Seconders, page 21
“Shit!”
They put on their helmets again, left the elevator base and followed a narrow path around the rim of the Pavonis cauldron. The cauldron was immense, like looking across a sea of red dust with a pale mountain ridge lining the far shore. No more than a hundred metres on they saw another sign: “ACCESS FORBIDDEN.”
“Getting warmer,” said Cathal.
Passing through the bottom of a gap in a rocky promontory, that widened in a V above their heads, they saw a series of metal racks angled up at the sky. Each rack was loaded with a missile the length of three rovers. There was a pair of habs beyond and as they approached the nearest hab a door opened, and three suited figures came out carrying what looked like poles or cattle prods. As they neared Cathal and Jan could see a haze of blue light around the end of each pole, suggesting a high energy charge.
“You saw the signs,” called a familiar voice over the open channel, “go back.”
“We want to talk to you, Ben,” answered Cathal.
“Go back.”
“Why the secrecy?” asked Cathal, his voice calm and reasonable. “What have we got to hide from each other when there’s so few of us here?”
“Go back,” came a second authoritative voice.
“We will if you can explain why, Captain.”
“That was an order, Delaney.”
“Are you going to enforce your order without discussion, Captain?” Cathal nodded at the sinister glow coming from the end of Bulman’s pole and thought about the conversation Markus had overheard.
“We will if you keep standing there asking questions.”
“What are you going to use the missiles for?” persisted Cathal.
“Go,” ordered Bulman and advanced towards them with the glowing pole held out in front of him. The other two flanked him, poles raised.
Jan grabbed Cathal’s gloved hand and pulled him back along the track. “Come on, Cathal, they’ve lost all reason.”
Sol 404, Pavonis Mons, relaunch racks – Captain H Bulman
“I want a sentry on the pass. No one is to get as close as that again, do you understand?” demanded Bulman.
“Sir,” answered Shanks.
“Have we had any update from Mission Control?”
“They have the back-up plan in place,” said Voight.
“Is that supposed to reassure us? A man in a ship full of DNA in orbit around the moon?” Bulman could feel his balled fists trembling.
“Why won’t they set up another missile base on the moon?” asked Shanks.
“Because it’ll be too close to make any difference by then,” answered Voight. “Only we can do that.”
15
Phobos
Sol 405, Tharsis Eden One – V Meier
Verena was shocked when she stepped through the airlock. She cradled Leo close and stared at the ghetto of dirty habs cluttered around her. Like Johanna and Charlie, she had been warned about the makeshift wall and the collapsed end of the dome. She was even a little proud that it was still standing despite the continuing deterioration of the ground around it, but she had never imagined the squalor of the relocated living conditions in the colony: it was miserable.
The faces of the colonists were worse. No one came to greet the visitors from Tithonium, no one seemed to have enough energy to care. Their expressions ranged from apathy and exhaustion to fear or resentment.
“What has been happening here?” asked Johanna.
“Looks like Skid Row without the cash,” said Charlie.
“Cathal told me it was bad but…” Verena’s voice trailed off. She couldn’t believe that this was the same place she had left only a few months before.
They found Cathal, Jan and Markus in the canteen hab where Cathal gave Verena and Leo a long hug. Charlie took hold of Jan and gave him a hug too, much to his surprise, though Verena noticed he didn’t seem to mind. Johanna and Markus smiled awkwardly at each other.
“What is wrong with these people?” asked Verena, waving her hand at the grubby canteen window.
“They’ve been abandoned,” said Cathal. “By Bulman and by us.”
Verena hung her head for a moment as Cathal’s mix of admonishment and admission sank in. “What is Bulman doing?”
“I don’t know, but we saw missiles before Bulman, Shanks and Voight chased us off with tasers.”
“Sheiβe! Tasers and missiles?”
The frowns deepened as Cathal explained what he and Jan had seen.
“Sounds like he’s starting a war,” said Charlie.
“Or he’s living in fear of one,” said Johanna.
“One person falling into paranoia is bad enough,” said Cathal, “but taking two others with him seems less likely. I wonder whether the three of them have some plan we don’t know about. Those missiles are supposed to be for relaunching the elevator cable after all.”
“But why such secrecy?” asked Verena, “and why the tasers?”
“They aren’t going to tell us and nobody else knows,” said Jan. “The only thing we can do is try and help, now we’re here.”
Verena smiled at Jan’s practical suggestion. That was why they had all come, of course: they were colonists, not investigators. She started by organising themselves. Charlie and Jan would take the Einarite and start planting up the fields which needed to be cleared of perchlorates. Markus and Johanna would survey the fallen anchors around the ridge and see if any of them could be re-drilled further back as a temporary protection. She and Cathal would talk to Sunil to see if they could help with the new east flank dome.
Sol 411, Pavonis East Flank Dome Site – V Meier
Sunil had been ambivalent about the offer of help at the new dome, but he didn’t stop Verena and Cathal from going. The first thing she did was give it a name: Pavonis East. Initially all they did was take it in turns to help fetch and carry, observing the operations. After a sol, Greta Holmberg came over and offered to look after baby Leo for a few hours while Cathal and Verena both worked. When they returned her tired and wary face was smiling and Leo was gurgling happily.
“Thank you,” said Verena.
“He was no bother,” said Greta. “I think he looked after me as much as the other way around. It’s a long time since any of us have seen a child.”
“I’m sorry things have been hard for you all here.”
“I’m sorry you had such a cold reception, it’s good to have some help.”
“It is what we should have been doing. I can see the site is ready to start rigging soon.”
“Really? We’re only just over halfway round the anchorages.”
“Which is why you’re ready: you can start running cables between opposites and chase the new anchorages around.”
“That could save us some time.”
“I’ve worked on three already,” smiled Verena, taking back Leo. “It gets easier each time.”
Johanna and Markus had identified some points where cables could be re-anchored temporarily to prevent the fallen edge of Tharsis Eden One from falling further, and a small team were now working with a purpose. Charlie and Jan helped the farmers, planting Einarite and figuring out how to propagate it to other fields with advice from Debbie Starczewski and Antonio back in Tithonium. Now Markus could come to Pavonis East to help Verena plan the lift for the new dome there. Johanna searched out more mine shafts with potential for raw materials at Eden One.
Slowly the small band of Tithonium dwellers began to mix with the Pavonis East team and the word Seconder was not spoken.
Sol 421, Pavonis East Flank Dome Site – V Meier
Verena woke to darkness. Her first thought was that Leo must be crying for a feed, but he was quiet, peaceful. Something had woken her, she felt afraid but didn’t understand why. Then she caught sight of a light coming from outside the porthole at the edge of their dorm. She peered up at the night sky and saw a bright arc coming from behind the silhouette of Pavonis. It moved steadily across the indigo sky, blinding her to the stars around them. Verena wondered if it was the meteorite and then a dawning dread filled her.
“Cathal! Cathal, wake up!”
“Wha?”
“Bulman’s fired a missile.”
Cathal staggered to the porthole to see the arc of light. “It’s heading east…”
“… towards Tithonium.” Verena scrambled for her comms to call Stef. After a torment of time, though likely only seconds, she heard a groggy reply.
“What the hell, Verena?”
“A missile! Bulman’s launched a missile! Wake everyone and tell them to get into the caves, NOW!”
“… on it.” Stef left Verena’s channel open and made an emergency call across the Tithonium settlement. Verena heard the wail of sirens and prayed that they would move fast enough. The colonists had drilled for all kinds of emergencies including large solar flares and dome collapse, but they had never drilled for anything so urgent as a missile attack.
The arc of light had disappeared over the dark line of the eastern horizon. All Verena and Cathal could do was hold each other tight and wait. It was probably only two minutes, but it felt like a whole night before there was another incoming call from Stef.
“All in the caves and…” there was a roar of static then silence. Moments later Verena and Cathal saw a bright flash of light that lit the eastern sky and then slowly faded.
“… shit!” came Stef’s muffled voice.
“What happened, Stef?” Verena clawed at the porthole as if it might reveal the scene in Tithonium.
“You weren’t kidding, were you, Verena?”
“WHAT HAPPENED?”
“The sky just lit up. Thank god we were watching through screens; it would have blinded us if we’d been outside.”
“We could see it from Pavonis. Is anyone hurt?”
“Hurt? No, scared shitless maybe, but not hurt. Who the hell is Bulman shooting at and why?”
“I’m going to find out.”
“Verena, for god’s sake be careful, don’t…” but Verena had already cut the link and was pulling on her EVA suit.
Sol 421, Tithonium Chasma
The dome appeared much as it had when they left it for the caves, a sanctuary of calm. No signs of damage. No evidence that a warhead had been detonated somewhere overhead. BetaB opened the outer door of the airlock and stepped out, starting a careful inspection of the rim and the ground around it. About a quarter of the way around it sensed a brightening light at the periphery of its cameras and looked up. It knew it was a little too early for dawn. Scores of fiery streamers pierced the velvet sky.
“Lieutenant van Rhoon?”
“What’ve you found BetaB?”
“Keep all colonists inside the caves.”
“What do you see?”
“I’m forwarding my visual feed to you now.”
“Holy shit! It’s raining fire!”
The ground shook with the first impact and BetaB hurried back to the airlock. It may be artificial, but it was intelligent and therefore more than a little concerned. The ground trembled again, this time it felt closer. Switching to sonar it could detect a series of impacts creeping towards them up the Valles Marineras.
Sol 421, Pavonis Mons – V Meier
Dawn seeped across the craggy face of Pavonis. Small rocks threw long sharp shadows and glowed orange in the rays of the distant sunrise. Cathal wiped sleep from his eyes as he searched for the comms channel to Jan while Verena gripped the wheel of the rover muttering dark curses. Her incandescent rage only just eclipsed her distress at leaving Leo with a very sleepy and disorientated Greta Holmberg. Markus Eckenweber sat in the back of the rover, frowning at the summit of Pavonis above them.
Stef had called again to tell Verena that the colonists had survived a creeping bombardment of debris and the main Tharsis dome was intact apart from a few punctures which had been sealed instantly by the explosive emergency cushions. The smaller bio-dome had not escaped. It was shredded and the crops within were all blackened husks.
“What the hell is Bulman trying to do?” asked Verena again.
“I have no idea, but we have to try talk to him,” said Cathal.
“Talk? He’s firing missiles at our home!”
“Easy, hon, we don’t know what the three of them are up to. There may be an explanation.”
“Ja, Ich habe eine Erklärung, sie sind toschende verrückt!”
“’Raving mad’ is not a clinical diagnosis, hon.”
“We are beyond diagnosis, Cathal, I want to beat the shit out of him!”
“I believe that Captain Bulman is a danger to everyone here,” stated Markus quietly. “That is why I came for you.”
Sol 421, Tharsis Eden One – J Wojcik
Jan was woken by a call from Cathal, who sounded calm but angry. He listened in dumb silence as Cathal unfolded the events of the missile launch and the damage to Tithonium. Jan knew that Bulman and his cohort had been acting strange and secretive, but he hadn’t expected an attack. Cathal urged him to gather those he could trust in a rover and meet him at the elevator base as soon as he could. By the time Jan had Charlie, Johanna, Parva and Sunil all suited up in the rover, the sun was illuminating the floor of the dome.
“What are these mining picks for?” asked Parva.
“Our personal safety,” said Jan with a grimace.
“You said they had tasers, what good is a pick going to be?”
“I’m hoping all we need to do is wave them around, there’s five of us and three of them.”
“They’re military,” said Sunil. I doubt waving picks at them will make them back down.
“That’s why I loaded the mining walker as well.”
Four faces turned towards the back of the rover and saw the side of the dirty metal suit under a tarpaulin. “That thing tears chunks of rock apart!” said Sunil.
“Exactly,” said Jan, a look of quiet dismay on his face.
“Don’t you go all cowboy on us, Jan,” said Charlie.
“I’m hoping I just have to stand there and look dangerous.”
“Sunil’s right: they’re military. They’ll fight back, and they know how; we’re amateurs.”
“We’re colonists and that means we have to give anything a go.”
“Won’t they be expecting us?”
“I’d be surprised if they weren’t.”
“Have we got a plan?” asked Parva, worried.
“Yes,” said Jan. “Tell them to stop firing missiles at Tithonium.”
“Sounds like a shit plan to me.”
“Do you have another one? … thought not.”
“What’s that over to the east?” asked Johanna. They peered into the hazy dawn light, not sure of what they were seeing. Jan called up magnification on the rover cameras and switched their feed to full screen. A wall of dark cloud stretched from one end of the horizon to the other, growing steadily in height.
“Is it a storm?” asked Charlie.
“There are no storms forecast,” said Sunil. “No solar flares, no seasonal temperature changes, nothing melting or subliming in big enough quantities to do that.”
“It could be…” Johanna hesitated, “… it could be the blast from the missile.”
Sol 421, Pavonis rim, elevator base – V Meier
The elevator base appeared empty and abandoned to Verena: cable draped across the roof and a dark emptiness where lights once shone from within. More evidence of the neglect that had so shocked her on returning to Pavonis. She turned away to look at the view and saw a grim line of cloud across the eastern plains. Using the magnification in her visor she was alarmed by the speed that the cloud was eating up the ground between them.
“Another storm,” she murmured.
“Why didn’t we have any warning?” asked Cathal.
“It might not be a storm,” said Markus, frowning.
“I hope Leo is okay with Greta,” fretted Verena.
“He’s in good hands,” said Cathal, clasping hers.
They were interrupted by a call from Stef and for a moment Verena feared another attack had been launched.
“I’ve got Trish and Sam here for you,” said Stef.
“I think we’ve got more to worry about than meteorites,” said Verena.
“We’ve been looking at the trajectory of the missile,” started Sam, but whatever he was going to say was interrupted by a suit-to-suit comms hail. Verena and Cathal turned to see two figures in EVA suits advancing on them with taser poles.
“Go back!” called Voight.
“We came to talk,” said Cathal.
“No talking: go back, that’s an order.”
“Since when did Mars mission orders get enforced with tasers?”
Voight and Shanks levelled their taser poles at them and came on. Cathal and Verena turned to run and saw a rover burst through the tracked gap in the rim. It accelerated towards them and for a confused moment they thought they were being surrounded and run down, but the rover swerved between them and their pursuers and braked, sending up a hail of dirt and stones. Voight and Shanks put their arms up to shield their visors. Four people in suits jumped out of the side of the rover wielding picks and running at the attackers. There was a moment of confused hesitation before Voight and Shanks turned on their heels and ran away.
The dust settled and one of the four came over to Verena and Cathal, dropping the pick to their side.
“I always wanted to be the cavalry, ever since I was a little girl,” grinned Charlie. Verena threw her arms around Charlie and let out a shout of relief. “Better get inside the rover before that dust storm hits us,” Charlie nodded at the dark wall of cloud that was advancing on Pavonis. “We think it’s a shockwave from the missile explosion.”
“A shockwave?”
“Whatever Bulman fired caused such a big detonation that it’s blown a circle of dust out from under it. It’s going to feel like night when it arrives.”
“Do you think Voight and Shanks will come back?”
