The commander leaned in, his face close to VanHoff. “In case you haven’t noticed, there is a crazy on the loose in the biodome and a population of panicked colonists trying to get out. So I would say things are far from being under control.”
VanHoff raised himself up as best he could and answered the commander’s stare. “You are here to do a job, now I suggest you go do it.”
There was a momentary silence, as taut as a fully wound spring. Kruger backed off, unclipped a small PEP weapon from his waistband and set it down on the workbench. “Part of my job is to keep people alive. So use this if you have to.”
VanHoff nodded reluctantly.
“I’ve set it to stun. Don’t want you killing any of us by mistake.” He spun around and headed out of the medlab.
If there was one thing that Kruger enjoyed more than having everything under control, it was when everything was totally out of control. He was in his element in these situations, it was an addictive adrenaline rush that made life worth living. When things were just on the edge, ready to spiral into chaos, that’s when Willem Kruger felt most alive. Now, as he raced across the common room to the biodome door, he felt a wave of excitement ripple through him as he reviewed the current situation.
There was no doubt in his mind that his crew were exposed to the same infection that he had feared might happen. The COM mission hierarchy had gone to great pains to dismiss this scenario as highly unlikely, but Kruger was not paid to live in the unlikely. His worth lay in situations where the shit had hit the fan.
So far one of the Xaing Zu crew had gone over to the dark side. He should have killed him when he had the chance. But at least he was incapacitated, and now out of the fight. The colonists had also seen fit to corral the rest of the Chinese in one of the food processing pods, so they too were rendered inactive. His thoughts now turned to his own COM crew. Already one had gone feral in the biodome. But his major concern was how many more would succumb to this psychotic malaise. A horrific thought struck him—could he too become infected? And how would he even know? He put these thoughts out of his mind and concentrated on the current active threats, and how best to contain them. He checked his weapon.
As Kruger approached the tunnel entrance to the biodome he could hear screaming and yelling emanating from within. He pressed his hand to his earpiece. “Slade, Benson, talk to me. I’m approaching the entrance to the biodome, what’s the situation?”
Stay frosty, he’s heading your way, commander.
With that a number of colonists ran out through the tunnel, they didn’t even skip a beat when they saw him. This was not a good sign, as the threat that he posed to them obviously paled in comparison to what they were running from.
A blast from a PEP weapon split the air ahead of him and a colonist collapsed in a writhing heap of flashing light. It snaked and swirled around his body before finally extinguishing itself. The colonist’s forward momentum kept him sliding along the floor right up to Kruger’s feet. He resisted the temptation to look down and check on the immobilized colonist, his ingrained training instead keeping him focused on the threat, fortunately for Kruger, as the crazed mercenary now came into view.
He was moving at speed towards the commander, but his gait was awkward and he seemed to be rolling his head as he ran. Kruger raised his weapon to take a shot, but he was too slow, a bolt of incandescent light burst out from the mercenary’s weapon. Kruger threw himself sideways as the flash passed him by. He hit the floor, rolled and came around for a shot, but something was wrong. His left side was not responding. His arm was paralyzed, he must have been hit. All he could do was watch as the crazed mercenary sped past him, knocking over panicked colonists like ninepins as he barreled forward.
“Guys, talk to me, I’m down, he’s getting past me. Where the hell are you?”
“Here, Commander.” Kruger looked up and saw lieutenants Benson and Slade standing over him. Benson offered him a hand up. “You okay, sir?”
“Bastard winged me. My left arm is non-operational for a while.” He stood up and gripped the weapon tight in his good arm and looked down through the biodome entrance tunnel. The flow of panicking colonists had stopped. Those still inside, which was the bulk of them, had chosen to stay there, assuming it to be the safer option, which from where Kruger was standing made perfect sense.
“Listen to me, Benson. I want you to get VanHoff and the doctor out of the medlab, get them into EVA suits and bring them to the safe zone we identified. You know where that is?”
“Yes sir. What about the biodome door, and the escaped colonists?”
“Screw them. They’re too scared to do anything but hide. The ones still in the biodome aren’t going anywhere. We can round up the stragglers later. First you need to get VanHoff to the safe zone. We will track down this crazy bastard. Got it?”
“Got it, sir.” Lieutenant Benson ran off to the medlab.
Kruger watched him go as he took a moment to rub some feeling back in to his arm, then he took a look around. The colonists that had escaped from the biodome were nowhere to be seen, save for the one lying on the ground in front of him. He wondered if he was dead and then he saw the gentle rise and fall of his chest. He’s okay, he’ll live—probably. Kruger checked his weapon again, gripped it tight, and moved off in the direction of the operations room. This was also the access route to the other sectors of the facility. The situation was still volatile, but he was back in the saddle and on the hunt for live game. God, he loved this job.
It took VanHoff a few moments to regain his composure after facing off with the commander. He ignored the weapon Kruger had left on the workbench and instead focused his attentions on Dr. Molotov, who was now strapping his head with a bandage and checking himself in the mirror. “Going to need a few stitches I should think,” he said as he gingerly touched the wound above his temple. VanHoff, seeing Molotov was okay, turned back to look over the unconscious Xaing Zu taikonaut. Now that the mayhem had been brought under control, a slow realization had been building in his mind since observing the incident in the biodome. This realization was now becoming fully formed as he stared down at the face of this crazed individual. “Could be happening again?” he said to no one in particular.
“What was that you said?” Dr. Molotov was applying an adhesive bandage to close his wound.
“There’s only one thing that could make this guy and the COM mercenary in the biodome go crazy like that.”
Dr. Molotov spun around and stared at VanHoff for a moment. “You mean there’s another one?”
“Yes. In the biodome. A while ago, one of our own crew went crazy, started shooting up the place.”
The doctor walked over and looked down at the taikonaut. “We’d better get an IV into him, keep him sedated. We don’t want him going nuts again.” He pulled out a cannula from a drawer beside the operating table and cracked open the seal.
While Dr. Molotov set about ensuring the unfortunate Chinese crewmember was well out of harm’s way, VanHoff’s mind began to race with the implications of these chaotic events. If his suspicions were true then there was only one sure way to find out. So, it was with shaking fingers that VanHoff drew a vial of blood from the patient’s arm. If it was truly happening again then he wouldn’t need much blood to confirm it.
He prepared a slide and slid it under the microscope. He leaned in to look through the eyepiece, and slowly nudged the focus. His point of view moved around the sample, nothing looked out of the ordinary. But then he stopped and froze. There it was, a clump of dark elongated bacteria. There was no mistaking it. His heart skipped a beat and he snapped his head away from the microscope eyepiece.
“What is it?” Dr. Molotov looked over at him.
VanHoff waved a hand to silence him. This was a seminal moment. The thing that he had been searching for, the thing that had been denied him so many times—here it was at last. He peered in through the microscope eyepiece again. He was afraid that he might have been imagining it, that it wasn�
�t really there. He scanned the sample for a few more moments before saying, “I’ve found it.”
Then a thought came to him like a hammer blow, the genetic miracle that he had been searching for his whole life was probably already inside him, infecting him, changing his biology. He wondered if that was the reason for the headache that had been rumbling around the folds of his brain since morning. Yet, he had not gone mad like the others. He felt the skin on the back of his hand as if to find some physical evidence that the bacteria was working its magic on him. But this was ludicrous, his excitement was dulling his scientific mind, there was a better way to be certain. A few moments later, Peter VanHoff again peered into the microscope at the dark elongated shapes of the Janus bacteria. Except this time he was looking at a sample of his own blood. He sat back. A broad smile broke across aged face. He had done it. He had found it at last.
But he didn’t get time to revel in his triumph, as a wave of screaming and yelling emanated from somewhere outside the medlab. He stopped and listened as the mayhem slowly died down. He was just about to relax again when Lieutenant Benson burst through the door.
“Dr. VanHoff, Dr. Molotov. You’d better come with me. Right now!”
18
Chaos
So far her plan was having the desired effect, causing chaos and mayhem to run riot in the colony. COM was off balance, losing control of the colonists now running out of the biodome in panic. The medlab had also been evacuated. The battle had begun, but Jann had to act now if the momentum were to stay in her favor. She turned around to Gizmo. “Time to go, come on.”
They raced over to the airlock door that gave them access through the short tunnel to the medlab. Within minutes they had ascended to the ancillary medlab module. Jann peered through the small window in the door and scanned the room. It was empty save for Nills lying on one of the operating tables and one of the Chinese crew strapped down to another.
“Okay,” she whispered to Gizmo. “Once we’re inside you need to get that main door closed.”
“Will do.”
She cracked open the door and stepped inside. Gizmo whizzed, as silently as possible for a robot on tracks, over to the entrance door and closed it gently. Jann moved to where Nills lay. His face was pale, and from his body ran a profusion of wires and tubes. But his vitals looked good as they drew themselves out on the monitors. Her first reaction was to start pulling out the invasive tubes but that might not be such a bright idea. She needed to calm herself down and figure out what each one was doing. Only then could she start to bring him back to the real world.
Outside she could hear the colony descending into chaos. Yelling and screeching interspersed with the telltale whoomp of a PEP weapon being discharged. Gizmo had explained the operation of these weapons to her, so she dearly hoped that they had set them to stun. The last thing she wanted was the death of a colonist because of her high-stakes gamble. An alarm shrieked on the monitor as she withdrew a tube from Nills’ upper arm. She jumped, then tapped the screen to switch it off. The noise from outside was getting louder. After a few more anxious minutes she finally extracted the last of the IVs, the one that kept him sedated. She pulled it gently from his neck and held her finger over the insertion point to stem the blood. She looked up at the monitor, all was okay, his vital signs were holding steady.
The medlab door burst open and in rushed two colonists, dragging a third along the floor between them. They stopped in surprise when they saw her and Gizmo.
“Dr. Malbec… we thought you were dead… how did you survive the tunnel collapse?”
Jann looked down at the body of the colonist that they had deposited on the floor. “Is he dead?”
“Eh… I don’t think so… I’m not sure.”
“Gizmo, go check on him.” Jann was in the process of applying bandages to the numerous punctures on Nills’ body.
“Low but steady pulse, some pupil dilation, some scorching of the cervical epidermis.” The droid looked up at Jann. “Not dead. Injuries symptomatic of plasma energy pulse weapon set on paralyze.”
This was good news to Jann. At least the COM mercenaries had seen fit to show some restraint, having presumably established that killing them all would not be in their best interests. After all they were not the enemy—yet. They were simply running in panic from the infected. That said, non-lethal weaponry had the advantage of enabling the user to disable anyone with impunity. So they could, if they wanted to, turn the tables very quickly. Jann knew she didn’t have much time. If she hoped to regain control she would have to act fast. She eyed the PEP weapon that VanHoff had forgotten to take with him when he was unceremoniously whisked out of the medlab. She had spotted it earlier, but now Jann reached over and picked it up. It was small and stubby, but surprisingly heavy.
“What’s going on out there?” she said to the others.
They all stopped and listened. It had gone very quiet. No one spoke for a moment. Jann inched her way to the main door and opened it a crack. What she could see of the outside area seemed empty of people. She turned back to the colonists. “How many people got out of the biodome?”
“I don’t know… the door was open so we just ran. One of the COM mercenaries went totally crazy in there… shooting up the place.”
“Gizmo, can you get any location data on the COM mercenaries?”
“I’m picking up readings from multiple sectors.”
“Your best guess for where they are now?”
“There is a cohort heading for dome five. Their signature shows patterns symptomatic of multiple high energy sources.”
“PEP weapons?”
“Precisely.”
“And the operations room?”
“I estimate one, maybe two lifeforms.”
“Okay, well it looks as if Xenon is still in there, so here’s the plan. You guys stay here and keep an eye on Nills and your colleague. Myself and Gizmo will go and find Xenon.”
“What about him?” The colonist pointed over to the unconscious taikonaut.
“He isn’t going anywhere.”
The colonist wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure?”
“Trust me. He’s strapped down good and tight.” She moved back to the door, opened it a bit wider and scanned the area. It was deserted.
“Okay Gizmo, let’s go.”
Peter VanHoff followed close behind Lieutenant Benson as they navigated their way to the safe zone. Dr. Molotov took up the rear. This was an area within the facility that the commander had deemed the safest place to hole up should the situation become volatile. As a precaution, EVA suits had been stashed there along with other necessary supplies.
VanHoff had followed along in a kind of daze, not really paying attention to where they were going. His mind was still trying to fathom the enormity of his discovery. Not how it came to be that the Janus bacteria had suddenly materialized after so much time lying dormant, but more about how it was multiplying in his bloodstream and what that meant for his own flawed biology. He had sought this moment for so very long that now it had arrived, he felt like he was in a dream.
“You need to get into this EVA suit, sir.”
“What?” He was snapped back to the here and now by the mention of the words, EVA suit.
“The suit, sir. You need to put it on.” Benson motioned at it with his a nod of his head.
Under normal circumstances VanHoff would have balked at the thought of encasing himself in an EVA suit unless it was absolutely necessary, such was his fear of being enclosed in one. He had barely kept it together for the few short steps it took to get from the rover to the entrance airlock when they arrived. But now his fear was virtually nonexistent, it had evaporated. The claustrophobic environment held no threat for him. With the bacteria now working its miracle within, he felt invulnerable, invincible, even superhuman. Yet, he knew all this was purely psychological, any improvement in his physiology would take time to be evidenced. Nevertheless, it was a fundamentally different VanHoff that now inspected
the EVA suit, than the VanHoff that landed on Mars, not so long ago.
“It’s just a precaution, sir. In case we need to get you out of here in a hurry.”
Dr. Molotov was already suiting himself up, so VanHoff nodded. “Sure, no problem, I understand.” He moved over to where the EVA suit was hanging and started to get it ready to put on. He was opening up the front and just in the process of performing the initial checks on the suit system when he noticed that Benson had a vacant, distracted look. “Are you okay?”
Benson looked back at him with a kind of confused expression. Like he couldn’t quite remember where he was. VanHoff felt an anxious twinge ripple through him as he considered that Benson might be succumbing to the infection, and not in a good way.
Benson seemed to snap out of it. “Sorry, sir. Just kind of… zoned out for a moment.” He shook his head and touched his earpiece, listening to some message from the commander, no doubt. “Gotta go. Will you be okay here, sir?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine. Go. You need to get this facility back under control.”
Benson nodded and headed off. VanHoff watched him go. He wondered if he should inform Kruger of his suspicions about the mental health of the mercenary. Maybe not, perhaps he was just being a bit paranoid. Best leave the commander do his job.
As Jann and Gizmo entered the common room, they startled a group of colonists that had hidden out in there. They were armed with hastily constructed weapons such as spears, clubs, and knives from the galley that were now repurposed and brought into emergency service.
“It’s me… it’s me.” She held her hands up and moved into the light so they could see her better. One by one they moved out from alcoves and the dark corners of the space. “Dr. Malbec, you’re alive!”
“Yes, it’s me, still here. Where are the others?”
They looked from one to the other. “Scattered… I think. One of the mercenaries went nuclear in the biodome, everyone ran.”
Colony Three Mars (Colony Mars Book 3) Page 11