Red Dust of Mars

by Christopher Wills

If Brains gets out of this alive, she’s going to be on duty for so long she’ll have forgotten what a day off is by the time she’s finished.

  Jethro continued cursing under his breath as he ducked into the porch of the Library building.

  He checked his gun. Shit. Not much charge left. Even if he could get a shot at the spiderbot he might not down it. Bloody Brains.

  The spiderbot appeared around the corner. It stopped when it saw Brains on the ground.

  Shit, shit shit. I knew it was a stupid plan.

  Jethro jumped out from cover and shouted at the spiderbot, capturing its attention.

  “What are you doing Jethro?” demanded Doc.

  “Getting myself bloody well killed,” Jethro muttered under his breath.

  chapter 27

  The News

  Ted: “Last week we showed you how to cook a Squid steak. Have you tried it yet Alice?

  Alice: “Yes Ted. It was lovely and the price of Humboldt Squid is coming down as more and more are caught.”

  Ted: “I see you got your tongue back Alice.”

  Alice: “Sorry Ted. I don’t follow.”

  Ted: “You said lovely, not rovery Alice.”

  Alice: “You’re funny Ted. You should have taken up comedy. Did you try the Squid at home?”

  Ted: “Thanks Alice. My partner is getting sick of having Humboldt Squid.”

  Alice: “Well they say Humboldt steak is the new T-bone.”

  Ted: “I’m not sure about that Alice.”

  Alice: “Times change Ted. Anyway, thanks Ted. So that was World News for today. Remember people, unlike other news channels we deal in facts. We don’t make this up.”

  chapter 28

  Jethro fired at the spiderbot in the face knowing there would be little effect but hoping it would draw attention away from Brains lying on the ground.

  It did.

  The spiderbot fired back, just missing Jethro as he dived out of the way.

  The spiderbot rushed towards Jethro who was now lying on the ground. It reached him and stood over him. Jethro could see through the protective glass visor the face of the Squid controlling the Spiderbot. What was it thinking? Could it think?

  Jethro could hear something in his head. A clicking sound. Not Morse code. It was random clicking. It was as if something trying to get inside his head. It wasn’t a thing but a thought and it wasn’t one of Jethro’s thoughts.

  What the fuck? I’m being hacked.

  The robot raised its arm to point the laser at Jethro but Jethro beat the robot to the draw and had his gun aimed at the visor not that it would do any good. He squeezed the trigger but nothing happened. He was out of charge.

  Fuck. I love you Mum and Dad.

  He closed his eyes and heard laser.

  It didn’t hurt. Why didn’t it hurt? Maybe it doesn’t hurt when you die. That’s probably right because once dead you’re not likely to be able to feel anything.

  He heard another sound. The sound of shouting.

  “Get out the way. Roll out of the way.”

  It was Doc.

  Is she dead as well? What is she shouting? Get out of the way. Why?

  Jethro opened his eyes to see the spiderbot ever so slowly falling towards him. Like a slow motion scene in a film.

  Oh fuck.

  Jethro rolled over to his right as many times as he could until he heard, but luckily didn’t feel, the spiderbot crash to the ground behind him.

  He was still alive. He made to kiss the Martian concrete ground through his breather mask.

  “Are you alright sir?”

  “Yes. Thanks. I’m good.”

  Maybe I won’t put you on duty for the rest of your life Brains. Only half of it.

  “And thank you Brains, good plan.”

  Doc rushed out from the porch. “You’re mad, both of you. Stark raving mad. If we weren’t being attacked by aliens, I’d have you both locked away in an asylum, where you can’t do any harm to yourselves or anybody else.”

  Jethro looked at Brains and they both smiled at each other. “You finished now Doc?”

  She shook her head. “To think the fate of the Human Race could rest in your hands. God help the Human Race is all I can say.”

  They heard firing from behind the Library building. “Come on that’s the rest of the team.” Jethro ran around the side of the building.

  All three spiderbots lay smouldering on the ground, but there were only three of the team standing. Jethro saw the remains of Heinmann on the ground.

  “She ran out to distract the spiderbots so we could get behind them,” said Gunny.

  “Bravest thing I ever saw,” said Walker.

  They walked over to her remains. Not much left to take back for the family. Jethro knelt by the remains and found her dog tags. He read out “Heinmann J, Private, 134307940.” He picked up her gun and saw that it was near full charge. He rifled through the pockets of the bit of her fatigues that remained and found a charred letter addressed to her parents. Nothing else.

  “Gunny, bag the remains. We’re taking her home with us.”

  “Aye aye sir,” said with reverence and not the usual enthusiastic gusto that Gunny answered most orders from Jethro.

  D minus two hours.

  They were at the Dome line, the edge of the city. The battle was going full steam ahead behind like some Heavy Metal band at a festival trying to keep the neighbouring towns and villages awake.

  Jethro told his team to gather around. This was the most difficult part of the job but one of his duties was to fulfil the spiritual needs of his team and he knew it might help some of the team.

  “Not the ideal time. Not the ideal place but I think it’s important to do this now.”

  He knew the rest of the team felt the same as they were hit by the death of Heinmann. Heinmann who? Jethro was ashamed to think that he had couldn’t remember her first name. Jane, Julie? No, more unusual than those but it did begin with a J. Josie. That’s it. Josie. Jethro was pleased he had remembered the name and resolved to memorise his troops first names at the earliest opportunity. Jethro recalled from his game playing days that knowing someone’s name is often said to be powerful magic and he wondered if there was anything in it.

  “Doc please join in if you wish.”

  Jethro reached into his space suit and pulled out a beaten up old Bible, New Testament only. It was given to him by the Padre at bootcamp whilst in officer training. Jethro had asked him, why as an officer he was going to be responsible for his team’s spiritual well-being and he wasn’t given a Bible or Quran. The Padre gave him a small Bible that he had passed down through his own family.

  Jethro didn’t open the Bible as he felt its presence was symbolic and he didn’t want to ruin the moment by having to look for something appropriate to read out. He made a mental note to find a passage later and insert a bookmark for quick reference. He had a feeling he might need it again.

  “I’m not going to say much. I want us all to think of Josie and remember something really nice about her. Personally, I remember her smile every day. Some days when I’d had a bad night’s sleep or when things weren’t going well, I only had to look at her and see her smile back at me and it made me feel all was good in the universe.”

  He paused. “Gunny?”

  “I remember how she was always positive, no matter what I told her to do.”

  “Brains?”

  “Her smile.”

  “Walker?”

  “She was always offering to help, even when she couldn’t do the task herself.”

  “Fraser?”

  “She had the most wonderful hug. Always worth a visit to her when you felt down.”

  “Thank you.” When we get back to the Blackbird, remember there is a reflection room if you need to use it.”

  “That was really nice Jethro.” Doc was streaming tears beneath her breather mask.

  “What are your plans?” Jethro asked Doc.

  “Go back to the Library and do my
job.”

  “But you’ll be killed.”

  “Possibly. Although, watching you do your job I’d bet my chances against yours.”

  Jethro smiled and offered his hand.

  “Stuff that soldier boy. Give me a hug.” She pulled Jethro toward her and gave him a real warm hug of the sort Mum would give, albeit space suit to space suit.

  She hugged the rest of the team also then turned to head back to the city.

  Back to the shit and hell that was war.

  chapter 29

  D minus one point five.

  The team ditched the white coats and the five of them, Jethro, Gunny, Walker, Brains and Fraser returned to Evacuation Point one and retrieved their hoverbikes.

  Jethro reminded the team to plug their weapons in to recharge them as they travelled back to the Blackbird. The hoverbikes were powered by a small fusion reactor which provided an unlimited supply of energy.

  There was plenty of time to get back to the Blackbird as long as they weren’t delayed.

  Jethro hated leaving Uruk. Doc said she would brief the Supreme Mars Commander on how to bring down the spiderbots and Jethro had told her about looking for Squids on infra-red. He and his team were blooded now and he felt they could make a major contribution to the defence of Uruk and maybe even Mars.

  But he had his orders to get back to Earth so they could prepare for an alien invasion. He had other duties to attend to also. He was dreading sending a communication to Josie’s parents. That was the shitty part of the job. But he would also write them a letter because he knew he could communicate much better in writing than verbally. He would discuss with Gunny whether she deserved a medal. No compensation for the parents and it would be meaningless now, but in years to come it might become a source of pride for them.

  He would have to write a report about Major Misere and his team for Earth also. They say rank has its privileges. But doing the admin concerning friends and colleagues after they have died is not a privilege.

  The rest of the team were in no mood for conversation on the ride back towards the Blackbird. At least they had time to get to the ship. Conrad could fly it back to Earth and then Jethro would spend days in admin dictating reports and being questioned whilst the preparation for the invasion could begin.

  Could the aliens be defeated? The aliens they had met to date could be killed but maybe there were others that were harder to kill. Maybe they would learn about the weak spot on their spiderbots in time to do something about it.

  Would the aliens be willing to talk peace? Do the aliens talk or do they communicate with their minds? Jethro tried to imagine the problems with trying to negotiate a peace treaty with a race of aliens that could read their minds. It was almost impossible to conceive. He knew an alien had tried unsuccessfully to get into his mind.

  They stopped because Gunny’s hoverbike was playing up. It had been stuttering and unable to keep pace with the others.

  D minus one.

  Still plenty of time. The map on the communicator told Jethro they could probably yomp across the sand and still make it back in time. He had a look at the hoverbike as nobody else in the team had much engineering knowledge apart from Brains.

  The fusion powerpack looked sound which was good because there was nothing Jethro could do if it wasn’t. He wished they still had Heinmann’s hoverbike so they could switch to that and continue. Not enough time to race back with Gunny doubling up to retrieve his hoverbike.

  There was power going to the drive box. Jethro took the cover off the drive box. Fairly simple drive with a motor at the heart of it producing the lift and thrust. The jets were all clear so the only thing left must be the motor itself. Jethro wished he was back at his farm in his barn converted to a garage. He had lifts and almost every power tool known. He also had a collection of old and refurbished motors and bits of motors. He could whip the motor out and replace it within fifteen minutes and make the hoverbike go faster than it originally did.

  But he was in the desert on Mars and all he had was a can of WD40 and a can of compressed air. He saw that the motor was looking crummy and dirty so he gave it a good spray with the compressed air first to get rid of a lot of the crud. Then he sprayed all the electrical contacts with WD40.

  “Start your engine Gunny.”

  Gunny started the engine and Jethro revved it a couple of times. Not perfect but better in that it wasn’t stuttering as much. Jethro resolved that he would personally do some maintenance on all the bikes himself if he couldn’t get them done by the maintenance crew.

  “It’ll have to do.”

  D minus forty five minutes.

  They resumed their journey, slower because they were closer. Jethro recognised the terrain and knew the Blackbird was over a couple more rises. He stopped the team.

  “Operational state Orange. Weapons to hand. I don’t want any surprises when we reach the ship.”

  Two in front, three behind, plenty of space between them they flew forward at a slow pace.

  Jethro didn’t want any surprises when he got to the ship but he got a big surprise when they crested the brow of the last hill.

  The Blackbird was not there. It had gone. Jethro checked his communicator.

  “We’re doomed,” Fraser said. “We’re doomed I tell you.”

  “Shut up Fraser or I’ll make sure you’ll be fucking doomed before the rest of us.”

  Thanks Gunny.

  D minus fifteen.

  “Gunny. Position and time check?”

  “Sir. We are at Alpha zero. Time is D minus fifteen.”

  “Thanks.”

  “What now sir. Back to Uruk?”

  Jethro was thinking. “Brains. Scan the area I want to know if anything happened here.”

  They set up a small defensive position. Brains rode up and down on a grid pattern scanning the ground for evidence. She reported back that the only evidence she could find was of the Blackbird taking off.

  “No battle or anything?”

  “No sir. Only the one we were involved in.”

  “You sure about this?”

  “Yes sir. It’s all in the heat signatures and the melted silica on the ground.”

  “Thanks Brains.”

  Why did the Blackbird leave without us?

  chapter 30

  The News

  Alice: “Today we have one of the world’s leading Cephalopodologists in the studio, Professor Carol Amari from the San Diego University of Marine Biology. Hello Professor.”

  Cal: “Please call me Cal, everyone else does.”

  Ted: “Thanks and hello Cal. So can you tell us some interesting facts about the Squid?”

  Cal: “Where shall I start? As you work in the media, you will be well aware of the phenomenon that is Squidgy Squid.”

  Alice: “No Cal, I’ve never heard of it.”

  Ted: “Nor me Cal. Please enlighten us.”

  Cal: “You’ve never heard of Squidgy Squid? Everyone under the age of ten follows Squidgy Squid’s adventures on the Mesh.”

  Alice: “We’re not under ten Cal.”

  Ted: “No. We’re not.”

  Cal: “Oh. OK. I won’t go down that road then. Did you know that Squid have only two tentacles?”

  Alice: “Surely they have more than that.”

  Cal: No. Here’s the interesting bit. Squid have only two tentacles but they have up to eight arms. Isn’t that amazing?”

  Ted: “Fascinating Cal…”

  Cal: “There’s more. The tentacles can extend in a fraction of a second so they are like a piece of plasticine where the volume remains the same and as the length is extended the diameter reduces. How about that?”

  Alice: “Amazing Cal…”

  Cal: “Shall I continue I have many more amazing facts to tell your listeners?”

  Ted: “Umm…”

  Alice: “Sorry to interrupt you there Ted but we’ve just had an important newsflash in.”

  Ted: “Oh that’s a shame because I really wanted
to hear more amazing facts about Squid. Didn’t you Alice?”

  Alice: “Yes Ted, Fascinating. Thanks Cal. We must have you back sometime.”

  Cal: “Thanks guys. I’ll look forward to coming back to reveal more fascinating Squid facts.”

  Ted: “Thanks for that Alice. I was just beginning to wonder how to end it all.”

  Alice: “Me too Ted, although my solution was going to be the fire alarm.”

  Ted: “So what was the important newsflash?”

  Alice: “What important newsflash?”

  Ted: “The one you announced to get rid of Professor Cal Amari.”

  Alice: “There wasn’t one Ted. That was my alternative to the fire alarm… Wait a minute. Did you say Cal Amari?”

  Ted: “Yes. Why?”

  Alice: “I get it now. That’s real funny. Ha ha ha.”

  Ted: “You’ll have to explain that one to me.”

  Alice: “Thanks Ted. So that was World News for today. Remember people, unlike other news channels we deal in facts. We don’t make this up.”

  chapter 31

  Now we’re in the shit.

  Jethro held a team meeting. He didn’t believe in keeping his troops in the dark. As far as he saw it, they had two options. Return to Uruk and help in the defence of the city or find a way to try and return to Earth. Opinions were divided.

  “If the Blackbird has gone to Earth, they’ll have the evidence they need about the aliens so we don’t need to go as well. We can go and help Uruk.”

  “But if the aliens have taken the Blackbird, Earth will be defenceless when they are attacked.”

  Jethro listened to both sides and both were positive contributions but the weaker argument was the get back to Earth argument. Where were they going to get a ship from? There was no way they could get one from Uruk. All ships would have been requisitioned for military use or for evacuation so there was no way they could get one there without stealing it and that might not be easy. And it wasn’t as if they could buy one or build one because a space ship is not likely to be the kind of thing lying around.

  Unless…

  “The Junkyard,” said Jethro.

  “Sir?”

  “Maddy mentioned there was a Junkyard to the west of here. They might have an old ship that we could use.”