The Formula

by Don Viecelli

  Jack entered the shuttle port and found the number 4 police shuttle. He opened the door, stepped inside and checked the equipment. Everything looked okay. Jack put on a thermal suit specifically designed for the outside environment. It was rugged, lightweight and included thermal insulation. It was -30 degrees centigrade outside and falling fast. He needed protection from the cold. Jack put his gun in a holster belt and attached a second holster with a small laser pulse gun. He checked his smartcom for the coordinates he needed and put the rest of his things in various side pockets. He stuffed the second suit and helmet into a backpack. He was ready to go.

  Jack climbed into his seat and turned on the engines. He checked the instrument panel and ran through the checklist. Then he used the radio to request permission to depart. The port door opened and he taxied outside. He punched in the coordinates to Ivan’s valley retreat and turned on the thrusters. He took off.

  The wind outside was howling. The storm was intensifying. The weather forecast called for wind gusts up to 100 kilometers per hour and zero visibility by midnight. Jack couldn’t see anything outside his cockpit windows. He glanced at the virtual flight screen projected in front of him. He could see every detail, but it was green in color. He let the autopilot system take control.

  Jack was not worried. He had flown police shuttles many times before in similar conditions. It was a fact of life on Mars. He couldn’t remember when anyone crashed in a dust storm due to poor visibility. He decided to call Sam and let him know he was on his way. He sent Sam his shuttle GPS locator code and let him monitor his progress via satellite. So far, so good.

  The flight was uneventful. In twenty minutes he was getting close to the mountain retreat. He was flying low over the canyon. He knew the valley floor was about six kilometers below him because he could see it on his screen. He had been to the bottom of the canyon twice before on local tours. It was an impressive place. There was nothing like it on Earth. He was just glad he would be to the other side in a few more minutes.

  The building he was looking for came into sight on his screen. It was a big place, at least three stories high. The top of the building was covered with a round dome. Next to the building was a landing pad with an enclosed hangar. It was attached to the house by a short walkway. The house was beautifully situated on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Valles Marineris. On a clear day, you could see over 80 kilometers along the canyon floor. On the flat Mars surface, the horizon only extended for 40 kilometers. The view to the west included three huge volcanoes, each about 25 kilometers high, situated along the Tharsis ridge. Ivan spent a lot of money to buy this place, thought Jack.

  Jack needed a place to land close by and not be seen or heard. Sometimes, in this business, a guy can get lucky. The dust storm was so bad it should make his approach unnoticeable by anyone looking outside the house windows. He made plans to land behind the attached hangar.

  Jack took manual control of the police shuttle when he got within five kilometers of the house. He turned off all exterior lights. Then he changed directions and flew around the house and approached from the rear. The wind was blowing directly at him now. It was hard to maneuver the shuttle. When he got to within five hundred meters, he slowed down and descended to the top of the surface. He struggled to keep the shuttle level, fighting the controls with both hands. He flew slowly just above the ground, barely moving forward. When he was within a hundred meters of the hangar, he landed the shuttle and shut down the engines.

  Now would come the hard part. Jack looked out the window. He could not see the house through the dust storm. He figured anyone looking outside the house had the same problem. Jack left his seat and put on his helmet. He slung the backpack with the spare suit, helmet and oxygen pack on his back. He clipped his own oxygen pack to his belt, hooked it up to his helmet and tested it. Everything was working. It was time to go outside. He had enough oxygen to breath for two hours.

  Jack made his way to the shuttle door. He stepped outside on the ladder and quickly closed the door behind him. Since atmospheric pressure was nearly equal, the shuttle’s interior air system would quickly replace any lost oxygen. Jack stepped down to the ground. He turned on his night vision goggles. He could see through the dust storm, everything glowing green. The wind was blowing hard, but he could still move against it because of the lighter density. He began walking. He kept to the back of the house. He reached the hangar in five minutes. He looked for a door entrance in the back. He found one and walked towards it.

  Finally the hangar blocked the wind and he could see the door without his night vision. He tried the door. It was locked. There was no time for finesse. Jack took out his laser gun and burned a hole in the keypad. The lock clicked opened. Jack hoped the door lock wasn’t on an alarm sensor, but that was probably hoping for too much. He had to move fast now before he lost the element of surprise. He stepped inside the hangar and closed the door behind him. He was in.

  Chapter 15

  Ingrid was sleeping fitfully on a large bed in a guest bedroom on the second floor of Ivan’s valley retreat home. The room was dark. Loud knocking on the door woke her up. She heard Wolfgang unlock the door, step inside and tell her to get up and come downstairs. Ivan wanted to see her. She acknowledged Wolfgang and said she needed a few minutes to get ready. He left the room.

  Ingrid slowly sat up in the bed. It took a moment for the reality of her situation to sink in. Then panic hit her again. She fought to control her emotions. She had lived long enough to learn how to calm herself down and think clearly. She trusted her instincts. There has to be some way out of this predicament, she thought.

  Ingrid turned on a light, got out of bed and looked outside the window. The wind was blowing hard against the panes of glass. It was dark and she couldn’t see anything through the dust storm. She looked around the room. It was well furnished with a full-sized bathroom, but no deskcom. Wolfgang had taken it when he locked her in the bedroom. It did have a multimedia screen, but no way to contact the outside world. She was a prisoner and knew she was in serious trouble.

  Ingrid walked into the bathroom and turned on the water to wash her face. She looked closely at herself in the mirror. She was truly amazed by her appearance. She looked so young and beautiful again. The old lines in her face and the sagging skin were gone. The anti-aging drug she and her father discovered truly was the fountain-of-youth. There was no denying its power to regenerate the body’s cells.

  Ingrid had only taken the drug two months ago. She had recorded the whole process for publication in her research paper, for public presentation and for peer review. The results were on the memcard that the detectives had at the police station.

  Her father had been just as amazed at his results. He had been ecstatic and looking forward to announcing their discovery to the world. They had both worked so hard for so many years to achieve this. Everything was falling into place, and then this happened. Ivan had killed her father to steal the discovery for himself. She knew he would do the same to her if she didn’t cooperate.

  Ivan had been interested in her from the beginning. She could tell by his attention; his comments. She had brushed off all his advances. Even her father had disapproved of the man. He thought Ivan was manipulative and arrogant. Neither of them ever thought Ivan would go this far. How stupid, she derided herself. It had cost her father’s life and very likely her own unless she found a way out of this. There was only one card left to play and she was resigned to use it.

  Ingrid freshened up quickly and straightened her clothes. She might as well look her best if she had to negotiate for her life. She took one last look in the mirror and the reflection she saw gave her confidence. She walked to the door and opened it. Wolfgang was waiting for her.

  “After you,” Wolfgang said, indicating the way to the stairs with his hand. He followed closely behind, making sure she didn’t try to escape. It was pointless anyway. There was nowhere to run.

  Ingrid walked to the banister overlooking the fir
st floor living room and descended the stairway. When she reached the bottom, Wolfgang prodded her forward toward the fireplace. Ivan was at the bar fixing himself a drink. He quickly looked up. “Hello, Ingrid. I hope you rested well. Can I get you a drink?”

  Ingrid didn’t hesitate. She needed something strong. “A gin and tonic,” she answered.

  “Please, have a seat. I’ll be with you in a moment.”

  Ingrid sat down in a comfortable chair by the fireplace. The fire was not lit, but a pile of real wood logs was stacked neatly to one side. Wolfgang walked up to the bar and poured himself a drink. Then he sat down on a sofa by the window. He never smiled at Ingrid, just watched her. Ivan picked up both drinks and brought them over to the coffee table and handed one to Ingrid.

  “I hope it’s not too strong.” Ivan said, trying to be pleasant. “Let me begin by saying I apologize for hitting you. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I lost my temper. It won’t happen again.”

  Ingrid wasn’t buying it. “You’re responsible for my father’s death. Nothing you say can change that.”

  “I’m truly sorry, Ingrid. If I could change what happened, I would,” Ivan lied. “I only wanted the rights to produce and sell the drug. Your father threatened to cancel our agreement. There are others involved, some very influential people who would never allow that to happen.” Ivan was getting angry in spite of what he said a moment ago.

  “I don’t care who’s involved,” Ingrid said with tears in her eyes. “You had no right to do what you did. You will pay for this!”

  Ivan set his drink down and made one more attempt to reason with her. He had hoped she would change her mind and work with him on this. She really didn’t have a choice, after all.

  “I’ve invested millions of denoms to set up a new production line to make the drug, Ingrid. I’m ready to start production as we speak. I will say this one last time. I need to know where your father put the new formula.”

  Ingrid took one long swallow of her drink. “My father never said he had a new formula. He was still working on a solution in the lab. He said he would call me if he found anything conclusive.” Ingrid looked straight at Ivan as she spoke. She hoped she sounded convincing.

  Ivan stood up and faced the fireplace. He was trying hard not to lose his temper. It made it difficult for him to think straight. Ingrid was not being cooperative. He was sure he was right, but he couldn’t tell if she was lying or not. He decided to show her he meant business. He would force it out of her. He motioned for Wolfgang to come over and stand behind Ingrid. Ivan turned around and faced Ingrid.

  “I’m sorry you won’t cooperate with me, Ingrid. I’ve tried to be reasonable with you, but you leave me little choice.”

  “What are you going to do?” Ingrid tried to remain calm.

  “I’m afraid I’ll have to make you talk. I will use a new truth serum that’s very effective, but it’s also risky. You could suffer permanent side effects.”

  Ivan could see fear in Ingrid’s eyes. He walked over to a desk by the window where his briefcase was sitting. It contained the stolen drug vials, memcards, a laser gun and a new mixture of sodium pentothal he planned to use on Ingrid. He opened the briefcase and took out a needle and a small vial of truth serum. He motioned for Wolfgang to bring Ingrid over to the chair by the desk. She struggled to resist in vain. Wolfgang was too strong. His fingers dug into her arms as he dragged her to the wooden chair, sat her down and strapped her wrists to the armrests. Then he rolled up the right sleeve of her blouse and exposed her arm.

  Ingrid was scared. She couldn’t move her arms. She knew he would kill her if she didn’t give him what he wanted, but then she wasn’t certain he wouldn’t kill her if she did. She made one last desperate appeal to stop this. “Please, Ivan. I can help you find the solution. I know what my father was working on. I’m sure I could duplicate the process.”

  Ivan considered the offer as he filled the needle with the yellowish liquid. He held the needle up and squeezed out the air bubbles. He looked down at Ingrid. “There’s only one problem, Ingrid. I don’t know if I can trust you now.”

  Ingrid was desperate. “I’ll help you! You don’t have to do this!”

  “Do you know where the formula is?” Ivan asked for the last time.

  Ingrid knew it was hopeless. She might as well confess the truth and save the pain. “Yes! You win. My father gave me the formula. I put it in a safe place. I’ll show you where it’s at.”

  “Just tell me where it is, Ingrid. I could still use the truth serum, you know.”

  “It’s in a locked storage box and I’m the only one who can open it. Besides, you still need me to test the drug, to make sure it’s safe to use so we can get it approved.” Ingrid hoped Ivan would agree with her reasoning.

  “How do I know you’re telling me the truth?” Ivan asked, holding the needle close to her face.

  “I don’t care anymore. The drug is not worth dying for—and killing me won’t help you get the formula,” Ingrid replied, looking at Ivan’s face. She saw the greed in his eyes.

  Ivan decided to take the chance. “Untie her,” he said to Wolfgang.

  “You better not be lying to me, Ingrid,” Ivan threatened, “or it will be the last thing you do.”

  Just then the house security alarm sounded. Ivan looked at Wolfgang. “What’s that?”

  Wolfgang walked over to the alarm panel in the hallway and looked at the indicators. “It’s coming from the hangar door entrance alarm. Maybe the wind jarred the door. I’ll check it out.”

  Wolfgang shut off the alarm and started for the back entrance. He pulled out his laser gun just in case.

  “I think you should return to your room, Ingrid,” Ivan commanded as he untied her wrists. “We’ll continue this conversation later.”

  Ivan wasn’t so sure it was the wind. Maybe Detective Helms followed him to his retreat? If so, this could be his chance to take care of the man, once and for all.

  Ivan walked over to his briefcase and put the needle and truth serum back inside. He pulled out the laser gun. He stood beside a chair facing the hallway and decided to wait and see who appeared. Then the lights went out. Somebody was in the house.

  Wolfgang paused in mid-step. He needed a flashlight and thought he knew where one was. He retreated to the stairway and whispered to Ivan that he was going upstairs to get a flashlight. Ivan told him to hurry. Ivan watched the hallway.

  Jack heard the house alarm go off as soon as he shut the door behind him. So much for the element of surprise, he thought. He removed his helmet and night vision goggles and attached the helmet to his belt. He noticed two company shuttlecrafts parked in the hangar. He expected at least three, maybe more, people in the house. He looked around for the circuit breaker box. He found it and opened the panel door. He turned all the circuit breakers off. The lights, heating and ventilation system shut down. He put the night vision goggles over his eyes. He may have lost the element of surprise, but at least he could see who was coming.

  Jack walked quickly down the corridor to the main house, holding his laser gun, set to stun, in front of him. He reached the main house and opened the door. He didn’t see or hear anyone yet. He was in a long hallway on the first floor. A large kitchen was on the right and a semi-formal dining room was on the left. Jack continued down the hallway. He thought he heard voices somewhere ahead. Then the voices became quiet. He saw a lone figure standing by the wall about fifty feet in front of him. The man was holding a gun. Jack assumed he was waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Usually, you could see pretty well at night because the stars above Mars were so bright and the atmosphere so thin. However the dust storm took care of that. There was no starlight coming in through the windows. The man waiting in the hallway needed more light to proceed.

  Jack crouched beside the hallway wall and waited. The man must have heard something, or maybe he changed his mind because he began to retreat up the stairs to the second floor. Jack watched him.

  J
ack crept further down the hallway. Beyond the stairway was another large room with a fireplace. Someone was standing beside a chair holding a gun. Jack decided to let them know he was here. Maybe he could talk his way out of here.

  “Mister Hellstrom, I know you’re here. I just want the woman. Let her go and we’ll leave—peacefully.”

  Ivan’s voice answered back from the living room. “Well, if it isn’t Detective Helms,” Ivan said, stepping behind the chair. “You just don’t know when to leave things alone, do you?”

  “Not when murder and kidnapping are involved, Ivan” Jack replied, deciding to use first names now that they were on a more personal level. “Let the woman go.”

  “I’m just protecting my interests, Detective.”

  “Kidnapping is a federal offense, Ivan. I’m sure any judge will take a dim view of your actions.”

  “No judge on Mars will help you, Detective. Besides, I think you’re the one who needs help now. You seem to have gotten yourself into a lot of trouble. I believe the police just found some of the stolen drugs in your apartment.”

  “I know what you and Captain Black plan to do. You won’t get away with it, Ivan.” Jack thought he could probably beat the rap, but it would take some time, and they would probably kill him before he had time to prove it.

  Ivan was surprised for a moment. How did he find out about Captain Black? Ivan decided to call his bluff. “You won’t live long enough to prove anything, Detective.”

  “I have enough evidence to arrest you and Wolfgang for kidnapping, if not murder. But for now, I just want the woman. Give me Ingrid and we’ll leave. Is it a deal, Ivan?”

  “I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Detective Helms. Ingrid has something I need. I won’t let her go until I get it.”

  This was going nowhere. Jack decided to slip into the room. He checked the top of the stairs. No one was there. The man who ran up the stairway was probably Wolfgang, Jack thought. He could be in one of the bedrooms upstairs. Ivan was on the left side of the room behind a large chair. Jack ran to the right, past the stairs, to a sofa beside the fireplace. Luckily, they never lit the fire.