ESCAPE FROM MARS

by G. T. Appleton

  “Easy, Digger. We’re okay. Well, I’m a little cut up and bruised, but at least you’re okay.”

  The harsh arid breeze kicked up layers of dust that made the air reddish brown, instantly reminding him of Mars. For a moment he felt trapped inside of a nightmare and they had somehow returned to Mars instead of reaching Earth.

  Magnus stood slowly. Every slight movement ached. He imagined that was why most three-hundred-pound men weren’t interested in skydiving. The landing was excruciating for heavier individuals. Of course, it could have been worse. He could have dislocated his knee or torn an ACL.

  He stooped slightly, brushing off the reddish dust on his pants, not that it mattered. The wind freed the parachute and carried it upward until another set of bushes snagged it.

  Magnus began walking in the direction of where he anticipated Carter and Sylvia would land. At first every step brought involuntary groans from him, but after twenty yards or so, walking actually seemed to lessen the pain. Digger sniffed the air and seemed to enjoy the warmth of the sun.

  “Good to be outside, eh?” Magnus said.

  Magnus had walked the length of a football field by the time Carter landed, took to running, and skidded to a stop without falling. Sylvia dropped behind him. Right as Carter turned, she ran straight into him. He caught her, but the impact sent him backwards with her landing on top of him.

  “Sorry,” She gasped, staring down into his eyes.

  His grimace showed the obvious pain their collision had inflicted upon him. Before he replied, she planted a kiss on his lips. His lips didn’t respond immediately, due to his pain and sudden surprise of her affection. After a moment, he kissed her back.

  Magnus walked over to them. He offered his hand to Sylvia. She accepted it, and he pulled her to her feet. She unlatched her chute while Magnus helped Carter get up. He glanced back at Sylvia. “I didn’t know if you’d dare the jump or not.”

  “Carter pulled me with him because I was terrified. But, wow! I’d like to do that again.”

  Magnus chuckled. “You liked it?”

  She nodded with a huge smile. “It was exhilarating.”

  “At least the two of you landed better than I did.”

  Carter frowned. “I don’t know about that. She almost killed me.”

  “Sorry.”

  He shrugged and unfastened the Velcro straps around his briefcase.

  “Where are we?” Sylvia asked.

  Magnus nodded toward the road. “According to the road sign, we’re in a place called Red Rock. Either of you know where that is exactly?”

  “No,” she replied.

  Carter shook his head, kicked away his chute, and released it before the wind caught it and propelled it like a sail. He looked to be in pain.

  “You okay?” Magnus asked.

  “Yeah. I’m fine. You know, it really doesn’t matter where we are,” Carter said. He immediately checked the latches of the briefcase to make certain the rough tumble with Sylvia hadn’t jarred it open. It was still tightly shut. He sighed with obvious relief. He brushed the dirt and grit off his pants. “We need to find a change of clothes quickly. Grayson probably has already issued an APB for state patrolmen to look for three individuals wearing Grayson Enterprises suits. His emblem is easily identified by most people.”

  Magnus nodded at the suggestion. “I agree. These jumpsuits will definitely make us stand out more.”

  While he stared across the terrain, Sylvia adjusted her pants and then fidgeted with her hair, shaking dust from it.

  Another gust of wind churned more grit and dust into the air, forcing her to shield her eyes. She turned her back against the wind. “Where are we going to find any clothes out here? Looks like we’re in the middle of nowhere. And I’m not making clothes out of leaves.”

  Magnus smiled and headed toward the road. Digger was curled against his chest in the crook of his left arm, basking in the sun.

  “Where are you going?” Carter said.

  “There are some RVs and campers over there,” he replied. “Looks like a campground. I’m going to check it out.”

  62

  Sylvia wiped dust from her face. She finger combed her hair. “God, I hope they have a washroom somewhere. I probably look like shit after crashing into you, Carter.”

  “Yeah? I’m still trying to find my nuts.”

  Her eyes widened, and she placed a hand over her mouth. “Oh, I hit you there?”

  With a grimace, he nodded. “Kneed them good.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “Probably because I didn’t say that I loved you back when we were still on board?” he asked with a forced smile.

  Sylvia blushed and looked at the ground. She wiped a tear away, and when he noticed, he hobbled next to her. He placed his finger to her chin and gently lifted it. Her moistened eyes sought comfort in his.

  “Don’t cry,” he said. “With all we’ve shared on the shuttle, all the intimate moments and conversations, I have to tell you that I do love you. I’ve not been able to express it so much in words because of my fear that I’d lose you the same way I did Wanda.”

  “I know,” she replied. “That kind of loss is painful.”

  “Plus, I’ve been filled with so much self-doubt about us ever successfully reaching Earth and getting home. That has preoccupied my mind most of all.”

  She smiled. “I knew you had so much going through your head, but I thought that maybe you really didn’t like me.”

  “No,” he said softly. “It’s never been that.”

  “I guess it was everything else combined?”

  He nodded and gave a charming reassuring smile. “I’m over that now. After we take care of what we need to do here, we can start our life together.”

  She studied his face for a moment. The sincerity was in his voice and his facial expressions. He looked relieved and happy, which wasn’t something he’d ever expressed aboard the Percival 3000. The misery that had haunted his features was gone. She saw the energetic and enthusiastic Carter she had remembered before the Deimos tragedy.

  “You’re serious, aren’t you?” she asked.

  Carter leaned forward and kissed her lips. He kissed her with a passion that surprised her. It wasn’t one of the gentle, but yet cold, kisses like he had given her before they had sex on the shuttle. There was a hungered need in this kiss that sent her aching deep inside. Her body leaned against his and had they been in a secluded place, she’d have given herself to him right then.

  When he pulled away a minute later, he said, “More than anything I’ve ever known in my life. More than what I thought I had with Wanda. I know what I have with you is what I hope to keep.”

  Sylvia wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly, otherwise her weak knees might have allowed her to fall. When she glanced into his eyes once more, he looked different, freed. She couldn’t explain what exactly was lacking, but there was this air of sovereignty about him. The burden that had controlled his soul had crumbled. Radiance had replaced the troubled expression that had formerly shrouded his face. But a part of her remained skeptical. Seldom did people drastically change when it came to affection. It slowly built over time. While his passion didn’t seem forced on his part, it didn’t seem completely genuine either.

  With his free arm, he embraced her again.

  Magnus stopped on the edge of the road, arched his back, and then turned to face them. “All right you two lovebirds, let’s get moving! The longer we stand out here, the better chance Grayson’s people have in finding us.”

  Sylvia released Carter’s neck and lowered herself, looking into his eyes.

  Carter didn’t break eye contact with her. “Unfortunately, he’s right. We need to get moving.”

  He took her hand into his and walked alongside her. They caught up to Magnus who was moving quickly for a man his size.

  Carter tried to move faster, in spite of his pain.

  “Are you okay?” Sylvia asked.

  “A
h, yeah,” Carter replied. “It hurts, but not as badly.”

  “Keep walking,” Magnus said, “to work out the soreness. The ground was too friendly with my arrival, but the more I walk, the better it’s gotten.”

  Sylvia held an embarrassed smile. “His isn’t quite the same thing.”

  Carter shook his head and placed a finger against his lips.

  Digger’s little nose crinkled as he eagerly sniffed the air.

  “He seems happy to be here,” she said.

  “In a way, I think we all are.”

  Carter nodded. “I feel like a different person already.”

  Sylvia smiled. He did seem different, but she continued to wonder why the sudden transformation. He kept a tight guard on the briefcase, even now. At the first opportunity she got, she was going to see what was inside. She should have done it months ago, but he had never left it behind.

  Another sign came into view as they walked. Magnus pointed at it.

  “Las Vegas is only twenty miles away,” Magnus said. “If we can get there, it will be nearly impossible for Grayson to find us.”

  Grayson had returned to his office and sat behind his desk. Frustration creased his facial features. The anger pulsing through him was almost unbearable. Never one to suffer from high blood pressure or anxiety, the combined events on Deimos and Mars had accumulated more psychological stress than he had ever experienced before.

  At least he and Matthews were at what seemed a profitable mutual work relationship. He had never imagined capturing the ones who had stolen the Percival 3000 from Olympus Mons would end in failure, which was why he never had given it a second thought. In his mind the worst thing that might have occurred was the shuttle crashing or the passengers dying before they got to Earth. But, other than those issues, everything else seemed most likely. The shuttle would land and the passengers would immediately be apprehended.

  What disturbed him the most was someone had beaten him every step of the way before and after they had stolen the Percival 3000, and the fact that ordinary people pulled off the theft effortlessly was more than Grayson’s narcissistic mind wanted to accept. He desperately wanted to know who was behind the major insubordination, especially since he had personally reviewed all applicants’ files before allowing the final acceptance in hiring. Not only that, but he watched and monitored their interviews via video or through a mirrored glass from an observation room.

  When his millions might be at stake, he wanted to ensure as little risk as possible with whom he hired.

  This person was cunning and somehow had slipped under Grayson’s unique radar for reading people’s personalities. That intrigued him even more. Thinking through the most brilliant employees that he had hired over the years, none came to mind that possessed the shrewd, calculating qualities like this unidentified employee. How had he missed this?

  Donovan entered the office. Grayson rubbed his eyes and then he motioned Donovan to take a seat.

  “Have you traced their chips?” Grayson asked.

  Donovan sighed as he sat down. “No. Magnus’ chip had malfunctioned on Mars. In fact, they were preparing to take him to the lab to have a new one implanted and that’s when he attacked the guards and escaped.”

  “I had received the report about that, but I thought that maybe you could still trace it.”

  Donovan shook his head. “No. His tracer had apparently shorted out.”

  “Does that happen often?” A curious frown furrowed his brow.

  “About ten percent of the chips have been found to be defective with unfavorable side-effects.”

  Grayson frowned. “Like what exactly?”

  “The chips melted and caused such severe pain that several prisoners killed themselves or the injuries caused irreparable damage to their nervous system. But only two have occurred like Magnus’ where they shorted out.”

  “Who was the other prisoner?”

  “Steven Matthews.”

  Grayson took a sharp breath and ground his teeth. “Any idea why theirs were different?”

  Donovan shrugged. “I can’t know without examining one of the chips.”

  “Damn.”

  “Well, if you can find Magnus and capture him, I can examine the chip.”

  “I thought I had placed the burden of finding them on you.”

  Donovan grinned. “We’re looking to see when they popped open the emergency door. Once we have that information, I’m sure we can narrow down where they might have landed and have a radius of where they might flee to next.”

  “Good,” Grayson replied.

  “You could call the authorities,” Donovan said.

  Grayson shook his head. “No. This stays in-house.”

  “Why? It doesn’t hurt to have some outside help.”

  Grayson sighed. “The fact I never reported the theft of my shuttle will raise red flags. They will suspect what I had intended anyway.”

  “I see your point.”

  “Not to mention how embarrassing the entire situation would be. Naysayers would be dancing on the news and in the streets,” Grayson said.

  “Yeah. I’ve never understood why people like to see successful people fail.”

  “Jealousy.”

  “That’s probably accurate.”

  “You said that ten percent of the original chips were defective?”

  Donovan nodded.

  “That means at least ten prisoners should have suffered chip malfunction. We never had that many reported on Mars. Was the percentage higher for the prisoners on Deimos? Do you know how many of theirs were bad?”

  “On Mars it was a minor technicality. The defective ones are schedules to be replaced on Mars with the ones Matthews designed. Until we have upgraded the prisoners on Mars to the new design, you might have several more that malfunction. At least the hundred prisoners that are on their way to Mars all have the new chips implanted. That’s less you have to worry about.”

  Grayson nodded. “What about on Deimos?”

  Donovan shook his head slowly. “We’ve not been able to make contact.”

  “I know. I’ve not been able to contact anyone since the shuttle from Deimos landed inside Olympus Mons. Isn’t there any way we send a damn shuttle back to Deimos?”

  “We tried, sir. Whoever left Deimos for Mars messed with the landing bay gates at the Deimos Life Station.”

  Grayson’s jaw tightened, and he folded his hands together. “How?”

  “By enabling a computer program to block outside access. We’ve tried to hack into the system and every time we’ve gotten close, the code changes again.”

  “To the best of my knowledge, we didn’t have any techs on Deimos with that kind of programming knowledge, did we?”

  “No, we didn’t,” Donovan said. “All the techs worked directly under Jonas and Derek’s supervision. They relayed information to the Deimos computers. The techs only went to Deimos if an emergency absolutely required it because the Deimos base is so small.”

  “Have you checked for the last time the techs visited Deimos before the shuttle left the life station port?”

  “Yes.”

  “And?”

  Donovan scanned the details on his computer tablet. “Approximately two weeks prior to the shuttle leaving Deimos and landing inside of Olympus Mons.”

  “Did they notice anything unusual?”

  “Not according to the documented reports,” Donovan replied. “Since Jonas and Derek are heading back to Earth, you can debrief them when they arrive. Maybe they can tell you something not listed in the reports.”

  “Do you think maybe the chips malfunctioned on Deimos and the prisoners rioted and killed the guards and staff?”

  “Until we find the pilot that landed at Olympus Mons, your guess is as good as mine.”

  Grayson sighed. “Okay, so we can’t trace Magnus’ chip. What about Sylvia’s?”

  “Hers has been deactivated.”

  “What? How?” Grayson stood, shoved his hands into his poc
kets, and walked to the large tinted windows overlooking the ocean. His face heated and his blood pressure rose.

  “My guess is one of them found the implant devices the guards have access to on the shuttle. There is a magnetic device that can deactivate a Sleeper Chip.”

  “This complicates things,” Grayson said.

  “How?”

  “The person responsible for this entire situation has some kind of computer knowledge that was never disclosed to me. The person went to great lengths not to include this information on his resume or during the interview. This isn’t something a novice would know, right?”

  “No. The person behind all this has an incredible understanding of computer programming and hacking. Shit, you’d have been lucky if you’d hired him or her as a computer technician instead of whatever job the person was hired for.”

  “Damn,” Grayson said. “I don’t know whether to be incredibly angry or flattered.”

  “Flattered?”

  Grayson turned and grinned. “Ruthless masterminds enthrall me.”

  “But the person stole your shuttle that’s worth billions of dollars?”

  “I know. What’s impressive is how he managed to do it without me ever suspecting the person was capable in the first place.”

  “Don’t tell me that you’d consider having this person continue to work for you after you find him?”

  Grayson shrugged. “I hired Matthews for a second time, and that seems to be working quite well at the moment.”

  “The chips he developed are certainly a great improvement.”

  “I agree.”

  “Well, I do have a bit of good news,” Donovan said, looking at his computer tablet.

  “What?”

  “We were able to pinpoint the exact moment they jumped or at least, when the emergency door popped loose.”

  “Good. Then we should be able to find them.”

  Donovan winced. “Might be more difficult than you think.”

  “How’s that?”

  “At the altitude they dropped, the wind current may have carried them for miles before they finally landed.”