The Attempt (The Martian Manifesto Book 1) (20 page)

“It’s probably too far away by now for us to see it,” Roy said. “You know, I never thought I would have to rely on this again,” he said as he unzipped a side pocket and pulled out his night vision monocle. “I figured we might need this when I came up with my plan. The Pegasus main rockets ignited for a few seconds, so there should be some residual heat that this can pick up. I’ll be able to spot the ship, just like I spotted that landing strip back in Thailand after my fighter jet’s systems went dark.”

Roy turned his head to the right, and held the night vision device up to his helmet. He could only see a small amount of the sky at any one time since the device was against his visor and a few inches away from his face. He methodically moved the monocle around, following a specific pattern to quarter the search area. Many years as a fighter pilot had taught the commander how to spot enemy planes by focusing in a small area closely and then moving on to the next.

“Roy, you better find it quickly. It seems to me that Mars is getting bigger.”

“There it is!” Roy shouted. “It’s just to the right
of the dark rim of the planet. It looks like we only have to adjust our trajectory by a few degrees.”

The Commander jiggled his joystick to turn the two astronauts slightly. Once he had them properly positioned, he turned his backpack jets on full
. He turned them off when his visor display indicated that approximately half of his fuel had been depleted.

“We need to conserve our jets,” he told Sam. “I’m going to use mine for trajectory corrections, and I’ll have you d
eploy yours to slow us down as we approach.”

The two astronauts floated along,
closing the distance to the ship with the tether and blowtorch stretched out behind them. Sam wondered if there was anything that they could do in the interim. “Roy, do you think our radios will reach the Mars base? It might be worth a try.”

“Good thinking, Sam. Let me switch frequencies to the base and give it a shot.” The Commander changed the channel on his suit radio, took a deep breath, and then started. “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! This is Pegasus Commander Roy Olstein calling the Star-Kissed Mars base. Repeat. Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! Commander Olstein calling Mars base. We have a big problem here. Do you copy?”

Static was the only response.  The Commander repeated the message. “Nothing, Sam. I don’t think we can get any help from them just now.”

# # #

Chinese scientist Li Julong sat waiting for the sergeant and Koreans to finish their spacewalk to switch the fuel pod when he heard a faint beeping coming from somewhere. He turned his head around, trying to pinpoint the sound.
“This is strange,”
he thought.
“There shouldn’t be anything beeping in here.”

He pushed himself off the seat and floated into the middle of the capsule. It appeared that the sound was coming from behind a storage locker. He pushed himself over to it and opened the small door.
Inside was what looked like a tiny radio, and a light was blinking in time to the beeping. Julong turned the volume knob on the device, and a voice immediately emerged from a small grill.

“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday! Commander Olstein calling Mars base. We have a big problem here. Do you copy?”

The scientist stared at the radio.
“How am I receiving what is obviously an American calling Mars,”
he thought.
“We don’t have their frequencies.”
He floated there in puzzlement, waiting to see if anyone responded to the voice. He was greeted with silence.

Julong had received his doctorate
in the States, and so could speak and understand English quite well. He decided to respond to the voice and pushed the transmit button.

“This is Chief Scientist Li Julong of the Chinese Mars mission. Are you in need of assistance?”

“Chinese Mars mission?” the voice said in obvious surprise. “Are you on the planet?”

“Actually, we are in orbit and about to land. What is your situation?”

“Our ship, the Pegasus, is adrift and out of fuel with twenty-five souls aboard including women and children. The ship is on automatic and I and the pilot are trying to reach it. We could use some help before the Pegasus enters Mars’ atmosphere.”

“You said you are out of fuel and there are twenty-five people aboard?” Li Julong
replied in horror. He knew what the result would be. Either the ship would skip off of the atmosphere, continuing on into deep space until all either starved or asphyxiated, or it would hurtle to a fiery demise into the planet below. He could not let so many die needlessly when he could possibly help. He pushed the transmit button again. “We have fuel. Actually we have more than enough fuel. If you could transmit your coordinates, we should be able to rendezvous…”

Julong felt a tremendous crash against the side of his head and went spinning through the cabin. He rebounded off a wall and floated, slowly turning. As his vision cleared, he could see NCO Wong standing there
glaring at him with his arms akimbo.

“Grab him,” the Sergeant directed the Koreans, “and tie the traitor up to a landing couch.”

“What do you mean traitor?” the scientist said dazedly as he felt his arms and legs being grabbed by many hands.

“You know we were told not to help the Americans,” Wong Sheng said. “If they are in trouble, then so much the better.”

“I’m not ‘helping’ them; I’m saving human lives,” the chief scientist retorted. “And how did you get the Americans’ frequency?”

“We have many inroads into their secrets,” the military man stated. “If not for that, we would not have known
about their plans to keep secret knowledge of the aliens. In any case, we have our instructions from the home world. All alien artifacts are to be captured for our benefit. Nothing else matters. We are to avoid all contact with the Americans.”

The Sergeant turned towards the radio and pressed the transmit button. As part of his training, he spoke passable English. “I am sorry, Americans, the scientist erred. We cannot help.
This is the price that you pay for your continued interference with our glorious homeland. We are landing on Mars now.”

“Wait, come
ba…” the voice started, being cut off as NCO Wong pressed the power off switch.

“Comrades,” the NCO
said as he turned back to the others and pointed at the scientist. “Make sure he is tied securely, and then strap yourselves in. We will commence our landing sequence immediately.”

Julong wiggled in his restraints but all he could do was watch helplessly as everyone prepared for landing. Silently he wished the Americans good luck, but knew that they were
most likely doomed.

“Damn it, that was a bust,” Roy told Sam after he had switched back to the Pegasus frequency and explained the transmission with the Chinese. “It would have been nice if NASA had told us that another country also had a mission, but this radio silence treatment has left us blind to what is actually occurring back on Earth. We’re really on our own for this one.”

“No kidding. Hey, I think I can see the Pegasus now,” the pilot said. “Is that it right next to those stars forming a cross pattern?”

The Commander lifted his night vision device and looked in the direction they were headed. “Yes, that’s it. We’re closing pretty quickly from the looks of it. First we’ll need to pull in the blowtorch and tether and secure them. Then I’ll turn us around and we’ll need to separate so that you can deploy your jet control arm.”

After the two astronauts had performed the maneuver
, Roy used the tether to tie the blowtorch to his leg and the duo reattached face to face. “It looks like we’re closing in pretty fast; I can visually see it without aid now,” Roy said to Sam as he looked over her shoulder. “Start thrusting at half power to slow us down.”

Sam initiated her suit’s
jets. Since she had her back to the Pegasus as they approached the ship, she needed to rely on directions from Roy. They had briefly debated making Roy use both joysticks, one with each hand, but then thought that would be too awkward.

“It’s looking good, Sam. We’re almost there. It’s only a few hundred meters to go. How’s your fuel status?”

“I’m down to five percent.”

“Okay, we’re coming in nicely
; cut the thrust off … now.” Sam shut down her jets and the two astronauts floated serenely in the void for another thirty seconds.

“I’ll direct us to fly over the top of the ship,” Roy said, “and once we pass by I’ll use full power to stop us. I want to look that bastard Jacobs in the face through the front window when I talk to him.”

Sam saw the small puffs of nitrogen from Roy’s jets as he slightly changed their trajectory, and then saw the top of the Pegasus pass slowly by a few meters below their feet. As they passed the nose of the ship, Roy turned them around and stopped their motion, perfectly placed. The two astronauts floated there in front of the ship as they unclipped themselves.

Roy could see the leader of the Called sitting in his seat on the flight deck.
It was obvious that he was shocked to see the two astronauts drifting right in front of him. “Jacobs, do you hear me? Your little stunt is over. I expect no further interference, if you know what’s good for you and your people. Without us, you have no hope of successfully landing this ship. We’re coming in now.”

“
No, you cannot!” Jacobs yelled back. “I will not let you!”

“Sam, use the Pegasus intercom to let the people know that we’re about to enter the ship. Tell them that the spacecraft will burn up without us and that Jacobs has deceived them.”

“Gladly,” Sam said. “Pegasus, activate main cabin speakers.” Sam waited a second for the ship to indicate the action had been completed. “Ladies and gentleman, this is Pilot Samantha Tuttle speaking. At this moment we are outside the Pegasus, and are about to enter. Brother Jacobs has misled you. You are all about to burn up approaching Mars because he launched this ship with no fuel aboard. Please remain seated and strapped in as the Commander and I enter.”

Roy could see Brother Jacobs leap out of the seat and go into the main cabin, closing the door
behind him. “C’mon, Sam. Let’s get over to the airlock. Be prepared for interference. We may need to fight with this character.”

As the two astronauts initiated their jets to move to the side of the ship where the airlock was, inside Brother Jacobs was addressing his people.

“Sisters and Brothers, you heard the Serpent’s tongue. All it did was utter soothing lies. I have seen videos of the NASA astronauts on Mars trying to destroy the emissaries of the Great Consciousness.  I have heard the orders from Earth to our two baby sitters to create weapons to aid in the destruction of He whom we seek. I can taste the nearness of our destiny. Success is at hand. Do not listen to them! Repeat after me; we will land and merge!”

Jean watched as the members of the Called all nodded
and shouted, ‘We will land and merge!’ She had to do something. “But we can’t leave them outside to die!” she yelled. “You have to let them in!”

“Ah, my dear child, you are too young to understand. Our mission transcends any earthly concerns of mortality. Their destiny does not include the Great Consciousness, and their fate is
with whatever gods they worship.”

At that moment, outside the ship, Roy pressed the airlock door button. When nothing happened, he said, “Sam, does Jacobs know about the manual locks?”

Sam thought for a second and then exclaimed, “Oh my god! The S.O.B. must have been reading Jean’s diary all of this time. She kept detailed notes on the ship’s operation and systems in it. No wonder he knew how to initiate the launch sequence. He must have planned this whole thing months ago.”

“Well, the ship
’s computer can’t override manual locks. We’ll have to use the blowtorch to cut our way in.”

“No,
wait; we can’t do that, Roy. The people in there don’t have any spacesuits. As much as I’d like to see Brother Jacobs’ face turn purple and his eyes bug out, I’m not sure what it will do to everyone else before we can patch the hole. Don’t forget that Bonnie is pregnant. She won’t be able to breathe, and it could kill her and the baby.”

“There are a few oxygen masks aboard. We could give one to her; it might help,” Roy said.

“No, we’re going to have to cut too big a hole. That will require us getting a spare panel, attaching a patch and then repressurizing the cabin. It could take quite a while, and the air will just leak around any mask we give her in the interim. She and the baby will asphyxiate.”

“I don’t think we have much choice,” the Commander said. “We’ll have to chance it.”

“Wait, let me think for a minute,” Sam said. A few seconds later, she said, “Let me try something.” Sam initiated the main cabin speaker once more. “Jean, this is Sam. We’re stuck outside. I need you to disengage the manual door looks so that we can get in. It’s the only chance for all of you to survive. Hurry, before anyone can interfere!”

Jean, hearing Sam’s voice, rushed to comply. She unbuckled her restraints and launched herself across the top of the group’s heads and towards the airlock door near the front left of the cabin.
As she reached the aisle and was almost at the door, a hand reached up and grabbed her ankle, yanking her to a halt.

“Traitor!” hissed Celia as she tugged on Jean’s leg. “I knew you couldn’t be trusted any more than your mother. I’ve been keeping my eye on you. You’ve been hanging aro
und with that woman astronaut far too much and have lost your faith. I am not letting you go against the wishes of our glorious leader.”

Jean struggled and tried to kick Celia, but other hands from those nearby reached up and grabbed her also. “No, you can’t leave them outside to die,” she cried
, struggling. “What about mercy? They’ve been so good to us all this time. Someone must feel something! Can’t anyone help?”

Brother Jacobs pushed off the closed flight deck door
and floated over by the airlock to ensure that nobody else tried to release the door mechanism. As he positioned his back against the entrance, he faced his congregation from the side. He could see that a few people were unsure about what to do. He had to redirect their thoughts. “Brothers and Sisters, yes, we show mercy, but we must not to those who endorse violence and could stop us. We have sacrificed much to be here. Soon we will meet our destiny. Close your eyes and meditate on this.” He turned his eyes on Jean. “Jean, you will be quiet. If not, we will forcibly restrain you. Now, go back to your seat, and think about your faith.”

Jean thought about resisting further, but realized she was outnumbered. She meekly floated back to her seat as Celia released
her with a triumphant grin. She pulled herself back into her seat, and her mother put her arm around her. “You tried, Jean. I’m proud of you,” Bonnie said.

Outside, Sam had heard everything that had happened through the ship’s radio.
“Damn that man. He stopped her,” she said.

“I guess we’ll need to cut our way in after all in spite of the affect it might have on the group,” Roy said.

After a moment’s thought, Sam asked Roy a question. “That Brother Jacobs closed the flight deck door as he left, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did.
Why? What are you thinking?”

“There’s a way we can
still get in and not decompress the main cabin. Pegasus,” the pilot commanded the ship. “Open the landing gear doors and deploy the skids.” She turned towards Roy. “Let’s go. We’re going to cut into the flight deck from below. The closed door to the main cabin will keep the air in there from rushing out. We’re going to get back in and take over from that bastard yet.”