by RS McCoy
“Whoa,” Theo whispered. His mouth hung open.
“I think we’ve been doing this wrong,” she thought aloud.
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve been looking at the case files, how the bugs infect people, and how they were extracted. I think we need to look here. What these things are. How they work. I mean, that’s not normal. There’s no animal that would breakdown that fast.” She pointed at the jar with the black specks at the bottom.
Theo nodded. “Yeah, especially an insect. The exoskeleton wouldn’t decompose that fast. The internal organs maybe, but not the chiton. There’s no way.”
“I like what you said about oxidation, that metals lose an electron.”
“You think the bug is rusting?” Theo asked, but as soon as he said it, realization registered on his features.
“Makes sense, right?” It had been years since Mable studied any sort of serious chemistry, but bits and pieces were coming back.
“Yeah, the reaction rate is appropriate for a highly-catalyzed oxidation reaction. But you realize that would mean the bug was made of metal? An iron-based alloy of some kind?”
On her tablet display, Mable hit the comm button and dialed up Arrenstein. His face appeared with his usual confident smile.
“What’s wrong?” she asked him.
“Nothing.”
“You suck at lying.”
Arrenstein sighed. His smile faded into an aggravated frown. “What do you need, Maggie?”
“Have you tested the bugs for metals?”
“Metals?” he repeated, his eyebrows sewn together in confusion. “I don’t think so. Quincy tested for genetic materials and proteins, so we have the data for those. But I don’t know about metals. I’m not sure there’s ever been a reason to, why?”
Without an answer, Mable ended the comm. She picked up the jar and pushed it at Theo. “Let’s test it. Figure out what kinds of metals are in this thing.”
“You got it,” he replied with a smile.
AIDA
LRF-PQ-291
SEPTEMBER 2, 2232
“You want the peach?” Sal asked from the doorway of their small apartment.
“No, thank you.” Aida zipped up her indigo body suit and found a wide-sleeved black top to wear over it. She was done hiding.
“Really? You haven’t eaten in the last few days.” Aida stared, shocked that he noticed.
“I’ve been eating at work.” It was the truth. She didn’t mention that she’d never eat a bowl of provisions again, as long as she could help it. Now that she’d tasted the alternative, she couldn’t go back.
Chicken. Wheat. They were flavors, but without the original foods to make a comparison, they all tasted flat.
“All right.” Sal closed the door behind him. While she was ready to leave, she waited a few minutes before making her way. She didn’t want to walk with Sal.
The day was much the same as all the others. Life at the LRF was nothing if not consistent. Same schedules, same researchers, the same boring faces.
For Aida, it was all completely different. Now she had Calvin. Most of the time they were coworkers. She kept to her apartment, her marriage, her position. Calvin worked beside her, illuminating details from the probe scans and learning along the way.
But for a few hours, every few days, they were more. She was precious to someone. She filled someone’s day with meaning and purpose. There was no getting around that. She walked with her head held high and her shoulders back. She had an ace in her pocket, though no one else could see it.
For Aida, that was enough.
She arrived at her office and pulled up the latest batch of information. Today, the probe relayed the data about native species, though she didn’t think much would come from it. The aquatic regions showed only microscopic organisms, despite the planet being dominated by slightly-acidic water.
“Good morning, Dr. Perkins.” Calvin appeared in the doorway right on time. His emerald eyes shimmered.
Her heart leapt at the sight of him.
In his hand, he held a small plastic container with eggs and fruit. He set it on her desk without a word. She still didn’t know where he got it, but she didn’t care, as long as he continued to share with her.
“Good morning, Dr. Hill.” It was their usual joke, a humorous attempt at professionalism when they were so clearly more than that.
Calvin sat in the chair opposite hers, his tablet in his lap as he made some notes about the data they discussed.
“What’s it today? Native species?”
“Terrestrial and aerial,” she reminded him.
Calvin leaned forward with interest. “Let’s have it. The preliminary scans indicated insect- and mammal-like organisms, mostly the size of dogs or smaller. Hopefully we’ll get something a little more interesting than bacteria.”
Aida navigated through the files to find the right one. The probe made a vid of its low-altitude flybys. The initial images were blurry and fast, but her tablet compiled the information to create a three-dimensional projection of each organism.
First up, some sort of scaled creature with wide-pointed toes like a chameleon. Of course, distinctions such as amphibian, reptile, and mammal were strictly reserved for Earth, but Aida thought it looked like some sort of reptile. It was a deep fuchsia with large circles of plum and pink. The whole thing shimmered. “Fluorescence? Or Iridescence?” she asked, thinking out loud.
“Or possibly bioluminescence,” Calvin offered. Both knew it was purely conjecture. They wouldn’t know more about the organisms until the probe collected a sample population to be studied.
Aida used her stylus to draw a square around the image to capture it before she moved it to the side of her screen. It was assigned the indicator 196T-1.
Next, a long-bodied creature, like some sort of terrestrial eel. It had bunches of thick, chitinous hairs on the bottom, probably to move it across the substrate. It had no obvious head. They would have to wait for fauna collection to find out more.
On and on they went, documenting each organism scanned by the probe. In this preliminary survey, they would only have images of the most prevalent species, the ones accessible from the surface. Once given approval, the probe would attempt to capture a minimum population of each species for direct scanning and tagging. Aida knew well enough that the collections rarely went according to plan. The organisms often utilized defense mechanisms and survival strategies to avoid capture. Nonetheless, it would give them some base-line information about the ecology of the surface.
The majority of organisms were camouflaged within the crimson and magenta flora. Most had some sort of shimmer to their appearance, though they still couldn’t isolate the source. One insect-like creature with long, narrow appendages was bright yellow and nearly a foot long.
“This one lacks the camouflage of most of the others. You think it could have some sort of toxin?” Calvin asked as he made his notes.
“It’s a definite possibility. In the rain forests of South America, poisonous frogs were brightly colored to warn against predators. If that’s the case here, then this insect has a large predator that we haven’t yet identified.”
Calvin wrinkled his nose. “Large enough to eat that? It would be huge.”
“That should make it easier to find,” she reminded him, though they’d been at it all day and seen nothing that would qualify. Still, the probe had another 400 organisms in the first scan alone. There was still plenty of work to do before they could identify the predator.
“My place tonight?” Calvin asked out of the blue, shattering the mirage of productivity.
If she was honest with herself, she would have jumped up and down and screamed with excitement. Of course she wanted to see him tonight. Every night. All the nights left on this miserable hunk of mineral floating through space.
But she couldn’t do everything she wanted.
“Sal asked about me this morning. He noticed I wasn’t eating the provisions.”
>
Calvin’s jaw set tight. “You think we should take a break for a while?”
No. Never. “I don’t know. It’s just, he hasn’t asked about me in so long, I thought he would never notice.”
“He’s an intelligent man, and you’re a ravishing woman. I’m not surprised he noticed.” Calvin reached out and covered her hand with his.
“I am,” she admitted. It wasn’t that long ago that she’d tried to make him notice. And now, when she no longer wanted his attention, he tried to give it.
“Then take some time. Take as much time as you need. I’m not going anywhere.”
MABLE
CPI-700, NEW YORK
SEPTEMBER 2, 2232
Arrenstein commed her three times in a row, but she was busy. She didn’t want to answer or hear him gripe about hanging up on him last night. She and Theo had been up all night at work analyzing the bug dust, and they were finally getting some meaningful results.
“There’s a large quantity of iron with smaller amounts of manganese, lithium, and calcium. What the hell is this thing?” Theo asked no one in particular as the display filled with the bug’s metal composition test results.
Then an ecomm arrived, blocking the entire bottom half of the display. From Arrenstein, it had no text, just an image. Mable had to tap on it to see it.
A woman, early twenties maybe, lay on a bed with white sheets. The entire right half of her face was little more than a lumpy purple contusion, like she’d been struck dozens of times or involved in some sort of pod accident. Her left arm was bent at the wrong angle and wrapped with thick white fabric. Probably broken.
Mable couldn’t decide why he would send her such a thing. Then she saw the hair. The long blonde hair, perfectly platinum.
Hadley.
Mable gasped in shock. Tears shot into her eyes and blurred the image. She didn’t want to see it. She couldn’t look away.
Her Hadley.
What happened? How did she get hurt?
Mable realized the horrible truth of it in an instant. Someone had hurt Hadley to get to Mable. It impaled her like a spear through the chest.
She should never have left.
How long? She’d only been back at CPI a few days. When had it happened? Where was she?
Arrenstein knew. He had the picture.
“What the—?” Theo started before he realized who it was. “Shit. Come on.”
Theo’s hands wrapped around her shoulders pulled her from the chair. Once moving, her reflexes took over. She ran to the door and managed to get it open, though not gracefully. Waiting for the elevator was excruciating and torturous, but at last, the doors opened on the first floor.
The two ran, no-holds-barred, as fast as their feet would carry them to the pod garage. Arrenstein was already there. “If I’d known you wouldn’t answer—”
“Where is she?” Mable climbed into the front seat of the pod, one of the larger four-seat models.
He was going with them.
She didn’t have time to argue. She didn’t have time to be mad at him. That would be for later.
“Chicago Memorial.” Silas slid the travel badge beneath the pod’s nav scanner and put them into motion. Then, he handed both Theo and Mable the travel badge they would need for the shuttle.
“What happened?” Mable asked, though the answer was plain. Someone wanted Mable to kill them.
“I don’t know anything yet. I got a call that she was demanding to see me. They had to sedate her. I’m sorry, Maggie. I commed you as soon as I knew.”
Mable couldn’t hear him. Her pulse pounded in her ears so loud she couldn’t hear anything. She leaned forward and rested her forehead against her knees. She didn’t sit up until the pod stopped at the shuttle terminal.
The shuttle pushed into the air and carried them toward Chicago. Less than an hour of air time. It felt like an eternity.
Mable hated to feel this way, to feel like someone else had control over her, over the way she felt, even if they didn’t mean to. She worked hard to keep people at arm’s length, yet time and time again she failed. She’d pushed away Nolan first, with good reason, then Greg, and Rowen after that.
But how could she push away Hadley? Even Mable was powerless against her charm, her goodness.
And now she was suffering, alone. Mable couldn’t stand it. She wanted to punch someone, to kill them, to end any idea that Hadley would ever be treated that way again.
Another pod carried the silent trio from ground transport to the main entrance of Chicago Memorial Hospital. She waited nervously as Arrenstein found Hadley’s room and led them to the elevator.
Then, at last, there she was. Now she was awake, though otherwise she looked identical to the picture. Through the small viewing window on the door, Mable could see her free hand toying with the edge of the hospital blanket.
“Wallace family?” called a voice down the hall.
Mable choked back her tears and nodded. “I’m her sister.”
“She’s had quite an episode. Sorry, I’m Dr. Mason. She’s got considerable facial contusions, a broken radius and ulna on the right side. Three broken ribs, a spleen so badly bruised we thought it might have ruptured. There’s a hairline fracture in her skull but at this point it doesn’t warrant surgery. She’s lucky.”
Mable couldn’t hear any more of the long laundry list of ways Hadley had been brutalized in her absence. If Mable learned she’d been violated, she wasn’t sure she could handle it.
She pushed open the door and ran to her.
It was all she could do to throw her arms around Hadley and squeeze her as hard as she dared.
“Mable?” she heard Hadley gasp between violent sobs. Her free hand grasped at Mable’s arm and shoulder, like making sure she was real.
Mable refused to cry. She batted her eyes and looked away from Hadley’s battered features. She couldn’t look.
“I’m sorry, angel. I’m so sorry. I never should have left. This never would have happened.” Her words spilled out before she could pull them back.
Hadley only cried harder, her face pressed against Mable’s shoulder as hard as she dared.
“You know who did it?” Arrenstein asked from where he stood by the door.
Theo said something she didn’t hear, but she didn’t care. She was in no mood to discuss it with them. She came to see Hadley.
“I’m sorry,” Hadley said, her voice little more than a breath.
“No, you have nothing to be sorry for. This is my fault. I should have known. I thought—” As she remembered Rowen’s promise to keep Hadley safe, Mable’s heart broke. She realized now why Hadley was sorry.
“They killed him?” she asked, dreading the answer. The crack in her voice almost betrayed her agony.
Hadley’s renewed sobs were the only answer she needed.
ABRAHAM
LUNA COLONY
SEPTEMBER 2, 2232
Abraham didn’t like Siya from the moment he saw him. Something about the stranger, the look in his eye, the strange arrival, shook him to his core. It had only been two days, and Abraham already wished he’d never come. The sooner Siya was gone, the sooner things could go back to normal.
Charlene was not a person to be rushed. Abraham had a few things in mind, a few questions he’d like to ask, but he knew to let her have her time to think.
They kept Siya out of sight in Abraham’s room until they could get their instructions. But none had come. It was time to work it out for themselves.
At last, she called Abraham and Siya back to the kitchen. The children were safely tucked in their beds for naps. With crossed arms, she asked, “What makes you think this is Mars?”
Siya rolled his eyes, as if he was tired of the conversation as a whole.
Abraham moved closer and stood behind her. “She asked you a question.”
“Look outside. It’s red. You’re on the red planet. The moon is grey. You birds is colorblind.” Siya slammed his open palm against the metal table.
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Abraham seethed in anger. He wished he had the tablet. He wanted to search for articles and files related to the Earth’s moon and Mars. So far, he’d found nothing that could determine if Siya was lying.
He had to be.
There was no way they had been on a planet instead of the moon. It wasn’t possible.
“Charlie?” called out a small voice.
They spun to see Ellicot in the corridor, staring at Siya. Abraham had no doubt the sudden outburst was an alarming sight for a child so secure in their home. There were only fourteen people in Luna. He had no reason to expect to see a stranger at the kitchen table.
It was why they chose to keep Siya hidden from the children, at least until they could figure out what to do.
Charlene kept her eyes on Siya as she asked, “Can you take him back, please?”
But Abraham didn’t want to leave her alone with Siya, if that was his real name.
They didn’t know anything about him. He could be dangerous.
“Go on back to bed, Ellicot. I’ll be there in just a minute.”
Charlene grumbled but didn’t say anything. Abraham knew she was displeased, but he refused to leave her with the stranger.
“You have anything to eat?” Siya asked.
“Yeah, we—” Charlene started.
“No,” Abraham insisted. “I gave you enough. You don’t get anything else until lunch. We don’t know you. We don’t have any reason to trust you. There’s no way for us to know if you are who you say you are.”
Siya dissolved into a string of complaints in a language Abraham didn’t recognize. He pulled at the Velcro around his neck and pulled the zipper from his chin down to his waist. When he pulled back the chest of his suit, it revealed the letters MMCSA across the image of a red planet. Around the rim, white letters on royal-blue stitching read, Martian Mining Corporation South Africa.
Charlene gasped. Her face collapsed into her hands. Abraham wanted to scoop her up, to take her away from this stranger.
She pushed from her chair so fast he thought Siya had scared her somehow, but he sat in his chair with a satisfied smile.