Ragnarok (23 page)

“What did you two do?” asked Varg cheerfully.

“Nothing.”

“Nothing.”

Varg and Veikko didn't know what to make of it. They did nothing, apparently.
Nothing to tell, then
, Veikko thought, and he went on to regale them with the specifics of his straight flush—clubs, nine to king.

The crowd slowly floated to the shuttle and took their seats. Violet never had her chance, but she didn't regret it all that much. Nothing would have come of it anyway, she told herself. The landing was smooth under the thin Martian gravity, and the taxi to the spaceport took nearly an hour. They left it intentionally long to give the newcomers their safety lectures.

“Martian air is currently only 45 percent as thick as Earth's sea level and contains almost no oxygen. Never go outside without your oto-equalizers and a supply of oxygen appropriate for your activities. Never go outside without a warm jacket, even for a moment. Though the cold may not feel bad at first, you will get frostbite within ten minutes of exposure. Never forget that terraforming is only in its earliest stage. The effects don't change the fact that this is not a planet fit for life, and that life is now your own.”

The sight out the windows was far less red than Violet had expected. They were in fact on a brown planet, not a red one.
Disappointing
, the word echoed through her mind for several reasons.

“We are now docked at the Valles Marineris Spaceport. The airlock will open in twenty seconds. Mars net will be available to your links in thirty seconds. Please follow all safety instructions at all times, and enjoy your stay on the red planet!”

It wasn't red. It just wasn't as red as she thought it would be.

 

 

T
HE
T
IKARIS
began to unweld themselves from the shuttle's plating. Vibeke's broke free first and started to help Varg's, which had the most legs and would take the longest to break free. Violet's and Veikko's joined in as they escaped, and soon the group was fluttering across the tarmac, trying to hold up Pokey in the thin Martian air while also juggling four microwaves.

They weren't spotted on the tarmac, but as soon as they opened one of the luggage portals to the spaceport, two engineers took notice and ran for them. Nelson and Bob dropped their microwaves and sprang into action, flying for the engineers. Landing on their necks, both Tikaris tapped their quarry with the sedative needles on their front feet and flew back to close the airlock. Pokey was best suited for the tough inner door's crank so he started the instant the outer door was closed.

A small pop resounded in the luggage room, but nobody was there. Everyone was still unscrewing the cargo cylinder from the shuttle. The insectoids flew better in the indoor air and carried Pokey up to the ventilation system and, from there, to the intake to await their owners outside of the security zone.

V team was among the first off the flight. They quickly jogged to the terminal exit, then to the edge of the superstructure and awaited their Tiks. Sal spotted them under the vent and began unscrewing it, quickly magnetizing each bolt so as not to drop them. He was about to lift the grate upward into the vent when he realized it opened outward. The grate fell two meters onto Varg's head, knocking him over onto Vibeke.

Violet went into attack mode instantly, and Nelson felt her state, so he flew to her fast and landed in her hand as a knife, dropping her microwave on the floor at her feet. Bob seemed almost offended and flew to Vibeke for solace, and then Sal joined the rest as fast as he could, leaving three microwaves on the floor. That also left Pokey all alone in the vent system, unable to fly down. Varg recovered and looked up to see what dropped the grate just in time to see Pokey walk off the edge of the vent and fall right onto his shoulder, knocking him down again onto the floor.

Pokey immediately saw the microwave pile and realized he'd left Varg's sidearm up inside the vent shaft. He linked through Violet to ask Nelson to recover it, so the knife left Violet's hand and flew up to dislodge the weapon, which fell onto Varg's head just as he made it up for the third time.

By some miracle, nobody saw the Tikari fiasco happening in the corner. All four humans finally turned their Tikari back to control mode and chested them, Varg's around his torso. The team then holstered their microwaves, cursed their bumbling instruments, and headed for the conveyor.

There was no view in the underground conveyor train to the Barsoom Colony. Only four hours of darkness that somehow made the month-long space flight seem shorter.

The large-bellied men from the flight sat beside V team, so nobody from either group felt very vocal. Violet examined them, certain they were Wolves. They had the disgruntled pride she saw in so many Orange Gang members, that subsurface snarl that said they hated the world and loved hating it. If anything they were caricatures of the Orange Gang, more extreme versions. When the conveyor stopped at Barsoom, V team rose to depart, but the three men remained to head farther north.

Veikko linked, “We can't risk sending a Tikari to track them. Varg, throw one a node if you can.”

Varg took three nodes from one of his Thaco pockets and linked out, “Distraction.”

Violet immediately shoved Veikko into the railing.

“Don't you grope me, you bloody pervert! I oughta kill you! I
will
report you. You'll lose your job over this!”

She slapped him and continued. “I swear, I've never met such a pervert in my life. I should rip your bloody arms off and stuff them down your throat, I swear to God, you bastard!”

She gave him one more slap as the doors opened, then stormed out into the station. Varg and Vibeke caught up. Veikko exited the conveyor last, cradling his cheek.

He linked, “I missed you in cryo, Vi.”

She linked back, “We missed you too, you gropey bastard. Varg, did you get a node on one?”

“All three, great show,” he replied.

 

 

T
HE
ARCHITECTURE
of the Martian colony was nothing like that of Earth. Everything was redundant, inner and outer windows, inner and outer halls, inner and outer lobbies with inner and outer reception areas. Every wall was two walls, the bulky mass that protected from sandstorms and thin air, then the inner wall full of heating systems and soft paneling. Even the people dressed in layers: pressure suits opened to reveal jackets, jackets opened to reveal thermal suits, thermal suits covered underclothing. Valhalla's multipurpose garb would offer all those layers and even oxygen on the surface, but it stuck out on Mars as if they were wandering naked.

Thoris Hotel was something like an arcology in that it contained everything an entire city would need, as did all separate structures on the red planet. It made its own air, drilled and refined its own water, and was run by its own devoted company. The hotel's layout was completely unearthly. It took up far more horizontal space than any Earth contract would allow, spreading across three square kilometers of the brown sand, but standing only two stories tall. Nearly every wall was blue. Green moss-like fluff grew by every UV protected window, modified land algae with a high oxygen output.

Unlike the alien world they lived in, the people were utterly human. Few were modified, and some lacked links. They were quiet, as were the halls and even the humungous atrium. Veikko hacked into the hotel's system to program reservations for the team. The only four-person rooms available were the Marsden family's and one reserved for but canceled by the 19/50 Club. He looked up the club on the common Mars net and found they'd canceled their low gravity plans and were staying on Earth for the month. He linked out to the team and programmed their variable ID implants to show the names of the club members, luckily two male and two female.

The hotel check-in went smoothly, and they headed for their room. Veikko entered first and was the first to see the woman sitting on the first bed. She sat motionless as Veikko drew his microwave in surprise. The rest of V team flooded in and took up arms as well. The woman just smiled.

“What are you doing in our room?” asked Veikko.

“Ah, but it's not your room, is it? It's the 19/50 Club's.”

“Who are you?”

“There is no 19/50 Club, you see. We forged it so you'd take this room so I could see you all for myself.”

“You have ten seconds to say who you are, or we use a bore to find out.”

“I'm Balder's wife. And he calls you his kids, so I guess I'm your momma.”

The team considered it.

“Bullshit,” Veikko replied.

She just laughed. “My name is Niana. Head of the Phobosian Republican Army. Ya heard of me?”

Violet hadn't. Varg lowered his weapon and spoke. “Yes, he's mentioned you.”

“What does he have to say about me?”

“Nothing that needs to be repeated,” he said aloud. Then he linked to the team, “We can trust her. There were only three people still alive who knew Balder got hitched: Balder, Niana, and me.”

They lowered their weapons and took seats around the room.

“So I'm gonna brief you, and then you can brief me. Balder didn't tell me much as Mars comm is unsecured, but if he wanted me to meet you, it's likely about the Ares Project, am I right?”

Veikko nodded.

“Well, here's the situation. We have a fission bomb stuck to it with an organic detonator. We don't have the trigger, so I assume Balder sent it with you?”

“No, no, he didn't give us an organic trigger.”

“Odd. Well, perhaps he doesn't want you to nuke the thing. Why don't you fill me in?”

Veikko started. “There are two companies trying to bring the Ares home. The Yakuza”—Niana cringed—“and a new gang calling themselves the Wolf Gang, run by the remains of the Orange Gang. We're here to stop the Wolf Gang, another team is coming to deal with the Yaks. But nuking the device is very much what we'd like to do. He didn't give us a trigger, though…. Is there any chance it's here?”

“Not likely, unless he told you otherwise.”

Vibeke spoke. “It's under the redwood.”

Violet remembered Balder's last words to them. “Is there a redwood tree on Mars?”

Niana grinned. “It's the tall one in the center of the atrium. The sneaky bastard. He left it here for us all along. Come with me.”

She led them out of the room. They spoke by link.

“Easy day, we nuke it and head home to kill Wulfgar,” said Veikko.

“I don't think so,” said Varg. “I spoke to Balder about the situation here a few times before. He mentioned a nuke in the power of Valhalla's allies but said it was an absolute last resort for an apocalyptic scenario. He wouldn't use it unless it was absolutely necessary. He'll want us to foil the Wolves, not risk a nuclear blast.”

Vibeke agreed. “Tensions are high on Earth. A nuclear blast here could start a war. Varg is right, we need to focus on the Wolves.”

“But he gave us the location for the trigger,” said Veikko. “Why would he do that unless he meant for us to use it?”

“Worst case scenario, we blow it in space if it lifts off.” Violet considered. “It's an organic trigger, right? It'll work on extranervous link.”

Vibeke was impressed. “That's right. We could hit the trigger here when it was in transfer orbit, and it would still go off.”

“So we focus on the Wolves first,” said Veikko, “and keep the trigger on us at all times.”

They arrived at the atrium's garden. It only produced 12 percent of the building's oxygen but held most of its flowers and trees. A few lone wanderers were spread out around the plants. In the center was a giant tree, the biggest Violet had ever seen. She assumed it was due to the low Martian gravity. Niana lead them straight to it.

“The trigger is two meters, a chain-link worm. Standard organic trigger, it can smell your intent. You can squeeze its head, tell it to set off the fireworks, beat it to a pulp, but unless you actually mean to set it off, and you have to really mean it, it denies the signal. It'll recognize me and Balder. We'll see if he set it to recognize other Valkyries. If not, you may not be able to set it off.”

They looked around the redwood for any sign of a worm. Other large organics roamed the garden: a tall red hairy blob with two feet and two eyes, spybirds like those on Earth, and Octosqueegees, cleaning the windows. Earth had banned most organics after Høtherus, but Mars needed them. Animaloids designed to survive outdoors, to serve any purpose from food to work horse.

Vibeke pulled out her microwave and aimed it for the ground. Before anyone could ask what she was doing, she sent a low audio pulse into the dirt.
A good idea
, thought Violet, it would force the worm out of the ground. And so it did. Niana spotted it only seconds later.

She pulled the long chain out of the dirt and handed it to Varg. It beeped twice.

“It likes you! He must have programmed it to recognize your sort. Pass it around!”

Varg handed it to Veikko, and it beeped twice again. To Vibeke and Violet with the same results. Violet examined it. It was very much like an earthworm, grayish pink with a thick band around its head. The body, though, was twisted into a five-centimeter-thick chain.
An impossible shape for anything alive
, she thought. But organics were a very strange technology. Varg took the worm and wore it like a scarf for safekeeping.

The five returned to V team's room and further discussed the situation, sharing all intel from each side. Niana told them that the
remains of the PRA were at their disposal as long as they were on Mars before she headed out, back to their base. V team contemplated their next move. They would follow Yellow Boots once he arrived, of course, but none were completely content just to wait and see what he did.