Martian Ark

by Brandon Ellis

  The holographic display blinked on.

  He wiped his gloved hands and pulled himself out from under the console.

  “I don’t even want to know how that happened,” said Jozi, eyeing Indigo like the ancient alien technology it was.

  “I couldn’t explain it myself even if I wanted to.”

  Jozi split the holoscreen. “We’re invisible now?”

  Ozzy sat. “To all radar and tracking systems, yes.”

  “Good.”

  She inhaled and leaned back in her seat. She pressed several holographic buttons on the holodisplay, and the news turned on.

  “Please turn that off,” said Ozzy.

  Jozi went to turn it off, but Ozzy’s eyes about bulged out of his head, and he reached for Jozi’s arm, making sure she didn’t comply.

  The explosion at Pollack Mine was the current story. It was live.

  Ozzy’s stomach about hit the floor. His brother, his last family member besides Lily, was another victim left in Ozzy’s wake.

  But he had to watch. He had to know how his brother perished. In a way, it was closure.

  A well of anguish formed into a lump at the base of his throat.

  The scene was horrific. Smoke poured out of a hole in the graviton shield that surrounded the mine, and a fire was still raging, meaning oxygen was still in the dome and feeding the flames.

  The cameras zoomed in on a woman in a space suit, standing next to the dome.

  “As you can see, the carnage left here is devastating. From what we know, two vigilantes entered the mine and, for unknown reasons, left explosives inside. You can see—” The woman paused, clearly receiving information from an earpiece inside her helmet. “This just in. They’ve counted over a hundred dead bodies.” She shook her head. “This is truly horrific.”

  A man in a space suit walked up to the woman. He waved his hands in the air, shaking his head. The news reporter ignored him.

  “And we have the names of the culprits. An Ozzy Mack and a Jozi Ryan. If—”

  The man took the mic out of her hands. “They are lying. I’m the owner of this mine. Everyone listen. My name is Lou Mack and my brother, Ozzy Mack, had nothing to do with this crime. He didn’t have explosives. The MMP agents arrived, and—”

  The feed turned off, and the channel went to static. Ozzy jerked forward, his mouth ajar. “My brother’s alive?” His hand went to his chest. “We have to turn back.”

  Jozi put her hands on the control stick. “We’ll be caught if we do.”

  “My brother will be dead if we don’t. You bet your sweet ass that Robert is watching that news report right now. He’ll clearly see that my brother wants to either out him or the Mars Ministry Police. That won’t fly with Robert.”

  Jozi swatted the air like swatting his comment away. “I can’t get caught, Ozzy. I can’t. I’m not turning around. I’m a felon now, just like you.”

  She was, and now she knew what it felt like. As a criminal, any decision in her life from this point forward wouldn’t be an easy one. A criminal, especially a criminal forced into the business, had to weigh every option and how it would affect others.

  “Pull up Pollack Mine’s com channel. I have to get a message to my brother.” If Ozzy remembered correctly, the message would go straight to Lou’s personal com line. Not that Lou ever called him back.

  Jozi went to touch the screen, but she lurched back, startled. The screen became staticky and changed.

  “Greetings.” Gragas, the head of the Galactic Knights—the same Knights that saved Ozzy’s and Jozi’s asses when they were extracting the cure for the Martian Plague—was on the holodisplay.

  He had on his robot mask and helmet, along with his signature cape around his shoulders.

  Ozzy put his hands out. “What, am I a beacon? How is everyone able to find me?” He looked under the flight console. Indigo was glowing, indicating she was on.

  “We found you by Indigo’s energy signature.”

  “What?” Ozzy slapped his hand on the control panel, stopping the Miner from going any further.

  They were far enough underground and away from the MMP agents that it would be safe to rest here for a while with their craft covered in soil, rock, and ancient bacteria.

  “You can’t just patch into Indigo. That’s the point in having her.”

  Gragas interlaced his gloved fingers. “I’m sorry, Ozzy, but it’s possible, and we did. Indigo’s signature is similar to a crystal skull’s signature. The skulls, along with Indigo, can energetically communicate very well with our technology, but that’s only a fraction of what they can do.” He leaned forward. “Ozzy, trust me when I say this: No one else has the technology to track Indigo, so you are safe.”

  Ozzy crossed his arms. “Little is surprising me these days.” He cleared his throat. “What do we owe the pleasure of this call?”

  “The Dunrakee have sent an entirely separate fleet on a different trajectory to Mars. One that even your crime syndicates haven’t discovered.”

  Ozzy cocked his head to the side, and butterflies flew around his stomach’s inner lining.

  Jozi straightened her posture. “You’re saying that two different armadas are on their way?”

  Gragas dipped his head. “Correct. The fleet the crime syndicates have shown you are also on their way, but that’s a Dunrakee dummy fleet. Another fleet, an assassin fleet, will be on your planet in a matter of hours, maybe sooner. Please notify your authorities to be ready.”

  Ozzy slowly blinked his eyes. “Notify them?” He blew his cheeks out wide. “Uh…there’s a problem with doing that.”

  Gragas shifted. “What is the challenge?”

  “The authorities either want me killed or put back into prison. I can’t tell which one they prefer, but I’m pretty sure they’re leaning toward me being dead rather than alive right now.”

  Jozi shook her head. “It’s not about us living or dying, Ozzy. It’s about protecting the innocent people of this planet.” She eyed Gragas. “Be assured, I’ll get that information to the Ministry as soon as I can. I’ll find a way.” She pursed her lips. “Whether or not they believe me is another story.”

  Gragas dipped his head a second time. “Understood.” He turned slightly, looking at Ozzy. “Remember when I told you that the Dunrakee terrorist leader had a bounty on your head?”

  How could Ozzy forget? He was evading the terrorist leader’s son who made a bonehead move and blew himself up.

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  “Some of the bounty hunters didn’t get the information that the Dunrakee terrorist leader died at the city known as Dawes. They are on their way to kill you.”

  An emotional shockwave hit Ozzy. He slapped the top of his helmet with his hands and kept them there.

  Just my luck.

  “You’re telling me that as well as the Dunrakee landing here any moment, I also have bounty hunters landing here?”

  “Yes, shortly.”

  “How shortly?”

  Gragas straightened his posture. “I don’t know. They appear and disappear on our radar, using similar technology that you have with your indigo rock, just not as sophisticated.”

  “Okay, I’ll ask my question differently. About how close are they?”

  “Don’t worry about that.”

  Ozzy rested his arms on his armrest. “Don’t worry?” Ozzy wanted to laugh. This was all too ridiculous. “Can you let them know that the terrorist leader is dead, and they won’t be receiving any auric credits for killing me?”

  That should clear things up and send the bounty hunters home in a matter of seconds.

  Gragas chuckled. “Don’t be silly. Once they figure out the leader is dead, they’ll hold someone you love for ransom. And if you don’t pay. . .” Gragas ran his finger across his throat.

  “. . .they kill my loved ones,” responded Ozzy, his voice thick and cracking.

  A loud pounding shook the craft, and the Earth trembled for several seconds. Gragas’s imag
e froze and then blinked off.

  “What was that?” asked Jozi. She moved her fingers across the holodisplay and switched the view from com channel to outside view.

  All they could see was dirt. Which was good since nothing actually hit them.

  She continued moving her hands across the screen. “I’m pulling up the closest Mars satellite.”

  Another loud pound echoed through the Flying Miner. It came from above and practically vibrated through Ozzy. He looked at the ceiling. Whatever it was, it was big.

  “Oh my Mars. You won’t believe this,” blurted Jozi.

  Ozzy turned his attention to what she was staring at on the holodisplay.

  Several crafts were landing directly above their position.

  “They’re already here,” said Jozi.

  Ozzy curled his fingers into fists, cursing his dumb luck. “That’s got to be the Dunrakee assassin fleet Gragas just told us about.”

  Jozi stood abruptly. “Holy Mars.” Her mouth gaped open. “And they brought a colony ship.” She plopped back into her seat. “The next Dunrakee invasion on humans has begun. They’re planning to wipe us off the face of this planet.”

  17

  Outlawed Zone Four, Mars

  The colony ship landed, shaking the ground like a Marsquake registering high on the Richter scale.

  Its wings were the size of small cities, and the rest of the body was rectangular and several cities long.

  By now, there was no way the Martian Marines and the Ministry hadn’t detected this thing and the rest of the currently landing fleet.

  Robert and the Ministry were probably pissing their pants, scrambling, and doing their best to stage an attack. But, according to the Ministry and the crime syndicates, the Dunrakee fleet, the “dummy” fleet they were monitoring, was several weeks out.

  The real armada was here and ready to pounce. If Ozzy was using a Ministry satellite to watch this landing unfold, it meant that the Ministry had probably noticed this surprise armada hours ago.

  They had more than their hands full.

  The colony ship’s wings folded inward. The ship then opened up like a briefcase, and each side slowly lowered onto the Martian high desert plain.

  A bright light shot from its middle and toward the sky. The light halted at around five hundred meters and spread outward like an umbrella, eventually covering the colony ship in a dome.

  The first Dunrakee city had landed. More were no doubt on their way.

  Ozzy focused on the screen. “Don’t get this information to the authorities, Jozi. They know they’re here. Instead, send a transmission to Jonas Moon, Mort Wildly, Lyra No Tail, Shifty Eyez, and…” He stopped himself. It wouldn’t do any good naming off all the crime lords or contacting everyone. “Scratch that. Contact the black market. Let them know. The syndicates will get the message straight away.”

  Jozi shot Ozzy a blank look. “You can’t just contact the black market.”

  “You can.”

  “You mean it’s one entity?”

  “It’s everywhere but run by one organization.”

  Another pound shuddered the Miner. More crafts were landing. They had arrived on the other side of the planet, most likely taking a long route around any Ministry satellites. And here they were, touching down on the largest outlaw zone on Mars and far away from the Ministry and any of the Ministry’s ships they were amassing to take on the dummy fleet.

  “Close your eyes,” Ozzy ordered.

  “Why?”

  “I can’t let you see the codes into the black market.”

  “You have to be joking.”

  She closed her eyes anyway, and Ozzy typed several codes into the com line, then ran his finger across the display screen.

  The line rang.

  “You can open them now.”

  The line picked up. A silver image of a “B” and “M” surrounded by a black circle filled the screen.

  “Ozzy Mack?” The voice was low and sinister, like an evil-doer in holomovies.

  “Can’t talk right now. I’m sending you something important.” Ozzy gestured to Jozi. “Send the satellite feed to the black market now.”

  Jozi typed on the holographic keypad. “Done.”

  Ozzy switched the holodisplay from the com line to the view in front of them—dirt half-lit by the Miner’s lights. He backed the digger up. “Heading to Tagus Valles.”

  “Wait, what about Olympus Mons? We need to get the Ark of the Concordant more than ever.”

  Ozzy almost snapped at her comment. It wasn’t but hours ago that she was dead set against the idea.

  “Now that the Dunrakee are here, we don’t have time to dig our way there. I’m going to see Jonas, secure a craft, and fly our asses to Olympus Mons.” He gave Jozi an ominous stare. “If that’s alright with you.”

  He didn’t wait for her reply. He turned the Miner around and tunneled toward Tagus Valles.

  18

  Tagus Valles, Mars

  After a few hours of driving the Miner, they finally found themselves underneath Tagus Valles’ domed city.

  Jozi monitored the holodisplay’s radar. “A small Dunrakee force is heading this way.” A cruiser and a squad of starfighters were in the air.

  Ozzy put up a thumb. “Perfect,” he said, being as sarcastic as possible. This was the last thing they needed. “Are we directly under Jonas’s compound?”

  Jozi nodded. “Heading up?”

  Ozzy took a deep breath, hoping this worked. “Yes, heading up.”

  He grabbed the controls and steered, changing the Miner’s direction. It pivoted and rotated, whining as it did so, moaning and shaking back and forth.

  The drills spun, cracking through rock and soil. The Miner moved, heading in a vertical path on a slight grade.

  Ozzy turned on the com line, patching into Jonas’s com channel.

  Jonas answered, a scowl on his red face. He was holding a sandwich and had visible crumbs on his lips.

  A vein pulsed on his forehead. Apparently, he wasn’t happy he was being bothered on his private com channel. When he realized who it was, his face lit up.

  “Ozzy? Do you have my Ark?”

  Ozzy ignored his question. “We’re below you. I’ll be up there in a minute.”

  Jonas dropped his sandwich on a plate and stood, glancing out a window. “You’re coming from below? I don’t see you.” He was clearly confused.

  Ozzy looked at the holographic map on his display. They were almost to the surface, coming at a ninety-degree angle. They’d be tearing up Jonas’s giant lawn in a matter of seconds. “Almost to the surface.”

  “What do you mean?” Jonas glanced out of his window again, pushing away a curtain. “What surface?” Jonas’s desk vibrated. “Are you—”

  The edge of the drill poked through the ground, grinding soft dirt and grass and throwing it to the side like it was soft snow.

  The screen blipped off, and the Miner lurched forward, bouncing over a lip in the tunnel and rolling onto the lawn.

  Ozzy unstrapped his belt and unclipped his helmet, dropping it to the floor. Before he hopped out of the Miner, he touched the capsule in his satchel to make sure it was still secure.

  The grass was full of divot holes from explosions that littered the compound during Jonas’s and Wildly’s earlier little tangle.

  Most of the trees surrounding the place were charred, sending off a subtle ashen and woodsy smell.

  Jozi switched the Miner off. She jumped through the open doorway and onto the grass, following Ozzy.

  Jonas stepped out of his mansion. His gut jiggled as he walked toward them. He pulled a napkin from his collar, crinkled it into a ball, and tossed it on the ground. “What happened to the brand new mole digger I bought you?”

  Ozzy looked away for a moment. “Let’s just say it had some complications.”

  Jonas frowned but then extended his hand. “Doesn’t matter. You have my Ark?”

  Ozzy took his hand, shaking it quickly. �
��Nope. We had a run in.”

  Jonas pursed his lips and let go of Ozzy’s hand. “I paid you to get the Ark, Ozzy.” His face flushed red, and his eyes narrowed.

  “And I will.” Ozzy glanced at the graviton shield doming the city. “The Dunrakee are on their way as we speak.”

  Jonas shook his head. “Nice try. They aren’t arriving for a few more weeks.”

  Jozi stepped next to Ozzy. “Check your black market feed. We have proof that an assassin fleet is here right now.”

  Jonas brought his wrist to his mouth. “Sunny, pull up the BM feed. Tell me what you see.” He pressed his fingers on his ear mic, listening to Sunny’s reply. He nodded a few times, his posture slowly drooping at every nod. He slapped his hands together. “Mars’s crack,” he swore. “Assemble the militia. Let the other syndicates know. It’s war.”

  Jonas turned, walking hastily back to his house.

  “Jonas,” said Ozzy, following him.

  Jonas threw his hand up. “Can’t talk now.”

  “I can get you that Ark to defeat these bubble-heads.”

  Jonas stopped as he reached the door and spun on his heels. “Right.” He tipped his head toward the Flying Miner. “Get going then.”

  “Listen, Jonas. You’re going to laugh. I need more money.”

  Jozi tugged on Ozzy’s EVA sleeve. “What are you doing?”

  Jonas brought his hand up, palm out. “You see this?”

  Ozzy nodded.

  Jonas swung his hand hard, slapping it across Ozzy’s cheek. Ozzy bent over, holding his face.

  “Don’t ask me for any more money until you retrieve that Ark, Ozzy.”

  “I need a ship with a mole digger then.”

  Jonas opened his door, walked in, and slammed it in Ozzy’s face.

  “Well, shit.” Ozzy massaged his cheek.

  Jozi stood on the lawn, her hands on her hips. “Is money that important? You could have asked him for a ship like I thought you were going to do.”