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

  “Indeed.”

  Modric looked around the area to check if they were alone and leaned in again. “Here’s what I propose. We kill her. Before she has a chance to infect the minds of the Betas. Do it now, while her presence here is still under wraps.”

  Kayden looked at Modric and took another sip from his glass, more as a way of giving himself time to think before replying. He placed the glass back down the table with a slow precise movement. “How do you propose we do this?”

  “That, I don’t know. I thought you might be able to offer a possible course of action. Seeing as Vanji looks to you as an ally. You would be least suspected.”

  “No one could know of this, or we’ll be the ones being recycled.”

  “I fear if we don’t, then our days here as top-dog are numbered.”

  Kayden stood up, leaned in to put a hand on his Modric’s shoulder as he spoke. “Let me sleep on it. That’s all I can do for now.”

  “Don’t sleep too long, or we may miss our opportunity.”

  CHAPTER 10: Hydro

  In the sols following Jann’s experience in the birthing rooms, she gained a little more freedom, or at least the sense of it. This was limited to short sessions in the bio-labs with the genetics team. She met few colonists save for Vanji, the two guards, and the woman who brought her food. Yet she learned a lot, not just about the complexities of human cloning but also the social hierarchy of the colony. The technology underlying this human outpost may be at the pinnacle of human achievement, but the social structure was medieval.

  Alphas ruled. The twenty or so original colonists who had survived all that Mars had thrown at them formed the bulk of the council. They ran and controlled everything. The workers were the Betas, the clones. They were created from the seeds, as they were known. These turned out to be the Analogues that Jann, and the original ISA crew, had found in Colony One. Yet, no Alpha living in Colony Two had been cloned, so the Betas were the reincarnation of all those who had died. And there were multiples of each.

  Yet, so far, Jann had only met one, the woman who brought food to her room. She was Caucasian, young and carried herself with a submissive deference. Reminding Jann more of the polite manners of a Geisha, never looking her directly in the eye.

  But, like all technology, it never stood still and Vanji and his team had progressed to creating Hybrids. This was more than just cloning, this was human genetic engineering taken to a whole new level. They had effectively created a new species. Homo aries, Aries being the Greek god of Mars. The two guards were Hybrids. Tall, strong, elegant — and silent. They never spoke, but Jann began to notice that, at times, they would look intently at each other, as if they were communicating. They would subtly nod or shake their heads along with almost imperceptible facial twitches. It was eerie to witness, and not a little unsettling.

  At the top of this hierarchy was the imperial master, Vanji. He was like an Emperor. Feared and worshipped in equal measure. He bestowed the gift of life and possessed the power to take it away with nothing more than a simple edict, a click of his fingers, so to speak. Most of the Alphas feared Vanji and the Betas feared the Alphas. As for the Hybrids, they seemed to be oblivious to everything. At least, that’s how Jann figured it.

  After a few more sols of her obedience they rewarded her with a window. Still confined to her room under lock and key, save for the odd excursion to the bio-labs, it came as a blessing. It was something to break the boredom, and the increasing feeling of entrapment that was fermenting inside her. She had taken to pacing the room, bisecting it in a steady rhythm, like the caged animal that she was. It was during one of these pacing sessions that the long smooth wall behind the desk became transparent. She stopped her pacing, crept forward and looked out. The entire vista of the main cavern was laid out below her. Vast, verdant and industrious. She spent many hours just looking and observing, following the patterns and rituals of the Betas that toiled there. Yet in the end, all this anthropological study brought her no closer to escape. In fact, she feared she would somehow grow complacent, more accepting, and lose her desire for freedom, maybe even her will to live.

  Eventually, in or around the tenth sol of her captivity, a new face entered her room. It was Daniel Kayden, one of the Councillors. Behind him stood the same two guards. He smiled as he entered and reached to shake her hand. “Some good news for you, Dr. Malbec. We are paying a visit to a very special place this-sol.”

  “Good, let’s go, this room is driving me demented, when am I getting out of here?”

  “I don’t know, that hasn’t been decided yet.”

  “Why the hell not?”

  “Look, please be patient, it’s just politics.” He opened his hands and shrugged his shoulders. “Come, follow me, we can talk as we walk.”

  Jann quelled her frustration, at least she was getting out for a while, why jeopardise it. They walked side by side in silence, the two guards following in step behind. Jann glanced back at them, their faces a complete blank.

  “Are they Hybrids?” she jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

  “Yes.”

  “They don’t say much, do they?”

  “No, none of them do.”

  “Are they engineered that way?”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know, I’m not one of the geneticists.”

  “So, what’s your story then?”

  “I’m a geologist, Head of the Hydro sector.”

  “Water?”

  “Yes, H2O, and I’m taking you to see some.”

  “Water?”

  “Ah,” he smiled, “yes, water, but not like anything you’ve seen before.”

  They stepped into the elevator and descended. It felt to Jann that they were going lower than before, lower than the bio-labs. It was also getting noticeably warmer.

  The doors opened into a short corridor which led into a pumping station. The sound of engines reverberated around the room. It was loud and mechanical. Large industrial pipes and ducts criss-crossed the space. At the far end was a control-board with three Betas monitoring the systems, at least Jann assumed they were Betas.

  “It’s very warm in here.”

  “Yes we are deep down, close to the aero-thermal engines, it gets even hotter the further down you go.”

  “Well I hate to break it to you, but this is not very interesting.”

  Kayden turned to her and smiled again, “Ah, just wait, you’ll see.”

  As they moved past the control station, the three Betas stood up in place and turned to her. She could have been mistaken but it looked to her like they all bowed.

  “Are they doing that for you or me?”

  “Both. But they do seem fascinated by you. It’s the first time they’ve seen an outsider. You’re something of a celebrity to them.”

  Jann looked back, they were just standing there staring at her as she passed. She nodded her head at them. This action resulted in a look of amazement, they bowed even lower.

  “Come, just ignore them, this way.”

  They continued on through a short tunnel lined with pipes and finally it opened out into a large cave. The floor was sandy and the roof bright, but in the middle was something Jann never thought she would ever see. It was a large lake of flowing water.

  “Wow.”

  “Told you.”

  “This is incredible.”

  The sandy floor of the cavern extended out to meet the water, like a beach. The lake itself seemed to disappear into a cloud of mist off in the distance. The cavern roof was peppered with long stalactites, and she could hear the water dripping down from their tips.

  “The aero-thermal activity is more intense the further in you go, Kayden pointed off towards the back of the cavern, “that’s what creates the mist. It’s colder overhead so the moisture condenses and drips down creating these huge stalactites.”

  “Like rain.”

  “Yes, like rain, on Mars.”

  At the edge of the sandy beach a small jetty extended into the lake,
with a floating pontoon tethered to the end. All along the water’s edge seating had been set up.

  “Is this were you go for a vacation?”

  Kayden laughed. “Yeah, you could say that. Come, let’s get on-board the pontoon and we can see the cavern from the middle of the lake.”

  They walked across to the jetty and Kayden held his hand out for Jann, as she stepped onto the pontoon. It was flat and square with a low hand rail on all sides. They hunkered down and Kayden picked up a paddle. “Here you grab that, I’ll cast off.”

  Jann moved closer to the centre of the pontoon, where it felt more stable.

  Two guards stood stiff and silent, watching. They became slightly more animated when Jann and Kayden cast off.

  “It’s okay, we’ll only be a short while.” Kayden shouted over to them. They relaxed.

  “What’s with them?”

  “Just paddle. We’ll take it out to the centre.”

  They moved with a graceful silence, the only sounds were the paddles hitting the water and the drip-drip from the cavern roof.

  “Have you found any life in here?”

  “You mean any microbial Martians swimming around?”

  “Yes, it would seem ideal, water, heat and lots of complex chemical compounds.”

  “Sorry to disappoint, but no, nothing.”

  Jann turned her head back to see how far they had come. They had moved along the edge of the lake, around a rocky outcrop, and were now out of sight of the guards. Kayden signalled to her with a nod of his head to change direction. They then slowly paddled out from the edge, towards the middle of the steamy lake. Then a thought struck Jann. She knew next to nothing about Kayden, or his intentions.

  She looked down into the water. “Is this toxic?”

  “Yeah, but don’t worry, it won’t kill you if you fall in, as long as you get out quick. That said, you could still drown in there. Hell of a way to go, drowning on Mars.”

  Jann withdrew her paddle. “If it’s okay with you, let’s head back, I’ve seen enough.”

  “Just a bit more, keep paddling.”

  She reluctantly resumed. But kept a tight grip on the paddle — in case she needed it as a weapon.

  Mist began to envelop them before Kayden finally reversed his stroke. The pontoon came to a halt. “Okay, I think this should be far enough.”

  “Those guards back there,” he nodded in the direction of the beach, “they are the eyes and ears of Vanji. And what I have to say to you is not for them to hear. That’s why I took the precaution of bringing you out here.” Jann held her paddle tight.

  “We don’t have much time so I’ll be quick. Here it is, we have a plan to help you escape.”

  Jann was not sure if this was a trick or some test of Vanji’s.

  “Escape?”

  “It may come as a surprise to you, but some of us do not like what’s going on here. We want out, that’s where you come in. How would you like to get back to Earth?”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes, get back home.”

  Jann paused for a moment. “Go on… I’m listening.”

  “We know that the Odyssey transit craft is still in orbit, still functioning. And that the MAV is intact, it can still be used.”

  “It has no fuel tanks, they were all destroyed.”

  “We know the ISA sent you information on how to manufacture them. So we have everything we need to escape, am I right?”

  Jann wondered how much Kayden really knew. “In theory, yes. They’ve been fabricated, but they still need to be filled, checked and transported.”

  “How long would that take?”

  Jann shrugged, “I don’t know, at least a sol.”

  Kayden considered this, as if he were recalculating his escape plan based on this new information from Jann. He stayed silent, thinking.

  Jann interrupted his thoughts. “How do you propose we get out of here? Simply sneak out at night? I don’t think we would get very far.”

  “Look, it can be done.” Kayden seemed irritated. “But we need you, as you are the only one who knows the launch sequence.”

  Jann thought about this for a moment. Escaping undetected may be possible — with the right help. And Kayden certainly fit that bill. After all, Boateng had done it. But what Kayden was suggesting, regarding the MAV, was reckless. They would first need to get back to Colony One, then transport fuel tanks back to the MAV, connect them, check all systems and then hope that it all worked when the button is pressed. It was insane. There was no guarantee that the MAV would not simply blow up with them inside. Considering it had sat there for three years it would need time to do all the proper preliminary checks. Furthermore, there was also a time issue in coordinating with the Odyssey orbiter, it all needed to be carefully setup. Perhaps Kayden didn’t fully understand this.

  On the other hand, Kayden was offering her a way out of here. As for getting off the planet, well… she could just play along with that — for the moment.

  He looked over to the edge of the lake. “We can’t stay here too long, the Hybrids will be twitching. Are you in?”

  “Okay, where do I sign?”

  “Excellent.” He clapped his hands together. “Come, let’s head back. We’ll find another opportunity to talk more.”

  They slowly returned to the jetty. The guards had not moved from the spot where they had left them. But Kayden was right, they were twitching a lot more than usual. They stood face-to-face, looking directly at each other, seemingly not noticing Jann and Kayden step off the raft and onto the jetty. “What are they doing?” Jann whispered.

  “I honestly don’t know. They all started doing this weird staring match with each other a few months back. Strange isn’t it?”

  “Has anyone asked them what they are doing?”

  “They say they’re just passing the time.”

  “Really?”

  “Come, you don’t need to concern yourself with it. Best to just ignore them.”

  They made their way back to the upper galleries and Jann was escorted to her room. No more was spoken of the plan. She assumed they would meet again under some other pretext and the details would be outlined. In the meantime all she could do was wait. She sat on the small seat and looked out over across the main colony. She felt her pocket for the object she had been given — it was gone. “Crap, where is it?”

  She frantically searched the room, around the floor, on the desk, and through the pockets of the few clothes she had been given. It was gone, along with the note. “Damn, they must have found it.”

  She thought that possibly the Beta who brought her food might get into trouble for it. Jann felt she had let her down, she should have taken better care of it. “Too late now,” she thought.

  She sat in silence, for a while, and watched the to-and-fro of the Betas working all across the cavern floor. They moved in random patterns, in and out through the vegetation, planting, harvesting, tending. It had a hypnotic rhythm and Jann found the stress being gently expelled from her body. Maybe now that Kayden had given her hope she could stand down, so to speak. She moved her gaze away from the Betas and started to observe the Hybrids. Before encountering the strange behaviour today, at the lakeside, she had not given them much thought, save for how she could take one down. Now though, she began to notice them, pick them out from the other colonists. From what she could observe they made up around ten percent of the colony population. They seem to do nothing except monitor the Betas, always silent, always watchful. But every now and then two or three would group together and do that same weird face-to-face staring, their facial muscles twitching. Anytime this happened the Betas would move away and distance themselves. It was bizarre.

  What was Vanji really creating? They were human, this much was true. But they clearly displayed traits incompatible with human understanding. They were a different species, a step up on the evolutionary tree. Like how a Neanderthal might have felt observing Homo Sapiens communicating. They were the same —
but different.

  Then something extraordinary happened. She had not noticed the Betas but they had all congregated in one area, just below her, and in unison, they all looked up — directly at her. Just for a moment, then they dispersed.

  She jumped up. “Holy shit, can they see me?” It happened so fast that she wasn’t sure it really occurred. Maybe she was hallucinating? Jann gripped the back of the chair to steady herself. “What the hell was that?” She retreated to her bed and curled up. She could take no more of this place. She just had to get out. The sooner the better.

  CHAPTER 11: Recycling

  Jann tossed and turned, her sleep was fitful. She awoke to the shadow of a Beta moving in the room. It was morning and they had come to bring her food, but it was not May, the woman that had come before, it was someone different. Jann sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Where’s May?”

  The Beta kept his head down and did not look directly at her. “She has been… eh, reassigned.” He waved a hand at the tray of food on the desk. “Please eat. You will be required at the council meeting shortly.” He turned and walked out.

  “Council meeting?” she thought. Finally she was going to meet the rest of the original colonists. “Should be interesting,” she thought.

  Jann got up and sat at the desk, eating and looking out across the main colony. She watched the Betas going about their business, half expecting to witness a repeat of the previous evening’s occurrence. But there seemed to be a different dynamic going on, she could not put her finger on it, a different mood prevailed.

  The door opened finally and the two guards stepped in. One spoke, “Come with us, please.” It was the first time she had ever heard them speak. It was deep and sonorous, and had a mellow soothing quality to it. Jann was so surprised that all she could do, by way of a reply, was stare wide-eyed and nod. They all moved down the long corridor, one in front of her, one behind, to a doorway near to where Vanji had first shown her the colony. They entered unannounced.