S Morden - No Way

Frank struggled back into his clothes, and lay on the bench again.

Then he told Leland. He told him everything.

[Internal memo: Mars Base One Mission Control to Bruno Tiller 3/8/2049 (transcribed from paper-only copy)]

Full LOC [Loss of control] procedure is now in place. We’ve told NASA we’ve lost contact with MBO, and are trying everything to re-establish. We can spoof their FLIGHT for a while, but as time goes on, this will become more difficult. Do we have an exit strategy on this?

[transcript ends]

At some point, Fan came back in. When Frank had finished his confession, the doctor eased Leland out of the way and stood at the head-end of the bench.

“Lance? We looked at your tablet. There’s nothing on it.”

Frank glanced from ceiling to Fan. “That would follow. They think of everything.”

“It’s not just that all the personal files have been deleted. Yun tells me that it’d be trivial—trivial for her, at least—to get those back in some form or other. It’s the whole thing. Even the operating system. It’s been erased. The entire memory’s been overwritten. It’s just zeros. Whatever was on there has been destroyed. Did you do that?”

“I might be Californian, but I’m not Silicon Valley.”

“He says he’s a builder,” said Leland.

“Did you wipe your tablet?”

“I wouldn’t know how.”

Fan gripped the edge of the bench. “OK, so how about this: we went looking for this other base. The photos have gone too. Everything in a two-degree block to the south of Ceraunius Tholus. We’ve asked for them to be reloaded, and we’re waiting for them now.”

“And when you get them back, they’ll be edited. They know. XO know.”

“What do they know, Frank? That you’ve deleted all your data, overwritten it, that you’ve wiped out the maps that would prove you wrong?” Fan leaned over him. “There’s nothing, anywhere, that verifies your version of events. Everything you say has an alternative explanation. Even your scars. But I would be personally very grateful if you could tell me, if you can, where Jim is, because we intend to bring him home, no matter what.”

Frank sat up and it brought him face to face with Fan. For the first time, he recognized how big he was. Tall, and broad and strong. Capable.

“I’ve told you the truth. I’ve told you everything.”

“No question as to whether you, when you went out on your own looking for Jim, that you found him, and you left him there and tore off his mission patch?”

“Fan, no.”

“Or that you found him alive? Unconscious? And somehow what you think happened got mixed up with what really happened?”

“No. Never.”

“You got Jim’s patch from Jim’s suit—that’s the only certain thing here.”

Frank and Fan were inches apart. “All I wanted to do was go home. That was it. That was what I was holding out for. And now I’m never going to do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because now you think I killed Jim. What are you and Leland going to do? Keep me sedated for the next year? Then again on the ship home? That’s not going to happen. If Lucy doesn’t put me out of the airlock, you’re all in constant danger. And you’re right, but not for the reasons you think: XO will want me out of the way because I’ve said too much, and they won’t care about how many of you they take out in the process.”

“You know that believing that someone wants to kill you has a clinical name?”

“I’m not mad.” He looked at his lap. “I am going to ask for one thing before you make a final decision. That someone drives over to M2 and takes a look for themselves. OK, two things. The second thing is easier than the first.”

“You want us to check for the gun,” said Leland.

“It’s right there. Under the pile of rock. While you’re digging for it, you can ask yourselves why a man alone on Mars would need a gun. And who might have let him bring it.” He brought his head back up, and said to Fan: “I know this isn’t looking good for me right now, but you know that there’s a chance that I’m telling the truth. And not just because that might mean Jim’s still alive.”

He could feel Fan’s breath on his skin.

“Leland thinks you’re full of crap.”

“That’s not my professional opinion,” said Leland quickly. “I’m going to take some time over that. Until then, I’m reserving judgment. Everybody is.”

“I know you want Jim back. So do I. That’s what I was doing.” Frank looked down at Fan’s balled fists. “You’re not going to beat on an old man, are you?”

Leland put his hand on Fan’s shoulder, dug his fingers in and pulled Fan back. “That’s not helping. We can do better.”

“What the hell is going on here?” Fan turned on Leland. “I don’t know what to believe any more.”

“We’re scientists. We’re all scientists. We look at the evidence and we look at the theories and we see what the best fit is. That’s what we do.”

Fan lowered his voice. “What if he’s right? What if he’s right about this M2 base at least? Shouldn’t we be taking a look, seeing if that’s where Jim’s at?”

“That’s Lucy’s call. It’s a long way. It’s not a risk-free journey. And currently we’ve only got one buggy on full charge. A trip of that distance, she’s going to insist on doubling-up on everything.”

“He did it!” Fan jerked his finger at Frank. “He went there on his own.”

“He says he did. We’ve no proof of that.”

“How can you be so, so reasonable? Jim is… gone.”

“Being reasonable is why I’m on the team. Let’s go and talk to Lucy.” Leland put his arm around Fan. “Lance, you going to stay here?”

“If that’s what you want. I’d rather be in the greenhouse. I’ve still got stuff to do there.”

“Pretty certain Lucy won’t wear that. The greenhouse is the very definition of mission-critical equipment. You need something to eat? Drink? The can?”

“I’m pretty tired. I can just get my head down for a bit.”

“That’s fine. I’ll come back if anything new comes up.”

Frank lay down and closed his eyes. He heard the door shut, and moments later, the lock click. It was OK. He’d done everything he could. He didn’t know if it was enough. What he had to do now was wait, and hope.

In all of that, he suddenly found himself falling asleep. He was even consciously surprised at the speed of it: I’m actually going to sleep . It had been such a long time coming.

Then he was awake again. The weak light leaking through the hab walls had changed in quality. It was later in the day. Afternoon, sometime. Leland was standing over him.

“’Sup?”

“There’s some things we need to talk about. In the kitchen.” His voice was… guarded. Frank wondered why.

“Give me a moment.”

“You want lunch?”

“I guess so. Condemned man and all that jazz.”

“No one’s reached a decision on anything yet.” Leland stood by the open door. “When you’re ready.”

Frank padded through to the kitchen. The crew were all there again, in the same seats. They all had their tablets on in front of them, and the remains of a meal, and mugs and bottles. And in front of Lucy, a couple of plastic bags, still dusty from outside.

“You want to sit down?” said Leland from behind him. “I’ll get you something. Coffee?”

“Sure.” Frank slid into his seat, and moved it forward. “You found it then.”

“We found it.” Lucy pulled the bags towards herself, and away from Frank. “We just don’t know what it means.”

“You told XO about it?”

“No. No, I haven’t.”