Oxygen Series Box Set: A Science Fiction Suspense Box Set

by John Olson

“Valkerie, in case we don’t make it, I just wanted to say how sorry—”

  “Bob, don’t. Please. We’re going to make it.” Valkerie kicked the speed up another notch. “Don’t you dare quit on me. We’re too close to give up now.”

  * * *

  Almost there. Valkerie staggered the last twenty yards, fighting for every step. Finally she cut power to the MuleBot and let it coast to a stop five feet back from the edge of the ravine. “Bob, can you still hear me? We’re here.” She reached back on the mule’s heaping pack and gave Bob a gentle shake. Pins and needles shot through her numb fingers. It was getting colder. The sun would be down in fifteen minutes. “Bob?” She shook him harder.

  “Can’t move my legs. Can’t feel them at all. How am I going to—”

  “You’ll be fine. Just try to move around. Get some circulation going.” Valkerie untied the loops of cable that bound Bob to the back of the MuleBot and helped him slide to the ground.

  His legs crumpled beneath him, flipping him backward onto his PLSS pack.

  “Bob! Are you okay?”

  “C-c-cold. So, so, so cold.”

  “I’ll get you down to the cave in a second. If Lex is right about the thermal vent, it should be a bit warmer inside.” Valkerie checked the power level of Bob’s suit.

  The battery pack was almost dead.

  “Bob, I’m going to swap out your battery first. Can you roll over onto your hands and knees?”

  “So, so, so cold ...”

  Valkerie unlashed the rest of the mule’s load and dug under the oxygen tanks near the front for a battery. There. She lugged the unit back to Bob, who was thrashing around with his arms. She turned him onto his side and braced him with her knee. “That’s it. Keep on moving.” She pried off the battery cover and swapped out the battery. “Move your legs too. You’ve got to get the blood flowing.”

  “Trying.”

  Valkerie could hear the strain in Bob’s voice, but his legs still weren’t moving. “You’re doing fine. Just keep on trying.” Valkerie staggered to her feet and started digging through their load. She buckled the remote controller for the winch to her wrist. Where was the piton bag? “Bob ...” She fought to control her voice. “I’ve got to anchor the mule. Where’d you pack the pulleys?”

  No response.

  “Bob? Where are the ...” She dumped the bulky hyperbaric chamber on the ground and snatched up the orange nylon bag that had been hiding underneath. “Never mind.”

  She pulled two titanium pitons from the bag and pounded them deep into the rocky ground. “Talk to me, Bob. You’ve got to keep moving.” Pulling out the cables attached to the back corners of the mule, she fastened them to the two stakes. Then, slowly letting out cable from the winch on the front of the mule, she walked her way back to Bob and clamped the line onto the anchor clip on his chest.

  “Bob!” She shouted into her mike.

  “Over here ...” Bob’s voice was heavy. He sounded tired, sleepy.

  “Okay. Wake up.” Valkerie pushed Bob roughly onto his back. “I need your help, big guy. I need you to stand. We’ve got to get you over the edge of the cliff.” She reversed the motor on the winch unit and pulled Bob up to a sitting position. “Okay, ready? And stand.” She started the winch and strained with all her might to pull Bob to his feet.

  He flopped forward and started plowing face first through the dirt toward the winch.

  “That’s one way to do it.” Valkerie dragged Bob by the arm until he was between the winch and the cliff. Then, half pushing and half rolling him, she shoved him over the edge.

  The line snapped taut and the mule lurched forward, but stopped short as the anchor lines tightened and held.

  Panting to catch her breath, Valkerie clamped a line onto the cable and crawled backward over the side of the cliff. Her hand slipped and she fell out into space for a heart‑stopping second before the cable snapped tight and slammed her into the wall. She scrambled for a handhold on the smooth rock, waiting for the cable to slip. Waiting for the mule to come crashing over the edge. Bob’s backpack pressed against hers. They hung motionless, waiting—like two fuzzy dice hanging from God’s rearview mirror.

  “Almost there. Keep on moving.” Valkerie pushed Bob aside and fingered the control box on her wrist. For a second she couldn’t tell if they were descending. The winch they’d attached to the MuleBot had only one speed—slug‑on‑a‑frozen‑flagpole slow. It had been built for lifting torque, not speed.

  Pushing and crawling and kicking against the rocky wall, Valkerie fought her way down the face of the cliff. Finally she and Bob were even with the tunnel and the rocky ledge beneath. She swung onto the ledge and hammered a piton into a crack in the wall. Bob couldn’t crawl into the cave by himself, so she was going to have to use a pulley to pull him inside. And to do that she needed some slack in the line.

  She hooked a short safety line to the piton in the wall and attached the other end of the line to Bob. Flipping the controller switch for Bob’s winch, she lowered Bob until he was supported only by his safety line. The winch continued lowering until the cable hung down in a big loop below Bob. Wriggling her way feet first into the dark tunnel, she pulled the loop of cable behind her until the tunnel finally widened out enough for her to turn around.

  “Hold on, Bob, just a little bit longer.” Valkerie pulled a pulley out of the piton bag and looped the primary line around it before fastening it to the wall of the tunnel with a piton.

  “I’m coming to get you.” She scrambled back to the entrance of the cave and switched on the winch. The cable slowly tightened, drawing Bob back into the tunnel. Valkerie turned off the winch and released him from his safety line.

  “Okay, big guy. I hope Lex dug the opening out wide enough.” Valkerie switched the winch back on and maneuvered Bob back into the tunnel, carefully guiding him as the winch dragged him deeper inside.

  When he was finally far enough inside the tunnel for her to get around him, Valkerie turned off the winch and transferred the cable to her harness. “Wait here and keep moving. It should be a lot warmer in this cave. I’m going to get our supplies.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Thursday, April 30, 1:00 a.m., CST

  Josh

  JOSH LOOKED AT HIS WATCH. 1:00 a.m. Perfect. He sat up in bed and swung his feet to the floor.

  The FBI was pulling out Friday, and he had to talk to Cathe before they did. No way had she invited Jake to lunch the day the commands were sent to the ERV. That was the day she’d asked him out to lunch, and he still had the e‑mail in his files to prove it. But what did it mean? It didn’t make any sense. If Cathe hadn’t sent that e‑mail to Jake, who had? There was only one way to find out.

  Josh laced on his shoes and tiptoed to the hatch. The guard out there was armed. Time for a little surprise. NASA had absolutely no legal reason to hold him. If Nate still wanted him in “protective custody,” he could refuse the protection. What were they protecting, anyway? His reputation? That was already in shreds, at least within JSC. Everybody in the Mars Mission Directorate knew what he was accused of. And most of them believed it. What could be worse than that?

  In any event, he had nothing left to lose. They had his back to the wall and they were holding the gun and all the bullets. Did they have the guts to fire?

  Josh yanked open the hatch and jumped out.

  The guard moved to block his way.

  Josh dodged past him and ran.

  “Stop or I’ll—”

  “Go ahead and shoot!” Josh shouted. “I’ll sue your socks off.”

  Footsteps clattered behind him. But no gunshots. Josh skidded around the corner and sprinted for the door.

  Behind him, the guard was bellowing something into his walkie‑talkie.

  Great. Any second now, the campus was going to be boiling with security goons.

  There was nobody at the door. Amazing.

  Josh raced through and out into the sweltering Houston night.

  Already h
e heard a siren coming up the road from one of the security gates. Building 29 was on the edge of campus. They’d expect him to head toward one of the exits. Instead, he turned toward the heart of the campus, racing along in the shadows of Building 7, cutting across diagonally to the medical building, then around the dark side of the cafeteria. Finally, he turned left and headed to the last place anyone would look for a fugitive—Mission Control.

  When he reached Building 30A, the door was unlocked. Security in this wing of the building was a joke. Josh simply walked in and ducked into a stairwell. At this hour of the night, there wouldn’t be many engineers about, and most would take the elevator, not the stairs. Up two flights, then a quick peek out into the hallway.

  Deserted, as he expected.

  He slipped down the hallway, stopping at Cathe’s office. It had one of those five‑button combo locks on it. Josh had been here plenty of times. He punched in the combination with fumbling fingers and tried the door. Oops! Try again. Slower, dummy. He finally got it right on the third try and eased the door open.

  The room was dark, lit only by screen glow at the far end.

  Josh slipped inside and pushed the door shut. A filing cabinet stood just inside on the left. Josh leaned against it and tried to catch his breath while his eyes got used to the dark.

  That had gone better than he expected. Now the first thing to do would be to call Cathe to see if she could smuggle him off campus somehow. He heard footsteps outside in the hallway. His heart hammering, Josh put his ear against the door and listened. The footsteps echoed on the tile floor, louder, louder.

  Then passed. Josh heard the sound of EECOM humming to herself. He breathed a huge sigh, pushed himself away from the door and—

  Two arms wrapped around him from behind. “Don’t you dare move,” a voice whispered in his ear.

  Two heart attacks later, Josh found his voice. “Cathe, is that you?”

  “Well, of course! Who else would be in my office after midnight? What are you doing here?”

  “I broke out,” Josh said. “I couldn’t take it anymore and just decided that the worst they could do was shoot me.”

  She squeezed him tighter. “I don’t hear any blood squirting.”

  “So I got lucky.” Josh grabbed her arms. “Okay, you can ease up on the death grip. I’m fine. Why are you in here with your lights out? And what’s the deal? Jake told me you were quitting.”

  Cathe let go of him and Josh flipped on the lights.

  She looked red‑eyed with fatigue. “You know I never quit. The guard wouldn’t let me in to see you after I went to talk to Nate. When Jake got back from D.C. on Tuesday, I heard he was going to visit you, so I juiced myself up with perfume and flew a touch and go on him. It was the only way I could think of to tell you I ...” Cathe buried her face in his chest. “Josh, I’ve been going crazy with worry.”

  “You need to get some sleep. What are you doing in so late?”

  “Working. You haven’t heard yet?”

  “Heard what?”

  Cathe’s eyes glistened. “You better sit down.”

  “I can’t sit down. I’ve been sitting for weeks.”

  “I’m tired. It’s been a seventeen‑hour day.”

  “Sit.” Josh began pacing.

  Cathe went back to sit in front of her computer. “All right, I’m just going to lock my workstation and ... there, it’s all tucked in for the night. Here’s the scoop on the crew, and it’s really bad. This afternoon, Valkerie and Bob went off to look for water. Without permission. Nate about blew his spleen when he found out.”

  “Water! They’ve got plenty of water.”

  “They need more. Somehow the valve broke on their methane tank. They’re not sure when. Anyway, a lot of the methane boiled off.”

  Josh swore loudly. Finally he got control of himself. “How much did they lose?”

  “About three tonnes, and they need to regenerate at least half of it.” Cathe took a deep breath. “They want to convert their water to methane, but they don’t have enough. If they converted every drop in the Hab to methane, they’d get off the ground, but they’d never reach the ERV.”

  “So they went looking for water?” Josh pounded his fist in his hand. “That’s crazy! Where are they going to find water?”

  “It’s really crazy. When they suggested it, the FCR crew voted against it. Nate ordered the crew not to make the EVA. But they did it anyway.”

  “And ... ?”

  “We’re waiting to hear back. I dropped by the FCR twenty minutes ago, and the latest news was that Lex says they arrived at the canyon where they found that halobacteria and are camping out for the night. There’s nothing anybody can do now except wait.”

  “They’ll make it. They’re survivors.” Josh paced back and forth.

  “So are you going to tell me why you’re here, or am I going to have to force it out of you?”

  “Jake paid me a visit. He said the FBI is pulling out Friday and EECOM is going to coordinate the systems monitoring.”

  “And?”

  “And I think I have a clue.”

  Cathe’s eyes lit up. “Go on.”

  “Jake said you sent him an e‑mail inviting him to lunch that day somebody hacked my computer. He—”

  “He’s lying.” Cathe jumped to her feet. “He sent me the message. Said he wanted to meet in the cafeteria to talk about the CommSat calculations. But when I got there he tried to put a move on me. I—”

  “Wait a second.” Josh grabbed her by the shoulders and searched her face. “You went to the cafeteria to meet him? What about me?”

  “I didn’t stay.” Cathe’s eyes went wide. “You’ve got to believe me. I had no idea ... I left as soon as I realized what he was up to. I didn’t even sit down.”

  Josh’s head spun. “Didn’t you send an e‑mail inviting me to lunch?”

  “Josh, listen to me. I never sent him an e‑mail. He sent the message to me.”

  “It’s okay. I believe you.” Josh took a deep breath and relaxed his grip on her shoulders. “But the day Jake sent you the e‑mail. Didn’t you send me an e‑mail asking me to meet you in the cafeteria? You know, a real gooshy one?”

  She stared at him. “Me? Gooshy? You know me better than that.”

  Josh just stared. He should have known. “I got an e‑mail from you.”

  “I didn’t send it. To you or Jake. What did it say?”

  Josh told her.

  She shook her head and pinned him with an incredulous look.

  “I know ... I’m an idiot. I should have known it wasn’t you, but …” Josh started pacing again. “Somebody forged e‑mails to me and you ... and probably to Jake too.”

  “But why? How?” Cathe sank onto the edge of her desk. “Hacking mail protocols is really hard when there’s good authentication at both ends.”

  “Almost like someone wanted the three of us together. Maybe they were trying to make me jealous. Maybe—”

  A light outside the window caught his eye. Two flashlights sweeping the area near the duck ponds. “I’ve got to get out of here. Can you take me home with you?”

  She grinned at him. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  “Believe me, I’ve been wanting to. Just got a little tied up at work.” Josh walked over to the window. Two more flashlights crisscrossed the grounds.

  Cathe came up alongside him and snuggled under his arm. “How are we going to get you off campus?”

  Josh shrugged. “I forgot to bring my cloaking device, and I can’t exactly drive my truck out through the gate.”

  Cathe leaned against him for a long time. She seemed to be thinking. “Where’s your truck parked?”

  Josh studied her face, trying to figure out what she was thinking. “I haven’t driven it for four weeks. I left it in the lot across from Building 29.”

  “Give me the keys, then go sit in my chair over there and turn around.”

  Josh obeyed.

  Rustling noises behind him. />
  “Okay, you can look now.”

  Josh turned around.

  Cathe was wearing shorts and a tight-fitting tanktop. “See you in a few minutes.” She glided toward the door. “I’m going running.”

  Josh settled back into her chair and closed his eyes, trying to hold on to the vision that filled his mind ...

  * * *

  “Josh, wake up!”

  Josh yawned. “I’m ... awake.” He looked at his watch. Cathe had been gone about twenty minutes.

  She pointed in the general direction of the nearest parking lot. “Your truck is out there in the parking lot about fifty yards from my Mazda. In the corner by the cafeteria. Funny thing—it won’t start.”

  “Then how did you drive it?”

  Cathe tossed him a fuse. “That’s for your ignition circuit. Do you have AAA?”

  “Sure.” Josh pulled out his wallet and sorted through it until he found his card.

  “Here’s what we’re going to do.” Cathe handed him her cell phone and spent the next three minutes explaining the plan.

  Josh punched in the AAA 800 number.

  Somebody answered on the tenth ring. “Hello.”

  “Good evening! Or maybe good morning, I’m not sure which. This is Jay Benet.” Josh pronounced his last name so it sounded French. He gave the operator his membership ID and waited for her to type it into her computer.

  “Yes, Mr. Benet. What can I do for you?”

  “I need a tow truck.”

  “What’s wrong with your car?”

  “It just won’t start,” Josh said. “This has happened a couple of times, and I need to get it towed to my mechanic. Again. I’m gonna read him the riot act in the morning.”

  “And where are you located?”

  “I’m at the Johnson Space Center in Clear Lake.” Josh gave directions to his truck. “This is a secure facility, so tell the driver he has to tell the guard at the gate he’s been authorized by a Mr. Harrington.”

  “But you’re not Mr. Harrington.”

  “No, I’m visiting Mr. Harrington here at NASA, and he’ll call Security to authorize your driver to come through the gate.”