Neither had heard anything more from Beijing regarding the hub, leaving both relieved but nervous.
While there was still time for the situation to blow up, they both hoped the silence meant Liu Yang had got her contacts to conduct the data review and that that would be the end of it.
One of their colleagues, having sensed the lingering tension in the Command Room over the past few days, even after the impact at Base Five Two had seemingly been resolved, said, “Let’s hope for a nice mundane shift.”
More of the crew than just Yong and Tung smiled and nodded.
BEEP!
Commander Tung’s workstation sounded out with a priority message.
He took one look at his screen and then put on his headset while getting up and hurrying to his office.
Yong’s heart skipped a beat to hear the alert, but he realized if Tung was getting a call, that meant the caller must be on Mars, as there was no time delay.
Perhaps it was Liu Yang?
And that made him wonder, was she calling to warn that they had been found out? Were they all about to be rushed out to be picked up by Renegades, or had Beijing sent someone over on one of the cargo landers or colonist transports now starting to be parked in orbit?
Amongst the coming civilians, was there an armed military contingent?
Were the three of them about to be arrested, court marshalled, executed, and then recycled in the farming habitats?
Commander Tung hurried into his office and shut the door behind him, as Liu Yang sounded off in his ear.
“I can see it!” she cried, her voice modulated on the encrypted line.
“See what?”
“The drone. What’s happening. What have you done?”
“I haven’t done anything. What are you talking about?”
“There’s a drone chasing the rover.”
“The rover?” he asked, wondering how she knew. “Wei’s?”
“The Renegades’. You know what I’m talking about.” She was breathing heavily as she talked, her words punctuated by her movement.
“Where are you? What are you doing?”
“Never mind that. Call off the drone.”
“It’s not mine.”
“No?”
“Of course not. It’s not from Mars Command One.”
“Hang on.” She had put him on hold.
He was exasperated.
She came back after a few seconds. “Okay, I can see that, but they’re being followed now by someone.”
He considered this new information, although he was still annoyed that she could have thought he had been behind it. Confused, he made the mistake of speaking while still gathering his thoughts. “And it’s not Mars Command Two’s?”
“No, of course not!” she said indignantly, before pausing for a heartbeat. “Hang on!” And then he was on hold again.
He cursed.
She came back after a long break, a silence that stretched on and on. “It’s Mars Command Five.”
“What!” he exclaimed loudly.
“They’ve been tasked by Beijing. They’ve set the drone on the trail.”
“To do what?”
“I don’t know, but it will be either to follow them back to the Renegade habitat or to take them out.”
He cursed again.
Her voice echoed now, as she entered a new space, “I will have it taken care of.”
“You?”
“Yes. I’m calling for help. The Renegades have a second rover out there, and there might be more we can muster.”
Chapter 33
The road to Xanadu, Mars
Ghost pushed the Rover as hard as she could.
The trail they were on led them through a maze of gullies, the undulating tan and orange landscape a place of gravel and rock.
Wei asked, “How much further do we have to go?”
She was focused on driving, but after a moment called out an answer to him where he sat at the rear of the rover watching the drone. “Too far. If the hub can keep up, we’re in trouble. I can’t push the rover any harder; besides, we’re going to end up running out of power.”
“What are we on now?”
“Four percent, and I’m draining it slightly faster than the panels can recharge.”
He suggested, “If we run out of power, we can suit up and sit tight, even if we have to wait until dawn, so we can recharge then.”
She was shaking her head, her fatigue clear. “I don’t know who is behind the drone or what they plan to do, but they seem determined to catch us. I’m worried they won’t be happy with just coming in close to get some video.”
Wei frowned. “What? Do you think it’s going to attack us?”
“I don’t know, but it is trying to catch us for a reason. Just keep your helmet handy.”
Ghost had the rover tearing through the gullies, thankfully on trails she knew well. The sun was sinking in the west, meaning not only would they soon be out of daylight to see by, but so would the rover’s solar panels. She said, “We’re down to three percent.”
Wei asked, “What can we do?”
“We should pull over and save the last of our power for life support. I’d also prefer to see what that drone hub is going to do when it catches us while we’ve still got daylight.”
Wei agreed.
She said, “Before I stop, we both need to eat a ration pack and take some water, because we’re going to have to then be suited up until we know what we’re up against.”
He came back up to the front of the rover and went for two ration packs.
She watched him as he checked them over.
He then prepped one for her and put it into her hand as she drove. He said, “Beef noodles. Your favorite.”
She couldn’t help but grin.
Chapter 34
Houxing MingLing Yi (Mars Command One), Mars
Commander Tung looked at his display, wondering what would be the smart thing to do.
Well, not the smart thing, but the best thing.
The smart thing was obvious. It would be to leave all of it alone. If Mars Command Five had been called on by Beijing Command to go after the rover, then clearly Mars Command One, and by association, him, were suspect. The same probably went for Mars Command Two.
If that was the case, the smart thing to do would be to keep away from it all.
But he couldn’t.
He was only now learning the truth of the Renegades and what had been going on. And, deep down, he couldn’t help but feel they were not only important, but pivotal to the future.
The fact they’d been able to survive on Mars mostly alone was such an achievement that not only did they and their techniques need to be learned from, but they also needed to be harnessed as a driver for developing the Chinese settlement program.
But, he wondered, how could he help them? What leverage did he have? How could he get Beijing Command to listen?
As he sat there, his gaze drifted over his screen. The display was filled with their usual task lists and alerts, a third of them relating to recent orbital insertions for the newly arrived cargo landers. But at the top of the list was the alerts for the two most recent arrivals. Today, two colonists ships had arrived. The big landers held a thousand people in each, one for Mars Command One and one for Mars Command Two.
An idea came into his head.
He got up and left his office, speaking to Yong in command, and then also passed a verbal order on to the rest of the crew.
With his heart pounding in his chest, he wondered just what he had set in motion.
But it was done.
He then sat down at a workstation and called up the maintenance and logistics crews. They were ordered to clear the Guangchang. The huge space would be brought into service early.