Happy New Year one and all. Lots of free time in January so should get a fair bit written when I'm not doing my income tax (boring).

I was about to add some short lines to earlier chapters because of confusion about how the Ship got to Sumatra and who knew about it, but when I proof read this chapter I saw the info was already here; sorry for causing confusion.

Chapter 14

Light the Corners of my Mind

There were only two people in the communications room when Professor Adisa entered and neither of them was doing any communicating.

"Can you give me the room please?" Linton asked and they both departed leaving the worried looking man to his task.

For fifteen years, fear of the Earth First Alliance meant all communication with the Mars colony had been incoming only. In the years before Linton's team of engineers, biologists and other scientists had been sealed inside the Railgun Complex, the EFA had mounted countless attacks on any country involved in the Mars Solution. This powerful group insisted the Earth was not at great risk annihilation and all the effort put into starting a Mars colony, should be spent preparing deep underground shelters for the people of Earth. For this reason the only signal sent from West Sumatra was a single computer generated acknowledgment pulse lasting only a fraction of a second. This pulse informed the Mars base their message had been received, without giving the EFA time to triangulate and track the signal back to the Railgun.

Everything Calla had revealed to Linton, told him there was very little risk of detection, but he was still more than a little nervous about what he was about to do.

"Well, here goes nothing" he told himself.

Linton gingerly grabbed the computer mouse and opened a window that had not used since the day it had been installed. A very obvious warning appeared on the screen asking him if he was sure about proceeding. After taking a deep breath to steady his nerves, he clicked yes.

'Professor Linton Adisa requesting a secure channel to Premier Olive Roux regarding future supply launches' he typed and pressed send.

A clock in the top right corner of the screen began counting up from zero. With the time delay between Earth and Mars he knew he would have to wait at least four minutes for a reply; probably much longer.

The automatic tracking system locked on to the Mars Transfer Vehicle where the computer chimed to alert the crew of the relaying message. It took Jarred Kinderman a few seconds to realise what was happening before he reacted in the time honoured manor; he swore.

"It-it's a signal; from Earth!" he declared.

"It can't be" Ruth shook her head in disbelief.

"Maybe so, but it is."

"Quick, rout a copy into the ships computer."

Jarred spent the next fifteen seconds franticly typing on the keyboard in front of him, until the computer finally beeped in recognition of the order.

"What do you think has gone wrong?" Jarred wondered out loud.

"Who's to say there is anything wrong?" his wife replied.

After years and years of silence, do you think they just called to say hello?"

As half panicked wonder gripped the MTV crew, back on Earth Linton Adisa leaned back in his chair and contemplated the past. He thought about the last time he had spoken to Olive Roux, and he thought about what had occurred on that ship so long ago. Linton then realised he would have to remember what had happened in great detail if he was to have any chance of tricking Olive into revealing something and learning the truth. He had always trusted her in the past, but doubts now filled every corner of his mind.

As he closed his eyes, Linton pictured the ship sailing west on the southern side of Hawaii. To the surprise of everyone on board, April Dias had just gone into labour several weeks premature. A few hours later, a tiny baby came into the world facing a very uncertain future. Several hours afterwards, Linton received word about an imminent attack on the ship by the Earth First Alliance. How did they find out about the ship? It bothered him a lot back then, but even more so now.

Helicopters were dispatched to evacuate April to the US launch site, and Linton's team to Indonesia but by the time they arrived, the first combatant from the EFA had moved in. It was only a single attack drone and it was quickly dealt with, but the evil machine still managed to fulfil part of its deadly mission. The first of the helicopters to leave the ship was the medivac chopper sent for April Dias; it was only a few kilometres into its journey when an air to air missile turned it into fiery debris. Linton was not on the stern helipad when the tragedy had occurred, but Sid Cartwright and Amos Hooke had given him the sickening report of April's death. They eventually gave some good news though; the baby was not on the transport but was still on the ship being cared for by Sarah Spencer.

"I must be getting emotional in my old age" Linton said to no one when a tear came to his eye.

He remembered how nervous his team were when the other helicopters arrived to evacuate them, but the first leg of the journey went ahead without incident. As soon as they arrived on the Aircraft Carrier, the entire group were transferred onto transport planes and roughly five hours later, they arrived in Western Sumatra.

The computer emitted a disturbing beep causing the professor to sit up quickly; the reply from Mars had come at last.

'Premier Roux unavailable at this time. This is Commander Neville Sage on a secure line.'

"Damn it!" Linton sighed.

He may have recently developed doubts about Olive Roux but he never had any such doubts about Sage; the man was as trustworthy as a politician's promise. Linton considered his options and came an unfortunate conclusion; he would have be hypocritical and lie.

'It is good to talk with you again sir' Linton's first lie was a whopper.

'I regret to inform you that after many years of supply launches, we have finally exhausted our supply of materials and can no longer create cargo pods. If you are still in need of assistance, I suggest my team and I leave the complex and attempt to procure more equipment; primarily by searching for the Ship with a view to salvage. If we should fail, we would attempt to travel to all known Launch Sites and Railguns to seek help and salvage what we can.'

"Let's see what he thinks of that idea" the professor gave a sly grin and clicked on send once more.

Before leaning back and returning to dreams of the past, Linton smiled at the thought of Sage in a furious panic. The Commanders usual method of getting his way, was by abusive intimidation but this would be very difficult to achieve with an interplanetary distance between them.

The flight to West Sumatra was uncomfortable but smooth and Linton remembered being greeted on his arrival by the head of the construction engineers, Harry Grey. Linton's Railgun had already been a major part of the Mars Base supply chain for many years along with two sister complexes in Africa and South America, but whereas the other railguns relied on thousands of military personnel to keep them safe from EFA attack, the Sumatra site made use of isolation and secrecy alone. The plan was to await the arrival of the ship, unload its contents and move everything inside the complex. Only when the transfer of equipment was completed, would the base be sealed and camouflaged but early the next morning, an emergency radio communication arrived with deeply disturbing news.

The ship had been sent to the bottom of the South Pacific by an EFA attack. Professor Adisa's superiors believed the enemy could use their new knowledge of the ships course to make a search for the railgun. The order was given to move the schedule forward and seal the base immediately. The empty underground storehouse set aside for equipment now lost, was employed as a dumping place for the construction and earthmoving equipment Harry could not remove in time. Linton's people were sealed inside the complex before the days end and after the entrance was buried and camouflaged, and the last transport aircraft had departed, a small team used the last of the earthmovers to tear up the runway.

Linton had always wondered about what had happened after the access ramp was closed but of all the scenarios he had considered, the eventual arrival of a reportedly sunken ship never crossed his mind. A familiar sound brought his attention back to the computer screen. A slight smirk on Linton's face turned into a broad smile as he read; he could almost sense the combination of annoyance, patronisation and panic in Sage's words.

'Negative; I strongly suggest you do not leave the Railgun Complex as the surface of the Earth is now very hostile. There is a high probability the EFA will execute you all as traitors to the people of Earth, if they should ever catch up with you. Ship is confirmed sunk and is unsalvageable. Thank you for the time and effort you and your people have put towards the survival of humanity on Mars. What you have achieved with so little is a credit to you all, but now you should protect yourselves by staying out of sight. Further orders will be forthcoming.'

Linton contemplated the words 'further orders.' How much power did this man believe he had?

'Message received and understood' Linton typed and sent back.

"And will be completely ignored" he grinned.

Professor Adisa may not know how and when the Ship arrived, but he will find out later.

Hope all my friends up in the northern hemisphere are keeping warm and avoiding the roads when they are all iced over.