This is a fan translation of Road to Mars (Дорога к Марсу) by fifteen Russian science fiction writers.

This chapter was written by Nikolai Romanov.

I claim no rights to the contents herein.

Chapter 35

Occam's Razor

The simplest solution to the situation would be to increase the number of living humans in the closest space from three to four. And then it would restore the possibility of success in its task. But the Caretaker calculated that simply increasing the number of humans would be a temporary solution to the problem, as the supply of vital resources for its wards would be far too limited. And what followed would be the inevitable reduction in the number of the living.

And since it had been born for something else entirely, it needed a very different solution.

It was based on the difference between the numbers one and two.

In the new situation, there needed to be two Caretakers.

Naturally, Colonel Serebryakov was very pleased with how the events of the last several days had been unfolding.

Everything was now upside-down.

At first, everything had been far from peachy. Sure, being selected as the backup to the primary crew was very honorable. It indicated a recognition of his qualifications and professionalism. The entire world would know of his existence. And now just know (serial killers were also known) but respect as well.

But the main laurels would not be his. He wasn't going to be the commander of the ship that reached the Red Planet first. Even if he later ended up completing the same journey.

Just like landing on the Moon in the previous century!

Everyone heard of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins (even if the latter was less known).

But who knew of Conrad, Gordon, and Bean, the crew of the Apollo 12 who'd repeated the accomplishment of the pioneers and were only "guilty" of going to the Moon four months later?

Maybe only a small number of space exploration historians…

It was the same way with Mars.

The laurels had been intended for Tulin's crew.

Thus, ending up as his backup was not all it was cracked up to be…

Then again, fate ended up changing everything later, and after Tulin and Johnson's deaths in an airplane crash, Ivan Serebryakov ended up becoming the candidate for a pioneer of Martian exploration.

But his song didn't plan for long! The booster failed, and it was that loser Slava Anikeev and his friends who ended up in Serebryakov's place. And even if it was hard to envy such luck, considering that Slava had ended up right in the frying pan, but he managed to deal with the situation, and no one was going to judge a winner…

And now things were once again changing.

He was going to Mars after all. Even if he wasn't a pioneer anymore. Rescuing the pioneers wasn't bad either. Even if that also made him a taxi driver, whose task was to deliver a female passenger to Mars…

All in all, they said that no one was going to find out about the woman, so Serebryakov was still going to be the rescuer of the pioneers.

On the other hand, he was burdened by the need to personally choose his companion for the upcoming flight. But orders were orders. He was the commander, after all!

The "taxi driver" didn't spend long thinking about the candidacy of the passenger.

There was nothing to think about and nothing to doubt. From the perspective of physical training, Kartashova was far better than Pryahina. Younger. She had a far greater chance to survive the flight. And, if he accounted for the psychological environment on board—considering the likely relationship between the "taxi driver" and the passenger—then the choice became even more obvious.

So Colonel Serebryakov made it.

The head of the board of GLX Corporation Mark Kozlowski was enraged.

Everything was crashing down.

Lev Perelman had disappeared after going to Russia. A few coded messages came from him that failed to reveal whether he'd completed his task or not.

And Lord Quinsley kept asking questions that had no answers.

And where would they come from, if the probes made by Kozlowski's corporation that were supposed to monitor the Ares had all at once gone blind and deaf and were only transmitting information on their own onboard systems?..

They were utterly useless now.

He was almost ready to believe in a higher power. After all, the probes couldn't have just failed all at once!

But neither Quinsley nor presidential advisor Donovan was going to believe such a theory.

What higher power, Mr. Kozlowski? Occam's razor. No need to multiply entities unnecessarily…

It was far simpler than that: You've failed the mission entrusted to you, Mr. Kozlowski!..

That was what those two would say. And they'd definitely call him on the carpet for that.

The blow to the reputation would at the very least shake up GLX. Or maybe it would collapse like a house of cards…

What should he do?

Mark spent the whole day racking his brain. In the end, after coming home in the evening, he decided that he would still have to inform both Donovan and Quinsley of what had happened.

They were realists. So they would be unlikely to believe that the cause was sabotage by the corporation. Besides, such a theory was easy enough to verify. And confirm that there hadn't been any sabotage. All the design and production documentation could be studied in detail. Just like the quality control data of the manufactured probes…

By the way, it was entirely possible that Donovan and Quinsley possessed information that could explain the current malfunction in the Ares surveillance system. They were higher on food chain and had access to more data…

In short, tomorrow he was going to have to bow to them.

With that, he went to bed. Although first he checked The Washington Post website for any news.

The flight to Mars was coming to a successful conclusion. The Ares crew had jettisoned the solar sail that turned out to be on board the ship.

Now that had been a surprise! Then again, Donovan and Quinsley might have already known of this method of boosting speed…

Mark awakened from a strange sound. He lifted his head from the pillow and listened.

Maybe one of the night guards, not trusting the security systems, had chosen to personally inspect the building.

But it was quiet, and Kozlowski calmed down and turned to the other side.

The sound repeated itself.

It was as if a horse had clopped on the pavement in the distance… No, not in the distance. Mark could've sworn that the clopping had been produced by something in the bedroom. But then the horse had to have been small, the size of a toy. But alive…

Kozlowski sat up, hanged his legs off the bed, and turned on the night light.

And froze when his eyes got used to the light. A huge spider the size of a bowl was sitting on the floor in front of the bed, next to the chair. Its eyes were studying him. Although there were only two eyes, and there was something human in them. Maybe curiosity, maybe surprise…

Kozlowski wanted to scream as loud as he could. And push the alarm button.

Let those lazy security guards do their jobs.

But only a stifled wheeze came out of his throat. And his hand outright refused to obey him.

All he could do was sit there, staring at the spider's eyes.

The creature shifted from one foot to the other several times, again producing the clopping sound that had woken Mark up.

Then the spider started growing rapidly. And, a few moments, later, it turned into a man.

He was wearing a navy-blue suit, a white shirt, and a light-blue tie. The way office workers dressed.

Could one of the corporation's employees have found a way into his home?

It was a ridiculous thought, as none of them would've dared to try. And they'd have failed!

Meanwhile, the unknown man silently lowered himself into the chair.

For several moments, the homeowner and the guest were staring at one another.

Finally, Kozlowski managed to push the lump out of his throat and asked hoarsely, "W-who… are y-you?"

He was expecting a thundering voice, capable of turning him into a corpse with its pressure.

Instead, the guest replied quietly, "Does it really matter, Mr. Kozlowski?"

Mark suddenly felt ridiculous.

This was probably some kind of freak who'd gotten into his home… Maybe a burglar or a reporter…

"Get out! Before I call security."

Only now Kozlowski remembered that there was a Beretta in his nightstand drawer.

"Don't, Mr. Kozlowski! It won't help you!"

"Why not?"

Mark didn't realize right away how dumb his question was.

"Because you won't be able to do it in time."

Kozlowski remembered shooting blanks at Perelman. He'd been able to do it then…

"I was asked to say hi by the head of your special department."

"Who?"

"Mr. Perelman. I'm afraid you won't be seeing him in person again."

Kozlowski spent several moments studying the guest's face.

No, not a burglar. And not a reporter either…

He really wanted to wait up. But he knew he wasn't dreaming.

"So who are you then?"

The guest smiled a little, "Let's say I represent a higher power."

"Nonsense," Kozlowski barked. "Do you know what Occam's razor is?"

"Don't multiply entities unnecessarily," the guest nodded. "In that case, you may call me Lev."

Ah, well this was more like the truth!..

"Russian?"

"Yes, Russian again…" the guest smiled mysteriously. "I really have spent a long time talking to Mr. Perelman. Otherwise, how would I know about you?"

"That chatterbox!"

The guest seemed to be offended on Perelman's behalf, "Don't speak ill of your subordinates, Mr. Kozlowski. He couldn't have remained silent."

"What do you want from me?"

Lev Perelman, whose appearance was now entirely different, shrugged, "Nothing special. You're just going to tell me all about the activities of your corporation that have to do with the Martian expedition. With all the secret details only you know."

Kozlowski wanted to tell the guest to go screw himself but instead opened his mouth and started talking…

Colonel Serebryakov was supposed to inform them of his decision on the morning after speaking with Kirsanov and Kartashova.

But now he was bothered by her strange phrase.

Yana clearly believed that her husband might linger on Mars until the arrival of the rescuers. Did this woman really know something he didn't?

Not that the doubt affected his choice…

So, when Kirsanov called him, he was ready to name his passenger.

But the conversation took a sudden turn in an unexpected direction.

"Listen, Colonel," Kirsanov said after they'd exchanged their greetings. "We've had an idea. Why don't you bring you own wife with you?"

Serebryakov nearly dropped his phone in surprise.