Losing Mars (Saving Mars Series-3) (24 page)

The sound of heavy footfalls echoed in the empty hold. It sounded like more than just Pavel.

Shizer!
thought Gaspar. “Hold that thought,” he said, walking to investigate who was coming. It turned out to not be Pavel at all. It was the Shirff and several of the older citizens.

“What is it?” Jess asked the visitors.

Gaspar assumed another of Renard’s bright smiles while internally cursing. He had less than an hour to get out of this rat-hole.

“Council meeting ran later than we expected,” said the Shirff, frowning slightly. “We’re here for the evaluation of the new ship?”

“Oh,” said Jess, apparently remembering. “Right. For use in the event of an evacuation. Right. So all of us, um,
newcomers
really appreciate the offer to allow us to shelter in your bunkers in the event of an emergency and all.” She paused to draw breath.

It sounded to Gaspar as if she was rehearsing a memorized speech.

“But we’d rather use this ship if it came down to an actual emergency, so we’ll be doing drills here. And you are all welcome to join us. If you’d like.”

“Communication looks to be secured,” he said, tapping the comm panel beside Renard.

“Yes,” said Jess. “It’s secure. And the ship can accommodate everyone in the village. I’m sure you saw that much already, on the way up.”

“Yes,” replied a graying woman. “But I don’t like that, Shirff. Putting all our eggs in one basket is foolishness, plain and simple. The bunkers have served us well in the past.”

The village elders conferred and Gaspar grimaced—internally only, of course. He needed these people off the ship
now
. Jessamyn, meanwhile, seemed intent on pointing out every safety feature.

“I think that will be all,” said the Shirff, just as Gaspar was beginning to contemplate using force to get rid of the unwanted guests. “Thanks for letting us have a look around. I haven’t been on one of these big ships before.”

“Who has?” asked the gray-haired woman.

Gaspar saw Jessamyn frown, turn, and press one hand to one ear to block the sound of the others. She must be using that earpiece of hers again.

“Yes,” she was saying. “Okay. I’ll be right over.”

She turned to Gaspar. “Sorry, Renard. It’s my brother. Something’s come up.”

She turned, dashing for the stairs.

Shizer!

Gaspar tried to follow her, but the Shirff and the others were blocking his exit. “If you don’t mind?” he said, rather rudely.

The others stepped aside.

But by the time he’d reached the hatch exit, Jessamyn had fired up his small ship and was speeding back to her home.

“This is a farce!” he shouted to the empty desert around him. He looked about for the Shirff’s vehicle, but there were no other vehicles. The three must have walked to get to the blast crater.

It was time to make more desperate plans, then. Plans involving his skills as a marksman.

He cursed once again. He’d hidden his weapons in the ship Jessamyn had just taken. He began running, as fast as Renard’s body would allow, back to the Gopher Hole.

40

REPEATED PATTERN

“This is the echo,” Ethan was saying as Jessamyn entered the Gopher Hole.

Jess saw Kazuko Zaifa beside him, the others gathered round. A moment later Pavel came bounding down the stairs as well.

“Got here as fast as I could,” he said to the gathered company. “Hey, Jess. Guess we’re not flying tonight after all,” he murmured.

Jessamyn shrugged her frustration and then looked with the others at the series of numbers and characters on his screen. “Sorry, Eth,” she said. “This doesn’t mean anything to me. You’re going to have to explain it.”

Kazuko spoke instead. “Your brother is showing us a repeated pattern of transmission from the M-class vessel to a deep space satellite. From there, the transmission could be going literally
anywhere
on Earth.”

“Is that …
normal
?” asked Jess. “Maybe it’s some old, automated thing that all ships do here. I mean, we should make it stop, obviously.”

“I am of the opinion we should monitor any future transmissions,” said Ethan. “For now. If it happens again tomorrow, I believe we should assume that someone here is intentionally communicating with someone elsewhere.”

“Ask the Shirff,” said Jess, shrugging. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal to her. “Yuccans share things. It could’ve been Renard. I gave him quite the tour of the ship. Why didn’t you ask him to come here?”

Kazuko answered. “We thought we’d keep this just amongst ourselves, for now. Your brother felt that would be best.”

“Okay,” Jess replied. “Is that everything?”

Ethan nodded curtly.

Jess was used to her brother assuming she’d be interested in his little projects and findings, but this seemed like a lot of fuss over nothing. She nudged Pavel with her shoulder. “You still up for a flight? Or you want to wait?”

“I’d love to get out of here,” he said. He sounded troubled. Or unhappy.

Jessamyn hesitated. Did Pavel hate Yucca after all, then? She shook off the thought. This was
Pavel
. He loved Yucca. And flying.
And you
, she reminded herself.

Ethan spoke. “Kazuko and I will continue to examine the transmissions. She is adept at decoding.”

Kazuko nodded in farewell as Pavel and Jess left together.

“Hey, Jess?” began Pavel. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about Renard. And with this transmission business now …”

He was cut off mid-thought, however, by a low wailing sound.

“A drill? Now?” Pavel kicked at the sand.

“Unbelievable,” said Jess.

Kazuko, white-faced, appeared at the top of the stairs. “We’re being attacked,” she shouted. “Ethan says we’ve got fifteen minutes. This is
not
a drill! Ethan feels we should transport using Brian Wallace’s ship—”

“I’m taking the
Red Hope
,” said Jessamyn.

“Then I’m going with you,” said Pavel.

Jessamyn nodded her approval. “Don’t forget Elsa,” she called to Kazuko. Turning to Pavel, she said, “Renard’s still waiting at the ship. He’ll hear the warning sirens there, won’t he?”

“Of course,” said Pavel. “But you took his craft. He’ll have to run on foot.”

“
Hades!
” shouted Jess.

“We’ll take his craft back,” said Pavel. “We can keep an eye out for him on the ground.”

But as they dashed for the small craft, they nearly collided with Renard, who was also running to his small get-about. He was breathing as though he’d run all the way from the crater. Upon his face was a look of dark determination such as Jess had never seen before.

41

JUST LIKE YOUR AUNT

Pavel startled as he barreled into Renard, who was leaning over, attempting to open the passenger side of his vehicle.

“Guess you heard the evac signal?” shouted Pavel, eyeing Renard carefully.

“Yeah,” replied Renard, reaching for passenger hatch door.

“What about the others?” asked Jess. “The Shirff and council members?”

“They had a transport,” said Renard. “I’m sure they’ll make it to the bunkers in time.”

“You drive, Renard,” said Jess. “It’s your ship. We’re going to the big ship. We can take you.”

Pavel frowned. He didn’t want to bring the Yuccan along. Pavel saw a look of surprise flash across Renard’s face, followed by a look of satisfaction.

Renard nodded and dashed to the driver’s side of the craft. “Let’s go, then,” was all he said.

Pavel placed himself directly behind Renard, keeping a close eye on his friend. Pavel’s mind was racing, and he didn’t like any of the thoughts passing through right now. Who would rain mass destruction upon Yucca? He could think of only one person.

His aunt.

But how had they been discovered? And for how long had she known? He was missing something—something obvious. He closed his eyes to tighten his ability to focus, to think things through. It had to be his aunt. It had to be that she’d decided to cease her attempts to lure him back to her side. This felt too much like vengeance. Somehow, she’d traced his movements back to Yucca. Or someone had betrayed them.

Shizer!

Did Lucca know Jessamyn was here, too?

~ ~ ~

Gaspar had to work hard to keep a smile from forming on Renard’s face.
You’re supposed to be alarmed
, he reminded himself,
terrified
.

Sometimes one had to take a moment to admire one’s work, though. That slight shudder he’d placed in Renard’s voice just now? Brilliant. As a matter of fact, if he had to find one word to describe himself and his abilities,
brilliant
would do quite well. The things to which he set his mind had an almost …
magical
quality to them. He’d wanted to get Pavel and Jess on the ship with him. Poof! It was as if the universe was conspiring alongside him. But this went beyond mere luck, he thought, as they sped across the desert floor. These things had a way of working themselves out in the end because
he
, Gaspar, worked so hard to ensure they would.

It was very challenging to keep the smile off Renard’s face. Missiles being on their way certainly helped, though. He allowed Renard a worried sigh as he pulled the craft to a halt beside the crater. He was not in truth thinking of missiles, however. He was thinking of the Chancellor, and how to further ingratiate himself with her.

Gaspar made a living from reading people well, and he knew Lucca Brezhnaya would be worrying right now as to whether he would, in fact, retrieve her prizes. As to whether or not she’d made a mistake to push her spy so hard.

A simple communication of his victory
before
the missiles struck would earn him her gratitude. If he called to report success
after
the missiles struck, she’d be in a much darker mood, doubting herself and taking it out on others.

He would make the call
before
.

But how to keep the listening ears beside him occupied? He glanced at the two in the vehicle with him. Were there, perhaps, hatches that needed battening? What
was
battening, anyway?

“How long do we have?” Gaspar asked aloud.

“Seven minutes, worst case,” replied Pavel, terse.

“I want the solar battery removed from my vehicle and brought aboard,” said Gaspar as he brought the small ship down beside the large one. “It’s extremely valuable, and impossible to replace.”

“Got it,” said Pavel. “Jess, I’ll need your help.”

Things had such a way of working out exactly as Gaspar wished. He smiled.

And then he dashed ahead of the other two to send a quick transmission from inside the great ship.

~ ~ ~

Jessamyn waited until she thought Renard was out of earshot. “Pavel, this is a waste of effort. The M-class has redundant parts worth ten times this solar battery.”

Pavel cut her off abruptly. “Jess, listen carefully. I don’t know who that man is, but he’s not my friend Renard. No, listen! Why is Yucca suddenly a target of attack? It’s Lucca. Has to be. The communications from this ship?” He indicated the large transport beside them. “It’s him. Lucca’s rebodied someone to pretend to be Renard. I am sure of it.”

Jessamyn stared at her friend. “That’s crazy.” She slid the panel covering the engine to one side.

Pavel slammed the engine cover back into place. “No!” he said. “It’s not crazy.”

The hover boosters of the great ship roared to life beside them.

“We have six minutes,” said Jess. “Are you going to help me get this stupid battery out or not?”

“Absolutely not! We’re leaving in
this
vehicle,” he paused to slam a palm upon the small craft, “right now! Don’t you see? Whoever is up there starting the transport—it’s not Renard. My aunt hired a body-jacker. I can’t believe I didn’t see it until now.”

“Hired a
what
?” Jessamyn stared at Pavel. It was like he’d lost his mind. Like he’d made up his mind not to like Renard anymore. Was this because of a little harmless flirtation on Renard’s part? Jessamyn closed her eyes and shook her head slowly.

“The facts are all there, Jess,” continued Pavel. “Renard’s little brother, Samuel, he’s been trying to tell me for days that there’s something wrong with Renard. Something that started when he came back from his little sojourn. I can’t believe I didn’t see it earlier. But it all makes sense. He disappears. He comes back acting odd.” Pavel gestured at the ship beside them. “He transmits secret messages to my aunt—”

Jess interrupted him. “That’s crazy. Siblings will say anything when they’re upset with one another. You wouldn’t understand. You never had a brother. You think Samuel’s the first kid to say his brother’s body was taken over by an alien? Come on, Pavel.”

Pavel took a step toward Jessamyn. “Do
not
get on that transport.”

The steely tone of his voice made hairs rise along Jess’s arms. But it also made her angry. Pavel was crazed. Crazed with jealousy, or crazed because he’d been raised by a madwoman.

“Or
what
, Pavel?”

“I swear I will stop you, Jess.”

She placed her fists on her hips, anger building. They had
minutes
to get away. “Okay, just stop this. Stop it right now. Forget the stupid battery. We’re getting on that ship because if we don’t, we’ll be incinerated.”

Pavel shook his head. “That ship’s a one-way ticket to Lucca.”

Jessamyn felt anger flare within her. “That
ship
is
my
ship! My ticket home, Pavel! Is that what you can’t stand? That I want to go
home
? You know what? Renard’s right about you.”

Jess turned toward the ship’s hatch door. She was furious with Pavel. She was furious with herself for having imagined that he was someone she wanted to spend her life with. She’d made up an entire person who existed only in her imagination. She wiped angry tears from her cheeks and looked over her shoulder at him. He was rummaging in the small vehicle for something.