Chapter 29
'I haven't seen your GenMoP lately,' said Mitchum.
'I think he's in the jungle somewhere. I've a feeling the chimp in him is taking over. That was one of the reasons we are here. Just to see how would a GenMoP adapt to an environment like the base.'
Susan sipped her wine. 'If he becomes more like a chimp, it doesn't look like the experiment is too promising for using GenMoPs for space exploration. That's quite a few million credits down the pan.'
'Hmm. I can't say I'm looking forward to telling the brass, supposing there's a brass to tell anything to.'
'What will you do with him?' asked Giavani.
Foreman said, 'I think we have more serious and immediate problems to deal with before I need to worry about Monkley. Have you managed to make any weapons?'
Mitchum said, 'I think we have everything in hand. Not a bad meal, Andy. Not too much seasoning this time.'
'Don't change the subject, Mike. What have you got planned?'
'And spoil the surprise?'
'I don't like surprises. What have you done?'
A black cloud of oppressive silence suddenly dominated the conversation.
'Okay. Why don't I show you what we have planned? Come with me.'
'Lead on.'
As Foreman was about to leave the room, Susan grabbed his arm.
'Andy...'
'What?'
There was a pause. 'Nothing.'
Foreman kissed her and followed Mitchum out of the kitchen.
'Andy,' said Mitchum. 'Before I show you what we've done, I'd like to show you something in the water treatment room.'
'Can't it wait?'
'Hey. Humour me. Me and my team have sweat blood sorting this mess out. It'll only take a minute.'
'Whatever.'
Foreman followed Mitchum to the treatment room. 'So. What am I looking at here?'
'This.'
Foreman turned to face the gun in his ribs. 'Mike?'
'Why the hell didn't you just die with the others, Foreman?'
'You?'
'Guilty. For what it's worth, I feel bad about killing you.'
'You feel bad. Imagine how I feel.'
'Why don't we step outside? I'd hate to damage any of the plant.'
'How very noble of you.'
'Out.'
Foreman walked out the door, feeling the gun digging in his spine.
'Keep walking.'
Foreman went into the middle of the jungle.
'That's far enough.'
'Okay. I've been living on borrowed time. I see that now. But I got a right to know why.'
Mitchum shrugged. 'Nothing personal. Just business. Actually, I like you. I still have to kill you.'
'Thanks. I always wanted to be shot by someone who liked me.'
'Last trip out here, we not only found water, but we found also Marilium.'
'Never heard of it.'
'A new element recently discovered on Earth. I mean, rare as. But for microprocessors in super computers, priceless. It fetches unbelievable sums on Earth. We were digging the first bore and up came this shiny shit. Debbie analysed it and bingo. Marilium.'
'So why not just come and get it? Why kill innocent people?'
'My sponsors. They saw the potential right away. They could clean up, and me and my crew could retire filthy rich. They just didn't want the chance of goofballs like you and your pals stumbling on to what we found.'
'You planted the explosives on the ship?'
'Debbie did the deed. She's the explosive expert. You just decided not to die. Something I'm about to correct.'
'Tell me something. Does Susan know about all this?'
'We all do. She's a sweet girl. She decided before she even met you, you would go out with a bang, so to speak. Generous to a fault that girl.'
'Remind me to thank her.'
'Sorry, Andy. This is where it ends. If you have some kind of god, this might be a good time to say hi.'
'Let him go, Mike.'
'Susan. I told you to keep out of this.'
'Three people have already died. Let Andy go.'
'He knows too much. When a rescue ship gets here, they'll soon work out how they died. We'll get rid of Foreman's body out in the desert, somewhere. Then nobody can link it to us. It's the only way.'
Foreman said, 'But how can you go back to Earth with a war going on?'
'There is no war, Andy. We intercepted your radio signals. I pretended to be Cadet Farley. You haven't been able to reach Earth because we blocked you. We finished the water job simply as a cover. If anyone suspects us, they will see the work we've done. We'll tell them we didn't find anyone on the base when we got here and didn't find the crashed ship. You're just the last part to clear up.'
Susan said, 'Mike. There has to be another way.'
Hancock, Giavani, and Warner decided to join them.
'Tell Mike not to do this,' pleaded Susan. 'Debbie.'
'I was the one who planted the explosive. More than any of of us, I'm the most responsible for what happened. I'll be the one banged up for life. We all will. Foreman has to die.'
'Pete?'
'Debbie's right.'
'Joe?'
'He's a loose end.'
'See?' said Mitchum. 'It's almost unanimous. None of you need to see this. Go away and let me do what I have to do.'
'Drop the gun, Mitchum.' For a big man, Commander Storme could move like a cat. From the surrounding jungle, twenty armed men appeared.
'Where the hell did you...' Mitchum gasped.
'One of our agents on the moon found out your plan. We were too late to stop the murders, but we've been tracking you for months. Drop the gun, Mitchum.'
Mitchum grabbed Foreman around his neck and pointed the gun to his head. 'We're walking out of here. Follow us and I'll shoot Foreman.'
Storme shrugged. 'Go ahead and shoot him. I'm still taking you in.'
'Hey!' said Foreman.
Susan stepped forward. 'Drop the gun, Mike. It's all over. Let Andy go.'
'No. I'm getting out of here.'
Susan ran at him but the single shot from Mitchum's gun brought her down. She fell at Foreman's feet. Storme was about to make a move when from the trees above, a well aimed pineapple crashed down onto Mitchum's head. The gun fell out of his hand and he dropped like a stone. Monkley climbed down and jumped up into Foreman's arms.
'Thanks, pal.'