Colin Taber - RED - Burning Skies

“Instead of wasting resources on a rescue or breaking our protocols to remain hidden, we were instructed to get them to drive out to a cave in their rover where they would be instructed to wait.”

“To wait? For what?”

“To die, although we weren’t supposed to tell them that.”

Tung could imagine it. After all, Wei had been left to die.

She elaborated, “Their base had been ruined after a meteor strike. This was ten years ago. Beijing wanted them to park in the nearby cave so the vehicle and themselves would be out of sight of the American orbiters. They then planned on leaving them there to die when their life support ran out. The crew weren’t that far away, but the terrain was impassible for the rover. They could have walked on the surface in their suits. We estimated it would have been a three-hour hike to the nearest airlock.”

“And where was that?”

“Where the Peoples’ Dome is going up.”

Tung was chilled at how callous the order was. “A whole crew?”

“Yes, it was from my Base One Four.”

“And you ignored the order?”

“Yes, I did, even though at that point the surveillance was pervasive enough that I had to be careful with what I did.”

“It was a brave decision. So, what did you do?”

“I set up a secured comms network by using drones so I could talk to the stranded crew. I was still deciding what to do, about how brazen I could afford to be, when I got an offer of help from an external party.”

“What?” he asked, his eyes wide. “What do you mean?”

“We had been tracking what seemed to be an orbital insertion the day before, but then lost the craft. We were pretty sure it was a test lander from one of the Americans’ tech giants, but we couldn’t be sure.”

“What?!”

“It happens. I’m sure you have had your share of unidentified visitors too?”

He nodded. The last one he’d seen had been identified as an Indian probe.

Beijing Command had used one of its satellites armed with a kinetic weapon to destroy it. India had long been a rival, but now, fifteen years after the emerging power had over overtaken China as the most populous nation on Earth, ending their precious Mars mission had been particularly sweet.

And that hadn’t been the only detected visitor. There were several others a year, which had left Tung wondering how many they missed. After all, Mars was a whole world. Beijing Command and the local Mars Commands couldn’t watch everything.

She went on, “So, we were contacted and they revealed they had a site set up, a base, not unlike our own. They offered to send an airship to grab our crew and take them to safety.”

“Not to return them to you?”

“They are as concerned with secrecy as Beijing.”

Tung was stunned. “This is incredible!”

“It all happened. We left Beijing under the impression the crew died in their rover, with the vehicle still parked in that cave to this day. Eventually, the crew got in touch with us again on a local encrypted network and advised they were not only well, but happy where they were. They wanted to stay there and continue their work. They said they were also free to not only share their research findings with us, but also return to Earth.”

Tung rocked back on his chair, putting it all together. “The lost base. The Renegades. This is where it all started!”

She nodded. “They now do research, which they share with their hosts as well as us through backchannels. There are factions tied in with Beijing Command who support all this.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are three factions at Beijing Command. There is the military, who see all this as a military mission and the administration as a matter of military governance. There are also the Party members who are intent on maintaining the government’s influence, especially as we come up to the day where all will be revealed. Finally, there is the faction made up of the various research bodies that provide the scientists who do the research and development work.”

“And the last faction, that’s who you are aligned with?”

“Yes. The faction may seem on the surface the weakest of the three, but it is linked to many others through countless professional networks back on Earth. In truth, they are stronger than they seem.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and they give us options.”

“Options?”

“Yes, for here.”

“Like what?”

“Should we ever feel threatened here by Beijing Command, we have a place to go.”

He raised an eyebrow at that. “You’ve talked about this with them?”

“Yes, but not because I felt endangered, more so because of what I hear of their work.”

“So who are they?”

“They are corporates. Research programs, foundations, and startups funded by American tech giants.”

They had driven into the chasm for a few minutes before they came to a fork in their strange deep red road. Ghost pulled the rover over, parking under an overhang, and then grabbed her helmet and a bag of gear. Before shutting down the drive systems and internal lighting, she said, “Are you ready?”

Wei nodded. “Yes, I’m curious to see Sanctuary.”

“It’s not much, but you’ll be able to get out of your suit and stretch, even wash yourself down. Believe it or not, you’ll also be able to sleep out under the stars, in a manner of speaking.”

He raised an eyebrow at that, curious.

“Please don’t touch anything in there without asking. The shelter is strong enough, but there’s a detailed inventory of supplies and also some gear that is dangerous. We’re a bit of ragtag outfit. Things that perhaps should be aren’t necessarily labelled, so don’t go sticking your nose into nooks and crannies without asking.”

“I understand.”

“Good. Now, get your helmet on. Your suit should be reset and ready.”

Wei grabbed his helmet and followed her to the airlock, sealing his suit.

Before long, they were through, and he was following her out into the chasm.

Ghost closed up the rover and locked it down. She then went to the rock wall and pushed the sand aside, revealing a cover, which she lifted to reveal a small cavity with a coiled power coupling in it. She dragged the cable over and hooked it up to the rover. As she did, she said, “The power is buried and leads back to Sanctuary.”

“We must be close, then?”

“Very,” she answered as she got up, leading him to the back of the trailer, indicating for him to keep going and stand out on the roadway. “We have done a lot with a little, but we have our limitations. And it’s often the simple things like wiring or the number of fans, batteries, or airlock modules we can get hold of that hold us back.” She stopped and then chuckled, her mirth clear even through the comms channel as it sounded out in Wei’s helmet. “We had a crisis for a whole year where we only had nine suits ready for the surface, all because one piece of gear would wear out before the others.”

He laughed at that. “What piece?”

“The right-hand glove. We had more of them retired than in service, but you still need one per suit. With each glove we had to retire, we also had to mothball a whole suit until we could get a hold of more.”

He laughed at that, as he stepped back onto the roadway and looked at the space the rover and trailer sat in, as well as the chasm rising above.

The vehicle barely fit under the overhang, but it did just. Now that he looked at it in the ruddy light, he also noticed something else—a rail fitted to the rocky ceiling that ran along the space’s outer edge. Wei’s gaze followed the rail along until he came to the closest end where Ghost stood. She was reaching up for something there. And that was when he realized it was a curtain rail, and that she was about to make the whole rover and trailer disappear with something as low tech as a camouflaged curtain that he hadn’t even noticed all bundled up against the chasm wall.