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Jonas played the voice message from Grayson aloud.
“I received information about the Chinese robots earlier in the week. I have hired a team to go after information on how to destroy them. I will update you once they retrieve the data.”
Boony cocked a brow and looked at Jonas. “So, he knew about them, but didn’t want to tell us?”
Jonas shrugged. “Seems so.”
She shook her head. “What a load of BS. Why wouldn’t he give us a heads up?”
He sighed. “Maybe he didn’t realize how close these robots are to our location? Mars is a huge planet after all.”
“But he knew, Jonas.”
“Don’t jump the gun,” he replied. “There is one thing I know about Grayson with absolute certainty.”
“What’s that?”
“Oh, he’ll protect his investments. That’s what we are here. If he says that he’s looking to find a solution, that’s putting it mildly.”
“You really think he cares about us that much?”
Jonas shook his head. “No, Boony. His investments.”
“He thinks of us as property?”
He laughed. “In a way that’s what we are. We’re the reason he’s able to gain wealth from Mars, and apparently he’s at war with the Chinese government about our occupation here. Derek said that these robots are equipped with heat-seeking technology, which indicates they are here to hunt us down and kill us. Without us Grayson loses control of his encampments.”
“So after we’re all dead, the Chinese need to send others to replace us?”
“Basically, yes. At that point whoever resettles this base owns it and everything inside.”
“That’s sly and underhanded.”
“True.” Jonas nodded. “Indirectly, we’re his best interests here. There’s no end to what Grayson will do to them to prevent any hostile takeover. So, I have no doubt that he’s looking for a quick resolution.”
“But we may not have that much time.”
“Exactly. We need to be preparing.”
“How?”
“As soon as the nurse finishes tending to Derek, I will discuss the alternatives with him.”
“Why?”
Jonas smiled. “Because when it comes to robots, Derek is a genius. He might find a way to deal with them ahead of any information Grayson sends us.”
“I hope he can. I don’t have a lot of faith in Grayson’s current technology.”
“You mean the Sleeper Chips?”
She nodded.
“Well, Grayson hasn’t even heard the worst part.”
“What’s that?”
Jonas punched in numbers to return a message to Grayson. “We have a problem inside of Olympus Mons. An infestation of strange poisonous insects that outnumber us by the thousands. These things have killed one guard and several prisoners. Outside of using extreme heat, we don’t have any real way to exterminate them. We may have to send guards and crew back to Earth should this situation get further out of hand.”
He hit ‘send.’
Boony shook her head. “He’s not going to believe that.”
“Would you?”
“No, not without seeing them first. It sounds like a horrible prank.”
“It definitely would if it wasn’t me reporting it to him.”
“He’ll believe your report?”
Jonas nodded. “I’ve never been one to tell jokes or pull pranks. Grayson knows that it’s not in my nature. I’ve worked for him too many years. He’ll believe me without pictures.”
Boony marveled. “And after all these years he’d never suspect you to have a sudden thought to pull a shenanigan?”
“No.”
“Then your news will certainly cause a bit of panic for him, won’t it?”
“Probably. That’s another downside about us being on Mars and him being on Earth. Thirty-minute delays in receiving answers to messages. Should we ever experience a catastrophe, that’s a hellish eternity to wait. I need to take some digital photos of those insects in the lab and upload them in a message to Grayson. Then he’ll know what else we’re up against.”
***
Grayson listened to the report about the poisonous insects on Mars for the second time. He didn’t know how to reply. Fate seemed to be placing a unbreakable chokehold to shut down his operations. Even if he wanted to send reinforcements, they’d never reach Olympus Mons in time.
The only plus side was the discovery of life on Mars, but how did you report that to the press if the creatures killed all of your inhabitants? There wasn’t any positive outcome with such a circumstance occurring in the media, especially when most of the news reporters already hated him.
Beatrice spoke over his desk intercom. “You have a visitor, Mr. Grayson. He insists it’s urgent.”
“Who is it?”
“Mr. Parks.”
Grayson’s eyebrows rose. “Send him in.”
About two minutes later, a muscled man opened the office door and motioned Parks to enter. Parks paused at the threshold for a moment with nervousness on his face. He took a step forward, using a cane to balance as he walked toward Grayson’s desk.
“Damn, Parks, what happened?” Grayson asked, coming around the desk to help Parks sit in a cushioned chair.
“The details are a bit fuzzy right now,” he replied. He winced and gasped as he lowered into the chair.
Grayson eased back, sat on the edge of his desk, and crossed his arms. “You don’t remember at all?”
Parks peered into Grayson’s eyes for a moment and quickly looked away. “All I know is what I’ve been told.”
“And that is?”
“I was knocked unconscious in an alley when an officer found me and called an ambulance. According to the doctor at the hospital, I had been out for a couple of days.”
Grayson studied him beneath a firm brow for several moments. “You remember nothing?”
Uneasily, Parks shook his head.
“Did it have to do with retrieving the information I asked you to get?”
“I’m thinking it did. But, like I said, the details are sketchy.”
“I see. In the shape you’re in, you didn’t have to come all the way down to my office. You could have called.”
Parks raised a hand in a wavelike motion like it didn’t matter. “I was lucky they even allowed me to leave the hospital. Besides, I needed to check in with you. It’s safer than using phones. You know that.”
Grayson nodded. “Definitely. But in your absence, I have to say that I have some bad news for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Someone else gave me the information I sent you after, and I paid them.”
Parks winced and squeezed his eyes shut for a few moments, as he turned in the chair. “The whole million?”
“Unfortunately,” Grayson said. “Yes.”
Parks leaned the back of his head against the cushioned chair, closed his eyes, and shook his head. “To whom?”
Grayson uncrossed his arms and walked around to his chair behind the desk. “It’s not important.”
“To me it might be.”
“How’s that?”
“He could be the person who did this to me.”
Beatrice spoke through the intercom. “Sir, I know you’re busy but—”
A male voice cut her off. “Tell Grayson it’s urgent I speak with him about payment.”
“Grayson,” Beatrice said, “he’s coming toward your office! He’s knocked one of the guards unconscious!”
***
Clark sat at a table with the three insects locked inside their glass container. Other than the warning, the insects didn’t communicate any further, which frustrated him.
He wasn’t delusional. He had written the letters in the specific order they had chosen. They had never hesitated with their choices. Not once. It had been almost like relying on the Ouija board pointer to stop on certain letters. But these were real insects without a chance that someone else was manipulating the choices. And now, they were silent.
Jonas and Boony entered the laboratory and approached Clark’s table. Jonas took a digital camera and half squatted to get a picture.
“What are you doing?” Clark asked.
“Sending pictures to Grayson.”
Clark placed his hands over the side of the glass container, blocking the insects from Jonas’ view.
“What are you doing?” Jonas asked.
“You can’t.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because . . . Grayson will take the discovery as his own.”
Boony said, “You realize that our lives are endangered?”
“Yeah,” he replied defensively. “I do. But there’s nothing on Earth that will aid Grayson any better in understanding what these things are. Nothing. We’re the ones with firsthand knowledge. I’m conducting research, so I can write a scientific report for a journal.”
Jonas lowered the camera and stood upright again. “So, what you’re saying is that you want the credit for yourself?”
“That wasn’t what I said.”
“It’s implied,” Jonas replied.
Clark offered a shrug. His face reddened. “The discovery goes a long way on my resume.”
Jonas nodded. “Okay. No pictures. But I have informed Grayson of the danger we face.”
“You did?”
“I had to. So if I were you, I’d get busy on finding out what you can about them.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Care to show us how they are able to communicate with us?” Jonas asked.
Clark swallowed hard. “I can try. After I wrote down their warning, they’ve stopped.”
Boony smiled. “That’s convenient.”
“It’s frustrating as hell,” he replied. He slid a paper from beneath his laptop toward Jonas. “This is the message.”
Jonas cocked a brow. “A bit poetic for insects, don’t you think?”
Clark sighed.
“Show us what you did,” Jonas said. “So I can see. Who knows? Maybe they’ll do it again.”
Sheepishly, Clark took the disconnected keyboard and held it against the side of the container wall. His face flushed dark crimson. To his surprise as well as Boony and Jonas, one insect studied the keyboard and started pointing at letters.
“Write it down,” Clark said, glancing toward Boony.
She grabbed a pen and a notepad.
“I’ll be damned,” Jonas said.
Boony’s eyes widened as she wrote the letters until it stopped pointing.
Clark noticed her troubled expression. “What did they say?”
She read off the message. “In the dead of night, your deaths, our delight.”