Battleground Mars

Chapter Four


They loaded the buggy. Kacy had managed to fit a second laser cannon to Kaz’s observation tower and they were equipping the vehicle with everything that they could possibly need to mount the operation. She’d also loaded spare fuel cells in the cargo hold to replace the damaged ones in the DeVries’s vehicles. They suited up and Rahm climbed in and the rest followed. He was about to signal for the airlock door to be opened when he saw Fechter running into the garage clutching a message pad. He signaled for Rahm to stop.
“What’s up?”
“We received a message from Earth. The Taurons have attacked again.”
“Jesus Christ, how did they let that happen? I thought they’d stopped all that.”
There’d been a number of attacks years ago, after the two races began fighting for control of the Mars trevanium reserves. After several devastating raids the military forces on Earth had combined to establish a chain of semi-automated defenses, including platforms in permanent orbit. They were supposed to detect and destroy any incoming raiders.”
“They’ve developed a new approach,” Jacques replied. “It’s a type of stealth tactic, they were able to go past the platforms and attack our installations. One of them was the Mars launch base, so I doubt it was an accident. They’ve got another ship being prepared for another launch, so they’re starting a crash program to bring it into use to get to us. But the net result is that we have to wait an extra three months. That’s almost nine months in total.”
“Can we do it?”
He shrugged. “We’ll have to, but it’ll be close, our life support systems are going to be pushed to the limits. I wish I hadn’t agreed to letting you go out there, but I know it’s too late to call it off. Besides, I’m not unsympathetic. I know there’s a lot hanging on this. I want those people back as much as I do. But there’s a reason I wanted to speak to you before you left.”
He could feel his team listening to every word.
“If you find anything that might help us on the Eastern Star, bring it back with you. We need life support equipment. It’s going be desperate with the extra wait for the relief. Apart from the portable air scrubbers, I want any cylinders you find, anything else, I don’t know, look around and see what the salvage crews left. You know the situation.”
Rahm nodded. “We’ll do what we can.”
He signaled for the inner airlock door and drove forward as it opened.
Tyrrenha Plateau, Mars
Damian Hacker walked around their positions, making sure that every man there was behind cover. He came to Gabi Aaronsen and peer through her faceplate. He was gratified to see that she didn’t appear to be too frightened.
“How are you holding up?”
“I’m ok,” she said. There was a small shake in her voice, she was entitled to that.
“Watch the sector I assigned to you, don’t worry about anywhere else.”
“I know,” she replied. “Damian, are we going to get out of this?”
“Sure, of course we will.”
“Really? How will we do that, fight our way past thirty of those monsters with no power and not much air?”
She was no fool, of that he was certain. “I’ve no idea, Gabi. What I do know is that we’re alive, we’ve got guns and our people know we’re here. It’ll work out.”
“I thought they had a problem with their air scrubbers, they were going into lockdown. That means no one can leave Mars Base to come for us. Isn’t that what they said?”
“That’s true. But they’ll figure it out.”
“Yeah, right.
He walked away to the next position, hoping to Christ that they weren’t as perceptive as that girl had been. Gabi watched him go. So they were screwed, unless someone came to their rescue. She wanted to burst into tears, but she controlled herself to think about a way out. Her thoughts drifted to Rahm. She wished he was here, more than anyone else in the whole of the solar system. Then it came to her. Rahm! He would come, of course he would. She could see the others staring at her, as if she was somehow having hallucinations.
Plain of Araby, Mars
They bumped across the Mars surface, Rahm kept their speed to the maximum. Kaz and Brad were on constant alert for enemy aliens. He twisted the wheel to avoid a small crater that appeared unexpectedly in front or them. They were driving in the dark, the boulder strewn plain littered with rocks and pits that would destroy them if they smashed into them. He had no choice but to keep the speed up, they had limited air. If they didn’t reach the trapped crew quickly there’d be no point in reaching them at all. He found a smoother trail that led them forward and swung onto it. They were using the powerful working lights to travel, which had a range of as much as twenty miles. It was enough to give a faint reflection from Mount Nili in the far distance. Beyond Mount Nili lay Isidris Bay, the gateway to Elysium, the Tauron base. It was bandit country, he swung off the trail and headed further south. The going got rough again as they hit the edge of the Meridian Steppe, then there was a long, smooth drive towards Huygens Crater. He almost drove into it, the drive had taken three and half hours of heavy concentration, Rahm had almost gone into autopilot as the hundreds of tiny details he needed to resolve to make this mission a success coursed back and forth across his mind. The ground was changing and they hit a large rock almost hard enough to overturn them. He braked the buggy and climbed out to take a look. There was no damage apart from a bend in the front cowl, but the headlights illuminated a dark, empty space in front of them. Huygens Crater. He shivered as he though how near they’d come to plunging straight into the depths of the hole. Saul climbed out to look.
“A close one, Rahm.”
He nodded. “That it was. We’ll leave the buggy here, Kaz and Brad can stay to keep an eye on it.
They scrambled down the slope with difficulty. The going was precarious with loose shale that made every step treacherous. The low gravity on Mars helped, the journey on Earth would have been almost impossible. Rahm shone his portable lamp forward; the powerful beam lit up the base of the crater, in the distance laid the wreckage of the Eastern Star. When they reached the ship they could see that the frequent dust storms had scoured the hull down to the metal, in the dry atmosphere there was no corrosion or oxidization, the alloy ship shone bright silver. It was also half submerged in the ground, the soft dust and sand of the surface had showered down over it. Saul got there first and tried to open the hatch. There was no response, the handle was locked solid.
“It could have been distorted in the landing, so we’ll need to find a way to force it.”
“Why not blast it off with a laser burst?” Rahm asked.
Saul shrugged. “It’s as good an idea as any. Stand back, there’ll be some sparks.”
He pointed his pistol at the door handle and pulled the trigger, the bolt of energy flared against the door and a hole appeared. He tried to open it, but it was still jammed.
“I’ll give it another go,” he muttered. He stood back and fired again, and again, five shots in all. He’d shot off the area around the hinges as well as the lock, when he went to open the hatch, it simply fell out onto the floor of the crater. The hole that led inside was dark and black, none of them needed reminding that this ship was the grave of hundred of people. Neither did they need reminding that it may yield the means of life for many more. Rahm stepped forward and entered the hull.
The others followed as he went further into the ship. Most equipment of value had been salvaged and it was little more than a bare hull. In places there were signs of the former crew, a shoe left abandoned on the floor, a plate tossed into the corner of a cabin. There was little else. The part of the ship that contained the cargo hold was underground now that the dust and sand had settled so deeply. They were fortunate that the emergency locker was at the top of the ship, at least in the position it lay now. Located between the bridge and the emergency chutes, they reached the hatch cover and unlocked it. Every one of them breathed a sigh of relief, the portable air supplies were intact, all of them. Fifty sets, each one still carefully sealed as it had been on the day the ship left Earth on its last, fateful voyage.
“Nathan, see if you can find something to carry these in. There must be a bag somewhere we can use.”
The driller nodded and wandered off. Kacy and Saul were lifting the set out one by one, careful not to damage them. By the time Nathan Wenders returned with an old, empty ore bag, they had them all out stacked ready. Rahm had walked through to the bridge and was examining the few pieces of instrumentation that were left. The datacard that contained the ship’s manifest was still pushed into the slot in the console, so he took the opportunity to pull it out and put it in a pocket. It would be that there was something more worth salvaging in the ship’s hold. But only if it could ever be dug out from under several tons of Martian sand. He returned to the emergency locker, his crew was finishing loading the air supplies. Saul looked up.
“We’re all done here.”
“Good, let’s go, it’s time to get those people out before the Taurons serve them up for breakfast.”
They dragged the sack up to the crater’s edge, although even in low gravity it was a hard struggle. It required all four of them to pull it over the loose shale that slipped back a yard for every two yards they went forward. They reached the buggy and stowed the air supplies.
“Any sign of the enemy?” Rahm asked Kaz.
The Arab shook his head. “They’re all tucked up safely in bed, or wherever those monsters go at night.
“Except for the ones surround the drilling crew.”
“Yes, except for them.”
In spite of the desperate need for speed Rahm had to drive slower across the Iapygian Sink, a vast bowl of loose dust and sand. The only clue to danger was tiny bumps or depressions in the smooth, soft surface that indicated either rocks or crevasses. They managed to cross without mishap and in front of them, they saw it. In the glare of their worklights, the ground was beginning to rise up to form the vast, raised mound that was the Tyrrenha Plateau. The crew was trapped in a valley at the edge of the plateau, Rahm checked his navigation and worked out they were only five miles away from the site.
“Kaz, Brad, keep a sharp eye out, we’re almost there. The Taurons may have picked us up already.”
They both acknowledged and he drove on at a slower pace. Then everything happened so fast that they all reacted automatically. Directly in front of their lights was the Tauron camp, they hadn’t heard the approach of the buggy, a group of them were standing around a piece of equipment. Rahm made an instant decision. “Hold tight, I’m going to run those bastards over.”
He accelerated to maximum speed and the vehicle flashed over the ground, it covered the intervening space in only a few seconds. For some reason the monsters were too stunned to react, they stood dumbly as he ran at them. Brad had seen them and started to shoot, the heavy bursts from the cannon took two of the Taurons had cut them to pieces. Two more went under the wheels of the buggy, and Kaz swung around and nailed them with quick, accurate shots from his pistol, the others moved aside at the last moment. As they passed Brad swung around with the heavy cannon and began shooting up the camp, more Taurons went down to the crushing bursts of fire. Then they were past and the enemy hadn’t even had time to fire a shot. A dark opening in the rocks showed them the entrance to the valley, but Rahm ignored it and kept on driving until they were well past and out of sight. He stopped behind a small mound of rocks.
“What’s going on?” Kacy asked. “I thought we were going in to rescue them. You drove straight past the valley”
“If we drive in there, we’ll never get out ourselves, they’ll block it and cut us to pieces as we try and come out. I’ve got a better idea. Kaz and Brad, un-mount the rear cannon, we’re going to carry it from here on in.”
“It’ll be a bastard to take it any distance,” Brad objected.
“Don’t worry, it’s not going far. We’re going to give our bug-eyed friends a surprise. We’ll set up the cannon with you and Saul to cover the Tauron camp. I’ll drive back and hit them again, this time we’ll do all the way into the valley. When we come out, you’ll hit them from this side too. I’m hoping it’ll be enough for us to force out way through.”
They worked to remove the cannon. Then the two men went forward on foot with Rahm to find a suitable position for the gun. Once more they found themselves looking at the enemy camp, the freakish creatures were running around, dragging their wounded to their own vehicle, it look similar to a buggy but was much larger, more like a troop carrier. Rahm reflected that it was probably a combination troop carrier and mineral transport. The Tauron way was war, so they wouldn’t design any vehicle without it having the capability to be used in battle. The position they agreed on was another of the endless rock piles that littered the Martian surface. Saul and Brad positioned the cannon to give good coverage of the camp. Rahm got up to leave them.
It’ll take us about an hour to get in there, install the new power units in their buggies and start bringing them out. We’ll be in touch by radio the whole time, so it all goes well, you keep your heads down and don’t start shooting until we’re coming out.”
“You may need covering fire when you go in,” Saul objected.
“That’s true. But that’ll give the game away and make it harder to get out. I want you to start shooting when they’re fixated on us leaving the valley, not before.”
Saul nodded. “I hear you. Don’t worry, we’ll be waiting.”
Rahm walked back to the buggy and climbed aboard.
“Are we all ready?”
Kaz called down from his position on the front cannon. “I’m set to go.”
“Kacy?”
“All ready,” she replied in a voice that suggested otherwise.
“I’ve got my laser rifle here,” Nathan said. “If I see one of those bastards he’s toast.”
“Be careful and make sure he doesn’t see you first,” Rahm warned him. “All of you know the enemy. They learn how to fight almost from the day they’re born. The only way to beat them is to keep your eyes peeled and as soon as you see one, kill it. No second guessing, either we kill them or they kill us. Kacy, you should be armed with a pistol.”
“I’m not much of a shot,” she replied weakly.
“Then you’d better learn quickly. If any of those creatures manage to climb onto the buddy you’ll have to shoot them before they get you. This isn’t going to be a picnic.”
“Alright, I’ll have my pistol ready.”
“Good. We’re going now, this is going to be fast and furious, so hang on tight.”
He went to maximum acceleration and the buggy surged forward. They were seen almost as soon as they appeared close to the camp. The crew leveled their guns at the charging vehicle. They used a weapons technology that wasn’t understood by the armorers on Earth, it operated in a similar way to their laser weapons, but used a different system to project and focus kinetic energy. The effect was the same, when you were hit by a burst it was devastating.
The aliens were waiting for them. They fired first, a burst that slashed past the speeding buggy. Rahm worked up to maximum speed, ignoring the obstacles, he knew that if they slowed they were dead. Kaz opened fire, a series of clever, short, well-aimed bursts that sent the monsters scattering for cover. One of their shots slammed into the buggy, but it hit a part of the bodywork that was not critical. Then they were past, Kaz swinging the gun around to keep it trained on them, an unearthly scream as the buggy ran over an alien and they were turning into the narrow valley entrance. Several bursts knocked chips of rock from the valley walls ahead of them, but none hit. They were through.
“That didn’t seem too hard,” Nathan said. His voiced sounded harsh and exhilarated, it was if the speed of action had made him temporarily forget whatever had been bugging him ever since they'd come to Mars.
“You’re right, but now that we’re in they’ll put the blockade back across the mouth of the valley. That’s why we’ll need our ace in the hole.”
The drove another half a mile and came upon the DeVries’s crew and the security team. They had formed a defensive barrier behind their broken down buggies, Rahm was worried they were going to fire on them but they recognized the Mars Base buggy in time and ran out to welcome them. Josh DeVries ran up to Rahm as he was climbing out of the buggy.
“Hot damn, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”
“How’s everything looking, Josh?”
He grimaced. “We’re alive, that’s about all I can say. We’re low on air, and the buggy power is drained, other than that we’re fine. What’s the plan?”
Rahm told him about the power cells in their buggy, but it was the portable air scrubbers that caused him to smile with delight.
“Some of us are running really low. I thought it would be touch and go, we were about to start pooling our last supplies of air. Can I start issuing them to my crew?”
“Go ahead, Josh.”
He walked over to Damian Hacker, the militia chief, they shook hands.
We thought we were finished, it’s good to see you.”
Rahm told him about his plan. “As soon as your buggies are up and running, we’ll go out and deal with the Taurons. The cannon crew outside should shake them up, that’ll give us a chance to clear the blockade. It wasn’t in place when we came in, but they’ll sure as hell put it back now they know we’re here.”
“My boys have a laser cannon mounted on our own vehicle and we each have laser rifles. Other than that, the drilling crew has sidearms.”
“That’ll have to do. We’d better see how they’re getting on with the power cells.”
“Rahm, before you go, how are things at Mars Base? We’ve been out of touch for some time.”
“Yeah, of course, you don’t know. It’s not good, the air scrubbers are down. They’re going to Emergency lockdown, they weren’t happy about us coming here.”
“That’s a bastard. Nothing we can do about it?”
“Maybe. Look, Damian, I need to talk to Gabi Aaronsen.”
“Sure, I’ll leave you to it and make sure we’re ready to shoot the shit out of them when we go.”
The militia man walked away. Rahm saw Gabi looking across at him. She was standing next to the drilling frame, her expression was strange. He went towards her but before he reached her she rushed out and held him tight to her. As tight as it was possible to hold someone in a pressure suit and helmet. He held so that he could see her face. She was crying, tears pouring down her cheeks.
“Rahm, I thought we were dead.”
“You’ll be ok now. You’re in my crew, I’ve got a rule. You don’t die until I give you permission to die. Clear?”
She nodded, the beginnings of a smile coming to touch her lips. “You mean I’m really in your team?”
“If you want to be, yes. I’ll ask Kacy to supervise your technician work, but I doubt you need much looking after, I gather you’re ready to take a job as a fully fledged technician-engineer.”
“I’d like that very much. I’d even kiss you if we weren’t wearing these helmets.”
“I’ll take a rain check on that, Gabi. But there’s something more serious I need to talk to you about. “
She looked worried, but he put a hand on her arm. “It’s nothing you’ve done, but it’s more of what you can do. For all of us. What do you know about Hughes-Kettler air scrubbing equipment?”
She looked thoughtful. “Isn’t that out of date now, they took it all out of service years ago. They had several systems at training school for us to practice on. Everyone complained bitterly that there was no point in doing it, we’d never encounter that stuff in the field.”
He smiled. “There’s a good chance you’ll be renewing your acquaintance with ‘that stuff’, as you call it, here on Mars. Our scrubbers have broken down, so I’ll give you one guess about what type they are.”
“Hughes-Kettler! Oh, shit. I wish I’d paid more attention now.”
“Can you do anything with it?”
“I’ll do my best, of course. It depends on the reason it failed, do you know what caused it?”
He shook his head. “No idea, sorry. The first priority is to get out of here, and then we’ll worry about the air scrubbers after. How’s your air?”
“Not good, I’m down to less than an hour. How long will it take to get back?”
“Four hours.” Her face fell, but he continued. “We picked up some portable units from the wreck of the old Eastern Star, a ship that went down a few years ago. Come over to the buggy and I’ll give you one.”
Her face lit up again. “Rahm, you’re my hero.”
He laughed. “Tell me that later when we get back.”
“No, I’m serious. If we never get out of here, I want you to know, well, I thought at one time you were some kind of a wash-out. I was wrong.”
“That’s ok, Gabi. I’ve made more than my share of mistakes, so maybe I'm not quite the guy you think I am.”
“I know what you are, Rahm. The question I have for you less complicated. Am I the kind of girl you can take out for a celebratory drink afterwards?”
He looked into her eyes. “Yes, you are, Gabi. You’re that kind of girl.”
“Good. I owe you that kiss too, so maybe we can make it a date.”
He nodded. “I’d like that.”
They were interrupted by a shout from Damian Hacker. “Attention, everyone. We’ve put the power cells in the buggies, they’re both up and running. We’re set to go, all we need do now is fight our way through the reception party waiting outside.”
He nodded to Rahm as he walked up to him. “I've issued the portable scrubbers to everyone, we were all running low. We’d never have got back. My thanks again. Are you ready to leave?”
“For sure. What’s the running order?”
“I’ll take the lead and try to blast them as much as possible when we hit their blockade. The drilling crew can travel in the center and your men in the rear. I’d suggest you remount the cannon on the back of your buggy, it’s likely you’ll need to discourage them once we’re past.”
“I’ve got that.”
He turned to his crew. “Ok, people, let’s mount up. Kaz, would you re-site that cannon on the rear.”
“I’d like to travel with you,” Gabi said. She’d come up behind him.
“Ok, can you use a laser rifle?”
“I’ve used one, yes.”
“Good enough, you can join Kacy in the rear of the buggy. She’s not so hot with weapons, so make sure nothing happens to her." He smiled. "You’ll need her later to bring you up to date with the technical things. She’s the number one technician on Mars.”
“Understood.”
“I’m ready with the cannon,” Kaz called down.
He acknowledged and climbed aboard. Nathan was armed with a rifle, as was Gabi. He looked ahead and the other two buggies started to move forward, he fed power to the motor and followed.
They didn’t get far, as they round the outcrop of rock to bring the entrance in sight, the enemy aliens opened fire. They’d erected a barricade as expected, but they weren’t sheltering behind it. It wasn’t the way of a warrior, they stood in front, blasting at the approaching buggies, but the drilling crews weren’t about to let them have a clear shot. They weaved dangerously from side to side, but it was enough to avoid the worst of the incoming fire. Then they were on them, it happened so fast that the monsters had no time to take evasive action. Damian’s lead buggy swept broadside along the blockade and one of his men through a high-explosive charge. They veered away as the explosion blew more of the Taurons off their feet. There was a gap, a gaping hole in the barrier, Damian’s buggy made a three hundred and sixty degree turn and headed straight for it. The other buggies fell into line, all the time the crews poured fire onto the aliens. Then they were through, unscathed, blazing across the ground outside the mouth of the valley. Ten of the Taurons leapt for their vehicle to follow, the rest manned their heavy guns ready to open fire. That was when Saul and Brad let loose with the heavy cannon, bursts of fire hammered into the Taurons, sending them racing for cover. Their vehicle was damaged too, a burst smashed into the front drive train and it slewed useless into the dust. Some of them were still running after them, trying to prevent their escape, but they gave up and went back to their ruined camp. Damian Hacker stopped long enough for Rahm to collect his men, together with their heavy cannon, and then they put their vehicles on the course that would take them back to Mars Base.
Behind them, a patrol of Taurons approached the encampment. Granat had led a patrol over the plateau in case the humans attempted a rescue from there. He was in time to see his carefully laid ambush destroyed, several of his squad dead and their transport vehicle in need of extensive repairs. He’d failed.
“Who was in command when the humans attacked?” he asked in the heavy, guttural tones of his race. The trooper who stepped forward was a foot shorter than Granat. He looked up at his commander. There was no fear in his face, just a mute acceptance of the price that had to be paid.
“It was me, Sir.”
Granat struck him a huge blow with his hard, clawed fist. The blow took him in the neck and twisted at the last moment so that a sharp claw ripped through the creature’s neck. He didn’t die immediately, just knelt down and waited for the inevitable. Slowly, as his blood drained into the Martian dust, he sank lower, and then he fell lifeless to the ground. Granat watched him. The body twitched a few times, and then went still. Good, the fool was better out of his way. He looked around.
“Who is the deputy in charge of this squad?”
A creature stepped forward. “I am, Sir. Dagan.”
“Yes, I have seen you fight. You will not make the same mistake as your former leader, will you?”
“No, Sir.”
“Good. Remember the fate of your predecessor. I can always find new ways to motivate my troops, so I trust you will bear that in mind.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Contact Elysium Base, tell them to recover the transporter. They can use it to bring the bodies back as well.”
“Sir, what do you plan to do about the humans? Now that they’ve beaten us.”
Granat controlled his rage. Was he right to trust this one, or was he another useless fool?
“They haven’t beaten me! I promise you that this is just a minor setback. When we return to Elysium I shall start making plans to attack them at Chryse Gulf.”
“How will we get inside Mars Base, it is heavily defended?”
Granat considered whether he should pass the information to his new leader. It was a debacle, despite what he’d admitted. Although if he’d been here, he’d have torn the humans limb from limb. Perhaps this trooper needed some positive news to offset this debacle.
“We are already inside Mars Base. That is not something you need to worry about.”
Chryse Gulf, Mars Mining Colony
They’d radioed ahead. The crews were waiting at the garage airlock, as they approached the outer door opened and they drove straight in. The door closed and the chamber started to equalize with air. The green light flicked on and the inner door opened and they drove through to greet the waiting crowd. It was not the welcome the rescued party from Tyrranha Plateau had expected. After they’d stripped off their suits they saw that the men were morose and silent. A few did come and shake hands, but there was no jubilation at their escape from the alien trap.
“What’s up with them?” Gabi asked. “They don’t look particularly pleased to see us.”
“It’s the air,” Rahm replied. “They’ve just seen their own air reserves cut by a quarter. If we hadn’t come back they’d be better off.”
She shuddered. “That’s a mean way to greet us.”
“Is it? Think about it, Gabi. If the air supply runs out before the relief ship arrives, some of us are going to die. Maybe all of us. That reminds me. Excuse me for a few seconds.”
He looked around and found Saul Packer.
“Saul, those portable air scrubbers. They’re going to be worth their weight in gold, I’m guessing.”
“There’s no doubt about that.”
“Right, here’s what I want you to do. Take the remaining units and lock them away in our personal store. It may be best if we decide who has the use of them. Rather than someone like Tobin Ryle.”
“I’m on it, boss. Ryle would keep them all for himself anyway, there’s no way he gets access to them from me.”
“It’s not just him, Saul. It’s just you and me who will have access, no one else. Change the combination of the door lock and let me have the new one, nobody else.”
He nodded and walked to the buggy to extract their stock of scrubbers. Rahm didn’t have long to wait. Tobin Ryle stalked into the garage and straight to him.
“You brought the portable scrubbers back, well done. I want to put them in our stores for safekeeping, where are they?”
“You’re too late, Ryles. They’ve been issued. You knew the crews were running low on air.”
“All of them?”
“All the ones you need to worry about.”
“I’ll confiscate them myself,” he muttered and made to walk away. Rahm grabbed his arm.
“Ryles, they’ve just come in from a nasty mission, they almost didn’t survive. Touch those air scrubbers and you’ll be out of the airlock. That’s a promise.”
Ryles stared at him with hate filled eyes. “You can’t threaten me, Rahm.”
“I just did. Now beat it.”
The deputy manager walked quickly out of the garage. It was obvious he was about to report him to the Base manager, but he didn’t care. He’d brought back the trapped crew, so it would have to be enough for now. He walked through to his quarters and started to clean up. He was naked when the door opened. He whirled around, it was Gabi. She stared at his body. There was a hunger in her eyes that was almost primitive. It was a long time since he’d seen a woman as aroused as her. She grinned at him.
“My goodness, you do look good.”
“Gabi, give me a moment, I’ll put a towel around me.”
She ran up to him, light and delicate on her feet. “Don’t do that, I was enjoying the view.”
She hugged his body, then put up her head and kissed him on the lips, a very passionate kiss that went on forever. He wasn’t complaining. He felt himself becoming excited, as did she.
“Hey, I can feel something hard down there, and I don’t think it’s the chair leg.”
“Gabi, for God’s sake. I feel embarrassed.”
And he did. It had been a long time since he’d been with a woman. Not since the death of his fiancé in that raid on the Herat base, in fact. He’d felt guilty ever since. Guilty for what he wasn’t sure. But it had been enough for him for avoid women, up until now.
“Gabi, I haven’t even showered, I must stink.”
“Mm, that’s what I like. Sweaty, musky perspiration, it smells like, sex.”
It was true, they’d both been wearing suits for many hours, and their bodies had the rank, musky smell that they all tried to shower off at the end of a shift. But there was something undeniable about the odor of her, something that made his stomach churn. And more besides. He lifted her gently onto his bunk and held her to him. She clamped her arms and legs around him as if she was drowning and clinging to a lifebelt.
“Rahm, don’t you ever let me go, I feel so safe with you. For God’s sake, screw me. F*ck me senseless, I just want to forget that mission.”
“I’m happy to oblige, Ma’am. Very happy.”
Afterwards they lay together, enjoying the feeling of being close, skin to skin. Abruptly, she looked up at him
“Rahm, just what do you want out of this contract? Why are you on Mars, you could have enjoyed a well-paid career on Earth.”
He was silent for a long minute. “It’s a long story. I came here to get away from people, to start again. I had a major disaster with a project I was running. When this came up there was a lot of appeal, you know, mega wages, save the Earth by mining trevanium. Now, I just want to get back, cash my paycheck and buy a place away from too many people. Maybe set up a one man mineral consultancy, yeah, that’s about it. My own boss, away from these a*sholes like Ryles. And away from Mars.”
She lay there, thoughtful, for long time. He was an island, sure. But didn’t someone say, ‘no man is an island’?
Whatever it was, he couldn’t disguise it from his crew when he went into the canteen clutching three of his store of Bourbon bottles. Gabi had stayed in his room to clean up some more. Women! Back on Earth they could spend an hour getting ready to go to the store to buy a box of soap flakes. She’d told him to go on ahead and she would join him later. He sat down with his crew and poured hefty glasses of the amber nectar, then relaxed in the warm glow of a mission done well. And something else, but that was his secret. But no longer his alone, Gabi was also privy to the great secret of his past.
“I didn’t know you two were an item” Kacy said with a puzzled expression.
“We’re not,” he shot back.
She snorted. “You could have fooled me. You make a good couple, too. You two should try and make a go of things. But by the looks of things you already have, Rahm.”
He felt himself going red and hastened to change the subject.
“What’s the latest on the air scrubbers? Have the engineers managed to fix anything up?”
“If they have, they didn’t tell me,” his technician replied.
“We need to know where we stand. I can hardly believe they’d just give up, after all…”
He was interrupted by a stir in the doorway as Jacques Fechter entered the canteen, followed by his odious assistant Tobin Ryle and Dan Weathers, the Chief Engineer.
“Listen, everyone. Dan has been out to the air scrubbers to try and make repairs. Dan, would you tell them what you found.”
He stepped forward. “My team spent several hours stripping down the machinery, trying to find the fault. I’m sorry to say it’s a no go. The multi-condenser array has broken down completely, and we don’t have any way of repairing or replacing it here on Mars.” He shrugged apologetically. “If there was anything we could do, believe me, we know how important it is. But we’ve gone as far as we can go. The air scrubbers are finished.” He looked around and the Mars Base manager. “Jacques, I guess that you need to spell out the rest.”
Fechter coughed. “Er, yes, you all know what this means. We’re sandwiched between the Alien attacks and the equipment failures. As from this moment forward, all drilling operations are finished. We’re going to emergency lockdown to conserve what little air we have left until the relief ship arrives. We’re…”
“But you said it was going to be three months late!” an angry voice shouted from the crowd. “How in hell’s name are we going to last an extra three months?”
“The manager looked embarrassed. “It’ll be difficult, I know. But the lockdown procedure will carry us through. You’ll all be confined to your quarters, so I’ll try and make sure you get some movies to watch. You should all be able to access books for your tablets from the Base library, so I’m afraid we’ve all got to sit back and wait. No one will engage in any activity that isn’t essential for maintain a basic life support environment. Other than that, the militia will keep watch. We don’t want to suffer any more attacks from the Taurons. That’s all.”
Ryles touched his arm and whispered a few words to him. He looked at Rahm.
“Oh yes, the portable air scrubbers. Rahm, you brought some spare units back from the wreck of the Eastern Star. I want you to put them in my office for safe keeping. Tobin will come with you to check that they’re all handed in.”
“No.”
He said the one word, quietly. The miners had been talking amongst themselves but the room was suddenly quiet as they sensed the tension.
“No? What do you mean by no?”
“I mean exactly what I say, Jacques. If Ryles gets his hands on those sets the sneaky bastard will make sure that he’s first in line when the air starts to go bad. There are other people going to need them, like the militia to keep the Taurons out. Some of the folks in sick bay, they won’t live without good, sweet air to breathe. So I intend to make sure certain that they get to the right people. Tobin Ryles is not on that list.”
“You hand them over, Rahm, that’s an order. Otherwise, you’re fired. You’ll never work on Mars Base again.”
“That suits me, Jacques. I never want to see this damn planet again, once we get off it.”
“You do that and you’re no longer under contract. Saul will take over the crew.”
“Take over the crew!” Saul laughed bitterly. “Just to lie on our berths, watching old movies and breathing shitty air while we wait for the relief?”
Fechter glared at him. “Just do as I say, that’s an order.”
He swung on his heel and made to walk away, he almost bumped into Gabi who was racing into the canteen.
“Rahm!” she shouted. “I’m going to need some of those portable air scrubbers.”
There was a chorus of angry shouts. “Yeah, he’ll give them out to his people.”
“F*cking favoritism!” “Let’s go down to his locker and take the damn things for ourselves!”
Gabi shrieked over the hubbub. “No, listen! All of you. There’s a chance we can fix this.”
She walked forward and stood by Rahm and the rest of his crew. “You know that datacard you pulled out of the Eastern Star?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I remember. It was the ship’s manifest. What about it?”
“As I was getting dressed I noticed it had fallen out of the pocket of your pants onto the floor.”
There was a chorus of whoops and catcalls as the meaning of what she’d said became clear. She turned a bright red, but plunged on. “Out of interest, I put it into my reader and checked to see what the manifest had on it.”
The whole room waited in silence with baited breath.
“The Eastern Star was carrying a spare set of Hughes-Kettler air scrubbing equipment. It had been here in the stores for several years, it had never been used. The chief engineer at the time decided to ship it back to Earth to be re-certified and overhauled. I guess he intended to replace the system we have here. When the ship crashed, everyone forgot about it.”
“You mean the spare parts we need are in the hold of that ship?” Fechter asked, incredulously.
“Well, they were when it took off.”
The room erupted with shouts of triumph. Men were punching the air, and already bonuses that had been expected to be reduced to zero were being re-calculated.
“Hold it!”
They stopped and looked at Rahm.
“What’s the problem?” the manager asked him. “Do you think the equipment may have been damaged in the crash?”
“I don’t know about that, Jacques. We never got to the cargo hold, because the ship is half buried in dust and sand. That includes the cargo hold.”
The room went silent again as their hope was snatched away.
“Can you get to it?” Fechter asked.
“Maybe. I’ll take my crew out again at first light. Damian, we’ll need your people too, the Taurons are pretty active in that area.”
The militia leader nodded. “We’re with you, whatever you need.”
“And Gabi is right. We’ll need some of the portable scrubbers. Damian, if you bring five of your people and Gabi can come with us, which makes twelve in all.”
“And the rest of the scrubbers?”
Fechter was looking at him intently.
“I’ll issue six to the doc, that’ll have to be enough. As for the rest, one to each crew. One each for the engineers, they’ll need to do the work on the machinery when we get back. And you can take what’s left, Jacques.”
“How many will that be?”
“One.”
He ignored Tobin Ryle’s look of rage and hate and took his crew aside with Gabi to plan the mission. They left the following morning, glad to be away from the swirling crosscurrents suspicion and intrigue that had infect the Mars Base. There had been none of the normal activity, crews running backwards and forwards, loading and unloading, suiting up for the next shift. Instead, there was only a quiet watchfulness. It occurred to Rahm that if they failed to bring back the machinery to fix the air scrubbers, they’d have as many enemies here inside Mars Base as they did outside.