He heard the light, short strides of fellow starwing pilot and longtime girlfriend, Chloe Jones, patter toward him from the side of the ship. Her beautiful face, with her high cheekbones and pouting lips, enchanted him.
She ducked under the engine mount, trying to find him. She found him a moment later, and her brown eyes softened with a mixture of concern and dread as she studied his hand. Her face tightened into a disapproving scowl, which somehow made him feel loved.
She climbed the service ladder. When she reached him, her amber hair wisped against his cheek, and her intoxicating flowery aroma filled his nose. He savored the fragrance for a moment, like he always did.
"Well," she said, her voice firm to get his attention. She stared at him. "Are you going to tell me what happened?"
"I pinched my finger on the darn wrench. I’m okay. Don’t worry about it." He nursed his hand.
"Nonsense. I’ll clean you up," she offered. She dashed off to the maintenance lockers and came back with a med kit. She grabbed his hand and he winced.
"Hey, where is everyone?" a voice shouted from the front of the ship. "Hey, where are you guys?"
"Back here, Parker," Chloe shouted back. "Seth jammed his hand, bit of a scrape."
Parker, his best friend, walked up to the two. He pushed back the ever-tattered blond hair from his blue eyes and ran his gaze over to the engine. "I finished working on the short circuits in the coils on the starwings. You shouldn’t have a problem with acceleration anymore."
"Those coils nearly cost us more than a week’s pay," Seth said as he recalled the last assignment and the near-miss that happened when the coils didn’t activate. The engines had stalled, sending his starwing into a tailspin. The small malfunction almost allowed a meteor to slip away from their pursuit. "Did you repair the servomotor on the plasma gun?" he asked.
"Yes," Parker replied. "These few weeks of inactivity were good for the Protector. I was able to fix most of her problems."
"Seth will be all right." Chloe tightened the last of the bandages over his finger. "You care more about that ship than you do anything or anyone else."
"He’ll heal soon. I don’t know why you insist on fixing his bumps and bruises. He has a gift for healing. But my ship, she can’t be fixed so fast." Parker smirked, but he stopped quickly when she glared at him. "Anyways, I came to warn you. Mars Medical is about to dock. You two had better start preparing for them. I know it’s not my business, but the government has no right to invade your privacy like they are doing."
Seth raised his good hand to calm his friend. No need to get him agitated. They had already caused quite a stir with Ty. "Mars has been looking out for the people’s interests since the people formed the two governments. I don’t think they’ll find anything. Lunara doctors found no anomalies."
His stomach tightened as he thought about the possibilities. In truth, he had never trusted the government after what they had put him through on Mars as a child. The new Martian governments, Aethpis and Zephyria, didn’t seem any better than the revolutionary government. Aethpis, the larger of the two, headed by Minister Cortez, was governed from Aethpis Colony, and this was the government that was initiating the physical. Zephyria, led by Chancellor Arwell, didn’t seem to care about anything other than the metalor shipments he and his crew mined for them. Officially, Zephyria was his home colony on Mars, and his pleas for help in this matter had fallen on deaf ears. He admitted, though, that given his distrust of them, he hadn’t tried hard to get their help. Gwen had mentioned the close relationship between the two colonies, and he had no doubts that Zephyria would acquiesce to Aethpis in such a trivial matter as a physical.
He pushed his fear and uneasiness aside for the moment, wanting to calm his friend. "They’ll get the information they want from us and be on their way."
Parker threw his hands into the air. "Information? I don’t call blood and plasma samples, and who knows what else, ‘information.’ I call it physical theft. I wouldn’t let them touch me."
"The government protects the people. Why panic? I don’t sense any dishonesty since this all began," Chloe said. "They are here now anyway. Our contract calls for physicals, so we can’t stop them."
"I don’t care. The Protector isn’t a military ship, so they can’t control you like one of their soldiers." Parker’s voice rose, echoing within the hangar. "You can’t let them walk all over you. Obviously, they are taking advantage of something you signed in good faith. Mars Medical’s reputation for—"
"Ty didn’t seem concerned when we talked." Seth attempted to cast away his friend’s doubts. "Mars Medical scheduled the tests two months ago. He would have mentioned anything he didn’t like."
Parker’s doubts made Seth increasingly uncomfortable. He didn’t need Parker stirring up what he had spent all day suppressing.
"Been more than two months," Parker replied. "Mars has watched you for a while, or they wouldn’t be sending someone so important from Mars Medical to see you. Remember, they wanted you to travel to Mars. If Ty hadn’t stopped them, you would be going out with the freighters this afternoon."
"No, we wouldn’t. I won’t go back to Mars. I would quit first." Seth pushed his fingers through his short brown hair. "And the request only stated a physical exam, and those are harmless."
"Don’t be so sure about that." Parker snatched a rag from the tool case. His hands jittered as he rubbed scorch marks from the ship’s hull. "Just keep your eyes and ears open during these examinations."
A beep trilled. Chloe reached in and pulled out her CommUn. "Go ahead, this is Chloe Jones."
"Jan here," the familiar voice of Jan Falloom said. "Come to Ty’s briefing room. I want to talk to both of you, now. The Mars Medical shuttle has arrived, and they are in a hurry to get their hands on you. I am going to hide you in here for a while."
"Hide?" Chloe said as her face twisted. "Why would we want to do that?"
"Because Mars Medical is throwing their weight around, and Ty doesn’t like it. He wants to show them who is in charge on this station and set some ground rules."
That phrase, "Ty doesn’t like it," stirred in Seth’s mind for a moment. Up until now, he had been unaware of his Guardian’s worry about the arrival. Perhaps Ty’s worry justified the fact that he was a little edgy.
"I expect you here in five minutes. Jan out."
Parker kept his gaze on Seth, wanting to caution them again.
Seth didn’t need him to say anything. Mars Medical’s arrival was early, and they were demanding to perform their routine physical. The nice package in his mind didn’t add up like he thought it would.
Chapter 3
Zephyrian diplomat and Protector communications officer Gwen Arwell, accompanied by the captain of the Protector, Eamonn Dalton, and Lunaran chief administrator Ty Falloom, stood behind the docking bay decompression window, gazing out as they waited for the main doors of the hangar to open. Gwen tugged on her uniform, which hung loosely on her body. Her tall, lean-hipped frame had shrunk three sizes since she had arrived on Lunara, not having the luxury she had enjoyed on Mars.
On Lunara, luxury was surviving the day without a containment breach or a meteor slamming you, and finding enough algae paste to eat. She missed Mars more than she let Chloe and her other friends know. Her father—the chancellor of Zephyria Colony—provided her with the power and the opportUnity to shape the colony. Zephyrians loved the Arwells. On Lunara, however, she was just another person trying to survive the day. The vacuum of space sucked her nobility away. Now she considered mechanics, pilots, and ore processors her best friends instead of diplomats, liaisons, and colonial leaders. Nonetheless, she enjoyed her new life; the difference added to her adventure.
Gwen gazed out the large viewing window, which displayed a brilliant view of the lunar surface, backdropped by the darkened Earth and blinking stars. The landscape teemed with small ground crafts, scurrying like ants, transporting ore from the crater mines toward the colony’s massive mineral silos and pro
cessing plants. She had been on Lunara for two years, and the perpetual busyness of the miners still amazed her. Mars’s hunger for the meteor stones was insatiable.
Suddenly, her eye caught something in front of her, twinkling tiny red and orange specks. The bulkhead had been gray only moments before. She reached out, rubbing along the cool surface. A sting went up her arm, like ice injected into her veins, and she quickly withdrew her arm, which was tingling.
The metal drained the heat from her arm. She peered at the red and orange specks which reflected brighter for only a second or so before reverting to the gray bulkhead she had seen before.
"The new element . . . metalor," she whispered to herself.
She placed her hand once more on the metal beam, but nothing happened. No tingling, no cold, nothing.
"You don’t feel anything now, correct?" Eamonn said from over her shoulder.
She started just a bit. Her roughly cut captain was only of average height, but he held a commanding presence over her that not many in the solar system did. Since her childhood, she had been able to see through many people, but her captain impressed her, not only because of his tough, rugged exterior, but also due to his astute, knowledgeable mind. He could lead Lunara, or even a colony on Mars, one day.
"Yes," she said. "The first time I touched the metal, I got the oddest sensation. Now, nothing."
"Happens to everyone. The weirdest thing I have ever seen." He shook his head in disbelief. "As if it takes a part of you."
"When I heard the rumors, it sounded like nonsense." After massaging her arm, she craned her neck toward her captain. "The metalor wanted the heat from my body."
"I know. Perhaps that is why Mars wants us to mine the meteors so bad."
"For what purpose?"
"To solve the mystery of the meteor stones." He smirked.
The shriek of the hangar bay doors interrupted them. They looked through the window at the sight. A whisk of air streaked out of the opening doorway into the vacuum of space. Instantly, the plasma shielding flickered as the power tickled across, sealing the hangar.
The Lunaran aides paced feverishly behind the group, shouting orders at one another, as they put the final preparations on the table display and hung the welcoming banners in the reception hall.
"Sir," the young duty officer said to the chief, "the beverage tables and crew quarters are prepared for our guests. Would you like anything else?"
"That will be all," Ty said. He signaled the officer to fall behind him into formation.
The red-alert lights beamed across her face, and the claxon roared throughout the hangar, warning Gwen to brace her arm on the frame of the door. Just as her hand steadied her, the structure shook with the passing of the shuttle into the hangar bay.
The plasma shielding lengthened along the hull, causing a crackling glow of bluish white. Once the back end made it fully inside, the shield flickered again, reverting to a straight seal across the doorway.
The shuttle swung around to position itself over the landing pad, and the Mars Medical insignia loomed in front of them.
Gwen held herself steady and erect. Despite her young age of twenty-two, she had experience in dealing with uncomfortable situations. She had learned from birth about diplomacy and maintaining oneself through emotional circumstance.
Ty Falloom, on the other hand, born into poverty and brought up in the military, had not. He feared Mars Medical.
Gwen noticed Ty’s brow twitched a little. She knew Mars irritated him. She had spoken with him on many occasions about Lunaran life. For most of his command on Lunara Colony, Mars left him alone, and he liked the quiet life. He always proclaimed it was the reason he took the job. Unfortunately, for him, the scientists on Mars had discovered the new element metalor within the meteors Lunara mined. That discovery gave him an influx of Mars personnel, who audited his work and forced him to fill out more paperwork, which Ty considered bureaucratic nonsense.
Lunara was a freewheeling, no-nonsense colony that didn’t take kindly to government intervention. Gwen’s appearance some two years ago had been one of the first signs of Martian rule. She had tried to coax Ty to the Martian way, but he always resisted. A part of her didn’t blame him.
Through her boots, Gwen felt the floor shake as the shuttle hovered over the landing pad. Three sets of flaps opened from the bottom, and the servomotors buzzed as it extended the landing struts into position. The pilot, firing the stabilizing thrusters, touched down on the center of the landing surface.
Behind the rusted wings, the bay doors met with a booming halt, prompting the warning lights to turn from red to yellow. Several technicians scurried to their positions and locked the shuttle’s struts on the pad.
"Chief Falloom," a technician announced over the communications unit. "The hangar bay has been pressurized. You’re safe to enter."
"Fall into formation. Time to greet our guests," Ty ordered. He tapped the access code on the keypad, and the door slid open.
A rush of the sharp, musky odor of the xenon fuel forced Gwen’s nose to cringe. She could never get used to some of the grittier parts of her new position.
In front, the technicians rolled out the carpet, which had been dyed in the traditional Martian dark red. Ty led her, Eamonn, and a handful of senior aides to welcome the newcomers.
The shuttle’s plank screeched open and landed squarely on the deck. Simultaneously, the hatchway slid upward, opening the exit. A man and a woman proceeded carefully down. They walked unbalanced, trying to adjust to the lighter artificial gravity of Lunara, and they came to an awkward stop before Ty, Eamonn, and Gwen.
Gwen recognized their insignias as Mars Medical. The man’s frame was small, shorter than the rest of them, and he focused on her. She stared back at the man’s firm jaw line and prominent nose, but she couldn’t help but shift her eyes toward the woman. She was beautiful and sleek, with striking curly locks of blond hair. Both Ty and Eamonn pushed themselves up on their toes, trying to match her stature. Neither could.
"Welcome to the Lunar Meteor Processing Colony, Lunara. I am Chief Administrator Ty Falloom. This is Eamonn Dalton, head of the modest fleet on Lunara and captain of the mining ship, Protector, and Gwen Arwell, daughter of Zephyrian chancellor Damon Arwell and our colony’s senior diplomat from Mars.
"Additionally for your comfort, our colony is retrofitted with gravity panels. The panels here are older and will play tricks on your balance, and you may become disorientated for the first couple of hours on the colony. This will pass."
Bauer coughed and rubbed his eyes. "I don’t think you configured the sterilization unit to Martian standards. You should check your filters. All I taste is metal."
"I apologize for the air quality. The metalor processing facility saturates the colony."
Bauer coughed again and rubbed his hand against his pants. "I am head scientist Dr. Hans Bauer, and this is my assistant, Dr. Dakota Lars. We are looking forward to getting started with our experiments. Lead us to our subjects."
Ty bristled. "A laboratory area has been set up for you. I will let you settle in and offer you beverages so we can discuss your assignment—"
"No," Bauer demanded. "We insist on getting started instantly. Show me my lab and my subjects right away."
Outraged, Gwen took a step forward and pointed toward Bauer. "Hold on, you will get no ‘subjects,’ as you put it, until we know why you arrived early. There are diplomatic protocols you must abide by, even if you are military."
So much for diplomacy, she thought after the words tumbled out.
"Miss Arwell, this is a Mars Medical mission, not a military mission, and I am under no obligation to tell you anything. Now, will my subjects be brought to me, or will I be filing a report to Mars Central?"
As Gwen tightened her fists, Ty came between the two. "How about I lead you to the lab?" he said calmly. "You can set up the equipment while we straighten all this out. We plan to cooperate fully, but we need answers. I will not bring your su
bjects until this afternoon at the earliest. You arrived early, and they are on assignment."
"Chief Falloom, I want them as soon as possible. They could pose a problem to Lunara and Mars."
"A problem?" Gwen’s eye twitched. She was beginning to understand Ty’s frustration and worry regarding this shuttle.
"Any deviation from normal human development is a concern to us," Bauer said. "My department’s job is to investigate all retardations and mutations of humans since we arrived on Mars. My jurisdiction transcends your powers, and the right is always mine. A fact I ask you to remember."
Ty rose up. "I’ll be damned if you are going to tell me how to run my colony."
Gwen smirked. The vein in Bauer’s forehead throbbed, and the palms of his hands curled into fists. Ty stood his ground, not moving a muscle, and stared straight into the smaller man’s eyes.
Who will surrender? Gwen thought.
Bauer’s fatigue overcame him, and he lowered his head, wanting to end the argument. "Fine, show me the laboratory. I need two hours to set up my equipment anyway. I expect them in my office shortly after that, or I will notify Mars Central. And don’t think I won’t get you transferred to the poles of Titan." He pushed past the three and headed straight for the doorway.
Dakota Lars and Ty followed close behind.
Gwen grabbed Eamonn. "Captain," she whispered. "They are in a real hurry to get started."
"Yes."
"And why isn’t Ty stopping them? I know he isn’t happy."
"He knows he can’t stop them. He delayed as best he could."
She shook her head. "That isn’t enough."
"He got his way. A couple hours to figure out what to do next."
"I guess." Gwen wasn’t satisfied, though.
"They’ll be gone shortly. They are only scheduled for a two-day stay on Lunara," Eamonn said as he scratched the scar on his forehead. This was his silent way of telling her he didn’t like the situation any more than she did.
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 2