Mars Wars - Abyss of Elysium

by Abyss Of Elysium (Lit)

  Brinker looked as though he was ready to pulverize Covenant. He looked back and forth between the unintelligible code and Covenant’s hard stare, not knowing whether to flatten the arrogant twit or search out the boss.

  Brinker removed the stogie from his mouth and pointed his finger in Covenant’s chest. “This had better be good,” he said, boring his eyes into Covenant’s unblinking stare, “or you’re going to be the first jailbird on this planet doing hard time - starting today.”

  “Oh, it’s good; very good…” Covenant whispered his voice as cold as the Martian air outside.

  Minutes later, Peter called up the report on the screen of his PC2 while Brinker stood by. Standing beside Peter was Francis.

  “I can’t believe this… I cannot believe this…” Peter stammered.

  “What?” Francis asked, stepping beside him and looking at the handheld screen. “What is it?” he asked Peter with concern.

  “A virus. No worse: a retrovirus.”

  “What are you talking about?” Francis demanded, his eyes not making any sense out of the display.

  “Covenant has downloaded a retrovirus into the mainframe computer,” Peter replied, his voice hardening to mirror his face.

  “What do you mean retrovirus?” Francis asked sincerely.

  “A computer virus, only worse. Covenant has found a way to attack our computer mainframe systems by reprogramming its hardwired PROMS.”

  “What?” Francis asked.

  “You know; the Programmable Read Only Memory chips. The computer’s hardwired brains.”

  “What? How could he do that?” Francis asked incredulously.

  “I don’t know. But I’m afraid we’re all about to find out.”

  Minutes later, Peter, Francis and Brinker confronted Covenant, sitting with his feet propped back up on the table top, drinking from a steaming cup of coffee.

  “I thought that would get your attention, Traynor,” Covenant said as they approached his table. “Tyrants always have an Achilles’ heel. Typically, the more inferior the tyrant, the easier it is to find.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Peter asked, his face flushed in anger.

  “Really, Peter, really,” Covenant began, settling his coffee back to the table top slowly. “I thought you, as our intrepid leader should have even rudimentary skills of strategy and foresight. I’m talking about justice for all. About freedom and liberty - all those things you took away from us when you killed Lipton.”

  “I didn’t kill Lipton,” Peter shouted, struggling to keep from turning the sneering face of this bureaucrat into Jell-O.

  “Control your temper, mien kapitan. Of course you killed Lipton - whether by your hand, or by someone else’s hand or even by his own - you are fully responsible.”

  “What about this, Covenant,” Peter demanded, producing the PC2 display and shoving it toward his face. “What about this? This means you kill us all? What about this? Who’s the murderer now?”

  “Ah, but the difference, unlike you gave poor Lassiter, is that you have a choice. A clear choice, to live or die - it’s yours today - it’s yours to make,” Covenant replied coolly.

  “What have you done to our systems, Covenant?” Francis demanded with no trace of anger. “How did you do this?”

  Covenant smiled broadly. “You should know all about these kinds of things, Francis,” he said with a wink. “Isn’t this in your little bag of tricks?”

  Francis’ eyes darted back and forth between Peter and Covenant and he stammered once before quickly regaining control. “Okay, okay, then just tell us the extent of the damage.”

  “It’s called an embedded virus. Very nasty. It lies dormant until ordered to act. Then in just nanoseconds, it’s all gone.”

  “What’s all gone?” Brinker asked.

  “Everything,” Covenant whispered. “Everything.”

  Brinker turned to Peter with a puzzled look on his face.

  “What he means is that he’s written a program that somehow has embedded itself into the hardwiring of our computers. It’s not software – it’s hard wired. It can’t be undone without replacing all the computers. You can’t change it. It will always be there.”

  “How did he do that?” Brinker asked.

  “You need to be asking me that question, Sergeant,” Covenant replied with undisguised contempt.

  “How did you do that?” Peter asked sincerely.

  “Let us save those minor details until later, Peter. But first, let’s discuss the endgame.”

  “We already know,” Francis said in a quiet voice.

  “I don’t…” Brinker admitted with a puzzled look.

  “Total, instantaneous system failure. It’s lights off, power off, life support shutdown. We would all be dead in 12 hours or less.”

  “Less, I suspect,” Covenant agreed nodding.

  “Well, if I’m not mistaken here, Covenant, that would include you,” Brinker said, looking at him with narrowed eyes. “So what’s your game?”

  “Blackmail,” Francis replied bluntly.

  “Ah, yes, the ugly ‘B’ word… it was, after all, inevitable,” Covenant replied with a smile.

  “Okay. What do you want? What are your demands?” Peter asked with some obvious resignation creeping into his voice.

  “I want the lawful government restored to this base, that’s all. I want things returned to the way the United States Congress established them. In exchange for lawful government, I will not allow the viral code to be executed,” Covenant began.

  “Now, I know what you must be thinking,” he continued. “’If we take him out, then he can’t execute the code.’ No, it’s actually more clever than that. The code is on a hidden countdown. Some event in normal operational sequence of this base will trigger the code. If I am dead or missing at the critical moment, the code will execute automatically. Without me, the rest of you die. Likewise, if you do not cooperate, I do nothing, and we all die.”

  “What do you have to gain by your own death?” Francis asked evenly.

  “The patriot’s dream. Give me liberty, or give me death…”

  “You’re actually serious…” Peter replied, genuinely surprised.

  “Of course…” Covenant agreed.

  The room became deadly silent.

  “He’s right, after all,” Peter said.

  All eyes turned to face him. They were all surprised, to the man.

  “In our zeal, we broke the law and we seized a United States base by force. We’ve been in a state of anarchy ever since.”

  Brinker tossed his stogie back into his mouth and looked to the ceiling. It seemed obvious to anyone looking at him that he was going to slip back into the Sarge mode as the officer gentlemen were about to wax philosophical.

  “We’ve not acted any differently than our forefathers either in intent, motive, spirit or in actions. Yet, we’ve not had their wisdom or held lawful elections or framed documents of intent. Therefore, Covenant is correct and we are in anarchy,” Peter said. Then he added without difficulty, “In fact, that makes him the patriot and we are the unlawful criminals.” After a long moment, he finally stated, “But I did not kill Lipton.”

  “I also want to apologize to you,” Peter said genuinely to Covenant. “I disgraced you in front of the community, and I had no right to do that. Now this is where it has led. It was poor leadership. I should have found a better way to deal with our disagreement. I see what you mean about freedom and patriotism, and I agree with you. If I were in your shoes, I would act no differently.”

  Covenant was obviously not prepared for this confession or turn of the argument. He began to speak, but then fell silent.

  “Francis,” Peter said turning to him, “we need to draw up paperwork to justify our actions. Call it a ‘Declaration of Independence’, if you please. Then set a time in the next few sols for a Constitutional Convention and an election.”

  “That will never justify your actions,” Covenant said.


  “That’s correct, but only from your viewpoint.” Peter replied. “And even after our process is established, our actions will not be justified from that limited point of view. Just as in 1776, it will only be justified from our narrow circumstances and the precedence of other revolutions. But from the legal process established on this planet, they will be fully established and legal everywhere on this planet!”

  “You don’t even begin to understand the fundamentals of international law…” Covenant argued.

  “I only understand the most fundamental issue of international law; that after two governments disagree, force and distance decides the outcome. We don’t have the force, but we do have the distance. And, if I’m not mistaken Covenant, this has, in fact, become an issue of interplanetary law.”

  “And what if I kill you first on behalf of the United States government - quell the rebellion personally?” Covenant asked.

  “Then we have all died patriots,” Peter replied, walking away confidently. “All of us, even you. Rat, release Covenant from kitchen duty. I’m moving him to work in the artificial intelligence team,” Peter said over his shoulder. Then he stopped and turned around to look Covenant in the eye.

  “Go ahead, and do whatever you have to do, Julian. But I can tell you that we’ll all die before we will negotiate with terrorists, and I intend for that sentiment to be clearly stated in our constitution. I have apologized to you man to man, and I intend to do so publicly in front of everyone. Why? Not because you hold all our lives in your hand, but because I was wrong. And may God help me if I ever shrink back to becoming so proud and arrogant that I can’t bring myself to apologize when it is my turn.

  “If you so desire to pull the plug, I can’t stop you. But I have no intention of leaving you in charge, either. The people here will decide their own fate, not me and not you. I’ll restore your level of service and expertise to the colony and there won’t be any retribution because of your threats. Indeed, I believe you only did what you did because of your own sense of patriotism.”

  “You’re lying,” Covenant sneered.

  “There’s one thing you need to understand about me and about this planet. Here, an individual’s word is their bond - better than a signature. Now you have my word. You don’t need anything else, I can assure you. On Mars, individual honor is higher than Olympus Mons. I invite you to join us and be a part of this great culture.” With that, Peter turned and walked away.

  Covenant looked back at the other two men staring down at him. “What are you looking at?” he asked Brinker.

  “It looks to me like you’re already dressed for your new job,” Brinker replied with a shrug as Covenant tugged at the tie gripping his reddening neck.

  wo hours later, after some intense scrambling, Toon, as the colony’s computer engineering chief, Peter and Francis met behind closed doors.

  “Toon, what did you find out?” Peter asked.

  “It’s in there, all right,” he noted with a stern expression. “I found it buried in 13 out of 17 processors I checked at random.”

  “Can you remove it?” Francis asked.

  “No way. I can’t even read it. It’s not only strongly encrypted, it appears to change its encryption every few seconds or so. Even if we had the thousands of years of computer time it would take to decipher its processes one time, it changes about every time you blink. It’s the most rugged bug I’ve ever even heard of. It’s a hacker’s dream. Your description of it as a retrovirus is quite accurate.”

  “How did he get it hardwired into the processors? That’s what I can’t understand,” Peter pointed out with frustration.

  “I don’t know. But I can tell you it’s first rate technology. You can be sure Covenant had a nifty little gadget to make it happen.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know - a chip burner that’s able to burn a chip in position while operating, one that has already been programmed, or burned in. I’ve never heard of such a device, but he must have one. There’s no way I know of to reprogram an active hard-wired processor without smoking it. It’s got to be totally new technology.”

  “Keep him close to the computers,” Peter said.

  “What? And risk more mischief from our little anal-retentive friend?” Francis spat with disgust.

  “Keep him as close to the machines as you can,” Peter repeated. “We sure don’t want him behind a set of dishes when his little bug decides to go critical. Besides, I have an idea that he has no more intention of dying a martyr’s death than anyone else around here. He talked the line, but if he were going to do it, it would be done by now,” he said, his eyes involuntarily looking up at the overhead light.

  “What about its cycle?” Francis continued pumping Toon. “Will it only cycle once or does it cycle on some periodic basis? You see…”

  “Yes, I know,” Toon interrupted. “If it only cycles once, we can nail him one second after the fact. Unfortunately, there’s no way to tell.”

  “Can it be that it’s just a ruse? … that the bug is harmless and won’t actually do anything?” Peter asked Toon.

  “Unknown…” Toon shrugged.

  “Can we replace the processors one by one until they’re all clean?” Francis continued.

  “Not without his notice,” Toon replied. “To change so many processors out would take down every system we have. Besides, if he has any brains, he would write a daisy-chain virus that would activate the bug if any individual system in the set were interrupted. There’s no way to know that for sure. It may even be reporting back to him in code.”

  There was a protracted silence before Peter spoke.

  “He has us.”

  “Quite,” Francis replied, nodding.

  “So now what?” Toon asked.

  “This is not what it seems,” Peter said, eyes looking at the floor. “He must know that if a system goes down on its own and the virus activates without his direct command, that he’ll have killed himself right along with the rest of us. And since I’m convinced he doesn’t want to die, he probably wouldn’t have written it that way. However, we can’t afford to take that chance. We don’t have to trust his integrity, just believe he has a will to live. Hence, we stay out of his way, keep him as happy as anyone else, and pray there’s not a confrontation.”

  “What if this gets out?” Francis asked.

  “We can’t afford to add this stress to that pressure cooker out there,” Peter began. “Now, I doubt that Covenant is going to pass the word on his dirty deed. So we need to keep a lid on this, at least until the blackout with earth ends. Francis, you tell Brinker this is a cosmic secret - at least for now.”

  “Covenant wants your job, doesn’t he?” Toon asked Peter honestly, bluntly changing the conversation.

  “I’m afraid so. And, he can have it if the rest of the colonists want it that way. But if he wants it by extortion, then we have a problem.”

  “Were you serious about the constitutional convention and the elections?” Francis asked.

  “Very serious. He’s quite correct in his assessment of the situation here, and frankly, we’re interplanetary criminals at this point. Generations from now, the situation here will either be recounted as a successful revolution like our forefathers held in 1776, or it’ll be recorded as an insurrection and we will likely have hung. As for me, I want to at least make an attempt at setting the record straight.”

  Then Peter looked Francis in the eye. “And I was also serious about my apology to him. I treated him badly and I hurt his pride. If I had done my job as a leader properly, we might not be in this mess right now. Besides, I gave him my word that he faces no retribution, and I mean that.”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Peter,” Francis said, slapping him on the back with a loud smack. “You may have screwed up by giving him dish duty with the Rat, but personally, I’d have snapped his little geeky pencil-neck with a smile on my face. So, relatively speaking, you did good!”

  hat evening, Peter pubicall
y apologized to Covenant and announced the necessity for forming a Constitutional Convention, and invited every colonist to be a part. He then established a schedule of debate and elections that led right up to the evening before the end of the occultation. The plan was to keep all minds focused on something else besides the impending truth about the fate of the earth. It would require a full two weeks of debate to settle all the issues.

  The Constitutional debate began each evening following dinner and raged well past midnight. In the end, the new constitution of Mars, the first founding document of a society outside earth, read almost identically to the constitution of the United States. The argument that finally won out was that it had been the most successful governing document in the history of man, so why change it substantially? The majority chose not to.

  Through it all, the “hands off” policy toward Julian Covenant was enforced. Covenant said nothing. He became frighteningly silent, sullen and alone. He spent most of his sols and nights behind a keyboard in Toon’s computer center, furiously hammering out something in code. As far as anyone knew, he spoke to no one and counted not one man or woman among his friends.

  The election on the eve of the sol contact was to be reestablished surprised no one. Not a single individual challenged Peter or his administration, and few dissenting voices were heard. In the end, Peter was elected President and Francis as his Vice-President. The Cabinet Peter appointed was established in the slots of the already existing department heads. Ironically, as Peter noted in his acceptance speech, they were identical to the positions and individuals Lassiter Lipton had appointed himself.

  During his speech, Julian Covenant rose from his seat and walked slowly and dramatically toward the front of the dining hall where Peter was speaking. Peter kept on as though Covenant were not there, but he, like everyone else saw his deliberate approach to the podium. Brinker inched slowly to Peter’s side. Finally, when Covenant was even with Peter, he stopped speaking and looked into Covenant’s rigid face. Covenant just stood there for three long seconds until someone shouted, “Sit down, retard!”

  As the crowd tittered with laughter, Covenant walked slowly out of the room, casting contemptuous looks at everyone assembled. Throughout the rest of the evening, Peter, Francis and Toon continued to look anxiously toward the lights.