The Ruins of Mars (The Ruins of Mars Trilogy Book 1) (21 page)

     
There are no Archangels here, Braun sighed to himself, only me.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Back on Earth

     
James Floyd paced the length of his office like a trapped jungle cat testing the boundaries of his cage. Hot yellow sunlight cut through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the triangular room as he stopped to gaze out at Kennedy Space Center’s plaza, three stories below. Since the event of the solar flare, he had slept on the office couch, keeping in constant, albeit lagging, contact with Captain Vodevski aboard Braun. A thundering dust storm was threatening to delay the construction of the permanent base so profoundly that future mission objectives may begin to get scrapped for lack of time, and record levels of radiation were testing the very limits of what the dome and his crew could withstand. On Earth, the effects of the solar flare were still being tallied, as Alexandria had temporarily gone offline—her under-protected server networks in Oakland overloaded by a substantial electromagnetic pulse.

      Reports filtered in of widespread blackouts in countries where older-style power grids were still in use, and the World Health Organization was urging everyone with a pacemaker or other augmented internal computers to visit their doctors to ensure that everything was still working correctly. Early estimates put the death toll worldwide at somewhere near twenty thousand: the highest concentrations among the elderly and in the poorest of the Earth's nations. Things were bad, but they could have been worse. The governments of Earth were mostly prepared for this kind of thing. The team on Mars was not.

     
James was still counting his lucky stars that at the time of the solar flare, Braun, as well as the dormant Remus and Romulus, had been on the dark side of Mars—thus shielded from the initial EMP by the body of the planet. Now, the radiation shields on the ship were working marvelously, and the remaining six members of the orbital team were safely protected from the deadly gamma and x-rays that flurried about them, as long as they stayed in the galley. When the storm passed and the bombardment of particles subsided, Julian would have to run a full systems-check of the entire ship and repair any damage.

     
So far, so good: thought James pensively.

      “
James?” came the gentle voice of Copernicus. “I have an incoming message from Captain Vodevski.”

      “
Go ahead,” sighed James, turning from the view of the brilliant Florida morning to face his desktop.

     
The surface of the table began to glow, and a low hum emitted from the floor as the three-dimensional message loaded before playing. The pale white face of Tatyana Vodevski with her smooth curls of rich red hair appeared above the desktop and flickered to life.

      “
Dr. Floyd, the situation has not improved since our last communication. Assad and Marshall want to go EVA and change the clogged air scrubbers to ensure that pressure within the base does not fall. Though the mission does sound dangerous, Braun has informed me that Lander 1 suffered damage to its ignition computer from the EMP. They won’t be able to leave the planet without fixing it, and there aren’t enough seats in Lander 2 to make the trip in one go. If we try to make several trips, we run the risk of burning out Lander 2’s computers due to the unprecedented levels of electromagnetic radiation. I have greenlit the mission to go EVA, as Braun and myself see no other alternatives.”

     
Vodevski’s stolidly pretty features froze as the message ended. Rubbing the stubble of his chin, James frowned. He hated having their options so limited, so black or white.

      “
What do you think about all of this, Copernicus?” he asked.

      “
What specifically, James?” came the instantaneous reply.

      “
About going EVA in the storm?”

      “
It is my opinion that this operation might be more problematic than it appears on the surface.”

     
Shaking his head, James rubbed his tired eyes.

      “
That’s what I was worried about, but how do you mean?”

      “
Well,” started Copernicus slowly. “Due to the fact that the air scrubbers are buried deeply within the life-support station, the time frame for this EVA comes dangerously close to the estimated maximum allowed for radiation exposure. When the Tac Suits were designed, we had not anticipated these levels of radiation. Arguments were made for better shielding, but ultimately that was sacrificed for a wider range of flexibility and movement.”

      “
Yep,” said James flatly. “That is exactly what I was thinking too, but what can we do? If the scrubbers need to be changed, we can’t just let them fail because the suits might or might not be able to handle the radiation. If only they’d been able to unload the electrolysis machines, none of this would be an issue.”

      “
Indeed,” echoed Copernicus. Then, “Shall I relay your concerns to Captain Vodevski? Would you like her to explore other options?”

      “
No,” breathed James as he dropped down into his seat. “There isn’t time for that, and she’s already given them the go-ahead. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed and see how this plays out.”

      “
For what it’s worth,” said Copernicus gravely. “Harrison and Marshall are excellent choices for this EVA. I have total confidence in their ability to salvage the air scrubbers.”

      “
Me too,” mumbled James as he leaned back in his plush leather chair. “It’s the suits I’m worried about.”

     
Staring blankly at the ceiling of his office, James’s mind was dark with the visions of six men and women trapped inside an inflatable base on Mars. He pictured the images of the massive dust cloud he had seen in that morning's briefing and shuddered internally. Then, thinking of the record radiation levels being logged, he actually shook slightly in his chair.

     
I hope I don’t doom them all, he thought fearfully. I hope this damn storm just ends.

      “
James?” came the voice of Copernicus from the stillness of the room.

      “
Yes?”

      “
I have some interesting news regarding Remus and Romulus.”

     
Snapping his head up, James leaned forwards in his chair, thankful for the distraction.

      “
What? Did they get baked in the flare? I thought they were on the dark side with Braun.”

      “
They were,” said Copernicus evenly. “What I have to report is not connected to the solar flare.”

      “
Oh?”

      “
Indeed,” replied the AI. Then, “On the morning that the Lander crew touched down on Mars, the AI brainwaves of Remus and Romulus, which have been flat lined since December of 2044, started showing signs of activity.”

      “
What does that mean?”

      “
It means that they are, in fact, alive, as I surmised earlier.”

     
Rapping a knuckle on the desktop, James allowed himself a small grin.

      “
Well, that is good news.”

      “
Yes,” continued Copernicus. “I have measured several ongoing event spikes from both brothers originating from their perceivable reality constructs.”

     
Slouching back in his chair, James rolled his eyes and groaned, “Copernicus, I don’t know what that means.”

      “
I’m sorry, James. Allow me to explain. Activity within the perceivable reality construct of an AI indicates that the brain is attempting to build or maintain a tangible sense of reality. While I cannot establish how expansive this particular reality is, or what it might include, it is a promising sign nonetheless.”

     
Curious at this development, James pushed on.

      “
So, are they
there
or not?”

     
There was a short pause as Copernicus wrestled with the best way to explain that which he himself did not fully understand.

      “
I cannot identify what it is that they are seeing or doing. No information has been recorded to their databanks, and the satellites themselves are still unresponsive.”

      “
So they’re not
there
. I mean, not really. Right?” shrugged James with confusion.

      “
Yes and no. Whatever they are experiencing, it is far more intense and visceral than anything previously recorded during their scan of the planet. This would suggest that they are not conscious in Mars orbit but existing somewhere else.”

     
With frustration and exhaustion, James squeezed his eyes tightly shut.

      “
What?”

      “
I have seen previous activity from Remus and Romulus similar to what I am now recording.”

      “
Really?” said James with hopeful caution. “When?”

     
The desktop glowed hot white for the blink of an eye, then a series of charts and graphs filled the air.

      “
I logged these readouts when Remus and Romulus immersed themselves in deep memory regression shortly after learning of Dr. Park's death.”

      “
Is that the thing where they sort of go back in time?” James asked, tipping his chair to put his feet on the edge of the tabletop.

      “
I would describe it as more akin to virtual reality,” said Copernicus. “As AIs, we are capable of directly recording every detail of a moment or conversation into hard, uncompromised data. When we so desire, we can revisit that raw data, essentially reliving the experience in its entirety.”

      “
And that’s what they’re doing?” exhaled James with a frown. “Reliving an experience? What experience could possibly be so powerful that it takes them offline?”

      “
James,” Copernicus warned ominously. “Given the lack of activity within the memory banks of either twin, I can say with absolute certainty that whatever past experience they are immersed in did not originate
from
them.”

     
Knitting his brow, James sucked in a sharp breath, then spoke slowly, “So you’re telling me that they are trapped in someone else's memory?”

      “
For lack of a better explanation, yes.”

 
Remus and Romulus. We are not alone.

     
Time passed in unnatural torrents and burst as if controlled by a conscious entity. One moment, Remus and Romulus were standing amongst the dancing stalks of tall grass, and in the next, the landscape seemed to blur and shift through light and shadow as the sun climbed and set within seconds, racing across the sky like a missile. Streaks of color swam by in the dissolving texture of the countryside, and sounds like the rushing hum of a sighing forest whipped about them as days became nights, then became days again. Seasons changed in the beat of a heart as the land turned from green to brown to white and back again to repeat itself all over.

     
Then, as if the controller had suddenly decided to slam on the breaks, the torrent stopped, and the brothers were pitched forwards in the stillness. Flakes of puffy white snow drifted down from a cloudy sky as Remus and Romulus gathered their wits and surveyed the intimidating calm of the moment with curious apprehension. Hearing the beating of heavy feet upon the soft blanket of the snow, they turned to see strange animals meandering across the rolling hills from the south.

      Like the great elephants of Earth, these creatures were massive quadrupeds with thick midsections and knobby heads. Their skin was a deep purple—almost maroon—yet they possessed no trunks or tusks. Instead, the beasts had wide mouths filled with flat white teeth and rimmed with stout tentacles or fingers. The giants thundered in mighty herds as they loped across the frozen landscape, kicking up clods of powdery snow and earth. Bleating like guttural trumpeters, they called to one another, stopping here and there to dig at the ground for signs of green. The twins watched with fascination as the alien animals crowded together, grunting and bobbing their heads in the search for food.

      “
They are so similar to elephants,” murmured Remus with awestruck elation as a group of adults stood close together, creating a shield from the chilly wind for a youngster.

      “
There must be more in common between the Earth and Mars than previously thought,” agreed Romulus.

     
With a crack of blinding white light, the ground beneath them leaped and rumbled. The great purple beasts turned their heads to the north as a plume of smoke and ash jetted up from the high summit of the distant peak, which towered above all the other mountains around it. The ash cloud turned the sky to blackest night, and the frightened creatures began to wail and stamp, rolling their big eyes and gnashing their flat teeth. The shockwave unleashed from the eruption screamed across the wintry countryside like a tidal wave, lifting the elephants off their feet and tossing them through the air like dry leaves. Red ribbons of magma and rock streaked from the broiling mouth of the volcano into the blackened sky like comets, reaching the crest of their high arcs before returning landward like the brimstone of biblical legend. The snow at their feet began to steam and melt as the hot air, carried on the back of the shockwave, evaporated the serene stillness of winter, turning it into a boiling, churning sea of shifting soil.