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Derek stopped the flatbed truck a few feet away from the dump truck. He hurried from the cab and stopped beside his robots. “You only have one shot?”
“It’s charging. It will take a few more seconds.”
“Adam! Get over here!” Derek said, waving his arm. He glanced at his robots. “We lost Paul over the embankment.”
“Two more seconds,” Bradbury said.
Adam turned to run.
The loose debris cascaded around Chinese robot’s feet. The soil was giving way beneath it, burying up to its knees.
“Hurry,” Derek said to his robots.
Isaac and Bradbury turned the EMP toward the robot and fired. The robot stiffened and stopped fighting against the tugging soil. Seconds later the current of rocks and silt carried it over the edge.
Adam stopped beside Derek. He was panting and teary-eyed.
“I’m sorry,” Derek said. “There wasn’t anything we could do.”
“I know. If he could have waited another minute, but he kicked himself over the ledge.”
“That’s four Chinese robots down. There are four more out here.”
Adam counted. “Four? Only three are deactivated. The other one is—”
“Under the doors. I know. Come on. I know how to stop it.”
Derek got into the cab of the flatbed while Adam climbed in on the passenger side. He drove the truck on top of the doors and parked it. “That damn thing won’t be going anywhere soon.”
“Derek?” Jonas said via transmitter.
“Yes?”
“Where are you?”
“Shutting down the Chinese robots.”
“What? Are you outside Olympus Mons?”
Derek paused a few seconds. “Yes, sir.”
“What the hell for? Get your ass back inside now.”
“We have taken out four robots, but we don’t know where the others are.”
“How?”
Derek smiled. “My robots built an EMP.”
“That worked?”
“I told you there had to be some way to stop them.”
“I don’t recall you ever mentioning using an EMP. Get back inside immediately.”
“I need to find the other four,” Derek said.
“It’s not our problem anymore.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Get to your quarters, pack up whatever you wish to keep, and get to the landing bay ASAP.”
“Why?”
“We’re going back to Earth.”
“Back to Earth?”
“Yes, Derek, back home.”
“Can I take Isaac and Bradbury?”
“Sure.”
“What’s going on? Why are we leaving?”
“I’ll explain the details after you get here. I can take ten people with me, so if you know someone that wishes to hightail it out of here, bring him with you. Once we leave, we’re never coming back.”
“Roger that.”
Derek got out of the truck and slammed the door. They were only ten yards from the open entrance to Olympus Mons. Adam hurried beside Derek. His face displayed the sadness of losing Paul.
“That was Jonas?” Adam asked.
Derek nodded as he started walking toward the entrance. Bradbury and Isaac followed them. “Yeah.”
“What did he want?”
“Apparently, some of us are returning to Earth.”
“Really?”
“That’s what he said. He’s taking ten people back with him. You want to go?”
“In a heartbeat.”
“I thought you enjoyed it here.”
“Overall I have, but other than work, there’s not much else to do. But what about our work contracts? Has this trip been approved by Grayson? Or is this like a military leave and we’ll be required to return?”
“I’m not sure. My grandfather said that he’ll update us after we meet in the landing bay.”
“I’m ready.”
Derek slowed his pace. He was torn about leaving Mars behind. If he did, this final walk back to Olympus Mons was most likely the last time he’d experience the Martian terrain. Of course, he was still young, so it wasn’t impossible. He understood that his grandfather would never return to Mars.
He wondered what the true motive for his grandfather’s urgent decision was to return to Earth. With the horror stories Jonas had given about Derek’s parents, Derek never imagined they’d leave Mars.
In many ways, Derek had wanted to watch the evolution of Mars. He wanted to watch the first buildings and homes erected. He stopped outside the entrance and looked across the terrain. A part of him wept. He stooped and grabbed a handful of the reddish soil.
“Souvenir?” Adam asked.
“Yeah.”
“Derek,” Bradbury said. “Enemies overhead!”
Derek glanced up to see the other four robots materialize on the narrow ridge above the Olympus Mons entrance.
“Adam, watch out!” Derek dropped his handful of Martian dirt and dove to shove Adam out of the robot’s aim, but wasn’t fast enough.
The laser struck Adam’s left leg, melting through his smart suit. Adam screamed, grabbing his blistered injury, and fell as Derek tackled him seconds too late.
“Dammit!” Derek said. He read the pain in Adam’s eyes. He remembered how badly such a wound hurt. “Come on, let’s go.”
Isaac and Bradbury lifted the EMP and aimed toward the ridgeline.
Derek rose to his feet, pulled Adam up, and then slung Adam over his shoulder and started running toward the entrance. Adrenaline gave him strength and speed unlike anything he’d ever had before.
A second after Derek rushed through the entrance carrying Adam, one deactivated robot crashed to the road with a heavy clank. There wasn’t any time to glance back and evaluate the situation. He needed to get Adam to a medic so the wound could be patched and medicated. He tapped his helmet. “Jonas! The other four Chinese robots are at the engineer bay doors. We need a team to seal the entrance or everyone will die!”
“What’s wrong with the doors?” Jonas replied.
“We have no doors.”
“What?”
“It’s a long story. No time to explain. Adam’s been hit and I’m heading to the infirmary.”
“Negative. Don’t take him there.”
“Why not?”
“Bring him to my office. Now! We’ll tend to him.”
“Why not the infirmary?”
“I’ll explain when you get here.”
“Roger that.”
***
Dr. Sheung glared at Matthews. “How dare you put a gun to my head!”
Matthews chuckled and feigned complete innocence. “I wasn’t going to pull the trigger.”
“They might have fired at you and shot me instead,” she replied.
“If only . . .” Dr. Lee said, walking down the hallway.
“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked. “Get back here.”
“Let him be, doctor,” Matthews said. “If he stresses any more, he’ll have a stroke. You wouldn’t want that, now would you? Then you’d be the only doctor here.”
“You heard what he called me?”
“Of course. You should hear the names that have been hurled at me. The list has to be a mile long. When you’re a hard ass, or in my case, a brilliant scientist, it comes with the territory.”
She crossed her arms and continued glaring at him. She was small but the look made her appear to be an intimidating, towering beast.
“Come now, Kim, how long are you going to harbor a grudge?”
“How do you know my first name? I’ve never told anyone.”
Matthews chuckled. “I know everyone’s name at Olympus Mons.”
“How?”
“Research. A bit of hacking. The details aren’t important.”
“Are you really going to let Jonas and the others leave?”
Matthews shrugged. “Sure. Why not? They are of no importance to me, and they’re another set of thorns in Grayson’s side.”
“I thought you were going to kill them.”
“Like I told Jonas, ‘I’m not a murderer.’ But I think you really hoped I’d kill them, right?”
The sour expression returned to her face.
“What have they done to you?” Matthews asked.
“Nothing. I don’t like the way Jonas parades around, all high and mighty; and that girl with him, she’s always kissing up to him.”
Matthews grinned. “A shame you can’t train Dr. Lee to act like that around you. But going back to your question, if they had continued to resist and hoped to have a new chip implanted into me, yeah, some of us would have died.”
“You’d die rather than have a new chip?”
“After you died, of course.”
She formed fists and gritted her teeth.
Matthews placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Kidding! My, Kim, you really need to loosen up a bit. It’s no wonder people don’t want to be around you. You have no bedside manner.”
“What?”
“Oh, there’s a huge list of complaints about you.”
“Where?”
“Online. On restroom walls. Even a few were filed with Jonas. Has Jonas ever reprimanded you?”
“Never.”
“See? Maybe he’s not as bad as you think he is.”
“Won’t letting them go cause you more problems with Grayson?”
“Grayson’s months away. Even if he sends forces to replace Jonas and the others, it allows me ample time to prepare. But I’m certain he and I will be best of friends, chums, after a few months of negotiating.”
“He’s going to try to kill you.”
“I expect nothing less in the beginning, but in time, he’ll understand I’m the best asset he can ever have. The budding of a relationship is often the hardest at the beginning.”
Kim grinned. The expression was foreign to her otherwise harsh wrinkles.
“You like that? See, smiling isn’t that bad after all, is it?”
“I don’t think you know Grayson very well.”
“I know him better than he knows himself.”
“So you’re going to let Jonas and his crew leave?”
“I am. Without them here, we have less resistance and opposition in what I plan to accomplish. Once they are in space, they cannot change their minds and try to arrest me. Besides, their return to Earth will severely piss Grayson off, and whenever he’s distracted by his anger, he tends to get unfocused and even though he never admits it, he makes vital mistakes that render him vulnerable. I will capitalize on his vulnerability.”
Dr. Sheung shook her head. “You know what’s strange?”
“What?”
“I never imagined Jonas would be one to back down so easily. He could have easily killed you and me, but he gave up? That’s not like him.”
“He’s old and tired, Kim. Extreme weariness makes even the most savage dog loose its bite.”
She frowned, deep in thought. “No, there has to be another reason why he’s willing to leave.”
“If there is, perhaps we’ll find out soon. But, my bet is he’s preparing to board the shuttle and leave, but just in case, we’ll expect the worst.”