ESCAPE FROM MARS

by G. T. Appleton

  “Nothing. I don’t like the way Jonas parades around, all high and mighty; and that girl with him, she’s always kissing up to him.”

  Matthews grinned. “A shame you can’t train Dr. Lee to act like that around you. But going back to your question, if they had continued to resist and hoped to have a new chip implanted into me, yeah, some of us would have died.”

  “You’d die rather than have a new chip?”

  “After you died, of course.”

  She formed fists and gritted her teeth.

  Matthews placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Kidding! My, Kim, you really need to loosen up a bit. It’s no wonder people don’t want to be around you. You have no bedside manner.”

  “What?”

  “Oh, there’s a huge list of complaints about you.”

  “Where?”

  “Online. On restroom walls. Even a few were filed with Jonas. Has Jonas ever reprimanded you?”

  “Never.”

  “See? Maybe he’s not as bad as you think he is.”

  “Won’t letting them go cause you more problems with Grayson?”

  “Grayson’s months away. Even if he sends forces to replace Jonas and the others, it allows me ample time to prepare. But I’m certain he and I will be best of friends, chums, after a few months of negotiating.”

  “He’s going to try to kill you.”

  “I expect nothing less in the beginning, but in time, he’ll understand I’m the best asset he can ever have. The budding of a relationship is often the hardest at the beginning.”

  Kim grinned. The expression was foreign to her otherwise harsh wrinkles.

  “You like that? See, smiling isn’t that bad after all, is it?”

  “I don’t think you know Grayson very well.”

  “I know him better than he knows himself.”

  “So you’re going to let Jonas and his crew leave?”

  “I am. Without them here, we have less resistance and opposition in what I plan to accomplish. Once they are in space, they cannot change their minds and try to arrest me. Besides, their return to Earth will severely piss Grayson off, and whenever he’s distracted by his anger, he tends to get unfocused and even though he never admits it, he makes vital mistakes that render him vulnerable. I will capitalize on his vulnerability.”

  Dr. Sheung shook her head. “You know what’s strange?”

  “What?”

  “I never imagined Jonas would be one to back down so easily. He could have easily killed you and me, but he gave up? That’s not like him.”

  “He’s old and tired, Kim. Extreme weariness makes even the most savage dog loose its bite.”

  She frowned, deep in thought. “No, there has to be another reason why he’s willing to leave.”

  “If there is, perhaps we’ll find out soon. But, my bet is he’s preparing to board the shuttle and leave, but just in case, we’ll expect the worst.”

  52

  Boony hurriedly packed items from her office desk drawer into a box. She glanced over her shoulder to see Jonas rummaging through several First Aid kits, preparing for Derek and Adam’s arrival.

  “Do you think Matthews is really going to let us leave Mars?” she asked.

  “I didn’t discern any dishonesty in his eyes.”

  “But he’s a sociopath. You cannot tell if he’s lying.”

  “Psychopath. And as a profiler, I’ve dealt with a lot of them. His target is Grayson, not us. If I read into his goal, he believes allowing us to return to Earth is more crippling to Grayson than if he simply killed us or held us hostage. His intent is to make Grayson suffer the most he possibly can. Grayson has a lot vested in me overseeing the operations here, but with all the added dangers, I’m too old to deal with it.” Jonas laughed softly. “I’m not certain Matthews has really thought this all through.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The insects. The robots. The malfunctioning Sleeper Chips. His threat to release the prisoners from the chips if we didn’t comply was a ruse.”

  “You think so.”

  “Boony, he’s not foolish. He knows for him to control Olympus Mons is to ensure those prisoners remain mindless and dependent upon the chips. He wasn’t even going to kill Dr. Sheung.”

  “How do you know?”

  “He kept the safety on his weapon the entire time. He simply wanted us to listen to his proposal, and I obliged him that much. But I cannot watch any more people I love get killed here. I can only choose ten. I wish it was a greater number than that.”

  Jonas set out gauze, antibacterial ointments, tape, and scissors.

  The door swung open.

  Derek lowered Adam to the floor.

  “Damn, I could’ve walked,” Adam said.

  “I was trying to get you here quicker.” He looked at Jonas. “So tell me what’s going on? Have the insects scurried from the tunnel?”

  “Sit down while I tend Adam’s injury, and I’ll explain what’s going on.”

  Clark sat in his room. He placed the three Martian insects on his bedside table and stared at them. They gently tapped on the glass, watching him. He didn’t want to leave them in the security office or the science research lab because he feared they were absorbing information to transmit to their hive.

  “Clark?”

  He tensed slightly and turned with relief when he realized it was his handset receiver. He pressed the side button. “Yes?”

  “This is Boony.”

  “What do you need?”

  “Jonas wants you to report to the security office immediately.”

  “Does he want me to bring the insects?”

  She paused for a few moments. “No. He says that it’s not necessary.”

  “Okay. Be there in a few minutes.”

  The insects tapped the glass harder, trying to get his attention. He glanced at them. “I’ll be back soon.”

  They tapped softly.

  Although he was afraid of them, he was more fearful to disregard their presence and offend them. He shook his head as he thought about that and walked through the door.

  Clark hurried into the hallway. The door hissed closed behind him. Jonas wanted to see him. He wondered why. Until he had discovered the insects, Jonas had seldom even spoken a word in passing, and now the Space Warden kept tabs on him constantly. In a way, he liked the recognition, and being a part of the research team to access the overall decisions and procedures made him feel important and necessary. Unlike the way Anna and others disregarded his job title and degree, Jonas sought him for possible solutions.

  He stepped his pace into a slow jog. A smile spread on his face until he rounded the next corner. The mining prisoners were approaching in a long line heading back to their quarters. He looked at his watch. They still had hours more to mine. What was going on?

  Cain had fallen asleep in the interrogation room. When he awakened, his back and neck hurt from the angle he had leaning. His head hurt. His swollen face ached.

  He wondered how much longer he’d have to wait before Jonas returned. Without a clock on the wall, he didn’t have any idea how many hours had passed, but he estimated at least four. His stomach growled.

  While Cain had slept, he had odd dreams, but they weren’t as bad as what he expected whenever Jonas decided to come back. Was the pain and punishment Jonas would sentence for Cain worth the pleasure he had taken with Jessica? He didn’t think the excitement of being with her could be properly measured. And even now, if he had a chance to do it all over, would he? He mulled that over for a few minutes and concluded that, yes, he would, but he’d be more careful and cautious so he wouldn’t get caught.

  He tried to recall his dream, and what in that dream had awakened him. It was an odd sound, almost like scraping fingernails down a rough panel of sheetrock with the coarse grains embedding under the fingernails and sending chills down his back. It grated on his nerves. But that wasn’t all he had heard. There was something more.

  Cain closed his eyes, thinking
. Trying to remember. His mind carried him back to the house he had grown up in. He hated that house and the things that happened after the sun went down.

  Sweat covered him. He wanted to jerk free of the memories, but they clung to him, trying to pull him back into the Sandman’s quicksand where he couldn’t escape. He could only watch in horror.

  From his bedroom, he remembered those sounds. No outside light. No inside light, either. Only the tapping on the glass. Tap-tap-tap. He was only a kid then, but no other sound haunted him like the neighbor tapping on the glass late at night.

  Tap-tap-tap.

  That same noise had awakened him only minutes before, only it wasn’t in his dream. It was somewhere inside the interrogation room.

  Tap-tap-tap.

  Cain’s eyes flicked open. The sound was close-by. He looked at the door and then all around his seat. He stood, but his handcuffs prevented him from reaching the door. He doubted screaming would do any good, either.

  Shadows crept around him.

  What the hell?

  The tapping sounds continued, growing stronger, louder.

  Cain glanced up at the fluorescent light on the ceiling. A strange shadow moved beneath the plastic cover. It was long with six thin legs. It scurried, tapping on the plastic. A second later, there was another and then another. More shadows danced, until the covering came loose and crashed on the table before him. Dozens of the Martian insects scurried across the table and sprang onto him. More crawled through the narrow opening around the overhead light fixture, dropping onto the table.

  He tried to wipe them off the table, but one bit him. Then another. He wanted to scream. Couldn’t. He couldn’t move or breath, but he felt the heat of their poison flowing through his body.

  Dozens of hard insect probes bore through his skin. The pain increased, but he couldn’t move or fight. He was helpless as the insects slowly drained his blood, devouring him. He couldn’t help but think that not even Jonas could have planned a better execution. Death came painfully slow in spite of his paralysis. Somehow Cain believed Jonas would have been pleased.

  Jonas and Boony tended to Adam’s injury. It didn’t look as bad as Derek’s had been, but Adam complained about the severe pain. Regardless of size, any burn ached and drew attention to itself.

  Clark entered the security office. Anna was already there. Several guards stood along the wall. Jonas nodded toward Clark when he noticed his arrival.

  After Jonas finished bandaging Adam, he faced the small crowd. “I’ve called you into the office to tell you the news. We have a passenger shuttle scheduled to leave in approximately an hour. I will be aboard, and I’ve chosen each of you to accompany back to Earth. Now, the choice is yours if you wish to go or stay. But if you stay, you’re not to tell anyone else about the shuttle’s departure. Is that understood?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Any questions?” Jonas asked.

  One guard raised his hand. “Why are we leaving?”

  “The dangers are slowly beginning to outweigh our safety levels,” he replied.

  “You’re abandoning your post as Head Warden?” another one asked.

  “Not exactly.”

  “Who will be in charge?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say at this moment,” Jonas replied.

  “But someone will take your place, correct?”

  “Yes. Someone else has been appointed.” Jonas sternly looked around the room with the fierceness they were familiar with. “So I suppose the next question is, ‘do any of you wish to stay?’”

  No hands went up, but five of them exhibited facial expressions indicating they were obviously confused.

  A young female guard with a long black ponytail raised her hand.

  “Yes, Heidi?” Jonas said, pointing toward her.

  “What about our contracts? Leaving Olympus Mons places any of us into breach of contract, unless expressly written and approved by Grayson Enterprises. Do you have updated contract forms that we need to sign?”

  Others nodded with concerned expressions, too.

  Jonas crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. One by one, he went around the room, making eye contact with each individual. “There are no forms.”

  Murmurs and groans went through the group. Several shook their heads. A couple gave perplexed stares.

  “Again, you’re free to remain here,” Jonas said. “Nothing changes if you do, and everything proceeds as normal.”

  Heidi gave a wry smile. “I’d head to Earth in a second, Jonas, but the breach of contract basically screws our lives over. It’s a hefty penalty.”

  Jonas nodded. “I agree. It is. But I think there’s a way around that.”

  “How?”

  Jonas pointed to Boony. “Care to handout their care packages?”

  Boony smiled. She held a tray with eleven small drawstring bags.

  “What’s she giving each of you is thirty-five carats of uncut MarQuebes, which is far more than any of you will make by serving out your contracts.”

  Their eyes widened.

  Heidi shook her head. “Jonas, that still doesn’t cover Grayson taking our pension plans. The stipulation is that a breach of contract reverts back all the money he has reserved for us. On Mars, that doesn’t mean much. On Earth, hell, that’s the price of a nice house.”

  Jonas nodded, held up two fingers, and smiled. “Two words: Class action.”

  “You really think that’s going to work?” she asked.

  “Knowing Grayson, yes.”

  “Why?”

  “The last thing he’ll want is the negative publicity of a court trial for unfair work conditions and safety regulations. OSHA might not have any jurisdiction on Mars, yet, but since Grayson lives on Earth, he’s still subject to all the labor regulation laws.”

  Several guards opened the bags and poured the gems into the palms of their hands.

  Jonas asked again for a show of hands if any wished to remain on Mars. No one raised a hand. Of course, being dazzled by the gems, several of them probably never even heard him.

  “Okay, folks, dismissed. Pack up and be in the landing bay in one hour. Tell no one else about this. Understood?”

  Each person nodded upon passing him at the door.

  Clark remained behind.

  Jonas gave him a curious stare. “Question?”

  “What about the three insects?” Clark asked. “Take them or leave them?”

  “I’ll leave that up to you. I know you want credit for the discovery, and without them, you have no proof. So if you decide to bring them, we’ll find a secure place to lock them up. Okay?”

  Clark nodded.

  Jonas smacked Clark’s shoulder. “Good. Get packed. An hour isn’t much time.”

  53

  Senator Johnson stepped meekly into Grayson’s office. Henry closed the door and stood between it and Johnson.

  Grayson turned from his panoramic view of the ocean and faced the senator with a harsh glare. He crossed his thick muscled arms. “I’ve been calling you for days and you’ve not returned any of my messages. What have you found out about the state releasing more prisoners into my care?”

  Johnson cleared his throat. “The decision was a resounding, ‘no.’”

  Grayson watched the senator. Even though he didn’t meet Grayson’s eyes, Grayson detected a slight amused smile on Johnson’s face. “You think this is funny?”

  Johnson straightened like he’d been pushed, and he was trying to regain his balance. “No, sir.”

  “I’m under the impression that you didn’t put forth your best effort with the prison board.”

  “I told you when we last spoke that they weren’t going to approve any more releases until you could provide definite proof of their safety and a full report of their health statuses.”

  Grayson frowned. “You did little to sway them. All you did was agree with them and ridicule my project.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “Oh?” Grayson said.r />
  Senator Johnson shook slightly.

  “I have a recording of the meeting. Would you like to hear it?”

  Johnson did meet Grayson’s eyes then. “What? How?”

  “That’s not important. What angers me the most is how you can come into my office and lie to me, while thinking their denial of granting me more workers was humorous. How long have you known me, senator?”

  “A long time.”

  “Over two decades, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “What has generally happened to anyone who has gotten in my way whenever I’ve needed something?”

  Johnson frowned and fought not to look away from Grayson. “Don’t threaten me, Boyd.”

  Grayson chuckled softly, but his eyes blazed with indignation. “Log reports show that your son is presently aboard one of my shuttles and is on his way to Olympus Mons to inspect operations. Isn’t this correct?”

  Johnson stood silently for about thirty seconds.

  “Isn’t that correct?”

  “Of course,” Johnson replied. “That’s his normal schedule. Nothing unusual about that. You even signed the contract that he was approved to do the inspections and report back to the government aviation committee.”

  “Since your recent backstabbing and obvious avoidance of meeting me, I’ve taken it upon myself to reconsider that agreement.”

  “What do you mean?” Johnson asked.

  “I’ve revoked that contract, and now, it seems, your son is trespassing. I’ve placed an order for him to be taken into custody immediately, and he will be held in a cell when he reaches Olympus Mons.”

  “What?”

  “Turn your hearing aid up, if you didn’t hear me.”

  “I heard you. Don’t dare threaten me, especially when it comes to the welfare of my son. You cannot expect to get your demands by holding my son hostage.”

  “Hostage?” Grayson shook his head. “No. He’s trespassing, which means he’s breaking the law. He’s a criminal.”

  “You can’t change the rules after he’s already left Earth’s atmosphere and thereby take him into custody. That’s unethical and illegal.”