“Next phase?”
“Sir, the MLOD shuttles have landed and are deploying troops.”
The image on the holo-table shifted to an external camera feed. Jann could see the rear ramps of the craft lowering and groups of well-armed MLOD security personnel being deployed, fanning out across the landing pad.
“They’re contacting us, sir.”
“Put it up on screen.”
A 3D head-and-shoulders image of an MLOD captain blossomed above the holo-table. “This is Captain Nina Aby. We have reason to believe you are holding Dr. Jann Malbec, Nills Langthorp, and Xenon Hybrid against their will and that you are conducting illicit cloning operations within this facility. You are required to hand them over and allow us free and unrestricted access to your facility. Failure to comply will result in forced entry and unnecessary violence. I’m sure you would wish to avoid that. You have one hour.”
“And so it begins.” Argon extinguished the comms connection, and the image flickered off. He turned to Jann. “Now it’s time for you to record your message.” He leaned in close to her. “And make sure it’s persuasive.”
Jann glared at him for a moment. “Go screw yourself.”
Argon sighed. “I see. Well, I’m disappointed. Let me remind you that failure to comply will render your existence, and Langthorp’s, somewhat pointless. You will both be recycled.”
Jann held his gaze for a moment. “You need to end this, Argon. You need to let us go. You must realize this is a fight you can’t win.”
He stepped back and seemed to be considering something. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong, Dr. Malbec.” He turned his back to her and gazed out across the barren Martian surface. “I believe your last question, before we were interrupted, was concerning the next phase. So, let me explain the reality to you. It was a humble bacterium that altered your DNA, Dr. Malbec, back in the early days of the colony. And we considered that a similar bacterium might provide us with an elegant solution to our problem. Therefore, we engineered a pathogen, fatal to all those infected whose DNA does not match a specific profile. In other words, it will eradicate all human life from the face of Mars that has no right to be here.”
Jann felt as if the ground had just opened up underneath her and she was now entering a parallel universe, a sinister dimension where all humanity and morality held no sway. “You’re not seriously considering the mass murder of thousands of innocent people?”
“This is a purge, a cleansing. There is no room for sentimentality.”
“You need to stop this now. You need to think about what you’re doing.”
“It’s too late, it’s already in progress. Granted, your droid alerting the MLOD in Jezero City meant we needed to amend our plans. But soon, a pathogen will be released into the internal atmosphere in Jezero. It has a three-sol incubation period, so will have time to travel to all points of human population on Mars. From Jezero to Syrtis to Elysium, to the research stations and outposts. It is fatal to all who are not purebred, there is no escape, and no human from Earth will be able to set foot on Mars again. In this way, we will reclaim the planet.”
“You have lost your goddamn mind, Argon,” Jann almost shouted.
“Hmmm…I now see that I was naive in my thinking you could be enlightened. You are like Xenon, visionary only to the point where hard decisions need to be made.” He waved a hand in the air. “Our conversation is over. You will be returned to your accommodation while I decide when you are to be recycled.” He turned and gave her a cold, hard look. “Then again, maybe it would be better for you to live and witness this new world we are creating. You will, of course, not be affected by the pathogen. You are one of us, after all. Whether you like it or not.”
22
Network Node
When Jann returned to the room that constituted their prison cell, her sense of foreboding and helplessness was mitigated by the sight of Nills. He was now upright and alert.
“Nills…you’re back,” she exclaimed, and rushed to embrace him.
“Ow…easy.” He gave her a grin as they disentangled. “So, what did Argon want?” His face turned serious.
Jann wasted no time in relaying all that Argon had revealed to her, his manic plans, and his demands that she help him.
“That’s…insane,” Nills said as he paced around the room. It seemed as if he had built up a reserve of energy while unconscious, and now that he had been rejuvenated, he needed to expend it somehow.
“It comes as no surprise to me that this is the end game,” Xenon offered. He sat cross-legged on a low bed and was the picture of calm, in total contrast to Nills.
“For a long time, I wondered why they were creating so many clones,” he said. “All they needed to satisfy the Earth-based corporation that was funding this was one or two as proof of concept. Then they could have taken this proven technology back to Earth. But I could see that Argon and his followers were creating dozens of full-grown humans. I had struggled to understand why—now I know. All to create this new, enhanced civilization on Mars.”
“We have to stop him,” said Nills. “Whatever it takes.”
“How?” Jann sounded genuinely desperate. “We’re locked up tight in here, and even if we could get out, what can we do against an army of fanatics?”
Nills stopped his pacing. “Getting out is not a problem.”
Jann looked at him with a certain skepticism. “Really?”
“Yes, I had a look at the lock. Old-school tech, easy to bypass, shouldn’t be a problem.”
“And then what?” said Jann, skeptically.
“We need a way to contact Jezero, warn them of what’s about to happen,” Xenon said as he unfolded himself and stood up. Jann could sense he was beginning to get his mojo back.
“Contacting Jezero could be tricky.” Nills started pacing again, then suddenly stopped. “You said the MLOD captain contacted the enclave?”
“Yes,” said Jann. “Just a one-way holo-message, an ultimatum. But Argon gave no reply.”
“Doesn’t matter, there will be a log of it.” Nills paused for a moment as if considering something. “Apart from the bio-labs,” he continued, “the tech here is archaic. They don’t have an AI, they don’t even use droids, and the comms setup is very…rudimentary.” He stopped pacing and looked from one to the other. “They use a network of nodes throughout the facility that connects all personnel services. Those nodes then transmit back to a base station that manages the traffic. All we need to do is find one of those nodes, and we have a good chance of establishing a comms connection. It may even be possible to trace the log file for the captain’s message, and we’ll have a way to contact her directly.”
“So where do we find one of these…nodes?” Jann still wasn’t convinced.
“I know where they are,” said Xenon. “There’s one close by, in the control room for the main bio-lab. It’s not far from here, on the same level as this.”
“Okay,” Jann finally said after a beat. “It’s as good a plan as any. I have no idea when they’re going to release the pathogen, but it’s soon. So, time is critical.”
“Then let’s go.” Nills moved over to the entrance door and started taking apart the control panel with a tool he had fashioned from a small scrap of metal. This was followed by a period of prodding and poking, and a moment of head-scratching, before they heard the locking bolt thump open. Nills stood back from the panel with a wide grin on his face. “Okay Xenon, lead the way. Let’s find that communication node.”
The main cloning cavern was still dark when they entered, with just the faint greenish glow from the tanks to illuminate their path. Xenon went ahead and seemed familiar with the route he was taking them. Jann listened intently for any sound that might indicate the presence of other people. But it was eerily quiet, except for the gentle background hum of machines and the gurgle of some pump or other.
Nills also noticed the silence. “Where is everybody?” he whispered. “I was expecting there to be so
me workers here?”
“They’ve probably been redeployed to the main facility entry points, preparing to repel the assault from the MLOD,” Jann replied, in an equally hushed tone.
By now, Xenon had shepherded them across the center of the cavern, then he halted and pointed ahead. “That’s the control room.”
Jann poked her head out from behind a tank and could see a window that ran along the far wall for around five meters. Through it could be seen an area populated with workstations and equipment. It was dimly lit, and Jann could only make out one person.
“I see someone moving around in there. But there may be more. How do we want to do this?” She turned back to the others.
“Leave it to me,” Xenon said as he raised his hood over his head and boldly walked toward the access doorway.
“What’s he doing?” said Nills, a little concerned.
Jann didn’t reply. Instead, they both watched from behind the shelter of a cloning tank as Xenon casually strolled into the control room and seemed to strike up a conversation with the tech working in there.
“They think he’s Argon,” Jann whispered.
“Of course,” said Nills. “I keep forgetting they’re both identical.”
Another tech came out from the depths of the room and joined the first one.
“There’s two of them,” he whispered.
Suddenly, Xenon struck one of them in the throat, and he dropped to the floor clutching his neck. The second tech was so shocked he didn’t have time to respond before he too was struck down. For a moment, Xenon stood over the collapsed figures, then hunkered down out of sight.
“What’s he doing?”
Nills’s question was answered when Xenon stood up again holding two plasma pistols. He moved over to the window and motioned to them to come in. Jann and Nills both broke cover and dashed across the tank room.
“Here, take these,” Xenon said as they entered. “I don’t want them.” He handed Jann the weapons, then gestured at the fallen bodies. “Help me tie these guys up, before they regain consciousness.”
Jann helped Xenon bind and gag the two hapless techs while Nills scoured the area, looking for the communications node. He found it exactly where Xenon said it would be, located in an innocuous stack of servers sectioned off in two locked cabinets with transparent doors. He jimmied one of the doors open and slid out a metal drawer revealing a headset, an interface, and a basic 2D screen that popped up when the drawer was fully extended. Jann and Xenon joined him when they had finished with the techs.
“Will it work?” Jann leaned in to look at the setup.
“Give me a minute.” Nills booted up the interface, and the screen filled with data schematics. “Good, good,” he muttered to himself. “This just might work,” he said again as his fingers danced over the interface. The data on screen seemed to explode into a myriad of icons and options.
“You hear that?” Xenon cocked his head slightly, straining to listen. “A voice, someone calling.”
They froze, remained very still for a beat, and sure enough Jann could hear it, coming from the entrance to the control room.
She whispered to Nills. “You keep working, we’ll go deal with this.” She looked at Xenon, who nodded back.
Nills reached into his belt, pulled out the plasma pistol, and offered it to Xenon. “Here, you might need this.”
“No.” He raised a palm. “I think I can manage without one.”
“Just set it to stun if you don’t want to kill anyone,” Nills suggested.
“I know, but I prefer to take a more subtle approach.”
Nills nodded and shoved the pistol back in his belt.
Jann, however, had no such qualms. She pulled out the weapon, checked it was ready for action, and held it concealed behind her back. Xenon led the way, striding forward as if he owned the place. Which, in a way, he did.
They met a well-armed Xenonist guard face on, just inside the entrance door. He’d been calling out for one of the techs, but when he saw Xenon, he stopped dead in his tracks with a look of both awe and confusion.
“Eh, I’m very sorry to have bothered you, Master Argon. I didn’t realize you were here,” he said, with visible deference.
“That’s okay,” Xenon said in a smooth, calming tone as he strode froward, coming up close to the guard before striking him in the throat with the side of his hand. He dropped like a wet towel.
“You must teach me that some time, Xenon,” said Jann.
“With pleasure.” He knelt beside the fallen guard and started relieving him of his weapons. They tied him up and stashed him in the same storage room with the others. By the time Jann got back to Nills, he was deep into studying lines of code.
“Any joy?” she said as she approached.
Nills pointed at the screen. “Found it. That’s the log entry for Capt. Aby’s comm. I think we’re ready to give this a try.” He glanced up at her. “Any trouble back there?”
“Nothing Xenon couldn’t handle with his throat chop. But I think that guard was looking for the one of the techs, so there could be more soon if they can’t contact any.”
Nills slotted in an earpiece and tapped an icon on the interface. “Here goes.” He raised a thumb to Jann. “Captain Aby, this is Nills Langthorp. Are you receiving me?”
There was a pause before Nills jerked his head to look at Jann and give her the thumbs-up.
“Yes... We’re still alive. Yes, Malbec and Xenon. Hold on… I’m handing you over to Dr. Malbec now.” He removed the earpiece and handed it to her. “It’s best you speak to her, but be quick.”
She slotted it into her ear. “Aby?”
“Dr. Malbec, good to hear your voice. You had us worried. Can you give me an update on the situation in there?”
“There’s probably over a hundred well-armed Xenonists here, just ready and waiting for you to stage an assault on the facility. You’re totally outnumbered.”
“I see, appreciate the intel. Any way for you to get out?”
“Negative. But that’s a minor issue now, because there’s a more sinister threat coming. You need to listen to me very carefully, because we don’t have much time. They’re planning to release a pathogen in Jezero City. It’s fatal to all but those with altered DNA. Only the original colonists, and the Xenonists, are immune.”
“Holy shit, that’s like ninety percent of the population.”
“Yes, it’s insane. They want to return Mars to the founders, or some such bullshit. You need to get this to MLOD HQ right now, maybe they have a chance to find it.”
“Do you know where or when?”
“No, all I know is it’s airborne and it’s soon.”
“Okay, relaying your message now. Can you stay connected?”
“No, we’re exposed here, got to move. We may get another chance later. Forget about us—and don’t try to storm the facility, just concentrate on finding that pathogen site.”
“Acknowledged.”
Jann took out the earpiece and handed it back to Nills. “Well, we’ve done all we can. Now it’s in the lap of the gods.”
23
Atmosphere Processing
With the MLOD HQ in Jezero beginning to fill up with people arrested during the raid on the clearing house, Stanton decided it was time for Mia to vacate and return to the hotel. The threat to her life had passed, and HQ was going to get very busy processing and interrogating the influx of Xenonists. There was nothing more for her, or Gizmo, to do here. They would just be getting in the way.
Mia considered objecting, seeing as how there was still no word back from the enclave, no update on whether Jann and Nills were still alive. But Stanton assured her that he would keep her informed. So Mia packed up her bag, and with Gizmo in tow, headed back to the hotel.
The front facade had been repaired, leaving nothing to indicate that a shoot-out had occurred here only a few sols ago. Seeing it brought Zack back into her mind. I should really go and see him again, she thought. See ho
w he’s doing. She heard that he was out of danger now, so that was something, at least. Yet she was not sure if he was conscious or still in an induced coma. Mia decided to get settled back into the hotel first, and then she would visit him.
“Ah…Envoy Sorelli, you have returned.” A sleek lobby droid shuffled up in front of her. “I see you have brought your own droid with you. Does this mean that you are dissatisfied with the standard of droid provided by our humble establishment?”
“No, it’s a long story. Now if you don’t mind...” Mia dodged the lobby droid and headed for the elevator.
“If I may,” the droid call after her. “Unfortunately, I must inform you that your suite is no longer available.”
Mia stopped, turned around, and stared at it for second. “Well, just give me a different one.”
“Again, I regret to inform you that this will not be possible.”
Mia moved a few paces to face it. “Why the hell not?”
“A small matter of an outstanding bill…for damages.”
“What? Not my problem, buddy.” She poked an angry finger at it. “Take it up with your insurance or the MLOD.”
“We have, but I am afraid the situation remains unresolved.”
Plains of Utopia: Colony Six Mars Page 12