Martian Ark

by Brandon Ellis

  A ball of dirt splashed against his radiation visor. He swiped the hot dust away.

  He rolled again and twisted around. “I’m jumping in the Miner. Cover my ass.”

  Jozi riddled the area with gunfire, sending blast after blast into the distance.

  Ozzy pushed off of his feet and ran toward the open door. Jozi was low, aiming her rifle, sending photon charges every which way but at Ozzy.

  He took a final step and leaped inside, sliding across the metallic floor. “Shut the door. Shut the door.”

  Jozi slapped the “close” button. It didn’t budge. She slapped it again. Nothing happened.

  “Shit and double shit,” said Ozzy, bringing his rifle into ready position and sending photon beams at the agents.

  “It has to charge for another five to ten minutes before it shuts again.” Her tone was flat and matter of fact.

  Ozzy nodded his head. “Keep firing.”

  “I’m on it. We just—”

  Jozi screamed. An explosion threw her gun over Ozzy and against the back wall.

  Jozi fell back, slamming against the floor. She went into a fetal position, covering her head with her gloved hands.

  15

  Outlawed Zone Four, Mars

  Ozzy took his finger off the trigger. His mind was spinning a million miles per hour, and his heart was thumping rapidly.

  If she were shot, she would be another victim associated with him. Many have died or almost died because of him, and even though Jozi was a pain in the ass, she deserved to be at home or back at Mars Ministry Police headquarters doing her job. A job she was now fired from.

  Of all things, Jozi didn’t deserve the criminal status that Robert planted on her.

  He dropped his rifle and pulled her away from the door and around the corner, hiding her from view.

  “Are you okay?” He searched her, moving his hands over her body.

  She let out a screech. “Hey, that hurts. Let go and stop touching me.”

  Ozzy lifted his hands away, his cheeks flushing red. “Sorry.”

  She sat up, wiggling her fingers around and sucking air through her teeth, making a sound like paper ripping. She looked at her gloves. “Stings.”

  “You’re fine,” said Ozzy, picking up his rifle. He glanced over his shoulder. Jozi’s rifle was lying next to a wall, warped from a direct hit.

  “My gloves are a little burned.”

  Ozzy quickly studied her gloves. There were a few scorch marks, but she’d live. “Get up. You’re fine.” Ozzy turned and got on one knee, aiming at the agents. They were running at full bore.

  He took a shot.

  An agent fell hard to the ground, clutching his leg.

  Ozzy ducked around as photon blasts littered the inside of the craft, blackening the walls with charred streaks.

  The holographic display blipped, indicating the fuel cells had charged enough to close the door.

  Jozi lunged for the button.

  A loud hiss escaped as the door shut, clanging loudly and locking in place. The holographic display blinked off. The power was drained yet again.

  Jozi plopped in the copilot’s seat. She took heavy breaths then dropped her visor into her shaking hands. “I can’t believe what I just did.” She stood and walked in circles. “I feel like I’m going to throw up. I can’t go back to the Ministry now. Look what I did out there. I almost killed my brothers.”

  Ozzy flinched and had a hard time swallowing when she said brothers. She almost killed her brothers, but Ozzy definitely killed his. He began pacing back and forth. “My brother is—”

  Jozi slapped her helmet. “You left the capsule under the Miner, didn’t you?”

  Ozzy halted and pulled the capsule out of his satchel and held it up. “I grabbed it.”

  She stopped as well. “Now what?”

  He shoved the capsule back into his satchel. “Well, since you wouldn’t let me turn myself in, I suggest we wait it out until the fuel cells fully charge.”

  “Then we’ll be here all night.”

  “That means they’ll send more of the suction crafts.”

  “They have five total in their fleet, and from my count, they need three or more to pull this heavy tonnage back to headquarters. The three that pulled us are now out of operation for the moment since you cut their cords. I don’t know how long it will take them to spool new ones.”

  Ozzy pursed his lips. That didn’t sound right. “Even in this low gravity, it takes three?” Things should be a hell of a lot lighter.

  “With the speed at which they need to fly to keep their craft in the air while pulling this Miner’s weight—are you kidding me? They need at least three, and probably all five so their fuel cells don’t drain to zero. You saw what happened when you cut two of the three wires from the crafts that were towing us. We ended up towing the last remaining craft.”

  Ozzy perked up. “So, you’re saying we have a bit of luck on our side right now?” Ozzy’s cheer died down when he remembered his brother. He hadn’t seen his brother in years, and when he finally did, Lou died.

  He didn’t know if he should curse the high heavens or cry. He was tired of Robert and tired of Robert using Ozzy’s family to pay for his sins.

  He began pacing again.

  Jozi shrugged. “Luck? That’s subjective. I don’t have a life anymore, so luck isn’t on my side.”

  Ozzy shrank back, pulling his elbows in, unconsciously making himself small, realizing that it wasn’t just his family that paid the price for Ozzy’s misfortune. It was everyone around him, and now it was Jozi.

  That’s why he always wanted to be a loner. That’s why he did things by himself. That’s why he never hired people to work with him on digs.

  Wahping!

  Ozzy turned. “They’re trying to get in again.” He spotted Indigo. “When we get full power, we’re digging down and making a tunnel. These Miners are fast and can do quick work.”

  “They’ll follow us.”

  “The Miner will fill in as we go along.”

  “They’ll still detect us.”

  Ozzy picked up Indigo, tapping it with his fingers. “I’ll hook this puppy up, and they won’t detect a thing.”

  Wahping!

  Jozi tilted her head. “Okay, then how do we fill in the tunnel as we go along?”

  “The sand will automatically cave in and fall on us as we burrow down. We’d have to come back up several times from the way we came in to get that sand out of there. At least, that’s how the professionals do it.” He slapped his gloves together. “We just won’t tunnel back out. We’ll keep going. The sand will cave in on its own.”

  “Until then?”

  Another pang reverberated against the walls. “Until then, we wait it out and hope that we get a full charge by nightfall.”

  Jozi pressed on the indicator in front of her. “It’s charging fast as it is.”

  “Good.”

  A third party tapped into their com line. Ozzy put his finger up, telling Jozi to stop talking.

  “Jozi,” Robert’s voice echoed in their ears.

  All color drained from Jozi’s face, and she looked like she wanted to vomit. “Yes?”

  “Turn your friend and yourself in, and you’ll get your job back. You’ll burn anything you have that may be condemning to me. In fact, we’ll do that together.”

  Jozi glanced over to Ozzy. “What will Ozzy get?”

  “Twenty-five years, max.”

  Ozzy shook his head. “I’d rather die.”

  “Five years,” Jozi countered.

  Ozzy grimaced. “What are you doing?”

  “Deal,” Robert said. “When are you coming out?”

  “Anything else you require from Ozzy?” Jozi asked.

  “Don’t trust him, Jozi.”

  She put up her finger, telling him to be quiet. “What else, Robert?”

  “Ozzy, if you don’t turn yourself in, I will find a way to kill Jozi. Everyone you know, including the crime syndic
ates you work for, will look at you as tainted. You’ll be a curse to them if they hire you—a curse that will get them killed. I mean, you certainly are starting to have a track record, don’t you think?”

  A mixture of anger and fear rose up Ozzy’s gut to his throat. He squeezed his hands together. “You piece of shit.”

  The line clicked off.

  Rage filled Ozzy. He wanted to punch every wall in here. Now Robert was threatening Jozi’s life.

  Robert was a devil. There wasn’t any doubt about it.

  Jozi slouched, letting out a loud breath. “I thought he actually cared about me.” She shook her head, her voice cracking. She was holding in a cry.

  Ozzy leaned back against the wall. “Please tell me you were recording him.”

  “Yes, and every conversation we’ve had since he set me up.” She tapped her record button, turning it off. Her voice was low. “He’s smart, Ozzy. He’s not exposing himself outright.” She shrugged. “I’m not as good at setting him up as he was with me. That’s because I actually gave a shit about him.”

  Wahping!

  Jozi jumped.

  Ozzy shifted on his feet. He sat in his pilot’s seat, placing his hands behind his helmet, resting. “Get used to it.” He closed his eyes, pushing down the rage he had for Robert in his heart. “You know, it could be quite meditative. Just relax. We might have a long day ahead of us listening to the poundings before we get this ship underground.”

  “Right. I’ll just pace to keep warm while you enjoy staring at the wall there.”

  “Perfect.” He put his feet up on the flight console. His snores came soon after.

  16

  Outlawed Zone Four, Mars

  “Ozzy, wake up, wake up.”

  Someone was shaking him. He bolted to his feet, looking around, completely disoriented. “What happened?”

  “Check your oxygen levels.”

  He tapped his wrist gauge. The oxygen dial was low. Twenty-two minutes until empty. “How long have I been out?”

  Jozi was trembling from the cold. “Four hours.”

  He checked his EVA’s thermostat. His suit was doing fine, keeping him warm, unlike Jozi’s.

  “Why didn’t you hook your suit to the craft to keep warm?”

  “We need all the fuel cell charge we can get.”

  “Alright.” He leaned over the copilot’s chair and eyed the fuel cell meter. “We’re half full.”

  “We have a few more hours of sun, and the MMP agents stopped trying to get inside about an hour ago.”

  “Good and good, but in a few more hours you’ll freeze to death. Hook up. We’re warming you, so don’t worry about the fuel cells, you’ll be fine.”

  Zerrr! Zerrr!

  The Miner shook violently.

  Ozzy pulled up the holodisplay. An MMP agent was holding a hand-held, diamond-studded drill and pressing it against the Miner’s entrance.

  Shit.

  Ozzy motioned to the copilot’s seat. “Sit. We’re going under.”

  Jozi continued to pace. “Not a good idea, Ozzy.” Her lips quivered with every word. “We need more fuel in order to make it to Olympus Mons. We have to wait here until the sun goes down to receive more charge.” She was looking at him not knowing why he didn’t understand that simple line of thinking.

  The simple line of thinking was that if they didn’t get underground, the agents outside would soon be inside. Jozi was too cold and not in her right frame of mind.

  “Jozi, listen to me. We’ll fully charge soon, but right now we need to hide from the MMP and get more oxygen in our EVA’s. We have to refill our tanks through the oxygen intake tubes in the back cabin. We’ll do that while we’re underground and away from the agents, okay?”

  She nodded her head. “Yeah, yeah. Good idea.”

  He flipped on the engines and activated the Miner’s diamond-tipped drills.

  The craft shook and lifted a few meters as the drills extended from its belly.

  The holovid display blipped on, and the Miner’s drills spun rapidly. The sound of gravel against metal filled the cockpit as sand and rock spit everywhere.

  They descended.

  Jozi strapped in. “We’re going under.” She pointed to the holographic display. The exterior holocams flush against the ship’s exterior walls showed their craft moving under Mars’s crimson soil.

  In a matter of a minute, the craft was almost fully covered in sand, going deeper and deeper into the earth.

  “I have to hook up Indigo. Take the helm and get us another twenty meters under, then tunnel northwest. Got it?”

  She nodded, her teeth clacking together and her lips blue from the cold. “Will do.”

  He unstrapped and hurried to the back of the craft. Indigo was sitting against the wall. He grabbed it and set it on his chair.

  The Miner vibrated more the deeper they went.

  He ducked under the flight console and studied the wires. He traced the red and yellow ones then pushed himself out from under the console. “I need the wire cutters.”

  The Miner stopped moving, and the engines revved louder. Ozzy shot Jozi a look. “What’s going on?”

  She put up her hands. “I’m twenty meters under. How do I move forward?”

  Ozzy checked his oxygen gauge. Six minutes. He wanted to get the Miner horizontally tunneling before he hooked his suit to the oxygen tanks.

  He swiped his hand over an application on the lower right screen. He tapped PARALLEL TO GROUND. That would put the Miner on autopilot and move them in the right direction.

  The Miner groaned, and the wheels protracted from the sides. The craft tipped back slightly, and the exterior walls shifted, the cockpit and cabin remaining in the same place, unlike the rest of the craft.

  The Miner moaned.

  The belly made a quarter revolution. The drills were now pointing forward instead of downward.

  The diamond-tipped drills turned on, whining and cracking rock in front of them. The Miner shuddered and trekked onward, throwing sand and dirt behind it.

  Ozzy looked at his wrist gauge. Only twenty-eight seconds until his EVA oxygen was fully drained.

  “I gotta hurry.”

  He grabbed Jozi. She was shivering. “We’re hooking you up.” He dragged her toward the back of the ship, her boot heels sliding across the floor.

  He sat her next to the tool rack, pulled out a tube, and connected it to her chest. He twisted until he heard a click, locking it in place. He flipped on the oxygen lever, which filled her EVA oxygen tank.

  Pssssst!

  His oxygen snipped off. His EVA was empty, along with the cabin and cockpit’s air supply. Oxygen inside wasn’t an option in an S-99 Flying Miner. To man these things, you always needed a fully loaded EVA suit.

  He held his breath, pulling out another tube. A small gush of air pushed out of his mouth.

  Crap.

  He connected the tube to his chest and twisted.

  Another gush of air expelled from his lips.

  Jozi took in a deep sniff. “I only had a few minutes left. Thank you. It’s resetting my thermostat, too. I’m warming up.”

  Ozzy nodded, feeling his hands and fingers going numb.

  He gulped, holding his breath because he had no oxygen to breathe.

  He reached for the oxygen lever to fill his tank. His vision was blurry. He couldn’t find the lever. He wanted to talk, to tell Jozi to flip it on for him, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out except more air.

  His hands went limp.

  He reached out again, trying to push the lever down. He missed.

  He could feel his heart slowing. He wanted to do nothing more than to take a breath.

  He tapped Jozi or what he thought was her. He saw movement through his blurry eyes, and words he couldn’t comprehend blared through his helmet com line.

  His eyes widened. A few more seconds and he was a goner.

  Pch-shooo!

  Fresh airflow blew into his face. He blinked an
d gasped for breath, wheezing and coughing.

  He leaned over in a fit of pain, his lungs burning. He took several deep breaths.

  Vomit started to rise, and he swallowed hard, pushing it back down. The last thing he needed was to throw up and fill his helmet.

  “Ozzy?” Jozi rubbed his back.

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m okay.” His stomach pains subsided. “That. . .was close.”

  He leaned back, resting on the floor, and checked his gauge. His oxygen was filling up. In a matter of minutes, he’d have over twenty hours worth of air before his oxygen tanks hit empty once again.

  Ozzy unclipped. His tank was full.

  Jozi’s oxygen tank had filled up a few moments before, and she was now sitting at the cockpit, watching the digger push rock and dirt away, moving along like the long-forgotten moles must have done on Earth.

  He grabbed a wire cutter from the rack above a workbench, thinking about his brother and his daughter. His brother was dead, and he forced down a yell. And, to make matters worse, Jozi was the next target of Robert’s threat.

  How did he screw up his life and the lives of his friends and family so much?

  Ozzy walked over to the pilot’s seat and went to his hands and knees, ducking under the flight console.

  He clipped the yellow and red wires, remembering a time when he was with Lou and repairing Lou’s hovercar.

  Lily was four at the time and came into the garage, curious. Lou was gentle with her and showed her what every part was and how the ionic engines worked.

  Ozzy was impressed and imagined that’s how Lou was with his workers in the mine. He was probably an incredible boss, and his employees no doubt loved him.

  And were probably mourning his death right at this moment.

  Ozzy clipped a white wire.

  The holographic display blipped off.

  “What happened?” asked Jozi.

  “Don’t worry about it.” He took Indigo off his seat and set it down beside him. He stripped the wires and pressed them against Indigo, holding them onto Indigo’s rocky surface for a few seconds.

  The wires sucked in like magic, connecting themselves the way wires always did with Indigo. Even though he has had Indigo for several years—finding her on a dig—he still couldn’t figure out how it automatically connected like that.