The Ruins of Mars: Waking Titan (The Ruins of Mars Trilogy) (7 page)

Chapter Eight

Dinner—
Sol 66

On the night of the 66th sol on Mars, the crew of Ilia Base sat down to a bouquet of freshly cooked vegetables. Sautéed green onions with baked eggplant and a spinach and carrot salad were but a few of the bright colors that decorated the table.

Though the food was delicious and the general mood upbeat, Liu found that she could not eat. Next to her, Harrison had his head bent low as William described to him, several possible winch arrangements for the upcoming mission to the caves.

Liu had been notified of her inclusion in the mission that afternoon by way of a transmission from Captain Vodevski. In a moment of reckless abandon, she had almost told the captain of her pregnancy, but as she opened her mouth to speak, the fear of possible repercussions staved the words in her throat. Knowing full well the eagerness her own government had for turning the personal political, she had bitten her tongue and instead simply accepted her role in the mission with a nod.

Alone in her lab, she had enjoyed the busywork that came with the project: drafting the
Rover modifications in a few hours without needing to apply much conscious effort. Using the existing Rover schematics, she had identified the best way to extend the range of movement on a pincer arm and allow for it to operate the laser cutter. For nearly three hours, she had been too engrossed with her job to think about anything else. It had easily been the best three hours of the last two days.

Now, however, with Harrison beside her at the table, Liu felt as though she might be sick. His face was so animated and boyish as he chatted with the other members of the crew that Liu couldn’t imagine robbing him of that with her terrible news. He truly was unaware that anything might be wrong. Worse yet, she saw that Kubba had been right about him. He
was
popular. Even now as he rattled off theories about the Martian cave builders, the others hung on every word he said as if the sound of his voice were sweeter and smoother than honey. To Liu’s ears, it really was like honey and she yearned to go on in that moment forever—just listening to
Harrison
talk so
she
would never have to.

Feeling eyes on her, Liu pulled her gaze off Harrison and caught Kubba watching her from across the table. With fiery grit, she stared back at the cinnamon-skinned doctor until Harrison tapped her arm.

“What?” she said, reluctantly moving her eyes away from Kubba.

“I was just saying that your
Rover mods look great. How long do you think they will take to fabricate?”

“Oh, not long,” she replied, distractedly. “If I start early enough tomorrow, I can be ready to go the day after that.”

“Are you sure that’s really a smart idea?” asked Kubba, one eyebrow twitching at Liu.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” said Harrison. “The sooner, the better.”

“That is often the case, isn’t it?” Kubba grinned. “The sooner, the better.”

Standing up from the table, Liu looked around at everyone, their surprise at her sudden movement written on their faces.

“I’m not feeling that well,” she announced. “I’m going to go lie down.”

Bending, she kissed Harrison on the cheek.

“Stay and enjoy your dinner,” she whispered in his ear.

“You want me to come with you?” he said with some concern.

As her eyes flicked to Kubba and then back to Harrison, Liu shook her head.

“No, you don’t need to do that. Just stay and...I’ll be fine.”

Gently squeezing her hand, the young Egyptian looked into her eyes, a pondering expression on his face. Unable to penetrate her veil of half-truths and false calm, he shrugged and gave her hand another squeeze.

“Sure. Alright,” he shrugged. “I’ll see you later then.”

With a plastic smile, Liu nodded once then turned and walked out of the dining room.

Following the Chinese astronaut with her eyes as she strode through the doorway, Kubba fought back a wave of nausea. The longer Liu waited to take the shot, the longer she was at risk. Though she knew she should just come clean on her mistake, she still didn’t even understand how it had happened. For that matter, she wasn’t even sure it was her mistake at all. She had personally cleared Harrison. The procedure had worked, and yet here she was, trying to stick a needle into Liu’s arm so she could kill her baby. It was insanity and she knew it, but she would not allow herself to end up like Crisp.

That won’t be me, she said herself. Crisp got sloppy and he paid dearly for it.

‘I wish he would have just drifted away,’
came Crisp’s voice from the depths of her memory.
‘At least then one of us could have had a life after this.’

Drift away, Liu, thought Kubba coldly. Just drift away.

Taking a bite of eggplant, she forced herself to chew. She had overcome many hurdles in her life, many obstacles. This was just another annoyance, another twist of fate that she must master and control. Liu would come around sooner or later, she knew. There was a reason the girl had volunteered for the first manned mission to Mars. People like her didn’t want children. All Kubba had to do was help her see that. Of course, if Liu refused, then Kubba could always use her own position as the Crew’s Psychologist to come up with a few reasons for why the girl was mentally unfit for duty. After that, she could shoot her up with pretty much anything she wanted and no one would object.

Yes, thought Kubba, tasting the food for the first time that night. It’s good to have a plan B.

The trap—
Sol 67

With Liu all but hiding in her shop since dawn, Harrison hadn’t had an opportunity to speak to her after her strange disappearance halfway through dinner.

She was acting odd, very odd, almost like she was in trouble. Then again, guessing Liu’s moods was oft
en hard for Harrison. Sometimes when they were together, it seemed like she was only partly there, as if she was divided between two places at once.

Remembering that early on in their relationship Liu actually had been divided between her hu
sband and himself, Harrison chose to believe that her occasionally distant nature was a result of coming to terms with her impending divorce.

Though her refusal to answer a call from him that morning had been uncharacteristic, he figured it was probably because she was busy modifying the Rover and couldn’t be bothered.

Deciding to check for himself, he meandered down to her shop in the basement and found the red indicator light blinking, signifying that she was indeed inside yet did not want any visitors.

Okay, he said to himself. She must need some space.

Reluctantly, as if picking up on the tension in the air, he turned and padded back up the stairs to the
Dome’s ground floor level.

Watching the image of him leave from a Tablet screen on her desk, Liu suppressed the urge to go after him and tell him everything. Fear stopped her, though. Fear and guilt. Guilt t
hat she knew a secret he didn’t; fear that he would blame her or, worse, himself.

Putting her protective glasses on, she picked up the welding torch and went back to attaching the cutting arm to the Rover.

A small model with only six wheels, the Rover was a squat beetle-like machine designed for the construction of the Base. Crude though it may have been, the Rover was one of Braun’s many avatars, chosen for this mission because of its durability and easily modifiable design.

As sparks flared up before her, Liu focused on making her hands steady, not wanting to allow the weight of her personal problems to interfere with the delicate job.

On a nearby desk, her Tablet chimed and she glanced over her shoulder at the screen. It was another message from Kubba. The fourth in an hour. Feeling the walls closing in on her, Liu’s hand dipped slightly and the beam of the laser torch touched the hard shell of the Rover’s battery casing. A blast of ceramic sparks ignited, and before she could pull the tool away, the burning sting of a small shard leaped up to imbed itself in her cheek.

Putting a hand to the wound, Liu pulled the shard away and looked at the droplets of blood on her fingertips. A sob broke free from her chest and soon she was slumped forward, her head resting against the Rover, as tears streamed down her face.

Back in his lab, Harrison sat with his feet on his desk, music piping through the room’s sound system.

Using his Tablet to scan his inbox, he groaned at the mounting number of transmissions that required a reply from him. At least three Deans from the Consortium of Universities wanted to pick his brain, and he was even beginning to get political solicitations from the two rival parties vying for control of the White House in November. There was a message from James Floyd as well, but his face looked red and angry in the thumbnail, so Harrison decided to ignore it for a while.

“Harrison,” said Braun.

“Mmmhmm?”

“Dr. Kubba is at the door.”

Stretching in his chair, Harrison put down the Tablet and turned to face the entrance.

“Let her in,” he yawned.

The door slid open and Elizabeth Kubba stepped through, her face bright and friendly.

“What’s up, Doc?” he asked. “Is it time for you to tell me I’m crazy?”

Chuckling softly, Kubba shook her head and leaned against the wall.

“No, not yet. I was actually coming to see if you wanted to go on a walk with me.”

“A walk?”

“Yes. As I understand it, you and I are the only members of the crew not otherwise busy with projects right now.”

“Well,” grinned Harrison. “That’s not entirely true. I probably should be working on something. I just can’t remember exactly what it is. Too many voices in my head. Can’t hear myself think.”

“Then you are crazy,” Kubba said. “And a nice stroll through in the garden is just the cure you need.”

“The garden, eh?” nodded Harrison, rising to his feet. “Sounds nice.”

Twenty minutes later, the two white-suited explorers were stepping through the airlock into the hazy Martian morning.

A stiff breeze whipped up motes of dust
, and in the quiet of his helmet, Harrison could just make out the sound—like the sighs of a sleeping giant.

Taking a left, the pair headed around the curve of the
Dome and made for a series of metal rings protruding from the sand.

The skeleton of what would someday become a connecting tunnel between the
Dome and the greenhouse, the big rings stood like the rib bones of a dead whale. Due to a hiccup in planning, the Alon needed to plate the tunnel was never included in the Ark, so it stood unfinished, not to be completed until the next mission.

Patting one of the rings as he walked through it, Harrison thanked his lucky stars that an unfinished tunnel was the only real trouble they’d run into since the solar storm.

Some meters away in the haze, the long tubular profile of the greenhouse glowed slightly against the muted backdrop of the dusty air. Remarkably unimpressive-looking next to the imposing presence of Ilia Base, the greenhouse bore more life within its walls than the red planet had seen in eons.

A short way from the squat structure, Ku
bba stopped and turned her blue-tinted visor to face Harrison. Mastering a heartbeat that raced in her chest, she looked down at the Egyptian and baited her trap.

“So, have you spoken with Liu since last night?”

Kicking at a rock, Harrison shook his head and shrugged.

“No, she, um—she didn’t stay with me, so I haven’t seen her since dinner.”

Exhaling quietly with relief, Kubba had figured that Harrison did not yet know of Liu’s pregnancy, but hearing him admit to as much made her feel better.

“Well,” she said, priming her snare. “I’m a little worried about her.”

“Really?”

“Yes, in our last session she said some things that have got me concerned.”

“What kind of things? What did she say?”

With a practiced sigh, Kubba placed a gloved hand on Harrison’s shoulder.

“You know I can’t discuss that with you, Harrison. I just wanted to see if she had said anything to
you
.”

“No. Nothing. Should I be worried?”

Smiling, Kubba almost snickered behind the tint of her visor.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said in her best doctoral tone. “But you will let me know if she says or does anything, well, out of the ordinary. Won’t you?”

“Of course, Doc. You know how much she means to me.”

“I do,” grinned Kubba. “I really do.”

With an action intended to keep Harrison off balance, she suddenly resumed her long strides towards the greenhouse, leaving the slightly stunned archaeologist standing by himself in the swirling sand.

Come on, she thought. Take the bait.

Jogging to catch up, Harrison came alongside Kubba and stopped her, taking her upper arm in his hand.

“You know what,” he said somewhat breathlessly. “Liu has been acting kind of weird the last couple of days. Like last night at dinner. And this morning, she dodged my call. Is she sick?”