And like all great civilizations it had its statues and monuments. Several larger than life figures greeted the people as they entered. Figures who had played a significant role in the history of the colony. Of course there was one of the first human colonist to set foot on Mars. One of Xenon Hybrid, the reclusive, and some would say eccentric President of Mars. There were others, but perhaps the most famous of these was a somewhat controversial statue of a feral and semi-naked Dr. Jann Malbec, her hair in matted dreadlocks, holding a spear above her shoulder, ready to strike. It was a depiction of her time living alone on Mars, in this very biodome where she had regressed to barely more than that of a stone-age hunter. Some colonists hated it. Arguing that such an important figure in the history of the colony as Dr. Malbec, should be depicted so crudely was not proper. But Dr. Malbec herself liked it. She said it was real, she had been that person. She also appreciated it because, in her mind, it showed that despite all our technological brilliance as a species, take it away and we’re just animals.
Also in the tropical vegetation surrounding the central council dais were a number of small contemplative spaces, where one could sit and not be overheard. They were used as side meeting areas where sticky political issues could be worked out in private.
In one such area Councilor Yuto Yamashita and Lane Zebos, CEO of the asteroid mining company AsterX were admiring the small fountain that had recently been installed. At its rim a small bird hopped uncertainly before dipping its beak to take a drink. It was one of the few avian species that had survived the journey from Earth. Their songs echoed off the dome and augmented the sense of tropical beauty that the biodome evoked. Their introduction had initially been as a potential additional food source, but as time went by the colony had released some into the space, purely for the aesthetic. While they did indeed add a new layer of beauty to the ecosystem it came with a cost, that being the danger of being in the line of fire when nature called. Lane gave the seat a quick inspection to ensure it was free of guano before seating himself on the stone plinth.
“So Yuto, I’m assuming your request for a quiet chat here was not for us to enjoy the twitter of birds.”
“I just wanted to give you a heads up on the unfortunate incident over at Nili Fossae.” Yuto kept his eyes on the bird still drinking at the fountain.
“Ahh… yes. A tragic accident I believe.”
Yuto shifted his gaze to Lane and lowered his voice. “There are those who are not so sure that this was an accident. They feel that someone or some agency must have sabotaged his rover to make it explode like that.”
Lane held Yuto’s stare for a beat. “Do they have any evidence to support this theory?”
“No. But here’s the thing. That rover was last serviced only one week ago at your shipyard over at the Industrial Sector.”
“Meaning?”
Yuto shrugged. “Meaning some individual… who shall remain nameless for the moment… thinks that AsterX might have been behind it.”
Lane jumped up and was about to say something, when he realized where he was sat back down. He bent closes to Yuto. “That’s horseshit. Why would we even contemplate such a thing?”
“Look, Lane, I know it’s crap, I’m simply letting you know it’s out there in the wild now.”
“Who’s spreading this around?”
Yuto waved a hand. “I can’t say, but I think you can guess.”
Lane sighed and shook his head.
Yuto continued, “As you probably know the rover belonged to the Mars Alliance Scientific Survey. The UN agency that’s conducting the terraforming experiment.”
“So?”
The councilor sighed in exasperation. “Do you really need me to spell this out for you, Lane?”
“Humor me.”
“It’s no secret that of all the agencies and corporations vying for a slice of the new open Mars, MASS are the most powerful. When the AsterX agreement ends next week, they will be in an even greater position of power. Some feel that AsterX would have much to gain by discrediting them, particularly technologically.”
Lane sat with his arms folded, studying the water flowing from the fountain. “Interesting theory, but utter nonsense.”
“I agree. But, there you go. I just wanted to bring you up to speed.”
Lane let a moment pass before replying, “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
They sat contemplating this while the little bird returned, or maybe a different one of the same species. It had a friend with it this time.
“You know, I never really saw the merit in giving such carte blanche over the exploration of Mars to MASS,” said Lane finally.
Yuto shrugged. “They’re a UN agency. Non-profit, multi-country. They represent Earth’s interests. They’ve been here purely for the scientific study. The search for life is important to humanity. Anyway, we had no choice, you know that. It was the concession we had to make to get access to nuclear technology. Without that reactor spitting out the watts over in the Industrial Sector, none of this would be possible.”
Lane snapped, “I’ve made no secret of my objections to their ever expanding mandate. When they first came here, it was supposedly about the search for life. That’s fine, let them do it. But no sooner than they put the first bootprint on the surface, they were already drafting up a list of no-go areas. Places with valuable mineral resources that we can’t access. All because of the perceived fear of biological contamination.”
“It’s a valid concern.”
“True, but why do I get the feeling they were just doing it to undermine AsterX, and ultimately the prosperity of Mars?”
“You can’t say AsterX hasn’t grown rich and fat from your ten year exclusive agreement.”
Lane smiled reluctantly. “No, I can’t.” He looked around and leaned in. “But their mandate has changed yet again, to this terraforming experiment. I mean… what the hell is that about?”
“I don’t know, but it’s quite exciting. You know the idea was originally postulated back in the early part of the twenty-first century. Using a nuclear detonation at the poles to convert the frozen CO2 into a greenhouse gas. And as we all know, enough of that in the atmosphere and the planet starts to warm up.”
“It’s an interesting idea, and has a modicum of scientific credibility. But to actually make a difference you would need a continuous chain of detonations, hundreds, maybe even thousands. What they’re planning is to test a single thermonuclear device. It seems utterly pointless to me.”
Yuto smiled. “Do I detect a hint of envy there?”
Lane laughed. “I just think it’s a complete and utter waste of resources.”
“It’s Earth’s money, so what do we care? Anyway, it’s just an experiment. To test the theory.”
Lane folded his arms. “Maybe it will prove worthwhile, but somehow I doubt it.”
“Well it’s going to make a spectacular finale to the decennial celebrations. They plan to detonate it at the end, with the whole event relayed to the big screen we’re erecting on the Avenue, via their orbital space station. Everyone’s looking forward to it.”
They stopped their conversation as a G2 unit rolled by. The birds that had been cleaning their wings in the fountain flew off and the unit stopped and started poking around in the flowerbeds. Yuto removed a slate from his pocket and tapped a few icons. The G2 unit spun around and moved off. When it had disappeared from view around a corner of dense foliage, they continued their conversation.
“I know we’ve gone off topic a bit, so just one thing you need to be aware of. The courier that died was a Pioneer.”
“One of the clones, yeah I heard.”
Yuto shifted in his seat. “They don’t like to be called that, Lane. They can be very touchy about it.”
Lane nodded.
“The death of any colonist casts a dark shadow over all of us. It reminds us just how dangerous a place it is we live in. But the death of a Pioneer is doubly disturbing, after all they have been through to put us
on the map, so to speak. So there are certain elements within the council who will not let this go.”
Lane nodded again. “I get it. Watch my back.”
“They’ll be agitating for reduced compensation and minimal contracts to AsterX after the deadline.”
Lane watched the birds fly off again, contemplating the current situation. He had lobbied hard to keep as many as possible of the lucrative contracts that they, AsterX, had built up over the last decade on Mars. As a reward for helping the fledgling colony gain its independence from Earth they had secured exclusive rights for mining on the planet and as a transit point en route to the asteroid belt, where the true riches lay. They had established a spaceport, shipyards, and a new base on Ceres. And Yuto was right, they had grown rich and fat on the proceeds. But in less than a week this exclusivity would be over and Mars would open up to everybody and anybody who had the wherewithal to mount such an operation. All good things come to an end eventually, he said to himself. It didn’t help his cause, or that of AsterX, that his power base on the council had been eroded. The old guard: Dr. Malbec, Langthorp, Xenon, and others were now sidelined by the new young guns. Fresh with new ideas about how things should be run. His efforts to cultivate some of the new blood had had mixed results. The best of these was Yuto, and Lane didn’t trust him with anything more than minor affairs. He was too much of a political animal; you were never quite sure what side, if any, he was on.
But Lane still had friends among the Pioneers. A group of around a hundred that had been the colony before independence. They almost all had positions in administration. They were the hands and feet on the ground, they kept the wheels of the colony moving on a sol-to-sol basis. But they were clannish and almost tribal in their allegiances. Probably since most of them were clones, created during the colony’s dark past. They were literally a breed apart and that made them tricky to deal with. But their power was waning, and with Mars now taking in a hundred new people on average every six months, it wouldn’t be long before they too became a relic of the past.
Nevertheless, there was now a clone dead in suspicious circumstances. What did it mean? What concerned Lane was not the fact that there were elements within the Mars council using this as a weapon against him, he had expected as much. No, what bothered him was a Pioneer, working as a courier for MASS. That was unusual in itself. The fact that his rover exploded as it did just added more intrigue to the riddle. What’s more, MASS had so far refused to let the rover be inspected by anybody but themselves. It smelled all wrong to Lane. Something was going on, something different. Something that didn’t quite fit.
He shook his head and rose from the stone plinth by the fountain. He cast his gaze around the splendor of the biodome, and marveled at what had been achieved over the last decade up here. But his time, and that of AsterX would soon be over. Out with the old in with the new, he said to himself. He sighed. my work is done, time to move on. He bid Yuto goodbye and walked out of the biodome.
6
At The Red Rock
The meeting with Dr. Malbec left Mia feeling out of sorts. She was going places in her thoughts that she didn’t want to go. All the old crap that she had tried to bury was swimming around her head when she finally arrived back at her accommodation pod.
Strictly speaking, she still had another two hours of work tasks before clocking off, but since Dr. Malbec had seen fit to clear her slate, Mia decided to take advantage of the extra free time and go back home where she could feel sorry for herself in comfort.
She was surprised to find the door to the pod that she shared with Christian Smithson, her boyfriend of two months, unlocked and ajar. Mia hesitated before going in, a reflex action honed from her time on the force. A front door that was supposed to be closed but wasn’t was seldom a good sign. She instinctively reached to her hip, where her service pistol would have been, back in the day. But of course it wasn’t there. She felt a bit of a fool at the reflex. She was being stupid. It must have been the conversation with Dr. Malbec that got her all jumpy.
Nevertheless, she stood to the side, gently opened the door wide with one hand, and peered in. She could hear someone moving around, so she entered slowly, her body on high alert. On the bed was a black holdall. Mia didn’t remember leaving that there this morning. Standing beside it was a tall man dressed in the standard issue colony flight suit. It was Christian, her boyfriend. But she hadn’t expected him back from Elysium for another week.
Mia relaxed and rushed in to greet him. “Chris, you’re back.”
He spun around and a look of shock rippled across his face momentarily. ‘Mia… eh… it’s you… eh, I thought you’d still be at work.”
This felt to Mia more like an accusation than a greeting. “Yeah, well I got the rest of the sol off. it’s a long story.” She went to embrace him, but it seemed a little lackluster.
“So, what happened? how come you’re here, I thought you’d gone for another week at least.”
“Eh… something cropped up.”
Mia looked down at the holdall. “Here, let me give you a hand unpacking.”
His hand lifted to stop her. “No, it’s okay.”
She looked at him for a moment and then her eyes went to the holdall. He wasn’t unpacking it, he was packing. She looked around the tiny pod and realized that he had removed all his stuff. She turned back to him. “What’s going on, Chris?”
He shrugged and looked down. “Eh…” He scratched his chin and looked around at nothing in particular.
“Chris, tell me.”
“Mia… eh… we’ve had a great time together, really great I mean.”
“Had?”
“Yeah, I’ve had a blast… but…”
Here it comes, thought Mia. She didn’t need a diploma to figure it out, she was being dumped. Bastard.
“But, I’ve been thinking, and, you know, I’m not sure I’m ready for this… just yet.”
“Ready for what?” Screw it, she’d make him work for it.
“Us, I mean.” He shoulders drooped, and he spat out, “I’m not ready to get into a long term thing… and I don’t want to be holding you back, you know.”
“So, it’s not me, it’s you. Is that it?”
He face lit up. “Yes, exactly. I’m so glad you understand. You’re so cool, Mia. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for you.”
Mia said nothing. What was there to say? She just stood there and watched as he packed the last of his stuff into the holdall, all the time muttering away about how he had had a great time but now it was time to move on. She watched him from a place far far away. She only returned when he kissed her on the cheek and walked out the door.
Mia sat on the edge of the bed and put her face in her hands. How could she not have seen this coming? After a while, sitting there, she realized she really didn’t care that much about him going. What she did care about, was the manner in which he went. Was he really just going to disappear and not tell her?
They met shortly after Mia arrived on the planet. He was a courier working for MASS, so he was away most of the time, particularly if he was going on a trip to Elysium—that was a ten sol round trip. But when he was here in Jezero City they had spent most of their time together. And since the terms of Mia’s sponsorship provided her with her own accommodation pod, he had moved out of the dorms for MASS contractors, and in with her. Now where was he going? Back to the dorms, maybe over to the Industrial Sector? To hell with him, she thought.
Mia really wanted someone to talk to, but she realized that she had fallen into the trap of spending so much time with Chris, she had neglected to foster any other relationships. Well that’s going to change, she decided, right now. She wasn’t going to mope. Far from it. She would grab a shower, put on a clean kit, head out to the Avenue, and celebrate her newfound freedom.
By the time she stepped out of her tiny shower and got dressed she was already feeling better. Mia checked her appearance in the mirror, and when she satisfied herse
lf that she probably wouldn’t scare any small children she reached for her jewelry box. It was gone.
For a moment she did a mental double take. It must be here. She searched all the places it should be, then all the places where it could be, followed by all the places that were simply wishful thinking. There weren’t that many places to search. It didn’t take long for Mia to accept it was gone. He must have taken it. She would have to find him and get it back—and then beat the crap out of him.
It was a frantic two hours later when Mia finally plonked her ass down on a barstool in the Red Rock Cafe on the Avenue. She picked a quiet corner, she was very pissed off.
“Bad day at the office?” Victor Wanyama, the resident barman came over and wiped the counter in front of her.
“Men are complete bastards.” Mia scowled.
“I’ll try not to take that personally.”
She looked up at him and sighed. “Okay, let me refine that. Just the ones I get involved with.”
“Ah… what a relief, for a moment there you had me worried. Boyfriend trouble?”
“Yeah, the bastard dumped me and then robbed me.”
“Ouch.”
“So I could use a drink.”
“Certainly madam, only right and proper, what’ll it be?”
“Do you still have that synthetic bourbon?”
“You’re in luck, we have a fresh batch just in from the labs, and this distillation is only mildly radioactive.”
“Hit me then.”
Mia put back a shot and felt the edge coming off her rage. Victor poured her another. “So, did you manage to get your stuff back?”
“No. He had taken the rover over to the Industrial Sector before I could catch up with him. I was too late, and I can’t go after him either, don’t have the clearance.”
“Did you report it?”
Mia looked up at him. “To who? There’s no 911 here. I can’t call and get a SWAT team sent after him.”
“Central?” offered Victor.
“Pen pushing middle managers, they’re useless.”
Jezero City: Colony Four Mars (Colony Mars Book 4) Page 4
