Moments later, Stan had found footage of Alex and Celine. “Sir, there’s something you need to see.”
Mr. Rittenhouse took Stan’s seat at the desk in the saloon. Together they watched the recording with full audio and visual.
“I don’t understand how that girl could have talked Alex into helping her search for her father. Everyone knows he’s dead…” Mr. Rittenhouse groaned and rolled his eyes. He then turned to Stan, who was standing behind him. “None of the condoms are missing, are they?” Stan’s mouth froze wide open, but no words came out. “You’re right. Cancel that thought, Stan.”
“What could Alex possibly gain by helping her?” Mr. Rittenhouse mumbled.
“He likes her, sir,” Stan said with trepidation.
“She’s not his type. There’s something in it for him. I know my boy just as well as I know myself.” As the recording of Celine and Alex continued, Mr. Rittenhouse saw Alex and Celine putting on the armbands to muffle their life signatures. Mr. Rittenhouse grimaced.
“You imbeciles! No!” he moaned at the screen.
“Can I do something for you, sir?” Stan asked.
“Yes. Call Morg.” He shook his head in disgust. “And call that girl’s mother.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“I have no idea why Alex would be helping Celine,” Abbie told Mr. Rittenhouse during her interrogation. “Maybe he wants to help a friend in need.”
“I know my son too well to agree with such a simplistic deduction.”
The captain interrupted their conversation. “Sir, one of the body-heat tent is gone. Some dried meat and berries, a water bottle, and two weeks’ worth of rations are also missing.”
Mr. Rittenhouse opened his mouth to say something but found himself in a rare position: he was speechless.
“Sir,” the captain continued, “they also have some climbing gear.”
That was the final straw. Mr. Rittenhouse couldn’t believe his son had taken climbing gear, especially knowing the stems were damaged.
“Get Dr. Duke. And I want you and those stems back here yesterday!” he shouted to the captain.
“Understood, sir,” the captain replied and nearly trotted from the salon.
◆ ◆ ◆
Hours passed as Mr. Rittenhouse and Abbie waited in silence in Admin’s quarters for Morg’s call. They expected the teens to be found and brought safely back to the Compound before nightfall. They grew wary when they heard nothing by the time the sun faded into the horizon.
◆ ◆ ◆
Morg had remained at Olympus Mons with the Marsologists when Mr. Rittenhouse and his personal protectors had returned to the Compound days ago. The scientists had gathered data from the volcano while Morg stood guard. Wild, doglike animals had been seen in the area.
He was disappointed when the Marsologists’ data showed that Olympus Mons was too large of a volcano for a controlled reactivation. That means we’ve got to trek miles away to a smaller volcano in the Chaos Region. Commander’s not going to like that.
“Most of the volcanoes in the Chaos are lopsided,” Morg said.
“We know that, Morg,” said Jerry, one of the Marsologists.
Morg could sense the irritation among the scientists, regardless; he had no intentions of taking anyone to the Chaos Region. In fact, it was his sworn duty to keep all colonists, even nosy visiting scientists, away from it. He had killed to keep the secrets of the region hidden, and though he didn’t enjoy it, he would do it again if he had to.
“I know Mars better than anyone on this planet,” Morg continued. He noticed a surprised glare from Amirra, Jerry’s wife and fellow scientist.
“Morg, do you have another volcano in mind?” Amirra said.
“Albor Tholus would work better, and it’s not far.”
“You think so?” Amirra said.
“Yes. It’s kind of difficult to get to the volcanoes in the Chaos, and most of them look like they’ve collapsed. I don’t think you could activate them.”
“Morg, I think we might have underestimated you,” Amirra admitted after a thoughtful pause.
Morg smiled at the two Marsologists. Most people tend underestimate me. He chuckled silently.
Amirra turned to Jerry and said, “Honey, why don’t we take a look at it?”
“We’ll take a look at it,” Jerry said hesitantly. “We’ll run the numbers.”
Pretty smart fellers, Morg thought. Don’t want you to see anything that might get you folks killed.
Morg and the Marsologists were packing their equipment and gear when Morg received a call from Theodore, his second-in-command. He informed Morg of the fire in the cold storage area that had damaged the stems. Morg was shocked that Madison had died and had since been cremated. Never had he heard of someone so young dying of such injuries—murdered, yes, but even that was rare.
With Morg’s encouragement, the Marsologists readily agreed that they should head back to the Compound until Dr. Duke returned with the stems.
Morg received a second call; he was not in the slightest expecting to hear from Mr. Rittenhouse’s captain.
“Celine and Alex are missing. It appears they are looking for Celine’s father.”
“Her father? And why do you believe that?”
“We know, sir. We have recordings of them discussing their plans.”
“What exactly were their plans?”
“To find Celine’s father, sir.”
“But he’s…” Morg stopped himself. “Did they say where they were headed? Did they have any gear? Does Celine’s mother know about this? Speak up, man. You’ve given me nothing to go on.”
“Sir, here is Ms. Voltaire.”
“Morg, I’m in shock. Celine and Alex are gone.”
“Where? Did anyone see them leave?” asked Morg.
“Madison’s widow saw them leave, but she thought they were the Marsologists. They were headed west toward the Red Hills.”
“I’ll find them, dear. Don’t worry. Tell Mr. Rittenhouse to not worry. I’ll bring them back safe and sound.” Morg ended the call and then called Theodore.
“Does everything fall apart under your watch?” Morg snapped at Theodore. “Get a team together! I’ll send these scientists back to the Compound and meet you at these coordinates: fifty longitude, thirty latitude at thirteen hundred hours.”
Heading toward the hills means they are probably going to the Chaos Region. I should have flooded that area when I had the chance, Morg thought. He slid some explosives out from Amirra’s pack and placed them with his own things. Why would Alex help Celine search for her dad? That’s going to make finding them a little more difficult; that boy has more gadgets than an electronic warehouse…I’ve got to get those kids back to the Compound before they find out too much.
CHAPTER 7
Red Haze
◆ ◆ ◆
There are no highways, midways, or skyways here—only the two of us in the middle of this wide-open desert. So quiet…Not even the sound of a chirping insect can be heard. It reminds me of Death Valley, but at least in the valley I’d see a trapdoor spider running for cover, or perhaps a sidewinder sliding sideways to get out of my way. Nothing’s here to distract me from the monotony, nothing but a constant haze of fine red dust.
Alex, who was overtaken by boredom, began to sing, “A hundred creepy buzzards on a limb of a dead tree, a hundred creepy buzzards on a dead tree, one flew away, and the rest slid down, now ninety-nine creepy buzzards on a leafless dead tree…” He sang loudly, completely unaware that he sang to the tune of an ancient beer bottle song.
“What’s that song?” Celine asked.
“Something to kill time,” Alex answered half-heartedly.
“Catchy.” Celine joined in the song, “Ninety-nine creepy buzzards on a limb of a dead tree, ninety-nine creepy buzzards on a dead tree, one flew away, and the rest slid down, now ninety-eight creepy buzzards on a leafless dead tree.” Celine wasn’t so sure of the song’s meaning, but she enjoyed the tune. The
y marched toward the Red Hills in time to its beat.
Alex stopped singing once they reached the top of a small hill. He took his binoculars from a side pocket on his backpack and studied the terrain. “Not many places to hide if we needed to—a few boulders here and there. A person could get seriously lost out here without the right equipment. So glad we have the Na—”
“Shh. Listen. Do you hear something?” Celine turned her head toward a sound.
“No. What it is?” Alex waited for her to speak.
“Sounds like something’s moving beneath us.”
“That’s just the sound of rocks crushing beneath our boots, Celine.”
“No, I’m positive I heard something else.”
“Or not—it was probably a delayed echo.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” A gush of cool air lifted the red dust and swirled it around them.
“Alex, we’d better set camp soon…the cold will come.”
“We still have a few hours of light. We can do a few extra miles.”
“No!” Celine could feel the winds pushing her gently. “Can’t you feel the gales? Night will fall soon, and the cold will come.” This would be Celine’s first night on the surface, and she was anxious. She grabbed Alex by the arm and shook it. “The cold will come quickly! We could freeze!”
“OK, OK, I get it! The cold will come. I never figured you’d be so afraid of everything.” He looked through his binoculars. “There’s a boulder about a kilometer west.”
“I see it,” Celine mumbled back.
Alex tilted his head to the side, as if examining the rock in the distance. He then sharply whipped his head back at Celine. “We’ll set camp there,” he said.
This time Celine led the route, running toward the boulder. Running with her heavy backpack was more challenging than she had anticipated. Nevertheless, she was ready to set camp. After less than ten minutes of running, she finally flopped down on the ground next to the boulder and slid her backpack from her achy shoulders.
“In a hurry?” Alex asked when he finally reached the boulder moments later. “Relax, Martian Girl. I’ve got you covered,” he said as he took the tent covering from his backpack.
“Get it? Covered, cover.” He roared with laughter. “This is gold, Martian Girl. Get a sense of humor.”
Celine rolled her eyes. “You’re not funny, Alex. The cold will come. And it will come quickly.”
Alex smirked. He gave Celine one end of the covering, and they stretched and pinned it to the ground. They did it quickly, as the evening gale winds increased. Fortunately though, they were stationing themselves on the west side of the boulder where it was relatively warm from the evening sun. Alex pulled out a tube of rods from his pack and began pulling one rod out of the other until it was a four-foot pole in his hand. After locking it in place, he screwed it into the center of the tent’s floor. They placed their packs next to the pole to prevent their gear from freezing solid in the night air. Then they sat next to their packs in the center of the floor, back to back. Alex pushed a small button on the pole, and like a large clear umbrella, the tent rose from the pole, engulfing them in a plastic bubble that would prevent body heat from escaping. Celine breathed a sigh of relief. She hoped they would stay comfortable no matter how low the temperature outside dropped.
“Are you comfy, Martian Girl?” He asked as he took off his helmet.
“Couldn’t be better, Water Boy.” Celine took off her helmet and boots.
“Yeah, well we covered sixteen kilometers less than planned.”
“It’s my fault, it’s it?” Celine said, looking down at her tired feet.
“You did all right,” Alex said in a big brotherly fashion. Then he teased, “Maybe I made a mistake in thinking you were ready for this trek.”
“I couldn’t help it that my feet were tied,” Celine said.
“Didn’t you just say you were comfy? After we eat, why don’t you change your boots to a lighter gravity setting?”
“If I do that, I’d probably find myself skipping instead of walking. Or one of the gales could blow me away…I have better control like this. I’ll get use to it.” Celine mustered a smile.
“Try not to think about it,” he added. “We need to make up the distance tomorrow.” He took a second look through his binoculars. “There’s nothing out there. No drones, no search party…”
Celine looked back in the direction of the Compound. She could see two bright orange auras a few kilometers below the hill. Though she was having trouble seeing small details, she could tell they were Morg’s crewmen, neither one was large enough to be Morg though.
“They’re out there,” she said.
“Well, if there’s a search party out there, they’ll need to set up camp pretty soon if they don’t want to freeze to death,” he said in a shaky voice.
The two sat in silence for a minute.
“We’ll break camp early tomorrow at sunrise—after the cold’s gone.”
Celine turned her back to Alex and watched the search party set up camp next to a boulder on the side of the hill. Do I tell Alex my vision is better than his with binoculars? How would I even explain that? She looked over her shoulder at Alex as he opened a food packet.
“Hungry?” he asked as he handed her a meal pack.
“Thanks,” Celine responded softly. Her body was covered in dry sweat, and the air within the tent was hot and stuffy. She felt unclean and was less than thrilled to eat her first meal on the surface in these conditions. Nonetheless, she was hungry and ate quietly. The meal was like nothing she’d every tasted: dried bird (Alex called it chicken jerky), dried berries, and nuts. She might have genuinely enjoyed the food, had it not been for the floating dust particles that had settled on top of it.
“Happy birthday by the way,” Alex said warmly.
My birthday. “Oh. I hadn’t thought about it.”
Celine’s thoughts had been consumed with adjusting to the surface and hiding whatever was going on with her eyes.
“I wonder what my mom is doing right now. I hope she and Hannah are OK.”
“I’m sure they’re fine.”
“If they’re not?” Celine shifted nervously.
“Then we’ll get my dad to deal with it when we get back to the colony…Don’t worry. He’s pretty good at fixing things.” Alex looked up at the star filled sky and the two lopsided moons. “This is stunning. I wonder if the past universes were as nice as this one.”
“I don’t think so. My grandmother says everything is more beautiful today than it was in the past.”
Alex smiled and nodded in satisfaction. He turned to Celine, and the two briefly locked eyes. Slightly flustered by the intimacy of the moment, Alex reverted the subject back to his father. “I am sure my dad has sent out a search party; they’re probably reporting back to him as we speak. He doesn’t like to get his hands dirty.” Alex looked down at his hands crossed in his lap; for a moment, Celine thought he looked rather sad.
Here she was spending her birthday with the hottest boy from Earth, and neither one of them was in a party spirit.
What if I transform into something? What if I hurt Alex? Celine watched him as he chewed his dried chicken. How could I forgive myself? I have to tell him what’s going on, but what can I say? I don’t even know what’s happening to me—or why.
“What’s wrong, birthday girl? You look kind of down.”
“I am OK. Just tired.” Then Celine noticed a pair of eyes watching them in the distance. She could see the heat rising from its body in a red haze shaped like a crouching wolf.
“There’s something out there,” she whispered.
Alex crouched; his eyes search the perimeter as he eased his ray gun from his backpack.
“Where? I don’t see anything,” he whispered.
“It’s gone.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t a shadow?”
“What difference does it make? It wouldn’t have been a shadow of a walking boulder.”
“Well, what did it look like?”
“A wolf.” At that moment, a lonesome howl in the distance pervaded the silence.
Alex’s eyes widened. “That’s not a wolf.” He gulped. “I’ve never heard anything like that.”
“What are we going to do?”
“Well we’re not going back to the Compound until I have those coordinates.”
“I don’t want to go back. I’m afraid to go back without Dad.”
“Afraid of what?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t feel safe there anymore.”
“But you feel safe out here?”
Celine bit her lower lip. “I’m scared, Alex. I don’t know where I’m safe.”
“Look, just calm down. I’ll take the first watch.”
Celine sighed deeply then rolled over to her left side and closed her eyes. After a few minutes, she rolled onto her back and began looking at the night sky.
“Can’t sleep?” Alex asked.
“No.” Celine stared at the night sky. “Hey, see that blue dot?”
“Earth?”
“I’ve never seen it any other way. Funny, isn’t it. I’m the human who’s never been to Earth…What’s it like?”
“Some parts look like Mars. But then there are forest and grasslands and—”
“Do you think I would like it there?” Celine interjected.
“I don’t know. You might. But I think the key is just trying to have fun wherever you go. Earth, the moon, Mars…Just enjoy yourself.”
Celine smiled.
“You’re welcome to visit me whenever you want,” Alex said sheepishly.
“Really? Thanks. Do you still have your pet seal, Flipper?”
“You know about Flipper?”
“I’ve watched all of your shows, Alex…”
Alex chuckled. “Flipper would be happy to meet you.”
“Now that would be a real birthday celebration!” Celine said. They both laughed.
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