Magnus was huge, but so helpless while sleeping inside the chamber. His muscled chest and limbs were cramped tightly inside the enclosure. Had he not been sleeping, he’d probably have complained about obvious pain. No claustrophobic individual would have ever allowed himself to be shut inside without resistance. But the giant man slept peacefully.
Sylvia’s face was almost angelic. Her skin was perfect, unblemished, and she slept at peace. Her pouty lips occasionally hinted of smiles during her REM sleep. Little lines tugged at the edges of her mouth, revealing the cute dimples she displayed during her liveliest moments whenever she was a second away from bursting into laughter.
“You do have feelings for her, don’t you?” the alien asked.
The question jarred Carter from his trance. He gazed around, up and down the aisle, but saw no physical sign of the female alien. He hit his forehead with a closed fist, hard. “Would you get out of my head?”
“I cannot.”
“Please!”
For a few minutes, there was silence, followed by a low ringing in his ears. Soon the beeping mechanisms of the hibernation monitors increased. Not that the sounds weren’t there before because they were, but now his mind was no longer zoned into the trance he had endured for several hours. The airflow through the duct system whispered.
Carter sighed, enjoying the moments of her absence. He wondered if she’d stay gone, or if she’d fade from his mind once he carried out his assignment to kill Boyd Grayson? He was almost willing to do anything to stop her intrusion into his mind, even suicide, if it became necessary.
Something soft brushed against this cheek, a gentle unseen caress, which sent chills down his back. He flinched and held his breath.
“You’re still here?” he asked.
“Always,” she replied.
Carter shook his head. Tears burned at the edges of his eyes. “Please go away.”
A gentle soothing laugh echoed near his ear. “Never. I am a part of you now, ever since you gave yourself to me.”
“I wish I had died then.”
“Don’t be . . . harsh. You need me.”
Carter rose to his feet. “I can’t take this anymore. Leave me alone.”
“You are stronger than you think.”
“You’re splitting my mind apart.” Carter walked to the hibernation chamber controls. He tapped his fingers at the edge of the number pad.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m waking them up.”
“No, you cannot.”
“Why not?”
“They will die!”
Carter frowned. “You’re going to kill them?”
“No. You will. Bringing them out this quickly can cause irreparable damage.”
Carter lowered his hand to his side.
“You should set your hibernation chamber,” she whispered. “You need to rest. Ease your mind.”
For several moments, he considered climbing into his chamber to hibernate, but then decided it was best not to. He didn’t trust what she’d do to Magnus and Sylvia if he were unconscious. He wept and returned to his seat.
The alien gently shushed inside his mind. “It’s okay. Relax. Let sleep take you. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Carter closed his eyes. A few seconds later, sleep overtook him.
Clark spent over several hours analyzing the metallic components of the dead insects’ chitinous exoskeleton. It was the oddest thing he’d ever studied in a biological laboratory. He had never needed to use a diamond-tipped circular saw blade to dissect through an insect’s thick metal covering before. These were the most amazing, and yet deadly, creatures he had seen.
He had a friend on Earth who kept poisonous snakes, cobras and Taipans, which are some of the world’s most venomous reptiles. If bitten, his friend could easily die before receiving antivenin. Once he had asked him why he’d kept something so deadly? The best answer he had received was how they thrived on the thrill and rush of owning a noxious creature capable of killing dozens of people. All that separated them was a thin layer of glass. One mistake in feeding or cleaning the cage meant instant death. Tempting fate brought a similar high, much like an opiate drug.
And now Clark understood why. He was experiencing the same sensation when he held the box with the three insects inside. He had seen what they were capable of doing, and yet he trusted these three not to attack him. He questioned his own blind faith. Because of their intelligence he had lowered his guard, but these creatures were no more tamable than a reptile. Snakes were never pets. They didn’t respond to human affection like a dog or cat or other mammals. They responded to the need to eat or self-defense. The reptile occasionally viewed a hand as food entering a cage, which was why many herpetologists were bitten due to their own carelessness. Such pets were unpredictable.
Clark, however, had never opened the box of insects. He didn’t know that he ever could. He had sketched a larger cage outline for the techs to build so the creatures could be allowed more room, but a larger environment might give them better opportunity for escape, depending upon how secure the new cage was constructed.
Anna brought a printout of the toxin spectrometer reading and other datasheets. “You were right.”
“About what?” he asked.
“Those creatures could kill all of us in a matter of hours.”
“What did you find out?”
She spread the datasheets and the reading onto the tabletop. “Based upon the readings, their toxins contain a vast amount of cnidarian proteins like what the box jellyfish on Earth has.”
“How does it numb a person’s body?”
“The body goes into shock. From the high levels of these proteins though, I’m surprised that Gary has survived this long.”
“Why?”
“What these proteins do is cause the red blood cells to rupture, which floods the bloodstream with high levels of potassium, and too much potassium can—”
“Stop the heart.”
Anna nodded. “Exactly. Now, I know you’re fond of your bugs over there, but honey, I’d suggest you throw them into an incinerator ‘cause I don’t believe I can counteract what their toxins do.”
“Seriously?”
“On Earth, there’s little that can be done, and they have almost any type of antitoxin you can think of. But us? We’re far more limited.”
Clark nodded. “I understand. So we don’t have any way to help Gary?”
“’Fraid not. All he has is hope, but I don’t think there’s even enough of that.”
“Thanks for analyzing it.”
Anna forced a smile. “Glad I did. Now we know what we’re dealing with. What we need to figure out is how to get our asses on a shuttle back to Earth. I don’t like the idea of living anywhere near them.”
“You mind if I keep this data to show Jonas?”
“Help yourself.”
“Thanks.”
She placed her hands on her hips. “And when you talk to him, ask him if we’re going to get a chance to shuttle back to Earth before things get even worse around here.”
Clark gathered up the datasheets and nodded. “I will.”
He walked toward the door.
“And don’t forget your bugs. I’m no bug-sitter.”
Jonas, Boony, and Derek stared at the satellite map on the large screen. Four dots were visible.
“I thought there were eight of them?” Boony said.
“They have stealth technology,” Derek replied.
“Meaning they can turn invisible?”
Derek nodded.
“Shit,” she said in a near whisper.
Jonas pointed to the four robots’ position. “They are less than a few hundred yards away.”
“I know,” Derek said. “They seem to be following my path back here.”
“Then they will be here in less than an hour or so?” Boony asked.
“At their current pace,” Jonas said. “Yes.”
Derek stared at Jonas. �
�Grayson actually said that there are no kill switches?”
Jonas nodded. “And no deactivation codes.”
Derek sighed. “There has to be something we can do. Our laser rifles and plasma pistols won’t harm them.”
“You’re certain?” Jonas asked.
“Quite sure. And regular guns . . . bullets will flick right off the robots’ armor. It’s a shame we don’t have a tank.”
Jonas offered a slight grin.
Boony frowned. “You think that’s what it would require? That kind of force?”
Derek shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. They’re powerfully structured with the hardest metals. I imagine it will take something incredibly strong to destroy them.”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Jonas said.
“I know. I’ll head to the engineering department and do some brainstorming. Maybe I can figure out what else can be done before it’s too late.”
45
Matthews entered the infirmary. Dr. Sheung and Dr. Lee stood at the side of Roy’s bed, studying the medical chart. Fluids flowed through the I.V. attached to back of his left wrist.
Sheung narrowed a harsh glare when she noticed Matthews. “What do you want?”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“Did Jonas send you?” she asked.
Dr. Lee seemed to shrink smaller as he eased away from her.
Matthews didn’t like her attitude. He crossed his arms and frowned back.
“You need to leave,” she said. “Unless Jonas sent you.”
“Then maybe I should speak to him. He’s the one in charge anyway.” Matthews turned to walk out.
“Wait!” she said without urgency and still sternly demanding.
Matthews faced her with anger burning in his eyes. He hated for anyone to address him with such a condescending attitude. The challenge in her tone infuriated him. Regardless of anything else she’d ever say to him, he’d always view her as an enemy and find a way to put her in her place. The fear in Dr. Lee’s eyes clued him to her reputation as well.
“What do you want?” she asked.
Matthews gazed from her to Roy. Rumors had already spread to the guards about what had happened in Mineshaft 15. Whatever poison these insects possessed was something he might be able to use to his advantage, provided he found a way to collect it. “Have you determined what has placed Roy into this state?”
Dr. Lee shook his head but didn’t verbally reply.
“No,” Dr. Sheung said. “We’re still waiting for the lab results to come back. Why? I’m certain Jonas will get the information before we do.”
“So he’s been nonresponsive to any medicines or steroids?”
“I don’t see how that’s any of your concern.”
Matthews placed a hand on his laser pistol. “Because I’m a guard?”
For the first time since he had entered the room, she looked nervous. Her eyes focused on the pistol. “Jonas didn’t send you?”
Matthews shook his head.
“Then why are you here?”
“We’re in near crisis and will be if the guards are unable to seal off the shaft where those insects are. I, for one, don’t believe Jonas is capable of keeping us safe.”
The hardness of her face faded. A relieved smile curled her lips, which looked foreign to her facial features. “And what do you propose to do?”
Matthews grinned. “Take his place.”
“I’ll gladly assist you in such an endeavor.”
“You need to understand,” Matthews said, “I am in charge. Not you.”
She nodded. “That’s fine, as long as it isn’t Jonas.”
Clark rolled up the datasheets and tucked them under his left arm and carried the cage of insects in his right hand as he walked down the corridor. He thought about what Anna had said about how dangerous it was for him to keep these insects alive. In many ways he agreed.
But out of the thousands of insects, why had these three surrendered? They seemed eager to communicate and almost social, or was it a ploy? Did they intend to act docile until an opportunity arose to where they could encourage the rest of their horde to emerge in full force?
Clark stopped midstride, closed his eyes, and shook his head. As intelligent as these creatures were, he had inadvertently been giving them vital information and knowledge of how their headquarters were set up. If they didn’t actually intend to aid the human population, these insects had plenty of necessary information they could relay to the hive. Even though they could communicate by spelling words, he didn’t know if they had other ways to relay messages to one another. For all he knew, they could somehow be reporting the layout of the facilities. The Olympus Mons encampment possibly had a Trojan horse comprised of three super intelligent insects.
He remembered how the swarm had killed Shad and hurried to get to the security office.
The insects had displayed an incredible military strategic pattern when they had surrounded Shad. It indicated their ability and knowledge of quick maneuvering to box him in so he had no possible way to escape. While these three exhibited peaceful behavior, they were armed with the same toxin as the ones that killed Shad and the prisoners.
Clark considered doing what Anna had suggested and incinerating them, but what if they were actual allies? How could he know with certainty that they weren’t enemies? He couldn’t ever truly know. If they were allies, they didn’t have any reason to be concerned. But as enemies? The longer he kept them alive, the more danger the human population faced.
He entered the security department.
Jonas glanced toward the door. “Did you get a toxin analysis?”
Clark nodded.
“And?”
“It isn’t good.”
Boony’s eyes widened. “Why not?”
Clark explained what Anna had shown him on the datasheets and the comparison of the insect toxin to that of the box jellyfish on Earth. “No antitoxin is known.”
Jonas took a deep breath. “Then we have no choice but to find a way to kill the hive before they take the opportunity to attack and kill us.”
Clark put his index finger to his lips.
“What is it?” Jonas asked.
He pointed to the caged insects, set down the cage, and walked over to Jonas and Boony.
“What’s wrong?” Jonas asked.
Clark whispered, “After what Anna told me, I’m worried that maybe I’ve placed too much confidence in these three insects being hospitable.”
Jonas frowned. “You think they’ll become hostile?”
Clark shrugged. “Is there any way that we could ever know?”
“What was her suggestion?”
“Toss them into the incinerator.”
“That’s a bit extreme,” Boony said.
Jonas shook his head. “I don’t know, Clark. It may be that you’re getting a little paranoid. After seeing Shad killed and some of the prisoners dying, you know what these insects are capable of doing. Maybe you’re succumbing to inner fears?”
“I know. But the more I’ve thought about the situation, the less inclined I am to think they might not be allies.”
Jonas placed a firm hand on Clark’s shoulder. “The container you have them in seems strong enough to prevent their escape. If you’re not comfortable keeping them near you, let me keep them in here.”
Clark shook his head. “No, you see, that’s more my worry than these three actually killing us.”
“What is?”
“Giving them further access to any of our facilities.”
“You think they can somehow transmit that information to the rest of the hive?” Jonas asked.
“You’ve seen what they can do. Their intelligence is phenomenal. Who knows what else they can do? I’m not an entomologist, but insects on Earth do communicate in various ways. Pheromones, tapping antennae, and other ways, but on Mars . . . who knows?”
Jonas offered a slight nod, more from kindness than actual belief. “Look, let me ask
you something.”
“Sure.”
“We know from your account how they killed Shad, and we saw the one dead prisoner. Both were drained of their blood. What are the ones inside the hive eating?”
A bewildered expression came to Clark’s face as he shook his head, trying to come to an answer. “I don’t have any idea.”
“What would be your guess? I mean, there are thousands of them on the other side of that wall. They’ve had to eat something. What’s your best guess?” Jonas asked.
“I’d say they must eat the weaker ones, but really, we have no way to know unless we were to somehow spend a lot of time watching their behavior.”
“Which is something we cannot do,” he replied.
“I agree.”
The office door swung open. Jonas and Boony turned quickly. Gary was helping an exhausted miner stand. The older man looked like he was about to collapse at any moment.
“What’s going on?” Jonas asked.
“Sir,” Gary said. “You might want to sit down and listen to what this gentleman has to say.”
“He’s a prisoner. Did his chip malfunction?”
Gary shook his head. “He’s dressed like a prisoner, but he’s actually a guard.”
Jonas frowned. “What?”
Gary nodded and helped the man to a cushioned swivel chair where he promptly plopped down. Boony rushed toward the man with a bottle of water. “Yeah. This is Norm Schrader. After his Sleeper Chip malfunctioned, and when he was brought to me, I recognized him. He was aboard the shuttle that brought one of Grayson’s sworn enemies to Mars.”
“Who?”
“Steven Matthews.”
“And where is he?” Jonas asked.
“He’s posing as one of the guards.”
Jonas glanced at Boony. “Find every file on Matthews so we know who we’re dealing with.”
“Yes, sir.”
Norm swallowed a big gulp of water and sputtered afterwards. Gary patted the man’s back. Norm’s face was flushed. His eyes were weak. He was exhausted. “When you find that bastard, I’m going to kill him.”
ESCAPE FROM MARS Page 29