Mars Nation: The Complete Trilogy

by Brandon Q Morris

  She took her seat on the driver’s side. The remote-control program for the loader was up on the screen in front of her. They had done dry runs for this next part, but they hadn’t moved the heavy vehicle from its spot. Ewa had to rotate it ninety degrees, and the vehicle responded with great precision. Ewa silently thanked the engineers who had designed it.

  Now she had to steer the loader backward through the outside opening. She checked the camera feed. The hatch wasn’t completely open. The right door was still hanging on its hinges, at least on the bottom ones. Ewa hoped the loader was powerful enough to push it aside. She was about to put the loader in reverse when something thumped on the cab. It was the robot’s arm. Ewa flinched. No, don’t let yourself be distracted, she thought. Make the loader roll backwards!

  It worked. The heavy vehicle rolled toward the outer hatch. It crashed into the right door, freeing the panel from its last mounting and sending it in seeming silence onto the ground. The loader was next in line. The scoop rose into the air as it tipped backward. Centimeter by centimeter, Ewa steered it into the chasm that was a good five meters deep. It plummeted. Like a shadow, it vanished from her line of sight.

  The robotic arm right over her now began to hammer on the cab of the still-parked drill. The ship’s comp had rightly identified Ewa as the cause of the disaster and was attempting to stop her. It couldn’t be allowed to do that. She wasn’t sure if the plan with the loader had worked. Had the vehicle crashed? She would have to play it by ear.

  Ewa switched the monitor to the drill in which she was sitting. How large might its turning radius be? The drill was parked in the hangar in such a way that she also needed to turn it ninety degrees. That had to be possible, as otherwise they couldn’t have gotten it on this ship in the first place! It had to work.

  Ewa pressed the accelerator gingerly. The comp reported an obstacle in her path, meaning the robot. She dismissed the warning and was about to celebrate her good fortune when the machine shifted to the side at the last second. Shit. That was probably a sign that she should speed things up.

  The robot started to flail at the cab like crazy. The cab’s material wouldn’t be able to take this for long. It was intended to provide its passengers a space with normal air pressure, and to possibly withstand the impact of a micro-meteor. It wasn’t, however, meant to stand up against a targeted attack. Ewa saw several cracks forming already, but her rescue, the external hatch, was still a few meters away.

  The center section of the cab’s roof suddenly broke completely. Ewa watched as the robot’s fist smashed through it and nailed the passenger seat mounted right behind hers. The seat collapsed into its individual components. Three meters still! What could she do? The robot wasn’t going to stop, and she wasn’t any match for the metal giant. Maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea, she thought. They would carve ‘She kept trying’ on her gravestone.

  She then felt herself stand up, like she was in a trance. It wasn’t Ewa who was in command. She wanted to fight back, since she could guess who was calling the shots right now. But maybe it was actually better like this, just this once. Her hand darted into her tool bag and pulled out the taser. Is this really the right moment for this? she wondered. But then she realized what that thing in her head was doing.

  Ewa shifted underneath the broken part of the cab’s dome, aimed the taser at the robot, and fired. She then jumped back into her seat. She was herself again. Ewa watched as the robot slid awkwardly onto the hangar floor. The threat seemed to be averted.

  She needed to concentrate on the hatch. At that very moment, the first pair of tires rolled off the hangar floor. The tires spun in the air before automatically stopping. However, the other nine axles continued to push from the rear. Ewa risked a glance downward. The loader was apparently where they had wanted it to be. It would function as a crude staircase they could use to rumble their way to the ground.

  The front part of the drill was still dangling in the air. When half of it was in the air, it began to tilt. The horizon suddenly shot upward. Ewa had to hold on. She was being rattled hard, like when the Santa Maria’s landing module had set down. But this time she only needed to survive a five-meter plunge. Ewa screamed as a way to release stress. Nobody was there, after all.

  She made it! The drill bounced up and down in Mars’s low gravitational field, as if its tires were made of solid rubber. It was spectacular.

  Ewa felt her fear fall away. She had almost snuffed it during this theft, but for the first time in many months, she was once again having something like a good time.

  6/19/2042, Spaceliner 1

  “The new administrator is making me worried.”

  Rick sat up. That was Jean Warren’s voice. What was the ship’s captain doing in that cabin? He looked up the cabin’s occupant on his personnel list. Chad Bader, 38, senior NASA astronaut, who had left the organization in disgrace. There were no laudatory comments from his former employer, which meant that his departure probably had something to do with disciplinary problems. They had likely urged him to leave. He had been hired to serve on Spaceliner 1 because of his excellent driving skills. On Mars, he would be in charge of organizing the transport system within the colony.

  “A big mouth,” Chad said, “with nothing behind it. I don’t understand why in the world the Senator put him in that position.”

  “Maybe they’re involved. They say the Senator’s gay.” A second man. Rick wondered where he had heard that voice. It sounded familiar to him, but he couldn’t place it.

  “Ballantine? Doesn’t he have a wife and kids?” Jean asked.

  “Those are just rumors. He sues the hell out of anyone who spreads them,” the stranger said. “His family is supposed to be very conservative. And it’s the family’s money, not his.”

  “To each his own. But promoting Summers, of all people...,” Chad said.

  “I have to admit that I fear the worst,” Jean said, “which is why I wanted to meet with the two of you. Our lives, our future, depend on this man. We have to initiate countermeasures right away. Isaac, what is the mood in the scientific division.”

  Isaac... McQuillen. That was the other guy. Rick pulled his file up on his screen while he listened to the conversation. McQuillen, another former NASA man who had supervised several robotic missions for NASA. Those former NASA folks stuck together through thick and thin. As a biologist, McQuillen was supposed to kick-start the food production on Mars.

  “Mixed,” Isaac replied. “Tetsu’s attitude is, ‘Do whatever the boss says.’ The majority of people stand behind him on this. Summers hasn’t made any major missteps yet. Most of them don’t care how he got to where he is.”

  “But they should be interested,” the captain said.

  “I agree,” Chad replied.

  “But at the moment, there’s really not much that we can do,” Isaac said.

  “That’s true. But if anything happens, can I count on you both?”

  “Of course,” Isaac answered.

  “Me, too,” Chad said.

  “Thanks, guys. I just wanted to hear that from you directly.”

  It grew quiet, and then Rick heard the sound of a shutting door. He stopped the playback. The conversation had occurred last night. Every morning, he chose a couple of random samples to listen to as a gauge of his subordinates’ mood. This was pay dirt. Jean Warren, the captain, was scheming against him. He could understand that on a personal level, since his appointment reduced her responsibilities and influence. She had taken an eminently sensible step in gathering loyal allies around her. It was just as clear that he had to do something about this.

  Rick looked at the clock. His first meeting was scheduled for nine o’clock. He had an hour. He already had an idea about how he could get Jean Warren out of the way. He called up the duty rosters first. As he expected, she had been on duty yesterday on the flight deck. That was a dull, lonely job because nothing ever happened. It could easily leave you wanting to devote your time to something else. As th
e administrator, Rick had access to Jane’s account. He logged in under her name, made a tiny change, logged back out, and then altered the logbook, all via his administrator privileges. To anyone without his access privileges, it would look like Jean had made the change herself while on duty.

  Satisfied, Rick closed the log again. His part of the plan was in place. The universe was in charge of the rest of it. Rick was really excited. He loved making plans like this one. He was sure that it would function as intended.

  He just didn’t know when that would be.

  After his nap, his assistant buzzed him. He still couldn’t remember her name, but didn’t want to annoy her by asking what it was. Was his plan already paying off? No, it would make a major splash when it hit home.

  “You have a message from Mars,” she said.

  Ah, the other plan. Rick was almost sure that he had received a positive response. “Who’s it from?”

  “Mars for Everyone.”

  “Ah, the crazies. Thank you.”

  He was a little disappointed. MfE was a mishmash of amateurs who didn’t have a chance against professionals like them or the four NASA people. But it wouldn’t hurt anything to have a mole there. After his computer confirmed the arrival of the message, he opened it.

  The message didn’t contain video, just audio footage. With growing excitement, Rick listened to the message—three times. He was stoked by his knowledge of human nature. Drizzling poison directly into their minds had worked perfectly. The woman who had contacted him wanted to apply for the position as his representative, his Number 1. Rick was sure that other applications would soon come in. He wouldn’t turn down any of them. After all, one could never have too many spies.

  Sol 81, Mars surface

  After the adventure yesterday, they had decided to spend the night close to the ship. Thirty minutes after the explosion, the ship’s alarms stopped blaring. The security robot hadn’t appeared again. Ewa ran a technical check on both the drill and the loader, and found that the drill’s cab couldn’t be repaired. However, the loader was undamaged—and was exactly the same size. Ewa had spent the night comfortably in it, but now she was ready to change her location.

  Ewa woke up as the sun rose, but she didn’t get up right away. Instead, she thought about Friday. That thing in her head had probably saved her life, considering that he had rendered the robot harmless. But he had also broken his promise to never take control without being asked. Could Ewa have stopped what had happened? She wasn’t sure. It wouldn’t have been a good idea at the time. Incidentally, Friday had also managed to reduce her supply of taser ammunition to one. The projectile she had loaded four days ago had been consumed when she fired it. What did Friday really want? Should she believe his claim that he had a survival instinct? Or was this ultimately about resuming his original mission to cause the entire project to fail?

  And who were his handlers? The thing in her head had made a few bizarre hints without providing concrete information. Ewa felt a little like a remote-controlled bomb that could go sky high at any moment. Who was holding the detonator? She reached for the taser, which had been returned to her tool bag. Was it perhaps the right moment to snuff out Friday’s life? She aimed her pointer finger at her chest and said “bang” loudly. No, it didn’t feel like the right thing to do. She didn’t know if it would ever feel right. Hadn’t she forfeited the right to make decisions about other people’s lives? If only she knew more about Friday. Was there something more to him than a well-developed killer algorithm?

  Ewa stood up from her cot and sat down in the driver’s seat. Most of the supplies were still in the drill. Her breakfast of rice cakes accompanied by orange juice out of a package was quite spartan. A deliciously fragrant, freshly brewed cup of coffee—that would be perfect right about now!

  She swallowed the last bite of rice cake and pulled on her clothes from yesterday. The spacesuit was up next. It no longer smelled quite so fresh. People are so easy to spoil! Yesterday, she had been thrilled that the suit had never been used, but today the faint smell already bothered her.

  The cab that had protected her from the pressure loss was attached to its vehicle from the inside and the outside. It was composed of two parts, floor and ceiling. On Earth, Ewa alone wouldn’t have been able to transport the dome at its weight of one hundred eighty kilograms, but here with the help of her suit’s integrated exoskeleton, it shouldn’t be a problem. She first needed to unfasten the roof’s interior anchors. The clamps were located under the edges of the upper wall tiles, which she had to remove with a screwdriver. She really enjoyed her task since she had never had so much strength in her arms. She should have taken more than the three extra suits from the ship!

  Done! Ewa turned around. She was sorry to have to leave the loader sitting here. All the things they could have done with it! And it had obviously withstood the weight of the drill without a problem. The fact that the drill’s mass was distributed over ten axles probably helped with that. Ewa weighed her options. She really didn’t have the desire or the drive to spend another span of weeks in her spacesuit. Therefore, she needed the loader’s cab since the one on the drill had been destroyed by the robot.

  Suddenly, she realized something. Ewa slapped her forehead, but only struck her helmet. Yesterday she hadn’t driven the loader from its own cab! She could bring the vehicle along using the remote control. Why hadn’t she thought of that before? She could kill two birds with one stone. Was it even worth the effort to trade out the cabs? Yes, because otherwise she would have to haul the supplies already stored on the drill over here. It would be easier to just swap out the cab roofs.

  Ewa returned to the driver’s seat and switched the loader over to remote control status. She then depressurized the cab and opened the hatch. The roof was also attached on the outside. She still had to release eight clamps before she could carry the structure over to the drill. She climbed all over the cab area. Even from up here, the giant scoop was impressive.

  Just imagine all the things the MfE project could achieve with this machine! They had originally planned to build a dome that would have been supported by its own internal air pressure. However, they had given up on the idea already in the planning stage because of the enormous amount of soil they would have needed to move.

  Ewa loosened the clasps and looked around. There was more dust in the air today than there had been yesterday, but it was still bright enough. She reached for the cab roof and jiggled it. The structure moved. Ewa could feel how the artificial arm muscles were helping her. It felt as if a big brother were reaching under her arms from behind. Or Theo. She realized that she missed him. That was the precise reason she had been glad when he had started to grow closer to Rebecca. She would be a threat to everyone as long as that thing was stuck inside her head. If only she had known earlier!

  She carefully placed the cab roof into the scoop. She kept one hand on it to provide balance as she descended from the vehicle to the ground. Picking it back up with both hands, she carried the structure across the ten meters to the drill. Despite the suit’s motor support, she started sweating. How long would the exoskeleton last? She probably should have consulted the spacesuit’s handbook.

  “Where’s the best place to put this thing?”

  She was now starting her monologues again. Since coming to know that Friday was sitting in her brain, she hadn’t felt as truly alone as she had before. But she still longed to see actual humans again. No, she realized, she missed one thing more than anything else. She wanted to be hugged, quite innocently, like a small child. She wanted to be wrapped in the warmth of another person. What was wrong with her? Was she becoming sentimental now, too?

  She set the loader’s roof down on the ground. Before she could mount it, she had to first remove the damaged one from the drill’s cab. She climbed up the ladder onto the drill. It had really been quite smart of the engineers to use a modular building system on these machines. From her elevated position, her gaze fell on the wheel assemb
lies. They looked as if they were also interchangeable with the ones on the loader.

  Ten minutes later, she shoved the damaged roof off the other side of the vehicle. She waited for the splintering crash, but then recalled that the atmosphere was much too thin for that. She climbed back down and fetched the new roof. It fit perfectly. All she had to do was to fasten it from the inside and the outside.

  And now she was finally ready to go. Ewa closed the hatch behind her and let the life support system fill the cab with breathable air. When her suit signaled that there was enough pressure inside, she opened her helmet. The fresh air smelled as if a downpour had just passed through. Rain—she would never experience that again. But she would never forget the exhilarating air left in the wake of a storm.

  She punched the approximate coordinates of the NASA base into the drill’s computer. She didn’t know the exact position, but when she got close enough, she could locate the station with her radio. The thought of meeting the NASA crew made her anxious. Of course, none of those astronauts were on her conscience, but it had been on her orders that MfE had stolen the NASA spaceship, the Endeavour. Were the MfE and NASA bases collaborating again? Ewa hoped that her sacrifice might have helped that happen.

  The computer delivered its initial prognosis. It would take twenty-one sols to cover the distance. Her last uncertainty vanished as the computer presented the range of all its resources. Friday had claimed that the drill could easily manage the distance, but the computer now provided specifics. She had enough energy for twice that distance and enough breathable air for sixty days. The methane-propelled engine would produce water all on its own. Ewa had heard that the Spaceliner project had relied completely on methane technology because it could be easily obtained from Mars’s atmosphere.