Mars Rising (Domeworld Saga Book 1)

by John Corwin

  "Good idea." Max led her back to the airlock and revealed the hidden control panel. Scarlett left the toughsuit, the bubble helmet, and several other odds and ends in the airlock.

  Max peered over her shoulder. "Why don't you give me a smaller blaster? This sniper rifle is heavy."

  Scarlett handed him a back holster and a carbine blaster with a scope. It was shorter and lighter than the sniper rifle, but still provided some range in case they needed it. She took the other pistol and holstered it on her left hip.

  Max removed a battery pack from his backpack and compared it to the one in the carbine. "Well, at least these are standard size." He checked it against the pack on the pistol and confirmed the match. "I think you can leave the rest of that stuff here. I've got food and water in the backpack."

  Scarlett didn't like the idea of leaving everything behind, but for now it made sense. "What if someone comes looking for us from City 7?"

  Max looked around and pointed to some thick underbrush. "We can hide the duffel in there. Just take out the food so an animal doesn't find it."

  She removed the remaining fruit and bread and left it on the airlock floor then hid the duffel with the other weapons and battery packs in the bushes.

  Max looked at the bladewheel. "Wish we had more use for that." He shrugged and hit the button to close the airlock door. "Let's go."

  Scarlett felt immensely happy not to have the added weight of the duffel bag on her back as they hiked the perimeter path. The trees grew thicker and taller in this part of the jungle, but none rivaled the height of the wall. Max checked the epad frequently and called a halt when they drew within range of the door icon.

  Max motioned Scarlett off the path. "Let's circle through the forest." He forged through the thick underbrush and vanished.

  Scarlett tried to follow close behind, but stumbled through a thicket of briars and lost him. "Max?" she hissed. "Max?"

  A hand clamped over her mouth and dragged her back. She tried to scream, but Max whispered in her ear. "Quiet."

  Scarlett elbowed him in the belly and broke free, turning to give him an angry glare. Max jabbed a finger to the right. Just through the bushes, a narrow path was visible, and down it, a wide metal door.

  "That's where the rangers come from," Max whispered.

  "Do you see any?" Scarlett asked.

  He shook his head.

  "Then why are you whispering?"

  Max pointed to a small transparent dome affixed to the wall. "That looks like the cameras we have in City 7."

  Scarlett crouched lower. "Let's go. This place doesn't feel safe."

  Max stared at the door. "Remember how you said you didn't want to live like a nomad for the rest of your life?"

  Scarlett's forehead pinched. "Yes, why?"

  He crouched next to her. "What if we could take over the ranger station?"

  "Take it over?" Scarlett hissed. "Are you insane, Max?"

  "Just insane enough to think we could do it." He looked around and pointed out a tree with wide, thick branches. "We could hide up there and watch for the other ranger. When she comes out, we capture her and interrogate her about how many people are in the headquarters, what kind of defenses they have, and so forth."

  Scarlett's mouth fell open. "You want to kidnap someone so we can take over her home? Max, that is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. What if there's a hundred people working in there?" She waved an arm around the forest. "How many people does it take to maintain a place like this?"

  "That's what I aim to find out," Max replied in a dead even tone.

  "What if we find out there are too many people for us to handle? Are you going to kill the other ranger too?"

  He nodded without hesitation. "Look, you said exploring this place was a good idea. You want Alderman and his boys gone just as much as I do. Unless you want to play hide-and-go-seek the rest of your life, I suggest you help me think of a way to find our own safe place." Max motioned his head east. "Let's circle around and keep looking for trees."

  It took Scarlett a moment to follow him since her brain was still processing Max's crazy idea. She hated to admit that he was partially right. Unless they found a safe place to live, they would always be on the run, but she didn't like the idea of kidnapping or killing anyone. Something like that hit too close to home, especially after her close call with the insurgents.

  When she caught up with Max he stood at the base of a massive tree with chunky brown bark just a few feet off the perimeter path. He stared up with awe. "I didn't know trees grew this big."

  Scarlett peered up. It looked as though the top rose slightly higher than the wall, and several branches extended across the path, possibly offering a way to reach their goal. But there was one big obstacle to overcome. "How in the dome are we supposed to climb this thing?" The lowest branches looked fifty feet high and the trunk was certainly too wide to straddle.

  Max gripped a knot in the bark and tested it. "As long as I'm careful, I think I can grip the bark." He circled the trunk. "I don't see any vines we can use."

  "You're a fool if you think you can use hand strength to scale this thing, Max." Scarlett set hands to hips and glared at him. "I'll bet you don't get twenty feet."

  Max huffed impatiently. "Well I guess you'll just have to catch me if I fall."

  "Don't count on it," Scarlett said. "I will watch you all the way to the ground." She smacked her hands together to drive home the point.

  Max set his backpack and blaster on the ground. He braced a foot on a lump of bark and grabbed a knot then pulled himself up. "If that's the case, then don't let me suffer."

  "Don't ask me to give you a quick easy end," Scarlett said. "I'll let you suffer a minute for every soul you sent to feed."

  "Reckon I deserve it," Max said, pulling himself up another few inches, his boot scuffing the bark in search of a foothold. He made it a little more than ten feet before he paused to rest. "This is a lot harder than I thought."

  "And it's about to get a lot harder," said a new voice. A sharp stick with feathers on the end plunged into the tree inches from Max's left hand.

  Chapter 33

  Max yelped and half-slid, half-fell down the tree, landing in a heap at the bottom. Pain lanced up his ankle. He tried to move into cover, but a woman in a tight uniform covered with brown and green patterns stepped from behind a bush. A black cap covered her head. One hand held taut a string with another stick cocked and ready to fly and she wore a small blaster by her side.

  Max had seen a weapon like that in a book but couldn't remember what it was called. He didn't need to know the name to see that it could impale him just as effectively as a blaster bolt.

  Scarlett raised her hands and backed away. "Is that a bow and arrow?"

  The woman released the tension on the bow, but seemed no less dangerous. "Why the bloody hell are you wearing Creed's clothes?" she asked Max in an accent similar to Creed's. She glared at Scarlett. "Are those my spare boots?"

  Ice gripped Max's heart. The second ranger had found them. "I found them in a shelter."

  She pointed the arrow at the backpack. "That's Creed's backpack." Her eyes narrowed. "Where is he?"

  Max tried to think of a clever lie, but came up blank. If this woman was anything like Creed, it didn't matter what he said. The best thing to do was find cover and then get his blaster. Luckily the carbine sat behind the tree out of sight of the woman.

  "Answer me," the woman said.

  "He's dead." If Max hoped that statement would shock the woman enough to make her drop her guard, he was wrong. He tried to lunge behind the tree, but the woman cocked the arrow and stared him down.

  "Don't even think about it." The woman motioned Scarlett with the tip of the arrow. "Drop your weapons and join your friend at the tree."

  Scarlett eased the blasters from their holsters and dropped them, then walked over to Max. The woman, still holding the bow at the ready, knelt down and inspected the blasters. "These look like the models used
by marshals." She narrowed her eyes and studied Max. "But I don't recognize either of you."

  Despite the precarious situation, Max took her statement as a positive sign. If she recognized all the security people, that meant there weren't many of them. "We're with maintenance," he said.

  She frowned and shook her head. "Did you kill Creed?"

  Max nodded. "He tried to hunt me down like an animal. I tricked him."

  "I believe the first part, but I find it hard to believe you outsmarted Creed." She lowered the bow. "Don't get brave. I can draw and shoot faster than most people can fire a blaster."

  "I believe you," Scarlett said. "You must be the other ranger."

  "Creed didn't care about knowing other people," the woman replied. "I made it a point to get to know everyone in the station and I've never seen either of you."

  "We're not from here," Scarlett said. "We came from City 7."

  The woman stared blankly at her. "A city? There aren't any cities here."

  "Creed didn't believe me either," Max said, "but it's the truth."

  "How many people live in this city of yours?"

  Max shrugged. "Three thousand, give or take."

  The ranger's eyes widened. "Thousand?"

  Since the woman seemed more curious than murderous, now seemed a good time to probe for information. "How many people live in the station?"

  "Two hundred forty-three." She cocked her head to the side. "If such a city exists, why did you leave?"

  "Because the government tried to kill us," Scarlett said.

  "Government?" The ranger seemed befuddled.

  Scarlett raised an eyebrow. "Yes, the people who make the rules."

  "Ah, like a council," the other woman said.

  Max hopped in, trying to continue the conversation to buy time. "Who tells you what to do?"

  The woman grimaced. "The science council." She sighed. "Which brings us back to the point." Her eyes bored into Max and her hand tensed on the bow. "Did you really kill Creed?"

  The bottom seemed to drop out of his stomach. The ranger was done talking, probably seconds away from spitting them with her arrows. Max regretted telling her he'd outsmarted and killed Creed. That made it far more likely she'd think them dangerous and kill them quickly.

  Max nodded and rose to his feet. His ankle was a little sore, but it wasn't sprained. He could probably make it behind the tree before she impaled him with an arrow. He didn't know if Scarlett could make it though, so he came up with another idea. "I can take you to his body if you want."

  The woman hesitated, shook her head. "The animals can eat him for all I care." She pointed to the backpack. "I want you to put your weapons in the knapsack and then I want you to show me how to get to the city."

  "Why would you want to go to the city?" Scarlett asked, shock plain on her face. "They'd just as soon kill you as let you in."

  "I never said I wanted to go there," the ranger said. "I want to see how to get there."

  Max stared, bemused, at the ranger. "Why don't you like Creed?"

  "Because you're not the first person he hunted," she replied in a flat tone. "The council gave him others to hunt over the years."

  "What?" Scarlett shrieked. "Why would they do such a thing?"

  "Punishment for breaking the rules." The ranger's knuckles turned white. "Now, do what I asked, and show me how to get to the city."

  Scarlett scooped up the blasters and put them in the backpack, but left Max's carbine where it lay since the ranger apparently hadn't seen it.

  "Put the knapsack on him," the ranger said.

  "That's Max and I'm Scarlett," Scarlett said, easing the straps over Max's arms. "What's your name?"

  The ranger hesitated before answering, "Yana."

  Scarlett frowned. "Why do you talk so funny?"

  Max cringed.

  Yana lifted an eyebrow. "I was going to ask you the same thing." She motioned with the arrow. "Head south and turn due east at the redwood tree with the bear claw marks on it."

  Scarlett looked confused, but Max still had his bearings and started walking.

  "Don't think the underbrush will hide you if you try to run," Yana said. "I'll be shadowing you."

  Max turned around to look at the ranger, but she'd vanished from sight.

  Scarlett shivered. "I feel like I'm being hunted."

  "Believe me, it's a lot worse than this," Max said, looking around for signs of their warden. "This is more like having a babysitter."

  "You reckon she could catch us like she says?" Scarlett dropped to a knee. "I'll bet she couldn't find us if we crawled real quietly."

  "Stand up, Scarlett," Yana called from somewhere nearby. "Keep moving."

  Max tugged Scarlett up by her arm. She wriggled free and gave him an angry look. "Keep your hands off me, Max, or I'll knee you where the sun don't shine."

  Max growled. "Just do me a favor and shoot her," he said, continuing forward.

  Scarlett's eyes widened. "You'd be happy if I was dead."

  "No, but I'd have a lot more peace in my remaining days." Max spotted the redwood tree scarred with claw marks a few minutes later and turned east.

  "Keep going 'til you reach the path," Yana said from right behind him.

  Scarlett shrieked and jumped high as a scared cat. Max flinched and spun.

  "I thought Creed was good," Max said.

  Yana's upper lipped curled disdainfully. "He was good at tracking and killing." She nodded her chin forward. "Get moving."

  They reached the path a ways south of the door and out of sight of the camera. Max decided that was a positive thing. Unless Yana was faking her dislike of Creed, she might actually let them live. The other very real possibility was that she might kill them anyway out of a sense of duty.

  It seemed the only way to know for sure was to ask. "What do you plan to do with us, Yana?"

  "I haven't decided," she replied. "Right now I simply want to determine if you're telling the truth."

  "Where else would we have come from?" Scarlett said.

  Scarlett's question raised a host of others. "Where do the people in your station come from?" Max asked.

  "That is a very good question," Yana said. "I used to think we were born there, but unlike the animals in the habitat, we are unable to procreate. Most of the time, the council will simply introduce a new baby to one of the foster families and tell them how the child is to be instructed."

  "Were you raised to be a ranger?" Max asked.

  She nodded.

  "So you have schools there," Scarlett said.

  "Every child is taught about the animals in the habitat, about the environment, and all the many variables that go into maintaining it." Yana knelt next to a mound of droppings and inspected it for a moment. She stood and motioned them onward. "We are evaluated several times during our education and then told what our final assignments will be. Maintenance personnel go to technical school, for example."

  "Sound just like City 7," Max said.

  Scarlett tapped a finger on her chin. "I'll bet you're a freezer baby like me."

  Yana stopped in her tracks. "I once overheard a scientist using this term. What does it mean?"

  Max slowed his pace. "It means they took a frozen egg and sperm and fertilized the egg in a test tube." He splayed his hands. "Sarah told me they use artificial wombs to grow the babies."

  The ranger resumed walking. "Who is Sarah?"

  A lump formed in Max's throat. "She was my sister."

  "Where is she?" Yana asked.

  Sarah grips Max by the arm. "Alderman won't listen to you. You and Scarlett need to accept there are just some things you can't change!"

  Max staggered. Another hallucination. He'd never had that conversation with Sarah.

  "She died coming here," Scarlett said, continuing the conversation since Max hadn't answered.

  "Did an animal get her?" Yana asked.

  Max wiped at his eyes and tried to answer, but his throat refused to cooperate.

>   "There are some things I need to explain about City 7," Scarlett said. "Our government is strict about what we can do or say. If you break their rules, they can execute you." Scarlett stared blankly for a moment and shook her head like a wet dog.

  "Like our council," Yana said in a harsh voice.

  "Yes, I suppose." Scarlett seemed to recover from whatever had bothered her. "If you're sentenced to die, you get a choice to feed the father or feed the daughter."

  "What kind of rubbish is that?" ranger said in disgust. "Do you eat human flesh?"

  Max's throat cleared enough to speak. "The father is Mars, and the daughter is the city. Feeding means our bodies are sent back into the ground to nourish one or the other."

  "Sound disgusting." Yana tucked away a lock of black hair that strayed from within her cap. "Were you sentenced to die?"

  "Max was," Scarlett said. "I chose to leave the dome and take my chances on the surface of Mars."

  "You've been on the surface?" A mix of curiosity and fear colored her voice. "What's it like?"

  "That brings me to the next part of the story," Scarlett said. She gave a brief recollection of what had happened to her and Max, conveniently leaving out how much she disliked him and how she'd betrayed him in the end. Her description of the room with the fake setting of Mars drew flabbergasted looks from Yana.

  "Why employ such subterfuge?" Yana's voice grew high pitched. "It sounds absolutely mad."

  "This whole place is mad," Scarlett said.

  "We wanted to see the real outside," Max said, "but the tallest trees are up near your headquarters."

  "It's impossible to see outside," Yana said. "I have climbed the dome wall before, but the lower section of the glass is opaque."

  Max's heart tumbled. "Could you use a ladder?"

  She shook her head. "Even if I could sneak a ladder outside and then bring it up the wall with me, it would be very difficult to brace it against the curved glass without it falling over backward."

  "Bastards!" Max pounded a fist into the other palm. "Why is everything kept secret from us? It's like we're a bunch of rats in a maze, kept in the dark about whatever lies around the next bend."

  "If your city exists, then I'd certainly agree," Yana replied. "I don't understand why they'd keep its existence from us."