http://www.asstr.org/~srb Don't read if under 18 or illegal in your little corner of the world, like you'll listen. This should appear only on my site http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/srb/www/ F3, Futanari Palace, and basically should be wherever Pal's stuff is. Also at the Grey Archive, and some other places they might end up, they know who they are. Any websites that want to host my story must have expressed written consent to do so. I will list all websites that I have granted permission to list my stories there. If you are reading this now and find this on a new website, then please email me at somerandombastard (at) yahoo (dot) com This is copyright me, so don't call it yours. Feedback can be left here. I created all the characters, they are all fictional, and any relevance to anyone living or dead, is incidental. I created the entire fictional universe in which they inhabit, if you're interested in writing in this world than feel free to email me. I've pretty willing. BTW there is plenty of different portions which have been reused by numerous science fiction shows movies and books, including nanotechnology, rapid pregnancy, and various scientific mumbo jumbo, which I will try to keep to a minimum. (Bounce a graviton particle beam off the main deflector dish…) THIS CHAPTER contains no sex. Chapter 26 David's Day "What the hell were you thinking!?" Nadia shouted at Yoshi. "Look, just, calm down, it's not like it was something I planned out," Yoshi said, rolling his eyes. He was not enjoying his first period, not by any stretch. His feet were cramped, he had a headache, he was emotional, and putting a tampon in his body was NOT a new experience he enjoyed, taking it out even less so. "Yoshi, what the hell?" Nadia said between gritted teeth. "Look, I'm a goddamned grown up, and I don't have to explain myself to you!" Yoshi said indignantly. "I didn't give a god damn what you were doing before, but you know things are different now. You know how important it is to keep the nanobots from everyone. And Giselle, of all people?" Nadia really emphasized the woman who had been a thorn in her side. "Hey, I wasn't the first one to start doling nanobots out to sick kids, alright?" Yoshi said, defensively. "Okay, okay, it was a bad idea. I didn't know that she was just seducing me to get the nanobots okay? I didn't think that anyone would have been able to put it all together." "A bad idea? Why don't you just give her the schematics for the damned things!" Nadia threw her hands up. "We don't have them, remember?" Yoshi reminded her. "Besides, I did use a rubber." "Oh god Yoshi, we don't have any evidence of what it takes to communicate the nanobots from person to person. We don't know if all it would take is a sneeze, a kiss, or if a condom would even stop the transmission of them!" Nadia constantly had to remind herself that she was talking to the same lecherous Yoshi, and not an impudent Asian teenager. "Look, give me a break already, it's not like I knew, alright? The entire time I've been on this ship I've been sitting in the same goddamned room, with nothing to do, and I've been alone the whole time, okay?" Yoshi said, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. 'Damned hormones, focus man you're losing it,' he thought. "Yoshi, I, it still doesn't excuse how the hell you can do this. It's just unthinkable, really, sleeping with someone when you know what is at stake," Nadia said cautiously. "It's not like I had a live in lover!" Yoshi said, ruder and more emotional than he had intended. He was ashamed for himself, and thankful that Terra wasn't here to hear it. "What?" Nadia asked, taken aback. "I know Nadia, I know," Yoshi said quietly. "Terra told me a couple of days ago." "I, I," Nadia was paralyzed by the same nagging fear that had been bothering her ever since Terra had entered her room, not more than a month ago. "It's okay Nadia," Yoshi said, fishing into his pocket. He managed to snag a pack of cigarettes from one of the more befuddled workers on the ship. Well he was befuddled after Yoshi showed off some cleavage. Yoshi just wished he had a vacuum ashtray, so that he could avoid the ash from floating. "I, it's not something I planned," Nadia said something, just to not stand there and feel the accusing look. "Well what happened?" Yoshi asked, lighting up. He was thankful that Nadia wouldn't object to the cigarette, not now. "She, she came into my room once, I was bathing and she, we," Nadia mumbled hesitantly. "You had some kind of, relationship," Yoshi rolled his hands. As much as he wanted to hear the intimate details, he felt wrong thinking about Terra having sex. 'Not nearly as bad as Nadia does.' "Yes," Nadia wiped her dry mouth. "From the first night, when she first gained consciousness?" Yoshi asked, trying to do his best to not be his usual pain in the ass self. "Yeah Yoshi, yeah," Nadia said, avoiding the smug look on his face she was sure he had. "Hey, relax, look, we've both made mistakes with our personal lives, and that's more of an issue because of the nanobots," Yoshi said calmly as he inhaled a deep drag of smoke. He barely registered the pain on his almost virginal lungs anymore, just the sweet nicotine fix. "Yoshi, it's different, Terra's different," Nadia said weakly. "It is different, you're right. But it's not all that different either. Terra has different nanobots in her system, remember? They're almost unique, really, they somehow seem to be adapted individually for her own neural input, instead of being wired for anyone's neural inputs, like our own nanobots. We don't know what the result of combining the nanobots in one system could mean, in any case. Hell we don't even know exactly what the difference is, or how she got them. Apparently she's fine, but the ramifications could have been endangering," Yoshi said, trying to sound neutral. "I do care greatly for her," Nadia said in defense. "I know, I can tell now that I realized the two of you were together. It's not just friendship, but something deeper. It's meaningful," Yoshi added, laying it on. 'God, what next? Am I going to eat chocolates and watch romantic comedies?' "It's difficult, you know, being with Terra," Nadia said. "At some moments I'm like her protector, other moments I'm a teacher, still others I'm a doctor, and then there are moments when she just wants to…be with me. Not sexually, that too, but there are times when she just wants to be comforted, almost like…" "Like you're her mother, and she's your child?" Yoshi suggested. He watched Nadia's body tense up at the notion, and wondered silently in cigarette smoke how right that was. * "That should be that," David said to the empty docking bay, letting go of the pad. He had a computer algorithm that should finish most of the job for him. He couldn't get into the computer systems with the time permitted, but he would manage to circumvent the problem. By faking a complete computer failure, he would lose all access to the information. More importantly, it would gain access to the ship itself through its secondary manual control system. And that would prove invaluable for getting to Mars, in one piece. He exited the ship. It was an odd feeling to him, as the ship hovered in space, without any place for it to dock. So while the ship was almost a yard above the deck, he couldn't quite jump off of it either, because it was too much of a distance for his magnetic boots. He had to angle himself down, much like a child on a jungle gym. He clutched his head, reeling from the pain. As soon as his feet got close enough the magnets activated and dragged him down, filling his skull with pain. Not from the impact, but due to the force on his still fragile and fractured nose. He couldn't wait to just get back on Mars where there was the only gravity he had ever known. Mars was only a stone's throw away, at least in spatial terms. Hence the accessing the ship as soon as possible was of the utmost importance. For the moment however, he had enough time to do something important. He would have to deal with metal underfoot for a little bit longer. David was starting to get better, starting to get through the mess that he had gotten himself in. There was a lot of suffering still, a lot of weeping. But feeling something was better than nothing. He was constantly tired, sometimes finding himself half asleep. He was still a long way from getting through all of it. But he was working through it, and that was important, even if he didn't know it, even if he didn't want to acknowledge it. He was still deadly tired most of the day, and hadn't been eating much. He had slept for all but hours of three whole days. He was just drinking water, and coffee, passing fluids, and returning to bed. The rare instances when he had been awake, he wept, tried to eat, and floated around, contemplating what to do with his life. He was pleased to have something constructive to occupy his time. He opened the cafeteria door and grabbed the quickest thing to cook. He made two cups of coffee as he wondered if he could have a real meal as soon as tonight. 'Probably have to wait until tomorrow morning, best case scenario,' he thought slowly. His mouth was watering at the thought of real food again. He would have to make do with food like this for the moment. 'At least I'm not eating this crap,' he thought, moving out of the cafeteria. He had eaten some freeze dried food a couple of hours ago, and it would have to do. He downed the coffee in a moment, barely registering much energy The ship seemed strange now. He had been imprisoned, of sorts. It was only for a couple of days confined to quarters, but he still felt like a pariah. He couldn't ignore the looks, the shit eating grins from his former colleagues, most of whom hadn't given a care about him before. He was just the kid, the low man in the totem pole. He hadn't felt like he was ever really a part of the ship or it's crew, but now he knew just how isolated he was. He found it funny, in a cosmic sense. His best friend was dead. His parents were both gone. The closest person to him was now the one who was locked up. The girl who he had been so focused on, so hung up with, the one who shared his isolated status, who was never at home on this ship, probably hated his guts, with good reason. His captain begrudgingly had him working again, after kicking his drug habit, quite literally out the airlock. That followed with a fistfight, which he lost, and was imprisoned in the first place. 'Well' he mused, 'You had to be there.' "What are you doing here?" Frank asked. David had barely turned the corner when he saw him, carrying his gun about like it was a toy or something. "I thought I'd take my breakfast out for a walk. What do you think dumb ass?" David wasn't in the mood for any of Frank's bullshit. Not that he could avoid it. "Sergio said that nobody is supposed to go to meet with any of them," Frank said. "I can bring Giselle food," David said, trying to play it nicely. "I don't know about that. You should leave it here, I'll bring it to her," Frank said, looking lustily at the breakfast burrito. "Yeah, I'm sure you will," David said, rolling his eyes. "Just let me get through man, I've got work to do." "Hey, I'm at work. Sergio doesn't want anyone going in or out of the brig without his permission," Frank kicked the door behind him for effect. "Look, I'm not doing anything besides just bringing her some breakfast. When I was locked up she did the same for me. I owe her one," he held up the burrito for inspection. "Like I said, just leave it here. She'll get fed," Frank nodded. He looked down for a moment at his communicator, checking a silent communiqué. "Frank, look, I'll get you something to eat if you just let me go," David tried to bargain. "Aww, what the hell, if it will get you out of here," Frank said, moving aside. David didn't want to wait and ask why it was so easy. He just went in. "Hey Giselle," David said, looking at the center cell. There were actually four cells, but only three of them were occupied. Each of the cells were divided, and had a room for visitors, although interrogators more likely. They were fairly clean looking, except for the dust. He wondered if they had ever been used. Essentially they were just small cubicles, with bulletproof plastic. There was even a bathroom, which was hidden behind opaque plastic. There was a small slot in the middle of the plastic door, where food could be placed. Julio managed to sleep with his broken leg, while Kate said nothing but gave him a dirty look the entire way. David was thankful that each of the cells were divided with a soundproof wall from each other. "David, what are you doing here?" she asked, looking up. "Not that I mind the company." "I guess it's my turn to deliver the food," David said, putting the burrito in the plastic slot, and pushing it over to Giselle. "Thanks," Giselle said glumly. "So, what's the story? I mean, what really happened?" David asked. There was a stool there, and he sat down, to rest his weary legs for a little. He was still pushing himself too hard, but at least the caffeine was enough to keep him going. They didn't do much for the aches and pains, but only time would heal that. "I pretty much said it yesterday," Giselle shook her head. "Mind repeating it? You know me, I'm a slow learner," he tried to put on a smile, to warm her up. "I might as well. I've got nothing else to do, and it does involve you," Giselle thought. "It does? In what way?" he hadn't expected that response. "Well, when Terra kissed you, you mentioned that she was worried that she gave something to you," Giselle recalled. "Yeah, I remember that," he couldn't get over the poor decisions he had made during the last few nights. "Well that got me to thinking. What if she did give you something? What if she was able to give you something, just by kiss?" Giselle asked rhetorically. "Ok, so she gave me…what then? Some kind of bug?" he wasn't following her entirely, but he wanted to hear her out. "Nanobots," Giselle announced. "Ok, hold on for a second. You really believe there are these little robots. Seriously? It's the stuff of bad science fiction, right?" David wasn't so sure of this himself. "Well, I believe that there's something to this all. So Terra was concerned, because she managed to communicate these nanobots like a virus," Giselle tried to explain. "Why would she do that?" he asked, feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach. "I don't know. But did you notice that all three of the women that came on board are in impeccable shape? Nadia Bodarko and Terra Byrne were both on the floor before the engine room, and that entire area was flooded with radiation. They were right outside the room with both of us. But they didn't even get a sore throat. You…became sick," Giselle hesitated to remind him. "You don't have to remind me," David's voice was sullen. The coughing fits of blood were enough of a reminder for him. "My point is that Sergio and I both had radiation suits. You, Nadia, and Terra didn't. You got very sick, and they didn't. There wasn't anything different between you and those two. Nothing. In fact, Nadia's older, and should be more prone to sickness than a seventeen year old. Terra's family has a history of cancer. They were both on the floor near the engine for longer. So what's the difference?" Giselle pointed out. "So what's your point?" he asked, getting a little annoyed. "What is the difference?" "What if the difference were the nanobots?" Giselle said in a hushed tone. "Wait, you really believe they have small robots inside of their bodies that keep them in shape?" he asked, it was quite a bit to swallow. "Yes, that's my exact point. I checked into some ideas about nanobots, these things go into the cell of a human being. They could theoretically keep someone who is sick healthy, and something like cancer in check, or even cure it wholly," Giselle hypothesized. "Wait, do you mean that Terra kissed me…to cure me?" David was shocked with the realization. "Maybe," Giselle answered. The room was silent for a moment, as David soaked up that piece of information. 'So she…does she like me? Did she want to help me? She seemed so nice, so naïve. Was she just trying to cure me? Did she like me? My god, and I was such an asshole to her. And that explains…' "The scanner," David said, absentmindedly. "What?" Giselle asked. "When I first told her I was sick, after Terra kissed me, she came in and wanted a scan. I mean, she wanted me to take a scan. I didn't want to, I was afraid that she would find out about, that everyone would figure out about," David hesitated. "The stims?" Giselle avoided his eyes as she said it. "Yeah. I was afraid that she wanted to know if I was doing them or not, if I was some kind of…junkie," he sighed. Part of him wondered if he was. "And then Sergio made you take the scan," she was trying to change the subject. "Yes, I underwent the scan. Worst scan of my life, I would have thought a real doctor would have been able to make it painless. No offense," he added in quickly. "I understand," Giselle didn't really like that last line, but she was willing to let it slide, for now. "So what does all of this mean?" David asked. "Well, Nadia hid all the results of the scan. Every scan, too, even the earlier ones. She wouldn't tell me anything about nanobots, or about the scans. She's been trying to hide all of information, trying to keep me from figuring it all out," Giselle summarized. She didn't want to talk about how much of a bitch Nadia had been to her, for fear that her story would lose some credibility. "Ok, so let's assume that all of this is true. But I still have cancer. I'm still sick. So what, these nanobots don't work?" David asked. A part of him didn't believe in all of this, but a bigger part wanted to believe there was some magical panacea in his system that would solve all of his problems. "I'm not sure. Maybe they only work for her, or something. It could be that's the reason she wanted you to undergo the other scan." Giselle thought aloud. "But if she did communicate the nanobots to you, then she could have tried to verify that they were working." "Huh," David actually felt like having a scan right now, for the first time in his life. "I don't know everything." Giselle said, more defensively than she intended. "Ok, but then what's the whole charade with Yoshi?" he asked. "Well, I had to test this out. I needed to find a way to get a sample of the nanobots. And I couldn't trust anyone else, so I had to do it myself," was her simple enough answer. "How did you know that she had the nanobots?" he wondered. "Well, there weren't a lot of options. Terra wasn't going to speak with me, and Nadia hates my guts. But Yoshi is a huge question mark, she isn't even in any database. So I took a chance," Giselle shrugged. "Ok, but so you, I mean you uh, you know, did it, with her?" he asked. "You're one to talk," she gave him a look. "Look, for the last time; as much as I would like to have, I did not have sex with that redhead, okay?" he was getting sick of the accusation. Not because he didn't want to, but because of how poorly he had treated her, and because deep down he had wanted to be with her. "Okay, alright already. But I tried to look at it like this. If these nanobots were transmitted by bodily fluids like so many viruses, then it would stand to reason that the more fluids, the better chance of communication. And sex is, well, messy," she felt odd talking to David about sex. "Okay, but sex? Could you have just, I don't know, swapped saliva?" he suggested. "Maybe, but, well…she likes me," Giselle rolled her eyes. "She likes you?" David asked. "Yeah, she kinda has the hots for me, or something. Well she did, at least before yesterday. I don't know. Maybe it was just the fact that I was the only other woman on the ship, besides the two that she came in with. I mean, she's a lesbian, I guess. It makes sense, with her, well, dick," Giselle was still having some trouble getting over that. "So she has a dick too?" David asked, wondering about a great many things. "Too? Who else has a dick?" Giselle looked at him cock eyed. "Oh, uh, I meant she has a dick, on top of everything." He said, trying to recover. "Yeah, she's…a hermaphrodite, I guess," Giselle said with a sigh. "That's…strange," David said, thinking to himself. 'If Yoshi and Terra have nanobots, and they are both herms, then does that mean that's the reason? Does it turn girls into herms? Is Nadia a herm? Will it turn a guy into a herm? Am I gonna become a shemale?' "You there?" Giselle asked. "Yeah, sorry," David shook his head and looked at her. "Well, once we had sex, I've been feeling better. I don't know if it's just psychosomatic, or if I really have the nanobots," Giselle said. "So that's why you took the scan," David finished the idea. "Yeah, I had to know for sure. I wasn't trying to kill the juice. It would have spiked the power usage, but it wouldn't have killed it. But Sergio had activated the camera systems. I didn't know about that, I didn't know about anything. So I just went and did it, probably at the worst possible time," Giselle said. "You're right, that's like the worse bad timing ever. Why didn't you wait to do it on Mars?" he asked. "Too risky, what if it were some super virus? Maybe Earth wants to take out all of Mars with some biological weapon that they're carrying, I don't know. Who knows if I'll even be able to get to a scanner once we get on Mars. So I wanted to figure it out before we got there," she answered. "Risky? Why didn't you tell Sergio then?" he asked. "He's been getting paranoid. Or hadn't you noticed?" she said, banging the plastic wall of her cell. "He's still looking out for whatever happened in the engine room. He thinks it was sabotage. So maybe he thinks I did it, I don't know. He interrogated me like he thought I did it, asking about stuff he usually doesn't give a shit about." "So what, do you have them or not?" David asked. "I didn't get a chance to look over it. I don't even know what I should be looking over to be honest. So I haven't got a clue," Giselle shook her head. "I don't know, it all still sounds like a bad idea," David said, mulling over everything. "Yeah, I think your right. But on the bright side, there's no rent in the plastic room," she said sarcastically. "Come on Giselle, we'll be back on Mars in no time, and then," David said, hearing his communicator go off. He looked at it, and it indicated that the computer system was done. "Look I gotta go. It won't be long until we're there, less than a Martian day. So just take it easy." "If I make it there," she added. "Bye," David said. He stood up, feeling the same jarring pain in his head. With the exhaustion it seemed to ring about and permeate through his entire skull every time he moved too quickly. But he hadn't learned yet not to do it. 'I guess I am a slow learner.' She waved him goodbye as she eyed the burrito. 'It's worse than torture.' She thought. David waved back and tried to smile a little bit, before he headed out of the detention area. He had tried to do something with the trip, tried to make it as much good of it as he could. Now he felt like he had a lot more to find answers for. "That took a while," Frank noted on David's arrival. "We got to talking. Can't blame her for being lonely," Dave said, not wanting to go into much detail. "I guess not. It's crazy how she's been a spy the whole time. Well I mean she was a spy, but like, a double spy, or whatever. She was a Martian agent I mean." Frank thought for a second, trying to sort out the logic of what he was saying. "Look, we don't know that. Sergio just thinks that, and he hasn't been the same much, since," David paused. "I know, hey, we all liked Flynn. But I don't know, I never figured it was him so much. I think it was the ship really. Someone fucked the ship up something bad, and I don't even know if we can fix this thing," Frank thought aloud. "We can't, not without a serious repair effort. Plus it'll probably need a year just to clear all the radiation out. After that all we would need is a new nuclear core for a hundred year old vessel, and some radioactive material. So no, we can't," David said, somewhat definitively. "That'd be enough to set someone off," Frank shrugged. "Enough to want to catch him. Or her, I guess." "Look, I still don't think its Giselle. But there's something else going on here, and I don't think we'll ever know. Even if we don't, it won't make too big of a difference. We can't prove shit, either way. Now we should be worrying about getting down on the planet, more than what one woman is going to do, locked up in a cell," David said. "I guess. Any luck on the ship?" Frank asked. "Maybe, I've got to go down there and check it out," David shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want to sound too sure of himself now. "Good luck, I can't wait to get off of this rotting hunk of junk," Frank answered. David didn't bother to speculate on whether or not Frank would be leaving the ship. He doubted that everyone would, and he knew for a fact that he himself was going to leave. He would make sure of that. Then once he added the three Earth chicks, Sergio, and Giselle, it didn't leave much room. He just shook it off, heading back through the corridors of the ship. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't help but shake the confusion about the revelations that Giselle had shown him. 'Okay, let's say that she's right, just for now. They all have nanobots. Yoshi and Terra are hermaphrodites, maybe Nadia too. That's fucked up. But they are all in perfect shape, so that's, well, that's fucked up too. So if the nanobots are keeping them from getting sick, then what?' he wondered, heading into the elevator. 'Then what was Terra kissing me for? She said that she had kissed me when I was sleeping. I didn't go after her about it, I was too busy thinking about kissing her again, awake. But that was a strange idea really, a really strange one. So was she trying to kiss me to transfer the nanobots? Is that it?' he mulled over, walking down the corridor to the docking bay. 'Okay let's say that she has the nanobots. So she kissed me the first time, and that probably did the trick, right? I mean Giselle said she had sex once, and she thought she had them. So what if, what if I already got them the first time. I did go and take a scan, and Nadia is supposed to be like, a doctor, or something. She looks more like a premed student. So she goes and figures out that I have the nanobots, I guess. Or do I? Giselle didn't know for sure. And I mean I wasn't any better. I still have cancer.' He thought, opening the door to the docking bay. He went quickly to the ship, his mind almost on automatic as he climbed in. 'And then what? Did Terra come back again to give them to me again? I mean she would have known that I wasn't any better. So do they work? Do they just work on chicks, is that the thing? Maybe it has something to do with them being herms? But Giselle isn't a herm. Well maybe she is, she never said that she wasn't. Or did they not work on her too? But I think that she would have mentioned that. If they didn't work on her, wouldn't she be sick?' he pondered, picking up the pad and going through the readout. 'So what does this all mean? Does Terra really give a damn about me? Was she trying to help me out of pity, like you might go out and help a toddler who dropped his stuffed animal? Or does she care about me? Did it have to be a kiss? She could have put something in my food, right? Did she want to kiss me? She was letting me do just about everything,' David recalled, remembering the silky smooth feeling of her breasts, even covered by the outfit. The firm plump backside of her bottom. The long hard shaft of her… "Damn!" David said, looking at the pad. "Something wrong?" Sergio asked from behind. "Shit!" David said, frightened by the sudden noise. He felt like his skeleton had leaped out of his skin. Once again it jarred his aching skull, sending volts of pain through his head. "Is there something wrong my boy? You're a little jumpy," Sergio noted. "No, I mean, nothing's wrong. You just surprised me is all, I didn't expect you," he answered. "Well, how is everything going?" Sergio was trying to be nice with David after everything. He needed someone who could at least pretend to be on his side for now. "I was just checking," David said. He looked over the computer readout, mostly at the large green 'Success' button on the pad. "It looks like this is gonna work." "Really? Good job, Dave!" Sergio said, giving a pat on the back to congratulate him. "It's not that simple," David warned. "It never is," Sergio waited for the bad news. "I've gotten into their systems, but I can't use their existing software, at least not much of it. Their computer system isn't going to just let any person use it, and it's all encrypted. I could crack it but it might take months," he cautioned. "Then how is this going to work?" Sergio raised an eyebrow. "Simply put, I'm not going to use their computer system. I'm going to have to do everything manually, using their backup systems. Those aren't encrypted, and are designed for use in case of a critical systems failure. It's the only way that we can use this ship to get close enough to Mars. Once we get in close enough we can feign that our transmission array is failing, and just try to get in on the surface," David explained. "I see, and just how do we do that?" Sergio didn't like this plan. It involved too much that he didn't know about. "I can take care of all of that," David nodded affirmatively. "Oh can you now?" Sergio asked, half mocking. "Yes, we'll blow up the Martian ship, it will look like some ship's malfunction," David rapped his hand against the ship. "And so no one will come looking for us. Huh," Sergio thought. "Unless you have any better ideas?" David asked. "We're going to have a little meeting in an a few minutes, just go over everything. I expect you to be there." Sergio said, changing the subject. "Who's we?" he asked. "Oh the three Earth girls, John, and ourselves. I want to go over everything beforehand, so that we don't have to figure it out on the way there. If you're done down here, why don't we get there ahead of time?" Sergio asked. "I really should get used to the manual controls better," David said, hesitating. "You'll have plenty of time, we won't get another chance to go over everything before the trip. We're going to be leaving in four hours," Sergio smiled. "Four hours?" David almost shouted. That threw all of his calculations off by quite a bit. "Well, we're close. I'm going to have the ship stand in orbit, hiding behind the moon Demos. Once we get there, we're going to disembark in this ship. Hopefully they won't get too worried about one of their own, and we can get there without being blasted at, this time," Sergio said. He had more than a few run ins with Martian law. "Shit, four more hours until I can get off of this," David paused a second. "Ship." "Well let's go then. You should have plenty of time to play around with the Martian toy ship when you get back," Sergio said, leading him up to the conference room. Neither man spoke to each other on the way. There were still plenty of hard feelings on both ends. "Finally," Yoshi complained, smoke billowing around from the cigarette in his hand. John sat next to him, waving the smoke from his face with his hand. "Well it's nice to see that you started without me," Sergio said, taking his pack of smokes out and lighting up. "So what is the deal?" Nadia asked. Terra sat on the far end of the table, with Nadia in between her and the rest of the room. "We are close to disembarking from the ship," Sergio said. "About frigging time," Yoshi muttered, taking another drag. "When?" Terra asked. "In about four hours. I wanted to make sure that we all understand what is going to happen," Sergio explained as he sat down. "Apologies that I don't have pictures like Giselle did." "Basically we're going to take the Martian ship, and use it to get into Martian space. Once we do, we're going to evacuate it, and hopefully manage to escape notice," David said, trying to get to business. He sat down, feeling like he would fall asleep in his chair. "Yes, that is essentially it," Sergio nodded, not appreciating the way he had stolen his thunder. "Wait, we're just going to slip in without anyone on Mars asking why?" Yoshi didn't quite like the sound of it. "According to their personal logs, they're on orders to maintain radio silence, and arrive on time. If we leave on time, we'll get there almost exactly when we should," David answered with a yawn. "And then what? We jump ship?" Nadia asked the foremost question on her mind. "It doesn't sound like we could get anywhere without them noticing." "No, we are going to destroy the ship. It will appear as though it happened during reentry," Sergio tried to explain. "Huh?" that made no sense to Nadia. "We are going to dock the Martian ship, with the same ship that you arrived on Mars with. With the Martian ship's trail, we can effectively make it seem as though we aren't really there. We will close in on the surface, and blow the Martian ship up. We'll follow the wreckage down, and then move away at top speed. With a little bit of luck we'll manage to get under their radar and scanners. Then we abandon our other ship, while the Martians check their ship for survivors. Once we get into a large city, we can just blend in with the crowd, and try to go unnoticed," David explained. "It's just stupid enough to work," Yoshi said, stubbing the filter of the cigarette out. "Before we get to Mars," John said, trying to change the subject. "Make sure to change into the clothes you wore here. These outfits would make us stick out like sore thumbs." He held his own one piece out for emphasis. "Normal clothes will still probably look conspicuous, but it won't be as bad. Bring anything that you might want, because we're not coming back for a while. If at all." "Yes, thank you John," Sergio said. "Is that it? Because you could have told us this on the way down," Yoshi said impatiently. "Yes, but I'm sure it will take you ladies at least three hours to pack," Sergio said with a sarcastic grin. "The most important thing is for you to keep this quiet. We're the only people on the ship that are leaving, and it's best to keep it that way for now. Arguing among the crew will only be a painful distraction," John added in. "If there's nothing else, we can probably finish this meeting, and you can all get packing," Sergio said, standing up. "Waste of time," Yoshi muttered as he left, holding the door open for Nadia and Terra. John followed after them. "Always a pleasure," John said, rolling his eyes as he left the room. "Is there something else?" Sergio asked, noticing that David hadn't left. "Giselle. We need her," David said. "No, my lad, we don't need her," Sergio said, narrowing his eyes. He had known this was coming. "Look, none of us have any communication with the Resistance, okay? We don't know how to contact them, and I can sure bet that they won't be easy to get to now. Their leader is dead, or captured, and they're probably all hiding in the woodworks. We need her," David pleaded. "Your in no position to tell me who we do or don't need. I don't trust her, and I can't afford to have her on the ship if I can't rely on what she's doing," Sergio said shortly, he didn't want to fight, especially not about this, and especially not with David. "Either she goes, or I don't," David threatened. He knew that right now, he was invaluable, and he was using up all his capital now. "She really convinced you, eh?" Sergio asked with a chuckle. "What?" David's eyes opened a little wider. "I have to give you this my boy, you're better than me at interrogation. I got to hear her entire side of it without even having to ask a single question," he smiled. "You recorded it?" David realized how silly a question it was. 'Of course he recorded it.' "Yes, of course I did. It is a brig after all. How do you think you got in so easily? Everything, inside and out of it is recorded, both the audio and video," Sergio picked a pad out of his pocket and showed David the scene playing out. "So you know the whole story. You know she didn't so anything. Let her come along," David said. He hoped this would help convince Sergio. "I know her story. That's not the whole story," Sergio said. "Look, we don't stand a chance without her. It's both of us or neither of us. And good luck getting someone who can pilot the ship by manually, with four hours left," David paused, checking the time on the pad, "Make it three hours and forty two minutes." "The only way that she's getting on board is in shackles," Sergio yielded. He knew that she could help, more than the girls from Earth. But he just didn't trust her, despite her moving sob story. "If that's how it has to be, that's how it has to be," David didn't want to overstep his authority. He knew that he was persona non grata. "You are lucky my boy, that you have done me two favors," Sergio said slowly. "Yeah, right," David said, thinking to himself 'It's two more than you've done for me.' "Well get going," Sergio said, motioning towards the door. David didn't pause to say goodbye, he simply went out. He wanted to jump for joy at the chance to get off of this ship, even though he knew he had nothing to look forward to. Mars wasn't a nice place to begin with, but he had nothing to go to. He only knew a handful of people, and there was probably only one that he would likely see. 'Well, maybe that crazy fool Erratico' He quickly went to his quarters and opened his door, surveying his room. There were a few pads that he wanted, and a few tools. But that was it. He didn't care for the boring and stuffy one-piece clothing that he had been forced to wear for the better part of a year. He didn't have many personal affects. He opened his drawer, and reached back into it for the one piece he wouldn't leave without. It was a hard metal case, painted black with a small heart over the center. It wasn't large, easily fitting in his hand. He could feel the outer shell, cold against his warm hands. He cracked the case open slowly. It had been weakened with age. There were only a few images inside, the real kind that had been printed on picture paper. They were old family images, and he paused a moment to smile bittersweet. A small picture on top, of his mom and his dad around either side of him, with him as a four year old in the middle. He closed the metal case, and placed it in his front pocket carefully. Just looking at it was enough to relieve the pain from his head, for a moment. He sighed for a moment and grabbed his bag. He filled it with as many street clothes and tools as he could. He then weighed his next options. He could do what he wanted to, what he felt he needed to, or just leave it be. He was more concerned with getting caught or not, but his window of opportunity was going to be short. He wondered what people thought of him for a moment. He and Giselle were close. When he had been relieved of duty, she had brought him meals, and offered her support. While he had been confined to his quarters, she was being accused of something much more sinister. She was charged of treason, sabotaging the ship and it's mission, at least for the moment. Now that she was the one behind bars, symbolically, how did they think of him? He was bringing her meals, offering her support, and listening to her side of things. Did they see him as an accomplice, or some kind of collaborator? 'In for a penny' he mused, walking quickly out the door of the room that has been his for the last half of a year, for the last time. It wasn't too hard to move about the ship, but he felt guilty. The looks of others didn't help by far. Everyone knew what had happened with him and Sergio. He was thankful that he turned the corner without being noticed. Just to be sure he double checked, and quietly entered into Giselle's room. He had been there once, on some occasion he couldn't recall right now. He had wondered what it would look like. One part of him, being a male, expected her to have some girly adornments on the wall, some kind of fashionable clothing, or just some interesting and expensive looking decor. The other part of him, knowing that she was a spy, or at least an intelligence officer, expected a high technology mash of incredible looking devices and gadgets that would pop out of the wall with a press of a button. But neither part of him was right. It was just a normal looking room, no more different than anyone else's. If anything there were less adornments, less personal effects than any other room. It was kept cleaner, it appeared as though Giselle had actually cleaned the walls of her room, unlike most of the crew, and there were no objects hovering mid air about in zero gravity. David searched the room quickly. There wasn't much to go over really. He knew exactly what he was looking for, any computer pad in her room. More specifically he was looking for the computer pad that held the results of Giselle's scans. He himself had at least a dozen pads floating around his room at some point or another. They mostly didn't serve a purpose, they were just there if he needed them. In fact it was usually a pain, because instead of organizing the pads for work, personal, games, movies, etc, he just put whatever he had on the current pad he was working on. But Giselle was much more organized, and he could only find two computer pads after a quick, if not thorough, search of her room. He stuffed both of them in his bag. He wouldn't have time to inspect them yet, not now, and he would have to wait. He had expected Giselle to password protect and encrypt her files regardless. He opened the door a crack, expecting Sergio out there with Frank ready to have him arrested for insubordination or some other trumped up charge. But there was no one outside of the room. He quickly bolted out of there. Once he turned the corner, he hoped he was in the clear. He was thankful that he didn't see anyone on the way to the elevator. He was able to steady himself a little bit as he went down. He was tired. When he closed his eyes he felt the world slip away from him as he slowly retreated back to sleep. The opening door of the elevator tore him back to the world of the awake. He moved on, pushing himself further. He knew that he would have time to sleep soon, and there was no good in resting a short time. His body would simply want to sleep more. No, he would move on, in a short time he would be on Mars once more. He looked up at the ships, and knew that he would have something to keep him more than occupied. He threw his bag in the back of Sergio's ship, and immediately ran a full diagnostic of Sergio's ship while he was at it. He never trusted Sergio's inspections, and with good reasons. He then went about working on the Martian ship. It wasn't a particularly difficult control scheme, but he needed to know it as well as possible. Not only was he going to have to pilot a ship that he wasn't in, without computer assistance, but there was also going to be a delay. He projected it around five seconds late, but that was a heck of a time to guess ahead. The delay was mechanical, he had to run the information from Sergio's ship to the Martian ship. What would make the delay more difficult was relying on eyesight from a different ship. They were going to dock with the Martian ship, and use it's engine's signature to fly in unannounced. Because they were going to be sending in the information from the dock ship, the delay was unavoidable. He was more worried about the software itself, or perhaps he should say the lack thereof. The computer system was going to be bypassed completely. He had simulated a complete computer core failure, in order to fool the ship into giving him full access to the ship's manual functions. However he wouldn't, and couldn't, know how easy it would be to undock the ships, especially as the goal was to do it just after they finished reentry into the atmosphere. The time flew by for David, and the next thing he noticed was the entry of someone else into the docking bay. "Well, here we are." Yoshi said, leading in Terra and Nadia. "Hey, right on time, almost done." David said, shaking his head to wake himself up a little bit. He winched in pain again, hiding his grimace from the girls. He could feel the tears well up in his eyes. "Well we are a little early," Nadia admitted. "Is, is this really it?" Terra asked, carrying her bag in one arm, with her flower in the other. "What is it?" Yoshi asked. "I don't know, it, it seems so, unexpected," Terra said. She had expected something more grand, some kind of big farewell or send off. "Leaving to get on a planet always seems like that. It's like getting off an airplane, or out of a cab. It's just a means to an end, not a momentous occasion," Nadia said, with a warm smile. "Here, let me help you with your bags," David offered. It was nice seeing them all in street clothes, as they looked better to him. Maybe it was the bland unisex one piece that most of the crew had all been wearing. Or perhaps it was something new for him to look at. But he thought that the clothes were more revealing, more feminine, more appealing than the boring and drab simple wear. Nadia handed David her bags first, and he set them down easily at the bottom. Yoshi thrust his into David's hands, and he managed to maintain eye contact with the Asian, all the time wondering about whether or not Yoshi really was a hermaphrodite. Giselle had no real reason to lie, she hadn't even known about…He looked at Terra, who was more than apprehensive about being in the same room with him. "Come on, just, hand me your stuff," he said, reaching his hand out as far from his body as he could. She slowly handed him the bag, which he gently took in his hands. "There's an old family heirloom, a bible in there, so please be careful," Nadia instructed. "Sure thing," David said, looking at the begonia. He admired his craftsmanship. He had worked hard on it. Not the flower itself of course, but the case in which the flower was housed. It seemed so long ago now. He had created from scratch a pot for the flower, with a built in lamp. The lamp gave the flower the nutrition that it needed and would normally receive from the sun. On top of it, he had even built in a moisturizer that would keep the soil saturated but not soaked, to provide the water it would need. And for the coup de grace, the built in tiny vacuum was capable of sucking the soil down, so that it could stay in place and grow perfectly, instead of just floating away. "I'm happy to see that you've taken care of the flower," he said, extending the olive branch. It wasn't well accepted, however. "Thanks," Terra said, holding onto the flower. "I think we're just going to keep it as a carry-on," Nadia said. She sounded rather parental at the moment, as though she were speaking for her scared child. She was speaking for a scared child in many ways, but not her child. "Suit yourself," David said, looking at the ship. "Oh yeah, you're gonna want to hear this." "Hear what?" Yoshi asked, sounding annoyed. He was still dealing with all of the complex emotions stemming from his monthly. "I wasn't talking to you," David said, not in much of a mood to hear from the tranny. Or herm, or whatever Yoshi was. He realized a moment later he was in the mood to hear from another herm. "What is it?" Nadia was willing to be civil to him, at least for now. Having genuine interest helped her civility. "Come over here," David instructed, bringing them over towards the Martian ship. "Now I couldn't get into their computer system, the entire thing was encrypted. I mean I could but it would take days at least, maybe even months. Military software is usually up to snuff, and it's not a matter of if, but of when. So I couldn't get too much out of the system. I had to simulate a complete computer failure so it's all gone now." "Congratulations, on wasting our time," Yoshi said sarcastically. "Oh ha-ha. That's not what I wanted to tell you. I found their personal pads, and on it they had their most recent personal journal entries. Most of it is just normal routine, commenting on where they are, how far they went, and so on. But there's one log in particular I thought that you would want to hear," he said, showing the pad to Terra. "I, I don't know what this means," Terra said, looking at the pad. "It's a personnel transfer list. This one happened less than a week ago. The important thing, at least for you is this," David held his finger over a highlighted phrase. "KB-13378008Z? What does that mean?" Terra looked at Yoshi and Nadia for some kind of indication. "I didn't know what it meant either, but it had come up on more than one occasion. So I had gone over all of the data that I could to figure it out. There was a reference list. KB- 13378008Z stands for," David said, pausing for dramatic effect, "Lieutenant Kyle Byrne, Planetary Parliament Marine Corps, serial number KB-13378008Z." "Mom?" Terra asked, her voice choking up. "Yeah, apparently from the logs, these two were part of the job transferring her and uh, Tom Pope, to Mars. Apparently they were late, and so they were reprimanded and sent out here. Lucky huh?" David asked. "So, so you mean that she's, ok?" Terra was so happy that she wanted to cry. "According to this, like I said, less than a week old, she was delivered to Mars in good shape. After that, they didn't have any more contact with her. The woman, Kate, she's the superior officer, logged that. Whereas Julio, the guy who got shot, was just complaining about the reprimand in his logs. I guess we have Kate to thank," David smiled, happy that he could please Terra. He knew it wasn't much, but it was some small thing that he could do. "Oh my god Nadia, she's, she's ok," Terra shouted happily, hugging her. David was a little deflated. 'Yeah, because she did something to help' he just rolled his eyes silently as he watched Terra's jubilation. "That's great Terra, that's great," Nadia said to the girl, jumping for joy in her arms. She was content that Terra was happy, and relieved that her menarche had finally concluded. "Thanks David, that really does mean the world to us," Nadia said coolly but politely. "Happy to do it," he said, trying to return her politeness with his own. "Here she is," John said, pushing Giselle forward. Still in shackles on both her hands and feet, it was easier for all involved for him to just push her along. "Oh no, no, no, no. What the hell is she doing here?" Yoshi asked venomously. "She's coming along," David said, feeling much like an island in between the two groups. "What the hell do you mean, she's coming along?" Yoshi asked through his teeth. "We need her," said Sergio's gruff voice as he entered behind John and Giselle. "For what? You're letting the traitor come along down to Mars so she can sell us all out before we even have a chance to do something?" Yoshi asked incredulously. "I've taken steps to prevent anything from happening in the future, thanks," Sergio said, taking his sack off of his back and throwing it towards David. "Just like you did before?" Yoshi shot back. "Afraid of a girl in shackles?" Giselle asked defiantly. Just because she was coming, she wasn't grateful, or in any kind of mood for much of anyone. "No, I just prefer a fair fight," Yoshi sneered back at her. "Get me out of these cuffs and we'll have round two right here," Giselle looked right in Yoshi's eyes. She wasn't a little girl, and she wasn't going to be talked down to in this stupid little pissing contest. "I'm game if you are," Yoshi said contemptuously. "Enough of this lover's quarrel," John said, rolling his eyes. "As much as I'd like to see another catfight, just give it a rest. You're giving me a headache." "Yes, I don't want to hear this the entire ride to Mars. Just feel free to shut the hell up girls," Sergio shook his head. He wondered if he should have ordered gags, for the both of them. "How the hell can you let this turncoat on the ship? She'll doom us all! Seriously, she's the prime suspect for letting these Martian bastards on the ships, and we're taking her with us? What's to say that she's not going to call her friends and alert them, and blast us out of the sky before we even have a chance to get anywhere?" Yoshi protested. "Look, I'm not going to get into any of this. She's locked up in shackles, and she doesn't have any way of communicating with anyone. I know that you're still pissed off at her, and that's your own business. But I don't care if she slept with you for fun or for treason, she's coming for a reason," Sergio said. He wasn't used to explaining himself. "And that reason is?" Yoshi asked, waiting for Sergio to enlighten him. "We don't have any other means of communicating with the Resistance without her. Unless you think that we should just start asking around?" Sergio replied sardonically. "Let's just all get ready to go. The sooner we leave, the sooner we get there," Nadia offered, giving Yoshi the stink eye. She was still upset with him. Carrying a gun in her pocket made her feel more confident in dealing with Giselle. "That sounds like the best idea I've heard all day," Sergio said. "The ships are good to go whenever everyone else is. Once we all inside we can depart. At that point I will dock the two ships together, and use the Martian ship to transport us there. With any luck we can avoid being seen by hiding in the Martian ship's engine signature," David explained. "You heard him, load up everyone," Sergio instructed. "Giselle will get the middle of the ship with me, girls, if you would load up in the back. David, you get to drive." "Oh boy, I get to drive," David rolled his eyes impudently. He watched the Earth girls load up into the back, he knew from experience that was going to be a tight fit. 'Then again Sergio and Giselle will be even worse.' He reflected. He stepped to the side for a moment towards Giselle. "I got your computer pads," he said softly, stepping back away from her. "Be sure to put your seatbelts on, this ride will be bumpy," David advised, walking towards the girls strapping themselves in the back. The ship's top half opened up like a hatch, unlike the normal door of most vehicles. This made loading in and out before and after space flight much simpler. "A bumpy ride in a space ship? No kidding," Yoshi said, rolling his eyes. "Alright, get Giselle in and let's go," David was in a hurry to get the hell out of Dodge. "Take it easy John." "Thanks buddy, oh hey," John said, reaching into his pocket. "Here, I figured you could use this." "What?" David asked, taking John's offered hand. There was a wad of Martian dollars wrapped around a pack of condoms. David smiled and shook his hand, stuffing it in his pocket next to his picture case. "Thanks." He said, shaking his hand. "Go have a good time you guys. I'll take care of the ship," John waved. "You better, tell that fat fuck Frank that if he fucks up I'll have his fat ass speared like a whale!" Sergio said. "Alright already, could this take any longer?" Giselle asked, sitting uncomfortably in shackles next to Sergio. "Amen, let's go," David said, activating the computer system. The top hatch closed, and he looked up. Everything was nominal, just as prelaunch indicated. He waited a minute for John to leave, and for the docking bay to depressurize. Once depressurized, all he had to do was get the ships out of the ship, which was easier said than done. Getting their ship out of the docking bay was relatively quick. But moving a ship by remote through a small area when he was steering half blind was difficult. He had to use the Martian ship's rudimentary manual controls to move it. It was like playing with a remote control ship, but this one was about two meters by three meters long. He scratched some of the paint off the Martian ship, but was able to use their maneuvering thrusters to get both ships out. "Here we go," David said. Not many people were accustomed with using this kind of software, and David wasn't one of them. He was constantly cycling through the diagnostics, explanations, and the command line. Of course he hadn't tied the two computer systems, so he merely had one console atop the other. He used the Martian ship's grappling arms to attach their ship together, or at least he tried. He managed to dock the two ships on the third attempt. "And away, we go," David started the Martian ship's engines slowly, making sure that he didn't overload it. Again it was a job of constant cycling between diagnostics and command line. "Wow," Terra said, looking at the stars. They seemed so pretty out there, and so much different than on Earth. They twinkled out there, like gems filling the otherwise bleak and black sky. "Pretty huh?" Sergio asked, leaning forward in his seat. He took his seatbelt off and began to climb over the chair. "Yes, um, what are you doing?" she asked. "What the hell are you doing?" David asked. "Just putting the music on," Sergio said, managing to push his finger to the ship's onboard sound system. Everyone in the ship covered his or her ears as loud music blared inside the small ship. "NO!" David said, smacking Sergio's hand and turning it off. "No, I have to concentrate." "Oh fine, be a spoilsport," Sergio sighed. He fumbled about his pocket for a moment, looking for something. "Drinking already?" David asked sardonically. "No, I'm looking for something, here it is," Sergio said, bringing out his wallet. "I am taking tips," David said, holding a hand out. "Here's a tip, get us there safe," Sergio chuckled. "What are you looking at?" Yoshi leaned forward in his chair to look. "Just a picture of my wife, she's there on Mars," Sergio sighed, looking at her. "You're married?" Nadia asked, surprised. He didn't seem the marrying type to her. "Oh yes, happily married," Sergio smiled. "But you haven't even been on Mars for more than a day in over a year," Giselle pointed out. "That's why they're happily married," Yoshi said. David and Sergio joined in with his laughter at the observation. "What about you girls, ever get hitched?" Sergio asked. "Oh, no, not me," Terra said, suddenly feeling very inexperienced. "Yes, once, a long time ago," Nadia said, thinking back on her husband. "Oh yeah? Still together?" David asked. "No, we broke up some time ago. Work issues," Nadia replied. She neglected to add the fact that he was cheating on her. She didn't like sounding desperate. "Sorry to hear that," David replied, feeling like a cabbie. He was trying to keep a conversation; all while craning his head back to check in on his fares. "Oh it's okay now, that happened years ago. The best thing I ever got out of it was my kids," Nadia said, thinking back on Jason and Michelle. "Wow, you have kids?" David was surprised at that. "Yeah, Jason and Michelle. Michelle is about four years done in college, Jason is just in his first year of school," Nadia answered back. She knew that it was all public knowledge, or something that Giselle knew anyway. "Wow, they'd be older than me. Just how old are you?" he asked. "In her late thirties," Giselle replied. "Huh," was the only thing that David could think of saying. "Don't ask a woman her age my boy. And don't forget, these days there's a million tonics and tinctures, plus surgery, to keep a woman like her looking beautiful," Sergio added in. "Well at least I was better off with my marriages, I never let kids get in the way of that," Yoshi snickered. "You've been married too?" Terra asked. She hadn't known that. "Yeah, twice, to two of the meanest bitches you will ever know. Of course, they were only like that after I gave them a ring," Yoshi's voice was filled with a mixture of contempt and amusement. "Isn't that all women?" Sergio asked, and the men, and Yoshi, erupted into laughter. Nadia hit Yoshi on the arm for laughing. "I tell you, I still have the ring at home in a lock box," Yoshi said, reminiscently. "Oh, as a memento?" Terra asked, thinking poetically. "No, she kept the house, the car, and half of my money. It was the only thing I got to keep!" Yoshi said, and again the men joined him in laughter. "Why, why do people get in relationships, and break up?" Terra asked, genuinely interested. She had never thought about Nadia's breakup with her husband, or even known of Yoshi's marriages. "Well, it's hard to explain really," Nadia started out. "No, it's not. People change," Yoshi interrupted. "We all change from day to day. When you are first in a relationship, everything seems perfect and great. You're with the best person in the world, and there isn't a thing that either of you two can do that's ever going to mess it up." "So what happens then?" Terra asked. "Well, life happens." Sergio said. "You know, kids change your life. Work changes things too. And then you wind up picking up the small things, the little things that annoy you. At first they're just small, but it just piles up and piles up." "Yes, and then the person you rely on, the one that you need to help you weather the problems, help you get past the rough rocks, becomes one of those problems," Nadia said, recalling her own issues with her husband. "You don't have anyone to rely on, and you start to drift further apart. You become self sufficient again, like you were before you met with your husband." "The sex stops. Not all at once or anything, but it slows down to a crawl. At first it's a headache here, or a bad week there, but before long its only special occasions, and after a while, even those stop. Maybe it's just because you're resentful, and you don't want to satisfy the other person, or maybe it's just genuine disinterest, but it happens," Yoshi said. "Then at some time, you wind up with some turning point, some breaking point that just sets you off the point of no return. You two yell, scream, and eventually, can't live with each other. Sometimes it's amicably, but most of the time it's a hell of a battle over possessions, kids, or sometimes just who was right. But in the end, that's it, you're done," Sergio added. "And then you just try to go on, try to deal with it. It hurts at first, but in time it passes. You stop seeing them in everything, in the bed, or in the kitchen, cleaning out the garage or going to the restaurant where you used to dine. Sometimes getting away from it all is the best way, just getting yourself a clean start. But either way, you get over it," Nadia said, putting her hand on Terra's. "Because what else are you going to do?" Yoshi asked rhetorically. The ship was silent for some time, nobody wished to break the silence, or return to the subject. Everyone was caught up in his or her own thoughts. Thoughts about Mars, getting there safely, and what would happen once they landed were all of prime importance. David hadn't thought about much of this in his life. It was all interesting stuff but like Terra, he felt inadequate. He hadn't even had a girlfriend. So he simply piloted the ship quietly. He wasn't entirely sure, but he believed he was going to be able to obtain maximum available velocity soon, and that meant that they wouldn't be much more than a half an hour to Mars. The smaller ship was much slower than the capital ship they had been on for over a month, the 'Wings of Freedom II', but that was necessitated by the difference in fuel. The Martian ship utilized smaller fuel cells, whereas the other ship could use nuclear power to move incredibly fast, comparatively. The distance between Deimos and Mars was just over twenty three klicks away, while the 'Wings of Freedom' could travel that distance in a second, at full speed. The larger issue was that the Martian ship was being weighed down by the ship they were in, and as such wasn't moving nearly as quickly, or nimbly. "Alright, coming in on Mars," David said. "It's pretty," Terra said, smiling. The whole, long journey was finally over. And for the first time in a long month, she could actually say that she was on the same planet as her mom. The red planet, well it wasn't especially red after centuries of terraforming, had bright shiny rings forming around it. In a sense, it was beautiful. The dust forming the rings shined in the light of the sun, and created a sheen that formed a glorious cosmic view. "It's deadly," Giselle said sourly. "What?" Terra turned her head, confused "The forming rings, those shiny little specks in the sky," Giselle moved her shackled hands to point. "That's the dust from the asteroid that hit the moon Phobos." "I don't know a lot about it," Terra said honestly. "I mean I heard about it before, but that was a long time ago." "Phobos is, well, was, one of the two moons of Mars. It was the larger one, we left the ship we had just been traveling on at the other. An asteroid hit the moon, and it started to move towards the planet," Giselle said, thankful to be able to talk for a moment. She hadn't been too interested in whining about lost lovers. "It's all bullshit," Yoshi said decidedly. "The whole story is fake, it has to be. There's no way that the moon wouldn't impact the planet, under any circumstances. Something else is going on here." "What are you talking about?" Giselle squinted her eyes. 'Did the horny Asian hermaphrodite know something?' "I've studied this for a month, and there's something wrong with this. There's something in science called the Roche limit. Basically there's a point at which any satellite of a planet will start to break up, from the planet's gravity. The tidal forces start to deform the satellite, and it begins to break up," Yoshi tried to explain. "What?" Terra asked, trying to follow. Yoshi had said this to her before, but she didn't understand it, not well. "Basically, everything big enough has gravity. The stars, the sun, the planets, have gravity. That's what keeps the moons in orbit around any planet, and planets in orbit around the sun, or other stars. But the Roche limit is an imaginary line around a planet, or a scientifically determined one, where if a moon enters into it, the moon will break up, and form rings like this," Yoshi said, doing his best not to condescend. "So the moon went to the rocket limit, and that's why it broke up?" Terra said, trying to make some sense of this. "Roche limit, and basically that might have been the case. The orbit of Phobos had been decaying for longer than anyone could know, and there was a good chance that it might have happened naturally, over the course of maybe ten millions years. Then it would naturally form the same rings were seeing now, if there was someone to see it," Yoshi said, looking at the rings. They were pretty. "Might have been the case?" Giselle had picked up on that. "Like I said, this would only have happened in about ten million years from now. And the breaking of the asteroid into rings would have taken thousands of years to happen. This is unnatural. I don't know what it is, but I know that it's not just the product of two asteroids hitting each other," Yoshi said definitively. "So it could be?" Nadia asked, waiting for Yoshi's hypothesis. "Something artificial," Yoshi suggested. "What the heck could anyone do?" Giselle shook her head. 'If she starts saying that aliens are involved, I'm going to scream.' "I don't know. If they set up detonators on the surface to slowly destroy the moon on it's descent, and break it up, it could make things easier. It would require a lot of firepower, but it would be theoretically possible," Yoshi theorized. "Yeah, but to what end?" Giselle wondered. "Well, if you break up the moon, it doesn't leave a twenty kilometer crater on the surface of Mars, and plunge the planet into an ice again," Yoshi said sarcastically. "Okay, but um, here's the question I don't get. What is it that's making everyone sick on Mars?" Terra asked. "Well, the bright rings are formed from the moon breaking up. However, there is some new element, or compound, or new type of…something down there, that is causing the problem," Yoshi was at a loss for words. He couldn't even tell if this was natural, or if it was artificial, although he was leaning heavily towards the latter. "How?" Terra asked, trying to commit everything she heard to memory now. It was hardly an easy task for someone who was not scientifically inclined. "Somehow they magnify the radiation from the sun," Nadia said, recalling this well enough. "The sun…has radiation?" Terra didn't understand. "Yes, the sun gives out all different types of radiation. But don't worry, the vast majority of them are stopped because of the ozone layer. It's like a big layer of this one chemical, ozone, which protects us from radiation," Nadia said, pleased to join in on this conversation. It was much happier than thinking about her ex husband. "But, if it protects us, then, what, uh?" Terra didn't even know what she was asking at the moment. "The element in the rings are magnifying the radiation from the sun, as I said, and that's what's making people sick," Yoshi said, trying to be as calm as he could. "The, ultraviolet rays, right?" Terra had remembered that, but only because the name sounded pretty. "Yes Terra, I think you're getting it," Yoshi hadn't ever taught, but he had always enjoyed showing a thing or two here or there. Of course it was usually to some underlings, and in a much harsher tone. "But, I don't, I'm not sure I understand what the ultraviolet rays do," Terra admitted. "Well, that's kind of difficult to explain, fully. They're type of radiation, and they can make people sick. People who get skin cancer, or suntans, that's because of overexposure to ultraviolet radiation," Nadia looked at Yoshi, to cue him in. "So I guess I probably shouldn't go sunbathing, eh?" David asked, trying to lighten the mood. "Oh come on, it's not like you're the ones with cancer." "Oh hush cabbie, I'm trying to learn something here," Sergio said, annoyed. "There are three types of ultraviolet radiation. UVA radiation is pretty innocuous. That's the type that people get sunburns from, when they spend too much time out on the beach. UVB rays can cause melanoma, or skin cancer. That's usually pretty easy to cure now," Yoshi said, reminded of the first time he had explained this. "Well that sounds good for melanoma, but what about the rest of cancer doc?" David asked, craning his head back. "As I told you before, once we get to any decent medical facility on Mars, I'll personally take care of your cancers, but until then, I can't do anything," Nadia answered, a bit annoyed. She realized it a moment later, apologizing with a quick "Sorry." "Continuing on, increased levels of UVB and UVC can break down DNA. It excites it, basically increasing the energy level of the DNA. This distorts the DNA helix. That causes mutations, stalling replication, creates gaps, and forces incorporation of unsuitable genetic material." Yoshi said. He knew he had said that one before. "Uh, I think I get it. The moon is somehow breaking up, but it's not, natural. It's not the way it should be. It's too fast, and it should hit Mars the way it's going, instead of breaking up like this. So someone might be doing it, tearing the moon apart I mean." Terra said, becoming more sure of herself as she stated each true fact. "And there is some kind of substance on the moon, or the asteroid that hit it, that's forming with the rings. The substance is making the ultraviolet radiation that's hitting Mars worse. It's usually protected by the ozone layer, but... But the substance is magnifying the ultraviolet radiation so that the ozone layer doesn't protect them. Some of its people getting sick with sunburns and cancer, but some of it is going to uh, mess up the DNA, which really makes people sick." "By Jove, I think she's got it," Yoshi said, grinning at Terra's adeptness. "Well if I ever need to know how everything is going, I'll make sure to ask…her…" David said, checking the controls. "Things are going to get a little rough here." "What do you mean?" Giselle leaned forward. "Damn, hang on!" David said, following a slight jarring of the ship. "That wasn't too bad," Terra said, before the entire ship rocked back and forth violently. Everyone tried to grab onto something, however there wasn't anything to grab. "Oh fuck," David said, winching from the bleeding pain, centered right in his nose. Turbulence vibrating his skull worsened his already aching fracture. "What the hell are you doing?" Yoshi asked angrily. "Shut up, we're getting hit by debris from the moon breaking up. It's almost microscopic and damned near impossible to detect, or avoid," David said defensively. He tried to focus his mind away from the throbbing pain. "Can you maybe try to miss some of it?" Sergio asked sarcastically. "I have to, oh shit," David leaned his head back, slamming against the headrest. When the force of the blow caused his brain to contrecoup, tears welled in the corners of his eyes. "This is Martian Aerospace Command, transport ship United Mars eight two, please answer our hail," the radio said. "What do we do?" Nadia asked, taking Terra's hand in her own, and tugging it gently. "Oh shit," David said, checking the diagnostics. It took him a tense minute to realize how screwed they were. "Son, start telling us what is going on right now," Sergio suggested. "When we hit the dust, when everyone was fucking yelling, our ship became unlatched with the Martian ship! We're still going the same speed so I couldn't tell. We're poking out of the back, and they must have noticed," David reported with a winch. "Transport ship United Mars eight two, please respond immediately. We are reading some problem with the configuration of your ship, indicating possible foreign object attachment or possible damage, please answer," the radio repeated. "Should we answer them maybe?" Sergio thought aloud what everyone on the ship was thinking. "It couldn't hurt anything," Giselle added. "Look, we can't communicate through the Martian ship. I don't know how and without any of their encryption ciphers that would be down with their computer systems, it'll look suspicious. And if we send them something from this ship, then it'll shout out our location. Plus I don't know how to hail them, what information they'll need or ask for, and what the hell would I say?" David said, pressing buttons wildly. "Let me get up there," Sergio said, reaching for his harness. "Goddamn it stop this right now!" David ordered. Sitting at the helm felt very captain- like, and he enjoyed the feeling of command. Now he had to do something worthy of meriting the chair. "Look David, all we need to do is make it a few more klicks and we'll be in the atmosphere, and we can use the plan. Just pilot us through it," Giselle said supportively. "Transport ship United Mars eight two, we are sending two ships inbound, do not, repeat, do not interfere with them. They will escort you to Martian base five for debriefing," the radio said. "Fuck me!" David shouted. "This is," "Yes, going to get rough, thanks," Yoshi said, checking his restraints. "David," Terra said softly. "What!" David replied, too forcefully. "I'm sorry, what is it?" "The uh, scanner monitor thing," Terra pointed. "I don't have a lot of time Terra. Please make it quick." David said, watching two small Martian crafts coming up from the front view. They would have seen him by now with their naked eyes. "The dots on it," she pointed harder to it. "Yes, we're the center dot. The other two dots are the other ships," he said quickly, altering his course slightly. "What's that?" Terra asked, leaning forward in her chair. "What?" David asked, looking at the same something Terra was. "What is that?" "I've never seen anything like it," David remarked. "Scanners show a surge of some energy coming this way. It's got every kind of radiation along the electromagnetic spectrum! Intense radiation, microwave, infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma radiation, it's all coming out of nowhere. I can't track it from anywhere!" "Is it solar wind?" Sergio suggested. "It's nothing like solar wind," Yoshi said, examining the screen from the backseat. The ship was quiet for a moment, as no one had an immediate answer to it. "It's a solar flare, has to be," Yoshi said, after analyzing it for a moment. "A solar flare, you've got to be kidding me…wait a minute. Hot damn, this is just what we need," David said, changing the ship's trajectory. "What are you doing?" Sergio asked, noting the change in direction. "Flying us right into the radiation from the solar flare," David announced, absentmindedly. "What? Are you insane?" Sergio asked. "No, it's perfect," David said. "What are you talking about?" Nadia asked, looking out the window, expecting to see some colored cloud. "It'll ruin the ship! We'll lose all computer systems and be left defenseless hovering above the planet, waiting for them to get us!" Sergio said, struggling against his restraint. "No, listen to me, this is going to work," David said, activating their ship's engines. He didn't care right now if the Martians happened to see them now. "With the Martian ship above us, it will act like a shield to protect us from the radiation, at least partly," Yoshi explained. It was crazy enough to work. "And it won't protect the Martian ships. Plus it'll fuck up their long-range communications. They won't have any information of us, and we can move right in. Contact in twenty seconds," David announced, grabbing onto a support bar. "Transport ship United Mars eighty-two, this is Martian support craft, we're going to," the radio said, before static overtook it. "Hold on!" David shouted, a moment before the ship shook. "We're going down!" The ship shook powerfully, rocking back and forth without control. David did his best to pilot it, but it was as if unseen hands were pushing it, spiraling the ship out of control. It streaked across the Martian sky, burning in the atmosphere. Because of the odd weight and force of the radiation, the ship was throttling out of control. It spun around madly in a corkscrew. The constant gyration was exacerbated by the drag of gravity, pulling it harder and quicker. "Lost the Martians," David said, trying to hold down the bile he felt in the back of his throat. "Losing my lunch," Sergio said, wishing very much that he had an airbag. "Trying to straighten us out," David said, watching the atmospheric levels intently. He knew they were flying down too quickly. "Pull up the nose," Giselle shouted. "Can't yet," David said, waiting. 'Just another couple seconds' he thought. "Why?" Giselle screamed through her gritted teeth. "This!" David said, detaching the connecting clamps on the Martian ships, and sending it flying out wildly. He pulled up on the ship's controls, engaged the retrorockets, and tried to regain control. The ground flew up at him quicker than he could control. He knew the retrorockets wouldn't be enough. "Brace for impact!" he shouted, shielding his face moments before the ship hit Mars firma. The ship oscillated as it scrapped across the sandy desert. The old and weak ship was being stripped of its metallic armor on its underbelly. Scorched from reentry, and scrapped from the sand, it wasn't going to last long. The heat was becoming unbearable, and David knew that there was next to no time left. He couldn't even process the pain throbbing through his head. And in one moment, it was all over. There was no slow down, they just hit a dune, lurching them forward. The ship was dormant, and lurched towards one side. David's eyes slowly opened, trying to make sense of it all. He groaned, lifting the ship's hatch up. He sighed, feeling the fresh air blowing in. Looking back he checked over everyone. They were all unconscious, he wondered to himself how long he had been out. Most people lose consciousness during reentry. 'Did I lose consciousness?' he wondered to himself. His head was beyond pain right now. He seemed to be able to deal with it for the moment. He pushed the door further up, hearing the old metal start to creak. 'It won't matter now,' he thought, taking a deep breath in. It was hot today, but it was a dessert. He checked the others, wondering how he should wake them. Then he looked at Terra, and felt the blood drain from his face. Terra was cut, bleeding from the forehead. He checked her for other injury, but there were none. Her forehead trickled blood, it looked like there was a four inch cut on her scalp. 'She must have hit the headrest,' he thought, searching the front cabin. He took his canteen, and poured water on his hand, before wiping the blood clean. He looked at his finger, her blood coating it. He had expected something different. Like there would be little robots, or green blood, or just that her blood would be thicker. Just something different, something that he could know to tell that it wasn't the same as everyone. "What the hell?" he asked, staring intently. The skin around Terra's forehead was healing itself. The blood had stopped pouring out. He watched the cut slowly seem to just…heal itself. Both ends seemed to shrink smaller and smaller, until the wound was completely healed, as white, and pristine as the rest of her scalp. "What the hell?" he asked again, holding Terra's shoulder with one arm, and inspecting her forehead with his other. * A leader sat in her office, staring at the scenes unfolding on the planet down below. "Sir, we have done as you ordered," the subordinate said. "I saw, and the Martians?" the leader asked. "They believe it was a solar flare. There is some internal chatter about whether or not the forming rings have prevented them from noticing it. They do not believe it was artificial," she relayed the information, trying to stay the comment still nagging her. "Then we have gambled much, but have been successful, thank you," the leader said, waving to her subordinate. "Sir," she said, wondering what words would express her point eloquently, without raising her leader's ire, or forcing her to do her duty. "I know," the leader said, nodding. "There is talk amongst the crew. They question, but do not disobey. But we were not to interfere," the subordinate said cautiously. "I know the orders, and I'm taking full responsibility for my actions. Out here I have the prerogative to make decisions," the leader said, shielding her face. "Some believe that you are being influenced, personally, by, the child," she said, ever mindful of her leader's feelings. "My son is my own affair," the leader said. "Not when it affects our mission," the she added, wishing a moment later that she hadn't. "You've made your opinion clear," the leader said coldly, staring at her subordinate. She didn't flinch at her leader's gaze. "Dismissed." "By your leave," she said. (This file was created by SomeRandomBastard (at) yahoo (dot) com, so send all flames there. Don't use without permission, and don't claim it's yours. You are allowed to send this file to others via email. However posting this story, or any portion therein without expressed consent of the author is prohibited. This includes on BBS/Forums, websites, torrents, peer2peer and any other kind of file transmission. I check my email daily, so if you want to post the story you are able to ask and get a response easily.) A critique, comments, flames, any responses are welcome, if they are pro, and then I'll consider making more. Don't be a jerk; send me a simple 2-minute or less message saying, hey, this was good. Thanks. Wow, so hard. http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/srb/www/