Jezero City: Colony Four Mars (Colony Mars Book 4) Read online

  “Actually they don’t use pens, this is a very hi-tech environment, don’t you know.” He poured her another drink. “Anyway, every cloud has a silver lining.”

  “Oh yeah. How so?”

  “Well, you and I are now free to mate and do our bit for population growth.”

  Mia laughed. “I’d love to, only problem is I’ve decided to take a vow of celibacy—sorry.” She made a sad face.

  “Damn, there go all my hopes and dreams.”

  Mia laughed again. “Stop, Victor. You’re making me laugh. This is not what I need right now. I want to be miserable in comfort.”

  But before Victor could continue the jousting he had to move off to serve others, and Mia was left with her thoughts. She realized that after all that had happened to her today she was emotionally exhausted. It wasn’t anger so much as frustration. The fact was that she let people just ride all over her—yet again, and there was nothing she could do about it.

  Victor returned. “Another shot?”

  Mia put her hand over the glass. “No. I’m good here. Thanks.”

  “Sure.”

  “Hey Victor. How long have you been here?”

  “Five years next month.”

  “So you must know, what do people do when they have a problem?”

  “Depends on the problem.”

  “Well, I just got something that means a lot to me stolen, and it seems like there’s nothing I can do about it, nowhere to go.”

  Victor looked around and leaned over. “Look Mia.” His voice was low. “I know a few people, you know, they help sort out… issues.”

  “You mean like a bunch of heavies.”

  “Things have grown fast here, Mia, we don’t have all the official infrastructure you’d expect. So we improvise.”

  “I just find it odd that there isn’t a department in Central that deals with these things.”

  “We did have a few lawyers a while back. But we put them outside with no EVA suits to see if they could talk themselves out of dying. Mars won.”

  Mia laughed, downed the last of her drink and slid off the barstool. “Thanks for the drink, and thanks for the offer, but I’ll figure something out myself.”

  “No worries.” Victor saluted her.

  As Mia walked back to her pod, she began to think there might just be a way for her to track down Christian and get her stuff back. But it would mean reopening old wounds. Could she go there? Did it really mean that much to her to risk facing those demons again? Best I sleep on it. See how I feel in the morning.

  7

  G2 Unit

  Mia stood on the opposite side of the holo-table from Dr. Malbec and the eccentric G2 unit, Gizmo. She had made up her mind earlier that morning, partly because she knew if she ever wanted to see her stuff again, then this was the only way. Take Malbec up on her offer and on the side, she could track down Christian and confront him.

  But there was another reason. She was not going to let herself be a doormat anymore. The last time she had, it ruined her life. But it was the conversation with Victor at The Red Rock that had begun to resonate with her—the realization that there was no one she could turn to for help. So she made her decision, dive in and face down her demons, for better or for worse. Mia made the call, and within thirty minutes she was back in Dr. Malbec’s lair getting up to speed.

  Above the surface of the holo-table a 3D rendering of the Nili Fossae trench ballooned out before them. This was a region some two hundred kilometers northwest of Jezero Crater, where the unfortunate courier had met his end. It was the droid that was currently doing the explaining to Mia. Something she had difficulty following as she had never experienced a G2 unit with almost sentient abilities.

  “This is the location of the mining facility.” The droid pointed about halfway up a long deep gouge in the Martian surface. “This is the MASS research station further up here,” it continued.

  Mia took a moment to digest all the information and to realign to the reality that she was talking to a droid. “So where did the rover blow up?”

  The 3D topographical rendering spun and zoomed in on an area far to the south of the mine. A red dot pulsed on the exact location. “Here.”

  “And what’s that?”

  “That’s a way station.” It was Malbec that answered. “The mine is too far to travel in one sol, so we have these way stations at various points along the route. That way people can get some food and rest, and refuel.”

  “Like a Martian truck stop?” said Mia.

  “Exactly.” Malbec zoomed out on the rendering and Mia could see Jezero Crater. “The route to this mine follows an ancient riverbed out of the crater here. You can see it twists and turns—it’s an arduous journey. That’s why this way station was put here, just before heading into the Nili Fossae trench.”

  “So what was he doing up there?”

  “We understand he was doing a resupply mission to the MASS research station.”

  “We understand? You mean you’re not sure what he was doing?”

  “Jay Eriksen was an original colonist, a Pioneer…”

  “You mean he was one of the clones?”

  Malbec stiffened. “We don’t call them that. They… they’re a little touchy about it.”

  “Okay, gotcha. Don’t call them clones. Anyway, so what if he was a clo… I mean a Pioneer.”

  “Nothing, really. Just that he was contracting to MASS as a courier.”

  This made no sense to Mia. She was beginning to think that this might have been a bad idea. She really had no clue as to how this place operated. “You’re gonna have to explain that one.”

  “The Mars Alliance Scientific Survey, MASS, is a UN agency set up about seven years ago to do research on the planet. Their primary objective is to look for life. But over the years that has expanded to encompass a whole range of experiments and research.”

  “They’re the ones doing the nuke experiment up north?” Mia pointed at the ceiling.

  “Yes. Among other things.”

  “And?” Mia prompted.

  “And, well, they operate semi-autonomously. They answer to the UN back on Earth. We don’t have a lot of control over them.”

  “Ahh… I’m beginning to see the picture. So let me take a guess at the scene here. There’s a bunch of guys, that you have no control over, running around on the planet doing whatever they like. I can imagine that a lot of the old guard here don’t like that.”

  Dr. Malbec nodded.

  “So it’s a bit strange that one of the Pioneers decided to work for them,” Mia continued.

  “Very strange.”

  “Okay, assuming your hunch is correct and he was murdered, that would mean every one of the other Pioneers would be a suspect, including you, Dr. Malbec.”

  Mia could see she was taken aback by that. “Eh… I see your reasoning, but I don’t think so.”

  “Look, Jann. I know this is probably not what you want to hear, but most murders are done by someone known to the victim. Someone who held a grudge, a jilted lover—it’s all very predictable. So, first we look at all the ex girlfriends or boyfriends, all the people who may have been pissed off with him for whatever reason. In other words, the usual suspects.”

  Malbec said nothing, just pursed her lips.

  “Do we have any forensics?” she continued.

  “Eh…”

  Mia rolled her eyes. “I thought you guys were at the pinnacle of human technology. You must have something!”

  “Well that’s the thing. We don’t have access to the rover, it belongs to MASS. They have what’s left of it over at their sector.”

  “So, what about the body?”

  “They haven’t released it yet.”

  “Can they do that?”

  “For a while. They have the right under the UN/Mars agreement to conduct their own investigation first.”

  “And you think they’re hiding something?”

  “That is my fear.” Dr. Malbec switched off the holo
-table and walked to the window. She stared out for a moment before turning back to Mia. “I want you to find out what it is.”

  Mia moved next to her and looked out at the domed skyline of Jezero City. “So what you really want is for me to spy for you.”

  “Something’s going on, Mia. Something that they don’t want us to know about. Something that could jeopardize our future here. So, yes. I want you to do some snooping around and find out what you can. We can set you up as a courier. That means you’ll have access to anywhere you want to go. No one around here bats an eye at couriers, they keep the whole place operating. So you won’t be noticed. Nobody knows you, you’re just a regular colonist, fresh off the ship.”

  Mia let out a big long sigh. This was getting serious. Doing routine police work, following up leads was one thing, but now Malbec wanted her to go dig up something to put flesh on the bones of her paranoid imaginings. She sighed again. Still, being able to go wherever she wanted meant she could track down Chris and kick his balls. She could do a bit of snooping for Malbec, keep her happy. “Okay. But there’s a problem. I can’t drive a rover.”

  Malbec’s face was serious, but she nodded. “Thank you, Mia. And the rover is no problem. Gizmo can operate it for you.”

  “What. Me?” The outburst from the little robot jolted Mia into remembering it was still there.

  “Yes, Gizmo.” Jann turned back to Mia. “All couriers travel with a G2 unit. We can make Gizmo here look more like one of them. He can be my eyes and ears and you’ll also find him incredibly useful.”

  “A G2 unit? I won’t do it. I will not allow myself to be humiliated like this.” Gizmo twitched and shuddered.

  Mia’s jaw dropped. Was she really hearing this? What the hell was inside that machine?”

  “I’m sorry, Gizmo. But you know this is extremely important to me, and the whole colony. I wouldn’t ask you if there were any other way.”

  Why was Malbec reasoning with this robot, like it was some child that needed to be humored? Mia felt like giving it a kick and telling it to get on with it.

  “Well, if you insist. But I’m not going to enjoy it,” said Gizmo.

  Screw this, thought Mia. “Look, if it’s all the same to you, Dr. Malbec, a standard G2 unit is fine by me.”

  “No. As you can probably tell, Gizmo’s capabilities go way beyond a standard unit.”

  “By several order of magnitude,” the droid added.

  “He’ll keep you safe. God knows, he’s saved my ass more than once.”

  “Do I have to give up my plasma weapons?” Gizmo raised an arm and from its shoulder a serious looking gun muzzle telescoped out.

  “We can talk about that later,” said Jann.

  Mia looked at the droid. It seemed to be appraising her at the same time. What the hell am I getting myself into here?

  8

  NIli Fossae

  As soon as Mia had agreed to undertake the investigation, Dr. Malbec and her associates wasted no time in preparing the necessary identity she would require. As this was being set in motion, Mia also didn’t waste time bringing Dr. Jann Malbec up to speed on the necessity of simple investigative procedure.

  “Police work,” she explained, “is ninety percent procedure: doing the forensics, interviewing people and asking a lot of questions. There’s very little glamour involved, it’s mainly a long slow slog. Some people liken it to flying an airplane. Hours of boredom sandwiched between a few minutes of sheer terror.”

  It was with this line of reasoning that Mia suggested the best place to start was by paying a visit to the scene of the alleged crime. The item on her agenda after that, would be to seek out the location of what remained of the rover, and the body of Jay Eriksen. How she would, or even could, do this was still to be established. So later that day, under the guise of a courier delivering supplies to the way station at Nili Fossae, Mia and her G2 unit set out from Jezero City in a newly commandeered rover.

  It bounced and rocked its way along the central valley as the road twisted and turned, following the topography that had been laid down millennia ago by the course of the ancient river. This route had been reshaped even further by the constant movement of human activity, as machines made their way from Jezero City up to the mining outpost and research stations. Mia glanced out the windscreen at a distinctly homemade road sign that had been hammered into the hard ground at the side of the road. It was a crudely shaped arrow tied to a post, on which someone had hand painted Nili Fossae.

  Gizmo was currently at the wheel, although there was no wheel, as such. As far as Mia could ascertain, the rover was controlled by a joystick. Not that Gizmo was even using it. The robot seemed to be plugged in somehow, a direct interface, so to speak. It had also been stripped of various appendages that had been deemed incompatible with its new role as a disguised G2 unit. What function the missing pieces performed for the droid, Mia had no idea. But it was clear to her that Gizmo was very unhappy about their loss. The concept of being in such close proximity to malcontented sentient droid was one that Mia was still struggling to get her head around.

  “So, how come you’re so smart, Gizmo?”

  “Relative to what?”

  Mia already regretted asking the question, but since it would take hours to reach the site of the rover explosion she was looking for a way to break the monotony of the journey.

  “Other G2 units. I mean they’re all pretty dumb service droids.”

  “Their cognitive abilities are self contained and limited to the processing power that is engineered into the unit itself. My mind, if you wish to call it that, resides primarily in the Jezero City mainframe.”

  “So why don’t they build the other units like you?”

  “It would require too much processing power to sustain a larger number and it is unnecessary, as they have a very rudimentary instruction set that can easily be accommodated within the unit.”

  “I still don’t see why more of you weren’t built since you seem, well, quite extraordinary.”

  Gizmo’s head swiveled to focus directly on Mia, who was sitting in the passenger seat beside it. She was taken aback at the sudden movement from the droid.

  “Shouldn’t you be, like, looking at the road while you’re driving?” She waved a hand in the general direction they were traveling.

  “I am looking at the road, as you put it. I’m also correlating several simultaneous input streams giving me data on position, velocity, and topography, as well as anticipating course corrections and adjustments based on upcoming terrain anomalies. On top of that I am also monitoring a multitude of other extraneous processes that have no direct influence on our current exercise. I shall not bore you with explaining any of these, as most would be beyond your comprehension.”

  “Sorry I mentioned it,” was the best she could manage to reply. After that, she decided to keep quiet, as the conversation, if you could call it that, was proving more frustrating than entertaining.

  After a while Mia noticed the landscape was beginning to change. They were higher up now, moving out of the narrow channel near Jezero. The sides of the gorge flattened out and they were entering a high, wide plateau. The road here was less defined and recognizable only because of the innumerable tire tracks in the dry dusty regolith. Boredom was getting the better of Mia, so she decided to continue her interrogation of the droid.

  “So who built you?”

  “I was designed and built by Nills Langthorp.”

  “The clone?”

  Gizmo swiveled its head to look at her again.

  “What? What did I say now?” Mia sighed.

  “They do not like being called that. Pioneer is the preferred nomenclature.”

  “Right, fine, okay, Pioneer then.”

  Gizmo reoriented its head. “I was initially designed as a service and maintenance droid, but my fundamental cognitive reasoning was based on advanced neural network structures. This was so I could evolve to manage all the life support systems in the colony. At t
hat time my creator, Nills Langthorp, was the only human living in the colony and he wanted a backup system, in case he became incapacitated in some way.”

  “So you can control all the life support systems?”

  “Not anymore. My access to those higher level systems was curtailed as the colony grew. And there were also those that were fearful of allowing a semi-sentient droid to have that much control.”

  “In case you decided you didn’t like humans and turned off all the air?”

  “Precisely.”

  Mia was beginning to understand why the powers that be in the colony were not inclined to build any more robots with the level of sophistication that Gizmo possessed. Too resource hungry and just plain too dangerous to have around. She wondered if this droid’s sols were numbered.

  Over the next few hours Mia gleaned as much information as she could from the little robot. It seemed to know everything about the colony, all the way back to well before independence from Earth. She found it fascinating partly because of the subject matter and partly because Gizmo seemed very responsive to all her questions. Even if, at times, she got more than a hint of intellectual arrogance. It was deep into an explanation of the various zones housed within the Industrial Sector of the colony when it stopped talking and brought the rover to a halt. It looked over at Mia.

  “What? What’s wrong?’

  “We are here. This is where the courier Jay Eriksen died.”

  “Okay then, let’s saddle up and take a look.”

  Mia was glad of the distraction. The journey had been long and arduous and she had a new admiration for the colonists who worked as couriers. It had seemed to her, and those working in the agri-domes, like such a glamorous occupation. But after several hours inside a rover traversing the surface of Mars she realized it took a special type of person to do it.

  She booted up her EVA suit and snapped on the helmet. She had only gone EVA three times before, for very short periods. This would be her first time going solo. She instinctively took a deep breath before closing her visor. Then she let it out and took another deep breath. So far so good. She headed for the airlock.