by Emma Newman
“It hid drone data from me,” I say. “I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t examining it closely. You guys have been steered away from going in that direction and told to focus on other things. It’s so easy to hide stuff going on out there when the tin man controls all the data.”
“But what is the point?” Elvan pulls the chair out from under the desk and sits heavily. “It can’t just be for the show. They could run that from a studio on Earth now. They could ship us back home, get us to sign a contract to stay isolated while we film a few more seasons, and it would cost a fraction of what it does now.”
“I think it’s a cargo thing,” I say. “It’s probably all to do with having an excuse to ship stuff to Mars, right? If we weren’t here, and Gabor wanted to send people or equipment or whatever to the real base, someone would notice and start asking questions. If Arnolfi is in on this, she and the tin man could get those extra things smuggled to the other base without you guys finding out. It could be offloaded while still on the pad and driven off, without even needing to use the umbilical corridor.”
“And I thought we were here for science,” Petranek says, gloomy. “This is so fucking depressing.”
“I think the science is still valuable,” Elvan says, but his optimism sounds hollow.
“I bet the science they’re doing in the other base is far more interesting though.” Banks sits on the bed. “So, who wants to go and find out what they’re doing there?”
“Well, obviously, I’d be all over that like a rash,” Petranek begins, “but there is the whole megasecret aspect of this to consider. They might, I dunno, have guns or something.”
“You play too many shooters,” Banks says. “They’re likely to be just like us. But better paid, I bet.”
We exchange a look and there is warmth in his wry smile. He’s grateful that I didn’t betray him.
“Have you tried contacting Arnolfi?” Both Banks and Petranek nod.
“No response. And the local comms are working fine.” Petranek sits next to Banks and nudges him with hir shoulder. “Cheer up, Banks. Are you worried one of those people at the other base will have been here longer than you?”
He nudges hir back. “Bugger off. I’m wondering whether GaborCorp cut us off because our resident supersleuth was getting close to springing their secret.”
“That’s occurred to me too,” I confess. I feel strangely tired. Maybe it’s the relief that we are discussing this together. I didn’t realize how much energy it took to be suspicious of everyone around me. Now it’s us against Arnolfi, instead of just me. No, I mustn’t think that way. This isn’t a fight.
Elvan twitches suddenly and turns away from all of us. “Is it Arnolfi?” Petranek asks, but he holds up a hand. A couple of seconds later, he stands up.
I hold my breath, expecting something awful. His hands move, tapping invisible options, and then he finally turns back to us. “I’ve just given Principia permission to make Arnolfi unconscious. She was attempting suicide.”
“What the fuck!” Petranek leaps up. “Where is she? Principia? Where is Arnolfi?”
A box appears, asking for permission to use my wall, which I grant immediately. A map is displayed, a flashing green dot showing her location. “She went to the other base,” I say, recognizing the local landmarks. “That’s where it is.”
“We have to go and get her,” Elvan says, grabbing his medkit.
“All of us,” Banks says. “No secrets, and we watch each other’s backs, okay?”
We all nod. “We’ll meet in the dust lock,” Petranek says, opening the door. “Banks, bring your portable, just in case.”
“Your portable what?” I ask as they all hurry out.
“You’ll see,” he says and then I’m alone again.
Half an hour later I’m sitting in the back of the rover with Elvan, Banks in the front passenger seat, Petranek behind the wheel. Now that Principia knows we have to go and collect Arnolfi, there’s no concern about using the nav system, so there’s no need for me to provide any directions. All I can do is sit there, wondering what to do.
I haven’t told any of them about the note. I almost did, a couple of times, but whenever I plan what to say about it, I sound insane. The same with my wedding ring. There is something very wrong here. I just know it, when I consider the note, the ring and the fact that Arnolfi went out to the other base by herself. Add in Elvan’s comments about how easily and quickly I found something that has been hidden from them for so long and that terrible sense of unease deepens.
After what was said outside the dust lock though, I can’t bear the thought of anyone doubting my sanity. Trying to draw conclusions from these disparate nuggets of weirdness feels too close to being a conspiracy theorist. I smirk at that as I gaze out over the Martian wilderness. We’re driving toward the best proof of a conspiracy we could ever hope to find. I should be thinking more along these lines.
I feel a pressure on my right hand, the one resting on the seat between me and Elvan, and see that he has rested his over it. He’s staring out at the landscape through the opposite window and doesn’t look at me as his gloved hand closes around mine, squeezing it gently.
It feels like a deeply intimate gesture, despite the fact that we’re with other people and are wearing thick gloves. There’s something about the way it seems absentminded of him, like there’s some part of him seeking contact without being consciously aware of it.
“Are you okay?” I ask him on a private channel.
“Worried about Arnolfi,” he says. “What made her try to take her suit off? Principia interpreted it as suicidal behavior, which it is, but still. Just seems so out of character. What if someone else was with her, forcing her?”
“Wouldn’t their APA have shut them down? It would be easy to recognize as harmful behavior. Everyone at that base must be on the same contracts as us, and bound by the same rules.”
“Yes, I suppose so.” He sounds unconvinced. Then he notices what he’s done with his hand and starts to pull away, but I hold on to him.
“It’s okay,” I say. “I think we both need this.”
“I shouldn’t have presumed.”
“It’s not the bloody nineteenth century! It’s fine.”
He lets his hand rest back where it was and we travel on in silence.
“Nearly there,” Petranek says eventually.
“I just remembered something,” I say. “When I was coming back before, I saw that someone from that base had gone toward ours, first on foot, then in a rover that they got into in a small canyon. I’ll show you all on the map.”
“Maybe that was Arnolfi,” Banks says grimly. “If she knew about it before today, that is.”
“Or one of the people from the other base, giving Arnolfi the benefit of the doubt here,” Elvan says. He pulls his hand away as Banks twists in his seat.
“Elvan, she went there without telling anyone, Principia covering her. I think the writing is on the wall.”
Elvan doesn’t reply.
I see a familiar slope rising ahead. “That scree is pretty loose; it’s probably best for us to park on the level, then climb up.”
Petranek takes my advice and we get out. “She’s just on the other side,” Elvan says, and the rear compartment of the rover is opened.
I wait as he takes out his medkit and another bag, which he hefts over his shoulder. Banks removes a small case, gives me a nervous glance and slams the rover shut.
“Arnolfi is effectively asleep,” Elvan says as we all climb the slope together. “MyPhys isn’t reporting any injuries, but I think it might be wise to wake her up back at our base, in a familiar environment. She’s likely to be disoriented and she might still be distressed.”
“Agreed,” says Banks. “But I think we should get the lay of the land here before we go back. Don’t you?”
Elvan giv
es a noncommittal grunt as Petranek says, “Hell, yeah!”
I stay quiet, feeling that this isn’t my mission. We pass the tracks I left before, and the messy impression of where I parked the rover and then turned it around. Running parallel a few meters away to my left are the tracks left by another rover, presumably the one that Arnolfi traveled in. We reach the crest and look down into the fake crater together.
“Holy shit,” Petranek says.
Arnolfi’s rover is on its side, having tumbled down the scree by the look of it. There’s a set of footprints running from it to the launchpad and then on toward the hump of the ramp roof.
“She must be on the ramp,” Elvan says. “MyPhys didn’t report any injury from the— Oh for fuck’s sake, Principia!”
“What is it?” Banks asks.
“It’s just released her data. She has a broken arm and mild concussion.” He jumps down the slope, landing halfway down and sliding the rest of the way to start sprinting as soon as he reaches the flat ground.
The rest of us follow, the others pulling ahead, used to throwing themselves around in low g and more confident in the suits.
Arnolfi is lying in a crumpled heap just outside the storm doors of the exit ramp. Elvan repositions her carefully and peers through the visor of her helmet. I catch a glimpse of some blood that has run down the inside of the plasglass and my stomach heaves. I turn away to see Banks and Petranek in close conference a little way away. It looks like Petranek is trying to convince Banks to do something. Probably to break into the base.
“Is there anything I can do to help?” I say to Elvan.
“No. She’s stable. MyPhys is already treating the shock. I need to get her to the rover and back to our base. You could help me with that.”
I look over at the other two. It looks like Banks is giving in, nodding and walking toward the far side of the storm doors.
Petranek notices my attention. “We’re going to hook up to the system here, see if anyone is inside.”
“Have you asked the prince?” Elvan suggests and Petranek laughs like he’s asked the most ridiculous question.
“We’re negotiating,” Banks says. “The prince is not being very helpful.”
“Ze isn’t talking to us,” Petranek adds. “Ze says ze’s not at liberty to answer any of our questions.”
I open a private channel to Banks. “Are you going to break in? Is that what that case is for?”
He twists around and gives me a nod. He doesn’t want to risk his response being logged. “I wouldn’t dream of hacking into GaborCorp equipment, Dr. Kubrin,” he replies as he kneels down and opens the case. Satisfied, I close the channel.
“We’re going to take Arnolfi back to base,” Elvan says.
“We need to stay together,” Petranek replies. “This is serious shit, Elvan.”
“There’s probably a medlab inside this base,” I say. “Why don’t we take her inside with us?”
Elvan smiles at me. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. It might not be stocked though.”
“But we know someone was here, because of the launchpad. If nothing else, there will be printers,” I say.
He considers it and then nods. “I’d rather treat her here before taking her across that terrain.” Elvan straps Arnolfi’s arm to her body so we can carry her without risking further injury. We get her to the storm-shield door as it starts to open.
“I managed to change the prince’s mind,” Banks says with a grin.
Petranek claps Banks on the shoulder. “If you weren’t such a dedicated company man, I’d think you were one shady bastard,” ze says to him.
Banks remains silent, pulling a couple of wires out of the manual-override panel and tucking them back into the case. I get only a glimpse of what looks like an old-fashioned screen and keyboard before it’s closed.
It’s dark inside, with only a couple of meters of ramp exposed. We all switch on the torches built into our helmets and head inside.
It could be Mars Principia. Everything looks the same. Banks opens the air-lock doors and takes us through the process of getting inside manually. There’s a brief debate about whether it’s safe to enter a secret base that isn’t answering any knocks and has a hostile AI, but there’s no way any of us are just going to turn around and go back to base without getting some answers first.
There are suits still attached to the wall in the dust lock, but it’s no effort to remove them. Elvan and I wait for Banks and Petranek to get inside; then we unstrap Arnolfi’s arm and hold her up until the others pull her through from the other side. Elvan winces at every jolt, as if it is his arm that is broken, but there’s nothing else we can do, short of putting her through the equipment hatch, and with those injuries, he doesn’t want to risk her being blasted by the cleaners on the way through.
As Banks plugs his case in on the far side of the dust lock, only one set of doors between us and the base proper now, Elvan does a proper assessment of Arnolfi’s injuries and straps her arm up again.
“It’s not too bad a break,” he says with relief. “It won’t take me long to set it in the medlab.”
“Is anyone else here?” I ask. “Are they actively trying to keep us out?”
“With the prince being such a pain in the ass it’s hard to tell,” Banks says. “Our attempts to contact them may be being blocked. Ah, that’s it. Gotcha, you difficult bastard.”
The doors open and the lights in the corridor come on. Even though I know these are standard energy-saving devices, the same as the ones in Principia, I can’t help but feel like the base is empty.
Elvan goes over to the lockers and opens the one on the end. Inside there is a stretcher; he unfolds it and clicks the pieces of its rigid frame into place. “Can I have a hand getting Arnolfi to the medlab? I’m going to assume it’s in the same place as ours is.”
“I suppose if we were going to be shot, we’d know by now,” Petranek mutters and picks up the stretcher with Elvan.
Banks and I follow them out. Sure enough, it is laid out exactly the same way as Principia is, the medlab just off the central communal hub, a spur off to the sleeping quarters, to labs, and an extra door that all of us stare at as we pass it.
“It feels deserted,” Banks says. “I’m starting to think that there really is no one here.”
“But someone was here,” I say, pointing out a cup that hasn’t been recycled yet, resting underneath the table that mirrors the one we usually eat dinner at.
There are no other signs of people. Once Arnolfi is laid out on one of the medlab beds, Banks and I go exploring, leaving Petranek to stay with Elvan. We open a group channel and Elvan gives us a running commentary on Arnolfi’s status. He speculates that she got her injuries when the rover tipped over, as the concussion was caused by a blow to the side of her head. Without the padded helmet, it would have been much worse.
“Let’s check out the sleeping quarters first,” I suggest. “We might be able to get a sense of how many people have been here.”
“Agreed,” says Petranek. “Don’t go through that extra door until we’re back together again.”
“Ze hates being left out of anything,” Banks says to me.
“Yeah, especially finding dead bodies or monsters or a welcoming committee with guns,” ze replies. “And before you say it, Banks, I do not play too many games. It’s what we’re all imagining, right?”
“Speak for yourself,” Elvan mutters. It sounds like he’s still working on Arnolfi.
“I don’t understand why Principia isn’t talking to us,” I say. “I mean, he—it—butts in all the time. Maybe it doesn’t run this base. Maybe there’s no AI here at all.”
“No, Principia is here too,” Banks says confidently. “It just won’t respond to any of my questions or do anything to make it easy for us to be here.”
“Is there air
here?”
“Yes, but I recommend we all keep our suits on,” Elvan says quickly. “It may be that a pathogen was introduced here and killed everyone.”
“Principia would tell us if that was the case, surely?” Petranek says.
“You’d think so, but considering it wouldn’t even open the door for us without a fight, I don’t want to make any assumptions,” Banks replies.
The sleeping quarters are exactly the same as ours, only laid out differently so the bathrooms are shared by two people instead of each having an en-suite.
“I guess we got the five-star base,” Banks comments.
“And the better infection control,” Elvan adds.
“You really want this to be a zombie-apocalypse scenario, don’t you?” Petranek says but Elvan denies it.
There are no personal effects in the rooms, but they have definitely been used. Many of the beds are unmade and I find a long blond hair on one pillow.
“Keep it,” Elvan says. “I could extract the DNA and see who it belonged to.”
“Are we having fun yet, kids?” Petranek says.
“Hey, he’s not our only resident sleuth,” Banks says. “Anna has been examining the toilet rolls in the bathrooms for clues.”
“I’ve just been seeing if they’ve been used, that’s all,” I say, prodding Banks as best I can through his suit. “All of the bathrooms have one, meaning all were in use.”
“She’s right,” Petranek says. “The first people to populate the bases printed the rolls and put them in the bathrooms. Elvan’s done here; we’ll meet you by the mystery door.”
“We’ll be there in a minute,” I say. “I just want to check every room.”
“You’re one of those gamers who has to go into every nook in a mersive, right?” Banks asks.
“I don’t really play many, to be honest. The ads drive me insane.”
The banter makes me appreciate just how scripted the shows were. The levity makes me feel strange, considering the situation, but this is how they work as a team. Talking, keeping it light to push back the confusion. I’m sure they are all just as disturbed by this as I am, but there’s no desire to feed one another’s fears. Petranek’s quips about monsters and zombies are like a release valve, something to make us smile as we worry about what we will really find.