Mars Station Alpha

by Stephen Penner

  "Was it smashed?" Stanton asked.

  "No," replied Mtumbe. "You wouldn't know from looking at it. All the controls are there, but it doesn't respond."

  "Just like the station's comm equipment," observed Lin.

  "That's what I thought too," explained Mtumbe, "so I opened up the control glass and looked inside. There was nothing there. All the comm hardware had been removed. Just like the equipment on the station's roof."

  All eyes turned to Gold.

  "What? You all think I did it?" She rolled her eyes. "That's idiotic. I don't need to do that. I am the ranking officer for communication issues. I just order you not to send comms and I get what I want. Why would I need to remove our ability to do it?"

  Mtumbe shrugged and looked to Stanton. Gold looked at him too.

  "Then again," she went on. "Maybe I'm wrong about that. Apparently Commander Mtumbe was trying to send a communication without my authorization. Did you know about that, Captain Stanton?"

  Before Stanton could answer, Mtumbe stepped in. "No, ma'am. I went on my own. The captain didn't know anything about it."

  Gold didn't seem convinced, but it didn't matter because Stanton raised his arms and spoke.

  "Okay, enough. We've had enough lies and half-truths since we landed on Mars. It's time to lay everything on the table."

  He shot a quick twinkling glance to Gold, who had to hold back a begrudging smile at his use of her cliché.

  "So I'll start," Stanton went on. "Commander Mtumbe went to the ship at my request." He thought for a moment, then corrected himself. "At my order. To send a comm back to Command that Dekker was dead and the station was damaged. I asked him to do that because I wasn't convinced Agent Gold had actually ever sent a communication and I hadn't seen her do so."

  "I didn't lie about that, Captain," Gold protested. "I sent those comms."

  Stanton shrugged. "Okay. But I know Agent Gold hasn't been completely honest with everyone."

  The crew all looked at Gold, who crossed her arms defiantly. She glared at Stanton, but didn't say anything.

  "I know," Stanton went on, "because I joined her in one of the lies."

  He turned to face Rusakova directly. "Oksana, we lied when we told you Dekker's body was safe. It wasn't. In fact," he paused, unsure how to phrase it, "it's missing."

  Rusakova cocked her head at the captain as her eyebrows knitted together. "Missing?" she asked. "How can that be?"

  Stanton shrugged and shook his head. "I don't know. But that's the truth and I should have told you that when we got back from sick bay."

  Petrov had made his way to stand silently behind the others.

  "Well, where is his body?" Rusakova yelled. "Where is Nils's body?!"

  "That's what I'm trying to explain," Stanton answered. "I don't know."

  "I know," groaned Petrov.

  Chapter 44

  Rusakova turned around and looked Petrov in the eye.

  "Do not toy with me, Aleksandr," she warned. "I will not tolerate it."

  "I do not toy with you, Oksana," Petrov replied earnestly. "I simply know where our friend's body has gone."

  Oksana crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Fine, then, Aleksandr. Where did his body go?"

  Petrov's raised a calm eyebrow. "Rusalka," he said simply.

  "Rusalka?!" Rusakova repeated incredulously. "That's, that's... You are crazy, Aleksandr!"

  "What's a rusalka?" Stanton asked.

  "It's an old superstition," Rusakova growled. "It's supposed to be some sort of ghost."

  "It is a well known traditional spirit," Petrov corrected. "A ghost who steals the bodies of the freshly departed to try to become mortal again."

  "That's kinda creepy," Mtumbe observed from his spot leaning against the doorframe.

  "It is kind of preposterous," Rusakova said. "And completely fabricated. In the days of grave robbers and body snatchers, when modern medicine was first developing, doctors needed fresh bodies to dissect and examine. Religious objections prevented families from donating bodies to science, so the only way to get a fresh body was to steal it. Then doctors, and the grave robbers who supplied them, made up the rusalka to trick people into thinking their loved one's body had been stolen by a malevolent spirit, instead of a criminal doctor."

  Petrov smiled. "Skeptics always have an explanation, Oksana," he said, "but it is not as simple as that. There are reports of rusalkas from long before the first doctors snatched the bodies of condemned prisoners for scientific studies. From the time before even the first Christian missionaries, the people of rural Russia knew to bury their dead quickly before the rusalkas could steal them away."

  He turned to the rest of the crew even as Rusakova's face reddened in anger.

  "Rusalkas are the spirits of people who died too soon," Petrov went on. "They are not ready to pass on to heaven and so must walk the earth. Sometimes they try to steal bodies in the vain hope of entering the body and coming back to life"

  "I hate you, Aleksandr Petrov," Rusakova snarled.

  "I simply speak the truth," he answered, "which is more than your captain did for you."

  Stanton felt the sting of that comment, but couldn't say it wasn't deserved. Nevertheless Gold stepped in to defend him.

  "That was my lie," Gold asserted. "The captain was put in an awkward spot, so he went along with it until he could confront me on it. He thought it might go to communications and feared I outrank him on it. He waited until he got the chance to question me about it. That's what he was doing when you all barged in."

  That was almost true, Stanton thought. He was impressed despite himself. She was very good at lying.

  "All I mean to say," Petrov qualified, "is that my story explains what happened, while yours does not. Therefore my story is superior."

  "I'm not sure that's the test, Petrov," Stanton said. "I think we could also agree that we simply don't know what happened, rather than having to resort to believing in ghosts."

  "Especially ghosts on Mars," Lin finally said something. "Your explanation of rusalkas may make sense on Earth, but I daresay it makes no sense here on Mars."

  "Oh, but it does," Petrov grinned almost maniacally. "That is the beauty of it. It not only explains what happened to Dekker, it explains what happened to the first crew as well."

  "What are you talking about, Petrov?" Stanton was both angry and intrigued. He desperately wanted the answer to what had happened to the first crew, even if it was only so he could feel good about giving the order to go home.

  Petrov's dark eyes smiled. "This station was built on some sort of Martian burial ground. Perhaps the last of the Martians were buried here. For some reason they have been unable to pass on to the next reality. They have waited billions of years with no hope of ever changing their fates. Then we arrive—or rather, the first crew arrives. As with us, the spirits cause little mishaps until one of the crew dies. Then another, then another. All in the hopes of getting a fresh body to try to inhabit and come back to life. It explains why Dekker’s body is gone, and it explains why we have been unable to find even the bodies of the first crew."

  Rusakova started to cry again and could only manage to mutter, "Oh, Aleksandr. Oh, Aleksandr."

  Mtumbe looked at Gold, who declined to return the look, instead keeping her eyes fixed intently on Petrov.

  "I'm sorry, Petrov," said Stanton, "but that makes no sense. There's no life on Mars."

  Mtumbe raised his injured leg and coughed in contradiction.

  "That could have been an Earthborne bacteria brought here on the ship," Stanton asserted. "That's probably why the antibiotics even worked."

  "Yeah," said Mtumbe wiping his brow, "about that." Then he saw the look in Stanton's eye. "Never mind. I'll tell you later."

  "And what's more," Stanton went on. "Even if there had been life on Mars, and even if it evolved into sentient life capable of building temples and stealing bodies, it makes no sense that they would try to steal human bodies."

  Petrov d
idn't have to reply to that point. Lin beat him to it.

  "Actually, Captain," she said, "now that I think about it, that may be the one strength of Lieutenant Petrov's theory."

  Petrov smiled even as the rest of them looked at her in bewilderment.

  "That is," she explained, "if you understand that humankind originally traveled to Earth from Mars."

  Chapter 45

  Stanton was speechless. Gold kept her poker face. Rusakova fought back new sobs of disbelief.

  Mtumbe smiled.

  "What did you say?" asked Stanton, dumbfounded.

  "There are people who believe that humans first came to Earth from Mars," Lin explained. "Perhaps because life was no longer possible on Mars, but in any event the theory is that they came to Earth and started over. It supposed to explain how humans just suddenly appear about ten thousand years ago."

  "It doesn't explain why we have ninety-nine percent the same DNA as chimps," Stanton shot back.

  "Please don't misunderstand me," Lin responded politely. "I am not suggesting I believe this theory. I am simply pointing out that the theory exists and if it were true, then the spirits here would in fact be ancient humans more than willing and desirous of seizing a modern human body."

  Petrov smiled broadly, displaying all of his teeth, even those in the far back of his mouth. "It explains much," he said. "And much more than the lies we have been telling each other."

  "So what happens now that your precious spirits know we have figured out who they are and what they are doing to us?" Rusakova shouted. "What happens now, Aleksandr?"

  And a ghostly metallic wail echoed through the station.

  "Do not make them angry, Oksana," said Petrov. "We will not like them when they are angry."

  Chapter 46

  "It's just the ventilation system," assured Stanton. He almost believed it himself. "Which brings me back to what we were talking about. The ship's comm system."

  Gold turned to Mtumbe. "Commander, can you describe exactly what was missing?"

  "Not really," he answered. "That would require me knowing what was supposed to be there in the first place. My expertise is more engines and propulsion. I could look at an ion engine and tell if a part were missing, but I can't do that with comm electronics. Still, I can tell you that there wasn't anything left, so I guess what was missing was everything."

  "Oh, why are we pursuing this charade?" Rusakova wailed. "Gold is a liar. She lied about Nils and she's lying about the comm system. She's the one who knows best how the equipment works. She's the one who dismantled it so no one could comm back to Command."

  "That's not true," Gold replied firmly.

  "Really?" screamed Rusakova. "Do you even know what truth is? Do you know what lies do to people?"

  "Sometimes the lies do a lot less damage than the truths," Gold replied coldly.

  "Okay, that's enough," Stanton felt obliged to step in. "This yelling won't settle anything. If Gold says she didn't do it, we should believe her."

  "Thank you, Captain," said Gold.

  "But we should also verify it," he went on.

  He turned to Lin. "Lieutenant, did you manage to reactivate the station's video surveillance system?"

  "What?" gasped Gold. "You didn't tell me you were reactivating that."

  "It's not a communications issue," Stanton replied. "I tasked Lin with it and advised Mtumbe as second-in-command. There was no need to advise anyone else."

  "You mean there was no need to alert anyone else," Gold spat, "so you could catch somebody doing something they shouldn't do."

  "Or doing something they lied and said they didn't do," said Rusakova.

  Gold sneered at her but didn't reply.

  "So we can view the video of who entered the ship today?" Stanton confirmed with Lin.

  "Yes, Captain," Lin replied. "We can watch the playback in the comm center."

  "Then by all means, let's go," said Stanton. He smiled at Gold. "Ladies first."

  Gold just shook her head at him. "What is it, the twentieth century?"

  Stanton shrugged as Mtumbe, Lin, and the Russians started heading for the comm center.

  "Just let me pull on some clothes," said Gold in a normal tone. Then, after looking to make sure the others were out of earshot, she said to Stanton. "There's something I need to tell you."

  Stanton shook his head. "Come on, Gold. No more lies, no more excuses."

  "God, shut up, John," Gold said. "Stop with the righteous captain bit and come back to reality. There's something you need to know."

  Gold's words and tone shook him. Especially the familiarity of calling him by his first name. He liked how it sounded when she said it.

  After a moment he composed himself enough to ask, "What is it?"

  Gold looked down the hallway again, then tapped the kit bag at the foot of her bed. In the lowest voice possible, she whispered, "Somebody stole my gun."

  Chapter 47

  "You brought a gun?!" Stanton was beside himself. "Are you crazy?"

  "Simple security," Gold defended.

  "Not in outer space!" Stanton answered.

  "Keep your voice down, Captain," Gold admonished with a finger to her lips and a glance down the hall after the others.

  "Not in outer space," Stanton repeated in a near whisper. "One bullet could breech the hull of the station. Or worse yet, it could have breeched the hull of the ship."

  Gold shook her head at him. "It's not a bomb, Captain. It isn't like it would have just gone off on its own."

  "Not really my point," Stanton countered. "My point is that we're not in the Arizona desert. We're in the Martian desert. A bullet through the wall of some adobe rambler means a little extra ventilation or a trip to the store for some spackle. Here, extra ventilation means poisonous carbon dioxide and there is no hardware store to run to for some fucking spackle."

  Gold crossed her arms. "I know all that. I didn't bring a gun just for fun, or even on my own initiative. I was instructed to do so at the highest levels."

  Stanton was flabbergasted. "Why? Why would they put this mission in jeopardy like that?"

  "This mission has been in jeopardy since the day Mars came out from behind the sun and we'd lost all contact with the colonists. There was no telling what happened. Hell, we've been here two days now and we don't even know what happened."

  Stanton had to admit that point with a shrug and a curt nod.

  "So when they sent a team of astronauts, of explorers, out to see what had happened, they needed to be open to the possibility of criminal activity or worse."

  "Criminal activity?" Stanton repeated. "What are you talking about?"

  "What if we had landed," Gold posited, "and it had turned out that half of the colonists had turned on the other half and we were faced with a hostile situation?"

  "This isn't some apocalyptic video game," Stanton said.

  "Neither is it some children's picture book about 'Mars: Our Friendly Red Neighbor,'" Gold reproved. "This is serious and we needed to be ready to defend ourselves."

  Stanton could see her point, although he didn't agree it justified the dangers of having a firearm inside a space station on a planet with a poisonous atmosphere, let alone aboard a ship traveling through the vacuum of space.

  "Fine," he said. "Let's assume that's all true. Why do you need it now and why didn't you tell me?"

  "As to the last question," Gold replied, "I just told you. As to the first, have you seen Petrov lately?"

  "You're going to shoot Petrov?"

  "Of course not," Gold spat. "Don't twist my words. You said you wanted open dialogue between us. That won't work if you don't hear what I'm saying. I learned a long time ago not to waste my time talking to someone who hears what they want to hear instead of what I'm actually saying."

  Stanton took a deep breath. "Okay, I'm listening."

  "Thank you," replied Gold. "Petrov is unstable. You yourself have put him under detention. As you well noted, there is no jail here. He has been
compliant thus far. However, it may become necessary to use force to restrain him. To that extent having a firearm may be useful."

  Stanton shook his head. "I see your point, but it actually illustrates mine. If you threaten to use a gun, you better be willing to use it. And if you use it, you could kill us all with a catastrophic hull breach."

  "Depends on how good of a shot you are," Gold replied.

  "Not necessarily," Stanton countered. "A through and through shot could pierce the wall behind them."

  "A head shot usually doesn't exit the skull again."

  Stanton just stared at her for several moments. "I see you've given this a lot of thought."

  Gold smiled, the kind of smile a predator might allow itself after spotting its prey.

  Then Mtumbe limped up to them, a little out of breath. "Hey guys, we need you in the comm center. There's a problem."

  Chapter 48

  Stanton and Gold walked in to the comm center with Mtumbe right behind them. Lin was seated at the control glass. The monitor on the wall was activated and paused with a view of the entry bay airlock. Rusakova stood behind her. Petrov sat on the floor, knees pulled up, and chin resting on his forearms.

  "Mtumbe said there's a problem?" Stanton asked Lin as he stepped over to the control glass. He looked up at the monitor. "Looks like it's working to me."

  "Yes, I got it to work all right," Lin answered. "But here, watch this and you'll see the problem. I queued it up to right after you two got back from sick bay. It shows no activity until the time we sat down for dinner."

  "Then what does it show?" asked Stanton.

  "Watch for yourself," replied Lin and she pressed the play icon on the control glass.

  They all watched as the camera showed the airlock, but no one ever passed by or entered it.

  Finally Lin asked Stanton, "Did you see that?"

  Stanton replied, "I'm not sure. I don't think I saw anything."

  "Look again," said Lin. "Do you see that shadow there? Down in the bottom left corner?"