One Way To Mars

Chapter 13

'I need to talk to somebody,dammit. Foreman to Earth. Foreman to Earth. Don't make me come downthere and kick ass. Listen. I don't give a shit if it's just thecleaner. Just bloody talk to me.' Two hours of talking to the box andlistening to static was not improving his mood. He turned the setoff. 'Nothing personal, pal, but right now, I never felt so alone. Ineed a drink.'

The fruit wine had cleared to alight pink colour. Using a cup, he scooped some out. He sniffed it.

'Smells okay.'

The first sip of the deep citrusflavour made him wince. By the third, his taste buds were accustomedto it.

'You know? For a first attempt,not too bad.'

'Me some, me some,' said Monkley,slapping his chest.

'Okay. Just a drop. Go get acup.'

Monkley got a cup and handed itto Foreman who scooped up a half measure.

'Just sip it.'

Monkley sniffed the brew and tooka little sip. He pulled a face at the sharp taste, but it didn't stophim finishing the cup. Foreman filled both cups and they went to thesmall pool and climbed into the hammocks.

'I can't get my head around it,pal. I hope I'm wrong. Shit. I hope I'm wrong. I can only use my eyesand brain and let my imagination fill in the blanks. That tinyexplosion brought the ship down. It had to. It didn't happen duringthe crash. It caused the damn crash. But assume I'm right about this.Why? And more important, who?'

Monkley belched.

'I would sure like answers, pal.But if it was deliberate, and my instincts are screaming it was, whocould gain from it?'

Monkley belched again.

'Somebody wanted us dead. Butwhy? It isn't like we were about to do anything out of the ordinary.The whole point of the mission was one of plant maintenance and tosee how you reacted to the new environment. Nothing to gain fromstopping us doing that. It doesn't make any sense. And all that stuffon Earth. The I S F base was being attacked. We heard that going on.We haven't been able to reach them since that happened. If it hadbeen an isolated thing, say, just the I S F, somebody would havetaken it over. Unless we are being deliberately ignored, somebodywould have tried communicating with us. That's a worry, pal. It makesme think whatever happened down there was bigger than that. Muchbigger.'

The only reply he got was Monkleysnoring. Getting out of the hammock as quietly as he could, Foremanreturned to the container of fruit wine and drank several cups of it,as the dark depressing thoughts swirled around in his mind. Somebodyhad wanted them dead.