Colony Two Mars: A SciFi Thriller (Colony Mars Book 2) Read online

  After several more sols of tests the rover was finally ready for the journey. It was agreed that Gizmo would stay behind and maintain the colony. Not that the little robot could be useful to her on this trip. But she was paranoid that some critical system might fail in her absence and there would be no one here to deal with it. The last thing she needed, would be to return only to find her primary life support had succumbed to some catastrophe. With Gizmo on-site, she was confident there was nothing it couldn’t handle.

  So, Jann had made her decision and the moment had come. She clambered on board the exploration rover and, after a last systems check, she signalled for Gizmo to open the airlock. She started up the machine and waved at the little droid as the rover rumbled out of Colony One, and on to the barren planet surface.

  “Good luck.” Gizmo’s voice resonated from the cabin speaker.

  “Thanks,” she replied as she pushed the throttle forward. The rover responded, picking up speed.

  “For what it is worth, Jann, your probability of returning to Earth just increased by 7.3%.”

  CHAPTER 4: Colony Two

  The mining outpost was around thirty-five kilometres north-east of her, so at a gentle twenty kph she should be there in less than two hours. That gave her plenty of time to investigate and still be able to make the return journey. She passed the solar array field and the old supply lander, and moved on towards the vast expanse of the central crater basin. It reminded her of her first days after landing on the planet, when she went for a walk, testing out one of the small utility rovers they had brought with them. Back then she had felt a strong urge to just keep walking before Lu Chan called her back. Now, that same desire surged within her; to head out into the emptiness and just keep going. Maybe it was the years spent cooped up in Colony One or maybe it was something more primal. Either way, it was exhilarating. Jann opened up the throttle a little more and the rover replied, giving her a new sense of speed and purpose as it accelerated. She hit forty-five kph before she calmed down and let caution prevail. It was not a good plan to push it to breaking point and be stranded out here. She eased back and settled into a safe a steady twenty kph. It was Sunday driving, Martian style.

  After an hour or so she began to make out the top of the crater rim on the far side of the basin. It grew in size and clarity as she moved closer. She checked her range and location on the main screen. Another thirty minutes and she would be there. According to the maps and diagrams she had studied back in the colony the main mine entrance should be located at the base of a tall overhang in the cliff wall. This would make it hard to find without the aid of an accurate chart. Since there was no GPS or magnetic north on Mars, her calculations were done the old fashioned way, by simple trigonometry.

  But she wasn’t planning on using the main entrance. If one colonist was still alive then there could be others. She didn’t want to announce her arrival before checking the place out first, and that meant finding one of the other possible ways in. These were smaller airlocks, dotted further up the crater rim, and could be accessed on foot. They were installed as escape routes for miners should there be a collapse at the main entrance. She would try one of these first. Hopefully sneak in and do some clandestine reconnaissance.

  The crater rim rose up before her. Jann scanned the horizon looking for a natural valley carved out of the cliff, this should be where the main entrance was located. But it was hard to make out in the haze. She had to find it quickly and not spend too much time driving along the base of the cliff. She was pretty sure she was on the right course when eventually she spotted the dip in the crater rim. She aimed for it and stepped on the gas. The rover obliged.

  It still took her quite a while to find it. The main entrance was so well concealed she was only three-hundred metres away when she spotted it. She slammed on the breaks and came to a skidding halt. Jann waited for the dust from the wheels to settle before utilising the on board camera to scan along the base of the crater rim. When she found the entrance she zoomed in.

  It consisted of one large airlock and two smaller ones. There was nothing out of the ordinary about them other than they were well hidden. She looked at it for a while, half expecting it to open and empty out a cohort of storm troopers. But it was still, and silent, and just a little ominous. Jann started up the rover again and moved off towards the cover of a large rock formation. She parked up, out of sight of the entrance and switched off the engine.

  “Okay, old girl, this is it. Time to focus.”

  She snapped on her EVA suit helmet, checked her bio-metrics and made her way through the airlock at the back of the rover, out onto the surface. The sun was high in the sky and she dimmed her visor to counter the glare. According to the charts, about half a kilometre left of the main entrance, there should be a path, of sorts, leading up the side of the crater rim for about a hundred metres to a wide ledge, and the location of an emergency airlock.

  She moved slowly, all the time endeavouring to stay behind whatever cover she could find. Trying to keep something between her and the main entrance. But after a few hundred metres the rock formation came to an end and she had no option but to cross to the base of the crater rim in full view. As she worked her way west the cliff face become less sheer and started to slope outward. The ground underfoot also became more ragged and broken as she picked her way between boulders and rocks that had crumbled down the side of the rim over the aeons.

  Then she saw them. At first she wasn’t sure, but as she came closer there was no doubt. She was looking at a trail of footprints coming down from the side of the crater and heading off in to the central wasteland. They were crisp and clean, clearly made recently. “The colonist,” she thought. “This is where he came out.” She followed the line of footprints back up the slope. There were places where she lost them over rocky terrain but managed to pick them up again as she progressed upwards. She was high above the level of the crater basin when she saw the entrance. Jann expected to see an airlock but instead it was a low tunnel carved out of the rock, the trail of footprints leading into it. She kept moving, ever upward towards the tunnel.

  It was dark, but thankfully short, only about a few metres deep. At the end was an airlock, and judging by the illumination coming from the control panel, it was functioning. She advanced to face the door. A ripple of fear cascaded through her as she examined the panel. She pressed the open button and stood back. The door silently moved inward to reveal a surprisingly large area. It had an inner door at the far end but, oddly, two other doors on either side. Jann considered there may be several routes into this airlock from the mine. It made sense as this was an escape hatch, presumably for emergencies. She stepped in. The floor was dusty but she could make out the footprints, heading from the door at the far end. She decided this would be her exit. The outer door swung closed and the airlock began to pressurise. Due to its large internal volume it took somewhat longer that the one back in the colony. Jann waited, anxiously. She was committed, no going back now. Finally the light went green and there was a momentary pause before the inner door opened.

  Four people stood at the entrance, in full hazmat suits. Jann froze as two of them rushed forward and grabbed her arms, pinning them behind her back. She struggled and kicked, but the bulky EVA suit made it difficult to move. They looped a metal band around her waist and she could feel it pulled tight, trapping her arms. She twisted and tried to pull them out, but it was no good.

  When they were satisfied she was secured a third person advanced. He reached up and unfastened her helmet, pulling it off her head. “Get me out of this,” she shouted as she kicked out at her assailant, aiming for his groin. But she was too clumsy, and he side stepped her easily. He raised an arm and Jann could see he held a small syringe, he advanced again. Jann struggled but the two others had a firm grip on her. She felt the needle jab into her neck. “Bastards,” she managed, before all consciousness drained out of her.

  CHAPTER 5: Incarceration

  Consciousness came
to her in waves of ever increasing clarity; light, sounds, a feeling of entrapment. Jann woke to find herself bound to an operating table. Her feet, hands and body were strapped down tight. She then turned her attention to her environment and saw that she was in a small room. It was stark, save for some medical equipment of indeterminate function. She lifted her head further to fully examine her situation — it was not good.

  The wall in front of her was made from a semi-transparent glass, and she could make out the vague shapes of people moving around on the other side. She struggled against the bonds again, this time with such ferocity that the table shook with her rage. The figures noticed her activity and the glass wall became a little more transparent. She could now see several people sitting at workstations, facing her. One was standing looking straight at her. They all wore white lab coats and odd looking face masks. The main figure spoke, at least Jann thought it was him, it was hard to tell.

  “Please, do not be alarmed. We need to restrain you for your own safety.”

  Jann raged against her bonds again. “Get me out of this.”

  “If you insist in struggling then we must sedate you again.”

  Jann stopped. “Who are you? What do you want from me?”

  “All in good time, Dr. Malbec.”

  “How do you know who I am?”

  “We know a lot about you. We have been observing you for quite a while.”

  Jann shook the table again, “Get these off me.”

  “That is not possible at present. You see, you are a bio-hazard and as such a contamination risk to us. Please remain calm. You will feel no pain while we conduct our experiments.”

  Jann fought her bonds with all the strength she could muster, the entire room shook with the violence of her struggle.

  “I’m sorry but you leave us no other option.” With that the window dimmed and Jann heard some pump kick in. She looked for the source of the sound and could see it was coming from a unit beside her head. From this she could see a clear tube running into her neck, a blue liquid travelled along it. She slowly felt her muscles relax and all consciousness drain out of her — again.

  ***

  Jann woke with a start and sat bolt upright. Light blinded her and she shaded her eyes to look around. It was the same room. However, gone were the operating table and the medical equipment. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realised she was free of her bonds. The room now contained a small bed, which she was lying on. A pair of soft shoes, on the floor beside the bed. And a container of water, nothing else. She stood up, feeling a little shaky, and moved over to the window. It was dull and cloudy, she could not make anything out on the other side. She rubbed her wrists, they were bruised and cut where she had tried to free herself from the straps that restrained her the last time she was conscious. She sat back on the small bed. It was clear to Jann, that Colony Two was very much alive and well.

  The sols passed by, one by one. She could tell only by the light in her room dimming at night and growing brighter in the morning. It was a strange light. There was no specific point, it seemed as if the entire upper half of the room glowed with an even luminosity. It had a reddish hue, like the daylight on Mars. At night the light didn’t switch off, it simply dimmed slowly over time, like a Martian dusk. But it was never totally dark. At night she could make out the dim constellations of the night-time sky. It was like camping out. At one point she reached up and touched the wall, just to check that she was not imagining it. That, all this time, she was really outside, as if that were even possible. But she needed some way to anchor her mind to reality. It dulled under the touch of her fingers and felt soft, almost velvety. Jann considered that it might be bio-engineered. Some sort of phosphorescent living organism that grew across the roof of the room.

  Food came to her through a hatch in the wall. The table would first extend then a side panel would open and a tray of food slid on to it. The first time this happened she cowered in a corner on her bed, then sat and looked at it for a while before moving over to check if there was anything she could use as a weapon. There were none, no utensils and the dishes were made from some flimsy paper-like material. She picked it up and flung it at the window. But by sol three, she was hungry and sat down to pick at the food. It consisted of salads and some vague, nutty rectangle, presumably protein. She took a tentative sip of water, it tasted fresh and clean, she drank it all.

  Sometimes she could make out vague shapes moving behind the dull window. She would scream and shout at them, bang her fist against it. But it was useless — there was no response.

  It was early on the forth sol when the door to her room finally opened and in walked a tall, dark elegant man. Behind him were two others, wearing black, one carried a tray of food the other a long metal bar. They were male, Caucasian, and looked identical.

  “Dr. Malbec, you are finally awake. My name is Dr. Ataman Vanji,” he extended a hand towards her.

  Jann froze for a moment. “The geneticist, from Colony One?”

  “Ahh, you’ve heard of me? Yes, one and the same.” He shook her hand. “My apologies for the unfortunate nature of your welcome. But we needed to be careful that you were clean.”

  “Clean?”

  “Please, eat.” He signalled for the other man to bring forward the tray. He waved a hand over a wall panel and a small table slid out along with two benches either side. He placed the tray on the table.

  “We needed to ensure you were free of the infection. That’s why we had to keep you locked up here.”

  Jann was finding it difficult to formulate any sort of a reply. She stood, with her back to the wall, ready to strike at the first opportunity.

  “You know about the infection, don’t you? Some of your crew succumbed to it.”

  “Yes,” she managed.

  Vanji waved a dismissive hand in the air. “It was an error on my part that allowed it to escape into the general environment, before it had been fully developed.”

  “You can kill it?”

  “Oh yes, quite easily really.”

  “How?”

  “As a biologist, Dr. Malbec, I’m sure you are aware of the toxicity of oxygen to certain lifeforms?”

  “Well, yes.”

  “Expose the bacteria to a low pressure, one hundred percent oxygen environment for twenty-four hours and it is dead. Expose an infected human to the same for thirty-six and they too are free of it. Simple.”

  “Pressure, of course. Why didn’t I think of that.” She thought as she slumped down onto the edge of the bed. “How could I have been such an idiot not to have tried that.” Oxygen toxicity was an obvious experiment, and she had tried it several times, but not in combination with a variable pressure environment. All these years, all the hopeless experiments, and now she had her answer. Just like that.

  “That’s why we needed to keep you sealed in here for a few sols.” He waved a hand around the room. “Come, let me show you what we have done here. I’m sure you have many questions.” He stood back and offered her the door, waving his hand in the direction.

  Jann took a moment to recompose herself. The shock of what she had just discovered was still reverberating around her mind. Finally she stood up and looked from the door back to Vanji, and then to the two guards standing behind him.

  “Come, you have nothing to fear, and as a biologist, I'm sure you will be fascinated by what we have created.”

  Jann took a tentative step forward towards the door. Vanji had already walked out leaving the two guards behind, she followed him out into long wide corridor hewn from the rock. The walls were rough. Above her, the roof was curved, with the same strange illumination. They walked side-by-side the two guards following behind.

  “How did you survive? All this time, it must be, what, six years since the sandstorm, since Colony One went off-line?”

  “We got lucky. Originally we only had solar power, but this whole area, beneath our feet,” he gestured towards the floor, “has considerable geothermal activity. Ae
ro-thermal, to give it its correct terminology, seeing as we are on Mars.”

  “You mean, it's hot?”

  “Not exactly hot, but there is a significant temperature difference between the surface and the lower galleries of this cave system. Enough for us to sink deep bores and create a heat exchanger, in fact several of them. So we were able to generate your own power. That's what saved us. Not only that, it enabled us to create what I am now about to show you.”

  They came to a stop in front of a metal door carved into the rock. Vanji swiped a hand across the control panel and the door opened to reveal a lift, they stepped inside. It was wide and tall. Its interior sleek and well engineered. Jann could feel the lift move a short distance until it came to a soft halt, then seemed to move sideways. Finally the doors opened into a large cave filled with desks, seating and personal items. It looked like Vanji's own private space.

  “Please,” he waved an arm towards an armchair, “have a seat. Are you hungry? I can have some more food brought to you if you like?”

  “No I'm fine thanks. Where are we?”

  “This is my humble office, it's where I live really. Come let me show you the colony.” He moved over to long flat wall and gestured across a control panel. Slowly the wall illuminated and Jann thought at first it was a screen. But it wasn’t, it was a window, presumably made from the same material as the one in her room. She stood up, moved over to it, and looked out. “Oh my God.”

  “This is a window onto our world. Down there is the soul of Colony Two.”

  Below her, stretching out into the distance, was a vast cavern. The floor was covered with vegetation and plant life. Here and there she could see small ponds and streams running through the area. It was like a lush parkland. Overhead the cavern roof had the same strange illumination. The entire ceiling was light, a diffuse reddish illumination. It was like being outside, it was strange but it was incredible. Yet, what startled Jann the most, was the population. Throughout the entire area she could see groups of colonists going about their business: planting, harvesting, tending. With just a cursory glance, she estimated there must be at least a hundred people down there. How could this be? She turned to Vanji. “All these colonists, where did they come from? There was only supposed to be a few dozen working here when the sandstorm hit?”