Martian Ark

by Brandon Ellis

  Jozi slumped in her chair and shook her head in dismay. Her entire life, her very reason for living, was blowing up and tearing her heart apart.

  She slowly lifted her finger and pointed, her voice soft, “It’s opening. Now, go.”

  A portion of the shield separated. Butterscotch light streamed through.

  Ozzy rotated the ionic thrusters, pushed the throttle forward, and blasted past the opening.

  He banked right, avoiding an oncoming S-9 MMP ship. “Here we go.” He dipped the ship low, heading for the rocky hills that surrounded the mine.

  He flipped the Miner on its side, sliding between two massive rock formations, and zipped past dagger-like rocks at thousands of miles per hour.

  “Pull up the rear cams.”

  Jozi didn’t respond, her eyes cast down.

  “Jozi,” yelled Ozzy, grabbing her attention.

  “Right.” She swiped her finger across the holoscreen, splitting it in two. Ozzy glanced at the screen on the right for a few seconds, then straightened the craft and pulled up.

  A dozen or more MMP ships were on his tail.

  “Find a dust storm or a dirt devil,” said Ozzy, heading toward the sky to prepare for a fast descent. It was his only way of outrunning these MMP ships.

  Jozi didn’t respond.

  “Jozi! I need you present.”

  “What is it?”

  Ozzy exhaled, wanting to roll his eyes. Any mention of the MMP wanting to arrest her and she falls apart.

  This wasn’t good.

  “I need you to locate a dust storm.”

  Jozi nodded slowly and pulled up Miner’s weather radar system.

  He arched the ship and pushed the control stick down, putting the craft into a fast dive. “Hurry, hurry!” he told the Flying Miner and Jozi at the same time.

  The MMP craft followed Ozzy’s trajectory, coming in faster.

  “Got it,” said Jozi. “Head to coordinates 27.6648 degrees north, 81.5158 degrees west.”

  Perfect. It wasn’t too far away.

  Ozzy typed the coordinates on the control panel. He took his hands off the control stick and leaned back, intertwining his fingers and resting them on the back of his head.

  He put his feet up on the flying console and let out a big breath.

  Jozi threw up her hands as if finally waking up from her stupor. “What are you doing?”

  “You heard my brother. We’re impenetrable. They can’t touch us while we’re in here. No missiles, no photon cannons, no nothing.”

  “They aren’t trying to shoot us down, nitwit.”

  “Doesn’t matter what they are trying to do. We’re headed for a dust storm, and their craft won’t be able to handle it, but this puppy will. It’s designed to fly through storms.”

  “Are you stupid?” Jozi switched off Ozzy’s control stick and took over the helm by grabbing the stick in front of her chair.

  Ozzy dropped his feet off the console. “Don’t do—”

  Phwapooh!

  The Flying Miner shuddered.

  Phwapooh!

  It shook again.

  Ozzy looked up at the ceiling. Crap, he had forgotten. He knew that sound from anywhere. The MMP ships had shot suctions from their craft, planting them on the Miner. The suctions were connected to the MMP ships by hefty wires.

  The MMP crafts would soon reverse thrusts, essentially using brute strength and numbers to tow the Miner back to MMP headquarters.

  “That’s what I was afraid of,” barked Jozi, throwing Ozzy a look. “Were you born yesterday?”

  Her voice was sharp and callous, probably the way she felt inside.

  She wasn’t taking too well to the fact she was a wanted woman.

  Ozzy slapped his palm. “How much farther to the dust storm?”

  “Nine kilometers.”

  That was close.

  Phwapooh!

  Ozzy lurched forward. His restraints held him from slamming into the console.

  They were slowing down, and any minute now, they’d be traveling in the opposite direction.

  12

  Outlawed Zone Four, Mars

  Jozi crossed her arms over her stomach. The Flying Miner was slowing more and more. “Just two more minutes and we would have been in the dust storm.”

  Ozzy imagined all the curse words accumulating in Jozi’s head. She probably wanted to spit venom at him.

  Ozzy unstrapped and stood. He studied the back of the Miner. This craft was built for mining, and it probably had the most powerful clipping or cutting tools imaginable.

  He saw it and dashed forward, unclipping it from the wall. “A bullcutter.” It was a heavy-duty lopper designed for breaking chunks of protruding rocks that were in a miner’s way. It was lightweight, and because so, it was more efficient than a jack or a miner’s pick. “You have your suit securely fastened? Are your oxygen tanks on?”

  He touched the clips securing his helmet to his EVA’s collar. They were fastened well.

  Jozi patted down her EVA and touched her helmet that was already over her head. “Yes, why?”

  Her voice was now as dull as his brother’s.

  Ozzy leaned back, tipping his head toward the ceiling. “Any way to get on the roof?”

  “You’re going to cut the MMP’s suction cords?”

  The Miner quaked. Ozzy jerked back, keeping his balance. “We’re reversing course now and heading to prison.” He held the lopper in front of him, wiggling it back and forth so she would get the point he was about to make. “This is our ticket to safety. I screwed up, and I know how I can get us out of it.”

  Jozi huffed and changed the view screen, bringing up the S-99 Flying Miner’s blueprints. She pointed at the roof. “Yep. You can get to the top.”

  Ozzy continued surveying the ceiling. He couldn’t see a hatch or anything remotely resembling a door to access the roof. He walked toward the entrance, figuring he’d open the main door and climb to the top from there.

  Jozi pressed a few buttons. “Got it.”

  A portion of the ceiling parted, and the sound of the ionic thrusters filled the Miner. He checked his oxygen gauge. He was good.

  “Here goes nothing.” He crouched and jumped, grasping the edge of the opening with one hand and holding the lopper with the other. Mars’s thin atmosphere made everything lighter, sometimes too light.

  His legs continued upward, and he held on tighter until the small amount of gravity caught up to him. He brought his legs down on the roof and let go of the edge. His boots magnetized and clanked on the roof’s metal exterior.

  He turned and walked forward, his boots suctioning to the roof at every step. In front of him, three metal suctions were planted on the craft. Wires extended from the suctions to several hundred meters away, linked to three S-9 MMP’s. Two more ships were in front of them, leading the way.

  The MMP ships were moving slowly but pushing their ionic boosters to overdrive. On top of their crafts were police lights, blinking yellow and red, highlighting the many small dust particles in Mars’s air.

  Ozzy’s boots clanged against the roof as they clamped down hard. He took another step forward, feeling the heavy weight from the boots trying to pull his foot back down on the metal. He took another step and another.

  Kachink! Kachink!

  On Earth, his race’s birthplace, what he was attempting to do would be insane. The winds would shove him off his ship at the speed they were being tugged, and the gravity would make sure he fell toward Earth quickly.

  Because of the thin atmosphere on Mars, the wind was more like a breeze, something he was thankful for—one of the few things on Mars he was thankful for.

  He tested the bullcutter, opening and closing it as he walked toward the closest wire.

  The craft bounced up and down, and he dropped the lopper, gasping loudly.

  “Crap.” He leaned to the side and went to one knee. The craft shifted, and the bullcutter slid toward the edge of the ship. “No, you don’t.” Ozzy dove, l
anding on his stomach and reaching for the lopper. “Gotcha.”

  He pulled them into his chest and gasped, his eyes nearly bulging out of his head. He was still sliding and nearing the edge.

  His arms went over, followed by his torso. “Help.” He threw his feet against the roof just as his hips cleared the craft.

  Kachink!

  He jerked back, his magnetic boots sticking him on the roof like a dart on a target. His helmet smacked against the side of the ship, cracking his radiation visor and sending a white slash mark in front of his face.

  “Son of a…” His bullcutter, still in hand, rapped loudly against the side a second later.

  His com line crackled.

  “Are you having problems?” Jozi asked.

  “Uh…” He was dangling off the edge with the crimson ground more than a thousand meters below. “Yeah. Just slipped a little.”

  “Do you need me to go up there and do your job?”

  Damn, she was being crass. “I got it.”

  He grimaced, pressing a hand against the ship, pushing himself up and sliding himself toward the middle of the Flying Miner’s roof.

  He managed to get himself into a crouch, then into a standing position. “I’m heading for the closest metal suction.” He walked slowly, the breeze gently pressing his EVA against the front of his legs and torso. He extended the lopper and moved the blades over the thick wires.

  He pressed a button, and the small but strong engine inside the bullcutter clamped the blades shut. Sparks shot out from the lopper, and Ozzy hopped out of the way, but still managed to hold onto the handle. His legs lifted off the ground for a moment before his boots sucked him back onto the metallic roof.

  “What are you doing?” Jozi shouted.

  He grunted in answer.

  More sparks expelled from the wire and blades, and a loud snap penetrated his auditory helmet sensor. The ship jostled, and the wire broke loose, spiraling toward the ship it was attached to.

  In a minute, the wire would coil back inside the S-9 MMP craft. A jolt would alarm the pilots that something was wrong if the alarm hadn’t already gone off the instant the wire was cut.

  He strode to the next suction, placing the lopper blades over the wire. “Make sure the engines are ready, Jozi. I don’t want to cut this only to leave the craft dangling on the last suction wire. Keep it upright and stable, alright?”

  “I’m a step ahead of you. I have engines on a low purr and my hand on the control stick. This moves an inch and I’ll move it back into position.”

  “Good.” He pushed the bullcutter’s handles together and activated the motor. It vibrated and tiny, orange-colored sparks expelled from the blades. “It’s about to release the second w— ”

  The wire broke, and the Miner tipped to the side. Ozzy flung on his stomach, his legs up in the air.

  He slid a second time and this time faster. “Jozi!”

  He extended his legs, slamming his boots on the roof, effectively stopping himself from falling to his doom.

  Jozi straightened the craft.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “My bad.”

  “Your bad almost sent me to my death.”

  She didn’t reply. She was like his brother, now blaming him for all of her woes and probably thinking that him plummeting to his death would end her sudden misfortune.

  The Miner lurched forward, its strong ionic boosters out-thrusting the last of the S-9 MMP’s that were still connected.

  “Ease up on the throttle. We don’t want to pull the MMP ship with us and warn them that we’ve cut two suctions already.”

  “Too late. They already know we’ve cut the wires.”

  Ozzy peered ahead at the ships. Two were turning around.

  He raced over to the last wire. “Get ready to blast forward with all she’s got, okay, Jozi?”

  “On it.”

  “Don’t be on it like you were when I lopped the last wire.” He pushed the handles closer together, pressing the activate-engine button. “I don’t want to almost die again.” He let go of the bullcutter’s handles, and the bullcutter did the rest of the cutting on its own.

  “They’re almost on top of us, Ozzy.”

  He glanced up ahead. Two S-9’s were barreling at full speed toward him.

  His mouth shot open, and he stepped back and twisted around. He jumped headfirst and belly flopped on the roof, grasping the edge of the roof’s opening with both hands.

  He heard a loud snap, and the wire broke. The craft sloped back, and the bullcutters flipped end over end, plummeting its way to the red soil.

  “Get in here,” screamed Jozi. “They have target lock on us.”

  “I’m trying.”

  “One of them shot a photon charge. It’s incoming,” warned Jozi, panicked.

  The craft pitched into a descent, and Ozzy went flying through the roof’s opening. He flipped and landed with a thud. He shakily stood and walked toward the pilot’s chair, letting his magnetic boots do their job and keep him from tumbling toward the seat.

  Jozi pulled back on the control stick and swiped her finger across the holographic display. The roof hissed when it shut.

  Ozzy jumped into his seat, patting his EVA. He paused, his body stiff as a mummy. His EVA pocket was unzipped. He let out an exasperated breath, and his heart about stopped. “Shit. I don’t have the capsule.”

  The map to the Ark of the Concordant was gone.

  13

  Outlawed Zone Four, Mars

  Jozi veered the craft to the right. “What do you mean you don’t have the capsule?”

  A loud bang filled the cockpit, and the craft vibrated.

  Ozzy patted his entire body down, his eyebrows rising to the top of his forehead. “I don’t have it.”

  Jozi dipped the S-99. “Oh Mars. Where could you have lost it?” There was a sense of relief in her tone that was hard not to miss.

  “Somewhere back there. It probably fell with the lopper and is sitting on the ground right now.”

  “Good. It’s lost and for the better.”

  “What?” Ozzy shot her a menacing look. “Without it, I can’t find the Ark.”

  “And like I said, for the better, Ozzy. I’m not willing to let the entire population burn in flames because a crime lord couldn’t figure out how to work a weapon of mass destruction correctly.”

  Ozzy shook his head. “Hell no. Turn around.”

  “I’m sorry, Ozzy, but no.”

  Ozzy switched the copilot controls offline and reclaimed the helm. He pulled the Miner into a wide, arcing turn.

  Jozi clenched her jaws. “Don’t do it, Ozzy.” She looked at the radar. “Incoming."

  The craft shuddered, and Ozzy jerked forward into his chair’s restraints. “They can shoot all they want. They aren’t breaching the hull.”

  “You’re veering into the S-9 MMP ships.” She gripped her armrests. “If you want the Ark that badly, then land at Olympus Mons and start digging. Heading right into a Mars Ministry Police storm isn’t going to do it for you.”

  It was a lousy attempt to get Ozzy to turn around. He pushed the throttle to gain more speed and eyed the holovid.

  A handful of S-9’s, in front of a red mountain range backdrop, were flying at him.

  “You know as well as I do that I wouldn’t be able to find the Ark without that map.” An S-9’s missile extended from one of its wings. “Olympus Mons is the biggest volcano in the solar system. I’d spend weeks looking, if not months.” The S-9 let loose a rocket. Blue flames shot out from its rear, sending the missile like a laser at the Miner.

  “Brace,” said Ozzy, narrowing his eyes.

  The missile slammed into the Miner, pushing the ship upward a few meters. Ozzy and Jozi shook from the impact, but their ship easily held.

  “Move out of the way, Ozzy.” She grabbed a small bulge under her EVA suit that was in the middle of her chest. It was her pendant, and she wrapped her fingers around it, crinkling her suit.

  Ozzy stead
ied the craft, readying to ram some S-9’s at full bore. He ignored her warning. “We need the capsule in order to find the Ark’s exact location.”

  Jozi reached for Ozzy, grabbing his control stick. “No, those are MMP agents you’re about to ram. They’re my friends and my family.” She pulled on the stick, and the Miner banked hard to the right.

  The S-9’s flew by.

  Ozzy batted her hand away. “Yeah, and that MMP family of yours wants to try you as a traitor and shove you in prison.” He squeezed his fingers tighter around the control stick. “That’s some kind of family you’ve got.”

  Jozi sat straighter. “That’s all I have. Regardless, I’ll prove my case. I’ll be exonerated.”

  “Fine.” He waved his hand in front of the holographic display, cutting it in two. “I’m searching for the capsule.” He dipped the craft and veered left. A photon blast yanked him forward and back into his seat, but again it did no damage.

  He pulled up the ground cam just as another loud explosion rocked the ship, and they bounced up and down.

  “When are your dumbass friends going to realize their blasts aren’t going to make it through the armor? This is a flying tank but even bulkier,” growled Ozzy.

  A loud beep filled the craft. The radar blinked in the upper left portion of the holoscreen. “More Ministry ships. Ten and counting,” Jozi said.

  He dropped the ship lower.

  Jozi gritted her teeth. “When are you going to realize how stupid you are for wanting to grab the Ark for Jonas?”

  He didn’t reply. He didn’t know if he was stupid or brilliant. If this Dunrakee armada arrived sooner rather than later like Jonas and the crime syndicates were predicting, then this Ark was needed now.

  It was either the Dunrakee killing every man, woman, and child on Mars or the Ark of the Concordant doing so—that is if Jonas didn’t know how to use it properly.

  “I’d rather put my chances on the Ark saving everyone because we have no chance against the Dunrakee.”

  A photon cannon charge cracked against the side of the Miner. Shitloads of Ministry ships were now on his tail. He brought up the rear camera view and eyed more than ten ships.