There was no mistaking the answer this time, a roar went up from the assembled crowd. She had them. A wild, enraged mob ready to do her bidding. She caught sight of Nills. He gave her the thumbs up again. “To the council chamber,” she shouted and raced off across the cavern, the mob charging behind.
Jann, Nills and Anika lead the way up the main stairway and onto a broad hallway leading up to the council chamber. Already the effects of the gas were emptying the room. Hybrids staggered out coughing and spluttering. But they were not going down without a fight. As Jann and Nills came out onto the central corridor they were met with a hail of fire. Nills yelled and clutched his right shoulder, He staggered backwards and fell back down the first few steps. They were forced back, behind the cover of the stair wall.
Nills grimaced in pain. “Bastards.”
Jann grabbed the satchel of explosives that Nills was carrying. She knelt down and rummaged through it. “Which are the flash bombs?” She held two up with different markings. He nodded to her left hand. “Are you sure?”
“No, I’m too busy dying here.”
“Fuck it.” Jann pulled the pin out and lobbed it down the hallway. A second or two later the whole space lit up with an incandescent flash. Smoke filled the corridor, screams echoed from the walls.
She turned back to the eager mob of Betas crushing up the stairs behind them and raised her arms. “Quiet. Everybody. Stop where you are, wait.” The mob murmured and muttered as they settled down. Jann shouted back down the hallway. “The next one’s explosive. You saw what it did to the upper gallery, so don’t make me throw one down to you.”
The hallway was silent.
“The show is over, there’s no way out, except through us. So lay down your weapons and surrender. You have ten seconds.”
From far down the hallway Jann could hear voices arguing and debating. “Seven… six… five…”
“Okay, okay, we surrender.”
A cheer rose up from the mob.
“Send the Hybrid leader out first. Hold your weapon in the air, high above your head.” Jann ventured a peak around the corner. Smoke and dust clouded the corridor and obscured her view, she could see very little.
Then, from out of the fog, a figure emerged. It was Xenon, the Hybrid leader, arms in the air, weapon over his head. Jann held up a grenade, pulled the pin, but held the clip tight. She moved towards him.
“Any sudden move and this gets lopped into the council chamber.”
Xenon, moved slowly forward.
“That’s close enough.”
By now a knot of Betas had come up behind her. “Put the weapon on the ground slowly and step back. He did as she asked and she signalled to Anika to pick it up. Jann then moved over to the entrance of the council chamber and shouted into the room.
“Everyone out of there now, weapons in the air.”
The guards filed out first, then the three geneticists. They lined them up along the wall, kneeling on the floor. The room was emptied, save for Vanji. He was still inside.
By now, Nills had stopped dying. He stood behind Jann, his right shoulder a bloody mess. “Vanji, Vanji.” The mob had started chanting, baying for blood. It would be a lynching and Jann could do nothing to stop it.
“You’ve got to get them under control, Nills.”
“Jann, you’re the one they want to follow now. It’s up to you.”
“Listen, gather up a few Betas you trust and put these under house arrest. Then we go in together and deal with Vanji. Okay?”
Nills went off and talked to Anika. As they were putting a team together, Jann approached the Hybrid leader. “The others, where are they?”
He did that same weird staring into space for a brief moment. “They have put down their weapons, they want an assurance of safety.”
“Can’t guarantee that. But I will do my best.” She turned to the Betas and spoke in a loud, commanding voice.
“Listen up. The Hybrids have surrendered along with the remains of the council. We have won, this colony is yours now. The fighting is over, I ask that no more blood be spilt.”
“Vanji, we want Vanji.”
Jann raised her hand. “Nills and I will deal with Vanji. Then, we will let a new council of Betas decide what to do.” This seemed to humour the mob somewhat. She turned back to Anika. “Get a group down to the entrance cavern and disarm the rest of the Hybrids. Put them under house arrest and let them stew for a while. No more killing… if you can manage it.”
She nodded, and started to organise the mob into groups, they seemed to react well to her directions. Perhaps it was a symptom of the life they knew here. The safest option was to follow rather than lead.
Jann turned to Nills. “Okay, let’s drag him out.”
They entered into the council chamber — it was empty.
“Fuck, he’s not here?” Nills scanned the room.
Jann ran back out and grabbed Xenon by the shoulder. “Where is he, where’s he gone.”
“You’re too late.”
“What do you mean — too late?”
“He’s left the planet.”
For a moment Jann’s world stood still, as her brain tried to fathom this revelation. Slowly the wheels turned and she realised — she had been played all along.
“Kayden,” she replied.
The Hybrid leader smiled. “Yes, Kayden.”
“Shit,” said Jann.
CHAPTER 22: The MAV
Jann stood over the Hybrid leader, in stunned silence. How could she have been so dumb as to give the launch codes to Kayden. She had never trusted him, she should have listened to her instincts — too late now.
Nills slumped on the floor, gripping his badly injured arm, he was losing a lot of blood.
“Nills, shit, you need medical help.” She called to some of the other Betas, “Get him up, quick.”
“I’m okay, there are others that need help more than me.”
“You’re not okay. You got a three inch metal spike sticking out of your shoulder.”
Two Betas came over and helped him stand up. “Come on Nills, let’s get to sickbay and get you patched up.”
Nills groaned as he was lifted. “That bastard Vanji. How did we not see this coming? He’s going to get away with it.”
“Maybe not,” said Jann
“What do you mean?”
“What other vehicles are there in the entrance cavern, anything working?”
“Possibly, some quad-bikes. Why?”
“Because there may still be time. Depending on the orientation of the Odyssey in orbit, it can take several hours before launch.”
“You mean they could still be on the surface?”
“Possibly. Listen, have someone bring my EVA suit to the entrance and get a mechanic to help me start one of those quad-bikes.”
She went to move but Nills grabbed her arm. “You’re not thinking of stopping them, that’s crazy.”
“Nills, do you really want him to get away with what he did here, all the recycling, all the torture?”
“No… but…”
“But nothing. Don’t imagine for one minute that he’s going back to Earth to put his feet up and retire. The knowledge he possesses has the potential to completely alter human society — and not for the better.”
Nills’s face melted into resignation.
“This was all planned, Nills. He has been working on this for a long time. Someone, or some group on Earth is helping him. That’s the scary part. So he has to be stopped.”
Nills nodded and then embraced her, with his good arm, in a tight grip. “I know. I just don’t want you to go and die on us now.”
Jann held his face in her hands and touched his forehead with her own. “It’s not about us anymore. It’s about humanity, it’s about all that is right. You once said that to me… a long time ago.”
She pulled away. “Just remember me,” and ran off.
By the time she got to the entrance cavern two Betas were already working o
n one of the quad-bikes. Jann assumed it was one of these machines that Vanji must have used to make his escape. “Will it start?”
One poked his head out from the side of the bike. “Should do, give us some time.” He stuck his head back into the guts of the machine. With that two more Betas rushed in carrying Jann’s EVA suit and helmet. “We checked it over and it looks good for another three or so hours. After that you’re out of power.”
Jann nodded and stepped into the suit. “Well, here I go again,” she thought. “Back to saving the world. Not really what I had signed up to with the ISA.” She remembered her first few tentative steps on Mars, after they had landed. They weren’t really steps, more like falling flat on her face. How things had changed since then.
The quad-bike burst into life, its engine roar reverberating off the cavern walls. It cut out. “Crap.” The mechanic poked at its innards and tried it again. It burst back to life, he revved the engine a few times.
“Okay, keep the revs high or it will cut out.”
Jann nodded as she straddled the bike.
“If it does, then this button starts it, but it’s a bit dicky. You’ve got about fifty klicks worth of fuel in it.”
She revved the bike and popped the clutch. It jumped forward and cut out. She hit the start button and few times before it fired again.
“Open the airlock.” She shouted at the mechanic as she released the clutch, slowly this time. The bike moved forward. “Okay, she said to no one in particular. “Let’s do this.” She closed her helmet visor and drove into the airlock.
The quad-bike was fast. Jann sped across the crater surface leaving wake of sand and dust billowing out behind her. It made short work of the distance and before long she could see the tip of the MAV way off in the distance. She twisted the throttle more and the quad-bike picked up speed. She was bumped and jostled. Only for a belt holding her on, she would have been tossed off several times already. But the thought of the MAV rising up from the planet surface at any moment made her throw caution to the wind. She powered on.
It was about eight hundred metres from the MAV when the bike cut out. “Shit.” She tried to start it again, and again, and again. But no joy. “Shit, shit, shit.” She banged on the handle bars. The MAV still stood motionless in the distance. There was nothing for it, she would have to run.
She moved with all the speed she could muster and closed the distance. She felt a sense of deja vu, remembering the last time she was out on the crater surface trying to figure out how to stop Annis. But she had learnt a thing or two since then. She and Gizmo had built the fuel tanks together, so Jann knew, this time, what to do to stop the MAV from launching. All she had to do was get there.
Gizmo entered her thoughts. Now would be a good time to have the little robot around. But it was buried under several tons of rock. “Poor Gizmo,” she thought. It had been a good friend to her, even when she was treating it like crap. What she wouldn’t do to have it here with her now.
As she approached, Jann could see that all the fuel tanks were in position, so the countdown had probably begun. Disabling the MAV meant climbing up one of the landing struts to get access to the electronics that controlled the fuel flow. But if the MAV were to launch while she was attempting to get to it, she would be incinerated instantly.
Nevertheless, she started climbing and quickly located the panel, she popped the latch and exposed a sealed circuit board. She pulled it out and dropped back on to the surface. She had done it, Vanji was going nowhere.
Jann backed away from the base of the MAV, still clutching the circuit board. A little distance out she could see the rover that Kayden and the others had used, so she headed over to it. As she drew near she spotted two bodies on the ground. It was Noome and Samir. They had broken visors and both had a bloody hole in the middle of their forehead. They had been executed. They were not going back to Earth, it was never in the plan.
The hatch on the side of the MAV opened and a body emerged. It stopped on the top rung of the ladder when it saw Jann, and stood for a moment, just looking at her. Jann’s helmet comms crackled into life. “Malbec, eh… so you decided to come with us after all.”
“Not exactly.”
“So what are you doing here?” It was Kayden, she recognised the voice. He began to slowly descend the ladder. Jann backed off.
“I assume Vanji is in there with you?”
“Why don’t you come with us, back to Earth, back home. Think about it, you could see your family again.”
“You mean like Noome and Samir. Was that the tale you spun for them?”
Kayden waved an arm. “We had a… dispute, you know how these things can go.”
“They were never going home and neither was I. You just wanted the launch codes?”
“That’s not true, come…” he beckoned with his free arm. “Think about how pleased your family will be to see you.”
“I don’t have a family. My father died two years ago. I am the last.”
“I’m sorry to hear that, Jann. Really I am. But you have your ticket booked, so why not come with us, off this rock.”
“It’s over, Kayden. The Betas control Colony Two now and they are baying for blood. So, no one’s going anywhere. Especially not without this.” She held up the circuit board up for him to see.
“Ah… I assume what you are holding is the reason our countdown has stopped?”
“Like I said, it’s game over.”
“Well, in that case, I too have something to show you.” With that, he reached back in through the MAV hatch, and before Jann realised her mistake, it was too late.
Kayden retrieved a rail-gun and let rip with a long bust of fire. Jann turned to run but she was jolted forward by a blow to the back of the head. She stumbled and fell, grabbing her helmet with both hands. “Shit.” How could she have been so stupid. He was playing her — again, keeping her talking, buying time.
She expected a stream of bio-metric alerts to flash up, but she got lucky, the rail-gun spike had not penetrated her helmet. She lifted her head up and looked over at the MAV, Kayden was reloading the gun. “Dammit.” She had dropped the circuit board; it was still on the ground, undamaged. She needed to get to it before he did. But he was descending the ladder fast, he aimed again and fired another short burst. Several darts buried themselves in the ground just inches from her. She picked herself up and ran for a good distance before chancing a backward look.
Vanji had now left the MAV and was standing beside Kayden, examining the control board. Jann had stopped running, now that she was out of range of the rail-gun, and stood watching them. They seemed to be discussing what to do. Finally Vanji took the gun and Kayden headed off with the board, presumably to reinstate it — and there was nothing Jann could do about it. Vanji reloaded the gun and looked over at her. “I admire your tenacity, Dr. Malbec.” His voice broke through on her helmet comms. “But it seems you have made your last play.”
She could see Kayden climbing up the landing strut. “So what about the secrecy, the hiding out all these years?”
“You changed all that, Jann. When you showed up in the airlock in Colony Two.”
“How so?” He was moving towards her.
“Your arrival allowed me to advance my plans.”
“Like giving the colony over to the Hybrids? That didn’t work out too well.”
“No matter, I had done all I could with Colony Two, too many obstructionists, too many who were starting to get queasy about the direction we were taking.”
“Like creating a new biologically reproductive species of human.”
“That, and other plans. So it was time to leave. And you were the way home.”
“Because I had the launch codes?” Jann was still backing away as Vanji advanced.
“Tell me, did you ever wonder why that clone showed up in the airlock in Colony One?”
She thought about this for a moment, it seemed a long time ago. She wasn’t sure if really she cared.
&nbs
p; “He was lonely?”
“I sent him. Well, more accurately I engineered it.” Kayden was now back down on the surface and moving over to the ladder. The circuit board had been replaced, there was nothing to stop them leaving.
“Kayden discovered that Samir and Noome had been hacking ISA communication over the last few years. They had formulated a crazy plan to use this MAV to escape. But they needed the launch codes. So how to get you to come to us? Simple, Kayden helped them send one of the more demented Betas, one who longed to visit the source of their creation.”
“So you just played me the whole time.”
“Yes, but to be fair, we had to gain your trust first.”
“So the recycling, the escape plan, it was all a ruse?”
“Rather an effective one, don't you think?” Vanji glanced back over his shoulder to see Kayden re-enter the MAV.
“How do you know he’s not going to leave you behind, Vanji?”
He fired off a burst but they went nowhere. But then he bolted forward and fired again, darts peppered the ground around her. She turned to run but caught her boot on a rock and stumbled forward. Vanji sensed his chance and ran at her, firing as he went.
She felt a searing snap of pain course up her thigh as the first dart buried itself just above her right knee. The second spun her head around and it smashed off the side of her helmet. “Fuck, no.” She grabbed her leg to stop the air escaping. Vanji, seeing as he had her now, stopped to reload. He cocked the gun and started towards her.
“Vanji, three minutes to launch, you’d better get back here now.”
Vanji, stopped for a moment. He was torn between finishing Jann off, and missing his flight to Earth. In the end, he turned on his heel and ran back to the MAV.
Jann watched him go as the air slowly escaped out of her EVA suit.
CHAPTER 23: Pale Blue Light
Dr. Jann Malbec dragged herself up from the dirt and balanced on one leg. Her heads-up display strobed alerts as her EVA suit tried hard to maintain pressure. She clamped a hand over her thigh, trying to slow the rate of evacuating air. A bolt of pain rifled up through her lower body, she could barely move.
Colony Two Mars: A SciFi Thriller (Colony Mars Book 2) Page 13