The Mars Frontier Box Set, page 65
part #1 of Mars Frontier Series
Georgia tried to relax in her seat. She knew that Mancuso was fully aware it was her fault they were in this position. It was unfair for him to have the pressure of success placed so squarely on him. But she knew that he would never blame her and would continue to support her all the way to the end. She just hoped the end wasn't going to be in several hours’ time.
To Mancuso's surprise and annoyance, the countdown clock stopped with ten seconds remaining. He pressed several buttons without success before referring to the instructions.
"What's wrong?" asked Georgia. "Is there a malfunction?"
By now, Mancuso was looking agitated. "I don't know. All the checks were completed. I went through them one by one. There's no reason for the launch process to pause like this. Let me see if I can access any error codes." He pressed several more button in sequence which brought up two rows of letters and symbols on the screen. "What the fuck is this?"
Anna glanced at the screen. "It's a warning. It says you've not primed the ignition flares."
Mancuso blushed at his basic error. Muttering an apology, he cleared the warning screen and reset the countdown clock to thirty seconds.
Georgia wasn't sure what to thank as she noticed that he'd cross his fingers. But, this time, the clock ran all the way down and she heard the deafening roar of the rocket engines before the four of them were kicked deep into their seats by the force of the rapid acceleration.
Being closer to the rocket engines, the noise on the flight deck was much louder than it had been on Lexington. But Georgia could still hear the disconcerting creaks of the thick metal deck plates as they objected to the stresses being placed on them. She fought a momentary anxiety attack as the sounds briefly reminded her of her previous flight on a Russian craft. Thankfully, those thoughts were forgotten as Commander Dunn's voice came over her radio. "Beautiful launch, Liberty. Good luck with your mission. We'll meet you back at base later."
Chapter 34
The sun was beginning to set as Liberty landed close to the swamp with a sturdy bump that caused it to bounce six inches before coming to a rest in a thick cloud of dust.
A clearly relieved Mancuso held his hand up. "Sorry everyone. I misjudged the energy loop back from the landing rockets."
Georgia, who had closed her eyes during the final few seconds of the flight, clapped him on the shoulder. "Great job, Joe. I'm sure you'll get the hang of it." Before he could reply, she unclipped her safety harness and made her way toward the airlock, followed closely by Molloy and Anna.
By the time the airlock had depressurized, the bottom end of the exterior ramp was already resting on the ground. Georgia was the first to walk down the ramp, carrying the front end of a crate with Mancuso carrying the rear end. She looked round for any sign of Grant and felt a pang of disappointment that she couldn't see him. She had little time to dwell on it though. The swamp was one hundred yards away and it was going to take time to get all of the equipment set up.
Georgia spotted the Arethusan beacon as soon as they reached the edge of the swamp. It was an ominous reminder of why they were here. She stared at hit with a growing hatred that was personal. There could be only one survivor. Recovering her focus, she said, "Anna, Charlie. You stay her and start assembling the particle accelerator. We'll fetch the other crates for you." She and Mancuso carefully placed their crate on the ground and raced back to the Liberty. "This will be a good test of out fitness," she managed to say, already aware she was starting to breath heavily.
As she reached the ramp, she heard Jim Grant's voice on her comms. "To your left, Georgia." She glanced over her shoulder and skidded to a halt as she saw him quickly approaching from only thirty yards away. She had been dreading this moment ever since she's heard his voice several hours earlier. Not because she didn't want to see him again but because she feared being overwhelmed by emotions. She had thought of him every day for the past two years and still felt guilty at sending him away. How would he react to her now? Did he blame her?
She could see immediately that he looked different to how she remembered him. There was something about the way he walked that instantly made her think that he looked taller. A chill ran through her as she realized that his limbs were longer. She couldn't help but gasp in shock as she saw his face. Despite the fact it looked like the Grant she remembered, there were key differences. It was much thinner and his skin and his eyes had changed color. He had a blue tint to him now, although it wasn't as pronounced as the Sentinels she had encountered. It wasn't what she had expected when she'd agree to let Falmas take Grant.
He stopped in front of her and then was an awkward moment of silence as they stared at each other. She wished she had been able to meet him under better circumstances. Mancuso, who was standing behind Georgia, was the one to break the tension. He leaned around her and extended a hand. "Hey Jim, it's fantastic to finally have you back."
Grant shook Mancuso's hand and smiled broadly. "You look great, Joe. You look like you're still working out."
"And you've grown since we met. You must be what? Seven and a half feet now?"
Georgia was dismayed by Mancuso's directness. "Joe! We've not seen Jim for two years and the first thing you comment on is his height! I'm sorry Jim. But it is good to see you again. I thought I'd never get the chance. You look great." Instinctively, she reached out and wrapped her arms around him before stepping back to take another look at him.
Grant was still smiling. "It's fine. Both of you. I was given some enhancements by one of Falmas' colleagues. They took some time to get used to, but I was told that my injuries were too bad to save my limbs. You did the right thing sending me away, Georgia."
They were the words she wanted to hear. The relief was so overwhelming that she wanted to cry. "You don't know how much I doubted that decision. Falmas promised he could save you, but he said you'd never be able to return. It was a tough call to make."
"I can't lie. I had moments in the early days where I hated you. I felt isolated and so alone." He paused, noticing how uncomfortable Georgia suddenly looked. "But I'll save those stories for another day. Let me help you set up your particle beam weapon."
Mancuso was already pulling the next two crates from the airlock. Grant picked one of them up as if it weighed nothing, while Georgia and Mancuso struggled with the second crate.
"How many more boxes are there?" Grant asked, looking back at Georgia.
"Six I think," she replied, almost running to keep up with him. "And we have a coil of power cable. I hope that's long enough."
"It should be. I have brought a portable power supply from Falmas' ship. It's actually eight times more powerful than the reactor that powers Alpha Base." Grant suddenly had a strange far away expression cross is face. "Georgia, you can't begin to imagine the technology and the worlds that are out there in the Universe. I've learned so much. There are so many intelligent civilizations out there, some of them are hundreds of thousands of years old so it's no surprise they're far more advanced than us. You have to get out there and experience it like I have."
"That's been my plan ever since I encountered the Sentinels. Now you've told me what I can expect, I'm more determined," she replied, before adding, "Assuming we survive the Arethusans!"
"If we can transform the power without damaging the particle accelerator then we have a good chance. I'm positive we can create sufficient heat to breach the beacon's shell."
They reached Molloy and Anna who had already unpacked the first two crates and were setting up a tripod stand. They stepped back when they saw the lumbering figure of Grant approaching. "It's okay," said Georgia, amused by their shocked expressions. "This is Jim Grant. He was our chief engineer on Expedition Two."
As Grant put down his crate, Molloy recovered his composure. "I've read a lot about you, Chief Grant. It's an honor to finally meet you. I'm Lieutenant Charlie Molloy."
"I've not been called Chief Grant for a very long time. Just call me Jim." He reached out and shook Molloy's hand. "And you must be Professor Anna Kozlovsky, the sole survivor from Derzost."
Anna stiffened. "You know my name?"
"We've been observing Mars for some time, and not just the American base."
"So, you saw what the Chinese general did to Derzost. You watched and did nothing as my comrades were slaughtered in cold blood. How could you do that?"
"I'm sorry for your loss, professor. But it was not my decision to make. I'm sure that Georgia has explained the Sentinel's policy of non- intervention. They are not gods and cannot take sides or influence a species' development. It may sound harsh, but I have seen the policy in action, and it does work."
"Not for my friends!" Anna muttered something else in Russian and returned to her work with Molloy. Georgia, Molloy and Grant returned to Liberty to collect the next crates of equipment.
Within fifteen minutes, the sun had disappeared for the days and they were working under the lights attached to Liberty. All of the equipment for the particle accelerator was next to the swamp in various degrees of assembly. Georgia could only look on as Anna and Molloy busied themselves with connectors, tubes and electronics. They were finding their clumsy space suits were making it difficult to connect all of the components and they were well aware the delays were eating into their time. Mancuso was busy unrolling the spool of cable and running one end to the power supply provided by Grant.
Georgia was suddenly intrigued by a small box that Grant was working on. "Is that the transformer you mentioned."
Grant nodded. "It's far smaller than the one we worked on for the base even though it works on similar principles. It will help to govern the energy that powers your weapon. I'm hoping there are no compatibility issues."
"Can Falmas help?"
"I know more on this subject than he does." There was no sense of gloating on Grant's part. It was simply a statement of fact. "In any event, Falmas is recovering from some minor injuries he suffered in the crash. Nothing to worry about. And he does want to meet you again."
Georgia was thrilled. If she got the chance, she wanted to thank Falmas for taking such good care of Grant.
***
It was another forty-five minutes before the particle beam accelerator was fully assembled and ready to be powered up. Georgia communicated the news to Megan, who was eagerly awaiting an update back at Alpha Base. "Libby Selznick has been contacting me every fifteen minutes. She says that the president is getting twitchy and is close to ordering the destruction of the base. You need to destroy that beacon soon otherwise it will be too late for us here."
"You need to get everyone to Lexington," urged Georgia. "They'll be safe there. At least for a while."
"It's not that easy. More than half the crew are now in a stupefied state thanks to Uslaw. We can't move them and I'm reluctant to leave them behind."
"Okay. In that case, pray that we're successful. I'll let you know as soon as we have destroyed the beacon."
Georgia looked back at the particle accelerator. It looked fragile and vulnerable, but it was their last chance of defeating the Arethusans. It has to work. Grant had connected the power supply to the accelerator and was watching patiently as Anna made some last minute alignments to three glass tubes. After some delicate adjustments, Anna gave a confident thumbs up and Grant allowed power to be transferred.
"This is the minimum setting," Grant said. A row of green lights flashed on the control panel for the accelerator.
"Keep the power levels steady," shouted Anna excitedly as she checked the data on the panel. "I don't want to stress the connectors and we need to allow the argon gas to settle."
"How long?" Georgia asked. She knew they couldn't rush this process but she now more conscious than ever of the time constraints. She had to remain calm so as not to spook Anna.
Anna took another look at the control panel. "Two to three minutes should be sufficient. Then we can begin to increase the power levels in small increments."
The next few minutes passed incredibly slowly. Each of them stood quietly and carefully watched for any sign of a problem with the particle accelerator. Once again, Georgia considered how delicate it looked. The fear of failure was beginning to creep into her brain and she fought hard to remain positive.
"Jim, please increase by two percent," Anna finally said. Georgia breathed a sigh of relief that they were getting the accelerator powered up. She could see the faintest of narrow beams aimed at a point on the side of the beacon. Green in color, it possibly represented mankind's final hopes against an invisible but plausible threat.
The accelerator had increased to fifty percent capacity without incident when Molloy collapsed to the ground without warning. Georgia ran across to him and shouted, "Anna, keep increasing the power. I think we're running out of time." Even though he was unresponsive, she was pleased to see that Molloy's life signs were stable. The bad news was that it meant Uslaw had found them.
Mancuso was the next to collapse silently to the ground. Georgia was staring at him as it happened, and he looked just like a marionette whose strings had been cut. It was shocking. She turned to Anna just at the moment the Russian professor fell limply to the ground. Georgia looked at their slumped forms with dismay. "We're too late!" she exclaimed. "Jim, can you increase the power to seventy-five percent. We need to take a risk."
There was no reply, and, to Georgia's horror, she saw Grant laying unconscious next to the power transformer. She began to run to him but before she'd covered two paces, she was briefly aware of becoming light-headed, her legs buckled and then everything around her went black.
Chapter 35
Georgia blinked at the bright light from the large orange sun shining through the glass roof directly overhead. She instantly recognized it from Molloy's description. With a sense of utter despair, she realized she was now within Uslaw's representation of Arethusa. She had to somehow find a way back to the particle accelerator quickly.
She spun around slowly to get her bearings. She was in a large dome, maybe one hundred feet across. The floor was a featureless gray color, like polished concrete or dull steel. A fine latticework of metal held up the domed ceiling and through the glass she could see the building was located on a beach. She could see the sea, waves crashing onto a sandy beach with spray flying into the air. Away from the water, the beach continued on for miles before it reached a range of mountains. And, beyond the mountains were the tall spires of Georgia's dreams, reaching up into the cloudless sky.
There was no time to consider how she could have dreamed this place. She had to break the link and get back to the real world.
Her thoughts were broken by Megan's voice. "Georgia, over here."
She turned around and where the dome had been empty only several seconds earlier, now stood all of the personnel from Alpha Base along with Molloy, Anna, Grant and Mancuso. Walking up to them she asked, "Are you real or just a figment of my imagination?"
"Oh, they're very real, Georgia Pyke." Uslaw Hearn appeared from nowhere between Georgia and the crew. "Did you expect that we wouldn't discover your plan. I have to admit that it was very ingenious, combining your technology with that of the Confederacy. But we were never going to let you succeed. I've brought you all here so that you can do no harm to our plans."
Frustrated by Uslaw's arrogance, Georgia new she had to get as much information from him if she wanted to escape. This was only a prison of her mind. All she had to do was find a way to resist. "Where have you brought us? This isn't the same location you used for some of my friends."
"You like it? I've recreated one of the many islands on Arethusa. When I was alive, my favorite place to relax was on a beach very much like this. As a young child, I enjoyed hunting along the coastline with my family. That was until they were taken away for military service. I lived alone on the beach until I became of age. That time taught me to be self-sufficient and ruthless. Ideal qualities for a military commander. And now, I need a prison from which you can't escape. Your friends were too resourceful with my forest jail." Uslaw sneered, revealing thin pointy teeth.
"So, you're just going to keep us trapped here until your army arrives to destroy my civilization?"
A second short figure appeared next to Uslaw. "Not exactly," he snarled. "We still wish to retrieve information from you. There are significant gaps in our knowledge that I'm sure you can help us with."
"Why would I want to do that? I'd be condemning my people."
"You must know by now that they're destiny is already sealed. Your assistance could speed up their deaths and make it less... painful." Tremo said in a matter of fact way as if this was an absolutely reasonable suggestion.
"That doesn't sound like a very appealing offer. What happens to my crew and me?"
"You remain in this artificial world until you cease to exist. Your physical forms will simply wither and die over time. And when your bodies die, your consciousness will simply disappear. You won't even be aware that it has happened. We are not the heartless barbarians that the Confederacy will have you believe."
Georgia wanted to keep Tremo talking in the hope that he would reveal something useful she could use to help her escape this trap. "It's still an unnecessary slaughter, however you frame it. Humans are no threat to you. We're thousands of light years from your planet and we don't have the technology for interstellar travel. There is no logic to your actions."
Tremo looked as if he was explaining a basic principle to a child. "The logic is simple. You have the potential to be our enemy. You are already aligned with the Confederacy. The presence of your friend is proof of that." He pointed in the direction of Grant who was watching their conversation with interest. "It is far better to end that threat now, with minimal risk and loss of Arethusans. Once we've plundered your resources, we will know that this area of space is clear of any possible dangers in the future. Do you understand now, human?"
