One Way To Mars Page 6

  True to his word, Mitchum took his crew to the drill site and returned with the buggy for Foreman. For once, Foreman left Monkley back at the base, putting him in charge of the laundry. The little guy seemed a little put out, but knuckled down to the task. With Mitchum driving, Foreman navigated to the crash site.

  'That's one hell of a mess, Andy.'

  'They were dead from the impact, before the fire.'

  'That's something to be thankful for I guess.'

  'Come inside. See what you make of this.'

  They opened the airlock door and climbed inside the wreck.

  'Shit! You didn't bury them?'

  'I thought about it, but the way the sand moves about, they would have soon been uncovered. I figured this way, if anyone wanted to locate the bodies, maybe take them back to Earth, they could be easy to find like this.'

  'I suppose. Sorry. I wasn't having a go. It was just a bit of a shock seeing them like this.'

  'Yes. It still is for me. Take a look at this.'

  Mitchum knelt down to see what Andy was pointing at.

  'That isn't good. It looks like some small explosive device was planted. Andy. This is murder.'

  Foreman nodded solemnly. 'That's what I thought. I just wanted a second opinion.'

  'I don't see what else it could be.'

  'There was a bang. Not loud. I was in the back, securing Monkley. I was about to join the others to buckle up for the landing, but before I could get out of there, we dropped like a stone. When I got free, they were dead, and fire was breaking out all over the place. Me and Monkley only just got out in time.'

  Mitchum stared at the three charred remains. 'Mind if we get out of here?'

  Foreman led the way, and Mitchum noticed the Luxotrol marker hanging on the wreck.

  'Nice touch.'

  'It was the least I could do.'

  Mitchum stared back at the ship, shaking his head. 'Who the hell would do this? Why?'

  'I've been going insane asking the same questions. Mike. There's something else. Something that could be connected.'

  'What?'

  'Ever since I got here, I've been trying to contact Earth. I couldn't reach them.'

  'Those damn solar winds.'

  'I know that now. I did get through, just briefly. I got hold of a cadet?'

  'A cadet? What the hell was a cadet doing in the com room?'

  'There was some bad shit going down. Farley, Cadet Farley, just happened to be passing the unmanned Com room, and heard my transmission. He said they were evacuating the I S F base. Then I heard an explosion, and I haven't been able to contact Earth since. The only other contact has been with you.'

  'Damn. I had no idea. We put the lack of communication down to the solar winds. This is serious stuff, Andy. What the hell any of it means, I can't imagine.'

  'If our ship going down was a deliberate act...'

  'No doubt in my mind.'

  'Then, it must be something to do with Mars. Do you think we're in danger?'

  Mitchum stared at the ship. 'I wouldn't be surprised.'

  Chapter 22

  Foreman had been relieved to unburden himself to Mitchum. They agreed not to say anything to the others until Mitchum thought things through. He made one thing clear to Foreman, however. The Moonstruck was an unarmed vessel. It was a drilling operation, not a battle ship, plain and simple. Should anyone with a battle ship decide to invade Mars, their chance of survival was close to zero. Mitchum decided on two courses of action. To continue with the drilling and to try to establish contact with Earth, hopefully to arrange some protection, as soon as possible.

  Foreman was agreeable to all that, but said he wouldn't be comfortable keeping things secret too long. He felt the others should be prepared, so that they could at least go down fighting. Mitchum said to give it one full day of trying to reach Earth, then either way, the others would be told.

  Mitchum took Foreman back to the base, then set off to join the others at the driller. In the base, Monkley was carrying the clean laundry to the bedrooms. Foreman gave him a hand making the beds.

  'It's official, pal. It was murder. Mitchum agrees with me.'

  'Oooh!'

  'Exactly.'

  With the beds made up, they went to the communications room and Monkley turned on the radio before Foreman had even sat down.

  'Show off. Right. Here we go again. This is Foreman. Andrew Foreman. I am calling Earth from Mars. Anyone there?' He waited a few minutes and repeated. He kept repeating for the next three hours. Several of Monkley's coffee's later, all he had heard was static. 'Not looking good, pal. But I tell you something for nothing. If some son of a bitch is coming here to finish me off, I'm not going quietly.'

  Even as he said it, the words echoed in his mind like an empty promise, which without weapons of any kind, it undoubtedly was. The sight of the silent radio depressed him, and he had to get out of there.

  When the crew returned from another hard day drilling, their mood seemed subdued. Foreman wondered if Mitchum had changed his mind and told them. He wouldn't have blamed him if he had. It was going to happen soon, anyway. The team were generally quiet during the evening meal.

  'Everything okay, you guys?' Foreman asked, with a questioning look at Mitchum.

  'Just been a tough day,' Mitchum assured him. 'We lost a drill tip.'

  'These things happen,' snapped Debbie Warner. 'I can't be responsible for the unexpected lump of iron.'

  'I never said you could, Debbie,' said Mitchum.

  'I know you're thinking it, though.'

  'I'm disappointed, that's all.'

  'You'll have more than one tip though, surely?' said Foreman.

  'Yes,' said Mitchum. 'That's not the issue. The cost of one of those tips is well...let's just say a lot. The trouble is, the tip actually jammed and snapped off. That means, once we attach a new tip, we have to start a new bore hole. If we use the same hole, we hit the diamond tip lodged in the hole, we lose another tip. The only alternative is to start all over again in another spot. Which means everything we have done up until now, was a waste of time.'

  'I see. But you couldn't have known about the iron lump, Debbie.'

  Debbie shrugged. 'On Earth, we know what we are dealing with. Hardly any surprises. Mars is still an unknown entity. Our equipment only tells us what's down there up to a certain depth, and the amount of iron in the dirt tends to mask the signals, especially at any depth. Basically, we are drilling blind.'

  'These things happen,' said Foreman, trying to be positive. It didn't have much affect on the crew. 'Just a suggestion. Have tomorrow off. Rest up a day and tackle it fresh.'

  Mitchum laughed. 'Spoken like a true veterinarian. Sorry, Andy. But have you any idea about time clauses and penalties? For every day we are behind schedule, we lose bonus money. Too much delay and we make nothing. The Moonstruck belongs to the I S F, but we are contractors. The money looks very good on paper, but they have us over a barrel if we don't deliver.'

  'I know what you said about insurance, Mike, but I'm more than willing to getstuck in with you if I can be of use.'

  Mitchum shook his head and sipped the wine. 'We couldn't possibly risk it, Andy. Thanks all the same. If anything happened to you, I'd lose my licence, and I'd never work in the industry again. Thanks anyway.'

  Susan got up. Even her beauty was faded by the weariness she felt. 'I'm too shattered to even shower. I'll be on my own tonight, Andy.'

  'I understand,' said Foreman, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

  With all the available beds taken up, and Susan sleeping in Foreman's room alone, Foreman had no choice but to utilise the sickbay bed. He lay awake in the dark sickbay, missing Susan's warm body next to his. His mood was as dark as the room, and his mind filled with the danger they were in. That Mitchum had continued his operation after learning of the imminent danger from an unknown enemy, concerned about bonuses from a federation that could possibly have been destroyed, was a testimony to his work ethic and faith that they would live to claim their well deserved rewards. If they were going to be fighting for their lives, unarmed and probably outnumbered, he could think of no team of people he would rather face death with. With that sombre thought running through his head, he fell into a fitful and unsatisfying sleep.

  Chapter 23

  'Commander Storme. I know you and your toy soldiers back there are itching for action, but you keep asking, isn't going to make us get there any sooner.'

  'Just making sure you haven't taken your foot off the gas, Captain.'

  'See this,' said Captain Jack Tanner, tapping the consul. 'You might look at it as a simple speedometer, and in a way, it is. But it's all about ratio's. We can go faster, use more fuel. Never get back to Earth. Or, we can keep the velocity slash fuel ratio at this level, we not only get to Mars, but whoopee, we get back to Earth.'

  Storme bent down to whisper in Tanner's ear. 'I don't like you, Tanner. Never have, never will. If any of my men used that tone with me, I'd personally throw them out of the damned airlock.'

  Tanner smirked. 'Is that right, Storme? Let me just remind you one more time. My lieutenant and I are not your men, and should you decide to throw either of us out of the airlock, you'll end up floating off into space for eternity. Further more, I'm the captain of this ship and as long as I am, you will do as I tell you on my damned ship.'

  'Is that right, Tanner? You know? Floating around in space for an eternity would be a small price to pay for seeing you float by the damn window, so stop tempting me.'

  'And if you don't get off my flight deck in the next five seconds, I'll turn this turkey around and let you explain to the brass how the mission was aborted.'

  'Tanner...'

  'One...'

  'One of these day
s...'

  'Two....'

  'You haven't heard the last of this.'

  'Three...'

  'Later, Tanner,' growled Storme, as he left the deck.

  'Bye, bye,' said Tanner, with a self satisfied smile on his face.

  'Unbelievable.'

  'You said something, lieutenant Munroe?'

  Tracy Munroe had had a belly full of the griping between the captain and the commander.

  'Twenty one twelve and men still haven't evolved beyond cavemen. You just got fancier rocks to hurl at one another.'

  'Hey. I didn't start all this animosity, okay?'

  'You were banging his wife. Why the big ox didn't pull your head off with his bare hands when he caught you two together, I'll never know.'

  'Yeah? Well the fact she's now shacked up with me, should tell you something. You drive the bus. I'm going for forty winks.'

  With Tanner out of earshot, Munroe mumbled. 'That's damn well it. The minute we get back to Earth, I wanna transfer.'

  Chapter 24

  The explosion was carefully controlled and expertly executed. Debbie Warner waited for the red dust to settle and went over to the crater she'd created. Behind her, the mini-dozer rumbled closer.

  'Any good?' Giavani asked.

  'Come and see.'

  Giavani jumped down and joined her. She was holding a dull silver lump in her hand, the size of a grape.

  'It doesn't look like much,' said Giavani.

  'This little bit of Marilium is worth a weeks salary.'

  Giavani shook his head. 'Four times the value of gold.'

  'You're out of date, Pete. It's five times the value of gold, now.'

  'In that case, we'd better get moving and make some real money for a change.'

  'Okay. Scoop up the loose stuff and spread it on the ground, as thin as you can get it. I'll collect the Marilium.'

  Giavani jumped back in the dozer. One hundred yards away, Mitchum, Redcliff and Hancock were working the driller. The second bore hole was going well in the softer patch of rock. The crane was manoeuvring another tube in place. Giavani drove forward, scooping up the blasted dirt and rock into the front loader, then he reversed and drove over to Warner and spread the load in front of her in a thin layer. Even from where he sat he could see the Marilium chunks in the red dirt. A rough mental calculation put the value at a million credits. He whistled happily as he scooped and layered another ten loads, each richer in Marilium than the load before. He jumped down and helped Warner with the harvesting. After an hour, they had collected over one hundred pounds of the precious ore.

  'I could actually kiss you, Debbie.'

  'I'm sure your wife would have something to say about that.'

  'When she sees our bank account, she'll want to kiss you, too.'

  'You can both save your affection for later. Take the containers back to the ship and I'll set another charge.'

  Giavini placed the containers in the front loader and set off for the Moonstruck. He drove up the ramp at the back of the ship and up to the end of the storage bay. He picked up the precious cargo and stacked the containers together, strapping them securely to the shell. Then he placed another two empty containers in the front loader and drove back to where Warner was again waiting for the red dust to settle.

  Chapter 25

  'You guys look happier.'

  'We hit a sweet spot, Andy,' said Mitchum. 'Pure luck. Debbie found a high point of the water reservoir, that would take us roughly central to the deeper part of the cavern. And our good fortune was that it was just dirt and small stones all the way. Like a knife through butter.'

  'You broke through?'

  'About an hour ago. All we need to do now is to connect the delivery pipe, and we only have to connect it to the existing pipe, flush it all out with the fresher water, test it and job done. If it works as well as we hope it does, the need to change filters should be an annual job. Cheers.'

  They all raised their glasses. The sweeter wine was becoming more acceptable with each sip.

  'So, we'll be taking off for Earth soon?' Foreman asked.

  'I haven't decided,' said Mitchum.

  'Why the hell not?' asked Hancock.

  'Have you told them?' said Foreman.

  'What's going on, Mike?' asked Susan.

  'I've been putting it off telling you. There's no easy way of saying it, so I'll just tell it how it is. Andy's ship was sabotaged. It was brought down with a small explosive charge being planted in the controls.'

  'What?' gasped Debbie. 'Are you sure?'

  'I saw the hole the explosion made. Nothing else could have done it. Andy told me there was a small explosion just before the ship crashed.'

  'But that's murder,' said Giavani.

  'Correct,' agreed Mitchum.

  'I think, and Mike agrees with me,' said Foreman, 'That the ones responsible have some plan involving Mars.'

  'And they could possibly be heading our way to do what ever it is they plan to do,' added Mitchum.

  'And you only decide to tell us now?' said Susan.

  'Andy and I have been trying to contact Earth and send for help, or at least find out what the hell is going on.'

  'And...?' Hancock demanded.

  'We still can't get through. Those solar winds must still screwing up the radio signals.'

  'There's something else you should know,' said Foreman. 'Just before I contacted your ship, I got through to Earth. A cadet named Farley answered. They were in the middle of evacuating the I S F base. I heard an explosion, and then nothing. I've not been able to reach Earth since.'

  They sat in silence contemplating all that information and its ramifications.

  'So what is it?' Giavani asked. 'Some weird revolution? Something that involves Mars, too?'

  Mitchum said, 'Pete. You now know as much as Andy and I. Sorry. I should have told you sooner.'

  'Damn right you should,' snapped Susan.

  Joe Hancock said, 'My guess is if they come here, they'll come armed. What do we do? Throw rocks at them?'

  'I have my gun,' said Mitchum. 'Just the regulation type I S F insist the commander carries. There are no weapons on this base. I'd be the first to fight to the death, but with nothing really to fight with, I don't fancy committing suicide by taking them on.'

  'Me neither,' said Debbie.

  Giavani said, 'Could we just take off and get the hell out of here? Take Andy with us?'

  'It crossed my mind,' said Mitchum. 'The problem is, they would hunt us down and the Moonstruck is unarmed, like us. Also. Where would we go? We could be walking right into an even worse situation on Earth.'

  'I propose we stay and fight,' said Giavani. 'We have equipment and a few explosives of our own. As the engineer, I could make something useful.'

  'Okay. You and Joe see what you can come up with. In the meantime, the rest of us will finish the water connections. Andy. Can you keep trying to call Earth?'

  Foreman nodded. 'I'd be doing that, anyway.'

  'I could sure use a smoke right now,' said Susan.

  'The pool and a smoke might help us think this out,' said Mike.

 

  Chapter 26

  'I want the element of surprise,' Storme growled. 'I want you to put down at least two hundred miles away from the base. Keep the radar blocker on all the way in. We'll take the battle buggies from there to the base.'

  'Okay,' said Tanner. 'As long as lieutenant Munroe and I are kept out of it, I couldn't care less where we put down.'

  'Don't worry, Tanner. You're the last person I'd want armed, even on my team.'

  Tanner laughed. 'Yeah. You're dead right. It would be too much of a temptation.'

  Ignoring that remark, Storme said, 'Just do as I told you. Don't fly over the base, and land two hundred miles from it. Then you can stay nice and safe in here, while the real men get the job done.'

  'A real man? That's not what Angie called you.'

  Storme looked as if he were about to explode. 'When this is over, you and I will have a nice little chat somewhere. Just the two of us.'

  'I look forward to it. Now get the hell off my flight deck, Storme.'

  Storme gave Tanner a final fiery glare and returned to his men.

  Lieutenant Munroe also gave Tanner a look. 'We should have a kiddies sandpit for you two to play in.'

  'You're well out of line, lieutenant.'

  'So fire me.'

  Tanner unbuckled. 'Women. Just fly the damn bus, Munroe,' he said as he slammed the door of his sleeping quarters.

  'Oh, yeah. Transfer.'

  Chapter 27

  Giavani scooped another load of red dirt and spread it on the ground.

  'Not so much of it, this time,' he said.