A funny thing happened a few days ago. I thought I had reached the end of the story but then another chapter just appeared out of nowhere. Should be done soon and then I can tell you how many chapters there will be till the end.

Thanks for enduring and I hope you find this one exciting.

Chapter 81

A Final Act of Desperation

All pretence of secrecy was thrown to the four winds as Gretel grabbed her communicator and called the secret number once again.

"MY SON IS IN CAPSULE 3!" she shouted "TELL ME WHAT YOU DID!"

The person on the other end did not even bother to answer Gretel, but simply ignored her and cut the connection.

"All systems appear to functioning normally on both ships" one of the controllers offered.

"I don't care" Gretel barked "Abort Marshal Barron's ship and bring it back."

Organised chaos took over in the control room as technicians proceeded to override the automated systems.

"Jettisoning capsule in three, two, one."

The abort rockets on the side of the capsule fired and it separated from the booster; but almost immediately, a warning began to sound

"Medical alert, medical alert" the automated computer system cried out.

"It's the carbon dioxide levels" one of the controllers noted "They're already three times the safe limit and still climbing."

"The CO2 scrubbers!" Barry slapped his forehead "I was so busy trying to find something in propulsion or navigation that could crash the ship, I never thought of the Life Support System."

"We'll never get anyone out to the capsule in time from here" the head controller noted "Alert Base Two to have a rescue team with oxygen standing by and we'll land the ship as close as we can."

"How close can you get it to Base Two?" Gretel asked in a panic.

"In an emergency such as this, I'll drop if a few meters from their front door" he smiled reassuringly.

Hope began to rise in the control room, until a slurred voice came in over the radio.

"Jish... this is Marshl... Barron... ... ship is... off corsh... swishing to manual."

"NO BARRON, STAY ON AUTO; WE'VE GOT YOU!" the head controller shouted into his mic.

A dark cloud of despair descended over the room when it became clear that Marshal Barron, starved of oxygen had indeed tried to take control of his ship. It lurched sharply to the left before starting to roll and tumble down towards the surface of Mars. The controllers tried desperately to re-establish their command link but it all came to a sudden and violent end, when the ship struck the ground and exploded sixteen kilometres west of Base Two.

Gretel Descott sank to the floor; she couldn't speak, she couldn't cry, all she could do was sit and take short breaths. The room was silent for an apparent eternity until Barry Fine knelt down beside the distraught mother.

"I... I'm so... so sorry" he begged "I had no idea they were going to use a second ship today; none of us did."

Gretel turned and looked into Barry's eyes as anger and realisation welled up inside her.

"No!" she stated "You didn't do this... they did... and they will pay!"

She held out her hand for Barry to help her back onto her feet. Tears began to stream down her cheeks as she made her way to the comms desk and picked up a desk mic.

"People of Mars, these are the names of the Deep Council members, and they are all responsible for the deaths of Doctor Florian Klein, Professor Leonard Topolski, Junior Medic Ron Granger, Councilman Marshal Barron and... Security Officer Talon Descott."

Gretel took a second to compose herself before she spoke again while all over the base, people started the recording functions on their communicators. Much to the horror of the surviving members of the Deep Council, Gretel then acted on her threat and slowly recited each and every name. While this was going on, April and her shipmates flew on into orbit, completely unaware of their narrow escape. They were also unaware of the madness going on down at Base One because in all the shock and confusion, no one had thought to make contact and tell them. All over the base, Deep Council members found themselves being physically grabbed and restrained by those around them as their names echoed throughout the corridors.

When she had finished, Gretel just turned and walked from the room. She wandered a short distance down the corridor to a small private communication room where she sat at the desk, accessed the computer in front of her and began to type. She wrote for nearly half an hour, making many corrections on the way, as she wanted every last bit of her anger, resentment and loss to be expressed in her words.

When she had finished, Gretel sent her message off to Earth, pushed the keyboard away and leant forward in thought. Something shiny caught her eye and when she looked down, a small metal broach pin caught her eye. It was a tacky little thing made with colourful ground glass and it was in the shape of a flower. Gretel recognised it immediately as the one she had seen April Dias clutching between the thumb and forefinger of her right hand during the many hours of interviews and testimonies when she still headed up the Deep Council Investigation Team. April had always removed the pin from her pocket and held it during times of great stress, giving Gretel a clue as to how it had come to be lost under the lip of the keyboard. This must have been the same comms room April had used when she had contacted her husband to inform him of the recent deaths of their good friends Klein and Topolski.

For the first time ever, Gretel Descott could truly understand the sense of loss April had been feeling. She finally knew how April had suffered inside for so many years, believing her own son to be dead because of a bad decision she had made so many years ago. Reaching forward, Gretel picked up one of the headphone sets and opened a private channel to the ship in orbit over Mars.

"Hello April."

A look of stunned surprise washed over April's face as the last person she expected to hear from, gave her a friendly but melancholy greeting.

"Gretel... is that you?"

The others in the capsule turned towards April; none of them could hear the incoming message through the private channel.

"You were right April; I just had to tell you... that you were right."

"I like to think I'm right most of the time, it drives Luis crazy; but what are you talking about?"

"Talon is dead April" Gretel said in a broken voice "The capsule he and Marshal Baron were in just crashed near Base Two. It was the Deep Council who sabotaged it, but it was you they were trying to kill."

April found herself unable to reply but instead she turned to look at Saffron in the seat next to her, as the young girl excitedly relished her first flight into space. The thought of losing her own life paled into insignificance when compared to the thought of losing another one of her children.

"I'm sorry about Talon, he was a good boy and I was very impressed by him" April replied honestly.

Everyone else in the capsule jumped slightly when April referred to Gretel's son in the past tense.

"I need to tell you something" Gretel continued "Actually I've got more to tell than you could ever imagine."

"I'm listening" April prompted.

"I've just written to my father back on Earth to tell him what has happened."

"Your father?" April wonder how Gretel could manage to do this.

"Prime Governor Redding himself; I'll bet that surprised you."

"Err... yes, just a lot!"

"The misogynistic old bastard has got more to do with this than anyone realises; more that even I myself know, but it has something to do with my older brother."

"I didn't know you had a brother" April admitted.

"His name was David Redding but much to father's disgust, my brother rejected the families capitalist ways and changed his name to Falcon Skye when he joined a militant environmentalist group back in about 2019; that was why I named my own son Talon, just to annoy my father" Gretel smiled to herself.

"What has that got to do with...?"

"Please April, I have a lot to get through" Gretel begged "A few months after he left, father invited my brother back to talk, but David refused until father agreed to give him a fair chance to do most of the talking and really listen to what my brother had to say. Well it started out civil until the evening deteriorated into a real shouting match but to my surprise, after a few hours of David declaring capitalism and consumerism were nothing more than the exploiting of the masses, while father argued that people like him brought jobs, growth, prosperity, and all the other stuff billionaires go on about while choosing the colour of the calfskin seats for their new Ferrari."

"I take it you and daddy did not get along much either" April noted.

"You don't know the half of it but getting back to my story, to my surprise father and David eventually stopped shouting at each other and instead started discussing things like rational people."

Something very strange was definitely going on here. April could not work out why Gretel was so insistent in giving her former foe a complete family history so soon after the death of her son. At first she assumed it was some kind of coping mechanism so Gretel would not have to think about what had happened.

"What were they talking about?" April asked.

"I wouldn't have a clue because father would not allow me in the room; as I said before, he's a real misogynistic old bastard. Anyway they stayed together for most of the night, having food brought in and rarely taking a break, until late the next morning when my brother came out and called for me. He told me everything had changed and it was going to be alright, then he hugged me and left... and I never saw him again."

April still could not understand what was going on but decided I would be best just to let Gretel keep venting her spleen for now.

"After that, my father changed dramatically. Not at home though, where he was still the same selfish and manipulative man he always was, but in public he became a philanthropic advocate for the public good. I don't know if you knew, but he was even touted as a possible candidate for president, though he turned down the opportunity time and again saying he could do more outside the restrictions of public office. All that changed after the Sholf-4 meteors first hit the planet. Father was the first to pour billions of his private wealth into the Mars project saying although Earth may die, the human race should go on and he implored all of the worlds wealthy to stop buying things like solid gold doorknobs and do something useful for a change."

The computer on April's ship beeped as information about a standard course correction came on the screen. Ruth and Jarred seemed to be on top of the whole situation, which was good because April had very little knowledge of ship systems. She did her best to ignore the distraction as Gretel Descott continued rambling on about her chequered family history.

"When father was asked to serve on the International Mars Project Committee, he jumped at the chance because he said it was a great opportunity to do something truly selfless and worthwhile for humanity. Needless to say, he did favours for all the right people and got himself elevated to the position of Prime Governor over the whole project in a very short time. The public started to see his tough side again when he personally headed up the fight against the EFA, and I got to see his tougher side when I married a man father did not approve of. He been trying to force me to fall in love with someone from one of the right families, but I was just as uncooperative as your husband Luis."

April's heart jumped upon hearing what Gretel had said. So Luis was supposed to choose another girl, but had instead fallen for her; this made April feel very special indeed.

"I found out just how dark my father's soul was when six months after Talon was born, my husband just disappeared and although he denied it, I just knew father was responsible. It was then he told me I was going to Mars and all about the secret Deep Council he'd created. He said Talon would grow up to be its leader and would be in charge of Mars, Earth and everything else but he didn't count on the Deep Council becoming disagreeable and fractured over the years."

"This is all very interesting Gretel but shouldn't you be telling this to the authorities on Mars?" April wondered.

"I'm telling you because you have friends on Earth you can trust. There is more to this than even I know and I'm sure it has something to do with my brother David, and what he said to my father all those years ago. You came so close to finding out the truth here, and that was why people started turning up dead. I was hoping you would not give up investigating; once you have caught up with your family..."

Gretel had to stop and take a deep breath; she felt so envious of April and her family now.

"...then perhaps you could contact Earth and see if you can really get to the bottom of the whole mess."

The last thing April wanted to do now, was worry about what should be resigned to history, but she could tell Gretel thought it was very important.

"I promise I will look into it" April said and she meant it.

"Thank you" Gretel smiled and cut the channel.

As April's ship flew on towards its rendezvous with the Orbit Station, Gretel Descott rose from her seat and left the room. Although Deep Council members were being restrained and taken into custody all over the base, nobody gave Gretel a second glance as she wandered down the corridor, passed the control room and into the main hanger. With no more ships scheduled to arrive or depart in the near future, the vast cavernous space was relatively devoid of human life apart from a few people doing some basic maintenance. One of these people glanced up as Gretel walked by, but he did not think anything of it until the standard warning buzzer sounded to indicate one of the inner airlock doors was closing.

It took the man a few seconds to put together all the casual sensory input he had just received into one coherent scenario.

"Oh SHIT!" he cried out as he ran for the door.

By the time he reached it, the inner door had locked so the buzzer had silenced itself but a flashing strobe light indicated the airlock was still in use. On the inside, Gretel Descott stood silently with tears streaming down her face as the outer door began its unlocking procedure. A loud hiss sounded as soon as the slightest crack formed in the door seal, so Gretel knew her pain would soon be over.

Suddenly the hissing stopped as the door began to re-clamp itself before Gretel could even feel the pressure change.

"NO!" she cried and ran to the outer door, slamming her fists against it to no avail.

A few minutes later the inner door opened up and a group of medical care workers entered to find Gretel sobbing on the floor. One of the doctors administered a sedative and she was taken home to rest while being kept under constant supervision.

With the Bull Ant finally on its way north and the small camera drone searching the surrounding countryside, Cid and Jack made their way west to catch up with Smit and Shifty Cloud Dancer to question their prisoners. But up in the hill face to the east, a big surprise was in store as a sweaty and dirty man strode up to the outer gate of the Bunker Security Zone.

"What have we got here?" one of the gate guards sneered.

"Another one of those damn farmers who doesn't know how to follow procedure" his boss said.

The three guards on duty grabbed their rifles and wandered out of the gate house. They didn't leave the shade of the building, but just waited for the disgusting man to get closer.

"Where do you think you're going" the leader asked as the man neared.

To their surprise he did not answer and he did not stop, but just continued towards the armed men. When it became clear the man intended to walk straight passed them and through the open gate, they levelled their weapons and stepped into his path. The man eventually stopped, but not before he felt the barrel of a rifle press against his chest.

"That's better" the head guard grinned "Now why don't you be a good boy and turn around? When you get home, I'm sure your friends will take good care of you and teach you some manners. If you don't go I may have to teach you myself."

The filthy man looked down at his chest and then to the left and right. Just when the guards were beginning to wonder about the man's sanity, or lack of it, he suddenly grabbed the barrel on his chest and jerked it sideways.

There was a loud explosion as it discharged underneath the dirty mans left elbow, making all three guards jump back in surprise. In one fluid move the man pulled the smoking weapon out of the head guard's hands and thrust the stock into the face of the man on his right. The rifle barrel was then swung around into the left guards head, sending him crashing to the ground before the dirty man finally thrust the side of the weapon into head guard's nose.

"WHERE'S REDDING?" he yelled.

The three stunned men lying on the ground looked at each other with surprise while trying to stop the blood flowing from their wounds. When no answer was forthcoming, the dirty man pulled back the rifle bolt and readied it to fire once again.

"I said... where... is... Reading?" he repeated as he aimed the weapon between the head guards eyes.

"Err... who?" the guard asked innocently.

"Wrong answer" the filthy man replied and fired the gun, just nicking the head guards left ear.

It was mainly shock and fear that made the guard cry out. He rolled over clutching the side of his head for a few seconds before he realised the ear was still attached to his head.

"Now then..." the dirty man reloaded the barrel "who wants to keep all their facial features intact?"

"P-p-please... he'll want to know who you are" the left guard begged.

The man smiled as he lowered the weapon, just a little.

"You can tell him... Commander Neville Sage has come to pay him a little visit.

I like to think the end of this chapter was a complete surprise to all, but experience tells me some of you would have guessed who the dirty man was straight away.

Thanks again and more soon, Marty (TM)