Exiles of Titan- The Martian Phase Read online

  ‘How long will it take the ship to reach Titan?’ Adam asked.

  ‘About fourteen days for this particular Q-ship. It’s a new design and we only have one at the moment. Two more have been commissioned but they’re in the shipyard partially complete.’ The Director looked momentarily lost. ‘Now where was I?’

  ‘You’d sent a Q-ship off to Titan with Professor Chayka’s team on board,’ Deira said.

  ‘Ah yes. Well, I’m sure you know that anyone intending to go into space must undergo strict psychological testing – and there’s a fifty percent failure rate. Luckily, Professor Chayka passed the tests but half his team didn’t. We were able to find replacements quite quickly but the professor wasn’t amused. His relationship with the Bureau’s about as strained as it possibly could be right now.

  ‘Anyway, as I said, the team boarded the Q-ship five days ago. We arranged a short stopover on Mars for them, to break the journey and allow for some sightseeing, but things went catastrophically wrong. One of the new team members, a Frenchman by the name of Fournier, hanged himself in the Skydome. Did it a couple of days ago, actually, but the Mars Base coroner’s only just released the inquest details – which is a damned nuisance because the Q-ship’s already set off for Titan again.’

  Adam frowned. ‘That doesn’t make sense, sir. Severe depression with suicidal tendencies would surely have been detected by the psychological tests.’

  ‘Exactly!’

  ‘So, there are three possibilities. First, the psychological tests might be flawed – and that would be a disaster for our ongoing space programme. Second, something could have happened soon after Fournier boarded the ship to cause a catastrophic deterioration in his mental health. Third, it wasn’t suicide.’

  ‘Very good, SSA Clarke. So, I need you to investigate Fournier’s death in a little more detail. If you’re convinced it was suicide with no contributing factors then we have a huge problem. The tests will probably have to be re-designed from the bottom up and space travel put on hold for all new applicants for an unspecified time. If there were contributing factors that caused a critical deterioration then I need to know what those factors were. Finally, if you are convinced it wasn’t suicide you have a different sort of investigation on your hands.’

  Adam looked thoughtful. ‘Do you think it could have anything to do with the stranger we’re looking for?’

  ‘That’s the question of course. It’s impossible to say at this point. I’m sending you the post-mortem results and the inquest findings, together with the investigation carried out by the local security team. See what you make of them and do a bit of snooping of your own. You’ll need to make contact with the Chief of Security before you begin – his name’s Monroe and he has a pretty good reputation. I’m sending you his file too. Everything clear?’

  ‘Absolutely clear, sir.’

  ‘Any questions?’

  Adam glanced at Deira and she shook her head. It all seemed straightforward.

  ‘No sir. We’re happy with the brief.’

  ‘Splendid. Best of luck.’ The transmission ended.

  ‘Okay,’ Deira said. ‘That’s different.’

  ‘Things just keep getting better, don’t they? Come on! We need to get to Mars.’

  At a nod from Adam, Paulo brought his equipment back on line and Adam lay down in the chamber. Deira waited while the now-familiar process run its course, apprehension beginning to gnaw at her again. This time there was a considerable delay before a small beep sounded from Paulo’s instruments. He checked them thoroughly and turned to Deira.

  ‘Agent Clarke confirmed at destination. Are you good to go, Agent MacMahon?’

  ‘Sure thing.’

  Deira tried to push the anxiety away. The Director had been right about the new PHASE tech, it really was just like the stuff she was familiar with on Earth. No problem. Except – for her – there was. She thought she’d overcome her fear of this transfer but the long wait to have Adam’s arrival confirmed had brought it home to her what she was about to do. She’d be a disembodied stream of photons flying through open space for over four minutes! Her stomach seemed to do a little cartwheel and all her carefully-cultivated bravado disappeared. She entered the chamber and lay tensed up, waiting for the hum to end. Then – nothingness.

  Four minutes and thirteen seconds later she regained consciousness and opened her eyes. A wave of nausea and photophobia swept over her and she closed her eyes tight again. This had to be a bad PHASE.

  Deira had never experienced a bad PHASE though she’d been told about them by more experienced agents. Since the newer PHASE terminals had come on line they’d become less common but agents still had to learn how to deal with them. She went carefully through the recommended series of muscle relaxation techniques, tensing and relaxing each muscle group in turn before moving on to the next. Then she tried opening her eyes again. Things had certainly improved. Her vision remained blurred but the light didn’t hurt any more. Furthermore, she no longer felt like she needed a bucket to puke in. Her muscles were still very painful, as if she’d just finished a session of bare-back riding on a bucking bronco, and her head ached a little, but she thought she could cope with a few aches and pains.

  Her vision gradually cleared and the room came into focus, revealing what looked like a teenage girl watching her apprehensively. The girl was slim and pretty, her long blond hair tied into a ponytail that further accentuated her youthful appearance. This had to be the local techie, though she didn’t look old enough to be out on her own never mind operating a multi-million-Euro PHASE terminal.

  ‘Hi! Welcome to Mars Agent MacMahon.’ The Irish accent was very evident. ‘I’m Amelie and I’ll be working with you to get your post-PHASE tests done. Before that though – are you alright? You took a while to come round and you look a bit groggy.’

  ‘Hello Amelie. Please call me Deira. Yeah, I do feel pretty rough.’ In fact her headache had suddenly taken a turn for the worse.

  Amelie frowned. ‘Can you be more specific? Any cramps or other obvious physical problems?’

  ‘Nausea and photophobia when I first came round but they’ve gone now. My muscles ache like hell and I feel completely, I don’t know, “deflated” would probably be the best word. Like a post-adrenaline rush, but ten times worse. It’s probably nothing.’

  ‘Actually, it could be quite important.’ Amelie rapidly made notes on her wrist console. ‘PHASEing over spatial distances involves the use of an advanced form of compression technology. The “you” that arrives at your destination doesn’t contain all the information that would have originally been “you” at the transmission end – it’s the job of the new equipment to sample the information at the one end and fill in the blanks at the other. Bit like the process for digitising music but much more sophisticated. Anyway, the feeling you’re talking about could very well relate to the filling in process. I think you agents have a phrase for how you feel after a normal PHASE…’

  ‘The cells remember. Yes, there’s normally a strange feeling, but it’s nothing like this.’

  ‘Well we’ll be doing a whole series of post-PHASE tests later so we’ll see if anything turns up. We’re very much into unchartered waters here – we’ve never had a human to describe how they’re feeling before. What’s it like to be first, or perhaps I should say second?’

  Deira harrumphed. She’d had misgivings about these long-distance PHASES from the start but had been lulled into a false sense of security after the moon trip. Granted, she was still in one piece and she certainly felt like the same Deira who’d left the moon a few minutes ago. It was just that her head hurt and she felt so tired – she could hardly keep her eyes open. And what was all that about sampling, compression and filling in? Nobody had mentioned that before.

  Suddenly, Amelie’s comment about her being the second transferee reminded her she wasn’t here on her own. She looked round for Adam and was surprised to find he wasn’t there. Perhaps he felt bad too and had gone to lie d
own.

  ‘How’s Adam?’

  ‘Seemed fine when he arrived. I thought he’d hang around and wait for you but he was out of the terminal as fast as he could go. Said he was going for a stiff drink. Is he always so grumpy or is he just having a bad day?’

  Deira couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Adam would always wait for her – and he certainly wouldn’t go to a bar while she was part-way through an interplanetary PHASE. In fact, she’d never known him go to a bar at all on his own – she usually had to push him into having a drink. And he was almost never grumpy. Something was very wrong and she knew she ought to check it out – she just didn’t feel capable. Her head felt like it was going to explode soon if she didn’t lie down somewhere.

  ‘That’s not the Adam I know. I’ll look into it later. At the moment, though, I really am feeling pretty dreadful – my head’s killing me and I can hardly stay awake. I think I need to lie down in a dark room for a while.’

  Amelie was kind and efficient. She showed Deira to her assigned room and left her a couple of aspirins before closing the door gently.

  Deira popped the aspirins, slipped her boots off and climbed into bed fully clothed. Without bidding, her eyes closed and she fell asleep. It wasn’t a very restful sleep and she tossed and turned fitfully for some time before waking with a start. She sat up, sweating profusely. This wasn’t good – she had psychological tests scheduled for the next day and failing them was unthinkable. It was still only 12.00 so she made herself a drink of warm milk, changed into her bed clothes, and settled down to read for a while. That seemed to do the trick and when her eyelids drooped again she fell into a prolonged, deep sleep that was uninterrupted. When she finally came round it was well into the next morning, almost twenty-four hours later. She’d never slept so long in her life. It was almost as if her body had performed a hard reset.

  Thankfully, the headache and tiredness of the previous day had completely vanished and she felt fresh and ready to go – though she was ravenously hungry and sticky with sweat. That was soon sorted by a thorough clean-up in the small bathroom and a mighty breakfast in the refectory. Then she felt ready for anything Amelie could throw at her.

  When she presented herself at the PHASE terminal for the mandatory set of post-PHASE tests there was still no sign of Adam, but Amelie insisted they continue with Deira’s tests and she’d chase him up later. Standard post-PHASE tests were pretty basic and took very little time. These tests were of a different order entirely. First, a local medic carried out a full physical exam and took samples of blood, skin, hair and urine. When he’d finished, Amelie supervised the comprehensive psychological tests. Finally, there was a total body quantum scan.

  It was late afternoon by the time they were finished and, though most results were available and satisfactory, some wouldn’t be available until the next day. Amelie apologised to Deira, explaining that she couldn’t officially sign her off until those results had been received and checked. Deira didn’t actually care. Her main concern was Adam and what he was up to. According to her wrist console he was in the bar again – unless, of course, he’d never left! She flashed up a schematic of the Base design on her virtual screen and soon found her way to The Mall. There was the bar she wanted, directly in front of her, and there was Adam just emerging – Adam like she’d never seen him before.

  She was sure he was still wearing the clothes he’d PHASEd in and he couldn’t have washed either because, when she got nearer, she smelled stale sweat and booze. She took in with alarm the stubble and black rims to his reddened eyes. Had he slept? He staggered slightly as he drew level with her and she reached out to offer support. The response was immediate and aggressive. He angrily swatted the hand away and glared at her.

  ‘Fuck off bitch. When I want some of that I’ll ask for it.’

  Deira involuntarily took a step back in alarm. ‘Adam – it’s me – Deira.’

  He leered horribly, making her recoil further. ‘Deira is it? Don’t think I know you darlin’ Want to play?’

  She flinched and put in a call to Amelie.

  ‘Amelie? Yes, it’s Deira. Listen, I’ve found Adam and there’s something horribly wrong. He’s drunk and doesn’t seem to recognise me.’

  ‘Deira, stay with him. I’ve got him tagged on my console and I’m putting in an urgent call to security. I won’t be able to tell if it’s a PHASE problem until I can get some tests done but the first priority is to get him to a place of safety and sober him up.’

  ‘Okay.’ Deira watched with disgust as Adam turned to one side and urinated on a nearby shop front. ‘Try to get security to hurry will you?’

  ‘They’re on their way. The security office is just down the corridor off The Mall so they should be with you in a few minutes.’

  Even as Amelie was speaking Deira heard the sound of running feet and two burly security men emerged on to the Mall. She waved to attract their attention and pointed at Adam who was in the process of zipping himself up. They acknowledged her and walked smartly over to Adam, taking an arm each and trying to attach a set of handcuffs. This was not a good plan. Whatever had happened to Adam’s mind, his body responded to this perceived attack by slipping effortlessly into well-rehearsed combat moves. He appeared to collapse, his weight loosening the holds of the security men. Then, as he fell to a squatting position one leg shot out and round, sweeping both men off their feet and leaving them floundering on the floor. He gave a deep-throated growl and turned on Deira, his face contorted with rage.

  ‘Fucking bitch – this is your fault.’

  His body tensed and she knew she’d got three of four seconds max before he went for her. The security men were still picking themselves up so there was no point looking there for help. She had no option but to pre-empt him.

  ‘Okay Adam, this is for you own good.’

  In one fluid movement she whipped out her staff, extended it to maximum length and swept his feet out from under him. Then, while he lay on the floor, she brought one end of the staff down in a sharp blow to his temple. He gave a low groan and sank back unconscious. It was all over in seconds.

  The security men climbed to their feet and stared with interest at the staff. She guessed it was probably the first time either of them had seen an agent in action and it was clear they were impressed, even if also slightly embarrassed by their own efforts. Between them they gathered Adam up and carried him to the security office where they lay him down in a cell. Deira considered staying until he was awake but the thought of confronting that awful lewd personality again was too much.

  She wandered slowly away, feeling guilty for not being more supportive but horrified by the monster Adam appeared to have become. Without being consciously aware of it she retraced her steps to the PHASE terminal and found Amelie finishing up for the day. The techie took one look at her and stopped what she was doing.

  ‘You okay? How’s Adam?’

  ‘He’s completely out of it.’ Deira explained what she’d had to do. ‘It was awful, Amelie. He was so totally not Adam.’

  ‘God, I’m really sorry, but if he’s that different I think the chances of him recovering quickly are very slim. If I were you, I’d hope for the best, but expect the worst.’

  This thought had been flitting round the edge of Deira’s awareness but she’d been trying to ignore it. Now she was forced to confront it. She knew the score. There were no cases on record of self-limiting psychological problems after a PHASE – they were all permanent. Although Adam’s situation as the first interplanetary transferee was unique, there was no reason to suppose things would be any different for him. So, she needed to sort herself out. Yes, she’d lost her supervisor and yes, it was hard, but she was left with no alternative but to go it alone on the mission. And there was the question, right there. Was she capable of it?

  She was confident in her physical abilities – but psychologically? That was the nub of it. Adam had recently told her she was as ready to run a mission as she’d ever be. However,
even if he’d given her control he’d have still been there providing support and, she admitted, keeping her wilder side contained. Without him, she was going to have to grow up as an agent pretty damned fast. She turned to Amelie.

  ‘Fancy a drink?’

  She was trying not to show the feeling of loss and abject terror that had come over her but could tell she wasn’t succeeding.

  ‘Could kill for one. Come on, we’ll get ourselves a little bottled therapy.’

  Amelie took Deira’s arm and steered her back to the Mall and into the same bar that Adam had recently left. They perched on a couple of stools and had a brief chat with the barman, and it wasn’t long before Deira found herself loosening up and even beginning to enjoy Amelie’s company. They were laughing at a story Amelie had just recounted when there were raised voices a little way across the room and a big guy with a tattoo on his arm suddenly went berserk. He lashed out at one of his drinking companions, flattening his nose and causing him to reel back against the wall. The assaulted man put a hand to his face and stared in disbelief when it came away covered in blood. He looked stunned for a moment then gave a low growl and threw himself at his attacker, landing a nasty blow to the man’s left kidney. Pandemonium ensued, and it took the barman, a security man and a couple of other drinkers to calm things down and eject the troublemaker. It was a while before things returned to normal. Unfortunately for Deira, the episode destroyed the mood and all her worries came flooding back.

  Amelie saw the sudden change and tried to deflect the dark thoughts. ‘So where does the name “Deira” come from?’ she said. ‘It’s not one I’ve heard before.’