Saturnius Mons

by Jeremy L. Jones

  “Any more of them?” asked Althea.

  Isra continued to scan the skies. “Got one of them. One of the others fled. Can’t see any others.”

  “Where’s Viekko?”

  “I cannot see him...oh wait. There he is. And he’s… oh no.” said Isra.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “He’s chasing one of those things from treetop to treetop. I think he means to catch the stupid thing.”

  The last few minutes were a blur. When Viekko opened his eyes, everything on the right side of his body hurt, and his hand felt like he smashed it with a hammer. He rolled over and saw the light from Rhea reflecting off the Venganto lying less than a meter away. It didn’t stir, breathe or do anything else that would make it appear alive. The eyes were still bright red points of light and he could see now that they protruded several centimeters from the creature’s face that was frozen in a snarl with long incisors bared.

  Viekko rolled over and grabbed the creature’s wing. It was hard and smooth, not like flesh, sinew, or bone. It was cool and artificial like plastic or some polycarbonate alloy.

  He sat up to get a better look. For a moment, the creature just lay there staring at him with those glowing red eyes. Then, as if the Venganto had come to as well, it twisted its limb away, rolled to its feet and started running through the trees back towards the camp. Its wings swept behind it like a bird, but every other way it moved was human, if not awkward. The way it stood up and ran was not smooth or natural but looked like a person trying to work around a cumbersome piece of equipment.

  Viekko groaned as he got to his feet and stumbled in the direction the thing ran. The Venganto ran past the last of the trees, entered the clearing, and spread its wings. Viekko sprinted forward, jumped, grabbed it by the midsection, and tackled it before it could get off the ground. The creature turned in his grip, kicked and beat him with its wings, but he just tightened his grip. The creature’s struggles became faster and more desperate. It continued to kick, twist and buck. Viekko’s hand slipped and found a strange protrusion just behind the head. The creature twisted again and Viekko pulled.

  There was a soft click followed by a whoosh of air and Viekko pulled something away from the Venganto’s face. He held it up for a split second in the moonlight. The creature's face was still frozen like a snarl, except there was no head behind it. Viekko realized his hand held some kind of sophisticated mask. Below him, he could make out bright blue eyes in the moonlight and a feminine face staring at him in terror.

  Before Viekko could process this information, the Venganto pulled a leg free and kicked. The blow connected hard with a particularly tender bit of Viekko’s anatomy. The world swirled into a personal Universe of pain. He curled up to lay in the mud, only aware of his own exquisite agony and screaming.

  Excitement, physical activity, and pleasure all release endorphins. So does pain. It’s why they are so closely linked in the human mind. Viekko managed to keep control of himself up to this point. The triple-T never even got close to overwhelming his brain; just the opposite, it made him clearer and sharper. The world slowed down to give him time to respond. Triple-T gave him an edge, so long as he could control the Rage.

  Unfortunately, he had never factored a minor testicular injury into the equation.

  When Viekko’s world came back into focus, the pain was gone. The biting cold of Titan was gone. Even the sound of wind blowing through the trees and the perpetual stench of petroleum and ammonia were gone. His attention condensed to the silhouette of the Venganto flapping its…her wings in the moonlight.

  Viekko sprang up and ran toward her with a single-minded intensity. She flapped her wings and caught sky just as Viekko closed in. He ran up the side of one of the small domed shelters and jumped. He got a grip on the Venganto’s ankle and pulled them both back down to the ground. They fell face-first into the mud and rolled several meters. Viekko lifted his head, spitting dirt, and tried to pull his prey closer. She spun around and tried to kick him with her free leg.

  At first, Viekko tried to get control of the other leg, but a strong, solid boot caught him along the side of his face and he lost his grip. Then, an instant later, the Venganto reared back and kicked with both feet. The blow caught Viekko under the chin and sent him sprawling backward.

  He blacked out for a moment and, when he came to, he sat up and spat out some more mud and a little blood. The Venganto was already in the air and gaining altitude quickly.

  Viekko’s world was wobbly but he was still oblivious to any pain. He jumped to his feet and started sprinting again. This time, he ran back along the forest and scrambled up a tree to the canopy. Once at the top, he took a flying leap and landed on a branch. The momentum carried him farther. He jumped from one tree to another using his inertia each time until his strides carried him across the treetops. His mind focused on nothing but the flapping wings just ahead.

  The flying bastard hadn’t picked up a lot of altitude yet. Viekko could reach her if he got within range. He lengthened his stride. He got closer to the Venganto and, a moment later, he kept pace with her. The line of trees came to an end up ahead so he put extra force into his last strides. When there was nothing left to jump to, Viekko threw his body out as far as he could and reached out to grab her before she was out of his reach.

  Even in the heat of the Rage, he realized two things:

  First, he couldn’t jump far enough to grab the Venganto. His hand brushed along her leg as she flew by, but there was nothing to grip.

  The second thing he noticed was why there was no tree ahead. The white crescent of Rhea reflected in the sub-zero water below him.

  Somewhere in the distance there was a voice like the sweetest angel calling his name before he splashed into the sea.

  Althea gunned the engine of the hovercraft. “What is he doing now?”

  Isra watched through the electronic binoculars. “The fool is still chasing the stupid thing. He’s going to fall into the Ligeia Mare if he keeps going like he is.”

  Althea caught a glimpse of both figures in the dim light. She pushed the hovercraft harder as Viekko got closer to his victim. Althea muttered to herself, “Don’t do it. Don’t do what I think you’re going to do.”

  “He is going for it,” said Isra

  Althea’s hand hurt as she tried to twist the throttle past its mechanical limits and she shouted out loud, “No! Viekko! Don’t!”

  Viekko lunged forward to grab the Venganto, missed and fell into the Ligeia Mare. Althea pushed all her weight into the throttle but it still wouldn’t go any faster.

  Isra lowered the binoculars. “We have to hurry. The water-ammonia combination on this planet is well below freezing. He will not last long out there.”

  Althea clenched her teeth. “The EROS suit and medical regulator will keep him alive for a few minutes.”

  At that temperature it was closer to a few seconds, but Althea pushed that thought from her mind.

  She slowed the hovercraft over the water and stood up in the seat. Her head turned every direction in a frantic attempt to see anything in the black water. “I can’t see him! It’s too dark!”

  Isra stood up and looked at the sea through the night vision on her rifle. “He is over there, Althea. Get close. I will use the arm to pull him out.”

  Althea circled the hovercraft around the body and Isra lowered the grabbing arm. It wrapped around Viekko’s leg and Isra shifted the controls to pull him out of the water. Althea reached out to help get him into the hovercraft. The water-ammonia solution was so cold that just touching Viekko’s wet clothes felt like needles pressing into her hands.

  When they laid him across the back seats, his whole body started shaking so hard it looked like a seizure. Althea put her hand on his forehead. Corpses weren’t that cold.

  “Viekko! Viekko! Can you hear me?” yelled Althea.

  “Alth...Alth...Althea?” said Viekko in between his chattering teeth.

  �
�Viekko! Stay with me!”

  “The...the...they’re human! Althea. Vvvvenganto. Huhuhuuman.”

  Isra scrambled to the controls while Althea tried to keep Viekko focused on her. “It’s okay, Viekko. It’s going to be okay. Just try not to go to sleep.”

  Viekko shook harder. “H...h…uman...They...just... ” Then he closed his eyes.

  Isra yelled over the rising whine of the hovercraft engines. “How is he?”

  Althea shouted back, “I think he’s going into shock. We need to get him medical attention, fast.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Just as people have managed to adapt to and settle in virtually every environment on Earth, they soon found their place on alien worlds. One thousand years later, one can only imagine what those people would look like to us. Who knows what generations outside our terrestrial Eden will do to the human body and mind? Whatever the consequence, I believe the human spark can endure.

  -from The Fall: The Decline and Failure of 21st Century Civilization by Martin Raffe.

  Isra kicked the door to the armory open and, with Althea’s help, carried the unconscious body of Viekko Spade inside. They laid him on the ground and Isra yelled, “Close the door. And barricade it. Before those things find out where we are.”

  Cronus shut the door and started fumbling the metal bar to brace it while the two women took Viekko to a wooden bench that ran along a series of metal supply lockers.

  He continued to thrash as they laid him down, although his movements were weak. He moaned, “No...hu…humans. Don’t…”

  Althea started unbuttoning his formerly white jacket now smeared with black mud. “He’s in shock. Get these wet clothes off of him. Strip him down to the EROS suit.”

  Isra removed his boots and socks and unbuttoned his pants. The cloth was stiff, cold, and cracked when it moved. Isra’s fingers hurt just touching it.

  Within minutes, he was down to the tight fitting EROS suit and the medical regulator mounted on his shoulder. All the time, Viekko continued to mumble about the Venganto. Althea sat back, pulled up her sleeve and activated the diagnostics on her EROS computer.

  Isra stood up. “What is he saying now?”

  Althea shook her head. “He’s delirious. Still talking about the Venganto. Keeps saying that they are human.

  Isra sat back to watch Althea work. “Is he going to live?”

  Althea scrolled through the data and shook her head. “I don’t know. The medical regulator and the EROS suit used up almost all of their power trying to keep his core temperature up. Right now, he will die without them.”

  “All the power?” asked Isra, tapping her own regulator. “Both devices are powered by nano-porous electrodes. They can operate for months without a replacement.”

  Althea shook her head. “Water at freezing temperature can kill someone in a half an hour. And the Ligeia Mare has so much ammonia and other chemicals that it’s significantly below that. It needed every bit of energy just to keep his body above ninety-five degrees.”

  “So what do we do?” asked Isra.

  Althea looked around the lab. “I need a replacement battery for the RX5. Size NB-103. Usually used to power portable industrial devices. There might be something around here.”

  Isra got up and walked to the equipment storage. There were guns of every shape and size on the walls, crates full of ammunition, and work tables filled with all manner of unidentifiable equipment. Isra looked around helplessly. “I do not even know where to begin.”

  Cronus came up beside her and pulled an electronic rifle down off the rack, the same type the guards inside the shuttle were carrying earlier. Cronus turned it over in his hand. “One never appreciates the nature of things until they stop to think about it. Complete incapacitation at a distance, no lasting harm, no long term ill effects. In terms of crowd control, nothing like it has been developed before or since. A marvel of engineering.” He took it by the front and smashed it as hard as he could on the side of the work table. Isra jumped back as shards of metal, glass and plastic flew in all directions. “It’s too bad that the Corporation would rather sell a thousand of them than make the batteries rechargeable,” he said, picking a small donut-shaped device out of the remains.

  He brought the battery to Althea who ejected the spent one from the medical regulator. She put the new one in its place and sat back on her heels. There was a small, high-pitched whine from the device, then it went silent and Viekko went completely still.

  Althea felt for a pulse, “Need to wait for the system to boot up. His core temperature is still in the toilet. Hopefully he doesn’t suffer permanent damage.

  “Will he live?” asked Isra.

  Althea leaned back. “He’s just passed out. We won’t know until he comes out of this.”

  Viekko was Althea’s problem now; time to move on to the next issue. Among the guns mounted on the wall were several knives of varying size and intimidation qualities. Isra selected something large and nasty-looking.

  While that little saboteur Cronus watched Althea and beamed over his minor contribution, Isra spun him around and held the knife to his throat. “While we wait, perhaps we could discuss what you are doing back here.”

  “Isra...” Althea started.

  “Please stay out of this, Althea. You deal with your patient, I will deal with mine. Once again, Cronus. What are you doing here?”

  Cronus tried to look down at the knife pressing against his neck. He held his breath as if it would keep the blade from slicing it open. “I suppose this isn’t another diversion, is it?”

  Isra flicked her wrist. A dot of blood appeared. “It is not. I need answers now and the knife should persuade you to be both honest and, most importantly, quick.”

  Cronus took a long, deep breath. “I...I had an idea. I know how you can stop the war. If you kill me, you will never figure it out. I came back to help. I just wanted to help you. Please don’t kill me!”

  “Isra. Just listen to him for a minute,” said Althea.

  Isra studied Cronus's face. He was tragically inept, his train of thought was on far too steep a grade, and his priorities were manic at the best of times, but every muscle twitch in his face radiated sincerity. Or maybe a deep desire to not be bled like a pig. She let Cronus go and paced around the armory for a few moments to set her own mind right.

  Finally, and as much for effect as anything else, she jabbed the knife hard into a wooden work table. “Okay, Cronus. I will listen to what you have to say.”

  Cronus gulped. “Okay, it’s like this. The people on this planet, they worship the corporation. Well, not the Corporation, but a corporation. But see, the corporation has become the Corporation. So what we do is we get the head of the Corporation to speak to them as the head of the corporation. The two sides see that their corporation is now the Corporation and maybe they work together for the good will of the Corporation.”

  Isra and Althea sat blinking in a sort of bewildered silence. Isra pulled the knife from the workbench. “That is it. I am killing him.”

  “No, no, wait,” said Althea. “I think it’s a bit brilliant in a way.”

  Isra blinked, glancing from Althea to Cronus. “Then clearly you heard something that I did not.”

  Althea leaned back. “This planet has developed a kind of bizarre cult around the old Transplanetary Energy Corporation, yes? So we use that. The people will surely listen if the Kompanio tells them to stop the war.”

  Isra threw the knife away. “Well, that is all well and good in theory, but these people are not stupid. We have no credibility left with the Houston or Halifaco. They have no reason to listen to us anymore.”

  Cronus relaxed just enough to breathe normally, “The Kompanio have contacted the City before. The giant screen in the city center. The screens at the spaceport. There was a time when this colony was in constant contact with Earth. All we need to do is re-establish that connection through the old channels.”


  Isra paused a moment. He was right. He was a pedantic little turd, but he was right. She imagined screens all over the city lighting up for the first time in a millennia. If that sight didn’t inspire awe and pause in the city, then it was a lost cause.

  Viekko’s medical regulator finished rebooting and Althea replaced the reader into the port and checked the readout. “He’s fine for now. The medical regulator will keep his blood moving, but just barely. It will take some time for his core temperature to get back to normal. And I gave him some medication to mitigate any organ damage but he’s going to be out for a while.”

  Isra looked down and shook her head. “Damn it, Viekko. What could have possessed him to do something like this?”

  Althea went to grab something in her medical bag and then stopped. Every part of her face showed shock and fear. Whatever she found, she wouldn’t pull it out and she avoided looking Isra in the face.

  Isra knelt down beside her. “Althea, what is wrong?”

  Althea shook her head still avoiding Isra’s gaze. “Nothing…it’s nothing.”

  Isra’s gaze hardened. “Althea...”

  The medic sighed and pulled her hand from her bag with something clenched in her fist. She opened it up to show Isra five shiny blue capsules.

  Isra examined them for a moment. “What exactly are those?”

  Althea gulped and breathed hard to try and keep from breaking down. “Trihydroxide. Thiosulfate. Tretraoxide.”

  Nobody said anything for several minutes. Those three words had been repeated over and over across all parts of the Neuvonet so often that the chemical names were no longer a term reserved for those with specialized knowledge. It was a household name associated with horrible, senseless atrocities committed on all corners of the Earth. Murder, rape, suicide; violent crime of all kinds had been on the rise over the last several years with one drug to blame.

  “Triple-T!” said Cronus, looking at Viekko. “Viekko Spade is on triple-T?”