Chapter 16: Recovery
Daria looked into the infirmary. Fully two days after the fight Anton Vaslov and Harry Peterson lay in beds. Both were unconscious. It was still questionable whether or not they would live. Anton had a major heart attack at the end of the battle for the reactor. The damage to his heart was considerable. His wife Ludmilla had been sitting stoically by his side since he had been brought back into the habitat.
Harry had been seriously injured both by decompression and a major wound to his leg in the battle for the habitat. Back on Earth they might have amputated and then given him a prosthetic or even tried to regrow tissue and save the leg. Martian medicine was much more basic. The debate among the medical personnel was more along the lines of whether or not he could survive an amputation and even to some extent how best to do it. The decision had been to wait and consult physicians on Earth after the blackout. Harry's wife Esther came and went. She was always there if he was conscious, though he was barely lucid with all of the painkillers. Rumor was that she was spending most of the rest of her time in their quarters crying.
Daria walked back to the library with a hundred things going through her mind at once. Tom was waiting there sitting on a chair looking at a book.
Tom looked at the expression on Daria's face and asked, "A penny for your thoughts?"
"Maybe a dollar," Daria replied.
Tom smiled at her. It did not change her expression when he responded, "OK. A dollar then. What's on your mind?"
Daria sat down at her workstation and deadpanned, "Everything. I have had three great friends in this life. You. Jane. And truly Tim O'Neal. Tim was a horrible English teacher, but was also the only person other than you and Jane who really seemed to care for me. He is with God now. That leaves me with you and Jane. What if things had not gone so well in the battle? I could have lost you! I think that I am less worried about dying myself than losing you. What am I or what are we doing here? We could be back in Lawndale where nothing ever happens. It is nice and quiet."
Tom walked over and kissed Daria on top of her head. He stood and looked for a moment at his wife. He really wanted to reassure her. "Daria, I love you and I will fight to the death if need be to protect you. That is why I went out there to support our fighters. Yes, it was the proper thing to do because Mia is the commander and she ordered it. But, the real reason was to protect you from those things." Tom placed great emphasis on the word 'things.'
Daria looked at him with a blank face. Some would call it her 'resting bitch face.' Tom knew that in this case it came from her deep emotional conflicts and the trauma of the last few days. He leaned forward and took both of her hands in his. "Daria, we have had a great life together. We have had many adventures from people chasing us in Europe to raising a family. Admittedly, this is not what we had in mind when we decided to undertake one last great adventure, but it has been quite exciting. Sure, there was a threat and there may yet be another one. We now know to be prepared. I don't like this situation any better than you, but it is what it is. I was scared out there. It doesn't take much to kill someone on a planet that is constantly trying to kill you anyway." He ended his comments with a smile.
Daria actually smiled back at Tom.
Tom looked deeply into Daria's brown eyes. These were the eyes that had captivated him since he was a teenager. "However, I think after this incident you and I need to come to a decision. I put forward that we should complete our contract here and not renew for another five years. We came to help build a colony not fight a war. There are plenty of wars back on Earth."
"At the moment I tend to agree," Daria responded. "We don't have to make a final decision for several months yet. However, I think you are right. It will be interesting to see what reaction we get from Earth."
From the doorway they heard someone clear their throat. Commander Ramirez was standing there. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked.
Daria replied, "Not at all. We were just discussing the last couple of days and how it has affected us."
Smiling Mia said, "It has affected us all. You are right about building a colony and not engaging in warfare. We all feel that way. I would say especially people like Anton and the others that were once in special forces for various countries looked at coming here as a way to get away from a world where their services were so desired and too often necessary. Now Tom if you will excuse me, I need to talk to Daria about pulling some information together for me. In just a few hours it will be time to have a conversation with Houston."
"Sure," Tom said as he got up. "Daria, I will see you at dinner." Tom walked out of the room.
Mia sat down and looked at Daria. "Don't worry Daria. This feeling will pass. It happens to everyone the first time they come face-to-face with warfare. It is a very clarifying experience and shows you what is important."
"Thanks commander," Daria replied.
"Now, I need a couple of things from you ASAP."
Daria looked up at Mia and responded, "Sure."
"First, I need a summary video of the battles that is no more than 10 minutes long. This is strictly for internal use. I am going to call an 'all hands' meeting at 3:00 pm."
"I can do that," Daria replied.
"Then I need a second video to include in my communications with Earth. It needs to cover the battle, but it can't give away what weapons we used or even show the destroyed Groundfighters in such a way that someone looking at the video might be able to surmise what type of weapons we have."
Daria perked up. She straightened in her chair and looked right into Mia's eyes, "It sounds like you don't trust our friends back in Houston."
"I don't. I wish that I could. But, between almost everything from here becoming open information and the sheer number of people involved in supporting the colony, I think that we likely have one or several moles on Earth sifting the information for things that can be used against us. I have no intention of making their job an easy one. That may mean defying directions or even orders from Houston. It could lead to my being relieved. They do have that authority, though I could be re-elected as commander by my fellow Martians. In the meantime they would appoint someone as temporary commander."
"I hope it doesn't come to that," Daria said.
"You and me both. Now get to work on those videos!" Mia ordered with a smile.
Daria smiled back, said "Yes Ma'am," and then turned to her workstation.
—
The theater was quiet as Commander Mia Ramirez walked in and went to the podium. Daria guessed that she very intentionally dressed casually for this event. Probably to provide a feeling of calm and normalcy. Well, at least as normal as once could expect right now. Everybody was present, except Anton, Harry, and their wives. Daria sat with Tom in the second row.
Mia began, "Fellow Martians. As we have all experienced during the past few days our colony was attacked and we successfully defended our home. I wish that I could say that this was the end of conflict on our world, but I would be quite naive if I did. As a result of this attack I am taking the following actions," a slide appeared on the display above and behind her.
"First, I am establishing a defense committee composed of three former military officers to evaluate our defenses and make recommendations to the council and to me regarding how we can better prepare for any future attacks."
"Second, I am establishing an armaments committee composed of one former military person, one fabricator, and an expert on materials we have available to us here on Mars. We need effective weapons which will use materials available here as much as possible. They will report to both the council and myself."
"Third, the council met in session today and formally established the Martian Militia. The Militia is composed of all Martians and will be led by four officers. The Militia can be activated by me, the council, or if I am unavailable the vice-commander. You will hear more about the Militia in coming weeks. There will from time to time be drills organized by the Militia leadership."
"Fourth, the council has voted to establish three levels of commendation for members of the Militia. The first is the Martian Legion of Honor. This will go to members of the Militia who have sustained life threatening wounds in battle or have lost their lives. The second is the Martian Cross. The Martian Cross will be awarded to members of the Militia who have displayed extraordinary bravery or ingenuity in battle. Finally, there is the Hero of Mars. A Hero of Mars will not only have demonstrated outstanding bravery under fire, but accomplished a significant goal in defending Mars without regard to his or her own life or injury. Please note that any of these may be awarded posthumously. These commendations will be awarded based on recommendation of a commanding officer and an approving vote by the council."
Mia paused a moment and then went on, "Now please join me in watching a brief video of the battle so that you can understand what our forces faced." Daria's ten minute video started to run and Mia took her seat.
When the video had ended Mia stood and stated, "Now I need to talk to you about how we will move forward. You have all received a few moments ago an order from me prohibiting the transfer to anyone on Earth of pictures or descriptions of our armaments or the battle damage to the robots. Descriptions include verbal descriptions to relatives or others back on Earth. In World War II they said, 'Loose lips sink ships.' Well, here we have to think that 'Descriptions can lead to destruction.' If our enemy figures out how we defeated their robots, then the next time they send them they will have improved the design. Even with our support system in Houston I will not be giving that kind of detail."
There was a slightly audible gasp from the assembly.
Continuing with her speech Mia stated, "We will also be making some technical changes. We are reconfiguring our radar systems in order to better detect low observable spacecraft approaching the planet. We will be fabricating more drones and they will be programmed to watch our ground area out to several hundred kilometers. There will be other changes coming, but the council and I are trying to make these as least intrusive into our daily lives together as possible." Looking up from her notes the commander took off her reading glasses and stated, "Folks, we dodged a bullet here. We were lucky and I thank God for that."
Looking around she said, "I want to let you know that both Anton and Harry are conscious. Both had surgery and came through reasonably well. Our doctors are treating them as best they can. Please do not all rush to the infirmary. They need their rest. Now go back to your quarters and spend the evening having dinner and appreciating your spouses." With that she stepped down from the podium and the crowd stood and began wandering back to their quarters or the dining hall.
—
Daria walked into the command center and over to Commander Ramirez's workstation. Looking at her she wondered if it was really possible that the amount of gray hair on her head had doubled in the past few days? "You wanted to see me?"
Mia looked up somewhat wearily from whatever she was doing. "Yes. I wanted to thank you for the two videos. They are really really good. You worked in TV for a while as I recall."
"Yes," Daria replied. "I spent a year right after college writing for 'Sick Sad World.' It was what I would call a formative experience!"
Mia chuckled, "I really miss that show. It was always entertaining. Can you think of a good title for our situation?"
"Already did." Daria quipped, "Martians fight off alien robot invaders from Earth. Tonight on Sick Sad World!"
"Kind of gives it a twist doesn't it?" the commander asked.
"Sure does," Daria replied. "Anything else I can do for you?"
"Not right now. I needed that bit of humor. I am on with Houston in about 15 minutes, so thanks again."
"No problem. Good luck with Houston," Daria said. She then turned and left the command center.
Commander Ramirez sat at the master communications station in the command center. She was wearing her dress military uniform. Tonight she was Colonel Mia Ramirez, Ph.D., U.S. Army, Retired – though by the nature of her job here on Mars she had clearly been reactivated. Not only was this going to be a difficult topic, but the long delays due to the speed of light and Earth being at its farthest from Mars would make it excruciating.
Earth was now in the clear and so Mia began, "Houston this is Commander Mia Ramirez at Aries on Mars. I am sorry to report that the colony has had its first armed conflict. However, I am pleased to report that we defeated the enemy. We were attacked by a dozen Groundfighter robots. We have taken casualties, but we survived. As you can see from the attached video, I believe that these robots were Chinese in origin. All of the markings and components lead to that conclusion."
"It is my understanding that among the personnel scheduled to arrive in the next few weeks will be the first Chinese taikonauts to arrive on Mars. All personnel arriving from now on will be subject to Martian immigration and customs. Also, any craft approaching or orbiting the planet and any craft landing on the surface without prior clearance from the Aries Command Center will be considered hostile and we will respond accordingly. I am attaching the text of these policies as passed by the Martian Council and signed by me. I am also sending information on the nature of the injuries suffered by our casualties and their names. They are responding well to treatment. This is Commander Ramirez. Out."
That message would take almost 24 minutes to reach Houston and she expected it would take a while for them to get back to her. Next she had to make a military call. They would likely be much more useful than the civilians in this matter. She set the narrow beam that would send the encoded communication.
"This is Colonel Mia Ramirez command code 4586734141 with a priority message for National Command Authority." Mia went on to go through the situation and the battle in greater detail than she had for the civilians. She transmitted the video she had shown at the meeting that afternoon. She also sent some technical information they had taken from the robots. Mia was reasonably certain that there would not be a leak from this group. That was not the case with Houston. However, even with the military she did not describe the munitions they had fabricated, though she expected a good engineer would be able to make an educated guess as to how those holes were made in the robots and how they destroyed the insides. She ended her call with, "Please advise on next actions."
With that she got up from the communications console and left the room. Now it was time to shower, change, get some dinner, and get a big cup of the Martian tea with extra caffeine. She really wanted coffee, but that was simply not available yet.
It was about an hour later when a message from Houston arrived at the command center. Mia had returned just 5 minutes earlier and read the initial response from the military. It had read: 'Message received. Analysis proceeding. Will inform. -NCA.' Now it was time to see what the civilians were saying. Mia selected the video message and watched.
"Houston to Commander Ramirez at Aries on Mars. We have received your communication and find it quite disturbing. The Chinese space agency has contacted us and stated that they sent several peaceful exploratory robots to Mars, which initially communicated with their data center prior to the conjunction blackout, but are now silent. They are asking what has happened to them and if you can assist in locating them. We are concerned that you destroyed their exploratory robots. Perhaps you misunderstood their mission. We will need more information about the fate of these robots including detailed pictures. The Chinese were counting on these devices to find new areas for colonization. Also, they made last minute changes to the crew they are sending you. The original six taikonauts were stricken with a severe flu, which at the time was raging in China. These six scientists are experts on habitability and resource extraction. You are to cooperate with them and they will investigate what happened to their robots."
Mia was doing a slow burn. If she had a pistol she might have shot the monitor. What were these idiots thinking? The message got worse.
"As for things such as treating spacecraft as hostiles and implementing immigration and customs – you are ordered to stand down. It is bad enough that you may have destroyed a major mission of exploration. To further complicate matters is unacceptable. We are attaching the updated MTV flight list. Houston out."
Well, she would show this to the council and they would have a discussion. But, the fact is they would disobey these orders. With the MTV on the way it would be over a year before they could send someone to relieve her and even then that person might not get a very warm welcome. As it was, the mood in the colony was such that the arriving Chinese would be lucky not to see the beauty of the Martian surface without the benefit of a helmet or surface suit.
Mia pulled a paper envelope from her desk. Written on the form was only a number. Then she got out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote 12 names. Mia got up out of her seat and paced for a few minutes holding the envelope. Then she went off to find Daria.