“We have twelve bogies, not ten. These are starfighters, and they are fast.” The fighters were almond-shaped, and their long, boomerang wings made them quick and maneuverable.
Jozi typed on the holokeypad with a pained expression. “Fine, I better not regret this, Ozzy. I’m going to bring up metal detection. That’s what the capsule was made out of, right?” Her hand hovered over a few buttons. “Metal?”
Ozzy almost gave her a double take. Did she just agree with him?
“What are you doing?”
“Don’t make me change my mind, Ozzy. I feel like a complete and absolute lunatic for helping you. What is the capsule made out of?”
This thing wasn’t called an S-99 Flying Miner for nothing. It was created to find minerals and ore. It had the best detection array money could buy, but he didn’t know the exact components and minerals that made up the capsule. He’d have to guess. “Delete iron from your detection sequence. Mars is covered in that.” He thought for a moment, moving the craft closer to the ground. “Look up nickel, chrome, alloy, silver… heck, pick them all, just don’t pick iron.”
The Miner shuddered, and Ozzy jerked. “That was about a dozen shots at once, Jozi.” He grinned. “This thing is a beast.” He patted the arm on his chair. “I might take one of these for my own.”
A ding echoed in the ship. “Found it.” Jozi zoomed in on the screen, showing the capsule inside a small hole in the red sand. “It made a pretty big divot, but it’s intact.”
Ozzy eyed the coordinates. It was less than a minute away. He unstrapped. “Take over the controls and land next to the capsule. I’ll open the main door and grab it.”
Jozi put the ship in a long turn. She straightened it out and slowed, hovering over the capsule.
Ozzy hurried to the door.
Jozi lowered the craft. “It’s twenty meters below us. I’m taking us in for a landing.”
A loud ping sounded, and the Miner tipped and sent Ozzy to the floor.
Another direct hit.
“I’m three meters above it. Jump out, and I’ll use this flying contraption to shield you from any weapons fire.” She then said in a soft whisper, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
Ozzy slapped the “open” button and jumped to the ground. A puff shot upward when he landed, creating a crimson cloud full of dust and particles.
He went into a crouch and rolled beneath the Miner.
Whapoo! Whapoo!
The craft jostled back and forth from more photon fire.
Ozzy rushed to the capsule, pushed sand aside, and snagged it. He tucked it in his pocket and zipped it up. “Coming back inside,” he yelled.
“There’s something wrong.” The Miner teetered. “Get out from under there.”
The craft was puttering, losing hover boosters.
“The battery charges are dying,” she hollered.
“You gotta be kidding me,” he moaned, running out from under the craft.
A loud whine and the thrusters petered out, spitting out its last breaths.
Ozzy slid past the craft’s edge.
The Flying Miner fell.
Wompa!
Sand sprayed into the air, and dust stirred into a fog, covering the entire ship from view.
Photon cannons from the Ministry ships ripped across the roof, sending black smoke into the sky.
Ozzy hurried toward the ship, pushing through the blinding dust. He pressed his hands on the thick exterior, moving them across, trying to locate the door’s opening.
He pounded his fist on the door. “Why is it closed?”
“It malfunctioned. This big heap of metal malfunctioned, too.”
“Open it,” he barked.
“The power is off. I’m trying.”
“Why did the power shut off in the first place?”
“I don’t know.”
Damn.
Ozzy stepped back and out of the rising dust. A pair of MMP ships were coming in for a landing, their warning lights blinking red and yellow and highlighting the sand.
“They’ll be cuffing me any minute. Override the system.”
Jozi sighed. He could hear boots pounding on the floor through the helmet mic; she was most likely searching for something. “Hold on.”
Ozzy stepped into the dying red cloud. He pounded his fist on the door again. “Just override it, Jozi.”
“Just a second. Let me think.”
He went around the back of the Miner, crouching low. By now, the MMP agents were probably headed his way, walking across the sand with their rifles in hand.
He peeked around the corner, trying to catch a glimpse of the oncoming agents. His stomach about hit the ground. They were indeed on their way, though walking slowly, and aiming their weapons at the ship.
He slammed another fist against the exterior wall. “Jozi, hurry up. They’re almost here.”
14
Outlawed Zone Four, Mars
“Ozzy, I don’t know what to do. We’ll have to wait until the Miner’s solar rings charge the fuel cells.”
Ozzy ducked around the back of the Miner for the second time. “They’re almost on top of me.” He got down on one knee and started digging under the craft, piling the sand on both sides of him, excavating like a dog. “How much time until the cells charge and are powerful enough to open a damn door?”
“Fifteen minutes.” There was a pause. “Hold on.”
Ozzy kept digging, moving his arms as fast as they could go, cupping the sand and pushing it aside.
“Twelve minutes.”
The cloud that swirled in the air and around the ship from the hard landing was dissipating.
Not good.
He looked around at the pile he was making. Even if he could make a space big enough for him under the Flying Miner, the piles of sand would give him away.
He spread it out and moved deeper into his hole, pushing more sand aside. He was almost completely under the ship. “This is ridiculous,” he shouted. If they didn’t catch him under here, then they were brain dead.
He hoped the latter.
“Run, Ozzy.”
“I have another plan.”
“What is it?”
He dug himself deeper under the craft. “No time to talk.”
He pushed more sand toward the opening.
He was cramped as hell, but this was his only real option from being captured.
Footsteps approached.
“They’re here,” Ozzy whispered, making himself into a ball the best he could. It was a shitty makeshift hole, and he could see out the top of the pile of sand he put in front of it. If he could see out, then the MMP could surely see in.
“Ozzy? Where are you?”
Ozzy could see one of the retractable diamond-tipped drills curled up in the bottom of the craft. “Under the Flying Miner.”
There was a long pause.
“How?”
“I dug.”
Boots appeared from around the ship, and an agent walked by.
“They are surrounding the craft,” Ozzy said. “No way I can get in once the craft has enough solar charge to open the door.”
“I’m thinking up a plan.”
“Well, think fast.”
“I’m looking for a hatch in the floor. Maybe there is a way up through the bottom?”
Hope hit Ozzy like a hovertrain slamming into a building. “Look for it, please.”
“I’m in the process.”
Ozzy crouched lower, moving his body as far away from the hole’s opening as possible. More boots stepped by his position.
A pang vibrated across the craft.
Then another.
Ozzy’s com line crackled.
“What’s that?” Jozi was nearly blind inside the craft. The lights were probably off, and so was the holodisplay. All she had were her EVA lights. Any attempt right now to turn on the holodisplay would sap the much-needed energy from the recharging fuel cells.
“Get your rifle. They might be
breaking in.”
“How? Lou said this thing is practically unbreakable,” replied Jozi.
Ozzy didn’t know. Maybe they could override the system, get it charged, and open the door on their own?
Hell, there was always a way into something. He should know. As a forbidden archaeologist, he did it for a living. If you had the right materials and the right tools—
“Wait,” said Ozzy, interrupting his own thoughts. “Is there a steel cutter or perhaps welding supplies on the back rack?”
“I’ll look.”
Another pang.
They were trying to break in, but with what? They’d need a diamond cutter like this Flying Miner had on its retractable drills.
His com line crackled. A third line patched into his channel.
“It turns out you had a brother at the mine. He ran the mine?”
Ozzy jerked back in surprise. He brought his wrist to his helmet’s visor, looking for the record button. He swiped over the small holographic display, pressed record, and remained quiet.
The voice was Robert Baldwin. “And, oops, sorry, Ozzy. There was an accident at the mine. We couldn’t contain it.”
Ozzy’s heart sank, and he bared his teeth. “What did you do?”
“It wasn’t what I did. It was what you and our new criminal-at-large, Jozi, did.”
“Why are you setting me up?” Jozi asked.
Ozzy swallowed hard. “Is my brother alive?” His voice cracked, knowing the inevitable. Robert wasn’t in the business of keeping his enemies and their friends and family alive, especially Ozzy’s. Robert was in the business of getting his way, no matter what it took.
“I don’t know. It turns out, however, that the accident wasn’t an accident. A few bombs, concocted by two criminal minds—Ozzy and Jozi—were left at the mine and detonated shortly after you escaped.”
Ozzy sucked in a gush of air. “Is my brother alive? Please give me that answer. You owe me that much after all the shit you’ve put me through.”
“We’re still counting the bodies. I’ll let you know if your brother shows up in the body count.”
The line clicked off.
Ozzy sucked in a deep breath. He turned off his voice recorder.
More boots surrounded the craft.
“I’m sorry, Ozzy,” Jozi said.
It was true that Ozzy was a bane to his brother and his entire family. Why the hell did he try to convince himself otherwise? Whatever Ozzy touched, did, or said, his family took the brunt of it all, and the only thing he had left was his daughter, and that’s who he loved the most.
If he didn’t stop now, he’d put her in even more mortal danger.
He leaned back, rocking back and forth in the sand, his eyes drawn to his hands cupping both of his knees.
“Ozzy, are you there?”
“Jozi.” He continued to rock back and forth, not believing he was going to say this. “I’m turning myself in. Once you have enough charge, don’t fly away in this ship. They’ll find you. Dig this puppy under the ground as far as you can go. Try to find a way to the Ark.” He unzipped his pocket and pulled out the capsule. He set it on the ground next to him.
“Ozzy—”
“Don’t try to stop me.”
“I’m not. I think it’s a good idea.”
Ozzy furrowed his brow then nodded his head in understanding. Of course, she did. She was MMP through and through and thought what she called her family would have her back.
They wouldn’t.
Jozi continued, “Tell my friends out there that I’ll step out of the craft as soon as I can. I’ll try to get you a better sentence.”
Ozzy scrunched his eyebrows closer together. “Jozi, you don’t know Robert. He won’t go easy on you. You have information on him he doesn’t want you to have.”
“Don’t be silly, Ozzy. I’ve known him my entire life. He’s like a dad to me. Well, a distant dad.”
“Jozi, don’t be foolish.” Ozzy shook his head. It didn’t matter. This was her life. If she wanted to be an idiot, so be it.
He tilted his head to the side. “But, Jozi, if you decide to be intelligent about this, then hook up Indigo to the central processing unit. You will be invisible on all radar. No one would be able to locate you unless they physically saw you. I’m leaving the capsule underneath here. So, when you are up and running, lift off a few meters and move a few meters to the side. Land, get out of the Miner, and retrieve this capsule as fast as possible.”
“Ozzy, we’ll be fine.”
Ozzy ignored her. “Listen, if you wise up and get the capsule, dig your way to the Ark with the Miner. Once you locate the Ark, extract it. Then get it to Jonas Moon as fast as you can. He’ll pay you a lot of money for it. You can then live in an underground city in luxury for a while. Tell Jonas that by my orders he needs to take care of you. At least for a while. Do you understand?”
“Ozzy, you’ll—”
The com line crackled with static, and a third line popped in again. “Ozzy, I’ll make you a deal.”
“No deal.”
“Exit the craft in the next five minutes, I give you and Jozi fifty years in prison, and I leave your family alone from this day forward. And you know what you’ll give me in return?”
Ozzy pressed the record button again. “What will I give you in return?”
“No need to say over the com channels, but you know what it is, and so does Jozi.”
“Robert,” Jozi said. “Can you—”
Robert’s voice roared over the line. “That’s enough from you, Jozi. You aren’t just a traitor, you’ve personally stabbed me in the back. I gave you everything, and here you are, throwing it all back in my face.”
“No, that’s not true. Listen—”
“You’re a disgrace to the badge, Agent Ryan. You’re a disgrace to me. I gave you a life, Jozi. I practically raised you inside the Ministry walls, and you take a knife and stab me in the heart. You’re lucky I’m not sentencing you to life in prison.”
A pang vibrated against the Miner. The agents were still trying to get in.
There was a pause over the line. Jozi then spoke, her voice low and soft, “You’re not going to allow me to defend myself are you, High Judge?”
“You lost that privilege.”
“Whatever I say, and no matter how much I prove to you and my fam…and the agency that I’m innocent and would do everything in my power to uphold the Ministry’s codes to the highest standards within the law and abide by you and the rest of the Ministry, I’m not going to be heard? I’m going straight to prison?”
“You’re catching on,” said Robert. “I’ll give you five minutes to talk, and if you don’t come out within those five minutes, you will be given a life sentence.”
The line blipped off.
Jozi let out an exasperated breath.
“I told you, Jozi,” said Ozzy, turning off his recorder. He didn’t get anything good or damning, but maybe there was some gem in there he could use against the prick some day.
Another pang rang across the Miner.
“It’s been fourteen minutes. We have enough power that I can open the door, Ozzy. Get out, and make a run for it.” There was sadness in her voice. She didn’t want to be a criminal, but Robert was forcing her, just as he did to Ozzy.
“Jozi, I’m turning myself in.” He moved forward toward the opening in the hole. “Be safe, Jozi. If you can, keep my daughter safe, okay?”
“Ozzy.”
“I’m thinking of my daughter, Jozi. Leave it at that.”
A loud sigh came over the com. “I’m sorry. As you heard over the com line, things have changed. Robert won’t go easy on me, and now I have to do what I have to do.”
“What?”
Another pang and the ground vibrated. He pushed the sand away from the little entrance he created. He saw several boots and EVA-suited legs moving back and forth. In a second, they’d be running at him and pulling him out of the hole, arresting him on the spot.
His helmet emerged out of the hole, and he looked up, readying for the mass of agents flooding his vision.
Instead, they were running away from his location.
“What’s going on, Jozi?”
No answer.
Something was amiss.
Ozzy picked up the capsule and shoved it in his satchel.
He looked around. The agents were nowhere in sight. He crawled out of the hole and crouched.
Wapooh!
An agent went flying across the sand, skidding to a halt. A thin stream of smoke rose from the agent’s chest. He rolled over, clutching the wound.
Another agent fell back, clutching his shoulder. He stood up and ran toward his ship in the distance.
“Jozi, is that you firing at the agents?”
Again, no answer.
He grunted and jogged around the corner. He jerked back, stopping in his tracks. The Flying Miner’s door was open, and Jozi was poking her rifle through, sending photon beams at dozens of agents that were now doing their best to take cover.
“Get in,” yelled Jozi.
A blast ricocheted against the Miner, searing it with a nice black mark.
Was she going mad? Ozzy nodded anyway, not wanting a photon slug through his throat if he gave the wrong answer to her.
He rushed toward the door, and a photon blast kicked up dust near his feet. He jumped back, avoiding another shot, and ducked back behind the Miner.
“Throw me my rifle,” Ozzy yelled. If she wasn’t letting him give himself up, then he had to defend himself from the MMP.
A rifle flew through the air and tumbled across the terrain no more than a few meters in front of him. The only problem? If he went to grab it, he’d be in the line of fire of several agents.
But there was nowhere else she could have possibly thrown it unless she had the odd skill of bending a throw around a corner.
Ozzy took a deep breath. He had to go for it. He took a step and then another, rushing toward the rifle.
He ducked low, avoiding a photon bolt, and dove for his weapon.
He rolled and tucked his fat EVA-gloved finger inside the rifle’s trigger guard. He pulled the trigger again and again, shooting wildly at anyone and anything.
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