29

RUINS OF SCIENCE

Nikola could hear Smith's heavy breathing trailing along behind as he, Helen and the Major moved through a series of claustrophobic caves linking the outer hyrdogardens. In each sorrowful pool of waterNikola caught a glimpse of the shield-less sky. It was daylight on the surface and these stagnant mirrors held Sol's orange orb of light in their freezing grasp. A sickly star or a dying sky? Nikola couldn't decide which.

Helen was travelling in front, beating back crystalline webs. They were sticky deposits left by an undiscovered life form, excreted in dense pockets throughout the underground world, draped like curtains over the cave walls. Unlike the gardens of bacteria these threads did not glow. Instead, they hung in silent lures spread through the depths, fishing for life as though they were still part of a great ocean. Whenever Nikola came across a deep crevasse, they were there, swaying in demonic chandeliers.

"Seriously, what?" The vampire stopped to hiss as Smith drew up close to his side, robes dragging in the water. The mist was thick as sea-fog. Nikola nudged Smith backwards. The major had taken to wearing a hood like the other creatures of the caves even though Smith was still more or less human in Nikola's eyes.

"What did I say? I said – don't tell her..." Smith grabbed a paw-full of Nikola's arm, digging his nails in until the vampire curled his lip in a snarl.

"I didn't," he insisted. "We're not interested in your precious Martian sea-slugs," he promised, testing the strength of Smith's hold. "We're here for our old friend. That's all."

"He won't talk to you," Smith released him and the pair kept walking. "None of them will they just skulk about in the water without any concept of time. From what I understand their body reaches a point where they cannot communicate or even understand other humans. Ashley said it was slow but inevitable." Smith's eyes nearly glowed. " I'm actually looking forward to the day when I don't have to listen to everyone's moaning."

Nikola leaned in, using the major's icy grip to pull him close. "Ashley also said that this particular creature was speaking French – I'd wager Bernard understands more than you give him credit for. Just because something is very old does not mean it becomes lame. Imagine the brooding intelligence a few thousand years could buy."

"Like Vampires?"

"Or lobsters..." Nikola shrugged. "I'm not the only life form to test the bounds of mortality. Who knows what the creatures of Mars keep from us."

"Seriously – do I have to clear all of this bloody stuff out or are you two going to help?" Helen swore at them from in front. She had a mess of disgusting nets of whatever that cave bug was making all over her hair and clothes. She stood there, hands on hips with an cursed look.

"But you're doing such an excellent job..." Nikola purred – then ducked out of the way of a well thrown flashlight.


"Yeah, this is definitely the one." Nikola stopped at the edge of the tunnel, claws covered in sticky webs. His skin was crawling and he couldn't shake the feeling that microscopic Martian cave bugs were burrowing into his skin.

The enormous hydrogarden that they'd originally found lurking in the middle of the fossil fields sprawled in front of them. Remnants of its wiring ran hung limply from the walls, burned by the overload.

It was dead.

When the city shield collapsed, the generators were overloaded and blown to buggery. The link between the outskirts and the city was irreparably trashed. That was advantageous for them. Nikola didn't fancy being electrocuted and despite John's claims, no, it did NOT tickle. "Now all we have to do is hope Bernard survived the light show earlier."

"Bernard's a tough little bastard," Helen whispered. "He's lived this long."

Smith was watching the quiet waters cautiously. "Pardon if this is a stupid question but how do you intend to find him? I mean, he's not a dog, is he? It's not like you can just whistle for him."

"If Bernard's alive, he already knows we're here," Helen replied, leading them to the platform suspended over the water where she and Smith had spent an uncomfortable night together.

Smith followed. He hated this place. It was the cause of the disease gripping his flesh, dooming him to a life trapped on a planet he didn't much like in the first damn place.

From here, they were able to see most of the sink hole with the light pouring in from above. Its natural layers of mist kept a breathable layer of atmosphere around them while the dome-shaped tent sitting in the centre glowed as though it were a gem. Nikola eyed it with hungry, vampire orbs.

"I don't suppose I can just go and -"

"No, Nikola..." Helen chastised the vampire. He was looking wistfully over at the abandoned camp. "We don't have time for sightseeing. The last thing I want is you coming across more pieces of your ex." Considering he still kept the last bone beside his bed, that was fair.

"Over there..." Smith pointed toward the far edge of the cave where a strange ripple was making its way along the shadowed part of the water – gliding like some kind of primordial predator. "Do you think that's him?"

"I really hope so," Helen replied, hand resting on her hip where her weapon was holstered. "I wouldn't like it to be – something else. Easy Nikola." She put her other hand on his chest as his claws grew out.

The ancient, scaled creature emerged from the glowing waters and stood naked on the rocky bank. At first glance Bernard was a terrifying thing to behold – skeletal and demonic even more so now that he was calm. Smith swallowed hard, flexing his fingers at what he might one day become.

"Bernard?" Helen stepped to the railing, peering over.

The creature lifted its head, two large eyes blinking back the light in the hydrogarden. Normally it hid during full daylight.

"Can you understand me?" Helen added, in French. There was a long pause before the creature shifted on the gravel.

"Stuck here?" Bernard observed, calmly turning his head slightly to look at her with one eye much as a bird of prey might. His mind worked differently and it had been deep in thought since all the commotion. Something had gone very wrong on the surface. He guessed that the shield was destroyed and the city probably without power. It would not last against the wind and earthquakes which had grown more frequent where the planet's heat crept toward the surface. It was strange to imagine that Prosperity had watched the city rise, felt the machine cutting the stone out of the ground as though it were torn from his back... So long ago and yet those memories were more clear to him than the last few hundred years of darkness.

"Yes, Bernard," Helen replied softly, relaxing a little. "We're stuck here. The city is gone."

Bernard kept flicking his gaze to Smith. He remembered what it was like to be a half-ling. Without a doubt, it was the best time in his life. You were so full of power and yet human enough to have your mind intact. It was the perfect balance for being alive on Mars but like all things, it was fleeting. One day this creature would be a part of the murky waters and the rock, feeding in the dark. "I cannot help you," he said softly.

"We think you can," Helen moved, walking down the steps until she was on the same, rocky shoreline as the creature. She could see that she had nothing to fear from Bernard. Mars had turned him into a docile remnant of life. "We want to know that happened when you first came to Mars. What did you see, before the city – before the colony was born?"

"What happened to Janet?" Nikola interrupted.

"Nikola..." Helen shook her head.

Bernard frowned, bearing gums of sharp, slender teeth. Many were missing but the few that remained curved hungrily at the air. "You are the vampire?" Bernard asked, tilting his head the other way. "Yes, she warned me that you would come. Said you'd have my ass if something happened to her." The creature sank slightly into the water. It felt safer there. "I guess there is no harm telling you now. You're not going home anywhere."


MARS
10th February, 2430

Two figures ran awkwardly through the sand until they fell, bouncing off boulders and dunes with helmets full of condensation, dripping like rain down the curved domes protecting their heads. Their oxygen was thin, turning everything around them into a dizzy blur. They focused on one thing – reaching the gaping hole in the ground ahead. The darkness was safety. It was life. It was a fresh breath of air.

They fell beside the abseiling robes, clipped themselves on and then rolled over the edge, dropping into the void. Janet and Bernard looked like drunk Christmas ornaments as they descended, sometimes too fast – sometimes lingering and spinning like insects caught in a web. It wasn't until they hit the water that they tore off their helmets and gasped at the cold. Air filled their lungs again.

"I want to go home," Bernard gasped, throwing his helmet over to the island in the middle of the water. It landed short with a loud splash. "Fuck this whole thing!"

It was Janet that untangled him from the ropes before pushing him in the direction of the camp. The water glowed angrily around them, lighting the underside of the mist.

"It's a bit bloody late now!" she replied, crawling out of her awkward spacesuit. "We're here and unless you've got a spare shuttle parked behind a dune, we're stuck until the end of May at the earliest."

That was when their supply shuttles were due. Nothing was coming until then – only a few mining deliveries and those things didn't even bother to break orbit, they just threw things down at the planet and hoped the parachutes worked.

"This whole thing is a charade!"

"We have to be smart – you hear me? Knowledge is our only power. I don't want to die. You don't want to die."


Two days later, Bernard and Janet ventured out again. Instead of heading toward the city, they moved along the narrow ridge of sand until they found the beginnings of the mountain range. With hard rock beneath their feet they moved faster, scrambling up the angry peaks until they were high enough to have a view of the primordial settlement. Prosperity – a working title, according to the files.

The machines were bigger than Janet had expected. There were five drillers in total at different depths. Even at this early hour of the morning, they were still going full pace, boring into Mars. The foil covered structure that they'd fumbled through was smaller than she remembered, barely covering a strange outcrop of granite that looked out of place, resting in the sand and mostly buried by a wash of sand.

"That's not natural, is it?" she asked Bernard, pointing to the rock.

He shook his head, hurriedly noting down points on his geological survey. "No and neither is any of that," he turned Janet slightly so that she could see what had been bothering him for the last ten minutes. Further to the left were three strange columns sticking, thirty feet out of the sand. They were black but so smooth that even the morning stars were reflected as perfect points of light. "Remind you of anything?"

"The shaft," she whispered. "And those..." They were harder to see but behind the drilling machines there were strange deposits of rectangular rock in various stages of being uncovered. Some of them had groupings of light around them suggesting that teams of human workers were excavating them. "You can't see any of this from where we landed – or work. I doubt the fossil hunters have noticed. They're all the way out past us digging about in the dust."

"The pilots would know," Bernard whispered. "Though I bet they're all on the take – private employees of Cascade."

"They are," Janet nodded. "I've seen their schedules. They fly in and out delivering surveyors every year." She paused, staring at the smattering of strange granite blocks that were slowly being uncovered. "You know what this is, don't you?" she turned to Bernard. "You just don't want to say."

"That's because it's insane," he replied. He lifted his hand and pointed at the settlement. "No one will ever believe us if we go back to Earth and start shouting about an alien relic on Mars. Neither of us will have a career unless you fancy making documentaries for the Discovery channel for the rest of your life. Besides, I'm starting to think that we're not meant to go back to Earth. They must know that we'd find out eventually. Have you ever heard of a group of scientists coming back from here because I sure as shit haven't."

No, she hadn't. Now she thought about it, the only people that ever came back from Mars were her boss, the pilots and the one they called, 'The Jackal'.

"We need proof," she replied. "Undeniable evidence of what's up here. If nothing else, it might be a worthwhile life investment policy."

Bernard weighed that up. "I don't disagree but how are we going to get proof? We're too far away to get a decent picture of the place."

Janet nodded back over at the camp. "There were computers over there – records. Someone in that camp there must be documentation of the project. Cascade is a private company, I'll bet you anything you like that they have something that we can use."

Bernard didn't seem to like the idea of going back over there so soon. "Fine but we should lay low for a while or we're going to draw unwanted attention."


The only contact they made for the next few weeks came in the form of scientific status reports. They were diligent, submitting their findings on time and in full. On paper, they were perfect. As the days dragged on, Janet and Bernard fell into a routine of collecting samples and running tests. Bernard spent more time in the water, swimming down to see if he could find submerged tunnels. He became obsessed, staying under for longer every time. He was getting so good at it that Janet had stopped worrying that he'd drowned. Sometimes their only communication was a nod or two and the steady sound of his snores.

Janet found her work fascinating. The micro-organisms in the water were resilient little critters, multiplying out of control as soon as they were shown some light and warmth. Their current environment in the freezing depths of a hole was not ideal but they were survivors, clinging on after the cataclysm that befell their world. If she were to take a few back to Earth she was sure that they'd thrive in a laboratory environment. It was looking more and more like a pay check hovering at the horizon, especially if they shared their secret of near-immortal life. She might even have enough here to buy bribe a ticket back to Earth.

One evening, Bernard broke the surface of the water and took in a gasp of cold air. His skin was a definite shade of blue in the moons' light. She could see his eyes from here, iridescent and inhuman. They shone the same colour as her bacteria.

'Test subject appears to be slowly mutating under the influence of the alien water,' she wrote in her journal. 'I can only assume that some, not all individuals are susceptible to this transformation as I am showing no signs. It is, for lack of a better definition, an infection.'

"What are you doing?" Bernard asked, puzzled. It felt like every time he looked toward Janet, she was busy making notes. She was diligent, he'd give her that but sometimes he felt like she watched him too closely.

"Science," she licked her cracked lips, setting her folder aside. "What are you doing?"

"Swimming..." Bernard shrugged. He loved to tease her. "Scouting, more specifically," he amended. "I just found a fabulous underwater cave with a large bubble of air caught inside. It's about the size of our island and smells oddly like caramel."

"So that's where you keep vanishing to."

"It's somewhere safe. You know I don't like sleeping in the dome. Bloody thing glows like a red X on a treasure map."

"Honestly, we're in one of the deepest holes on this planet's surface and you want to tunnel further? Geologists..."

"I take it you're not up for a swim, then?"

"To be frank, I think you spend too much time in the water..." she replied smoothly. "You'll end up becoming an aquatic creature if you're not careful."

He simply flashed her a grin with slightly sharper teeth than normal.

'Subject is oblivious to obvious physical changes.'

Bernard watched her scribble in her folder again.


MARS
January 12th, 3083

"I was turning..." Bernard rasped, looking curiously at his pale skin reflecting the light. The veins beneath pulsed steadily. Under the skin they were all blue-blooded. Human. Cave Creature. Mars. "It was a drug – the life forms of these waters get in your blood. They mess with your brain and make you think that you're invincible. It's a rush of adrenalin that never ends. I did things – stupid things. That I have survived to tell this tale is a remarkable joke of nature."

"You did survive," Helen insisted.

"Barely. It wasn't the water that got to me. In the end, it was him."

Helen's heart faltered. She'd seen that dark fear flare in many eyes over the centuries. "Who?" she asked, even though the answer hung in the air like a shard of ice.

"He called himself The Jackal," Bernard whispered. "Though you know him as Druitt."

The moment the name hit the air, Nikola's fangs sank from his gums. John.

"Um – sorry," Smith stepped forward, waving his hand when the vampire went nuts. "I'm confused." Everyone turned to him with identical questioning looks. "I. Don't. Speak. French!"