14

BLUE BLOOD

"What am I looking at?" With his superior, Major Smith, lost in the desert of Mars presumed dead, the lowly Captain Rutherford fussed about at the commanding table feeling decidedly out of his depth. He was a large human specimen with wide shoulders and a slight sway as he walked to accommodate bulging thigh muscles. Rutherford was an excellent soldier, good at killing things that should be dead. Running a delicate murder investigation made him feel like a child in an exam room.

The forensic scientist sensed this, toning down his speech so that the military officer could follow. "These are fragments of burned paper found in the bin. We suspect this is where the fire started that destroyed the entire lab. It didn't make any sense for an arsonist to use such a small source to destroy the lab so we investigated the contents of the bin itself. Someone was burning documents."

"Dr Edwards – before he was murdered?" Rutherford offered, taking the plastic slide with a few fragments of black paper pressed between its transparent surfaces.

"That is likely," the scientist agreed. "We had them sent for testing," he added, before the Captain could suggest it. The results just came in and well..."

"Something wrong?"

"I had it checked and checked again, just to be sure. The paper was dated. It's six-hundred and fifty years old – give or take."

The Captain took a moment to brush his fingers over the plastic casing in reverence. Who would burn something so ancient and precious? "Wasn't that during they heyday of fossil hunting?"

The scientist nodded. "When every human that could rustle up a ship was crawling over this place. That doesn't mean it had anything to do with Mars. We're trying to see if we can retrieve any information from the fragments. It'll take time though – they have to be scanned."

"Very good," Rutherford nodded.

"And sir..." the scientist paused, taking back his sample and moving to leave. "About your team. I'm sorry."

The Captain tensed, glancing out the window at the wasteland beyond. "They are missing, not dead."

The waters of the sleeping Hydrogarden stirred. Starting with a ripple, the micro-organisms floating within began to glow. At first it was a dim electric blue but then, almost as if a forest of stars were bursting to life inside a surge of dust and gas, the water lit up and the world went from black to artificial dawn.

Nikola watched, the eerie glow reflected in the pits of his vampire eyes. If anything, the added light revealed the true horror of this majestic place. The vertical walls were not smooth but jagged slices of rock, eroded into grotesque forms. Some were twisted claws of rock breaking the order, snarling into the air in a frozen moment of violence.

"Helen..." he purred.

Helen Magnus had Mike backed against one of the metal boxes housing a transformer, knife to his throat. Polite interrogation hadn't gotten them anywhere, nor had Nikola's intimidation so she was about to start something a little more – persuasive. The Major was lingering nearby, learning both from and about this odd duo.

"Nikola – I am busy."

"Leave the human, he's not going anywhere. This is much more interesting."

Helen sighed dramatically and released Mike, who slid down to the floor, holding his throat. "What's the matter now-" she paused, spying what Nikola had. She frowned, peering at the tiny island of rock in the centre of the illuminated lake. "Hey," she tilted her head, "isn't that a research shelter?"

Perched on the outcrop was a dome made from a framework of dozens of tiny triangles. It was only big enough for one person and their equipment – a sort of temporary hold that the original scientists used to survive in hostile locations. Nikola had survived a few in his time.

"It must be hundreds of years old," Helen whispered. "No one uses these things any more. The last time I saw one was in a museum."

"Then what's it doing here?" Nikola asked. "It looks almost new." It was still white and perfectly formed.

Helen was shaking her head. "My Martian history is a tad hazy but I think the astro-microbiologists studying the hydrogardens used to live in these but they were all working closer to the city. No one would risk coming down here."

The Major strutted forward to the edge of the water. "Well, let's take a look."

Helen's hand reached out and smacked him in the chest, stopping him before he could step into the water. "No. This is untreated water. You can't touch it."

"Uh that's not – entirely – true..." Mike stood up and joined the group, a little shaken from their attempts at interrogation. "Well, yes the water will poison you but it takes a long time. Provided we return to base within the next few days, we'll be fine. The anti-dote is well known."

"I don't know..." the Major shifted uncomfortably. "I mean, it's just an old tent."

John Druitt knelt down at the wreckage of the Jeep. He looked toward an assuming rise of sand, finding something artificial about the way the sand had fallen. With the weak sun above, John headed toward it.

What he found disturbed him.

He kicked the metal hatch. It was unlocked. With barely a thought he heaved it open and vanished into the hidden base. His feet hit rock rather than metal. John looked up and realised that the ceiling was fashioned onto an existing rock structure. Curious.

All was quiet.

There was no one in the universe more uncomfortable than Major Smith as he waded through the blue waters, deep an in ancient hydrogarden. Smoke snaked around him, forming a layer wafting several feet off the surface of the water. He waved irritably at it. "This isn't a good idea."

"Does any of this strike you as a good idea?" Nikola replied.

"Not particularly. I'm thinking I should have stayed on Earth. Dad always said, 'keep your feet off a that red shit'."

"Why does everyone hate Mars so much?" Mike seemed to take every comment as a personal slight. "The planet has suffered enough without your added layer of sarcasm." He sighed in dismay as the Major picked a rock from the water and chucked it into the abyss. The waters glowed brighter where it landed for a few moments.

"You scientists..." the Major shrugged. "Inanimate objects do not have feelings. Imagine if you had to be nice to every boulder that crossed your path."

"Now now Major, you should have a little more faith. The universe has a sense of humour," Tesla drawled, stepping out of the water and up onto the island of rock. Up close, the habitation module was even smaller than he remembered. It was only a four metres across and two high with its edges bolted into the rock. "Hell of a place to park."

"Creepy," the Major whispered. It reminded him of a skeleton. "Let's take a look inside."

Nikola, the most familiar with these things, unlaced the flap covering the front and folded it back. Helen knelt beside him, aiming her torch into the room.

"Oh wow," she whispered. "Look at all this stuff..."

It was completely intact. Piles of equipment leaned against the curved edges of the room. There was a mat on the floor with a pillow and sheets where someone had slept, a low board used as a table and cooking utensils unwashed at the back. If it wasn't covered in fine layers of Martian dirt, it could have been still in use. Helen ducked through the opening and edged into the room.

"Careful Helen..."

"Don't fuss over me, Nikola."

Mike was still twitchy from the surprise session of 'intense questioning' and chose to linger at a safe distance under the Major's watchful eye. Nikola joined Helen, running his gaze of the old documents lying around. He could tell just by glancing at the objects that this place was legitimately old. Then, he saw something that made him freeze.

"Janet..." Nikola whispered. He looked at the room again, more closely this time and realised that he knew this place. It had been so long, almost vanished into memory but no, this was it. This was the god-awful tent he'd spent cooped up with his lover in the desert for months.

Helen spun around and caught Nikola as his knees gave way. She helped him to the ground where they knelt together, whispering so as not to alert they others.

"Nikola – talk to me," she held him close, both of them facing away from the entrance.

Nikola was in shock, his gaze frantically taking in the room. The more he looked the more the evidence piled up. Her glasses, her books, her jacket crumpled on the ground. "This is Janet's tent," he replied. "She – she went missing, some time in 2445. I told her not to go but she insisted. She was so determined. Mars."

"You never told me she went to Mars."

Nikola managed to lift his eyes to hers. "You never asked what happened to her." There was a hint of resentment in his voice. The great Helen Magnus was allowed to flaunt her affairs but the moment he found a tiny flicker of happiness with someone she'd practically blacklisted him for years. "It was her obsession. The only reason she suffered through all those expeditions was to be here."

"Well – you just – sit," Helen made sure that Nikola wasn't going to fall over. She wanted to search this place quickly, make sure there weren't any nasty surprises lurking about. The last thing Nikola deserved was to come across the body of his lover. He didn't handle death well. "Major – Mike," Helen addressed the two men outside in a hushed voice. "We need to search this area quickly."

"What are we looking for," the Major asked, catching a glimpse of Tesla on the ground behind her.

"A body."

Nuuk, Greenland - EARTH

10th July, 2425

Nikola Tesla was one of a thousand, seated in a sprawling cafe built over the water. The glass structure had uninterrupted views of Davis Strait and the intimidating Sermitsiaq mountain in all its frightening glory. Tesla marvelled at the fragmented snow drifts caught among the black peaks. It was as though someone had dragged a spatula over the land, leaving it broken, sticking out of the water.

It was snowing again. The cold was settling in even though it was meant to be one of the more pleasant months to graze the calendar. Not that he cared. He glanced down at the table in front of him. There was a bottle of wine, steaming cup of coffee and a small cupcake with a candle poking out of a generous layer of icing. It was his birthday. Five-hundred and sixty-nine. Once you got past half a millennia it started getting easier except it did vex him that his age wasn't divisible by three – ah well, next year perhaps.

"Need a light?"

He was startled by a wash of red hair and green eyes as easily the most beautiful creature in the room ambushed his birthday lunch. The young woman flicked open a lighter and sparked a flame to life, holding it against the wick of his candle. He had not seen a kerosene lighter in a hundred years.

"I don't think fire is permitted inside the building," Nikola played it cool, nudging his cupcake into the centre of the table. It looked much happier to have a candle flickering at its heart.

"You're wrong to think you can hide from me," the woman replied, leaning over the table toward him in a manner that had him tilting his head in distraction, running his fingertips around the edge of his coffee cup.

"Forgive me, your name?" he asked.

"Dr Janet Horvath," she replied, with a look that suggested she'd already forgiven him. "You have been working with me for the last five months." The woman narrowed her eyes at her associate. "Is that why you've been calling me, 'doctor'?"

Nikola was forced to shrug. Names were usually an irrelevant detail.

"Alright – come on, blow out your candle and make a wish so that we can have this meeting."

Oh he made a wish alright, his gaze never leaving her immensely deep eyes. There was something about them – they had a quality of the sea. Fitting really, his were of the storm.

When he was done, Janet shifted his cupcake to the side and replaced it with a menacing file. "So what do you think?" She nodded at the report. Her colleague was silent. Suspiciously silent. "You did read the report." More silence. "Some of the report?" Continued silence. "The cover page?"

Nikola looked over at his pink cupcake sadly. This was his birthday. All he wanted was a little quiet. Janet wasn't having any of this. She picked up her folder and whacked him with it.

"Damn it, why did I get saddled with you?" she complained.

This time, Tesla managed a cheeky grin. "Cascade is short on funds, that's why. They're paying me in wine. How do they pay you?"

"I'm free..." The snow grew heavier, pelting the windows of the research outpost. "Okay fine, we'll start at the beginning." She opened the file and turned it around to face him. "If it helps, you were right all along. The team found fossil evidence of Martian microbes on earth, frozen deep in a glacier."

Nikola gave up on his coffee and opened the wine instead. "I am usually right about these things."

"They told me you are a specialist in life forms that deviate from the norm – that you have an extensive body of research into the subject. How did you know they'd be up there in the ice?"

"The bigger question, Dr Horvath," he proved that he had learned her name, "is why are you so interested in a couple of dead microbes?"

For a few moments she didn't say anything. This was the first time she'd really been able to observe him carefully. There was something strange about him, elusive and enticing. "Perhaps I'm not interested in the microbes..."

Nikola said nothing, setting the bottle of wine back down. This was going to be an interesting birthday after all.