Gizmo gone? Jann thought. She fought to not reveal her reaction, not wanting to give Argon the satisfaction.
“I can understand that this will come as a blow to you,” Argon said almost sympathetically. “We intercepted it not far from here, so none of the data you collected on your clandestine walkabout was transmitted back to the MLOD in Jezero.” He gave her a serious look. “I believe this was your intention?”
Jann remained stony-faced.
“It has also come to our attention that neither you nor Nills saw fit to inform anyone of your visit here. Rather remiss of you, don’t you think?” He sat back a little on the stool and adjusted his robe. “No one knows you’re here. And when they do eventually go looking for you, all they’ll find is the charred remains of your rover and assume that both you and Langthorp were incinerated along with it. An unfortunate accident—nothing more.” He gave a theatrical gesture with his hand.
“So, my point is this. No one is coming to look for you—at least not here. You are on your own now.”
“You can’t keep us here, Argon,” Jann said finally. “You don’t seem to realize who you’re dealing with.”
“Quite the contrary. It’s because of who you are that you’re still alive and not being recycled at this very moment.”
Jann inclined her head toward the semiconscious Nills. “He urgently needs medical treatment.”
“As I said, this is possible. But first we would require your cooperation with our…vision.”
“Vision? What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t listen to him, Jann,” Xenon said, suddenly getting to his feet.
The guards instantly raised their weapons at him. Argon seemed unperturbed and casually adjusted his cloak again, flicking some dust from the sleeve. “You had your chance, Xenon. And you made your decision a long time ago.”
“What? To endorse your insanity?” Xenon snapped back.
“You still fail to realize that you are no longer relevant.”
Jann could see that this spat was just wasting time, and Nills didn’t have any to spare. “What vision?” she asked.
Argon readjusted his focus back on her. “Someone of your standing in the Martian community could be of great help to us. There are many of us here who have nothing but the highest respect for your enormous contribution to the foundation of this colony, and that of Langthorp, of course. This is why we would like to see you as part of the next phase in the evolution of human civilization here on the planet.”
“By the next phase, I assume you mean cloning?”
“That’s part of it, yes. But you must see what is happening to our society? Those of us who consider ourselves true Martians are being cast aside, turned into second-class citizens as the planet is handed over to people who seek only to exploit it for profit.”
“It’s called economics, Argon. We don’t survive without it.”
“Ahh, but that’s where you’re wrong. We believe that not only can we survive without it, but we can prosper. We intend to create a new and different society with an enlightened population of true Martians. An evolutionary step forward for humanity, a society far superior than any that Earth has to offer.”
“Let me guess, that’s where the clones come in.”
“Like I said, that’s only part of it. We’re talking about giving Mars back to those who founded this colony: the originals, the pioneers. And from that cohort, we can build anew.”
“So, what do you want from me and Nills?” Jann gestured at the injured engineer.
“You are both part of this cohort. Stand shoulder to shoulder with us as we move into this new era on Mars.”
“And if we don’t?”
“Then you’re simply part of the problem, not the solution. You will have negated your right to exist, and you will be recycled.” With this pronouncement, Argon stood up and signaled to his security contingent that he was ready to leave.
“I will give you a little time to consider your future path. But be aware that we’ll soon be entering the next phase. You have twenty-four hours to decide.” He strode out of the room, and his entourage followed.
“Next phase? What the hell does that mean?” Jann turned to Xenon, who had sat back down on the bench, resting his arms across his knees.
“I’m not sure, but I do know they have some master plan—and cloning is only part of it. Clearly, they must realize that they can’t keep producing more and more clones. It will not go unnoticed. There’s something bigger at play here, but what that might be I have failed to imagine.”
“But it doesn’t make any sense.” Jann shook her head. “Shoulder to shoulder, what does that mean? As soon as we do that, then we’ll be announcing our existence, that we’re alive and well, and the truth will come out. How does that help the Argon and his followers?”
“There is something else going on,” said Xenon. “Something we do not yet see.”
Jann sat down beside Nills again and remained silent while she considered their situation. Finally, she turned back to Xenon. “If Gizmo has been destroyed, then Argon is right, no one is coming. We are on our own. If Nills is to be saved, then I have no option but to go along with Argon’s request.”
Xenon raised his head to look back at her. “I understand, Jann. You must do what needs to be done. But I am not one to be giving advice. I’ve been a fool—worse, a coward, hiding in my cell while my legacy is destroyed. But no more. Be warned, Jann Malbec, the first opportunity I get to kill Argon, I will take without hesitation or care for my own safety.”
Jann looked back at Xenon for a moment. His body was tense, his fists clenched, and she did not doubt his intentions. “I sincerely hope you get that chance,” she said with a nod.
19
Decision Fork
When Gizmo finally impacted the Martian surface, having been unceremoniously ejected from the disintegrating rover, it immediately performed a diagnostics routine to assess the damage to its systems—fortunately, it was minimal. Nothing more than a damaged comms antenna. After satisfying itself of its operational capabilities, it took stock of its surroundings.
The droid was buried deep in a sand pit, with just its main sensor array poking out. But it was enough for it to do a full 360-degree scan of the surrounding area. Off in the distance, approximately seven hundred meters away, it observed three humans in EVA suits examining the wreckage of the rover. Not that there was much to see, since the energy released from the fractured fusion reactor vaporized most of it. Now, all that remained was a charred, blackened crater.
The three figures examined the site for a short while. Then, seemingly satisfied that nothing was left of the droid that had been operating the runaway machine, they gradually returned to their own transport and headed back in the direction of the enclave. When all that could be seen of their rover was a distant trail of dust, Gizmo extracted itself from its sandy pit. It spun its tracks a few times to shake off the dust, then scanned the horizon again—and considered its options.
Its primary directive was to get the data that Jann and Nills had acquired into the hands of Poe Tarkin back in Jezero. It could head for the waystation under its own power and transmit from there. But that was a very long way to travel for a small droid such as Gizmo, and it was unlikely it could make it that far under its own power. Gizmo then swung its sensor array back toward the direction it had just come from and scanned the horizon. The pursuers were long gone, and it could detect no activity for several kilometers.
With no ability to get to the waystation, Gizmo calculated that it had no choice but to head back to the enclave. If it could make it there, then it may have a few better options. So, with the sun setting in the west, Gizmo powered up its motors and set off across the dusty Martian landscape.
It was some hours later when the droid finally arrived on the periphery of the enclave. Having hacked its security systems earlier for Nills, it knew that the facility had motion sensors set up to detect any movement up to approximately t
wo kilometers around the perimeter. If it got any closer it would be detected, so it decided to wait and hitch a ride.
Off to one side of the main track, it took cover behind a mound of regolith, tall enough for it to conceal itself and not be seen by any approaching traffic. It settled down and waited for what could be a long time.
Hours passed, the sun had long set, and overhead the night sky sparkled with the faint light from an infinity of stars. Only one rover had passed along the main track since Gizmo set up camp, but that was heading in the wrong direction, leaving the facility, not entering. Shortly after that a shadow passed overhead, blocking out a patch of stars. Gizmo scanned the object and concluded it was a small transport shuttle. It tracked it as it slowed, came to a hover on the far side of the facility, and disappeared behind the primary dome as it came in to land.
Nothing else happened for a few more hours, and soon dawn would be breaking over the horizon to the east. But Gizmo became alerted again, this time from the south. As it scanned the track, off in the distance it could sense the flicker of rover headlamps as it bounced along the road. Gizmo gauged its speed and calculated it would be here in six minutes and forty-two seconds. It reoriented itself behind the mound to ensure the best purchase for its tracked wheels. It would need to move fast to catch this rover.
Fortunately, the rover slowed down a little now that it was nearing the facility, and as it passed, Gizmo accelerated out from behind its hiding place and raced after it, grabbing onto a hand-hold on the rear and pulling itself up. It clung to the back of the machine, bouncing along toward the enclave.
As the rover approached and began to reorient itself for docking, Gizmo released its grip, dropped back onto the ground, and headed for the far end of the docking wing. It reckoned this to be the best place to conceal itself while it waited for the rover to complete the connection procedure, and all the ground operatives to return inside the complex.
Around a half hour later, Gizmo poked its head out, sensing the area now clear of activity. It moved over to one of the vacant docking airlocks, jacked into an exterior data port, and began scanning the internal security feeds.
Even though its primary objective was to deliver the data to the MLOD, now that it had returned to the enclave, new decision forks became apparent. One of which would depend on whether Jann and Nills were still alive. But as it sifted through the enclave’s real-time data-stream, it could not find any indication of their whereabouts, nor their state of health. Yet, it knew that there were many areas inside the enclave where it had no access, so it was still a possibility that they were viable lifeforms. It considered the option of sneaking in and trying to locate them, and potentially instigating a rescue. But this was an option fraught with a myriad of probabilities, most of which were on the wrong side of optimal. In the end, Gizmo dismissed the option by virtue of it having an extremely low chance of success. Instead, it turned its attention to securing suitable transport so it could execute its primary directive.
There were three rovers currently docked, any of which Gizmo could potentially steal. But they were all old and ran on methane, meaning their range was limited. Still, all it needed was one with enough fuel to get to the waystation. But as Gizmo’s silicon brain crunched the numbers, it arrived at an extremely low probability of pulling this off.
First, there was the possibility that it would not get away unnoticed, and the same scenario that had just happened to it may very well play out again. The last time it had been lucky to escape unscathed—other than a broken antenna. This time it might not be so lucky. Secondly, even if it did manage to get to the waystation, there was still a high probability that the Xenonists there would be alerted and be waiting, ready to destroy it at the first opportunity. But Gizmo had another option, one with a far higher probability of success, one where the numbers stacked up.
It was still jacked into the data port, so it scanned the external camera feeds and found the location of the shuttle it had observed landing some time ago. It was parked on a small landing pad on the far side of the enclave. There were no other ships, at least none that the droid could find with a quick scan. This meant that if it could somehow commandeer this ship, then there was a very high probability it would not be followed. And it could get all the way to Jezero City, bypassing the waystation.
It disconnected from the data port and began working its way around the perimeter of the complex. Since it knew the exact location of all the external cameras and motion sensors, Gizmo avoided them with ease. As it came around to the rear of the primary dome, it sensed the wide expanse of the shuttle port concourse spread out ahead, and in the center sat a squat transport ship.
Even though dawn was still a few hours hence and the area was consumed by darkness, this posed little trouble for Gizmo’s sensors. It slowly scanned the concourse and found no humans operating outside—the way was clear. Yet by crossing over to the ship, the droid would be exposing itself to both motion detection and a multitude of external camera feeds. But it had no other option. It calculated there was no point in trying to hide or dodge; it would be better to just go for it.
Gizmo broke cover and raced across the concourse as fast as its tracked wheels would allow, leaving a trail of fine dust in its wake. It reached the rear loading door of the craft just as it sensed an airlock door opening in the side of the main facility. Two humans in full EVA suits emerged and started running toward the droid.
Gizmo estimated their distance and speed and calculated it had three point two seconds before it was in range of their weapons. It jacked into the external loading bay data port and immediately began lowering the rear ramp. But time was of the essence, so it didn’t wait for the ramp to fully open. Instead it reached up, extending its right arm, grabbed the lip, and pulled itself up and into the shuttle cargo hold. The droid took a micro-second to reorient itself and locate the internal ramp control panel. It raced over and flipped the lever to close it. As the ramp began to rise up again, Gizmo sensed a human hand grab the lip of the ramp, but let go again as the door finally shut.
The droid spun around and raced for the flight deck. It had only narrowly avoided direct confrontation, and there were still plenty of ways they could prevent it from lifting off. It needed to hurry.
It jacked into the control interface in the flight deck and activated the shuttle’s systems. The cockpit lit up like a pinball machine, monitors flickered to life, and the ship rumbled as the engines powered up.
It could now sense several more humans converging on the craft via the ship’s external camera feeds. One hefted a high-powered plasma weapon onto his shoulder just as the ship lifted off from the pad. It rose vertically for a few seconds before a blast streaked past the hull, just forward of the right-hand side engine.
The power flickered and flight control went dead for a micro-second before Gizmo coaxed it back to life. The craft bucked and shook as Gizmo applied full power to the lift engines. The ship rose up at speed, spinning around as it did to face in the direction of Jezero City. Gizmo now redirected all power to the main engine, and the craft accelerated away across the barren Plains of Utopia.
20
A Friend in Need
Mia awoke to the ping of an alert for the entrance door of her accommodation module in the MLOD HQ in Jezero. She glanced at the clock. 4:47 am. Who the hell is calling at this time? she thought as she sat up and rubbed a hand over her face. With a tired sigh, she reached over and tapped an icon on the monitor on her bedside locker, activating the front door camera feed.
It was a service droid. A delivery? At this time? Mia was about to switch off the monitor and go back to sleep when something triggered in her memory. She wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but there was something familiar about this droid. She considered it for a moment, as much as her tired brain would allow, then tapped the intercom. “Go away. It’s the middle of the night.”
“Mia, it is I, Gizmo.”
Mia sat bolt upright and studied the image on the m
onitor more closely this time. The droid turned to face the camera and waved.
“Oh my god, Gizmo. What—? How—?” But there were too many questions running through her sleep-fogged brain, each one stumbling over the other as they tried to become vocalized. She gave up, hit the entry button, and rolled out of the bed nook just as Gizmo rolled into her accommodation module.
It looked different than how she remembered it from the last time she saw it at the museum. Apart from the fact that it no longer had a gaping hole in its breastplate, it looked more elegant, more sophisticated.
Gizmo raised an arm. “Greetings, Mia. I see you have suffered some structural damage in my absence.”
Mia reflexively glanced at the bandage around her shoulder. “Oh, yeah. It’s nothing really, just an argument I got into with some Xenonists.”
“I too have had my own troubles with these people.”
Mia raised an eyebrow, then gave the droid a considered look. “You’d better tell me all. But first I really need a coffee.”
For the next ten minutes, Mia stood dumbfounded at the small kitchen counter in her accommodation module—sipping strong coffee, trying to wake up—as Gizmo gave her a rundown on how it came to be no longer an exhibit in the science museum, its travels to the Xenonist enclave with Malbec and Langthorp, their discovery of the cloning labs, subsequent capture, and Gizmo’s extraordinary escape.
“I brought the shuttle in to land just outside the crater wall, over to the south, and made the rest of the journey under my own power. I assumed the Xenonists would have sent word ahead, and be waiting to ambush me if I landed the craft within Jezero.
“I then entered the city via the manual airlock in the old industrial sector, that way I could pass inside undetected. However, when I attempted to interface with the data layer within the colony comms systems, I discovered that I have been locked out—I cannot send the data.
Plains of Utopia: Colony Six Mars Page 10