed her arms and stood tall, saying nothing.

  “I believe my sister’s postural deportment indicates that she is serious,” said Ethan.

  Any other time, Jess would have praised her brother for reading her body language accurately.

  “If I might be permitted to speak?” asked Mr. Zussman.

  Zussman’s tone was calm, regulated. Jessamyn wondered if he’d been born that way or if he’d learned it in Butler School.

  “Of course, Zuss,” said Pavel, when Jess said nothing. “You’re the closest thing we’ve got to counter-intelligence.”

  “Thank you, sir,” said Zussman. “I merely wish to aim a bright light upon the fact that Lucca Brezhnaya is one of the best-protected women on the planet. Attempts on her life are neither likely to end well for the attacker nor badly for the Chancellor.”

  Jessamyn felt all the taut energy in her muscles drain away. “Well, shizer,” she said, sinking back into her place at the rations table. She placed her hands palms-down on the table in front of her. “So, I take it I am the only one who thinks the obvious solution is we kidnap her?”

  The other three were silent.

  “Oh, for the love of fuzzy slippers.” She collapsed her head into her hands.

  Ethan spoke. “Such a mission would most likely fail. In addition, it is unlikely the Secretary General would authorize the endeavor.”

  Jessamyn sighed noisily. She could imagine Mei Lo’s response to the plan to kidnap the Terran Chancellor.

  “Hang on a minute,” said Jess, thinking quickly. “Surely this situation falls under the ‘extraordinary measures’ clause,” she said. “In which case, we don’t need Mei Lo’s permission to act.”

  “It is my understanding that protocol for such a situation as this is that we contact our senior officer for further instructions,” said Ethan.

  Her brother was right. Of course. Jess deflated once more.

  “That’s Harpreet?” asked Pavel.

  “It is,” replied Ethan, “since Kipper’s resignation and my sister’s demotion for the theft of the Red Galleon.”

  “Fine,” Jessamyn said at last. She consulted a chronometer, checking the time in Madeira. “We confer with Harpreet first thing tomorrow.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Jessamyn needed a good night’s rest in order to be at her best for the morning’s comm with Harpreet and Kipper. She knew this, but apparently her body didn’t. Her mind refused to shut down.

  Mars was under attack. Or would be.

  She had to stop it. She didn’t know how to stop it.

  It was like being on the stationary treadmill they used to stay fit aboard the Galleon. Over and over, her mind ran through the same thoughts, never advancing.

  In the silent bunk room, she could hear Pavel’s gentle sleep-breathing. Easy for him, she thought. But the thought was ungenerous. Pavel had proven many times over both his love of the red planet and his devotion to the Marsian cause. He was just a better sleeper than she was.

  At last Jess admitted sleep wasn’t going to come at all, and she arose as silently as she could so as not to disturb Pavel. She drifted down the hall to see if Ethan was in the mood for conversation.

  “Hey, Eth,” she said, settling in a chair beside his in their work station.

  Mr. Zussman looked up from his station and smiled, greeting her politely.

  Her brother did not look up from the wafer screen that held his attention.

  “What does Jessamyn require?” Ethan asked, eyes still on the screen.

  Jessamyn’s brows drew together. It had been months since she’d heard her brother address her in the third person. On Mars, it had been his habit — one their mom strove to correct — but for the past few months, Ethan had generally addressed his sister as “you” instead of as “Jessamyn.” He must be concentrating pretty hard.

  “‘Jessamyn’ wants her brother’s full attention.”

  Mr. Zussman rose. “Perhaps a soothing cup of lunar tea for miss’s insomnia?”

  Jess smiled. “Lunar tea” was her nickname for plain boiled water. Mr. Zussman was excusing himself so she and Ethan could converse more privately.

  “Sure,” she said to the butler. “That would be lovely.”

  Zussman gave a small bow and departed.

  Ethan turned his head and then his hoverchair so that he was facing his sister. His lined mouth curved in a tiny smile. “Did I address you incorrectly just now?”

  “Not a big deal,” she said. “You looked pretty focused. What are you working on?”

  “I have been deriving possible outcomes based on the Chancellor’s likely orders to the M-class vessels currently traveling to Mars.”

  “Oh.” Jessamyn felt her stomach dip uncomfortably. She couldn’t help it, though, she looked at the screen. It looked like a ship’s log. “Those are your disaster scenarios?”

  “They are not. While my program runs, I have been reading through the Ghost’s accounts of his rescues,” said Ethan.

  “He logs them?” asked Jessamyn.

  “He does,” replied Ethan. “Not all of his rescues end satisfactorily, and he has not hesitated to document his failures as well.”

  Jessamyn shook her head. “I want to like him,” she said, “which is really a problem, considering his beliefs about Mars.”

  “Regardless of his beliefs,” said Ethan, “he is a very compassionate individual.”

  “Yeah, I guess,” said Jess. She didn’t sound convinced.

  Ethan continued. “The Ghost expects a great deal of himself. I believe he would make an excellent ally, could we persuade him of Mars’s essentially pacifist nature.”

  “You can’t tell him anything!” said Jessamyn.

  “Certainly I would not do so without a directive from our commanding officer,” replied Ethan.

  “There’s something that’s been bothering me about the Ghost,” said Jess after half a minute of gazing through the rescue catalog.

  “What is the nature of your concern?”

  “How on Ares did he know Lucca sent ships to attack Mars? There’s been nothing on the newsfeeds. And Zussman says she’s doing this in secret.”

  “The Ghost has excellent access to sat-comm broadcasts on all frequencies,” replied Ethan. “He is also a gifted hacker. It is his access to restricted information which enables him to determine when an individual requires rescuing.”

  “But don’t you think we shou
ld find out how he came to be in possession of the intel?” asked Jessamyn. “I mean, if there’s any chance he’s on friendly terms with Lucca….” She left the thought unfinished.

  “The two have a common acquaintance in the person of Jumble,” replied Ethan. “It is conceivable some sort of relationship exists between the Ghost and the Chancellor.”

  “Yeah,” said Jess. “Jumble mentioned he’d lied to the Chancellor on behalf of one of his acquaintances in space.”

  “Jumble has many acquaintances in space,” replied Ethan, “so he need not have been referring to the Ghost.”

  “Right,” said Jess, remembering how Jumble had found the Star Shark-class vessel for them. The as-yet unchristened Star Shark. Jessamyn yawned. She could feel her mind starting to run down rabbit trails. Maybe she could get some sleep now.

  “You could query the Ghost as to his familiarity with the Terran Chancellor,” said Ethan. “He is a compulsively honest individual.”

  “Hmm,” murmured Jessamyn, yawning again. Her eyes had drifted back to her brother’s screen. And then she saw something that made her sit upright. “Hades and Aphrodite,” she said softly.

  “What is it?” asked her brother.

  She said nothing, but she pointed to a spot on her brother’s wafer screen. It showed a Terran date. “That’s the day Pavel’s parents died. And this says the Ghost tried to rescue two people from the New Terra Space Station that day.”

  Ethan frowned, looking at the screen. “The individuals in question are not named. Normally the Ghost lists names.”

  “He couldn’t if he didn’t get the chance to talk to them,” said Jessamyn.

  “Jessamyn,” said her brother, “I am no expert in social interactions, but I believe it would be wise of you to consult the Ghost prior to telling Pavel of your conclusions. There may be an alternate explanation.”

  “Looks like I’ve got a couple of things to ask him about, then,” said Jess.

  Mr. Zussman re-entered the room, bearing mugs of steaming hot water. “Your lunar tea, miss.”

  “Maybe later,” said Jessamyn, already halfway to the door. There were too many questions spinning in her head, and only one person had the answers she needed.

  No longer drowsy, she dashed down the corridor to speak with the Ghost.

  15

  Tranquility Base, the Terran Moon

  Jess had no clear idea how to bring up either of the topics she wanted to discuss with the Ghost. It was probably best to be direct. But when she knocked and entered his room, his expression made her hesitate. It seemed maybe she’d picked a bad time for questions. But her questions were urgent; she had to try.

  “You look gloomy,” said Jessamyn as she took the chair he offered her. “Gloomier than usual, I mean.” She smiled, hoping to elicit one of the Ghost’s rarer smiles and put him in a more talkative mood.

  But, if anything, her remark seemed to plunge him into a darker mood.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” he said.

  Jessamyn nodded. “Everyone’s always got an opinion on where I should be. ‘Not here’ frequently fits the bill. Occasionally someone changes it up with a ‘Not there, either.’” She grinned, waiting for the Ghost’s response.

  But the Ghost didn’t smile.

  “Is everything okay?” asked Jessamyn. She’d definitely picked a bad time.

  He didn’t reply.

  “Come on,” said Jess. “Talk to me. That’s what friends are for.”

  “Are you my friend?”

  “I’m trying to be,” replied Jess. “But it’s a little hard when you sit there like a lump not saying anything. Come on, talk to me.”

  “The friend of my friend is my friend.”

  “Yup,” she said. Where was this conversation going, exactly? “I’m Pavel’s friend, Pavel is Jumble’s friend, Jumble is your friend. All friends.”

  “What about the enemy of my friend? Is this person my friend or my enemy?”

  “Well, generally speaking, I’d have to go with enemy.” Jess frowned. “This isn’t about us, is it? We love Jumble. You know that. Every one of us owes him a huge debt.”

  “I was not speaking of Jumble. But I was speaking of you.”

  “Okay,” said Jess, pausing to play back the Ghost’s words in her mind: The enemy of my friend … is this person my friend or my enemy? “Okay, let me get this straight. You’re talking about me. And I’m Jumble’s friend, not his enemy. And you’ve told me a thousand times you don’t have any other friends. I’m confused. What am I missing here? Aren’t you always saying Jumble was your only friend until we showed up?”

  “There is Sister.”

  “Oh. Right. Your sister. I forgot about her.”

  “She has not forgotten about you.”

  A chill ran along Jessamyn’s spine. “What do you mean?” she asked. And then she added, “Does your sister know us?”

  The Ghost nodded.

  Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask, whispered a scared voice inside Jessamyn’s head.

  But Jess had never been good at listening to her fears. “Who is your sister?”

  “She has many identities. The one relevant to you would be that she is Mr. Zussman’s former employer.”

  The air in the room seemed to whoosh to the corners as if Jess were standing in an airlock. Silence filled the spaces left behind.

  At last, Jessamyn spoke. “Lucca Brezhnaya is your sister?”

  “She is.”

  A thousand possible questions flooded Jessamyn’s mind: How is this possible? Why didn’t you tell us? How long have you known about us? Do you know who each of us is? But she asked only one question.

  “Have you told your sister we’re here?”

  16

  Budapest, Earth

  At her desk, Chancellor Lucca Brezhnaya studied the report from military forensics as though it were an alchemical recipe for turning gold into tellurium. The report had been months in the making; investigations carried out for the Chancellor were exceptionally thorough. Lucca always provided adequate motivation to ensure this was the case.

  She didn’t like the report’s conclusion: that, in addition to the Martian Jessamyn, Mr. Zussman and Pavel had both survived the explosive crash of the Atlas-class vehicle several months ago.

  As she looked through the report’s findings, she experienced too many emotions all at the same time. She imagined herself pulling slowly back from her emotions so that she could regard them analytically instead of feeling them. What were the names of her feelings? Anger. Loss. Fondness.

  Emotions clouded reason. Now that she had named her feelings, she would release them. She would feel no loss when she thought of Zussman, no fondness when she considered Pavel. Anger, she felt less inclined to release. Anger, when regulated, served her well. Besides, she didn’t think she could will herself to let go of her anger at the betrayal of those two who had been so dear to her once.

  So. They were alive. At any rate, they had survived the crash in the mountains of Switzerland. If Lucca had to guess, she would conjecture Pavel and Zussman were still with the Martian siblings. Presumably lost in space. She would double the reward for the capture of the red-haired girl. No, she was in an expansive mood. She would treble it.

  Trash harvesters and other space riff-raff might not like the Chancellor, but they liked reward credits.

  17

  Tranquility Base, the Terran Moon

  Jessamyn’s mind was racing. If the Ghost told his sister that the four of them were on the Lunar base, they were as good as dead. Or worse than dead. But that wasn’t the most awful problem. Tranquility Base was the only place from which they could send a message warning Mars that Lucca’s attack force was on its way.

  Jessamyn’s other fears fell away before the single fact of the threat to Mars: someone had to survive so the message could be sent. Or perhaps a message could be automated so that it would be sent even if none of them survived.

  The message of warning to MCC was all
that mattered.

  A chill calm descended over her. They’d never stood much chance escaping the long arm of Lucca Brezhnaya. The fact that the Chancellor had a brother living on the Moon was a surprise, but then, Lucca always seemed to have surprises up her sleeve.

  The Ghost hadn’t answered her question yet. And she needed an answer before she ran off to tell Ethan to automate a message.

  “Have you told your sister we are here?” she asked again.

  The Ghost shook his head. “Not yet.”

  Jessamyn turned to leave the room and warn her brother.

  “Wait,” said the Ghost. “Why are you here?”

  Jess paused. She turned. He wanted to talk more? Was this a good thing?

  “Do you mean, why did we come to the Moon?”

  “No,” said the Ghost. “I know why you came here. To avoid Sister. But why did you, Jessamyn, come to my room now?”

  “Oh,” said Jess, her mind backpedaling. “Um, nothing. It doesn’t matter any more.”

  “Friends listen to one another,” replied the Ghost. “What did you want to discuss?”

  Jess frowned. “So we’re friends? Even if your sister wants us dead?”

  “I haven’t decided if we’re friends. I will have to think about it.”

  Frustration welled inside Jessamyn. She needed to talk to Ethan. She needed to ensure a message of warning reached Mars. She could deal with the Ghost later.

  “I need to talk to my brother,” said Jess. “It’s important.”

  “What is important to the friend of my friend is important to me.” The Ghost caught her eyes and his forehead creased.

  The melancholy expression tugged at her heart. But he was Lucca’s brother.

  She turned to go.

  “Not everything Sister does is good,” he said softly.

  Jess turned back. “You’re right about that. Not everything she does is good. We should talk about her. Later.”

  “A friend would not run away,” said the Ghost.

  Jessamyn rolled her eyes. “Ghost, I’m sorry. But it is very urgent I speak to my brother.”