Chapter 4
“This Tube gives you a false sense of location, doesn’t it?” said Elise, relaxing on a deck-chair. “I mean, this feels like I’m on a camping trip in a national park somewhere – not on a space-ship.”
“It does,” replied Sean. “The hard work we’ve all put into the dome over the years has paid off.”
“Shame about the gravity, though. I think there’s less here than on the Moon,” said Elise.
“About the same, I thought,” commented Matsu Hiroyama, who was lying on the grass a bit further away from them, “but then, I haven’t spent as much time there as you two have.”
Matsu was thirty-six and from Japan. He, like everyone else, wore the Martian Voyager overalls with mission patches on both arms. His compassionate nature meant he was very sensitive regarding people’s family and social lives.
“With a larger crew we could improve the gravity, though,” said Elise, smiling at Matsu. She walked over to the small stream that ran through the middle of the tube. Cupping her hands she took a sip of the crystal-clear water. “Lovely.”
She looked further down the stream and could see another two crew members, standing in the water with their hands out, meditating.
“That’s an idea.”
She walked down toward them, admiring the beauty of the nature around her.
“Ah,” said Sean, admiring the scene. He pulled a tablet computer from his overalls pocket and started running his finger over it. “Now, I must study a little bit more about Mars.”
“Good idea,” replied Matsu. He pointed at a display that appeared to wrap around his left wrist. Holographic images suddenly appeared from it.
“Oh, don’t mind my antiquated technology,” murmured Sean indifferently.
***
“Hello, guys,” said Elise, walking into the stream. “Mind if I join you?”
“Be my guest,” said Bernard Granger in his strong French accent. “The more the merrier.”
Bernard was thirty-seven. He had a very inspiring and creative personality. A little further upstream, his uncompleted painting had captured the uniqueness of this man-made wonder.
Marie Emile was so immersed in meditation that she hadn’t noticed Elise’s arrival. She was also French, twenty-seven years old and the youngest on the Mission. Marie, apart from her meditative mood, was attentive and alert. If there was some pressing issue on the radar, she would be there to try and solve it.
They all immersed themselves in the silence for a while. It seemed nothing could have disturbed the moment, until the announcement came on the PA.
“Elise, would you report to the flight deck, please?”
“Oh,” said Elise, as if she heard a voice from another dimension, “the Commander has summoned me.”
***
Elise entered the flight deck and admired the expanse of space through the front-view screen. She saw the Commander leaning over her husband’s shoulder, having a word with him, before turning to greet her.
“Elise,” said Commander Mason, “welcome to my office – finally.”
“That’s all right, Commander. You’ve been busy,” said Elise. She looked at Steve, who smiled.
“Sean and I have had long conversations about the events that took place on the Moon seven years ago,” said Bryan.
“About the Shadows,” said Elise.
“Yes,” said Bryan. “You yourself haven’t orchestrated a collective battle against the Shadows as yet.”
“If you are wondering whether I can handle a situation if it happens on Mars,” said Elise, “the Oracle has put me through many simulated battles in the Essence.”
“It’s just my old military background,” said Bryan, studying Elise without giving any emotion away. “I always make sure my soldiers are up to the task.”
Elise spied the ring on Bryan’s right pointer finger. Studying it closely, she could see it had a picture of the planet Saturn etched into it. Bryan noticed what she was looking at.
“The ring,” said Bryan. “Now, that’s a story. Did Sean tell you?”
“No.”
“Sean, a gentleman called Neil, and I were in our first battle against three Shadows on the Moon. We were testing the first LCL, actually. They fired at us in the Moon’s orbit, but Sean used the Oracle to shield us from their deadly energy weapons.”
“Wow! Lucky you had the Oracle,” said Elise.
“Yeah, we were eventually hit on the rear rockets and I had to take the LCL down really fast. We managed to transfer to the Lunar Remote Vehicle, or LRV, an electric vehicle that was housed in the cargo bay of the ship. At first we travelled at night in the shadows of some craters, but then we had to go across an open sea.” He paused. “Sean used the Oracle to fire at the Shadows, but eventually we were knocked over, rolling into a crater. Neil was killed.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Elise.
“We eventually made it to the dome, as Sean knocked out those Shadows coming at us in a hover-vehicle,” said Bryan, “but they made it up to the dome with these huge space guns. That’s when I thought we might be in big trouble.”
“Garos,” said Elise.
“Yes. The three fired, and Sean was able to knock them back down the cliff. The power of that Oracle is amazing!” said Bryan. “Anyway, Garos came back with a vengeance, somehow managing to get the hover-vehicle going again and sending an army of flying wolf-drones at us. That was when I was able to extract the ring from the dome.”
“You were able to use the ring as a weapon?” asked Elise, curious. “When Garos came back to attack the Moon, the Keepers were only able to collectively empower the Oracle.”
“I must have been able to get more power as there was only one of me at the time,” said Bryan. “I think I was given a bit of help by the Goddess to get us out of a tight spot. Normally, I’d say we should work collectively. It’s the best way.” He paused in thought. “That’s how I figured how to energise the Oracle, when everyone else wasn’t sure at the time.”
“Thanks for telling me this. You’ll be a strong part of our collective force,” said Elise.
Bryan smiled. “From that moment, my life hasn’t been the same.”
“Why?” asked Elise.
“Well, it’s almost like everything I’ve done since then is leading me toward something extremely significant, something big.”
“I know exactly what you mean,” said Elise.
***
Several thousand metres above the Face of Mars, Elise took several photos of the rock as they descended.
“You see the faces?” said Elise, pointing down at the rock through a portal window. The huge rock was becoming larger by the minute. “I can’t quite make out the two faces from here.”
Sean studied the rock. “No, not from here.”
She wanted to study the digital screen, but wasn’t about to miss out on the rest of the scene.
“Prepare for landing,” said Steve. Rockets at the base of the fuselage suddenly fired with extra thrust.
“I will land at the edge of that ridge,” reported Steve. “It’s perfectly flat.”
Elise checked a small LCD screen at the back of the seat in front of her, displaying geographical information from Google.
Red dust billowed up from the surface in a thick cloud. There was a jolt and a shudder as the Voyager hit the Martian surface.
“Folks, we have successfully landed on Mars,” reported Bryan.“Thanks to our excellent pilot, Steven.”
Everyone cheered and took turns in shaking his hand. Elise gave him a warm hug.
“OK, everyone,” said Bryan, “let’s suit up and get out on the surface.” He turned toward Steve. “Let Mission Control know we’ve landed.”
“Aye, sir.”
***
“Lord, the humans have left a satellite in orbit,” said Sirek.
“Destroy it,” snapped Resh.
A wide, dark beam shot out of the Shadow ship and hit the satellite. But instead of the satellite being vaporised, it continued its orbit around the planet.
“Ah, our weapons have had no effect on it, Lord,” reported Sirek. “They’re using a force-field.”
“Earthers don’t have force-fields ,” spat Resh, impatiently. “The Guardian is using the Oracle somehow. Fire again!”
Another beam struck the satellite, with the same result. Resh smashed a fist against the closest panel.
“Arrr!” He waved his fist in the air in frustration. “OK. Ram it. Full power to the forward shields.”
“Yes, Lord,” replied Sirek, running his fingers through the holographic panel. The ship powered toward the satellite and impacted it with a thud. Instead of the satellite exploding, it bounced off their ship and continued on its merry way.
Resh belted the panel again, but this time, pieces flew everywhere.
***