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  “Come on… come on.” The status light on the airlock finally illuminated green. Jann opened the outer door and jumped onto the planet’s surface. She ran as fast as it was possible to run in a bulky EVA suit in one-third gravity. It wasn’t beautiful, but it was probably a record.

  She was quite a distance from the HAB when she realized she should have jammed something in the outer door so the commander couldn’t get out. Once the airlock was repressurized, the door to the HAB would unlock. Would he come after her? Too late, she was not going back now. She kept on running.

  8

  Just The Feeling

  The four ISA crew, led by Annis Romanov, had spent a number of hours investigating the deserted Colony One facility, searching systematically, ticking off areas as they went. Here and there lay the scattered evidence of recent activity: crumpled clothing, scraps from a half-eaten meal, food in the process of being stored—but no colonists. They also discovered areas that were not in use at all: sealed off, closed up, shut down. This was not surprising considering it was a facility designed for a hundred souls that now sustained just a few—somewhere.

  Yet, their search was not completely in vain. It did pull back a veil on the mysterious Colony One survivors. It was evident that they were skilled at engineering. The crew found many areas with equipment being repaired or recycled, or in the process of being fashioned into something else.

  After two hours of methodical investigation they reconvened in an area inside a small dome that looked to be a common room of some kind. It had worn and tattered seating. Crude drawings depicting Martian landscapes adorned the walls. It also had strange homemade furnishings and lighting that gave it a kind of scrapyard chic. It had the feeling of someone’s home. But that someone had vanished, all that remained now was the feeling.

  “There must be more to this base, a hidden section perhaps. Maybe some of the derelict areas are still functioning?” Annis had long given up on keeping herself cocooned inside an EVA suit, as had the others. They had become too hot and uncomfortable after the first half an hour inside the colony. So, one by one, they stripped off the bulky EVA suits down to basic flight-suit clothing.

  “We’ve been everywhere, there’s nowhere else to look. Nowhere that’s got life support, that is.” Lu sat down on one of the tatty armchairs. “It’s obvious, they simply don’t want to be found.”

  “But why? It doesn’t make any sense. You’d think they would be jumping for joy at the prospect of being found alive after all this time.” Paolio had joined her on another armchair. “Maybe they’ve been hiding for the last three years,” he continued.

  “What do you mean?” Annis was pacing.

  “Think about it. The colony is presumed dead after the sandstorm, no message, no communication, not even an SOS scrawled in the sand outside, nothing. But someone is still alive, still living here—somewhere. Do you not think that’s just a little weird?”

  “And what about the others? There were… what… fifty-four colonists alive up here before the storm. There are six outside,” ventured Lu.

  “Seven. You forgot the one in the beehive hut,” Kevin corrected.

  “Okay seven. Then there’s one, maybe two, hiding out here somewhere so that makes forty odd unaccounted for. No bodies, no EVA suits, so where are they?”

  “Maybe they’re compost, you know… recycled as plant food,” said Kevin.

  He was just about to sink his teeth into a colony apple when he stopped and thought better of it.

  “All right, let’s split up and see if we can find some better clues as to who’s here. Paolio, take the medlab, Lu take the galley and accommodation modules. Kevin, I want you in the operations room and I’ll do another sweep around the biodome. We’ll meet back here in an hour.”

  “So what are we looking for this time?” Lu reluctantly got up from the armchair.

  “Anything that will give us an idea of who’s still here—and where they might be. Make a note of any computer terminals you come across. We can do a more forensic analysis later.”

  They all nodded and slowly wandered off to their appointed tasks.

  This was Paolio’s second time examining the medlab. The colony’s sickbay, so to speak. It consisted of two connected modules, one of which was shut down, its door control panel dead. Conserving power, he assumed. He didn’t find anything the first time so he was not expecting anything this time around. Mostly, he spent his time opening compartments and detailing the contents. It was well equipped and reasonably stocked with supplies of antibiotics, painkillers and a host of other medicines.

  It was very quiet, dimly lit, and just a little creepy. Every now and again some machine deep within the bowels of the colony would start up and Paolio would get a jolt. On more than one occasion, he could feel his heart race as some eerie feeling got the better of his rationality.

  “Anything?”

  He jumped. “Jesus Lu, don’t sneak up on me like that.”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to give you a fright.”

  “Nothing here. Weird isn’t it? It’s like the Mary Celeste.”

  “What’s that?”

  “It was the name of an old sailing ship found abandoned off the Azores, back in the late eighteen hundreds.”

  “Never heard of it,” replied Lu.

  “The thing is, when they boarded the vessel it was completely deserted. But there were plates on the galley table, like someone had just eaten. Yet, they searched it top to bottom and found no one. It’s still a mystery to this day.”

  “I see what you mean.”

  “Anyway, I thought you were supposed to be searching the galley?”

  “Eh… just didn’t want to be on my own.”

  “I know how you feel.”

  “Funny, isn’t it? We spent all those months cooped up on the Odyssey, getting in each other’s space and now… well I get freaked out if I’m alone,” she moved closer to Paolio.

  “It’s perfectly natural to get a bit freaked out in this place.” He waved an arm around. Lu came closer still and started to shake. Paolio embraced her. “Hey, it’s okay.” She held him tight and he could feel her heart beat against his chest. She tipped her head back, gave him a long look and then kissed him.

  “Paolio.” The voice of First Officer Annis Romanov squawked in his headset. “I just got a message from the commander, he’s awake. But we have a problem.”

  “Shit.” Paolio pulled his head away.

  “What is it?” said Lu.

  “It’s Annis.” He tapped his earpiece. “Decker is awake.”

  “Can’t you just ignore it?”

  “No, I can’t. There’s a problem.” He pressed his earpiece again. “Annis, yes. How is he?”

  “He’s fine, a slight headache, that’s all. But it seems Malbec has gone AWOL.”

  “Jann? What happened?”

  “He says when he woke up the HAB was deserted, didn’t know what was going on. I explained to him we left Malbec there to keep an eye on things, but she’s gone and her EVA suit’s gone too. You better go talk to him—and meet us in the common room right away.”

  “Okay.”

  “What is it?” Lu looked anxious.

  “Jann’s gone missing. Come on, Annis wants us in the common room.” Paolio tapped his earpiece again, but this time to contact Decker.

  “Commander, this is Dr. Corelli.”

  “Doctor, go ahead.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Fine, feel great actually. But I got a bit of a scare when there was no one here.”

  “Where’s Dr. Malbec?”

  “No idea, the HAB was empty when I woke up. Look, I’m heading over to the colony. I’ll talk to you there.”

  “Are you sure you’re physically up to it?”

  “Yes, fine. We need to find Malbec, though.”

  “Okay, we’ll see you here.” Paolio was concerned for Jann. She didn’t strike him from their conversation the previous night as someone ready to abdicate r
esponsibility. Then again, he wasn’t sure he knew what the hell was going on anymore.

  The others had assembled in the common room by the time Paolio and Lu arrived.

  “I knew she wasn’t ready for this mission. I don’t know why they picked her in the first place, she's a liability.” Annis was waving her hands in the air, pacing up and down.

  “Have you tried to contact her? If she’s gone EVA she should have her comms on.”

  “Tried that, no joy, nothing.”

  “The commander is on his way,” said Paolio. “Let’s just stay calm and try to find her.”

  They all turned as they heard a sound from the airlock; it was depressurizing. “Decker?” said Kevin.

  “No, he was just leaving the HAB, it’s too soon,” said Paolio.

  “Maybe it’s a colonist?” said Lu.

  They looked from one to the other and waited. The outer door opened and someone entered, the door closed and the airlock began to pressurize again. The green alert flashed, the door swung open and out stepped Jann Malbec. She collapsed to her knees on the floor. Paolio rushed over and helped her remove her helmet. She was sweating and breathing hard. “Jann, what the hell is going on?” She struggled to get her breathing under control as she spoke.

  “The commander, he’s gone crazy, attacked me with a metal bar or something, tried to bash my head in, I had to escape, run, talking crazy shit, contamination.” She put her head in her hands and shook. They looked blankly at her. Annis knelt down beside her putting her hand on Jann’s shoulder. “We’ve just been talking to Decker and he’s perfectly okay, nothing crazy about him.”

  Jann’s eyes widened and she backed away from Annis. “No, seriously, he’s crazy, dangerous.”

  “He didn’t sound that way to me, Jann,” said Paolio. “What the hell happened in the HAB?”

  “I told you.”

  “Tell us again, from the top.”

  Jann regained some composure. “He woke up suddenly, grabbed my wrist and said something about ‘contamination,’ then conked out again. I went over to the comms desk to call you and he was standing behind me, looking crazy. Then he attacked me, with a metal bar, I think. I barricaded myself in the airlock. He was trying to bash the door down so I got into my EVA suit and ran here. That’s it.”

  Annis stood up. “Hmmm, well he sounded totally rational to me. He’s on his way over now.”

  “What? No, you can’t let him in, no way.”

  “Calm down, don’t get hysterical, get a grip,” said Annis.

  Jann stood up with the help of Paolio and Lu. She looked at him, pleading. “I'm not going crazy, it happened like I said.”

  “It’s okay, Jann, no one’s saying you’re crazy.”

  The airlock light flashed red, it was depressurizing again. Decker had arrived. Jann moved away from the entrance and behind a workbench. “Paolio, stay with her, keep her calm, don’t let her go crazy.”

  “I’m not goddamn crazy.”

  He moved over to where Jann was standing and watched her closely. “Just stay cool, Jann.”

  The door opened and the commander walked in. He took off his helmet and looked over at Jann. “So you showed up finally. Where did you get to?”

  Jann said nothing. She just stood wide eyed.

  “How are you feeling Robert?” said Paolio.

  “Fine, although I’d be better if I knew what the hell was going on.”

  “What do you remember?”

  “I remember waking up alone.” He walked towards Jann. “Where did you get to, you were supposed to be keeping an eye on me.”

  Jann backed up. “Don’t come near me… stay away.” She grabbed a knife off the workbench.

  “Woah… easy now Malbec, put that down, we don’t want anybody getting hurt.”

  “Just stay away.”

  Paolio moved over to where he left his doctor's bag beside the airlock entrance. From it he took a syringe with 5cc of cyclophromazine. It was small enough to conceal in his hand. He moved back towards Jann, and while she was distracted fending off the commander, he slipped in behind her and jabbed her in the neck. Paolio grabbed her around the waist as she collapsed, unconscious.

  “Jesus Christ, she’s gone nuts, this is all we need,” said Annis.

  “Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “Lu, help me get her into the medlab.” Between them they carried her in and laid her on the bed. Paolio checked her vitals. “She’ll be out for a few hours.”

  “What happened to her?” said Lu as she brushed the hair from Jann’s face.

  “I don’t know, I really don’t,” he shook his head a few times.

  Once he was satisfied that she was okay, they returned to the common room. Annis was in the process of explaining to Decker what had happened.

  “It makes no sense,” said Decker. He looked over at Paolio. “What do you think?” Paolio didn’t know what to think. He was glad that the commander seemed well again but now this breakdown of Jann’s was a major concern. “She’ll be out for a few hours. I can try and make an assessment of her mental health once she wakes up. But even if she seems fine we’ll have to keep a very close eye on her.”

  “I’ll not have her mess up this mission, it’s too important. Christ, this is all we need.” He was rubbing his head. “Speaking of which, have you found anything?”

  “Nothing, at least no colonists. We’ve searched everywhere we could. We found lots of evidence of recent activity, by at least one person. But where they are is still a mystery,” said Annis.

  “There are still quite a number of areas in the colony that are intact but shut down. So maybe that’s the next place to look,” offered Kevin.

  “Show me where we’ve searched so far and what’s left.”

  “Sure.” Kevin produced a tablet and laid it flat on the common room table. He activated it and a 3D schematic of the Colony One site ballooned out across the table surface. “All these areas here in green we’ve searched. The ones in red I’ve identified as derelict. Probably structurally dangerous. We’ll need to be careful entering any of those areas. All these areas here are offline but still intact, as far as I can tell. They’re shut down, no power or life support.”

  “What’s this area here, looks pretty big.” Decker was pointing to a small dome with a number of modules attached at the other end of the main biodome.

  “Research lab.”

  “Might be worth getting in there and having a look around.”

  “Tricky.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “There’s no outer airlock so we can’t just EVA in there. We’d have to power it up and pressurize it first.”

  “I see.” The commander rubbed his head again. “Annis, what does mission control know?”

  “That the place is not dead and that you are feeling ill.”

  “You need to send them an update on what we’ve found so far. And let them know I’m fine now. We’ll keep quiet about Malbec for the moment, okay? I don’t want them getting too concerned.”

  “Will do.”

  He breathed a sigh and rubbed his head again.

  “Are you all right?” said Paolio.

  “Yeah, just a bit of a headache.”

  “I’ll get you something for it.”

  “That would be great, thanks.”

  “So what’s our next move here?” said Kevin.

  The commander thought about this for a moment. “We assess the infrastructure, find out what’s working, how it works and what resources are available. We’ll do a complete inventory on all Colony One systems.”

  “That’s probably going to take weeks to do.”

  “Well you guys better get to it. Me, I’m actually going to lie down for a little while, I feel a bit woozy.”

  “You’re still not a hundred percent, Robert. Come, I’ll show you where there’s an accommodation pod, you can rest there," said Annis.

  “I’m just going to check on Jann,” said Paolio.
“Lu, do you want to join me?”

  “Eh… I need to get back to checking the galley again.” She gave a little shrug of her shoulders.

  “Okay.” Paolio headed back into the medlab and looked down at the unconscious figure of Dr. Jann Malbec. “Well Jann, you sure as hell know how to ruin a person’s day.”

  9

  COM

  Peter VanHoff scanned the report from First Officer Annis Romanov. It was brief, yet interesting in that it was from her and not Commander Decker. Nonetheless, it seemed that he had recovered from his mystery illness, which was a major relief. Still, Peter could not help feeling a certain unease that the commander was not fully operational, so to speak. His uneasiness stemmed from memories of the mayhem that preceded the demise of Colony One. The final communications from the stricken outpost spoke of a deep psychosis affecting a number of colonists. Ever since, the question in many people’s minds had been: was it this that caused the destruction of Colony One and not the sandstorm? The question, of course, was still unanswered.

  He put the report aside and pulled up the site schematic that the first officer had sent. A good deal of Colony One was still intact, including the research lab. This was a section of the facility that he was acutely interested in. Nevertheless, if the lab were to be brought back online, how much of the scientific data would realistically still be viable? It was a question that greatly occupied VanHoff.

  Shortly before Colony One went dark, the scientists working there hinted at a major genetic breakthrough. But the data was never transmitted as the colony started to come apart at the seams. So he had all but given up on acquiring this information. Now though, it seemed he had been given a second chance. But it was a double edged sword, he needed to be careful. What went on in that research lab was for COM eyes only. It would be very damaging for them should it become public knowledge.