"A little . . . most of this can be left here to scan the surrounding area. The satellites are already connected."
She glowered at him. "Why didn’t we just scan the area from Trivium Port?"
"For privacy reasons, the scanning home needs to be within ten kilometers of the origin. Martian laws for you."
"We’ve been on Lunara so long I’d forgotten about the orbiting satellite laws."
"Once again, the individual supersedes the security of Mars. Individuals who have nothing to hide wouldn’t be bothered, while criminals are protected and will continue to cause terror and undermine the Martian government."
"The government serves the people, the people don’t serve the government," she said, giving him a stone-faced stare. "Learn why Mars works the way it does."
He nodded. He knew he shouldn’t pursue the issue further. She would fight him to the end for the rights of the people—rights that the government should uphold for the innocent. He couldn’t trust the general population as easily as she could. He handed her the rest of her equipment.
"Your knapsack is filled with emergency supplies, a trans-spectrum binoculars, and short-wave receiver. I found a sonic pistol for you, too."
She gazed at him when he mentioned the pistol.
"Do you remember how to shoot one of these?" He tossed the holster to her.
She caught it. "Of course. Remove the safety, point, and shoot. Anything special about this model?"
"Not really, but I heard it kicks back harder than a standard recoil. Be firm."
He finished securing the hovercar, swung the knapsack over his shoulders, and hurried up the slope toward the mouth of the chasma.
The wind above them roared louder with each footstep as they ascended to the top. The climb was tiresome. Their feet slipped constantly on the loose rocks. If Seth hadn’t committed so much to this trip already, he might have been satisfied with the satellite readings. But he insisted, arguing that something suspicious had been going on—no turning back now.
After climbing a steep slope, it began to level off, and they arrived at the mouth of the chasma as it opened the valley below.
She leaned on a boulder. "We have about a kilometer to go."
He pressed the binoculars to his eyes and focused into the distance, looking for any sign of civilization. From left to right, he scanned in a slow, sweeping pattern. No longer obstructed by the rock formations, he saw a small colony resting to the north, surrounded by barren rock lands.
He first noticed the wall surrounding the colony. Curving a kilometer in front of him, it hooked around and then curled back into the side of the chasma. Guards strolled along the top, and it didn’t look as if they were paying too much attention to what was happening outside. No sign of high alert.
Inside, many people labored with menial tasks. One woman and child racked one of four algae pits within his view. To the far end, several men tugged on levered ropes as they erected a large shortage cubicle. He panned over. A dozen other people ran around couriering material for construction projects in the colony. His lip quivered as the memory of his own colony flashed into his mind. He missed his mother terribly.
"What can you see?" she asked.
"This colony reminds me of Orcus."
A nagging tickle told him that she had entered his mind, pulling at his memories of their old colony. He pushed her away and muted his emotions.
"What else?"
"The whole colony is visible. Few smaller buildings surround a central dome, which isn’t even made of glass or metal. It’s one of those nylon-plastic bubble domes. I didn’t think people still lived in one of those things."
"Any ships?"
His face twisted. "One ship, at least a hundred years old. I doubt it works anymore. This colony couldn’t have masterminded an attack on our hovercar. Let alone Lunara."
"Eamonn said this was the staging area for the real invaders. Do you see any fuelers or landing pads?"
He moved his binoculars to either side of the colony. Boulders, cluttered like a traffic jam, piled on top of one another, spreading across the Martian floor into the horizon to the east. To the west, they extended far until coming to an abrupt end down an embankment. It appeared closer than it did from the sky. No ship larger than his hovercar could reliably land there without clearing a patch away first. One landing pad rested to the northeast side of the colony, but currently it housed the rusted transport tub. This was something the poorer colonies still used, but it was so bastardized, he figured none of the original parts were in it. A mechanic’s dream, perhaps, but not a ship involved in the invasion.
Behind the colony, several chasmata stretched out like fingers reaching into the distance. They were too shallow and narrow to house large cruisers. Still no landing port. He saw no indication of an area where one ship could land or refuel. His suspicions grew. Why had the minister picked here?
He shook his head. "There are no service modules to repair, fuel, or maintain such an operation. This can’t be the place. Eamonn was given misinformation."
"Were the Aethpisians misinformed as well?" Chloe said with a bit too much doubt in her voice.
"They lied," Seth snapped back. "The minister and his people would double-check their informers." He lowered his binoculars and stared across the colony. "I don’t think this colony was mentioned out of pure chance. The connection is down there, and I intend to find out what it is."
"What next?" Her face froze with worry.
"I’m going down there. Do you want to stay here or come with me?" Not wanting her to object, he turned his back to her and started to walk.
She ran after him. "Someone has to look out for you."
As they approached the main gate of the colony, the walls became more visible and took shape. Chloe ran her hand along the coarse wall. The wall’s red was a mix of the surrounding terrain and swirls of the dark reds that were found to the north. She found it curious.
She waited behind Seth as he moved up to the entrance, but before he had the chance to knock, a panel in the door slid open. "Identify yourself?"
Startled, she took a step back, pausing to appraise the danger. Finding none, she neared the open panel with Seth.
Seth kept in front of her. "I am Seth Smith and this is Chloe Jones. We are from Lunara. We would like to speak to your appointed leader."
"Back! Don’t come any closer, or I’ll blast you," the young voice said.
Chloe was relieved when Seth complied and took a short step backward. Her worry clouded her sense of his determination. However, she suspected he would do anything for answers at this point.
"Where is your vehicle? You didn’t walk from anywhere. No colony exists for miles," the young voice continued.
"We landed about three kilometers that way." He pointed in a direction away from where the hovercar had actually landed.
A pang of concern arose in her. She took in a breath trying to hide it. His lie might catch him. She knew that Seth didn’t want to give away anything, but his lie undermined her trust in him.
"May we talk?" he continued.
"What is it concerning?"
"I am conducting an investigation into the invasion of Lunara Colony. I had hoped that your colony would give us information so we can figure out who was behind the attack."
The panel slid shut.
"Doesn’t sound promising," she said, moving up beside him. "They trust no one."
"I am getting a yes." He rushed up and pounded the sheet metal with his fist. Clank, clank, clank sounded the metal door. "Open. I demand you tell your leader we are here."
She pulled on his arm. "Don’t get us into trouble. They might be former raiders."
"I no longer fear raiders!" he shouted. "I am getting answers." He pushed at her to keep away and turned back to the door. "Open up!"
The panel slid open, and the barrel of a rifle came out of the slot. The click as the gun was cocked pierced through the wind. "Back up!" ordered a man’s voice.
&
nbsp; Seth and Chloe raised their hands and moved away.
"I want to speak to your leader!" Seth said.
A different voice called out, "My name is Josef Vhortov. You traveled a long way from Lunara Colony just to visit with us. Who are you? Why have you come?"
The other man behind the door relayed their information. "They say their names are Seth Smith and Chloe Jones. I never heard of them."
Chloe stepped forward. "Perhaps if we talked, we could give you a better understanding of the situation."
"First tell me why you are at my doorstep," Josef said.
She tried to move in front of Seth, but he put his arm out to stop her. She met his eyes and mouthed the words, "Trust me."
He lowered his arm.
"An unknown group invaded our colony," she said. "We came to you, looking for answers."
"You think we attacked you?"
"They told us you were responsible. From the cliffs, and not to offend your colony, but we don’t think you could have orchestrated the attack. We want to gather some information from you. Find out why they told us you were the attackers."
"My trustworthy doorkeeper said your ship was located somewhere in chasmata of Montrus’ hand to the north, but you say this is not the case. You lied to us already. Why should we trust you?"
"Seth was only concerned about our safety. Hopefully, you can understand his reasons for concealing our location. I have no reason to lie to you. We came to the door of our accused enemy and denounced you as our invaders. Please allow us to speak with you."
Seth stepped closer. "We want to find out the facts for ourselves. I have had enough of the lies from the Martian government. Will you talk?"
"I don’t understand the point," the man said. "We know nothing." There was silence for a few moments before the man continued, "But after you traveled so far to see our humble colony, I can’t turn you away. You may enter, unarmed. My guards will lead you in."
"Thank you," Chloe said. She turned around to face Seth. "Let me do the talking. If I’m talking directly to them, I can get a better idea of the situation. I might be able to find out more than we can get with demands."
He smiled. "You got us in. You get us out."
The guard came up behind her, and she turned around with her arms out. The guard’s rifle was level with her chest.
With a wave, he ordered them to disarm. Seth tensed, and Chloe sensed an uneasiness flow from his mind. She complied with the order by dropping her gear and pistol to the ground.
Reluctantly, he did the same.
The guards patted them down and found nothing of interest. The guard waved his gun, indicating that they should walk ahead through the gate.
"Your gear will be available when you leave," one of the guards grunted.
That was a good thing, she thought as she sensed no deception from them. If they planned to kill them on the inside or take them as prisoners, they would rummage through their gear and take what they liked. Saying they would receive the gear back when they left gave her a more confident outlook.
On approach, she had an eerie sense about the colony, which reminded her of the pillaging of Orcus and the death of her family. The raiders—in the most general sense—had always been poor; they pillaged colonies for supplies. Orcus was a successful colony with few defenses; it was powerless to defend itself against the attacks. She didn’t begrudge the fact that they wanted to survive. Survival was the number one concern on Mars, a constant worry in the back of everyone’s mind. The raiders survived based on strength and force. Foremost, they took other people’s possessions, instead of sharing or working as a collective. They were scavengers of everything and everyone. No one had been immune to them . . . until the day the Revolutionary War started.
Over confident, the raiders had attacked a few of the more prominent colonies around Aethpis. From what Jan had told her, a great clash turned the raiders’ fate. Their confidence tangled with the Aethpisian obsession with security. When the battles were over, the Aethpisians had prevailed, and a massive, sanctioned extermination of the raiders began. To this day, no one had apologized for the obliteration of the raiders. Her mother had always been adamant that the raiders deserved death for withdrawing from society and the protection the Principles of Man provided. No room for scavengers on Mars, she would say. In the end, they killed her mother, and Chloe always wondered if her mother’s fear and hate was prophetic. After all, her own abilities had to come from somewhere.
Chloe set her teeth. Scavengers lived in this colony. The only scavengers she ever knew were raiders, and if any of them had survived, she might agree with Seth’s loathing for a return to Mars.
They passed through the gates. Josef Vhortov met them each with a handshake and a pat on the back. "I thought I recognized the two of you."
She and Seth looked at each other, dumbfounded. "Have we met before?" Chloe said.
"No," he said. "I attended the Lunara invasion debriefing. Our colony is a member of the nonaligned council. We would like to help you, but I don’t see how."
"They named you as the rallying point for the attack. Why didn’t you protest this at the debriefing?" Chloe said.
"Resources. I can’t afford to alienate Aethpis from our colony or we wouldn’t survive long."
"But —"
He waved his hand for her to stop. "Come with us into the main dome. I hate wearing these breathing masks."
The domed complex was the central hub of the colony. Smaller buildings encircled the dome in no particular pattern. They looked like storage sheds for raw materials, but when Chloe walked by a row of units she caught a glimpse inside. Entire families lived in the worn-out sheds. Shockingly, only a double door system kept the air from escaping.
Plasma shields had been standardized almost fifty years ago, but Chloe’s vague memory of the double door system crept back into her mind. When using two doors, one remained sealed, which ensured that no oxygen would escape. The sheds were feasible for short-term living or for occasional travelers but never as a permanent home.
Recent studies had proved the health risks of the double-door system. The constant switching of oxygen levels caused catastrophic physical ailments: loss of hair, malnutrition, and inflamed lungs. Chloe was appalled. "The double doors . . . how can people live like this?"
"Our colony survives on subsidies from the nonaligned council for our oxygen farms and iron ore sales at Trivium Port. We can only earn enough now to stay alive. With the innovation of metalor, iron ore isn’t in demand. Less steel is needed in the building supplies, and our bottom line is hurting. You see, most of our population lives in our primary bio-dome, but we were overcrowded, so we retrofitted some of the sheds into living quarters. It is the best we can do."
"Join one of the main colonies," Chloe said. "They are always looking for laborers."
"But Memnonia is our home."
She didn’t have to reply. She understood.
The entrance to the primary dome had three doors on sliding tracks, all set up in a row. The computer-controlled doors only allowed one of the doors to open at a time. They stepped into the first stage between doors one and two, and cold air blasted their suits, efficiently clearing all the loose dust. In the second stage, a converter turned the air to oxygen-rich levels. Once they arrived on the other side of the doors, they walked down a large hall into the heart of the bio-dome.
"Wow, this reminds me of my childhood," Chloe said. She grabbed Seth’s hand. "Doesn’t this look like the dome from our village?"
"A little. We used our dome for food growth."
In the far end, hydroponics tanks were stacked ten levels high; plastic tubing ran around all the levels circulating the water. The colony had set up living quarters in a similar way on the other end of the dome. The residents had a stationed cube, no bigger than five by five meters, and they were all arranged like a hive, the cubes stacked on one another to form what resembled a massive honeycomb.
"You grew up on a nonaligned colony?
" Josef asked.
"Yes and no," she said. "Zephyrians created our colony, but we had our own seat on the old Martian Committee. We were one of the leading oxygen-farming communities on the planet until the raiders destroyed our village. We barely got out alive. I don’t know if you remember Orcus."
Josef shook his head. "What happened to the people of Orcus?"
"The raiders killed most of us; my parents, my sister, and Seth’s mother were among them. The survivors split into groups, some going to nearby colonies, some returning to Zephyria. We managed to get to Lunara."
"I am so sorry."
"Do not be sorry for asking a curious question," she said. "The tragedy happened many years ago."
They entered the conference room shortly thereafter.
Chloe felt confined within the bare walls. A rectangular table sat in the center with a dozen chairs encircling it. On the table placed in the corner, a display monitor and a pitcher of water rested. Josef took a seat at the head of the table, with Seth and Chloe to his left and a few less-than-dapper-looking aides to the right.
"So, how did you come across the notion we are involved in the invasion force?" Josef Vhortov said, pouring himself a glass of what smelled to her like alcohol. "Would you care for some?"
"No thank you," she said. She didn’t begrudge him his indulgences, but it would be a cold day on Mercury before she drank it. She always associated alcohol with the raiders. They stank of it.
Chloe placed her hands on the table. "The Martian Security Force leading the investigation offered the information about the invasion on Lunara to us, confidentially. They told us the attack was staged from your colony."
"As you pointed out, we don’t have the technology or the resources to pull off an operation of that size. Whoever supplied this information to your captain is either a liar or a fool who relied on poor intelligence."
"Why would they lie?" Chloe said.
"To stall us from something larger," Seth said.
Josef shrugged. "Who supplied your captain with this information?"
"The Aethpisian government and the Martian Security Force," Seth said.
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 18