Colony Mars Ultimate Edition

by Gerald M. Kilby

  The only problem with this plan was he could not see a way out of here, save for going back into the facility and exiting via one of the usable airlocks. It was doable. But it would mean exposing himself to more danger than was necessary. So he decided to wait. Well, he would give it another thirty minutes. Then, if there was no resolution, he and Dr. Molotov would attempt to leave this place and make their way back to the MAV, and ultimately off this hellhole of a planet.

  19

  Jing Tzu

  It had gotten quiet, too quiet. Jing Tzu stood with his ear pressed against the locked door of the food processing pod, where he and the two other Xaing Zu crew had been imprisoned. Outside in the biodome nothing could be heard. Something was going on, and he didn’t like it.

  A short while after Xenon and the other colonists had unceremoniously dumped them in here, the biodome descended into chaos. Shouting, yelling, the sound of a PEP weapon, then running. Now there was a deathly silence. Yet it could be an opportunity.

  He and his crew needed to get out of here somehow. Better still, would be to get off the planet and return to Earth. They would have to leave sometime, COM couldn’t hold them here forever. But he didn’t trust them either. He wouldn’t put it past that maniacal VanHoff to just blow them out of an airlock.

  He pressed his ear against the door again—silence.

  “Anything?” His first officer, Chen Deng, called over from the back of the pod. He had finished tying up their mission geneticist, who had started to get that same strange look in his eyes that Dan Ma had just before he went psychotic. So they decided to tie him up, much to his consternation, before he started killing them all. He protested for quite a while before finally zoning out, or maybe he was unconscious, Chang couldn’t tell. Commander Jing Tzu moved away from the door and shook his head. “Nothing.” He looked down at the geneticist. “How is he?”

  “Well, if he wakes up and goes ballistic, like Dan Ma, at least we’ve got him contained.”

  “We need to get out of here, back to the lander if possible. There’s something going on out there, and I have a bad feeling about it. However, it might just give us an opportunity.”

  “Back to the lander? How? We’d need our EVA suits.”

  “Well you can stay here and go insane if you want.”

  Chen looked down at the unconscious geneticist. “What’s happening to them?”

  “It’s this place, it’s possessed by a corrupt biology. One that eats away at the mind. They warned us about it, remember?”

  “But it was supposed to be eradicated.”

  “Well, you can stay here and think about it if you like, or you can help get us out of this place.”

  Chen stood up. “So we just leave him here… and Dan Ma as well?”

  “Screw him. He’s a geneticist, the very people who create these abominations.” Jing Tzu moved closer to Chen and calmed his voice. “Two of our crew are dead, killed by COM. Dan Ma is probably dead too or may as well be.” He looked down at the geneticist. “And we can guess what’s going to happen to him. So the mission is over. There is nothing to be gained by staying here. We need to grab this chance and try to escape.”

  Chen looked at him for a moment and eventually nodded. “You’re right, let’s get the hell out of here.”

  It took them less than five minutes to break open the pod door. They stepped out into the biodome and looked around. It was still and silent. “Where are they all?” Chen whispered.

  Jing Tzu didn’t answer, instead he was looking high up to the biodome roof trying to spot cameras. “Come.” He moved into where the undergrowth would hide them from any prying eyes. Chen followed. When Jing Tzu was sure they were well hidden he broke a small twig from a bush, hunkered down and started drawing in the dirt.

  “We’re here. Over here is the airlock with our spare EVA suits. The only problem is that was damaged by COM in the attack. So the suits may also be damaged.”

  “They might not even be there,” said Chen.

  “True. Also, there is a distinct possibility that the colony is in lockdown. If that’s the case then none of the airlocks will be operational.”

  “Great.”

  “However, there is another option.” He started scratching again with the twig. “This is the operations room, over here. Beside it is the storage pod where we put some of the additional equipment we brought. There should be some more spare EVA suits in there somewhere.”

  “That sounds like a better plan to me. But, assuming we find the suits, how do we get out?”

  “There is an access route, around here, that goes down into the soil processing area.”

  “But that’s subterranean, how’s that going to help us?”

  “There is an automatic airlock system for the soil harvesting robots.” He looked up at Chen. “It doesn’t go into lockdown.”

  Chen looked at the commander’s scratchings for a moment. “Okay, let’s do it.”

  They moved through the biodome, sticking to the areas where the vegetation was thickest, hoping it would keep them concealed from view. They passed along the dense rows of hydroponics and finally to where the main entrance door stood, wide open. “Come on, let’s keep going.” They hurried to the side of the door, keeping low and quiet. Jing Tzu looked down the length of the short tunnel. “Clear, let’s go.”

  They hugged the tunnel wall as they moved along and out into the main common room. “This way,” Jing Tzu signaled and they moved off in the direction of the operations room. They had only taken a few steps when they heard the telltale whoomp of a PEP weapon, followed by a scream, followed by footsteps—running their way.

  Jing Tzu dived out of sight behind a low counter, Chen followed behind. They waited as the footsteps grew louder. It sounded like multiple people, running fast. As they charged past they could see they were colonists, carrying two others, all heading in the direction of the medlab. As soon as they were out of sight Jing Tzu rose from his hiding place and nodded to Chen to follow him. They moved with caution, keeping their ears alert to any danger.

  When they arrived at the concourse it was deserted, but they could see shadows moving behind the smoked glass window of the operations room. Somewhere far off in the depths of the facility they could hear shouts.

  Jing Tzu put his finger to his lips and pointed in the direction of the storage pod. Chen nodded his understanding and they tiptoed across the concourse, all the time keeping an eye on the movements within the operations room. They reached the door to the storage pod, as the racket emanating from deep within the facility was getting louder and more frenetic.

  The door was locked. “Shit. I don’t suppose you know the code?” Jing Tzu was pushing his shoulder to it trying to break it open.

  “Here, let me try.” Chen pushed Jing Tzu out of the way and tapped at the keypad a few times. The door clicked open. He looked over at Jing Tzu and winked. “Its good to pay attention to the details sometimes.” They bundled themselves inside.

  Automatic lights flickered on, illuminating a chaotic scene of equipment and storage strewn all around the space. They stood with their backs to the door looking out across the tumbled landscape.

  “We’re never going to find anything in here.” Chen scanned the jumble of crates and boxes.

  “There should be at least three spare EVA suits in here somewhere, and the sooner we find them the sooner we can get off this rock.” Jing Tzu started sorting through the detritus, reading labels, righting boxes.

  “Commander Jing.” Chen was on the other side of a mound of equipment.

  “Did you find them?”

  “No, but I found something else.”

  Jing Tzu moved over to look at where Chen was pointing. Sitting on the floor, partially covered by a tarpaulin was Yutu. He looked over at his First Officer and smiled. “This is good fortune indeed. Maybe even auspicious.” He reached down and ripped the cover off. The robot looked undamaged, but inactive, no power lights. Jing Tzu slid open a metal panel on the r
obot’s back, revealing a small flat screen, with several switches arrayed on either side. He flicked a number of them and the screen lit up, then placed his palm momentarily on the screen so it could be scanned. The robot twitched and the screen filled with scrolling code as the boot-up sequence began to reanimate the machine.

  The robot rose up from its haunches and moved several of its limbs as if testing their function. Jing Tzu and Chen stood back as it performed its systems checks. When it finished it raised its head and spoke. “Commander Jing Tzu, First Officer Chen Deng. I am at your service.”

  “Debrief, show last visual.” Jing Tzu instructed.

  Yutu’s eyes flickered and a 3D image was projected into the space in front of the robot. It showed the main airlock exploding inward as the COM assault began. COM had set up an outer umbilical so the facility would not lose atmospheric integrity when it blew. Smoke and dust filled the scene, punctuated by streaks of bright blue plasma bursts from the PEP weapons. Then a COM mercenary came into view and aimed something at the robot. The visual ended abruptly.

  “Replay—data only,” said Jing Tzu.

  This time Yutu projected a stream of stylized data for the time period. It was part environmental: what existed in the space around the robot at the time, and part internal: what was happening to its own systems.

  “There, stop.” Jing Tzu pointed into space. “A massive electromagnetic spike. That’s what disabled Yutu.”

  “I thought it was hardened against EMP from a PEP weapon.”

  “It is, this is different, maybe a direct hit from something designed to overload electronic circuitry.”

  “Well, at least it didn’t damage it. Yutu is designed to shut down immediately to protect its systems. But, I have a better idea.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Something that will give them a shock if they try it again.” The commander turned back to Yutu. “Access.”

  The robot stood up on all four limbs as the panel on its back slid open again. Jing Tzu proceeded to tap commands into the interface.

  “What are you doing?”

  Jing Tzu didn’t answer for a few more minutes until he was finished. “Self-destruct.” He winked at Chen. “If Yutu senses another attack like that it will give them all a very big surprise.”

  Chen looked concerned. “Is that wise?”

  Jing Tzu spun around, visibly angry at his subordinate questioning his authority. “This place is an abomination. As soon as we are safely on the planet’s surface away from here I will instruct Yutu to return—and self-destruct. It will take this place with it. Destroy it, hopefully for good.”

  The first officer simply nodded. Jing Tzu turned back to the machine. “Yutu, locate spare EVA suits.”

  The robot moved off, shifting its head this way and that, scanning the area. Like a metal sniffer dog, it poked and prodded with its sensors. It stopped beside three elongated storage containers with the Xaing Zu Industries logo on the side. “Located.” It pointed with one of its forelimbs.

  They cracked them open and spent the next few minutes checking the suits’ resources. None were fully charged but they were reasonably well resourced otherwise. With the help of the robot they calculated they had enough to make it to the Xaing Zu ship and still have 32.5% resources in reserve, more than enough. A few more minutes and they were back at the entrance door, suited and booted, carrying their helmets.

  Jing Tzu stuck his ear to the inside of the door and listened. He could hear muffled sounds far off in the depths of the colony. Whatever was going on was still in play. He opened the door a crack and peered out. Two colonists passed right by, but didn’t see him—a moment earlier and they would have. He watched them move along the concourse and finally out of sight, he thought one of them might be Jann Malbec. When he was sure they were gone, he stepped out and looked around, then he signaled to Chen to follow. They moved out of the storage pod as silently as a bulky EVA suit would allow. Yutu followed, hunkered low to the floor. Fortunately they didn’t have far to go, just a few meters to the soil processing access door. Jing Tzu opened it while Chen kept watch. They finally slipped inside, unseen.

  The space was narrow, and short. Only a few feet of floor before they started to descend down a steep ramp into the subterranean cave system beneath Colony One. It was designed as an access route for maintenance crews who needed to service the soil processing machinery and harvester robots. The walls and floor of this cave were not sealed and hence the air within had a high concentration of perchlorates. Not something you want to spend much time breathing, as it could cause thyroid problems. But that was the least of their worries, they weren’t planning on staying here too long.

  It was dark. The hum of machinery grew more intense as they descended. Yutu went ahead, a beam of light flicked on from its head. It slowed down as it probed the area by bouncing a multitude of frequencies around the volume. It stopped, forcing Jing Tzu and Chen to halt.

  “What’s it doing?”

  “Shhh.” Jing Tzu held a finger to his lips.

  The robot’s head tilted this way and that, and just when the commander considered it had stopped completely, it shot off across the cave with impressive speed. A figure darted out from a hiding place and ran. But it didn’t get far. By the time Jing Tzu and Chen had caught up with the robot it had both of its forelimbs resting on the shoulders of its victim, pinning him to the floor. The figure held an arm across his face and shouted. “Get this goddamn thing off me.”

  Jing Tzu looked down at him. It was Peter VanHoff.

  20

  Dome Five

  As Gizmo worked to repair the operation room console, Jann had a moment to consider their next move. With the limited data that the droid could provide, she began to get a picture of where people were located. The bulk of the lifeforms, as Gizmo put it, were in the biodome. This made sense as Jann considered the colonists were too scared to move from whatever hiding places they had found for themselves in there, and if you were of the mindset to lay low and keep out of trouble, then the biodome was the perfect place for it. She also discovered from Xenon that the remains of the Xaing Zu crew were locked up in one of the food processing pods, so at least she didn’t have to consider them as an immediate threat.

  Of the colonists that had run out of the biodome, some were in the medlab looking after Nills and the injured. The rest were here in the operations room with her. She looked around. Some were tending to the COM mercenary she had just blasted. Surprisingly, he was still alive, lying on the floor unconscious. How long the effects of a blast from a PEP weapon lasted, she had no idea. So he could potentially wake up at any minute and start causing trouble. Although, he was bound to be in considerable pain from all the burns inflicted on him by the exploding electronics. Nevertheless, it would be a good idea to restrain him now, before he came to.

  But her main consideration was COM, and how to immobilize them as a threat. Yet, to do this they needed to know where they all were—and where was VanHoff?

  “Gizmo, any joy with that console?”

  “That depends on how you define joy. There is the joy of fixing, and then there is the joy of having fixed.”

  Jann looked over at Xenon and sighed. He was in the process of tying up the mercenary. He just nodded at the quirky robot and smiled as if he had read her mind.

  “Gizmo, I just want to know where the bulk of the COM crew are located.” Jann tried again.

  “Well why didn’t you say so?” Gizmo spun around to face Jann. “The console is too badly damaged for me to effect repairs in any immediate time frame, and I have no visual or audio feeds. So, from the limited amount of data available to me, and extrapolating two-dimensional direction vectors over time, my best guess is the main COM cohort are somewhere in the connecting tunnel between domes four and five, and accommodation.”

  “And VanHoff?”

  “Much as I hate to admit it, but I do not know with any certainty where he is.”

  “Well, we know he
was in the medlab until a short time ago. I would imagine that COM are keeping him close, keeping him safe,” said Xenon. He was now examining the PEP weapon belonging to the fallen mercenary.

  “Gizmo, can we lockdown the facility so no one can get out?”

  The little robot moved to an undamaged section of the operations room and tapped some icons. “It is already locked down.”

  “Good,” said Jann. “Now we just need to isolate COM. Can we close off that sector?”

  “Yes, but unfortunately I can not do this remotely.” Gizmo swiveled his head back to look at Jann. “Come, let me show you.” It moved over to the holo-table and brought up a 3D schematic of the colony. “This door here will close off the entire sector from the rest of the colony. No way out for COM. But you must do this manually.”

  Jann considered this for a moment, then stood back from the holo-table and faced the others. “Okay, so here’s what we do…” But before she had time to explain her plan a COM mercenary appeared in the doorway to the operations room. He just stood there, not moving, and his eyes possessed a very long distance stare.

  “Shit.” Jann grabbed her weapon and pointed it at him as the others dove for cover. “Drop the weapon!”

  The mercenary looked confused. His head tilted to the side for a moment then looked down at his weapon. He lifted it up and examined it as if its function and purpose had escaped his memory.