A few days of high temperatures (41C or 106F) has meant a few days of staying inside with the air con doing its thing. I didn't write all the time, but I got a fair bit done (yay!).
So here is the latest bit of sneakiness and discovery.
Chapter78
Suspicious Minds
"Talon; you can't leave Mars!" his mother plainly stated.
"Do you honestly think you can ensure my safety since I have just revealed the Deep Council's guilt in the deaths of two citizens?"
"Don't forget the Paramedic" April reminded him "I don't believe for a minute he jumped from the walkway."
Gretel Descott frowned as she considered the way events had changed and much to her own dismay, she eventually decided Talon was right and he probably should not stay on Mars. Thinking back to April's recent warning about the Deep Council gave Gretel a sickly feeling in the pit of her gut when she realised it was true; she did not and could not trust them anymore.
"You look like a total wreck" Bunker Guard Dennis Fenton noted.
Reed Branson did indeed look like he was about to fall asleep face first into his breakfast.
"I'm still not used to sleeping on land" Reed lied "When you spend such a long time at sea, the only time the ground feels like it is moving, is when it isn't."
Of course the truth was he had spent a major part of the night doing anything but trying to sleep. It had all been worth it though because he had managed to procure some very juicy pieces of information from Professor Adisa, so all he had to do now was succeed in passing it to someone who could get it out. Down in the second workshop were a number of half finished projects that would occasionally receive some tender loving care and Cid had described them to Reed in great detail. They both knew it would only be a matter of time before the room became part of Reeds patrol route and sure enough, he found himself there later in the afternoon.
Last week's group from El Centro may not have known what Cid and Reed were planning, but five members of the current rotation knew exactly what to look for. So when Reed appeared in the main workshop an hour later, they all kept a close eye on him to see what he would do. He wandered through the room with two other guards, looking just as menacing when on a nearby bench he noticed eight tools lined up in a row.
"I could use one of these" Reed noted to his supposed friends as he picked up shifting spanner.
"Hey don't mess with my tools, I'm gonna need that soon" one of the farmers protested.
"Relax I'm only kidding" Reed grinned and tossed the spanner over his shoulder.
All three guards laughed as the farmer fumbled to catch the tool before it hit the ground.
"You're right; they can't take a joke" Reed noted as they all walked off.
The man looked down at his work bench to where the tool had been taken and saw it was the sixth from the left. Six was the engine of the yellow front end loader in the next room; now he knew where to look for Reeds message.
A veil of despair hung over Calla and Blue as they sat quietly in a small alcove in the Gravity Ring of the ship waiting for Luis to finish talking with Abigail. Before going into his daughter's room, Luis had said he had some very important news to tell, but the waiting was beginning to make them both very nervous.
"It's bad news... I just know it" Calla stated firmly.
"I want to say no but... yeah it probably is" Blue sighed.
"I'm guessing your Dad's in big trouble for a start" Calla noted.
"He's been in big trouble since the day we first made contact."
Calla wrinkled up her nose and nodded; Blue was certainly right about that.
At last they heard a hatch open further down the corridor and Luis Dias finally appeared. Blue was sure he could hear the faint distant sound of his sister crying, sending his anxiety levels to new heights.
"Sorry to keep you so long" Luis said as he sat down.
Blue and Calla just stared intently for a moment.
"Some very disturbing things have happened on Mars" Luis began "Three people have been murdered and two of them were very dear to us. One was named Professor Leonard Topolski and he had been Abigail's chief instructor for more than three years. The other was Florian Klein, who was a kind of like a grandfather to both your sisters Blue."
"My mom is going to explode when she finds out we're going to a place where people are dying" Calla admitted.
"Well she won't have to worry too much because I'm certainly not going to take you to the surface of Mars" Luis revealed "Also Blue's mother and our other daughter Saffron will be leaving Mars along with a few freinds who also feel their lives are at risk."
"Wow... this ship is gonna get crowded" Calla noted.
"You won't have to worry" Luis smiled "The Mars Orbit Station consists of two artificial gravity wheels much bigger than these and we will be taking it with us. Twenty years ago it was a part of this ship and was how we transported hundreds of people at a time from Earth Mars. Now it will become our home while we help build the new colony in the Asteroid Belt."
"You mean to say the Mars Council is going to just let us take it?" Blue asked in surprise.
"There is no way for them to stop us" Luis smiled "and besides, they didn't build it."
"Who did?" Calla wondered.
"You met some of them back at the Railgun complex" Blue informed her.
"Those guys back in Sumatra?" Calla gasped.
"They were part of the worldwide team that put the Mars Project together" Blue nodded "Sarah told me all about it when I was a kid."
"You still are a kid' Calla smirked "So what else have you not told me about Sarah and the Railgun team?"
Blue smiled and tapped the side of his nose. There were no big secrets to tell but he liked to annoy Calla whenever he had the chance.
After a journey of over two and a half hours, Cid's truck finally pulled off North Harbor Drive and pulled up near the small patch of sand adjacent to what was once a Coast Guard Base.
"It ain't gonna be easy getting that thing out onto open water again" Cid noted.
There was definite truth in his words when considering what the small team was up against. The bow of the ship was well and truly stuck in the sand and behind it, a large number of aluminium masts protruded from the water; each marked the final resting place of various pleasure craft, once the pride and joy of the former residence of San Diego in a time long gone. Two rope ladders hung from the bow of the raider's ship marking where its crew had evacuated ashore before being captured by the sentries from El Centro and the crew of the One and All.
"I'll send a few people from my ship over to give you a hand" Jack offered the repair crew "but let us know by radio if you need anything specific."
A few of them gave a wave of thanks as they started to haul up their tool boxes, and soon Cid and Jack were back on the road. This time they only had to travel a few kilometres to the One and All, still safely moored near the southern end of the Pacific Highway. Cid reversed the truck up to the foot of the pier where they were met by Jose Garcia and his trusty rifle on sentry duty.
"Hey there Jack" Jose smiled "Good to see you're okay after the last strike; any word from the Captain yet?"
"Too early, but he's in the bunker safe and sound" Jack replied "Did you have much trouble here when the meteor hit?"
"Nothing to speak of; just some minor damage from the pressure wave, but as you can see we're almost done with some minor repairs" Jose gestured to the small ship.
Jack strode off down the pier with the other two men close behind.
"To tell the truth, we were more worried about you and the others" Jose added "You were much closer to the strike zone than we were."
"I was in the foothills at the time" Jack replied "The Bull Ant held up well but you should see the shrapnel down the left side. But you can see it later, I want to pick up some gear for now."
"What do ya need?" Jose asked.
"We're gonna take a trip north to check out the extent of the damage and search for survivors, so I want to take some more food packs and about two hundred litres of fresh water" Jack ordered.
"Well get right on it."
"Also you and Marion are coming with me" Jack added "Some of the raiders you captured were sent to work on farms up north; so if they've managed to arm themselves, I don't want to get caught with my pants down."
"This Jose and Marion" Cid asked "Good shots are they?"
"The best we have" Jack replied "Jose is a fine sharp shooter with a standard rifle and Marion's father was a military sniper and he taught her some very unique survival skills. They're the kind of people you want on your team when you want to show you mean business without actually killing anyone."
It did not take long to get the supplies loaded but before Cid and Jack could start the journey back, they received an urgent radio call from the other ship requesting they hurry over, which they promptly did.
"Did they say what the problem was?" Jack asked as they drove back North Harbor Drive.
"Only that there was something I needed to see for myself" Cid answered.
When the truck arrived back at the raider's vessel, it was met by four very concerned looking faces (suitably attached to heads and bodies) waiting by the road side.
"What's the trouble?" Cid asked.
Two of the group pointed to a hydraulic ram on the ground nearby so Cid went to inspect it.
"Naturally we started off with the steering gear and found this as part of the system" one of them explained. "You'll notice there are four bolts used to hold the unit onto the ship mounted frame, but only three are the same size; the fourth one is slightly larger."
"I don't see that being a major problem" Cid noted.
"The problem is I'm the one who fitted the larger bolt" the man stated.
"Run that by me again?" Cid asked.
"It would have been a little more than six months ago when I was working in the bunker" he explained "A couple of guards brought out this unit and told me to fix a stripped thread; so I drilled it out and re-tapped a new slightly larger thread and fitted a bigger bolt. When it was done they just took it away again."
"You're sure it's the same unit?" Jack wondered.
"One hundred percent" the man reassured them.
"Did you ask them what it was for?" Cid enquired.
"Yes and they said it didn't concern me. I assumed it was an actuator for one of the internal doors."
"So how did it end up on this ship?" Cid asked what no one could answer.
"There are three other units exactly the same; two on the port side and two on the starboard so this unit is not an addition, it was always a part of this ship. But somehow it got into the bunker, was repaired by me and was then sent back to be refitted."
"I find that more than a little disturbing" Cid declared.
Disturbing things were also happening at the same time on Mars. Barry Fine had not always been a paranoid man, but ever since he and Jarred Kinderman had helped April to reveal the existence of the Deep Council by modifying the Mars Base monitors, he had become very suspicious and wary. Fortunately nobody knew he had been a willing participant, so he was not under any surveillance and this gave Barry the opportunity to do some spying of his own.
Sixteen capsules waited in the hanger for the day they would be needed for someone to take another trip off planet to the Mars Orbit Station (assuming Calla hasn't already renamed it the Cosmic Cheese Wheel or something much worse). Four of these Capsules had completed all their checks and rebuilds and were considered to be ready to go, and the one at the head of the line was Capsule Three. Capable of carrying twelve passengers, it was only slated to take five people on its next trip, but Barry knew many more would choose to leave if April and Sarah Spencer succeeded in starting a new colony off world.
Ever since the murder cover up had become common knowledge, Barry had overheard many people talking about how worried they were. It now seemed the influence of this Deep Council had not diminished in the slightest since the revelation of their existence, and their desire to hold on to power was obvious to all. Most of the people Barry spoke with believed it was highly unlikely April and her four companions would succeed in escaping Mars with their lives, but she was unaware of this deadly rumour because all five had been kept in near isolation ever since their upcoming departure had been announced.
After giving the idea a great deal of thought, Barry came to the conclusion that it was doubtful the Deep Council would dare to stage an accident on Mars because the entire population had already made up their minds that if anything sinister were to happen, it would most definitely be another murder. An accident with their spaceship however would still be suspicious, but impossible to prove.
In order to minimise the chance of such a planned accident, Barry secretly set up a few surveillance cameras in the hanger connected motion sensors, and it did not take long for him to get a positive result. A mere eighteen hours later while watching the recording of the previous sleep cycle, he noticed a shadowy figure moving around Capsule Three when all the lights were dimmed. It was impossible to see who it was or make out what they did, but thirty seven minutes passed before the intruder finally left the hanger.
Without hesitation, Barry began a detailed inspection of Capsule Three but could not find anything out of the ordinary. Two and a half hours later, he sat down in the commander's seat of the capsule and contemplated his next move. Without some kind of proof that the ship had been tampered with, he would not be able to explain why he had set up the unauthorised surveillance and may even be accused of being the offending shadowy figure himself.
It took him almost an hour of contemplation before he finally managed to formulate a plan that would protect his friends without incriminating himself. Now all he had to do was to put his plan into operation; a task easier said than done.
Went out to give the garden some water yesterday evening and found a little black and white cat with a squeaky voice exploring the area. He thought about coming to say hello but was a bit too nervous and he soon trotted off home.
I gotta get me a cat.