Miranda's Demons

by Ian Miller

  Not that that helped the settlers, who had an almost insurmountable problem. The almost total lack of adequate air pressure made life outside the domes impossible without very sophisticated support vehicles. With few weapons and no fighting ability, even defeating the Brownshirts would be difficult. But they had absolutely no defence against a space attack, and such an attack was so pathetically easy. A dome could not be missed by any weapon, and it could not resist such an attack. If resistance succeeded, they would be exterminated. If they did not revolt, most would die anyway. They were the living dead, and they knew it. Nobody in the group laughed; outside, nobody even looked up to view the salmon coloured Martian sky through the dome.

  Gaius left the tavern. He would have liked to stay, since there was an enormous amount of information to be picked up, but he had realized that he alone was not drinking, and that made him conspicuous. He was not drinking because he could not pay for anything. After all that time on Ulse, where he had never had to pay for anything, he had completely forgotten to get any local currency.

  * * *

  The Shibatus continued to feed him without asking for any payment. He felt a little embarrassed, for they clearly had expectations, and they looked to him to do something. There was a continual sequence of looks, and hints, of expectation. At last they could wait no longer. Misako, Akiro, and Haruhiko took Gaius to one side, and asked him whether he had plans for the escape.

  "We have to wait," Gaius replied quietly.

  "The draft is only four days away," Akiro protested. "I know Misako. She won't go on that draft, no matter what. She'll commit suicide first."

  "We've got to do something," Haruhiko agreed. "It's only going to get harder as the day gets closer. Their security always tightens as the end approaches, because that's when the desperate try to escape!"

  "But you still have no plan," Gaius pointed out.

  "We were relying on you," Misako said. "You agreed to help, and you seem to know what to do."

  "Then give me time," Gaius said quietly.

  "We should act," Haruhiko stated firmly.

  "How?" Akiro asked.

  "We could kill the M'starn," Haruhiko said, and waved an arm about. "If we failed, it would be a glorious finish."

  "That's impossible," Akiro said in despair. "We can't do that sort of thing."

  "We just can't sit here doing nothing," Haruhiko said, and he embraced Misako softly.

  "Have you made any progress at all?" Misako pleaded.

  "That depends on what you mean by progress," Gaius remarked. It was time to improvise a little. "I have at least three methods in mind for getting out of Hellas."

  "Three! Please tell us!"

  "I can't," Gaius smiled, "because to work, they depend on surprise. If I told you, sooner or later one of you would want to go and give the site a look-over, and that would make someone suspicious. Then the idea wouldn't work."

  "Then why don't we just leave now?"

  "Because I still don't know what to do once you've got away. Where will you go? How will you stay alive?"

  "There're miners," Haruhiko said. "We could find one and . . ."

  "And breathe all his air, eat all his food. Are you sure you'd be welcome?"

  "I suppose not," Haruhiko said, mournfully.

  "That's why you have to trust me. Any plan has to go further than merely getting out of Hellas." He paused, and added, "For what it's worth, I have also made some progress. There are food dumps out in the wastes, if I can locate them, however I'm not sure I want to inflict those on you."

  "What do you mean, inflict?" Haruhiko demanded in an unnecessarily loud voice.

  "How's your navigation?" Gaius asked pointedly. "How far out into the wastes have you travelled?"

  "Not far," Haruhiko admitted.

  "And not without someone else navigating," Akiro pointed out.

  "Don't worry," Gaius smiled. "There're a lot more problems coming up, so there's no point in worrying about any in particular."

  "Is there anything we can do," Misako asked softly.

  "As a matter of fact, there is," Gaius smiled, "although whether you want to is another matter."

  "Tell us!"

  "On that fence in front of your house there's a sheet of aluminium."

  "I saw that," Misako frowned. "Where did it come from?"

  "I found it," Gaius shrugged.

  "You stole it?" Misako asked with apprehension. "Someone might . . ."

  "If you want to get out of here," Gaius shrugged, "you're going to have to do more than pick up a sheet of aluminium. Anyway, what I want someone to do is to polish it up to make a really good mirror."

  "Polish it?" Akiro frowned.

  "It's called work," Gaius grinned, "and it'll give you something to do to stop worrying. As for whether it's any use, you'll have to trust me."

  There was a general discussion, and finally Misako spoke to Gaius. "I trust you," she said softly. "All the same, I may get back in touch with Enrico."

  "Then don't tell him about me," Gaius insisted.

  * * *

  The next morning, he followed the paved road into the town, a road that seemed to emphasize every deficiency of Mars. The pavings into town, the walls and fences, posts, and many of the other massive civil engineering items, were red, red brown, or brown red. The only breaks in the red were the occasional patches of green, where some settler had made a real effort to grow something. Wherever possible small trees, ornamental shrubs, and especially plants that required little water were growing. Virtually everything on Mars was against settlement, yet it was settled. One hurdle after another had been overcome, then came the M'starn. They could not be overcome. Gaius could easily see why all the spirit had been knocked out of the settlers.

  The town was strangely silent. A few people walked between shops, but there was little to purchase. Almost anything of value had been taken by the M'starn, or stolen by the Brownshirts. There seemed to be a form of barter by which town people received food illegally from the farms, or even from Theppot, but this was carried out under cover. Nobody carried goods around; if they did the Brownshirts would steal it. He almost felt like giving up, and at one stage when two Brownshirts came around a corner in front of him, he felt he might have erred in coming. However, he walked purposefully onwards, and nodded casually to the Brownshirts as he passed them. They stared at him, but then continued.

  He was about to turn back when he saw in front of him the one building with people coming in and out reasonably frequently; the Brownshirt, and probably the M'starn headquarters. He walked casually and slowly past it, but watched keenly, checking everything that happened. People going in, he noted, had to undergo rigorous security checks; palm print matching, verification of documents, image matching with the computer information banks, and a lengthy interrogation. But there was no check coming out. This gave Gaius an idea.

  The Headquarters was a building with seven floors, but next to it was a row of similar buildings, each built to the same plan. Each building was separated from its neighbour by a gap of about three metres to allow small balconies to be built for the occupants to rest, admire the view, or keep pot plants outside. This left, on a planet with such a weak gravitational field as Mars, a rather unorthodox security problem. With negligible crime on Mars, there was negligible security. Gaius casually walked up to a building two away from the M'starn headquarters, he walked up to the front door, entered unchallenged, then he climbed the stairs. As he expected, the stairs gave free entry to the roof. He had a quick check of the gap between this and the adjacent building, then walked back, and turned towards the edge of the roof. Three bounds and a leap took him onto the adjacent building.

  He crept to the side nearest the headquarters and looked over this edge. Two guards were below, but in earnest conversation, and were unlikely to look up. He edged back to the small part of the building that housed the stairwell, and examined the headquarters. There was a guard on the roof, but on the far side of the air conditionin
g plant housing, and it seemed he was not very alert. Gaius moved over to the part of the roof that shaded him from the guard, then he took a run and leaped and landed easily on the headquarters roof. The guard appeared to have noticed nothing, and Gaius found he could creep to the stairs entrance unchallenged. He paused and altered the colour of his chameleon suit to M'starn black. He then put earplugs into his ears.

  Gaius crept down the stairs and looked down the empty corridor. The top floor of this building, Gaius reasoned, would have an excellent view of the forest from the southern rooms, which meant that these rooms would probably be taken by the most important people. Gaius crept to the first door and tested it. It was unlocked. He had a quick look around the empty room, and then began searching the drawers of the desk and filing cabinets. The information was largely related to the mechanics of keeping the settlement supplied, although he did find maps showing the location of two M'starn emergency fuel and food depots with their security codes. He gratefully copied these, and quickly left the room.

  The next room was also unlocked, but it was not empty; the M'starn officer who was huddled over a computer screen turned around, saw Gaius, and reached for his desk. Gaius raised the Krezell wand and gave a quick burst of high-energy high frequency sound. The M'starn officer fell back, clutching at his ears. Gaius took a knife from his belt, leapt over the desk, and drove the knife in at the base of the neck, and twisted up. The M'starn officer fell to the floor, dead. Gaius dragged the body to a cupboard, put it in, slammed the door then he went over to the computer.

  He was in luck. The M'starn officer had entered the main military data banks, and to Gaius' amazement there were plans of the major M'starn base, a list of the damaged ships, their repair schedule, a schedule for space flights over the next two months, the proposed labour drafts, and an account of the current M'starn deployment throughout the solar system. He quickly took copies of what he could. Almost all of this information should have been barred to Mars, as there was no need for the Martian officers to know it. On the other hand, the M'starn were known to be very proud, and to be denied information was a sign of loss of face. Gaius quickly thanked the Gods for this character defect.

  Gaius had just finished his copying and had placed the folded copies into his pocket when the door opened. Two Brownshirts strode into the room.

  "Hey! Who're you?"

  Gaius drew the Krezell wand and was about to use it, when he was amazed to see the guards suddenly jump to attention, and say with extreme anxiety, "Sorry, sir! We did not know generals were . . . well . . . ever . . . um . . . looking like us."

  Gaius had no idea how they had come to the wrong conclusion, but he recognized the conclusion they had drawn, and he knew how to take advantage.

  "I'm unhappy about the salt miners!" he mumbled, and turned as unobtrusively as he could to remove the earplugs.

  "That's not our department . . ." one of them quickly began.

  "It will be as from now!" Gaius said harshly. "You will now accompany me to the scout vehicles. I want an immediate report on what is operational."

  "But we have to . . ."

  "You may carry out my orders, or you will suffer. Do I make myself clear!"

  "Yes sir! Do you wish to lead, sir?"

  "I wish you to get going!" Gaius' voice dropped to almost a whisper, but it was so hard that its meaning was clear. He had a clear advantage in being used to command.

  The two men turned and slouched out of the room. For an instance, Gaius was tempted to stop them and dress them down, but then he realized the M'starn probably did not care. He should not draw too deeply into his store of luck.

  They marched out the front of the building. When one of the outer guards looked as if he would question the party, Gaius showed the Krezell wand in the form of a staff salute, and there was immediate subservience. They marched to the transport centre, and Gaius requested a full report on the operational ability of all ground transport at Hellas. He was given a two-page report.

  "This is worse than I feared," he said, turning to the engineer. "Well, don't just stand there gawking, man! Get on with it!" The engineer trembled and began to explain about the difficulties with parts. "I don't want excuses," Gaius went on. "I want results. Fix what you can, and soon."

  "Yessir!" came the reply, and the engineer backed off, as if expecting some further command. He finally turned and rushed back to his workers.

  "You two," Gaius said, turning to the two Brownshirts. "You've got work to do?"

  "Well, yes. We're supposed to be . . ."

  "Then go and do it. Now!" Gaius waved them away with the wand. They looked suspiciously at him, but when he looked angrily up at them again, they fled. He watched them leave, then he followed, turned into another alleyway, and after checking that nobody was watching, he readjusted the colour of his suit to a more common light brown. He then quickly walked from the town to the forest, and after checking that he was not followed, made his way back to the Shibatu household.

  * * *

  Misako was puzzled to see Gaius in different coloured clothes, and Gaius promised to surprise her.

  "I like surprises," Misako smiled.

  "Then stand in front of me, and hold my hands. Now, close your eyes!" Gaius watched that her eyes were truly closed, then he changed the colour back to the grey, through the mental control. "Now, Misako, open your eyes?"

  "Oh!" Misako squealed in surprise. "How did you do that?"

  "Magic," Gaius smiled. "The trick is to go and get a change of clothes in half a minute, and change them, without moving your hands."

  "You're teasing me," Misako pouted. "There's something different about those clothes."

  "You're quite correct," Gaius smiled at her. "And Misako, you're very observant."

  "The escape," Misako urged. "Did you do anything?"

  Gaius smiled. "Look," he said. "Here are the complete plans of the M'starn food and fuel distribution over Mars. With this, you could live out there for years!"

  "So you did do something! But how could you possibly get those?"

  "Just knew where to look," Gaius smiled.

  "Anyway," Misako smiled, "I have a surprise for you."

  "You have?"

  "Yes. I've invited a clerk called Enrico from town. He's from Rome, so you'll have something to talk about." Misako seemed so pleased with herself. "He also knows some of the miners, and he was going to help us get transport to escape."

  Gaius was less enthusiastic. He knew this would be embarrassing, but he did not wish to spoil Misako's surprise. He was right. He introduced himself as Claudius, which Enrico immediately converted to Claudio. Enrico wanted to talk about his old city, but Gaius had no idea what he was talking about. Enrico even mentioned the Coliseum as the greatest ancient monument of Rome. Gaius just stared; he had no idea what the Coliseum was.

  "I thought you said you'd come from Roma," Enrico said, finally, in disgust.

  "I never said when," Gaius muttered.

  "You don't even speak Italian!"

  "I left a long time ago."

  "Enrico, why weren't you at our meeting?" Akiro's question brought welcome relief.

  "Well," Enrico hesitated, then went on, "I was delayed. I was just getting there when I saw trouble."

  "What did you see?"

  "Brownshirts, of course. They had torches, and I knew you wouldn't, so I thought I'd better get away. Look," he pleaded, "there wasn't anything I could do."

  "How many Brownshirts did you see?" Akiro went on.

  "Akiro, he's our guest," Misako started, but Akiro ignored her, and asked again.

  "I don't know," Enrico almost whined. "I only saw torches. Maybe four?"

  "Did you see anything else in the cornfield?" Gaius asked.

  "Just what's always there."

  "Nothing really unusual?"

  "I dunno. I don't go out in the fields at night. Why?"

  The questioning suddenly stopped, as a news item came on the television screen. The television show
ed pictures of Gaius, with a large reward for his location. Obviously there had been security cameras within the headquarters, and by now they must have discovered the dead M'starn officer. The family looked at Gaius, they looked at each other, Haruhiko's eyes almost popped out of his head, and for once he did not make blows towards imaginary enemies. Gaius was pleased to note that there was no sign of criticism, and there was no suggestion he should leave. He was about to offer his thanks for their understanding when he noticed that Enrico had left. Gaius then knew that, from the Shibatu's point of view, he had brought an impossible problem for them, and he had to solve that problem.

  There was a furtive discussion going on. He could see that Misako and Akiro were trying to stop their parents from panicking. Gaius tried to comfort them. He knew, through a message relayed through his shuttle, that the Actium should be in geostationary orbit in about an hour. At that point he would have more than enough firepower to deal with anything currently on Mars, however he did not wish to tell them about the Actium. The parents retired for the night, and Akiro and Haruhiko emerged from their discussion to announce they were going after Enrico.

  "Please," Misako pleaded. "You mustn't hurt him."

  "He'll turn us in, just like that," Akiro warned.

  "He hasn't yet," Misako replied. "He hasn't done anything, and he was going to help us get away."

  "Was he really?" Haruhiko retorted. "Then why didn't he turn up, and why did the Brownshirts?"