The Forgotten Outpost

by Gus Flory

  Diego typed a text: “Been busy, babe. I’m currently on a mission I can’t talk about. You might not hear from me for a little while until the operation is over. Nothing to worry about. If you have any questions, the rear det commander can answer them. Send the kids my love. I love you.”

  Diego scrolled through the menu up on the flat screen. He scrolled for several minutes unable to find anything that caught his interest. He clicked on an icon for the Martian Professional Lacrosse League and watched a match until he finally drifted to sleep.

  Several hours later a loud banging on his door awakened him. He answered the door. It was Helms and Fontaigne flanked by SSIS analysts. They pushed their way into the room.

  “Answer your handy, would you?” Helms said.

  Fontaigne went straight to the handheld and picked it up off the lampstand.

  “What’s going on?” Diego asked, shirtless, rubbing his eyes, still half asleep.

  Fontaigne examined the handheld, then handed it to Diego.

  “She asked you to meet her in South Town on the mechanical floor. She sent an encrypted map. We’ve already sent her your response.”

  “What was my response?”

  “You’re on your way. Let’s move.”

  Diego was still putting on his shirt when they hustled him out the door.

  “This could be our big break,” Fontaigne said. “Remember your training. And there’s one other thing I want you to remember. The Tesla Project. If you hear her or any of her associates speak of it, try to find out everything you can.”

  “What’s the Tesla Project?”

  “It could be some kind of Neo-Fascist weapons system, a terrorist plot, a political plan. We have no idea. We want to find out. Whatever it is, it’s something big and they’re willing to do anything to prevent us from finding out about it. SIGINT caught wind of it in the chatter, but then they went quiet.”

  “Pristina mentioned Nikola Tesla to me in one of our conversations.”

  “Bring him up again. Get her to talk about him. Draw her out, but be smart about it.”

  They led Diego beneath T-FORCE MAIN into a utility tunnel. Helms, Fontaigne, Diego and two armed operators stepped onto an open tram that zipped through a series of branching tunnels.

  “How’re you feeling?” Helms asked.

  “Fine.”

  “Play your cards right and you’ll be a hero, Zanger. The man who got Robodan.”

  “Play my cards wrong and I end up like Moxley.”

  “It won’t come to that. We’ll be tracking your every move.” He squeezed Diego’s shoulder. “You’ve got this.”

  They were now beneath South Town. A waypoint flashed on the encrypted map on Diego’s handheld.

  “First waypoint,” Diego said. “Bentley Road. Directly above us.”

  The tram slowed to a stop and they stepped off where steel rungs were embedded in the tunnel’s concrete wall.

  Diego unzipped the hood in the collar of his pullover. He pulled the hood over his head.

  Fontaigne stepped up to him and clasped him on the triceps.

  “This is it. You ready?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Godspeed.”

  Diego turned and climbed up the ladder, emerging into a curving tunnel of cables, hoses and pipelines. Ice and mist clung to the pipes that ran through the frigid tunnel. He walked on a grated metal walkway until he came to a ladder that led to a hatch. He pushed open the hatch and stepped into an oxygen plant. He made his way past rows of massive oxygen tanks until he found the workmen’s entrance.

  He attempted to open the door, but it was locked. He punched at the panel to no avail. He stepped back looking for another way out, but suddenly the door slid open, no doubt with help from the mob of SSIS operatives watching him.

  With hood pulled over his head, he stepped out onto Bentley Road into a residential corridor lined with three-story habitations that reached the raftered ceiling. A few pedestrians walked down the otherwise quiet corridor.

  Another waypoint appeared on his handheld. He followed it into a Mr. Chiba’s restaurant. Only a few patrons sat in the booths. Diego’s eyes met those of a cook behind the counter. The cook nodded and pointed with his nose to a hallway that led to the restrooms.

  Diego stepped into the hallway walking past the restroom doors. He followed some steps down to a storage room.

  A door opened at the back of the room.

  Pristina stood in the doorway. She was wearing a black form-fitting jumpsuit, the kind worn under a moon suit.

  She looked him up and down.

  “Come here,” she said.

  She pulled him through the doorway and shut the door behind them. Her brother, Sonny, also in a black jumpsuit, was standing in the room looking wary and suspicious. They were in an office with only a desk and a few chairs. Pictures on the desk depicted the restaurant owner, his wife and kids.

  “Where are we?” Diego asked.

  “Just the office of a friend.”

  “Mr. Chiba is your friend?”

  She patted him down. He was carrying his pistol on his waist. She pulled his pistol from its holster and handed it to Sonny. She reached into his pocket and pulled out his handheld and looked at it.

  “Tell me what’s going on, Diego.”

  “They started looking for the leaker. They interviewed me. I became their prime suspect. I decided to make a run for it before they could detain me.”

  “You’ve been on the run with your handy? I’m surprised they haven’t tracked you down yet.”

  “I pulled out the locator chip. But you’re right. I can’t hide from them much longer. I’ve had several close calls down in the utility tunnels.”

  “I’m not buying it, Pris,” Sonny said.

  “You better turn yourself in, Diego,” Pristina said. “You can’t hide on Titan forever.”

  “I can’t go back. I’ll be arrested and detained. They know it’s me.”

  “They must know you’ve been talking to me.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know.”

  She shook her head. “They’re going to say I’m some kind of Neo-Fascist spy.”

  “If they take me in, my career is done. My life is over. They’ll charge me with treason. I could be executed.”

  “Why did you tell me about the raid? It was stupid of you.”

  “I don’t know what came over me. I don’t know who’s wrong and who’s right anymore. I felt you had to know. I knew I didn’t want to see Tupo Pelagi arrested. I didn’t want to see you arrested.”

  She looked at him skeptically. “I’m taking a big risk doing this.”

  Sonny stepped up to Diego and looked him directly in the eyes. “Are you sure about this, Pris?”

  She punched a code into a screen on the desk. The carpet slid away. A door in the floor slid open. She climbed into the hole under the floor.

  “Follow me.”

  They climbed down rungs in the concrete. The door above them slid shut. They reached the bottom which opened to a low, narrow passageway illuminated by green and blue diodes.

  They walked hunched down for about a hundred meters in the confined space. The passageway ended abruptly. Pristina punched a code into a panel and a door slid open. They stepped inside an elevator that shot upward.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “Out of Cassini City.”

  The elevator door opened into a residential penthouse suite. It was large and lavish, high atop one of Cassini City’s tallest residential towers. Its large windows looked out at the orange plain toward Kraken Mare. Saturn dominated the reddish-yellow sky.

  On the wall were pictures of Mr. Chiba and his family.

  “Who is Mr. Chiba?” Diego asked.

  “I grew up with Bobby Chiba. His parents were with Vladimir Noer’s initial landing party. The Chibas were cooks. John Chiba opened his first restaurant in Huygenstown when Cassini City was just a landing pad and fueling station. He was quite successful.”

&nb
sp; “I see that.”

  “Bobby inherited the business after his parents were killed in the war.”

  Pristina and Sonny dug through a storage closet and pulled out three TMS-4s, Titan Moon Suits—Fourth Generation. Pristina tossed a black jump suit at Diego.

  “Put it on and suit up.”

  “Where are we going?”

  “Outside.”

  Diego watched them pull on the suits. Pristina sat on the plush couch and slid her legs into the heavy TMS-4 pants. Then she slipped her arms in the sleeves and clamped the vest shut over her chest.

  “Hurry up.”

  Diego began to don the suit. The TMS-4 was lighter than the Tactical Battle Armor—Version 5, or TBA-V5, issued by the Army.

  Unlike the TBA-V5, the TMS-4 was not mechanized and offered little in the way of protection from small-arms fire. The suit was mostly canvas with ballistic plates protecting vital areas.

  Pristina and Sonny already had their helmets on with visors shut.

  Diego put on his helmet. He ran a quick functions check. The TMS-4 internal computer system did not come anywhere near the TBA-V5 as far as target acquisition, navigation, common operational picture and life support.

  “Can you hear me, Diego?”

  “Roger.”

  She and Sonny walked up a spiral staircase to the suite’s top floor. Sonny was carrying Diego’s pistol and handheld. They stepped into an airlock. Diego followed them in.

  When the door shut, a second door to the roof opened. Titan’s thick atmosphere engulfed them in a miasma of orange gas. The temperature reading inside Diego’s visor read minus-185 degrees Celsius.

  Mr. Chiba’s penthouse was atop a tower on the edge of Cassini City looking out through the haze at the rocky plain. The silhouette of jagged mountains could be seen in the distance. The metallic surface of Kraken Mare shimmered beyond the plain.

  Behind them were the gleaming skyscrapers of Cassini City.

  Pristina and Sonny walked up to the edge and looked out into the haze. Sonny pulled back and threw Diego’s pistol off the edge. It spun through the air and disappeared in the distance. He then threw Diego’s handheld.

  “What did you do that for?”

  “You’re not going to need them.”

  “Those are sensitive items. Losing them is a career ender.”

  “You said your career was already over.”

  “Good point.”

  Pristina and Sonny popped fiberglass wings from the backs of their suits. The wings were short, less than a meter in length.

  “Deploy your wings,” Pristina said. “Third option on the menu. Upper right corner of your visor. Scroll down.”

  Diego popped his wings.

  “Have you ever body-glided on Titan before?”

  “Negative.”

  “You need a strong bound. Then flatten your body horizontally. It’s like pushing off the wall underwater at the pool. Keep your body flat. Your wings will give you lift.”

  “And if I crash?”

  “Your suit will protect you. Cover your visor. If it cracks, you’re done.”

  “We have no weapons.”

  “Who are you going to shoot, Diego? The police? Your own soldiers?”

  The three of them walked back from the edge of the roof.

  Sonny turned and bounded several meters through the air. He planted his feet on the ledge and kicked off, flattening his body. Diego watched as Sonny soared through the air away from the tower. Pristina bounded and leaped off the ledge behind him.

  “Here we go,” Diego said.

  He bounded and jumped off the tall building. He soared through the air hundreds of meters above the rocky plain.

  In the distance, lightning flickered in cloudbanks above the dark surface of Kraken Mare.

  Diego’s computer identified Sonny and Pristina gliding ahead of him. Diego was slightly unstable, trying to keep his body straight, losing altitude every time he moved his arms away from his body or bent his knees.

  “How are you doing, Diego?”

  “Right behind you.”

  “We’re aiming for Mount Caponic. It’s the plateaued peak on the western shore of Kraken Mare. Do you see it on your visor display?”

  Diego scrolled through the transparent map inside his visor until he found Mount Caponic.

  “Affirm.”

  Pristina slowed in front of him, spreading her arms to create drag. He watched her through his visor. He caught up to her. She shot upward up and dove down to gain speed. Diego flew after her.

  She looked over at him through her visor and smiled. “Pretty cool, huh?”

  Diego smiled back.

  Sonny up ahead veered west as they soared over the liquid surface of Kraken Mare. It was black as slate beneath them. Pristina and Diego followed him.

  To the south, ice spewed skyward from the conical peak of a cryovolcano.

  “You’re doing great, Diego.”

  “You can’t do this on Mars. The atmosphere is too thin.”

  “You can’t do this anywhere in the Solar System.”

  Pristina angled downward following Sonny.

  “If you catch the wind right, you can fly all the way around Titan.”

  Diego dove, trying to catch her. They were gradually losing speed and altitude.

  Sonny glided down toward Mount Caponic, landing on the mesa at a bound. Pristina angled downward and flipped around, legs forward, bounding off the crusty surface in puffs of dust and ice.

  Diego flipped his legs forward and hit the surface. He bounced upward several meters. His legs got out from beneath him. He threw his arms forward as he crashed onto the surface on his shoulder, bouncing upward and then flipping around to his feet. He landed feet first at a skid.

  “Smooth,” Sonny said. He turned to Pristina. “The storm is blowing in faster than the forecasts predicted. We’ll have to stay in front of it.”

  “We’ll glide over Kraken Mare,” Pristina said. “We’ll tack on the crosswinds.”

  She turned to Diego. “Make sure you get enough speed on your launch. Follow our lead. Keep your turns tight. Ride the wind to maintain altitude. If you land in the liquid methane, there’s no way to take off again, so don’t lose focus.”

  Diego nodded.

  Sonny bounded and leaped off the rocky ledge. Pristina followed. Diego bounded and kicked off the mountain as hard as he could.

  They glided over Titan’s largest sea. Rocky outcroppings and large islands protruded from the dark surface. A few small Noer settlements on the shoreline were lit up with lights. Diego spotted a ship cruising below. The methane boiled behind it, leaving a long line of steam in its wake. The shoreline behind them disappeared. Ahead of them was only open sea. Saturn and its rings dominated the sky above the horizon.

  They glided for quite some time, gradually losing altitude. Diego knew that Kraken Mare was as deep as 160 meters. He wondered what would happen if he plunged beneath the surface. He’d probably sink to the bottom never to be seen again.

  The crosswind began to pick up, pushing them westward. Out over Kraken Mare, storm clouds blew low over the methane surface. Bolts of lightning flashed and spread fingerlike from the dark underbellies of the clouds.

  Sonny and Pristina veered right, swooped downward, then opened their arms and legs, shooting upward on the wind currents. Diego imitated their motions, feeling the wind grab him, propelling him up to them.

  The opposite coastline came into view. It was rocky and mountainous. They shot over the shore and soared over a rugged mountain range.

  “The wind is picking up,” Sonny said.

  “We’re being blown off course,” Pristina said.

  “We can stop at Old Man Carlyle’s Place,” Sonny said.

  Sonny descended, coming in low over sharp peaks. Pristina and Diego followed him. Sonny circled around a mountaintop that was frozen in methane snow. Sonny coasted downward into a narrow valley. An ethane river flowed in a rocky channel at one end of the valley. A dir
t road ran along the river.

  Sonny landed in a series of slow bounds. Pristina landed behind him. Diego came in more controlled this time and stuck the landing without mishap.

  Up ahead of them, a domed structure sat alongside the river. Five long greenhouses stretched outward from the dome.

  Sonny, Pristina and Diego bounded toward the structure, bouncing several meters with each jump. Their boots crunched on the brittle ground, breaking through a frozen crust and sinking a few centimeters to the rocky surface with each jump.

  A glowing sign above the entrance to the dome read: “Old Man Carlyle’s Place.”

  Two rovers were parked at a fueling station beside the dome. The rugged vehicles were old and beat up.

  Sonny, Pristina and Diego stepped into the entranceway airlock. Titan’s tholin atmosphere flushed from the airlock, replaced with clear, breathable air.

  They removed their helmets and stepped inside.

  Three men sat at a counter eating hoagies, sipping coffee and watching the news. They turned around and looked the newcomers up and down.

  “Is Dave around?” Sonny asked.

  “He’s in the orchard.”

  Diego kept his head down and turned his face away as he walked past the counter.

  “What is this place?”

  “A rest stop,” Pristina answered. “Dave Carlyle’s place. He’s been out here for years. The road in front used to be well-traveled, from Huygenstown to Kraken Mare. This place was a popular stop to fuel up, grab a bite to eat, even stay the night upstairs. I stayed here a couple times with my family when I was a kid. But the road was bombed and mined during the war and was never completely rebuilt. Dave is not as prosperous as he used to be, but he stays on. I don’t think he has any intention of ever leaving.”

  They walked out of the diner, through a gift shop and a garage. An old moon buggy was up on a lift. Vehicles and machinery were in various states of disassembly.

  Sonny slid open a door and they entered a large greenhouse. It was filled with apple trees that stretched more than a hundred meters to the far wall. Grow lights in the ceiling approximated sunlight. Grass grew on the floor. They walked between the rows of apple trees.

  Spindly robotic caretakers pruned the tree branches. Budgie parakeets chirped and cackled. A green and yellow budgie dropped from a branch, and with one flap of its wings, shot down the row away from them.