1 Story a Week

The Masked Marvel in: The Everlovin’ End

2011-01-02T23:58:00.000-08:00

“I can’t believe that you’re actually retiring, Masked Marvel,” Officer Bentley said. Rodger Burns, the Chief of Police, glared at the younger officer, but the man didn’t seem to notice.

“I’ve been at this crime fighting gig for over thirty years now,” the Masked Marvel, in his trade mark trench coat, fedora and mask, said, a grin on his face. “In my time I’ve faced down street thugs, super villains and Nazi’s. It’s time to step down and let a younger man take over.”

Now the Chief glared at the vigilante, who cleared his throat.

“But,” said the Masked Marvel, “You didn’t call me here to discuss my retirement. What’s the issue, Chief?”

The older man cleared his throat. Masked Marvel had worked with Chief Burns for fifteen years, back when he was just Sergeant Burns. The two had formed quite a friendship over the years, and Marvel would do just about anything the Chief asked him.

“Well, Marvel,” he said, stepping forward. “As you know, the city is putting on a massive New Years party in Landings Park. Well, we’ve received a note that some new villain is planning on ruining the festivities. So, we’re asking for your help, just this last time.”

He handed a large, manila envelope to Masked Marvel, who ripped it open and looked at the paper inside. It was pasted together out of letters from magazines. It at first seemed like a very amateur kidnapping note, but as he read, he saw that it was far more sinister.

“This is the time of the end,” he read out loud. “When the old shall be done away with to make way for the new. The party starts early this year, with two numbers: twenty-one, and 2.”

“There’s no signature,” the chief said, “but we received this with it.”

He handed over a playing card to Masked Marvel, who flipped it over and groaned as he looked at it.

“The Ace of Spades?” Marvel said. “Really? These so-called super villains today, don’t they realize that this stuff has all been done before?”

“I don’t follow,” Officer Bentley said, and the Chief glared at him.

“Years ago, I battled a playing card themed mad man named Ace of Spades,” Marvel said, almost off handedly. “He was insane and planned crimes based off playing cards to try and get the attention of another villain, the Black Swan, so he could ask her to marry him.”

“And it can’t be him?” Bentley asked.

“Of course not, Bentley,” the Chief said. “Didn’t you read those files I gave you?”

“Well,” Bentley said, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck sheepishly, “there were quite a lot of them.”

“Ace of Spades died,” Marvel said quickly before the Chief could hurt the young officer. “He fell off the top of Robbins Tower during our last battle.”

“Oh,” Bentley said. “Maybe it’s a new Ace of Spades?”

Masked Marvel nodded. Then, he looked up at the two cops.

“Not to sound offensive or ungrateful,” he said, “But why me? Couldn’t you ask a younger crime fighter?”

“Well, you did a pretty good job of keeping them all out of our city besides you,” the Chief said.

“Well, and Marvel Boy,” Bentley said.

“Mr. Marvel,” Masked Marvel corrected. “He changed his name several years ago, claiming he was no longer a boy. And he’s right. He’ll take over for me fulltime when I retire. So, why isn’t he here now?”

“Mr. Marvel is off in Ultra City with Captain Nobel working on another case,” the Chief said. “So that leaves just you.”

The Masked Marvel sighed. “Well then,” he said, “one last case. Let’s take another look at that letter.”

“It’s really amateur hour,” the Chief said.

Masked Marvel nodded. “The magazine letters… first, that doesn’t really fit the Ace of Spades playing card. This guy is way out of his league. Probably some thug trying to make a name for himself by taking on the legend. But let’s look at what it actually says. The ‘twenty-one’ is an obvious reference to time.”

“Nine PM,” Officer Bentley said.

“Right,” Masked Marvel said. “Which is in just an hour. But the fact that it’s spelled out in letters rather than just a number means something. Isn’t there a new club opening up tonight for the celebration?”

“Yes,” Officer Bentley said. “Club Twenty-One. We thought of that, though, and we’ve got officers watching the place now.”

“Good,” Masked Marvel said. “Let’s cover all our bases, though. Look at the last bit here. Two numbers, and the second is two. What could that mean?”

“Two locations to hit at 9?” the Chief suggested.

“A good guess,” Masked Marvel said. “And I think I have an idea what that means. There are, in fact, two Club Twenty-Ones in this city. The one tonight is the newest one.”

“That’s right,” the Chief said. “It’s actually based on the original Club Twenty-One, which was a real hot spot thirty years ago.”

“And the location of the original club is still there,” Masked Marvel said. “What is it now?”

“Last I heard, it was being used as a warehouse,” the Chief said. “Storage for a fireworks company.”

“That’s what I remember, as well,” Masked Marvel said.

“You guys really remember that kind of thing?” Officer Bentley asked. The two older men just stared at him and he lowered his gaze to the ground.

“Okay, it’s a place to start,” Masked Marvel said. “We need to figure out a plan of action. Normally, I’d send my partner to check out one building, but I seem to be partnerless tonight, so I’m going to have to ask your boys in blue to work with me tonight, Chief.”

“You got our cooperation, Marvel,” the Chief said without hesitation.

“Good,” Marvel said. “Now, as you already have men at the new club, I’ll go check out the old one. My gut tells me that the old site is his real target, and that the new club is a cover. Or that he may actually be trying to hit both at the same time, but that he’ll send men to the new club.”

“Why do you think that?” Bentley asked. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for a villain to hit a very public space? Lots of spectators?”

“That’s true,” Masked Marvel said. “But this villain isn’t looking for publicity, except where it covers his other actions. Publicity seekers are flashier, and tend to not announce their moves. No, this is either someone seriously mentally disturbed, or, like I said earlier, someone trying to gain a reputation by beating me. Which means he’s trying for something a little more subtle than blowing up a downtown night club.”

“Sounds good to us, Marvel,” the Chief said. “You still got your little communicators?”

“I do,” Marvel said, pushing back the sleeve of his trench coat and suit to reveal a wrist watch that had a speaker on it. “And I’ll be tuned into your frequency tonight, so I can keep in touch.”

“Will do, Marvel,” the Chief said. “Best of luck to you.”

****

When Masked Marvel hit the warehouse twenty minutes later, it was dark. But, he had expected that. If thirty years of crime fighting had taught him anything, it was that criminals rarely worked in the light. Not that the dark offered them much protection. Not from him, at any rate. He reached up to his mask and pushed a button, and the lenses over his eyes switched to a special night vision mode. Everything turned green, but he could see now, and better than the criminals themselves often could.

What he saw also didn’t surprise him. There were three men guarding the only door into the warehouse. They wore jumpsuits, black with a white spade on the left breast, and carried guns. Typical thugs. In all his years on this job, he never stopped being amazed that these insane super villains managed to find nearly armies worth of thugs and minions. He wondered if there were some kind of thug union, and they just called in with a uniform request.

He shook his head to clear it of use less thoughts like that. It was time to focus. Time to go to work. He shot a grappling line from his grappling gun and slid across it to the roof of the old Club Twenty-One. The guards down below didn’t even hear him. He went to the skylight, that used to be part of the club but that the new owners never bothered to get rid of. Personally, he enjoyed skylights. They gave entering a building a real sense of flair.

Looking through the skylight, he saw that there were only a few more costumed men inside, but they looked like they were setting up something among the boxes. It was time for that dramatic entrance. Taking a deep breath, Masked Marvel wrapped his jacked tight around him and jumped onto the skylight. The window made a great crashing noise, and the shards fell glittering in the moonlight towards the floor. The men below stopped what they were doing and looked up. Halfway down, Marvel let go of his jacket, and it flared dramatically behind him.

“It’s him!” one of the men said. “Scatter!”

Marvel smiled. He loved that reaction. Then, he landed, and as always, bent his legs on impact. Still, his back felt that landing a little more than normal.

“I’m getting too old for this,” he muttered to himself as he straightened to face the thugs. Most of them had, in fact, scattered, but three had stayed behind. One of them pulled a gun from a sling on his back, a wicked looking rifle. The other two got into martial arts stances, and moved forward defensively. Masked Marvel smiled. It had been a while since he’d fought martial artists.

He took a defensive posture and let them come to him. They hesitated a while, hoping he would attack first, but like most thugs, they couldn’t wait long, and charged. A few quick jabs and kicks let him know that they were masters of their craft, but it was only one art. He had mastered six forms of martial arts before even starting his carrier fighting crime. These guys would be a work out, but nothing more.

He started with some simple parries, making them waist energy trying to hit him. Then he moved to his favorite martial art, judo. Using the momentum of one thug’s attack, he rolled the man over his shoulder and threw him into a pile of boxes. The next man charged forward before Marvel had fully recovered from that throw, so instead he crouched down and spun his leg around, tripping the thug. He then leaped onto him and gave a quick jab to the face that knocked the man out.

Spinning around, he saw that first though had detangled himself from the boxes and was in a defensive position. Marvel gritted his teeth. It was time to end this. He leaped forward with a kick that was easily blocked by the thug, but quickly followed up on it with some jabs to the stomach and chest. The other man backed off, but another spin kick knocked the younger man to the ground, and a quick kick to his head ended the fight. That was when the bullets whizzed by Marvel’s head. He spun and saw that the third thug was firing at him. Without wasting time, he ducked for cover behind some crates, and then threw down a gas bomb to cover himself.

He snuck around the edges of the boxes while the thug fired blindly into the smoke. Thankfully, the gunman was as much of an idiot that Marvel had grown to expect, and stood still while he fired away. A shirt circle around the boxes and he was behind the muzzle flashes. He closed both hands together into a double fist and clonked the other man on the back of his head, knocking him out.

He did a quick scan of he warehouse and saw that it was now unoccupied. Checking things out, it appeared that the three men inside were loading some of the fireworks into a truck outside that was marked ‘Lee’s Laundry.’ The two thugs that were guarding the door had apparently run off. He shook his head again. This was chump town stuff.

And stealing fireworks? What kind of criminal does that kind of thing? This Ace of Spades was letting him down. Still, if things were going as much by the stereotype this guy had been following so far, there would be a clue here somewhere to his next hit. A quick search of the van revealed nothing, but a search of the thugs revealed a matchbook with the logo of a place called the Card Sharp and a scrap of paper with a series of numbers on it, 12124 12 2200.

Marvel rubbed his chin. He knew the Card Sharp; it was a nightclub that specialized in dealing with super villains. It’s possible that this thug was hired through that place, so he figured it wasn’t really important. Still, he kept the matchbook. He had learned that there was no such thing as a useless clue. Then, he flipped on his watch and contacted the chief.

“Masked Marvel to Chief Burns. How are things at Club Twenty One?” he asked.

“Chief Burns here,” came the crackly voice over the speaker. “We found a group of thugs herein black jumpsuits that were setting up bombs around the club. Nothing dangerous, they mostly looked like incendiary devices.”

“Like they were trying to set the club on fire?” Marvel asked.

“Yeah, from the looks of it,” Chief Burns replied. “How are things at your end.”

“Some thugs here in the same costume,” Marvel said. “They seemed to be stealing some of the fireworks here.”

“Fireworks?” the Chief said in a voice of sheer amazement.

“I know,” Marvel said. “I can’t believe it myself. Something’s not adding up here, Chief. Incendiary devices at a club with people would scare some of them, but unless I miss my guess, people would have plenty of time to get out of the club before anything really bad would happen. And fireworks? What in the hell is that about? But, I have another clue, some numbers.”

He read the numbers to the Chief.

“I don’t get it,” the Chief said. “It just seems like a random string of numbers to me.”

“It’s an address,” Marvel said. “Well, and a time, too. 12124 12th street, at 2200 hours. Their next hit. I’m on my way there now.”

“12st Street?” the Chief said. “Nothing down there but a bunch of strip malls. What could possibly be down there this late at night on New Years Eve?”

“I don’t know, but I’m planning on finding out.”

****

The address turned out to be a single store, standing between two strip malls. It was a party supply store, the kind that sells piñatas and costumes and balloons and such. Marvel really scratched his head over that one. Was this Ace of Spades planning of putting on a party of some kind? And he had to steal the parts first? This whole thing was making less and less sense. But, in the mean time, there was another two trucks, with the same ‘Lee’s Laundry’ logo on the sides. One was driving away as the Marvel-mobile pulled up. He decided to let it go, but write down the license plate number. It appeared that the thugs were still filling up the second van.

“Chief, I got a van I need you to pull over, it’s got some stolen cargo in it,” he said into his watch. When the Chief replied, he gave the license plate number and a description of the van. He also asked the Chief to check and see if Lee’s Laundry was a real business. He expected that it wouldn’t be. After that was done, he got out of his car to take care of business.

He climbed into the roof of the building from the side, out of sight of the thugs coming in and out of the front door. There were six this time, two armed with guns and keeping watch while the other four pulled stuff from outside the store. He waited until the two outside were alone, then dropped a gas bomb. When he was sure they couldn’t see anything, he dropped down between them and two swift kicks to their heads ended any fight they might have.

“Earl?” a voice came from inside the store. “Did a fog bank roll in? I can’t see shit out here!”

“You’re not supposed to, punk,” Marvel said, grabbing the man from inside and punching him in the noise a few times before dropping him. Then he quickly moved into the store. A few seconds later, the other three men came around a corner carrying boxes loaded with party stuff. They quickly dropped them and moved into defensive positions.

“Remember what the boss said,” one said. “He wants the do-gooder alive.”

“Too bad I don’t have that same order,” Masked Marvel said, and then leaped into the three of them. He moved quickly, bobbing in and out of their swinging hands, causing two of them to hit each other and never land a blow on him. The third was confused, so Marvel took advantage and delivered an uppercut that pushed the man back. He shook his head and got ready to charge forward. Marvel shook his head. There was a time when that punch would have knocked that man out.

“Let me give you some advice, son,” he said as he blocked the other man’s wild swing and lifted him up against the wall. “Aging sucks. Avoid it if you can.”

With that, he smacked the man against the wall hard, which caused him to pass out from pain. Marvel dropped him to the ground and immediately started looking around for more clues. This time, there were inside the van. This time, it was a little more blatant than before. A menu to a caterer, with a 2300 written on it. He checked his watch. It was a little under a half hour away, and that address was across town. Thankfully, he could make that drive in the Marvel-mobile.

***

He made another call to the Chief to let him know where he was going next. The Chief informed him that they were chasing down the truck with the party supplies on it, but wouldn’t be able to get to the caterer in time. They had several other incidents popping up on the radar as people got rowdy as the night went on and the drinks were consumed. Marvel nodded, unsurprised. It was an unusual night crime fighting when he got real help from the police. Not that he didn’t like the police, its just that they had their jobs to do, and it usually fell to him to focus on one thing like this. Plus, super villains had a unique mind set that cops just weren’t trained in. He had lots of experience with them, and that made him the man to sick on ‘em.

But this particular super villain was a mad man the likes of which he had never seen. Fireworks, party supplies and a caterer? It really did sound like he was ripping off a massive party. What, was the only way he could pull a super villain party to rip it all off? It would make a kind of twisted logic in the eyes of some of his enemies. Black Swan, to name one. The Wild Goose would be another. Even Dark Laughter would do something like this, just to get a laugh out of how confusing it would all be. The big question to Masked Marvel was, if this Ace of Spades was throwing some big villain party, where would he be throwing it? Then, he could stop all this chasing around and cut to the final play. Not that he figured there was much left to this chase. What more could they want for a party? Nothing immediately sprang to mind, so he focused himself on the task at hand.

The caterer was located in a small industrial mall, where there were several one-story buildings and two two-story buildings full of offices. No doubt, this place also doubled as a café, and did most, if not all, of its business from these places. The expected van was there. This time, though, they were ready for him, and some gunshots went off from the roof of one of those two-story buildings, bouncing off the car. It was times like that that Masked Marvel was grateful his alter ego owned a massive company that did mostly military contracts. Bulletproof cars were fantastic in crime fighting.

He gunned the engine and drove straight at the truck, ignoring the guys on the roof. When he smashed into the truck, he leaped out and threw down another gas grenade. He was thankful that he always kept spares of those in the car. They were ever so useful. In quick succession, he battled his way through three of the same kind of thugs he’d already taken down. Then, something smashed into his face at great speeds, and caused him to step back a few steps. He blinked and shook his head, and when he looked back up, he saw a very large, muscular man in the same black outfit the other thugs wore. He looked like something escaped from the WWE, and he was carrying a baseball bat in one hand. It looked almost like a child’s toy next to him.

Masked Marvel winced. Big guys like this were always tough to take down. It could be done, of course, he knew several pressure points that would cause muscles to freeze or spasm in pain. But getting to those spots meant getting in reach of those meat hooks. And this guy was obviously fast. A point he proved by taking a swing with that bat, causing Masked Marvel to duck quickly. He hit the man with an upper cut, and felt like his fist hit a brick wall. It affected the large man, though, so he took the opportunity to roll to the side and get some moving room.

Ducking and weaving was his only real chance. This guy moved like a wrestler, too, trying for grabs or just swinging with that bat, making boxing moves a great defense. It also made a good offense too, allowing him to jab and attack back pretty quickly. In a few short minutes, the other man was covered in bruises and looking like he was slowing down. The problem was, Masked Marvel was feeling winded himself. He berated himself for that. There was a time when a guy like this wouldn’t even cause him to break out in sweat. Now, he was feeling his age, he had slowed down, and fighting this thug was starting to hurt.

He needed to end this, and quickly. He leaped up and bounced off the wall to his side, allowing him to land on the big man’s back. Quickly, he wrapped his arms around the man’s neck in an attempt to strangle him. The other man fought back by raining blows on his back with the bat, but Marvel held on for dear life. Eventually, the other man slowed down and finally, fell to the floor, unconscious.

The Masked Marvel stood up, his back cracking and popping, and he groaned.

“I’m too old for this,” he said for the second time that night. He was really looking forward to his retirement. He stretched and then looked around. That was when he realized the other thugs weren’t there.

“Damn,” he said. The big guy was just a distraction. He ran outside and sure enough, the truck was gone. It probably wasn’t running very well, but they had escaped. That would make it more difficult to find the clues he needed. He was convinced now that this Ace of Spades was having a get together of his super villain buddies. And the note at the beginning of all this was an invite for him. No doubt, he was to be the main prize. But if such a party was really happening, than he could potentially put away several super villains all at once. That was a prize worth the risk of a trap once he got there. Wherever there was.

That led him back to the question of clues. He started looking around, and eventually searched the big guy. He found a set of matches on that guys as well, the same logo as the other set he had. He sighed. He had been hoping to avoid the Card Sharp, but there didn’t seem to be any other choice. He had questions that needed to be answered, and if those answers could be found anywhere, it was at the Card Sharp. He hopped into the car and checked his watch. 11:15. forty five minutes away from midnight, when the party would no doubt really start. If they did trap him, no doubt right after that, they would start to terrorize this city. He gritted his teeth. He would be damned if he would let that happen.

****

The Card Sharp was a greasy little dive that was nearly indistinguishable from the strip clubs around it. He parked the car a few blocks away and hoofed it the rest of the way on rooftop. This place was not keep on skylights, but there was a convenient back door that he could access without anyone noticing from the roof. He leaped down and found himself face to face with a fat cook taking out the garbage. Without hesitating, Masked Marvel gut kicked the man into the wall and watched as he slumped to the ground.

“Sorry, mac,” he said, “but it’s probably better for you this way.

He made his way through the back door and through the kitchen. Apparently, the fat man outside was the only cook on staff at this time. Must not be a big crowd for the big New Years party. He didn’t even hesitate when he hit the outer door, and slammed it open.

“Okay, boys,” he said. “Party’s over.”

The few thugs in the room immediately stood up and drew knives and a few guns. There were only ten total, and he threw down a gas grenade.

“It’s the Masked Marvel,” one of the thugs said. “I’m out of here!”

“Tut tut, boys,” Marvel said as he moved through the room, staying out of the cloud. He quickly made it to the front door and locked it shut. “No one is leaving now.”

“Aw, don’t hurt us, Marvel,” one of the men said, in a sincere voice. “We ain’t done nothing.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I need some questions answered,” Marvel said. The gas cleared out, and one of the thugs, turning, spotted him and charged with his knife. Without hesitating, Marvel grabed the man’s arm and twisted it around behind his back. The man yelped and dropped his knife. Marvel made sure to position the man between him and the other thugs.

“Ask your questions, hero,” one of the thugs with a gun said. “I ain’t in the mood for a shootin’, but if I get to itch to do so, Maurice there ain’t gonna stop me.”

“A man hired some of you recently, to pull some big job tonight,” Marvel said. “Called himself Ace of Spades, no doubt. I need to know where he was planning his big party.”

“Yeah, I remember him,” another man said. “Tried to recrute me, too. But I turned him down. New villains can’t pay what I’m worth. He did get some of the newer guys, though. Said something about a big hoo-rah at the Sports Arena, the old one that ain’t used much anymore, in Old Town.”

Sports Arena, in Old Town. Of course that made sense. Large enough for a crowd, opened topped so he could use the fireworks, but ill-used, and unlikely to be the center of attention tonight. The cops would never even think to look there.

“That’s all I need, then,” Marvel said. “Thanks Gents, as always, it was a real pleasure.”

He walked his way back to the kitchen with Maurice held by the arm. Then, he tossed the thug to the floor, dropping another gas grenade and making his way out.

****

The Sports Arena had it’s lights on. That wasn’t something that Marvel had expected. That would draw attention. He got out of the car at the far end of the parking lot and made his way slowly towards the ticket booth. He could hear the sounds of a crowd. It sounded pretty big. Just what the hell was going on here? Did this Ace of Spades have hostages, maybe? He decided that he was tired of being in the dark, and just wanted this done and over with. If there was a trap, he figured he could escape from it. Everything else from this Ace of Spades was amateur hour, why not his trap too?

He walked into the arena and saw the biggest crowed he had ever seen in the place. Every seat was packed, and the people cheered when a spot light fell on him, his image showing up on the jumbotron.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice boomed from the loudspeakers. “The man of the night. Masked Marvel.”

The crowed cheered again. What the hell was going on here? Then, a man stepped in front of Marvel. He wore an black suit and hat, similar to his own, but he had a full black face mask with a white Spade over his right eye. The Ace of Spades. Marvel took a defensive position.

“He’s been fighting his way here all night, folks, just for this moment,” Ace said into a microphone Marvel had missed before. The voice echoed through the loudspeakers. “Are you ready?”

The crowed got even louder and stomped their feet.

“What’s your game, Ace of Spades?” Marvel demanded.

“Game?” The man said. “No game.”

With that, he reached up and took of his hat, then pulled off his mask. Marvel jumped back a step in surprise. It was Mr. Marvel, his old partner.

“What?” Masked Marvel said. Then, he saw Chief Burns come out, and even Captain Nobel. They were all smiling.

“Happy Retirement,” they all said, and it was repeated by the crowd.

“What?” he said, still confused.

“It’s a retirement party, MM,” Mr. Marvel said. “We put all this on just to lure you here for a surprise party. Put on by the city, for you, their protector. Come on, enjoy some food and drink with two thousand of your closest friends.”

Marvel hesitated, then smiled. He thought back through the night and realized it all made sense. His smile broadened.

“I’m glad this was my last case,” he said. “Not only does it have a good ending, but I am just too old for this anymore.”

The End

Week 52!!!

2011-01-02T23:57:00.001-08:00

This is it, folks! The big one! The LAST one! I made it! Down to the bitter end, the wire, so to speak, but I made it. The last story in my year long quest to post a story a week. It's been a fantastic ride, and I'll be writing up a blog post to discuss my thoughts on this on my new blog, I Must Be Remembering the Future. Check that out here, http://christopher-blanchard.blogspot.com.

Meanwhile, enjoy this last offering here, at least for now. I'll be keeping this blog open, and may post other short stories and flash fiction here as I write them. In the mean time, this project is officially done. And thank you all for sharing it with me!

Bonus Story: Life and Times of Aries Webb, Epilogue

2010-12-29T14:12:00.000-08:00

Here it is! The final part of my NaNoWriMo novel, the Life and Times of Aries Webb! I hope you all enjoyed it. I had fun writing it. :)

And with this post, that means I have one more story to write for this week, to be posted on Sunday, that will mark my 52nd Short Story, and the end of this entire project. Wow. Hard to believe. Stay tuned to see what get's posted! Meanwhile, enjoy the final bit of Aries Webb.

***

Epilogue

Aries looked down at his world from the top of Olympus Mons. How it had changed from his last climb. The city below was now larger, and other cities were close by. There were more clouds in the sky, and he could see water from the lakes that were forming on the planet. There were even a few patches of green here and there. Nothing so grand as a forest, but these were fields of lichen that could survive on the thin atmosphere of the red planet.

“Wow,” Zita said from behind him. “This really is a spectacular view. Thanks for bringing me up here.”

“No problem, honey,” he said. Being outside the domes, they were wearing their space suites, special ones designed for climbing. “I like to come out here when I need some place quiet to think. The last time I was up here was just before I ran for Governor of Mars.”

“Which, of course, lead to you being Prime Minster,” she laughed. “Its really too bad you couldn't’ come up here more.”

“Pressures of the job,” he said. “As you know, it was very difficult to get away from the desk.”

“Well, running a whole planet takes a lot of work,” she said.

“And time away from the important things in my life,” he said, turning to look at he. She smiled. She really was a beautiful girl.

“Don’t worry, Dad,” she said. “They’ll pass the vote. They have to. One man in power this long, and it starts to become a dictatorship and not a democracy. They learned that in America centuries ago, I don’t think we need to discover it ourselves for real.”

“Oh, I’m sure they will, honey,” he said. “I’m sure they will. It’s just a big deal, so I come out here to get some space.”

“Plenty of space here,” she said. “Look, is that Phobos?”

Aries looked up to where she was pointing in the sky to a bright star. “Yup,” he said. “I always loved looking at the moons in the day. It’s not often one can do that on Earth.”

“Yeah,” she said. She did like her home world, but the moon on Earth was just so much bigger and made for a stunning sight at night.

“Come on,” Aries said. “Lets finish setting up camp. I want to get to that dinner.”

“You mean before Anthony calls, right?” Zita said.

Aries laughed. “Are you kidding? He’s been calling me all day. I shut my phone off at the start of the climb. I told him to call you when the vote comes in.”

“Oh, great,” Zita said. “Thanks, Dad.”

The two laughed and returned to setting up camp.

****

“This speech is fantastic,” Aries said, looking over the words on his ePad. “Your best yet, Ho.”

The short, heavy set Chinese man bowed.

“Thank you, Minister,” he said in Chinese. “I thought that such an august and historic occasion needed something that would be remembered by future generations.”

“Well, this sure is it,” Aries said, switching to Chinese. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ll make a few minor changes. You know, just to make it more my own words, but nothing major.”

“Of course, Minister,” Ho said. “I would expect nothing less. I look forward to reading your revisions.”

“Thank you, Ho. That will be all,” Aries said.

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Prime Minister,” Ho said, bowing again and leaving the room.

Aries sighed. Ho was probably the most talented speech writer he had ever had, but the man was so formal and trapped in outdated methods of formality that it often made it difficult to work with him. He looked at the speech again. It truly was a fine speech, one that would be quoted and reread by future generations. It was sometimes awe inspiring to see history in action. And Aries had been in his fare share of historical moments. He just needed to make a few minor tweaks to make it less formal and more him. He’d done this before, and Ho would be obviously uncomfortable, but agree.

“Knock knock,” came a voice from the door. “May I have a moment, Mr. Prime Minister?”

“I tried to stop him, sir,” Anthony said, pushing the man in the fancy business suit out of the way. “But you know how Charles is.”

“It’s okay, Anthony,” Aries said. “I have a few moments available to talk to Charles.”

Anthony nodded and left, closing the door behind him.

“So, to what do I owe this visit, Chuck?” Aries said, motioning for his visitor to take a seat.

“You know I hate it when you call me that,” Charles said. “And I’m just here for one thing. To congratulate you. I wasn’t sure that the bill was going to pass, to be honest. These people seem to want you to be Prime Minster for life, and maybe even pass the job onto your daughter when all is said and done. A real monarchy, right here on Mars.”

“Yes, well, you know that I never wanted that,” Aries said.

“Yes,” Charles said. “And as much as I admire you, and am glad you were there for Mars when we needed you, I do think it’s time for some new leadership for Mars. We can make it on our own now, do more than survive, and we need leaders that will think about more than survival.”

“I’m not the campaign trail, Charles,” Aries said. “There’s no need for rhetoric here. But if you’re here to get my endorsement, you already know my answer. I can’t. I won’t. This election, the first real election since we voted for independence, has to be unbiased. The people should choose their next leader, not me. That was the whole point of my bill in the first place. I didn’t just want to limit terms on the Prime Minister’s office, but ensure that the next Minister wasn’t someone hand picked by the last.”

“I appreciate that, Aries,” Charles said. “I really do. It’s honestly one of the reasons you made such a good leader. I was hoping, however, that you migth change your mind. Ah well. I’m still ahead in the polls, even if only slightly.”

“I wish you the best of luck, Charles,” Aries said.

“Any chance I can count on your vote?” Charles asked as he stood up.

Aries laughed and showed his friend to the door. He asked Anthony to cancel his next appointment so he cold have time to breath for a moment. Charles was a good man, he thought as he sat back down at his desk to work on the script. So was his opponent in the upcoming Prime Minster election, Mrs. Rebbecca Cho. Unlike Charles, she wasn’t a current member of congress, but she did have a lot of experience leading, being the current CEO of the Martian Technical Institute, still the largest employer on Mars. He would be happy for either one of them to take over after he left. Mars would be in good hands.

He just had to remind himself of that. It was so easy to believe that the world really was his, in the sense that he owned it. The passing of the bill and the upcoming election made him realize that getting away from Mars was a good thing. He needed some distance, some perspective. And he needed to find those things he had discovered were truly important.

****

“Come on, Dad,” Zita said, shoving some of her dad’s clothing into the large suit case. “It’s the right thing to do. You know it, I know it... even Uncle Bo knows it, and he’s literally a whole world away!”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve just... well, I’ve never left you alone before.”

“Dad, I spent an entire summer on Earth with grandma, remember?” she said.

“That was different,” he said. “You were with your grandma in her lab.”

“I’ll be with her here, in my house,” she said. “And granddad will be with his time time. I’ll be okay. I’m in High School, for Mars’ sake, I can take care of myself. I’ve even got a job lined up for the summer already, remember? I’ll be working at Solar Tech, making robots.”

“Robots,” Aries shivered. “I still hate the little things. Give me the creeps.”

“But, they do bring in a lot of money,” she said. “And I get to be in near the beginning of one of the biggest industrial trends since... portable music players!”

“I agree, honey, it’s all very exciting,” he said. “I’m just... scared. I’m scared. I hate to admit that do my own daughter, but there you have it. I’m scared.”

Zita closed the suit case and walked across the room to her dad. She looked him in the eye, and started to tear up. He pulled her close to him on the bed and hugged her.

“I’m scared too, Dad,” she said. “Everything is changing for me. Everything. I’m no longer living in the PM’s Mansion. Not that this place isn’t fantastic, but it’s just not home... it was always our place to go to escape. And then, in a few days, there will be a whole new Prime Minister. That’s pretty scary, you’ve been the Prime Minister my whole life. And then to top it off, you’re leaving. Finally leaving to do what it is you’ve probably wanted to do for a long time, something I’ve selfishly asked you to do since I was a little girl. You’re going to go get Mom, how ever long that takes you.”

“I’m going to be living with Grandma,” she continued. “And I’ll be starting High School. It’s scary. I don’t want you to go. funny that. You’re finally doing the one thing I always wanted you to do, go get Mom, and now I don’t want you to leave. I want my dad to be here when some of the biggest changes ever happen in my life. But at the same time, I know that what you’re doing is important. It’s always been important. I get that. I want you to go, because I still want you to find Mom. This is the right thing to do. It really is. And you and I, we’ll get over being scared, because we have to. Because we know that the other will be waiting for us at the other side of this, and we’ll have Mom with us and be a family again.”

Aries wiped the tears from his own eyes before doing the same from hers. He hugged his daughter close to him and kissed her on the top of her head.

“I am so lucky to have such a fantastic daughter,” he said. “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Dad,” she said. The, she disengaged from the hug and stood up, trying to look serious through the tears still running down her cheek.

“Now, come on, you need to sleep,” she said. “Tomorrow is the day you officially pass over leadership of Mars to the new Prime Minster. And two days after that, you get on your ship heading to Earth. Lots to prepare for.”

“You’re almost as bad as Anthony,” Aries said. “But you’re right. I’ll see you in the morning.”

She smiled and left Aries to his thoughts.

“Good night, Dad,” she said.

****

“Well, I guess this is it,” Aries said, looking back towards the city from the window of the space port. “My list view of Olympus Mons.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Son,” Charles Webb said, slapping Aries on the back. “Or were you trying to be poetic? I never can tell.”

“I have never, in my life, been poetic, Dad,” Aries said, giving his dad a wry smile. The two walked away from the window to join Ju and Zita at the table. It wasn't much of a last dinner, eating at the space port diner, but it was better than nothing. He was grateful that his family joined him today.

“I don’t know,” Charles said. “You were pretty poetic when you first met Amelia.”

“I remember,” Ju said. She winked at Zita, and Aries rolled his eyes. His parents were trying to embarrass him in front of his daughter again. “He used to write these horrible love poems to your mother, and then throw them away before ever showing them to her. I don’t know that Amelia ever saw a one of them.”

“She saw one,” Aries said. “exactly one. And that’s all she is ever going to see. Those were horrible. I’m not a poet, never was.”

“Only one?” Zita said. “Dad, that’s a crime! It’s too bad you don’t have them anymore, I’m sure Mom would love to see them when she gets back.”

“Oh, she still can,” Ju said, and Aries looked at her sharply. “I rescued all the ones he had written at our house and saved them. I figured that any woman that could move my son to poetry deserved to see exactly what effect she had on the poor man.”

Zita, Ju and Charles all laughed, and after a few moments, even Aries joined in. It felt good to laugh, on the moment of his leaving. He couldn’t help but escape the feeling that this was somehow final, like he was never returning to Mars. He knew that wasn’t true, but he had only ever been off Mars a few times, and most of them were on diplomatic missions in his role as Prime Minister. And he hated traveling in space every single time.

They ate and laughed and told stories about Amelia to Zita, who had almost no memories of her mother. That saddened Aries, but she told him not to worry. She looked forward to making all new ones once Mom was back, even if it took another ten years to make it happen. Finally, the call for his flight came over the loudspeaker. He gave everyone hugs and kisses, and all four of them shed tears. He walked down the hall to the airlock of the space ship that would carry him away from his home to Earth, saying one more good bye as he did.

“I’ll be back, Mars,” he whispered. “And I’ll be bringing my other love with me.”

****

The last four days of the trip to Earth should have been very relaxing for Aries. All his calls to the new Prime Minister were done. All the arrangements had been made for meetings once he reached Earth. He had no more responsibilities except to enjoy himself. This ship boasted a pool and a casino, too, so he had plenty of diversions to entertain himself with. Instead, he spent the time concerned. He planed and plotted and grew concerned that things would fall apart. So he planned and plotted some more. Finally, he tossed all his plans aside, realizing that there wasn’t really anything he could do.

But he just couldn’t relax, either. He was so close. He knew where his wife we being held. He had contact with her father, the man in charge of her prison. His best friend, Bo Wu, was waiting for his arrival. There wasn’t anything he could do form the ship, but he wanted to do something! Entertainment, relaxing, they just seemed... wrong. At least, until he had Amelia by his side again. And so, the last four days of his trip were spent in unbridled anxiety and much pacing.

Finally, the trip was over, and the space ship landed. The Earth star port at Dallas was far larger than the one on Mars, and featured a full dozen landing pads, with ships leaving and returning all the time, as opposed to Mars’ two pads. He still had trouble with how much bigger things were on Earth. Then, he saw his best friend, a tall, bald Chinese man in a black trench coat and duster. He looked like a modern cowboy, which made Aries smile. He could remember the time when the young Chinese man embraced communism, and the thought of American cowboys would send him into tizzy fits. The two clasped each other on the back and hugged. It had been years since they had been face to face. After a few moments, they released each other, and Bo smiled at him.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go get Amelia.”

The Life and Tiems of Aries Webb, Part 8: Fathers and Daughters

2010-12-26T12:04:00.000-08:00

The lights on the large display in the Situation Room were bright, yet the room itself seemed dark. It was a contrast that Aries had never gotten used to, even through the war. He squinted in the dark, trying to see the people around the table as he sat down. Finally, he gave up and pulled out his glasses and put them on. He hated these things, but medical care was not quite up to standards just yet as the new nation struggled to get things in order. Strangely, the nation was easier to run when they were busy fighting a war. Aries had since come to realize that the real task of building a nation was only just now starting.

The four men and one woman that sat around the table represented the Prime Minister’s top military advisers, the leaders of the armed forces and the state police. They all stared at him with expectant faces. He always felt a little uncomfortable around these people. To a person, they were all older than him by abut twenty years, and all had more experience in military matters than he could ever muster. But, by fate, he was their leader, and they waited for him before marching.

“Report,” he said, trying to sound authoritative. It was something Bo had taught him. Military types liked a decisive leader.

“Sir, the dissidents have moved their operations to Schmidt, near the South Pole,” General Edwards was saying. He had once worked for the enemy during the war, but had defected to become a Martian citizen after the final battle. Now, he was Bo Wu’s chosen successor as the General of the Martian Army. “It looks like we have them on the run, and I’m confident that now that our air force is in full fighting shape, we can take them before they can cause any more serious trouble.”

“I would agree, sir,” the woman, General Marissa Payne said. “We’re at full strength and ready to go.”

“Has there been any further word from Atherton?” Aries asked. “Before we make our move, I want to be sure that he’s really with this group this time, and that it’s not another set up.”

“Yes, sir,” Edwards said. “We have had several visual confirmations by our intelligence operatives that Atherton is with this group in Schmidt. We can trap him in the South Poll and trap him for certain this time, sir. I’m positive of it.”

“Are we sure that this isn’t just another one of his traps?” Aries asked. Since the man had escaped capture and lead a guerrilla war against the Martian people, Zachery Atherton had set up the Martians at least three times.

“We’re positive it is, sir,” Edwards said. “But, our intelligence confirms that Atherton is actually there this time. And I’m pretty sure I know what the particular set up he’s trying to trap us with. It’s similar to one he used in South America. Knowing what he’s doing, I can maneuver around him.”

“Okay, make it happen,” he said. They all nodded, and then Anthony, his personal aid, came up to whisper in his ear that his next appointment was ready to meet in another room nearby. He sighed, thanked the military leaders and walked out the room. His day was only three ours old, but he was already exhausted.

“Anthony,” Aries said. “Have some strong coffee waiting at my next meeting, please.”

“It’s already there, sir,” Anthony said. Aries smiled.

“I don’t know what I would do without you, Anthony,” Aries said.

“I know, sir,” Anthony said. “I know.”

****

Zita came into the massive, state granted building that was her home. She had, in fact, grown up in the Prime Minister’s mansion, and so had never known any other home. But, she had it drilled into her head that this was a gift from the people of Mars, paid for by their taxes and hard work. It was, in fact, one of two homes so gifted to her and her father. This particular mansion was the official residence of the leader Mars, and would pass onto the next Prime Minister when her father stepped down. The other was a smaller place, though still large compared to the apartments most Martians lived in, that was their actual home. It was built three years ago by three construction companies as thanks for securing Martian freedom. Zita loved both houses, and understood what they meant to both her father and the Martian people.

But she hated coming home alone. Servants lived in the Prime Minister’s mansion, sure, and they took care of her fine, providing food and taking care of her clothing. Cho even helped her with her homework. But none of that was a good replacement for her father. And he was never home when she got there after school. Or was it?

“Honey?” she heard her fathers voice say from down one of the halls. “Is that you?”

“Dad?” she asked.

“Down here, in Office Two,” he said. She walked down the hall to what was called Office Two, so called because it was used for times when her dad, the Prime Minister of Mars, wanted to work but didn’t mind getting interrupted. Office One was a private office that even Anthony couldn’t interrupt him in.

“What are you doing home?” she asked, leaning on the door frame. “You’re never home this early.”

“Well, I had to escape all the meetings,” he said. “I needed to get some real work done.”

She narrowed her eyes some. “Real work?”

He held up his ePad, which was currently opened to a mail program.

“It’s a report from Uncle Bo,” he said.

Zita gasped. Her Uncle Bo had been searching for her mother, lost since the middle of the War for Independence about ten years ago. All they really knew was that she was a POW, taken in an attempt to convince Dad to end the war to save her. He hadn’t, of course, and Zita was still angry with him about that. Mars could have won its Independence some other time, with some other leader. She had been without her mother since she was three. And she blamed her Dad for that. But Uncle Bo had volunteered to go find her on his own, and any news from him included news about her.

“What’s he say?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I just got here a few minutes ago. I was about to watch it and find out. Come on, sit next to me, and we’ll watch it together.”

She pulled up a chair next to the big, metal desk and pressed the play button on the mail. Aries placed the ePad down on the table, and the video sprung up as a three dimensional hologram. It was new technology, developed by a new technology firm back in India on Earth. Zita was super excited that she and her dad were given advanced copies of the new ePads, she loved showing hers off at school. It was a perk to being the daughter of the Prime Minister.

“Aries,” the voice of Uncle Bo came through the speakers before the video fully realized. Then, she saw him, his hair starting to gray slightly at the temples. “And I hope Zita is there with you too. How are you, Little Princess?”

She smiled. Only Uncle Bo got away with calling her anything other than her name. Well, and Dad, who just called her Honey or Kiddo a lot. But Uncle Bo called her Little Princess, and that would always mean something special to her.

“So, I have some really good news, followed by some bad news, and both are related,” he said. “I’ll just get right into it. I found Amelia.”

That brought gasps from both of them. Uncle Bo usually didn’t talk out right about Mom, he usually spoke in code, and even in Chinese. Today he was speaking outright, and in English. That meant whatever he found, he wasn’t afraid of anyone else finding him. What was going on?

“She is being held in a POW Camp in California,” he continued. “It turns out that the US Government re-opened Alcatraz as a prison and is using it for Prisoners of War from both Mars and China. Lots of people are still in there. They kept it pretty hushed up, using the earthquake as cover for closing the park. But, I had been hearing rumors from my contacts in China that California was the place to find prisoners. I got here and started some snooping. I found proof about Alcatraz, and tried to plan getting on the island to confirm Amelia was there. Then, yesterday, I got this in my mail.”

The image on the screen shifted from the Chinese man to that of an outside scene. It looked like someone looking from a cliff of some sort, over an ocean or sea, and there was a city across it. Zita didn’t know where that was until she thought she recognized the bridge in the scene as well. It had to be San Francisco. A man moved in front of the camera than. He was older, in a starched and pressed military uniform showing general stars. He smiled, and it was a pleasant smile, not all what she was used to seeing on military people.

“Greetings, General Wu,” the man said. “I hope this message finds you well. I have it on good authority that you’ve been looking for me. Or rather, my daughter. Well, rest assured that she is here, and safe and sound. I’ve been making sure that she’s quite well taken care of. I truly wish I hadn’t had to take her away from her husband. Speaking of which, I’m going to assume that you’ll be passing this message along, so allow me to talk to my son-in-law.”

“Aries,” he said, and he smiled again. Dad stiffened a little, and Zita thought she heard him say ‘General’ under his breath. “Son before I begin, I want you to know that I admire you. I always have, which was why I was more than happy to let my daughter marry you. And especially in light of what you have accomplished up there. Impressive. I’ve had nothing but sympathy for you and your cause from the start. In fact, it was me that convinced the new president to end the war and sue for peace.

“But enough of that. You want to hear about Amelia, and no doubt some explanation about why, if I am so much on your side, I kidnapped my own daughter and took her away from you and that lovely granddaughter of mine. Well, that’s a little more complicated. See, when the war started, there was a lot of anti-China feelings in the US, and everyone thought of Mars as an ally of China, especially after that little stunt you pulled with Phobos. Brilliant, by the way. Anyway, no one was willing to let you win freedom for Mars if that meant you would just be working for the Chinese. And some up and coming officer here got the stupid idea that they could force you to give up if they kidnapped Amelia.

“I caught wind, and took control of the operation mid-stream. That took a lot of my political capital, let me tell you. But it was worth it to protect my daughter. Now, ever sense then, I’ve been working on getting her freed and returned to Mars, especially now that the war is over. But, she’s scheduled to face War Criminal charges, though a date hasn’t yet been set. It’s a big bunch of bull hockey, if you ask me. They’re not planning on charging anyone held here. They're just going to keep them here and use them for information. I just hope that you understand that I’ve done and am still doing all I can to help her and you.

“Now, General Wu, back to you. I’m sending you all the information I can safely include in this message. Please, do not try and rescue Amelia here. If you try, weather successful or not, this place will become worse that it has ever been. It’s very difficult to get here without being detected, never mind get off again. I suggest holding off on any rescue attempts. Truly, Prime Minister and General, your best bet her is politics. Negotiate for her release. Offer something to the US that they want desperately, in return for all POW’s currently being kept at Alcrataz. Please, don’t do anything rash. Diplomacy is your weapon now.”

The old man paused, and Zita thought she saw a tear slip down his cheek.

“I must go now. If I can, I’ll send you what information I have. Good bye, and good luck.”

The scene turned back to Uncle Bo, who now had a worried look on his face.

“It’s the first real news we’ve had in a long time, Aries,” he said. “I’m not sure how you want to handle this from here, but I’ll start some preliminary scouting missions, see if maybe there is a way to do something. But in all honesty... I think the General is right. Getting her off there will be next to impossible. I’ll be waiting for your reply.”

And with that, the message ended. Zita turned to look at her dad.

“OMG, dad!” she said. “This is it! This is our chance to get Mom back. You can call the US government and negotiate!”

She expected him to be as excited as her. She expected him to maybe even call Anthony and set up the meeting now. She did not expect the reaction she did get. Her dad stood, his face drooping and sad. He looked at her like he was about to tell her the worst news ever. She could feel the tears coming. She shook her head before he started talking.

“Honey,” he started. “I can’t. I’ve already tried. I continue to try. But the truth is, we’re in such a tough financial situation right now, we have nothing to offer. Not even natural resources, really. We need most of what we’re mining ourselves, it doesn't leave much to sell. And we don’t have much in the way of anything else the US would want. I’ll keep trying, of course. I have to, and knowing about Alcatraz will help, but I doubt very much we’ll make much progress in freeing your mother.”

“No,” Zita said. “No! You have to do more, dad! We’re this close, you have to do something!”

He sat back down, slumping into it. She could tell by looking at him, he was defeated.

“I hate you!” she screamed at him. It felt like she’d been doing that most of her life. “I hate you!”

She stormed out of the room, slamming the door as she went. But it did very little to make her feel better.

****

“I just don’t know what to do, Mom,” Aries said to the hologram of his mother. He slumped down on his overstuffed office chair and sighed.

“She’s thirteen, honey,” Ju said. “They get rebellious at that age.”

“It’s more than just that, Mom,” Aries said. “She’s been like this since she was eight. She really does hate me, and I can’t blame her. I mean, I promised her I would get her mother back. It’s been eleven years, Mom. Eleven! Zita doesn’t even know what her Mom’s favorite perfume is, or what kind of dresses she wears. She’s never made cookies with her, or even know what the sound of her laughter is like. She only knows what she looked like eleven years ago. And Amelia... she’s been without her daughter all this time. We’re this close, Mom. This close. The finish line is in sight, and all I can see are the huge, gaping pot holes in my wait. I not sure there’s anything we can do right now that won’t cause another war.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something, honey,” Ju said.

“We’re broke, Mom,” Aries said. “We owe so much money to the European Commonwealth that it’s likely they’ll simply buy us and we return to colony status, just to a different country. I don’t really know if there’s really anything I can do at this point. And poor Zita... I’m at a loss on both counts, Mom.”

“Well, I never was really good with politics,” Ju said.

“Or money,” Aries heard his dad’s voice come from just off camera. He smiled at that old joke.

“Hush,” Ju said. “But I think I can do something to help you with Zita.”

Aries sat upright. “What?”

“Send her down here,” Ju said. “We’ve got a good set up here in South America, doing our research. Send her down here for the summer, and we’ll make her a lab assistant. She’ll be away from you for a while, spend some time with the family she does have, and maybe advance her knowledge of animal sciences.”

“She wants to be a vet, now,” Aries said, rubbing his chin. “This is a good idea, Mom.”

“I know,” Ju said, smiling.

“I’ll talk to her about it,” Aries said. “It should be her decision.”

“Good,” Ju said. “Let me know what she says.”

****

“I can be packed in an hour!” Zita said and jumped up to give her father a great big hug. Aries quickly leaned back and wrapped his arms around his daughter, both to hug her and to prevent her from falling to the floor. He smiled, and then he set her back down.

“You understand that you’re going there to work,” he said to her. “You’ll be there for the summer and you’ll be working on your zoology studies, right?”

“Yeah,” she said. “Are you kidding, Dad? I’ll be working with real animals, animals we don’t have here on Mars. I’ll be with Grandma and Granddad. This will be fantastic!”

“And you understand that I have to stay here, right?” he said at last.

That caused her to pause. “Yeah,” she said. “I wish you could come, though.”

“I know, honey,” he said, and gave her another hug. “I know. Me too. I may get some vacation time coming up in a few weeks, so I could be down there for a few days.”

“Yeah?” she asked. Her dad rarely got vacations, it seemed like the congress was always tasking him to get something or another accomplished.

“Yes,” he said, and kissed her on the forehead. “Now, you go and play. You’re shuttle to Earth doesn’t leave for another four days, so your hour packing excursion can wait a few days.”

She smiled, hugged him again, and took off running. She couldn’t wait to tell her friends. Earth. A whole other planet, and the one that none of them had ever been to. The mother world, and she was going to see it. It was exciting!

And secretly, she thought that maybe she could find a way to free her mom while she was there.

****
Zita stepped off the small, personal jet onto what appeared to be little more that a dirt strip and a two-story building with a tower behind it. This was the landing strip where her grandparents were working? This didn’t look at all that interesting. She stepped off the plane and immediately squinted in the bright sunlight. The sky was a bright blue, far more brilliant and bright than at home, forcing her to dig into her jacket for her sunglasses. She understood now what Grandma had suggested she bring them with her. And the place was hot, too. She knew it would be, but she had never really experienced it before. All the domes back home were climate controlled to be a nice, even temperature, and it only varied in temperature in places where experiments or environmental needs required it. According to Dad, it would be another hundred years before Mars was terraformed enough that the domes could be removed and the world was more like Earth. Now that she was here, she wasn’t sure she ever wanted it to be like that.

But then she heard something that made her smile. It was the cry of birds. She looked around to see if she could spot any, and it took a while before she saw a few on the roof of the building. They were so bright and colorful that she wanted to cry. Eventually, one of the other passengers on the jet nudged her to get her moving down the ramp, and she apologized as she did so. She felt like such a tourist, but she couldn’t help it. Earth was just so amazing compared to Mars. Her home was just red dirt and rocks outside the domes, and inside the domes was mostly steel, plastic and glass. Oh, sure, there were parks and zoo’s, but on Earth there were forests and jungles, with real wild animals.

Such as the one she saw running towards her now. It looked like a cat, but it was gigantic, orange with black stripes and a white face. She froze on the stairs, as did the man behind her. It stopped just a foot in front of her, sniffing. She was sure it was going to attack and eat her. How unfair was that? Not even on Earth for a few hours, and she gets eaten by some giant cat.

Suddenly, it jumped on her with its fore paws, pushing her down to the stairs. Then, its mouth got right up to her face, and she closed her eyes awaiting the grizzly end. Her hart was thumping when she felt a wet, sticky tongue rub across her face. Then it did it again, and she could swear she heard the beast purr. She opened her eyes to see hat it was, indeed, licking her.

“Khan!” she heard a woman’s voice call. “Khan, bad tiger. Get down, get down you great brute.”

When she looked up, she saw her grandmother yanking on a collar on the cat’s neck.

“Welcome to the jungle, dear,” she smiled. “Come, lets bring this little escape attempt back to his cell. You can settle in there.”

Zita laughed at the ridiculous sight of her skinny, old grandmother manhandling a giant cat. She stood up and helped her mother wrangle the beast back to the buildings that she thought was the landing tower.

****

“He just doesn’t seem to care, Grandma,” Zita said, putting the blood sample into the rack, then bringing the rack to the freezer unit. “He hasn’t done a single thing to help Mom. It’s all been Uncle Bo.”

“That’s not true, and you know it,” Ju said. She sighed and shook her head, sitting up from her microscope and looking at her granddaughter. “Your father has been pursuing every avenue available to him to find your mother and get her free. Diplomacy and politics are powerful weapons in the right hand, and your father is very good at both of them.”

“I just sometimes think he doesn’t really care,” Zita said. “I mean, he spends far more time working on the problems facing Mars than he does finding Mom.”

“You say that like Mars isn’t important,” Ju said. “Or worth helping.”

“It’s not important,” Zita said immediately. “Not compared to finding Mom.”

Ju sighed and stared hard at her granddaughter. Zita cringed slightly. Ju sat up very quickly, causing Zita to jump slightly.

“Come with me, young lady,” Ju said. “I have something to show you.”

Zita swallowed, but got up and followed her grandmother out of the lab and down the hall. It wasn’t long before she realized that Ju was taking her outside, into the Jungle itself. Even though she had been here for a few weeks now, the jungle still made her nervous. It was so... wrong to her. Everything was closed in and crowded, and it was noisy there. Not in a mechanical way, like a city was, but more... random, chaotic. Creepy noises she couldn’t identify, sounds that seemed to come from no where, strange animals moving among the trees. And everything was so green. It was such an alien place to her, and she felt like she would never get used to it. The austere vistas and mountains of Mars were looking more and more appealing the longer she spent on Earth.

Once out in the jungle, Ju lead Zita down a series of twisty paths, so that in very short order Zita was lost. It was her worst area of study since arriving. The few other interns there had all claimed to have memorized the paths in the jungle for a mile around the complex in a matter of days. She didn’t really believe them, but still, not having memorized any of then in two weeks was beginning to bug her. They walked for what seemed like an hour, though when Zita looked at her phone’s clock, she saw that it was only twenty five minutes. Her grandmother stopped at a tree and pointed to it. Zita looked, but it really didn’t look any different than the other trees in the area. Of course, trees and plants were not her area of interest. That was animals.

“Up there,” Ju said, pointing to some branches in the upper parts of the tree, “Is a species of bird called the Caatinga Woodpecker. We need one of them brought back to the lab so we can get some blood samples from it.”

Zita breathed out, only then realizing she was holding her breath. This was the kind of work she had been doing since arriving. Maybe Grandma wasn’t going to yell at her?

“I want you to climb up there and get one of the birds, a young one if possible,” Ju said. “They put up less of a fight. You should find several nests, so take your time and pick the right one.”

She stared at Zita in such a way as to indicate that the girl should start climbing right away. Zita blinked and nodded, then started to climb. It was difficult, given that she normally had time to get on proper protective gear and some climbing equipment, but Zita was young, limber and strong, so the climb was possible. After a sweat inducing ten minutes, Zita reached the first of the nests. The birds had been flying around her head for the past five minutes, crying at her loudly and buzzing her, but they never directly attacked her. She figured that they were not an inherently dangerous creatures, and getting the baby should be easy.

The first nest showed promise, too. It had four babies in it. She reached out her arm, and it was immediately bitten by the mother bird, who swooped down from seemingly no where. She batted at the bird and reached again, only to find that another bird had joined in the defense of the net. In short order, her hand had several red marks on it.

“They’re biting me!” she called down. “I don’t have my gear, this isn’t easy.”

“It’s not supposed to be, dear,” Ju cried back up. “Just get a baby out of the nest and start climbing down. They’ll leave you alone about half way down.”

Great, Zita thought. Grandma isn’t yelling at me, she’s punishing me by letting the birds pick at me.

She gritted her teeth and went back at it. She adjusted her position so she could use both hands easier, and made a new attempt to grab a bird. She jabbed quickly, grabbing one of the babies and yanking it out of the nest before the two birds protecting it could get to her. She used her other arm to start batting at them as they came at her. The pecked at her arm and hand more, but it gave her the time she needed to start climbing down. This was far more hurtful than the attempt to get the baby, as she needed her free hand to climb, and so was defenseless. She tired her best to only present her back to the attacking birds, and kept the baby close to her chest as she climbed back down.

Suddenly, though, the attacks stopped. She looked up and saw that the two birds had returned to the nest. They were still squawking at her, but they were no longer attacking. She wondered briefly why, but decided to be glad it was over and finished her climb down. She handed the bird to her grandmother, who was now wearing gloves.

“Go get washed up, see Dr. Landry, and then meet me in Lab 3 when your done,” Ju said, then marched off with the bird, leaving Zita standing there. She looked back up at the birds, who were still agitated and yelling. She couldn’t figure out why they hadn’t followed her to rescue their baby. She wold have followed herself and her grandmother to the ends of the world to get the baby back. But these two just stayed behind, yelling.

“Stupid birds,” she said, then went back inside.

****

“I don’t get it, Grandma,” Zita said, marching into Lab three. She had on clean clothes, as her last ones were getting a special sonic wash to get free of bird germs. Dr. Landry had lectured her long and hard about working without protective gear, until she told him that her grandmother had made her do it. Then he just laughed.

“Good,” Ju said. “Not getting things is the spark that motivates most scientists.”

Zita frowned. Sometimes, her grandmother was a very odd person.

“Why don’t you tell me what, specifically, it is you don’t get, dear,” Ju said after a few moments of silence.

“Those birds,” she said. “Why did they stop attacking? I mean, I kidnapped one of their children, why didn’t at least one of them keep coming after me?”

Ju looked up from her notes and turned around to face Zita. She was smiling.

“Come here, child,” Ju said. Zita almost rolled her eyes. When Grandma called her child, it meant she was going into teacher mode. “Bring your ePad.”

Zita grabbed her pad out of the bag and brought it to the table, setting it down where Ju indicated. Ju punched up a few commands on it, bringing up some of the cameras the research station had set up around the jungle. It had started raining out there, and everything was wet. This was something else different about Mars, but Zita liked the rain. It felt natural and wonderful and magical. It always made her smile.

When Ju set the pad flat on the table, the hologram technology took over, and the image because a three dimensional projection just above the screen. It was focused on the nest she had taken the bird from earlier.

“Tell me what you see,” Ju said.

“It’s the nest I was at earlier,” Zita said.

“Tell me specifics,” Ju prodded. Zita hated when she asked that. It meant she was missing something obvious to Ju.

“I see that it’s raining,” she said, looking more closely at the image. “And it looks like the two adult birds are both sheltering and providing food to the younger birds.”

In fact, it seemed to be a team effort. Hardly something one bird could do alone.

“Does that look like it could be done alone?” Ju asked, as if she could read Zita’s mind. She just shook her head. “Now, ask your question again.”

“Why didn’t the birds follow me?” she answered with a sigh.

“And the answer is?” Ju asked.

“Because they couldn’t,” Zita said. “Loosing one baby was hard, but they both had to stay behind to protect the other babies.”

“And do you know why I showed all this to you?” Ju asked, and Zita felt her heart skip a beat as she realized that she did.

“Yes,” she said. “Its like my dad with finding Mom. He wants to come down here after her, after the people that took her, but he can’t, because he has babies to protect back home. Me. And even Mars.”

Ju smiled and nodded. “Excellent,” she said. “No, go and get some sleep.”

Zita reached down to pick up her ePad and bring it back to her bag, shutting off the hologram.

“That really is a remarkable piece of technology,” Ju said. “The hologram thing. Where did you get it?”

“India,” Zita replied. “There’s a tech firm there that’s really in Mars and are big fans of dad. They send him new technology all the time. They...”

She paused, a light bulb going off in her head. She turned to look at her grandmother, who was confused by her granddaughter’s sudden excitement.

“Grandma! That’s it!” she said. “I know how to help Dad. Can I call him?”

****

Zita walked up to her dad and looked over the terrace at the new building being built below.

“Take a look, kiddo,” Aries said, giving her daughter a hug. “This is all your doing.”

Zita smacked her father playfully. “Not all my doing. You helped. A little.”

He laughed and hugged her tighter. She liked it. Things had been better with her had her dad since she returned to Mars two months ago.

“And I have more good news,” Aries said. “When word got out that this company was moving its headquarters to Mars, other tech companies started petitioning to move here as well, or at least set up plants here. We’re getting an influx of jobs opening here that will bring in money like never before. Mars will finally be able to start paying off its debts and actually getting something accomplished. You did good, honey. You did good.”

“No, Dad,” Zita said, squeezing her dad hard. “You did.”

The End

Week 51

2010-12-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are, only one week away from the end of the whole year! I have to admit, when I started, I never thought I would make it this far. I never thought I would make it even past the first month. But, here I am, only one week away from finishing. Woo! I'm excited. So, enjoy Part 8 of the Life and Times of Aries Webb.

And next week, I'll be back one last time for the final story.

Bonus Story: Life and Times of Aries Webb Interlude 3: Zita

2010-12-23T10:22:00.001-08:00

“I hate you!” Zita screamed as she stormed down the hall way. “I hate you so much!”

“Honey,” Aries called after his petulant daughter. This was becoming a recurring fight with them. “Baby girl, come here. We need to talk about this.”

“No,” she said, stomping her foot down again. “No. You said we were going to get Momma! Now your saying that we have to stay here. I want Momma! I don’t want to be here anymore. I hate Mars, and I hate you!”

She slammed her door shut on her father’s face. He sighed and turned around to lean on the door.

“Baby girl,” he said through the door. “Talk to me. This is important, I need you to understand.”

“No!” she cried.

“I want to leave, just like you,” he said. “I want to go find Momma. But I can’t. I’ve been given no choice. Mars needs me, and they don’t want anyone else being leader right now. It’s up to me to set things up so it can run without me.”

“I don’t care,” she said. “I want Momma, and you promised that we would go get her when the war was done. You promised!”

He sighed again. She was right, he had promised that very thing. At the time, it seemed like a realistic idea. Once the war was over, he could release Martial Law and return the government to the Ministry and Senate, back to the citizens of a now truly free Mars. They could elect a new leader. But the elections happened, and he was the only name on the ballot. No one else even wanted to run. The Ministry and the Senate, for the first time in their brief history, were united on this front. They wanted him to lead for the next full term, a full four years. His daughter would be a teenager by the time he was done with that, and he still didn’t even know where Amelia was. His heart was torn in three pieces. One for his wife, one for Mars and one for his daughter. How could a man make decisions like this?

“Honey,” he said, trying a different tactic. “I’m not giving up on Mommy. I still want to find her, just like you do.”

“Then we should go get her,” she said through the door. Oh, if only his little ten year old understood what it was she was asking.

“I would love to, but I can’t,” he said. “But, Uncle Bo has agreed to go.”

There was silence on the other side of the door for a few moments. Then, the door slowly opened, and Aires had to quickly stand up before he fell into her room.

“Really?” the little girl with tear stained cheeks said through the door. She looked so much like her mother, it almost hurt Aries. “Uncle Bo?”

“Yup,” Aries said, smiling. “He put in his resignation this morning. That means he quit. Just so he can go do this for us. Because he knows that I can’t, even though I want to.”

“Do you think that Uncle Bo can do it?” she asked, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He stroked her hair, a tear coming to his own eye. “I hope so, baby girl. I hope so.”

End Interlude

The Life and Times of Aries Webb Part 7: War’s End

2010-12-19T09:51:00.000-08:00

Aries slammed the report down on his desk, causing Anthony to jump in surprise. It was another loss. The Americans had taken the water processing plant Allegheny Vallis. Though it was only a secondary water source for Olympus Mons, it was a major source for the smaller mining colonies Arsia Mons, and would make defending those colonies now a major priority. Those mines provided the Martian Army with much of the metal it needed to function. To top it off, Al-Qahira Vallis, a major food producer on Mars, was now under siege by General Atherton. The whole war effort was going to hell in a hand basket. Something needed to be done.

He signed the paper that Anthony was putting in front of him, and the dismissed his assistant. He needed to make an important decision, and he did that better when he was alone. His troops were spread thin, and their moral was done. Five years had passed since Amelia had been taken from him, five years and they still had no idea where she was. Bo had received a report that she had been taken off world, but he didn’t want to think of that. If she had been taken to Luna or worse to Earth, it was unlikely that he could truly rescue her.

He had to win this war. That had become linked to rescuing Amelia. Once the Americans had released his world, they could start getting things started on their own. He could even release the government from the Martial Law they had passed on him four years ago. With these responsibilities turned over to someone else, he could focus his attention on getting his wife off Earth and back home.

He reached across his desk and picked up another report. It contained only a letter, on which was a singular offer. He had turned it away out of hand at first, but now he had to seriously reconsider. If he accepted the terms, this could turn the tide of the war in his favor. Even though some allied countries on Earth had begun to put political pressure on America to stop the war on Mars, they just didn’t give up. Though they were stalemated against China, the government kept painting Mars as China’s ally, and thus wins here were wins against the Communists back there. And accepting this offer would only make those accusations true, at least in the eyes of the American government.

Still, he didn’t think he had any other choice. He re-read the letter again, just to make sure he wasn’t missing anything. Truth was he didn’t trust the offer. But it didn’t seem like there was anything missing. He called in Anthony and told him to bring in Bo.

****

“Has hell frozen over?” Bo said. “I can’t believe that you’re considering this for even an instant!”

“It’s a good deal,” Aries said. “We need the reinforcements this offer gives us.”

“At the cost of our soles?” Bo asked. “This is so far from being a good deal that I am beginning to question your judgement. More than normal!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Aries asked. It had been a long time since the two of them really argued. Ever since being elected Prime Minister of Mars, and Bo made the General of the Army, the two hardly ever argued. It was a strictly business relationship, with Bo the General taking orders from Aries the Prime Minister. Today, though, Bo was letting all his anger out.

“It means some of your military decisions over the past few years have been really shitty,” Bo said. It was rare he used English slang like that, he preferred to swear in Chinese. “We’ve lost every major battle since Amelia’s capture.”

“Well, if you and your generals would follow my orders instead of changing my plans,” Aries said, “we wouldn’t be in this position.”

“Seriously, Aries?” Bo replied. “You really want to argue this? ,You’re idea of strategy is throwing troops at the enemy in the hopes of just wiping them out entirely. We’ve had no choice but to change tactics in order to try and make something useful of your orders. And even at that, we can’t pull miracles out of our asses. You need to give us something solid to work with. And now you want to accept aid from China? Troops in return for mining rights? That’s ridiculous. Not only is it a bad idea to give them a foot hold on our world, but it will turn public opinion on Earth against us and prove the Americans against us.”

Aries started to argue again, but stopped, his mouth open. He sighed, slumped his arms at his side and sat down in the chair behind his desk. Bo was right, and he just had to admit it. He was tired of all this.

“You’re right,” he said in a small voice that sounded as tired as he felt. “You’re right, I’ve fucked things up royally.”

“It’s not too late to recover,” Bo said, turning around to look at his friend. His voice also lowered. “We can still turn this around and pull out a victory.”

Aries looked up at Bo.

“I should have been letting you lead all this time,” he said. “It should have been you sitting behind this desk, not me. What the hell were we thinking? We were so young, and I was still in college. I would give anything to go back to that time, and just stick to my science. I could be a scientist now, studying the rocks and insides of Mars, instead of ordering men to their deaths.”

“Aries, listen to me,” Bo said. “We can’t think like that. What If’s and Maybe’s don’t do anyone any good. We’re here now, and I truly believe that we’re both right were we need to be. Mars needs us, and they need us to win this war. And we can do it. We just need to return to a basic strategy that was working for us in the beginning. We need to return to being defensive, make the Americans spend resources trying to get us. Eventually, we can make this war too expensive for them, and they’ll be forced to quit.”

Aries sighed again, and looked Bo in the eye. He saw an intensity there that he hadn’t seen before. Bo wasn’t just saying these things. He believed them.

“Okay, Bo,” Aries said. “Tell me what we do first.”

****

“Something has changed,” General Atherton said looking over his map of Mars. It was a holographic map that represented all the topography and terrain of the world, so that he could get a better look at thing. It was also covered in several red and blue dots, showing which sights and colonies were controlled by the Martains and which were controlled by the US.

“Indeed,” his Colonel said. He pointed to a red dot on the map that marked Eos Chasma, the place of the US Army’s latest defeat at the hands of the Martians. “They’re fighting defensively again, that’s whats changed. Our attack at Eos should have drawn them out, they should have wanted to chase us down to defeat us once and for all, where we could have continued to whittle down their numbers. Instead, they stayed behind, and never advanced. They used the terrain as they have never done before, finding features we didn’t even know were there to take advantage of us. They defended, and they did it so well that we were forced to retreat before we lost too many men.”

“And this is the third time in the past year they have done so,” Atherton said. He ran a hand through his hair, still dark brown despite his age. “This young general, Bo Wu. This is his doing. The leadership of the army has transferred back to him, it has to.”

The Colonel nodded his head. “That begs the question, sir. What do we do about it?”

The General rubbed his chin. “He’s conservative, this Wu.”

“Form every report we have, yes,” the Colonel said.

“Not just from that,” Atherton said. “From his actions. He conserves, his resources, his troops. He even waits to fire until we are almost on top of them. He knows this land, this world, like none of us do, even those of us that were born here. He uses that knowledge to his advantage, and does so very effectively.”

“Sir, you sound like you admire him,” the Colonel said.

“Of course I do,” Atherton said, still looking at the map. He circled the table that generated the computerized map on it. “He has proven himself worthy of my admiration.”

He paused, looking down at the hologram. Suddenly he jabbed his finger. “Here.”

The Colonel looked down at the map. “There? Sir, There is nothing at the Moreux Crater. Only an abandoned mine, not even usable as a base. It holds no strategic value at all.”

“Here,” Atherton said. “That is where we will draw them out. Wu will be expecting us to attack Arsai Mons.”

“As we should be,” The Colonel said. “Its a major farming center on Mars. We’ve talked about this attack for the past two weeks.”

“Yes, which is why we will not attack it, we’ll go to Moreux,” Atherton said. “We’ll draw them out. We’ll start marshaling forces, slowly at first, let them wonder what we’re doing. While that happens, and we’ll study the landscape. We’ll turn his tactics against him. We’ll make him attack us, and we’ll defend.”

“What if they don’t take the bait?” the Colonel asked.

“Oh, they will,” Atherton said. “They will see this as the opportunity to end the war once and for all.”

****

“He’s baiting us,” Wu said.

“Of course he is,” Aries said, looking at his own holographic map. “This is Zachery Atherton we’re talking about. He is the man that lead the US to victory in the South American conflict, and again in when the US aided Egypt in defending itself against Lybia. He’s a tactical genius, one of the most decorated Generals in the US. The only reason he’s not serving on the Joint Chiefs is he refused the posting.”

“And as a reward,” Bo said. “He was transferred to Mars, to live out the rest of his carrier. Kind of like putting him out to pasture.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t presented to him that way,” Aries said. “From what my dad said, Mars was a choice assignment when we were kids. Giving Atherton Mars would have been a kind of reward, even if it was the political equivalent of putting him out to pasture. Two birds with one stone.”

Aries looked at the map again. It was showing several blue squares moving towards the Moreux Crater. He just didn’t know why. There was nothing out there. It wasn’t even a good place to stage an attack, it was too far away from everything. They would know the moment he made a move. And yet, he was gathering forces there. Bo was right, of course. It was a trap of some sort, the problem was he just didn’t know what kind.

“Well, General,” Aries said, pointing to the map, “If we know its a trap, what do we do?”

“We spring it, of course,” Bo said.

****

“You see, Edwards?” General Atherton said to the Colonel as they watched the assembling Martian forces from the deck of the General’s temporary headquarters.

“Yes, I see that they took the bait,” the Colonel said. “But they are not attacking. They have set up a siege position, and even started putting in fortifications. They intend to wait us out.”

“But as you and I know, that won’t work,” Atherton said. He turned from the deck and walked back into the building. “We have supplies coming in through a way they will never figure out.”

“Can you be sure about that, sir?” Edwards asked.

“Positive,” Atherton said. “If they knew about this, they would have set up a supply base here a long time ago. It’s the perfect location for such a place, right in between three major colonies like this. We’re still getting supplies in as needed. We can hold out here for a year if we need to.”

Edwards nodded, but there was something about this whole thing that he didn’t like. Why didn’t the Martians build some kind of depot here, a station to sort shipments between colonies? The General was correct, this was the perfect place for it, especially with the secret they had discovered about it.

“Edwards,” the General said, sitting at his table to eat. “You worry too much. Come, sit. Chef prepared us quite the feast. Real Martian delicacies, from what I am told.”

Edward nodded again and sat. But he only nibbled at his food. Something about this was still disturbing to him.

“Oh, spit it out, Edwards,” Atherton said, waiving his fork at the Colonel. “What is it?”

“I don’t know, sir,” Edwards said. “There’s just something about this I don’t like. They have to know that we’ve set them a trap here. Why would they just walk into it?”

The General put his fork down and then placed both hands flat on the table. He glared across the table at Edwards. The Colonel had worked for the General long enough now to have experienced this before, and didn’t even flinch at the look that had cowed even presidants.

“I’m only going to explain this once, Edwards,” Atherton said, “so listen closely. They come knowing it’s a trap because they have no choice. If they want to end this war, and they do, the come to us. They will try to prepare for what we are going to do, but without knowing the secret of this crater, they will fail to be ready for the final attack. We will surprise them, and obliterate them. If I am very lucky, that young wolf, Wu, will be there. I wold love to see that man face to face.”

Edwards nodded. But it was clear from the look on his face that he wasn’t convinced. The General sighed.

“Edwards, if your questioning wasn’t so important to me, I wouldn’t put up with you,” Atherton said. “Ask your self this question. Have I ever lost a campaign? Individual battles, sure, but entire campaigns?”

The Colonel shook his head. That much was true about the General’s carrier. It did make Edwards feel a little better. This battle had the feel of the end of the war, he realized. Maybe that was what made him uncomfortable.

Maybe.

****

“Something is not right about all this,” Bo said.

“Is that why I came out here, to the front lines?” Aries asked.

Bo looked at him with narrowed eyes. Aries smiled. He had asked to come out to the field HQ Bo had set up, to give a talk to the troops. This battle just felt too important to for him to not be there.

“Listen to me,” Bo said. “We’ve been at this for, what, six months now? This siege should have started having some kind of effect on him. Instead, they stay hunkered down in there. Every time we probe their perimeter, we get a fight. No one is surrendering in order to get food. They’re getting supplies in there.”

“Air drop?” Aries asked, looking to the sky as if he expected to see jets fly by on his cue.

“No,” Bo shook his head. “I mean, sure, they have jets fly in, but our air force has pretty effectively cut that route off. The amount of stuff that gets through that way is minuscule.”

“The Air Force must be pretty happy about that,” Aries said. “Their first real victory in this war.”

“Yeah,” Bo said. “General Gomez has been bragging to me about his success this siege, as if I wasn’t somehow doing my part.”

Bo sighed, and flopped back into his chair next to the map. The map automatically zoomed out to its default view of the whole crater. Aries watched as the blue and red squares representing buildings and troops shrunk and turned into dots as the landscape expanded to cover a larger area.

Then, he saw something.

“Bo,” Aries said, circling the map. “Is it possible that the air drops are a distraction?”

“What?” Bo asked.

“The air drops,” Aries said again, leaning over and squinting at the map. “Is it possible that they are not really bringing in any supplies with them, they’re just distracting us with them?”

“It’s not just possible,” Bo said, leaning forward, “it’s very likely. I mean, they’re obviously getting in supplies somehow. I just don’t know how.”

“I do,” Aries said. “And to top it off, I know a very easy way to stop them.”

Bo grinned.

****

The tunnels shook around Colonel Edwards. More explosions. He would say that he knew it was too good to be true, but the truth was he’d been saying that for the past month. The Martians had discovered the tunnels. The tunnels the General had repeatedly assured him they did not know about, the secret they had used to get supplies to them from the few colonies they controlled. Now, one by one, the tunnels were being shut off, and the troops bringing in the supplies were being attacked. They were starting to enter a real siege here, and eventually, they would have to either attack or surrender. The tunnel stopped shaking, and he looked around. Where ever the explosion happened, it didn’t affect the supplies they already had stored here. That was good, at least. They could still hold out for several months on these supplies.

He left the cave to go find the General. He found the older man in his office as normal, looking over his communiques from Earth on his portable computer. He didn’t look happy when he motioned Edwards to move in.

“Those fools,” he said. “Those simpering, weak willed fools back on Earth don’t know what they are doing.”

“Sir?” Edward said. The General must have received new orders, but whatever they were, he wasn’t happy about it.

“Well, this new administration may think they know what’s best, but when I win this battle, and thus the war, I”ll show them,” the General said. He was ranting as if Edwards wasn’t even there.

“Yes, sir,” he said in reflex. This was a highly unusual state for the General to be in, and Edwards was beginning to worry that his leader was loosing it under all the pressure.

“Come, Edwards,” The General said, suddenly standing. “It’s time for this charade to end.”

The general walked out of his office and down the hall. The building was temporary, of course, made from pre-fabricated walls and bolted together on the field. They were solid armor, and good protection from anti-personal weapons, but they wouldn’t stand up to artillery fire. Still, they were more comfortable than a tend, and allowed the General his luxuries, such as his desk.

“How many of the tunnels have they shut down?” the General asked.

“About half, sir,” Edwards said. “And it looks like they’re not done yet. I don’t know how they found them, but it looks like they’re taking them down one by one.”

“And how many of our troops were lost in those tunnels?” Atherton asked, never looking at Edwards as he marched down the hall. He looked like a lion stalking its pray.

“Approximately ten thousand men are on those tunnels right now,” he said. “Assuming that they shut down all the tunnels in the next two hours, which seems likely, we’ll loos them all.”

Atherton nodded, as if expecting to hear that news. “Order those troops on their way here to stop and return to HQ. No need to loose those troops for good. We won’t need them anyway.”

“Yes, sir,” Edwards said.

“Then, I want you to order a platoon to secure one of those tunnels,” Atherton said. “They seem intent on taking these tunnels down one at a time. Find out which one is their last target and stop them from taking it down. We can still use it to launch our attack.”

“Yes, sir,” Edwards said, and rushed off to deliver the orders. He found himself feeling excited. This was the General Atherton he had served with in South America and Africa all those years ago. Bold, decisive and always with a plan. If anyone can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, it would be Atherton. After delivering the orders, Edwards returned to his own office in the make shift headquarters. His desk was just as portable and austere as the rest of the building, but it served him. He sat at the computer terminal to check his own communiques and then prepare for the battle ahead.

****

“Thank you, Captain,” Bo said to the man, who saluted and walked away.

“Reports from the scouts?” Aries said, practically jumping up and down to read the note over Bo’s shoulder.

“I knew it was a mistake to let you stay here,” Bo said, and then unfolded the report and began to read.

“They found it, didn’t they?” Aries asked again, turning away from Bo and pacing around the table that was the only piece of furniture in the room besides the two chairs.

“Seriously, are you the Prime Minister, or a six year old?” Bo said, trying to read the report.

“And they don’t know about it,” Aries said, as if he didn’t hear Bo. “Or if they do, it’s not guarded.”

“I would know all this for certain if you wold just let me read the report,” Bo said.

“It’s perfect,” Aries said. “We can leave a contingent of troops out here as bait and net at the same time, and send most of our forces through the tunnel to catch them by surprise.”

Bo ignored him this time, reading the report. It had a lot of details on it regarding the specific volcanic shaft that Aries had been talking about. Aries finally stopped pacing and waited for Bo to finish waiting, his arms and feet constantly moving.

“It looks like you were right,” Bo said at last, tossing the report on the table. Aries didn’t even look at it. He grinned at Bo. The general sighed. He really was a little boy sometimes.

“Okay,” Bo said. “This is the part where you tell me how you knew about this tunnel? Even with your descriptions, our scouts had the devils own time finding it.”

“Geology lesions,” Aries answered immediately. He had obviously been waiting for this very question to come up.

“Geology lesions,” Bo said with a sigh. Aries was obviously enjoying this, and wanted to drag it out as long as possible.

“Yeah,” Aries said. “When I first went to university, my Geology professor decided we needed hands on experience rather than a lot of book learning, so we took a lot of field trips. And I mean a lot. We traveled all over Mars to various interesting sights. Climbed mountains, looked inside craters, and even checked out several volcanic shafts. Including this one.”

“Well,” Bo said, crossing the room and tapping his finger on the report folder. “Do you know what this means?”

“It means I have outsmarted Zachery Atherton,” Aries said.

“No, you ninny,” Bo said, resisting the urge to smack his best friend upside the head. “It means that we’re about to win the war.”

****

“Are we all prepared, then?” Atherton said.

“Yes, sir,” Edwards said. He looked rather distracted to the General, though.

“What’s the matter, Edwards?” Atherton asked.

“Er... nothing, sir,” Edwards said, then looked towards the gathering troops. “Our men have secured tunnel four, the last remaining tunnel. We’re working on digging a branch line to the rear of our opponents outside the crater. We should be ready to launch the attack in as little as four hours.”

“Excellent,” Atherton said. “Excellent. Start gathering the men. I want to give them a speech. A speech on the dawning of a historical battle is fitting, isn’t it? Maybe someone should record it, for posterity. In fact, that’s an excellent idea. Colonel, get someone to record this speech. I’m going to prepare it, I want to give it in one hour.”

“Yes, sir,” Edwards said. He watched as his General walked back into the building that housed his office. Edwards shook his head. He was beginning to fear that Atherton had lost his mind.

****

“Are your troops all set?” Aries asked Bo. Bo nodded. “Good. I’ll only give a quick speech. They’ll expect it, seeing as how I’m here and all.”

Bo only nodded again. Aries was serious now, and Bo almost preferred it when his friend was the smart-ass he was a few hours ago. But this was a serious moment. A solemn moment, even. After today, everything changed. This would be the deciding battle, one way or another. Either Mars would finally be truly free, or the US wold win, and all their work would be for naught. Bo wanted to be hopeful, and believe that this battle would lead to freedom. But, he was a realist, and a General. Battle plans had a tendency to go to pot when confronted with a live enemy. That was why they were the enemy, after all. And this particular enemy was lead by a highly decorated American General, who was something of a hero back on Earth. What right did little Bo Wu, rebel and upstart, have to take on, never mind hope to defeat, Zachery Atherton?

“Bo, were you listening to me?” Aries asked, snapping Bo out of his revere.

“Uh...” Bo hesitated, then sighed. “No, sorry. I was thinking about the battle ahead.”

“I said I need some advice,” Aries said. “I need to know what to say to these men. This could very well be the end of the whole war.”

“You don’t know what to say?” Bo asked, eyebrows raised in disbelief. “You, the man who has had the media wrapped around your pinkie before you were even born? Mr. I sway public opinion just by showing my face on the news? You can’t figure out what to say?”

“This is different,” Aries said. “The media is one thing. Even addressing the populace is different. These men, these boys... they’re our people. They’re about to put their lives on the line, maybe give the final sacrifice, for our freedom, our Independence. This isn’t something I am saying to convince people that the hard times we’re going through now are for the greater good, or to negotiate a deal with a foreign power. Or even to try and get some positive press for me and our cause. No, this is far more important than that. This is history. And I’m not going to be the one making it, these men are. I think it’s important that they know that, and that I, personally, and very proud to have been here, simply to see them, to shake their hands, before they make that history.”

Bo just paused and stood staring at Aries right then. This was one of the things he loved about this man. Those things were not just pretty words or rhetoric. These were things Aries believed in, with all of his being.

“I think you should just say that,” Bo said.

Aries paused. Then, he nodded.

****
“Pull back, pull back!” Bo screamed as the enemy troops poured out of the tunnel they were unable to stop. He had expected an attack from that front, but not one as strong as it had been.

“We’ll take up defensive lines near the crater lip,” he said to the captain at his side. “Move platoons six and nine over to the left, and try to flank him as they come through.”

His aid nodded and ran off to deliver the orders. Bo sighed and raised binoculars to view the rest of the battle. As expected, things were going to shit and fast. The troops sent through Aries’ secret tunnel had yet to emerge, and while Bo held the terrain advantage, Atherton still had the advantage of numbers. Making this a pretty much even match for the time being. The only thing going his way was that Aries had gotten away before the fighting started. Wouldn't do to have the Prime Minister killed in the field.
Aries had better be right about those tunnels, Bo thought. Because if he’s not, and we lose those troops down there, this battle is over right now. And we’ve lost.

****

The explosion went off behind Atherton as he watched the fight outside the crater through his ePad. He dropped to the ground and scrambled for cover behind a large outcropping of rock. Colonel Edwards was at his side a second later, as were several soldiers that served as his guard. As soon as he realized that he was cowering under a giant rock in front of his soldiers, he stood up and shook himself off.

“Someone find out what the hell that was,” he shouted. He turned his binoculars towards the direction of the explosion. “What the hell?”

“It looks like... enemy uniforms?” Edwards was next to him, his own binoculars to his head. He had adjusted the magnification to full zoom, but the resolution got a little shaky at this level.

“Armor,” the General said. “Enemy armor. They’ve found a way to penetrate our position, and they brought armor with them!”

“Withdraw,” the Colonel shouted into his radio. “For a protective circle aroudn the general.”

Immedatly, the closest platoon did just that. The fighting was happening right in their front yard now, and it was very obvious that this was not going to go well for them. Edwards looked over at Atherton, but all he saw in the man’s eyes was anger.

“Push forward,” Atherton said.

“What?” Edwards said, unsure he heard the command correctly. A push would be suicide.

“Push forward,” Atherton said. “Attack. Counter attack them, damnit! Platoons five and six are on the other side of the ridge, attack them from the rear.”

“Those platoons are engaged with the enemies outside, sir,” Edwards said. “And a push from us out be suicide.”

“Give me that,” Atherton said, grabbing the radio from Edwards. Then, he was yelling into it for the attack to happen, spittle flying out of his mouth in his rage.
The Platoon hesitated to act, though, looking at the Colonel for confirmation. Atherton’s rage grew. How dare these men disobey him. He was the general, not Edwards! Then, amidst the din of battle, Atherton heard the quiet noise of a gun cocking right next to his ear. Slowly, he turned to look at the gun, and then followed the arm holding it to Edward’s grim face.

“Edwards,” Atherton said, glaring at his aid. “This is treason.”

“No sir,” Edwards said. “Its obeying orders. See, I got the same communique this morning that you did, the ones from Earth and the President. They ordered us to leave Mars, that the Earth was officially surrendering the planet to Prime Minister Webb, and that they would recognize the serenity of Mars from here on out. A similar letter was surely sent to the office of the Prime Minister. I didn’t do anything about it at first, because there was still a chance you could win this battle and get the enemy to surrender to us. But now, with our army facing defeat... surrender is the only option we have right now that doesn’t end with all our men dead.”

“Traitor!” Atherton bellowed. The madness was quite clear in his eyes now. “Those fools back on Earth don’t know what they are doing. These rebels can’t get away with this, or others will try and do the same! I have never lost a battle, you hear me? Never! And I don’t plan to start now!”

Edwards only nodded to some nearby soldiers, who took the General under custody. He then picked up the radio, and gave the order to surrender. This battle was over.

And with it, so was the war.

****

“Colonel Edwards,” Bo said, accepting the saber offered to him by the US army officer apparently in charge of the enemy army. “I accept your surrender.”

“Thank you, sir,” Edwards said.

The two stared at each other for a few moments, not quite sure what happened here.

“So,” Bo said. “I guess this is it then. The war is officially over.”

“Yes, sir,” Edwards said. “It most certainly is.”

“You’ll be something of a hero here on Mars,” Bo said. “For stopping Atherton like that.”

“I’m not a hero, sir,” Edwards said. “I’m just a soldier.”

Bo nodded, understanding that statement more than Edwards could ever understand.

“Still,” Bo said. “If there is anything we can do for you, Colonel...”

“There is one thing, sir,” Edwards said.

“Name it,” Bo said.

“Do you happen to have a form for requesting citizenship?” Edwards said.

Bo laughed.

The End

Week 50

2010-12-19T09:49:00.000-08:00

Wow... week 50! Only two more weeks to go! It's hard to believe that the year is almost over. And for this week, the next chapter in the adventures of Aries Webb!

Also, go check out my guest blog over at CA Marshall's website as part of her 12 Days of Christmas Blogfest. It's been pretty cool so far, and I had a ton of fun writing my entry.

http://www.camarshall.com/2010/12/on-seventh-day-of-christmas.html

In the mean time, enjoy this week's story, and I'll see you next week!

The Life and Times of Aries Webb, Part 6: Amelia’s Story

2010-12-12T15:03:00.001-08:00

Amelia watched as her troops trudged back into camp. The temporary dome had been set up on the flat plains of Utopia Planitia, and had been serving as her base of operations for the past six months. She hated being this far away from both Aries and Zita, but it was necessary. Zita. The thought of her two year old little girl being afraid for mommy broke her heart But it was partially for her that she lead her troops. The fighting had become particularly harsh here, near Elysium Mons, the largest US Holding on Mars. Though Bo had decided, and rightly so, to fight a defensive war, Elysium Mons was providing too much support to the US troops, and it needed to be either taken or at least cut off.

Amelia had attacked the city twice, without success. Now, she was preforming a siege, preventing the city from getting anything out and from the US troops from getting in. It was that last part that was proving difficult. Her forces had been assaulted three times in the last month alone, and from the looks of the returning troops today, this was another loss for the Martians. A few moments later, DeVore entered her office.

“We lost, didn’t we?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. They had developed a good working relationship over the past few years. What little success she did have she truly felt was due to his aid. “The enemy managed to break through our line and get some soldiers into the city. The good news is that they’re stuck in there now. We managed to seal the entrance they used.”

“What about our losses?” she asked.

“Surprisingly light,” he said, handing her the report.

She sighed. This was the part she hated the most. She would write each family that had lost a child to this war personally, but that would have to wait until later.

“We need to do something different,” she said. “This siege is only partially working. We’re keeping them in, but we’re not preventing supplies from getting in either. At this rate, we’ll win this siege well after the war is over. We need to do something different.”

“We’ve already tried attacking,” DeVore said. “I mean, short of a surgical strike inside the dome, I think we’ve done everything we can.”

“Wait,” Amelia said. “I thought we looked at surgical strikes and ruled them out. What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about commandos,” he said. “A small squad that gets inside and takes out some key targets. Food stores, water, that kind of thing.”

“Again, we talked about this,” Amelia said. “It’s not practical. There’s too many enemy troops inside, whoever we send in has a high chance of getting caught. It would be a suicide mission. What changed?”

“Nothing,” DeVore said.

She looked at him blankly for a few moments. It took that long for what he was saying to sink into her tired brain.

“I take that back,” he said. “Something has changed. Our need for something to happen.”

“You’re seriously wanting me to order men on a suicide mission?” she asked.

“Of course not,” he said. “You ask for volunteers.”

“I don’t think I can do that,” she said.

“Think about it,” he said. “ You’re right, we can’t keep on like this. Right now, our enemies are fighting a war of attrition against us, and we can’t win that way. They have more troops back on Earth. We don’t. If we don’t do something here soon we’ll loose Elysium Mons, and they keep a major foot hold on our territory.”

“I should have never allowed you to speak so freely around me,” she said.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “But you also know that I am right. We need to do this.”

She thought about it for a few moments. The sad truth was, he was right. But she just didn’t know if she could really ask any of her men, even men who volunteered, to commit themselves to something like this. Her father once told her his secret to being a leader. ‘Never order a man to do something you aren’t willing to do yourself.’ Was she willing to go on such a mission? The answer came to her right away, and it surprised her. Yes. She thought of her daughter. She should be thinking of her, and getting back to her, not getting herself killed. But at the same time, she realized that it was because of her daughter that she was so willing. She would gladly lay her life down to protect her daughter, and also to provide her daughter with a safe home.

“Okay,” she said. “Well do this. But I’m leading this mission.”

“No, ma’am, you can’t,” he said. She looked up at him. She realized that he wasn’t the least bit surprised by her answer or desire to lead. That smug bastard knew what she was going to answer before she did.

“Don’t give me the ‘your too valuable an officer’ speech,” she said. “I’m leading this, and that’s final.”

“No, ma’am,” he said. “It’s more than just your value as an officer. Don’t get me wrong, you are one of the finest officers I’ve ever worked under, but it’s more than that. You’re the Prime Minister’s wife. Our First Lady, if you will. A celebrity. If you die out here, it would be a blow to moral, not just to our men, but to the people of Mars. Not to mention your husband. If he fell apart, this whole war would be for nothing. No, ma’am, you need to stay here.”

She smiled up at him, then stood and clasped him on the shoulders. “DeVore, I appreciate your honesty about all this, and you make some valuable points. But I can’t ask a man, even one who volunteers, to do this if I’m not willing to do it myself. I have to lead this mission, and there is nothing you can say that will get me to change my mine. Understand?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said. She believed him.

“Good,” she said, “gather the men. We need to find the rest of my squad.”

****

“Honey, this plan of yours,” Aries said over the video call, “it’s amazingly dangerous. Those men you send in there have a higher chance of being killed than completing the mission.”

“I know,” she said. “That’s why we asked for volunteers.”

Aries shook his head. “What’s the chance of this working?”

“Pretty high if they manage to get their first two targets without getting caught. The food and water storage facilities will be highly guarded, no doubt, but if those can be taken down, then we can turn this seige around and make some real progress here.”

“I still don’t like it,” he said.

“Me neither,” she said, “but we don’t have much of a choice. its also why I’m the one that will be leading the mission.”

There was a long pause as Aries did a touble take and stared at his wife. She kept a serious look on her face.

“What?” he said in a very quiet whisper.

“I have to,” she said. “I can’t ask men to go on what amounts to a suicide mission when I’m not willing to do the same. Besides, I have experience in doing this kind of thing.”

“Since when?” he asked. “You weren’t a commando when you were in the Marines.”

She wanted to laugh at that thought. Marines were commandos out of basic, as opposed to Army grunts. At least, that was her opinion. Instead, she gave him an even stare.

“Since Korea,” she said. “I spent a lot of my time behind enemy lines running these kinds of missions. I’m qualified.”

“What does DeVore say?” he asked.

“He’s agreed,” she said simply. There was no use in stating all the arguments he already made. “I’m leaving Captain Pei in charge. DeVore has worked with him a lot already. He’s a good officer with lots more experience at being an officer than I have. He’ll do well while I’m gone.”

“I...” Aries said, starting to protest again, but stopping when he saw the look on her face. He sighed. “I guess I’m not talking you out of this. I don’t think this is a good idea. I’m stating that on the record.”

“You wouldn’t be the man I married if you did think it was a good idea,” she said. She touched his face on the screen with her finger. “I love you, Aries Webb. And my daughter too. I promise the both of you, I’ll be back.”

“You’d better be,” he said. “You’d better be.”

****

“Okay, soldiers,” Amelia said, looking at the eight men and women that had volunteered for this mission. “I’m not going to give a long speech here. You all know what we’re doing, and the chances we have of success. But, those chances are worth it, so we’re going in. If anyone wants to back out, now’s the chance. No one will think the lesser of you.”

Not one of them backed down. She smiled. Of these eight commandos, only two were native to Mars. All of them had prior service in the US military, serving in such groups as the Special Forces, SEALs, Rangers and Marine Special Operations. One of them she had worked with before in Korea. These were people that knew their stuff. And more importantly, they had declared Mars as their home, and their willingness fight and die to protect that home. They were her people, and if anyone could get this job done, it was them.

“Okay then,” she said, “let’s move out.”

The plan to get into the city was simple. Her troops had the city pretty much surrounded, and all the known entrances were sealed. They would simply use one of the less well known routes inside. It was one used before by Martian Intelligence operatives to get in and out. No one inside seemed aware of it. This was one of the advantages to being the side that built all the cities on the planet.

Once they were inside, they met with a contact that set them up in an apartment building that would be their base of operations. It was in a district heavily visited by the military. That didn’t seem safe at first until it was pointed out to her that this section of town was considered the property of the US Army, and thus no one would be looking for terrorists here. Their contact provided them with false ID papers, listing them all as American citizens. Amelia was now Amanda Dreyfus. The military presence also allowed them to easily store and transport military hardware, like guns.

The team waisted no time. Four of their number were sent to scout the first target. There were three main food storage facilities in the city, but one was the central hub. The other two were simply storage. If the hub could be taken out, the food in the other two units would disappear pretty quickly. Of course, the hub was probably the most heavily guarded building in the city. They took the reports from the scouts and formulated a plan.

Everyone on the team had a part. Demolitions, cover, heavy weapons, something. Everyone by Amelia. Even behind enemy lines, Amelia was still the Colonel. When this first raid was staged, she stayed behind with two others. She was still proving to be too valuable for the other soldiers to just leave her be or allow her on the raid. So, instead, she wrote off on all final mission plans.

When her men came back to report the mission was a success, she was elated. When they reported that they had taken fire, and had a causality, she fell again. The only good news out of that was that they managed to drag her body back with them. That would slow down the investigations. But she didn’t have the numbers to loose people each mission. Still, she supposed it was too much to expect that they wouldn’t lose anyone. this was a suicide mission, after all. She sighed.

“Everyone get some sleep,” she said. “We’ve done all we can to prepare for target number two. We’ll hit it tomorrow.”

As she prepared to sleep, she thought that she would go with them. She came here to help, to actually do something, not just sit at a desk making decisions. There would be some left behind to watch the base, of course, but the rest would go. The water supply was nearly as heavily guarded as the food storage was, and everyone would be needed.

The next morning, they started early. No one seemed surprised or tried to stop her when she geared up and discussed her part in the raid. She smiled. They were expecting it, apparently. She wasn’t stupid, she paired herself with the two Marine Special Operations soldiers, who knew that part of their job was to keep the inexperienced officer alive.

The plan was pretty simple. The main water resources was a big tank kept at one end of the city, attached to the water line that fed them from the newly created Hellas Basin Lake. It was the first real sea Mars had, and was a major point in the terraforming of the world. It’s fresh water fed both Olympus Mons and Elyssium Mons. The goal of this mission was simply to destroy the tank. A few well placed bombs would do the trick. The hard part would getting the bombs well placed. Or placed at all really.

They set off. Getting to the location was easy, it wasn’t difficult to miss. Getting through the first set of guard posts and fences proved to be fairly easily as well. She was in awe watching this team work. Though they had never worked together before, they were consummate professionals, and the way they knew what the others were doing, their method of silent communication, it was massively impressive. In order not to slow things down, she had put Lieutenant Rand in charge of the team, and his leadership style was very interesting to watch. No one questioned him, or talked back. They just did what he said. And if they didn’t, they were off the mission and set to guard duty.

She was no exception, and he made that clear during the mission. She kept her mouth shut and did as ordered, and it all felt pretty good. To just be a soldier again, to follower orders and get the job done. That was why she had enlisted rather than go the university to officer route. Getting the job done felt better than ordering others to it.

They managed to get tree of the five bombs planted before they got caught. Getting caught, in this case, meant the fire fight started. This was where Amelia and her two Marines came in. They were the distraction to allow the rest of the team to keep working. She fired her gun, making sure to take careful aim. She and her men had three men killed before they even had their weapons raised. Then the real fighting started. The three of them ran, keeping up the fire as they went. They ducked in and out of cover, leading the enemy guards on a merry chase away from the other team. They even set up a few bombs of their own, mostly designed to distract the enemy, but if they managed to go off, all the better.

She could hear some other fire fights going on, which means the guards discovered the second distraction team. She kept firing, taking down two more soldiers. These had to be the worst soldiers she had ever seen, she souldn’t be able to take them down this easy. Then she saw their uniforms. They were roughly made, and looked like they were jackets and jumpsuites that had unit patches sewed onto them. They weren’t real soldiers, they were a unit of civilian volunteers, probably just had a truncated basic training. Things were more desperate in here than her spies had lead her to believe. They continued to run, but eventually one of her Marine’s pulled them to a stop.

“What’s up?” she whispered.

“They’re leading us,” he said. “Those aren’t the civilian troops we’re supposed to believe they are.”

“What?” she asked.

“They’ve been directing us, showing up where they weren’t supposed to be, forcing us to change course,” he said.

She had noticed that they made a few unexpected turns, but they were still heading towrds the extraction point.

“Trap?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Anything we can do?” she asked. There was still some gun fire going off from another end of the tank.

He shook his head. Great, she thought. She looked up, and found herself looking at the last bomb she just placed. She could hear the enemy getting into position around them. They were being boxed in. If this was a trap, it was about to be sprung. Then, she had an idea.

“Get ready to run,” she said, pointing her gun up at the bomb. The two men with her looked up and saw what she was about to do. True to form, they only nodded and set themselves to run. One looked around the corner and saw the enemy setting up position. After a few minutes of tense waiting, he put up his hand as a signal to wait. Then, he dropped it down quickly and the two started running. She fired her gun, hitting the bomb and started running after them.

The two men in front of her were firing at the enemy, causing them to scatter out of surprise. The bomb went of behind them, and she felt a push from behind her of hot air. So hot her back felt on fire. It pushed her hard, causing the three of them to fall. Quickly, she started getting up, but apparently not fast enough. One of the Marine’s grabbed her arm and yanked as the other stood next to them firing. She watched as five men fell to the Marine’s fire, but the enemy was equally quick to return fire. The Marine fell to a hail of bullets as she and her partner took of running. She raised her gun firing as well. Everything seemed to stand still. The fire burned behind her as water leaked out of the tank. In a few seconds, the tanks emergency systems would take over and seal of the hole, but for now it worked as a distraction.

But not enough of one. The two ran around a corner to find themselves facing a large group of soldiers. And these were wearing full uniforms, in the gray and black of urban camouflage. She looked behind her to find about twenty men setting up positions with guns. They were well and truly trapped. She held up her arms and dropped her rifle, and the Marine next to her did the same.

****

The room was completely dark. She didn’t even know how long she had been here now. A couple of days, at least. She had telt her way around the chamber when she was first placed in it. It seemed like a prison cell, with a bunk and a toilet and notihing else. Some how, during the time she slept, food and water was placed in the room. She found that out the first time when she stepped in the food. It was some kind of gruel that tasted like oatmeal mixed with ground beef. It was still better than the field rations she had been eating in her tent. She figured from the feel of things that she had been placed in a space ship and was probably on her way to Earth. None of this was really a surprise. She was a high profile office in the Martian resistance. The wife of the Martian Prime Minister and leader of the Martian Army. They would try to use her to get Aries to surrender.

She was concerned about that last bit. She was worried that Aries would capitulate. That would be the absolutely worst decision he could make, but outside of the Free Mars movement, she was his one true love. He had said that too many times for her to not believe it. Still, he was dedicated to winning their freedom, and there was the hope that he wasn’t willing to give it up even for her. Maybe he could even find a way to rescue her without giving up.

She ate her gruel. She felt like an idiot. How could she have let herself be trapped like that. She remembered Atherton after her capture. How the older man had gloated.

“I expected to capture most of your team, Mrs. Day-Webb,” he said, not even using her rank. “But I never expected to capture the woman that has been leading the fight here at Elyssium Mons. Thank you for proving why it is that you Martian’s shouldn't be allowed independence. If we let you go, you would fall to a superior foe, like the Chinese, who would surely use that moon your husband stupidly gave them as a launching point.”

Her only response was to glare at him. She hated that, too. After all that fighting, she gets herself caught, and then can’t even come up with a witty come back. He had thrown her into a make shift prison cell until she was put into a box that was presumably latter put on the space ship. She didnt know if the five other soldiers that had been caught at the end of the last mission were still alive, or on this ship with her. All she did know was that after Atherton was done gloating, the bombs on the water tank went off. Her men that managed to avoid capture were successful, and the siege would change.

It was the only hope she clung to. She had made a difference. Hopefully, Aries and Bo could take it the rest of the way, and Mars would truly be free. She slowly ate her gruel. It was bland, and she found herself wishing she had some Martian salsa. It was a unique dish from Mars that originated when a scientist managed to genetically engineer a tomato that grew with its own spices built in. The Martian Tomato, as it was now called, had become the center piece of Martian Salsa, and the dish had quickly grown to be one of her favorite things on Mars. It went well with lots of food, and she wanted some now to mix into her gruel. It would make it taste so much better.
She heard something outside, and then a noise like a door being rattled. Quickly, she stood up. She had flung the food across the room and lifted the bowl up, flattening herself against the wall. She wasn’t sure where the door was, but she figured it would be across from the toilet, like a prison cell was built. The door opened, and she closed her eyes due to the bright light outside, but swung where she saw the figure outside. The bowl connected with something, and she felt it dent from the impact. The guard that had come in fell to the ground. She shot out her arm to try and punch the next guard in line, but the lights were still too much for her eyes, and she couldn’t see. He grabbed her arm and swung her around, twisting her arm around her back.

It hurt, but she grew up with her uncle putting her in this move all the time, and knew ways to escape it. Like the simple move of kicking the attacker in the knee. He backed away, letting her go, and she spun around, hitting him hard in the face with her fist. She saw a third figure move into the room, and crouched ready to move. The brightness was starting to dim some, her eyes getting used to it.

“That’s enough, ‘Melia,” a sharp voice said, and she paused. No one called her that. No one except...

“Dad?”

****

“It’s unconscionable,” he said, throwing the letter across the room. It managed to hit Bo in the face, but he calmly pealed it away and looked at it instead. Aries, in the mean time, continued to rant. It was nothing short of what Bo had expected when the first reports started coming in from Utopia Planitia. The siege there had been won. General Atherton and his troops made a final run for it, launching a full attack against the blockade and making it through, but giving up Elyssium Mons in the processes. It was a huge victory for the Martians, taking away the largest foot hold the enemy had, but it came at a major loss of men.

“I can’t believe that they would hold her hostage like that,” Aries said. “And to think that they believe I’ll just roll over and give up Mars for her. She’s my wife, and I love her, but damn it, this is bigger than that.”

“Well, I’m glad to hear you say that,” Bo said, which brought Aries up short. He looked over at his long time friend.

“Why would you say that?” he asked.

“You love her, like you said,” Bo said, as if that answer were obvious. “You’ve done things for her that I’ve never seen you do for anyone before, not even me. I was afraid that you might be willing to end this whole war to save her. Or at the least resign.”

Aries paused, as if resigning wasn’t something he had considered before.

“You can’t,” he said. “Like you said, this is bigger than that. It’s bigger than you and her, bigger than me. But it also needs you and me to keep it going. If you quit now, even if it is to go and rescue her, the people of Mars will lose hope. We have to keep this going. We have to.”

Aries narrowed his eyes, and for a moment there Bo believed he would actually disagree with him. Not that Bo could blame Aries. If the situation were reversed, and it was his wife that had been captured, Bo wasn’t sure he would be able to let her go and continue the fight. But, Aries was a stronger man that Bo ever was, and as much as he hated to admit this in public, he believed that no one else could lead Mars through this time but Aries. Something about that man brought people together and bound them in common purpose like few other leaders in history could.

Eventually, though, Aries just sighed and sat back down. “You’re right,” he said. “I can’t leave, there’s too much important stuff going on. And even if I could resign and go after her, what good would I do? I’m no soldier. The best I could hope for was to turn myself in in return for her freedom. And that wouldn’t really change anything, just switch our positions. Not to mention that I need to consider how any decision I make affects Zita.”

Bo breathed a sigh of relief. “Now we need to take advantage of the opportunity she provided us. Atherton is on the run and his reinforcements are not due for another week. My suggestion is that we push him back to his fortress near the southern pole.”

Aries listened, and then nodded. For the most part, Bo wanted to fight a defensive war, but opportunities didn't come all the time. And for once, Aries found himself really wanting to punish Atherton, to hurt him, even kill him if he could. That was the man that had not only been leading America in its bid to retain Mars, but now he had taken his wife from him. It had become personal, and briefly Aries wondered if that was a bad thing. He shook off the thought, though. He could use this anger. Never before had he wanted to push Atherton off Mars more than he did now.

“Do it,” he said. “I want you to push Atherton right of the edge of the world. I want his base destroyed, I want his reinforcements to have no place to land. I want this war ended, and I want the end to cost the American’s dearly.”

Bo glanced at his friend. He had never seen him so angry. He hoped this wasn’t a bad sign. Still, the idea of taking out the American base was an appealing one. They really had no way of preventing the reinforcements from landing, but stripping their resources away was a good idea.

“Good ideas,” he said. “I’ll get the plans in motion. And don’t worry, Aries. We’ll get her back. I don’t know where Atherton has her holed up, but we’ll find her. I swear we’ll find her.”

****

“Stand down, Colonel Webb!” Major General Louis Day said in that commanding voice that only a life long military man can muster. “That’s an order.”

Amelia found her self responding to the order and stood at attention. She dropped her bowl, but glared at the two men that were entering the room. The General was, of course, her father, who she hadn't seen since her wedding. He wore a standard duty uniform instead of his class A’s, but he looked no less imposing. In fact, he may have looked more imposing, his short cut curly hair and dark skin contrasting against the gray and black of the urban camouflage.

The other man she recognized as the spy that had saved her husbands life during the assassination attempt a few years ago.

“You,” she said to him.

“Me,” he said, with a rather smug smile.

“Yes,” her father said. “Colonel Webb, I want you to meet Agent Ford of the CIA. At least, meet officially.”

“What’s going on here, General?” she asked. If he insisted on using her rank, so would she.

“Simple,” he said. “I’m saving your life. I ordered Atherton to take you alive, even though he wanted to kill you, and rather publicly too, in order to try and break your husband and end this war. Instead, I’m taking you back to Earth in the hopes that I can talk you and that stubborn husband of yours to end this needless conflict before more people have to die.”

“Earth?” she asked. All this time, she had assumed she was in orbit around Mars, at the US research station. Earth would mean that she was beyond rescue. Earth would mean that she was now a POW, and would likely not see her husband and daughter again.

She broke down. She couldn’t handle that knowledge. She collapsed to the floor and started to cry.

The End

Week 49

2010-12-12T14:59:00.000-08:00

We're in the home stretch now! Week 49, only three more weeks to go!

And, in celebration of that fact, here's this week's story, the next chapter in the story of Aries Webb. Enjoy!

The Life and Times of Aries Interlude 2: A Two Front War

2010-12-08T20:54:00.001-08:00

Aries looked over the reports on his desk and sighed. He was so tired. He knew that the fight for independence was going to be tough, but he didn’t know that it would be this tough. He pressed the button on his desk to call Anthony.

“Coffee is on the way, sir,” Anthony said before Aries even had the chance ot say anything.

“How did...?” he started to ask, then stopped. This was Anthony. He often seemed to know what Aries needed before Aries did. “Thank you.”

“Sir,” Anthony said, which was really his way of saying there was something more.

“Anthony?”

“The Chinese Minister is here,” he aid simply.

What? He wasn’t due to be here for another hour. Aries wasn’t ready. He narrowed his eyes. That was probably the purpose of his arriving early. Well, this was his office. The other man would just have to wait.

“Of course,” Aries said, knowing that the other man could hear him across Anthony’s desk. “Well, as you know Anthony, I am still on the call to England. Please let him know that I will be with him right after that call is finished.”

“Of course, sir,” Anthony said. Aries could almost hear his smile through the phone. There was, of course, no call, but the bluff would give him time to get things in order. It had taken him the past year to get into the swing of things, but Aries was getting used to this job.

When he was ready, he buzzed Anthony again.

“Please send the Minister in,” he said.

The door opened, and the official representative of the Chinese government entered the room. He wasn’t tall, but solidly built, and wore a military looking uniform. He was also older, and his gray streaked hair and wrinkles on his face only added to the image of an imposing man who knew what he was doing. Especially when compared to the young and inexperienced Aries. Aries had learned, however, to avoid showing fear. He bowed to the other man and offered a seat. One of the benefits of having this office was the desk it self. Made of solid oak, a rarity on Mars, its size and solidness aided in giving Aries his own sense of intimidation. Aries had a comfortable chair across the desk that was raised up, so he was always looking down at the other man, who sat in a smaller chair that wasn’t too comfortable.

“Minister,” Aries said in Chinese.

“Please,” the man said in almost unaccented English, “Call me Xiaowen.”

“Of course, Xiaowen,” Aries said, switching back to English. “And you can call me Aries. Would you like some coffee or tea?”

“Tea would be fine, thank you,” Xiaowen said. “But while we wait, let’s get straight to business, shall we?”

“I like that,” Aries said. He ordered a cup of tea for the Minister from Anthony, and the two men sat down. “I assume that you have, of course, read over my proposal.”

“Of course,” he said. “I do have one question, however. What, exactly, is it that you think you can provide to the People’s Republic that we cannot already provide to ourselves?”

“Phobos,” Aries said immediately. He kept a straight face when he said the answer, but he wanted to grin when he saw how the Minister’s face fell at the mention of the moon.

“We already have the Martian moon,” the Minister said with a sneer.

“Well, technically, yes,” Aries replied. He stood and started walking around the desk. It was an old habit of his, one that Anthony had tried to dissuade him of. Aries had found, however, that it kept visiting dignitaries off balance, and so he continued to do it. “But here’s the thing. You see, most of the construction work on Phobos was done by Martians. Martians, I might add, that were loyal to the Free Mars movement.”

The Minister narrowed his eyes. “Do you have a point to make here, Prime Minister?”

Aries smiled. It was the first time anyone from China had refereed to him by that title. “Indeed I do. And it is this. We could, if we wanted to, destroy the entire Phobos colony very easily. It being your only source of minerals from Mars, that would be a huge blow to your war effort on Earth.”

“Is that a threat?” the Minister asked.

“No,” Aries said. “It is a truth. We would be capable of getting all the civilans out of the colony and down here before the destruction happened. All in all, it wouldn’t take us more than a dozen hours to pull off the entire operation. And as we are officially at war, who would blame us?”

“And you want China to officially recognize your independence for one colony?” the Minister asked, though he already knew the answer.

“I know you’re struggling on Earth, Xiaowen ,” Aries said. He made sure to use the Minister’s name, so as to re-enforce the power structure. “You’ve stripped your own country clean, and Korea isn’t providing nearly what you wanted. America has a heads up with its Helium 3 factory on Luna. And with Mars no longer providing resources, you were left with Phobos. Especially given that Phobos recently was discovered to have Helium 3 deposits. If we take that away from you, America will gain the upper hand. Not an outright victory, to be sure, you still outnumber everyone. But it would be a big blow. So, we offer you Phobos in return for our independence.”

The Minister glared at Aries as he returned to his desk and sat down.

“Agreed,” he said. Aries took a moment to make sure he actually heard him.

“Agreed?” he said, “Don’t you need to discuss this with your government first?”

“Please,” Xiaowen said. “We suspected such a move from you for some time, though we expected it to be a straight out military attack. Or even that you would sell the information of Phobos to the Americans. This was not quite what we planned for, but it’s the same result. We will agree to sign a treaty with the Martian Republic and publicly announce that we recognize your independence. We cannot afford a two front war any further.”

“Neither can we,” Aries said. “Neither can we.”

End Interlude

The Life and Times of Aries Webb Part 5: Childhood’s End

2010-12-05T10:59:00.000-08:00

“Vote now for Martian Independence?” Vic said. “Really Amelia?”

“Yes, really, Vic,” Amelia said. She put her hands on her hips and looked around the room at all the Marines there, men and women. They were all dressed in the red camouflage of the Martian tour, and they all looked so young. Was she ever really this young? “And why not? How many of you were born here? You’re only a few years younger than Aries Webb himself, you know.”

“You’re asking us to participate in an illegal vote,” Vic said. He was a particularly large man, with piercing blue eyes and a flat nose that looked like someone smashed it with a brick.

“It’s only illegal on Earth,” she said. “Look, you all know the score. The US is now at war with China. War folks. Not a police action or a training mission into Korea, or even a war against a little place like Iraq. No, war with another superpower. The only other superpower. A war like this will draw other powers into it, too. We’re looking at a potential World War III. And given that both America and China receive needed resources, not to mention the inventions and discoveries made by the Martian Research Institute, do you really think that the War won’t reach Mars?”

“So, what?” Vic said. Apparently, he had become the spokesperson for the group. “You want us to turn traitor and aid a group of rebels from seceding?”

“They’re not a state, they can’t secede,” she said. “No, what I am asking you to do is live by your conscience. Come on, Vic. You and many others here have been here for at least two years, its become home for you. How many of you have married locals?”

“What difference does that make?” Vic said. “Happens all the time in the military. You’re still asking us to turn against our government. The Chinese were the ones that invaded Korea, they’re the ones that started all this. You really want us to turn our backs on that?”

“And do you really want to go fighting against the Chinese soldiers here?” she asked. “Suit up in space suits and shoot at the guys you’ve been drinking with every Saturday for the past two years? Or worse, march through the streets of Olympus Mons with tanks, shooting at those same guys, this time risking the people that live here? You know these people. They’re not some third world country natives, who barely have electricity. These are US citizens, many just trying to make a buck. And now they are saying that they want to live out their lives on this world with out being drawn into the politics of another. The US once said the same thing to England.”

“I’ll fight the boys across the desert if the order is given,” Vic said. Amelia believed it. Vic was a true Marine, doing whatever he was ordered.

“What about the rest of you?” she looked around the room. Most had their heads bowed. “What about you, Johnston? I know for a fact that you and Private Chen are poker buddies. And you, Tracy. You married one of the Chinese soldiers! You really want to go shooting at your wife?”

“No,” Tracy replied immediately, even though Vic was staring him down. “Sit down Vic, I have a right to talk here. My wife and I were planning on returning to Mars when our service contracts were up, and living out the rest of our lives here. Mars has become our home. In fact, she told me that Bo Wu was giving a similar speech to her side just the other day. She and I are ready to stand with you, Amelia. You’re husband is going to need soldiers if he wants to win Martian Freedom, and there’s a lot of men and women here that are ready to side with him.”

“That’s treason,” Vic said. “You’re all talking about abandoning your duty and siding with rebels. Not just rebels, siding with the enemy!”

“You’re right, Vic,” Tracy replied. “It is treason. But it’s also the right thing to do. And for once, I’m going to follow my heart, and not orders. You just give the word, Amelia, we’re in.”

“Good,” she said. “Remember, nothing has happened as of yet. Aries is still trying to win the election for Governor of Mars. The Independence vote can’t happen after that. However, he wants me to promise you that any of you who join the Martian Army and help defend this world will be granted full citizenship of Mars.”

“We’re behind you, Amelia,” Tracy said. “Even Vic is. Right Vic?”

Amelia turned to eye the big Marine. He glared at Tracy, and for a moment he thought that he was going to rip the smaller man’s neck out. Instead, he finally bowed his head and then turned to look at Amelia.

“I’m in,” he said. “My girlfriend is a native, she lives in town. She’s pregnant. I just wanted everyone here to be clear that they understand what it is you are asking of them.”

“Fair enough,” Amelia said. “I’m asking you to turn against your government. I’m asking you to possibly fight against the men that stay here, and the other men that get shipped up here, in order to defend a bunch of domes on a red rock in space. I’m asking you to help us build something worthwhile on this red rock, to defend the homes of decent people that just want to live their lives to their own standard, and not the standard of someone on a completely different planet. I’m asking you to turn traitor against America, and support my husband. Vote for him in the coming election if you can, vote for Independence when it comes, and help us build a new nation in the sand.”

“We’ll do it,” Tracy said, and Vic nodded. “We’ll be there when you need us, and we'll spread the word with those we know we can recruit. When it comes time, your husband will get the army he needs. He’ll get it.”

****

“This is great news, guys,” Aries said, looking across the table at Amelia and Bo. The two people he loved the most, and here they were, helping him make something amazing come to fruition. “If these numbers are correct, we’ll have a pretty decent sized army.”

“Enough to defend with, yes,” Bo said.

“Defense is all we’ll need,” Aries said. “They literally have to come to us in order to try and revoke our independence once the vote passes. And I’m convinced that it will. According to the latest polls, I’m ahead by a large margin, and even my opponent is beginning to see that the Martian people, at least those of American citizenship, don’t want an Earther leading them. Once I become Governor, I can get the Independence Act passed. I know I can.”

The two of them smiled and he smiled back. “It’s all coming true, Bo. Everything you worked for your whole life, it’s happening.”

“It is,” he said. “and in no small part to you.”

“Ah, I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t pushed me into it all those years ago,” Aries said. “But, you’re right. It’s all happening now because of me.”

Everyone laughed. It was a good laugh, a full bodied, genuine laugh. Those were hard to come by lately. War truly loomed on the horizon. The US and China had been shooting at each other for the past year in Korea, and both were making demands on Mars to provide resources and people to the fighting. And their demands were getting contradictory. Even people that were happy to live in their little cultural domes, Little China and New America, were beginning to talk about Free Mars.

“What about you?” Amelia asked. “It’s time for you to deliver your report, Mr. Not-Governor-Yet.”

He smiled at her, and then cleared her throat. “Both France and England have agreed to provide us with support in our Independence, though they can only do it quietly as America is their ally. I get the impression that the Prime Minister of England wants to do it as a kind of revenge against America. Germany has also agreed to aid us, but at a cost, and only overtly against China.”

“What’s the cost?” Bo asked.

“They want seats in the senate and on the board of directors for the Martian Research Institute,” Aries said. The words came out in such a rush that it almost sounded like one word.

“Unacceptable,” Bo said immediately.

“Agreed,” Amelia said. “We can’t give a foreign power a seat in our government, or in the Institute. It’s still the largest employer on the planet, and as such is a major political influence.”

“Oh, I know,” Aries said. “My counter proposal was a single seat on the senate, as an observer only. No right to speak at senate sessions, and no vote.”

“What did they say?” Bo asked. he was obviously surprised that Aries even made such a proposal.

“They said that the German government would need to discuss things further before they could make a decision,” Aries said with a smile, “My guess is that they will be willing to accept my offer, but only for them to stay neutral in the coming conflict.”

“I could accept that,” Amelia said. Bo nodded.

“Now the really good news,” he said. “Japan is behind us one hundred percent. Turns out, they are happy to stick it to both China and the US, and if by helping us thy can get both at the same time, they will jump at that chance.”

“Wow,” Bo said. “That really is good news. Okay, so it looks like were all set.”

“Yup,” Amelia said. “My husband is going to win the Governor race tomorrow, and we’ll pass a vote to declare Mars a free and independent world. We’ve got not only a bunch of native volunteers, but we have troops will to defect to our side from both the American and Chinese military. And we have allies from some of the nations back on Earth. Now, all we have to do is hold off against two invading armies that are far superior and better equipped and trained than ours.”

“Yeah, that about sums it up,” Aries said.

“Okay, great,” she said. She seemed genuinely excited about this all. Surprisingly, so was Aries. “I’m going to leave now and pick up the baby from your mom. Zita always gets grumpy when she spends too much time with your mother.”

“Okay, Hon,” Aries said, and they kissed.

She packed up her things and left. Bo leaned in close to Aries after she was gone.

“Okay,” he said. “Lets start with the serious planning.”

****

Amelia smiled as she pushed the stroller through the Uptown Shopping district. The election ended last night with Aries winning by such a significant margin that even the word landslide seemed inappropriate. The people were dancing and celebrating throughout the streets, and streamers and confetti was scattered everywhere, still being thrown in some cases.

She checked her ePad again to make sure she had the right address. She wasn’t quite sure what this meeting was supposed to be about, but it was Vic that set it up, and she trusted him. So, she entered the little bookstore. It was a cozy place, with lots of places to sit. Half the store sold actual books, with covers and paper and everything, while the other side was a series of electronic stations where one could download their book purchases into their ePad. It was Amelia’s preferred method of getting books. But, books weren’t why she was here.

“I’m looking for Victor Brown?” she said to the clerk behind the counter. He nodded and pointed to the loft that looked over the store. She thanked him, parked the stroller, pulled out little Zita and walked up the stairs.

The loft was everything she expected, decorated in faux wood. It included several couches and tables for people to sit comfortably and read. It even had a little coffee and pastry stand. She smiled. This was the last place she ever expected to see Vic, which was probably why he set up the meeting here. She started looking at the few patrons here, but couldn’t see Vic anywhere. She looked at her watch. She wasn’t early. Was he just late?

“Don’t bother to look for Corporal Brown,” a voice whispered in her ears. She spun around, switching Zita to her left arm, and brought her right up in a defensive posture, ready to strike. What she saw, however, caused her to pause. It was a man in a black suit with a pencil thin tie. He was dark skinned, and looked instantly familiar to her.

“You,” she said. “I thought you were just a figment of my imagination.”

“No such luck for either of us, I’m afraid,” the man said. Then, he pointed to a couch in a dark corner of the loft, well away from the other patrons.

“This is rather public for you, isn’t it?” she said, moving towards the suggested sitting place.

“No more unusual than you bringing your baby to a secret meeting about military movements,” the man said as he sat down.

“I had to make everything look normal,” she said. “So, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

“It’s the same thing that I spoke to you about last time,” he said.

“Someone is trying to kill Aries?” she said, her eyebrows raised. “I’ve been keeping my eye out for the past eighteen months, and I haven’t seen anything.”

“Which only means they’re good,” he said. “Listen to me. I’ve been keeping an eye out as well. They’ve kept quiet because they weren’t sure your husband was really the threat they thought he was. But now that he’s won the election, and he’s going to push his independence vote, his threat level has been escalated. Someone is going to try and kill him, and probably soon.”

“And once again, I have to ask,” she said. “Why tell me? I don’t think you seriously expect me to stop a trained assassin. I’m just a housewife.”

“Hardly,” the man snorted. “You are a trained Marine, with combat experience from Korea. But, you’re right, you’re not up to taking down an assassin. That’s my job.”

“And what’s mine?” she said.

“To keep an eye on your husband,” he said. “The truth is, we just don’t know when the attack will come. With my focus beign on taking down the assassin, you’re job is too keep your husband when the proverbial bullets begin to fly.”

“They might not be so proverbial soon,” she said. “This was a job I was already planning on doing.”

“Excelent,” the man said. “Then our conversation is done here.”

He stood up to leave, but Amelia cleared her throat.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Tell my father that I appreciate this,” she said.

He didn’t say anything and instead turned to leave.

****

Aries settled into the office that would be his new work space. His personal assistant, an older man named Anthony, gave him his schedule and started to go over it with him. There wasn’t as much as Aries expected, and when he mentioned that, Anthony said it was because this was his first week in office. People were letting him settle in before hitting him with the really hard schedules.

“I look forward to that,” Aries said. “I should get ready for my first meeting.”

“Yes, sir,” Anthony said. “I’ve taken the liberty of ordering you some breakfast. A fruit bowl and a cup of coffee.”

Aries raised his eyebrow. That was his favorite breakfast.

“I also took the liberty of speaking to your wife, sir,” Anthony said and smiled. Then, he left Aries to prepare.

Aries smiled. He had hired the man because he had worked this position for the last Governor, and because he had seriously impressed Aries with how quickly he had his day scheduled and included time on it for his family. He also hired him because while Anthony would never say if he was for Free Mars, he did say it wasn’t his job to interpret or interfere with Aries’ political views, just to help him preform his job as Governor to the best of his ability.

This first meeting was actually with Bo and a couple of the Martian senate. They were going to discuss the wording of the Independence Bill. They were also going to talk about making sure the whole colony participated, including the Chinese citizens. There was, of course, precedent for this. It wasn’t uncommon for the US Governor of Mars to meet with the Chinese Governor and make joint decisions. His next meeting was with the Chinese Governor for just that purpose.

A few moments later, a knock came at the door. It was Anthony, informing him that his first meeting was here. Already? Aries looked at the clock. The notes and books he had gathered in preparation for this meeting didn’t seem nearly ready enough. He sighed and nodded to Anthony. Then, he gathered his stuff together and walked down the hall to the large meeting room. He took a deep breath. Lets get this show started.

****

The crowd had been cheering for nearly twenty minutes now. It was a full on celebration, and Aries was having trouble getting them all to quiet enough to make his speech. Amelia smiled. She couldn’t believe that in a few short months, the whole world had changed. This day would be remembered for all time as the day that Mars declared itself an independent nation, free from the control of Earth. As part of the vote, the Martian people had also declared that Aries Webb would be their first Prime Minister. A letter had been drafted and signed by the senate and the Ministry of Mars, declaring that the Ministry, renamed the Ministry of Affairs, and the Senate would remain as the two bodies that kept the Prime Minister in check, much like the way America worked. The Senate would make the laws, the Prime Minister would enforce the laws, and the Ministry would make sure the laws were just and followed the new constitution the three offices were drafting even now.

Independence. It had really happened, and now, the people were celebrating. Aries tapped the microphone to try and get some attention. The feedback caused at least the first several rows of people by the stage to quiet down, though many were laughing.

“Today is a historical day,” Aries said. “A day that will be remembered for generations to come. And those are the words everyone will repeat when they quote this now doubt destined to be famous speech.”

Everyone laughed. Amelia smiled. Though she had heard this speech, in several forms, for the past two weeks, she knew that Aries would deliver. If there was one thing Aries Webb was good it, it was performing in front of a crowd. Something he hadn’t lost since his teenage days, to say the least. And this speech, written by Aries but with help from his very talented speech writing staff, was designed to take advantage of every last bit of charm her husband had. She stopped listening with her full attention and started looking about the crowd. She had left Zita home with Aries’ mother, who never did like the crowds. This left her free to keep an eye for any unusual activity in the gathering. She knew that Aries had his own security, and that the mysterious man in the black suit was there as well, but this didn’t prevent her from worrying.

“We’re going to move forward as quickly as possible,” he said. “Our new congress will start drafting our constitution as soon as possible, and I will get to work on structuring our military. Let me start by announcing the man who will be our nations first General of the Army. Bo Wu.”

There had been a long discussion about this move. Aries was rather adamant about his friend being the general of the martian military, even though there were offices from both armies that had more experience and were more qualified. However, in the end, they all realized that Bo was perfect for the role. He had charisma, natural leadership qualities, and would lean on the experienced officers to to the job. Plus, being Aries’ best friend, he had a chance of getting needed information in front of the Prime Minister that might otherwise be ignored.

Suddenly, Amelia’s phone went off. Curious as to who would call her at this time, of all times, she picked it up. It was a text message from an unknown caller. It said ‘they’re attacking now. Protect Aries.’

Without thinking she immediately jumped across the stage and yanked Aries down. When Bo saw what was happening, he dropped down as well. Half a second later, the bullets flew by the podium. Aries security threw themselves into the action, and the crowd started to panic. The panicked crowed was probably more dangerous than the bullets, which had stopped after the initial volley of three or four. Several security guards, police men in flack jackets, circled around Aries, Bo and Amelia, helping them up and moving them across the stage. In the back of the stage was a car, one that had been made bullet proof so it could be used by the Prime Minister. Now, that precaution seemed justified. They piled into the car and drove away.

“What in the hell was that?” Aries shouted.

“Obviously, someone didn’t like your speech,” Bo replied.

“Yeah, well, next time,” Aries said, “they should throw rotten fruit.”

“I can’t believe that you two are joking about this,” Amelia said. “Aries, someone just tried to kill you.”

“Honey,” he said, smiling at her. He was trying to look brave, she though, but she could see the fear in her eyes. “We were planning for this, remember? We knew this news wouldn’t be popular with the governments back on Earth. One or both are likely to try and take me down. What’s funny is that they think that if they kill me, the whole Independence thing fall apart. As if it were just me making it happen.”

“I don’t care about that,” Amelia said. “All I care about is that someone tried to kill you, that you’re still alive. And that there will be a next time.”

Aries looked at her, his smile faded. Good, she though. You need to be afraid.

****

“War,” Aries said, holding up two documents to the assembled senate. “That’s what these two documents say. Oh, they pretty it up with nice language, quote Earth law to us and declare our actions against those laws. But most importantly, what they say is that they will be using force of arms to bring us, and by us I mean all of us here and those in the Ministry, to justice. These documents, gentlemen and ladies, are declarations of war.”

He paused and looked around the room, making sure that everyone was paying attention. They were.

“And worse yet, the first shots of this war were fired just a few hours ago,” he said. He paused to allow those words to sink in, and was rewarded with all the muttering he shocked outrage he was hoping for. “That’s right. Today, the Chinese military fired upon those soldiers that have abandoned them to join our cause. Thankfully, our men managed to get away, and bring some of their equipment with them This war has officially started, and its only a matter of time before they attack one of the domes, probably an outer colony, like Holden. But it’s only a matter of time before the fighting reaches our streets.”

“What do you propose we do, Prime Minister?” a man said. “Are you asking that we declare Martial Law?”

Aries paled. “No,” he said, probably a bit more forcefully than expected. “Martial Law would put me in total control of the nation, and defeat everything we have worked for. No, I am proposing that you do what we declared you need to do in our charter. You, the senate, must declare a state of war, and authorize me to mobilize our military to defend ourselves.”

The vote was called for then and ended quickly. Unanimously, the senate had agreed to the proposal, which was exactly what Aries wanted.

“Thank you, my friend,” he said. “Whit this action, our true declaration of Independence will happen. I have already set forth some military troops to the outer cities, readying them for defense. These include our veteran troops from the US and Chinese military, as well as those we have just recruited in the past few months.”

“We’re using green troops already?” cried a woman. “Who is leading the recruits?”

Aries smiled.

****

“Get your asses moving, maggots!” Amelia cried. She caught a glimpse of the officer badge on her uniform and flinched. She still wasn’t used to seeing that. She had refused commission as a general, even though both Bo and Aries had wanted to put her there. Instead, she accepted the rank of Colonel. Now, she was leading a mixed group of raw newbies and vets outside the mining town of Holden. It was believed that here would be the first real attack of the war. She had spent the last few weeks whipping her recruits into shape, and they were starting to look like real soldiers. She wasn’t quite ready to call them Marines yet, but soldiers at least.

“Ma’am,” came the call from her NCO, Marine Gunnery Sergeant Brian DeVore. “Look over there.”

She took the offered binoculars. They were specially designed to use in her military space suit. These suits her and her troops wore were state of the art, designed by the Martian Research Institute and intended to be used by geologists and miners. Instead, Aries had asked them to be redesigned slightly for use by the military. They were smaller than the standard suit, and lighter, and allowed better freedom of movement. Currently, there wasn't enough to outfit the whole army, buy Amelia's battalion had been given them for this first battle. It was both a test and to show the US forces marching this way that the Martians may not have the numbers, but they did have some advantages.

The view she saw through the binoculars showed a large column of vehicles moving across the desert, heading straight this way.

“Their not holding back, are they, Gunny,” she said.

“No, ma’am,” he replied. “They have superior numbers and equipment, for the most part, and it appears that General Atherton feels a direct assault on this little mining town will win the day.”

“He’s got a point,” she said out loud, and the Marine nodded his head in agreement. This was not going to be an easy fight, and likely would end in a loss. But, Holden was important, providing much of the coal and other basic minerals needed by the cities of Mars. She planed to fight hard, and even if she lost, General Atherton would know he fought a battle.

“Ma’am,” DeVore said. “If I might make a suggestion?”

“Please do,” she said.

He pointed to the distance. “There’s a box canyon at Eberswalde. They’re going to have to move through it to make it here, and it’s the perfect place for an ambush.”

She looked down at her map of the area and saw what he was referring to.

“Won’t Atherton be expecting that?” she asked.

“Likely,” DeVore said. “But unless you have a better plan, ma’am, this is our best bet of doing any damage to his forces.”

She nodded and gave the order. The troops moved efficiently, and the army she did have was placed to support the troops. It took another hour before the fighting started, and when it did, it was chaos. Amelia watched it all happening from her command tent, no doubt something that Atherton was doing as well, assuming he was even out here. Her men fought admirably, and it even looked like they were winning. Losses were piling up on both sides, but it looked like the US forces were taking more than the Martians. She gave directions and asked for advice based on the things she witnessed on her monitor.

Then, she saw a small group of armored vehicles break away from the battle and move towards the dome. One was carrying a missile. What? she thought, than she saw it. They were planning on setting up the portable firing platform and firing the missile right at the dome. Thousands of people would die instantly if that went off. She ordered soldiers and armor away from the main battle to take care of this new threat. It wasn’t happening fast enough, so she jumped into her jeep, DeVore only just behind her, and drove it towards the moving troops. She got down the hill and reached her troops just as they started firing on the missile crew. The armor still wasn’t there yet, but she drove her jeep straight at an enemy tank. DeVore jumped off it when she got close, and she drove off. A few moments later, the tank was firing on it’s on side. Her troops started to cheer, and a charge was made against the missile platform. In a matter of minutes, it was over, and the US troops were captured, as was the missile platform.

The troops cheered again, and when she called to her command to find out what was going on with the rest of the battle, she received the best news of the day. The US troops were fleeing. Apparently, they had put all their money in the missile platform. It was a victory. The first real battle of the war had happened, and it was a victory for Mars.

She smiled at DeVore as he drove up in his captured tank. When Aries heard about this, he was going to be insufferable in his praise of her and his gloating over the Americans. But he would be right too. This win would motivate the troops and the citizens throughout the next few, hard years. But she believed it was also a sign. This victory at Holden pointed to a victory for the whole war. She just knew it with her heart. Mars would truly be free.

The End

Week 48!

2010-12-05T10:58:00.001-08:00

Here we are, week 48! The end is in sight! And this week, we have the next installment of the Life and Times of Aries Webb. Enjoy.

The Life and Times of Aries Webb, Interlude 1: A Quiet Place to Think

2010-12-03T09:05:00.001-08:00

The massive mountain called Olympus Mons loomed before the silent figure clad in a white space suit. He looked up at it, a smile creeping across his face. Aries Webb wasn’t the first person to climb the mountain, but he had been here before as part of his geology studies. He was here now in order to have a quiet place to think. There were few places quieter. He had some big decisions to make, decisions that could change the very face of Mars.

That may be a bit melodramatic, he thought. He decided to just start climbing. Clearly, he needed to clear his head. Normally, it was considered unsafe to climb alone, but he wasn’t planning on going far, and he considered himself something of an expert climber. He set out his equipment, and got his first handhold. The thing about climbing in a space suit was that you couldn’t feel the rock. That meant you had to be extra careful with your handholds.

As he climbed, he thought of recent events. China and the United States were going to war. This was dire news for the Martian colonies, as they were a joint venture by the two superpowers. The war was guaranteed to come to Mars, as both sides would want the resources the red planet offered for themselves, or at least to keep them away from their enemies. As he thought he climbed, taking each handhold and foothold slowly, steadily, deliberately.

When he reached the first plateau an hour later, he turned to look at the city below. Though Olympus Mons City was no longer the only city on Mars, it was still the largest, and the planet’s de facto capital. Aries had watched this city grow from when he was a child and it was mostly scientists to the bustling metropolis it was. And many of the people that lived there, Aries’ people, were looking to him to lead them through the coming war. Some wanted him to side with one government or another, but most wanted him to lead them to independence. Even his parents seemed to be siding with the Free Mars movement.

But this was different. to Aries, Free Mars meant negotiating their independence with China and the US, or maybe even buying them. With war breaking out on Earth now, he didn’t think either would be willing to agree to such a measure. Loose resources in the middle of a war? Not likely. Independence now meant fighting, and against two superpowers at the same time. Even if Bo and Amelia could convince some of the soldiers station on Mars to turn traitor and join the Martian rebellion, he still felt like it wasn’t enough.

He turned back to the mountain and started climbing again. Leadership wasn’t something he really wanted. Even when he was an arrogant teenager, he only wanted people to look at him, not to follow him. He didn’t want that kind of responsibility. Even after taking political science classes in order to be a leader, he always hoped that it would be to aid Bo as the Martian leader, not to be the front man himself.

And now, he was married with a baby on the way, and he found that all he really wanted to do continue on towards his Doctorate in Geology and spend his life teaching and studying the planet of his birth. Leadership was still not a responsibility he wanted. But no one cared what he wanted. They only wanted him to lead.

He gripped the rock above him, testing it a few times to make sure his grip was firm, then pulled himself upwards. He looked down and carefully placed his foot on a rock below, one he had used as a handhold moments before. He realized that he was stuck being a leader, and he just needed to get used to that. That was one decision down. Now he just needed to figure out what kind of leader he was going to be. He looked back up and found the next hand hold.

He reached the second plateau and lay down, panting, sweat clinging to his forehead in the climate controlled environment of his suit. The sky above was growing a dark purple, the sun setting. It would be another several hours before it set completely, but he should probably turn back after the next plateau if he wanted to be back home before total darkness.

Home. That brought up some points he had to consider. Mars was his home, he was born here. Earth was a far away place, a place had visited once, and it had felt so alien to him. He had to imagine that Mars felt just as alien to the leaders back on Earth. What did they know about leading Mars? There was always a struggle to get them to understand the unique problems of living on the red planet. And that would only be made worse by war. But if he did choose to fight for their freedom, how hard wold the Earth fight back?

He got up and started climbing again. Sometimes the only thing you could do was just continue climbing, continue going up. War. It made him think of his wife. She was a US Marine. Or at least, she was, last year. Even though she said she Mars was her home now, and she would fight to protect it, even going so far as to recruit soldiers from those stationed at the US base on Mars, was it fair to ask her to fight against her homeland? And what of their baby? Did he really want his child growing up to think of him as the man the lead Mars to war?

He reached up to grab the next handhold, but the rock was loose, and his hand slipped. His left foot also came loose, and he found himself hanging by one hand and a foot. Quickly, he grabbed the rocks and pulled himself back against the mountain. He looked up and saw he was close to the plateau. He took a few deep breaths and continued.

He thought of Bo. His best friend his whole life, who was a member of the Chinese military. Bo was right, he realized. When the war came to Mars, it would tear the colonies apart. Brother against brother, for real. Aries was the first martian to have dual citizenship, but he wasn't the last. What side would they be forced to choose? War wasn’t the best answer, to be sure, but fighting to protect the unity of his home, to protect its people... that was something he was willing to do.

He gripped the lip of the last plateau. He made sure his hold was steady and pulled himself up. After getting onto the plateau, he stood up and looked out over the red, sand covered world that was his. He loved this world, like a child loves his mother. War, any war, would bring harm to his world. But, he knew then that he would be damned if he let anyone hurt Mars. He nodded. He knew now what kind of leader he needed to be, and exactly what he needed to do to lead Mars to Independence. Now, he just needed to tell Amelia and Bo. He gathered his equipment with confidence, and began to climb down the mountain.

Back to home.

End Interlude

The Life and Times of Aries Webb, Part 4: Times They Are a Changing

2010-11-28T08:43:00.000-08:00

The Charles Webb Observatory was normally closed to the public except on Saturdays, but that night was a special occasion. There was a meteor storm happening, one not visible anywhere else. Aries had bought tickets for he and Amelia to go, and picked a secluded spot on the field outside to watch it with. The show was truly amazing, the sky was lit up with hundreds upon hundreds of silver and white streaks in the sky. Half way through, someone came up and tapped Aries on the shoulder. He nodded and turned to Amelia.

“Come on,” he said.

“Where are we going? The shows not over yet,” she asked, getting up.

“I got a surprise for you,” he smiled, and took her by the hand. The man that came and got them, a short Chinese man, lead them into the observitory. They climed up the stairs to a door labeled ‘Telescope Viewing.’ Amelia gasped.

“Really?” she asked. “We’re going to view the storm through the telescope?”

“Really,” Aries said. “It pays to be a celebrity some times.”

Of course the viewing wasn’t really due to his status as the first man born on Mars, but that didn’t hurt either when he asked Chen if he could do this tonight. Amelia gave him a hug, and Aries smiled. That alone was worth what he paid Chen to make this happen.

They walked into the room, where another man, an older gentleman with long, white a Fu Manchu moustache, stood. This man, Dr. Lee, bowed to the two of them, and pointed to the viewing glass. Amelia looked at Aries, and he nodded. She sat at the chair and looked into the looking glass. She gasped in amazement. Seeing the shooting stars outside was one thing. Watching them fly by up close was another thing entirely. The view was truly stunning.

“Aries, come here, you have got to see this,” she said.

“Oh, I’m planning on having a show of my own,” he said.

She looked up to find out what he was talking about, only to see him down on one knee by her side.

“What?” she started to ask, then held her hands to her mouth when he produced a small, black, velvet box.

“Amelia Day,” he said, “these past two years have been the most amazing, wonderful and fulfilling time of my life. And I’ve realized that I can imagine my life without you in it anymore. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want the rest of my life to start now. Amelia, will you consent to making me the happiest man on Mars, and being my wife?”

He opened the box, revealing an ornate, three banded diamond ring. She recognized it immediately as being Aries’ grandmother’s engagement ring. She gasped again.

“Oh, Aries,” she said, taking his hand. “Of course I’ll marry you. Yes! Yes!”

Aries smiled, and took the ring out of the box and placed it on her finger. She practically leaped of the chair to hug him, knocking him over and sending the two of them sprawling to the floor. Both laughed, but continued to hold each other and kiss each other. Aries smile just wouldn't stop. He truly felt that he was now the happiest man on Mars.

****

“I told you this would happen,” Aries said as they stepped off the tram. Amelia, her arm around his, started to hold her arm out to block the incoming photographers.

“Look,” she said to Aries as they pushed their way through the crowed to get to the mall. “I had just started to get used to seeing myself in the papers both here and on Earth as the girlfriend of the famous Aries Webb. As it was, my CO wasn’t particularly happy with all the publicity, but the brass at home liked that the First Man on Mars was in love with a US Marine. I guess they thought it was some moral victory of China or something. But none of that prepared me for the shear amount of time these guys would spend photographing us during the entire wedding preparation. Especially now, with the wedding in a few days. I figured they would have enough pictures.”

“A very private wedding that they are not invited to,” Aries said. “In fact, they don’t even know who has been invited. It makes them all the more interested in getting whatever details they can get from the event.”

“I guess I just sometimes wonder how it is you deal with it all, Greenie,” she said.

“Honey, I’ve been dealing with ‘it all’ since I was born,” he said. “Before, even, if the stories my dad tells are true. I mean, come on, the Earth held a party for my birth. I had no choice but to deal with this kind of thing.”

They paused at the entrance to the bakery, and she took his hands in hers. She looked at him with a very serious look on her face, one that made her lips look almost pouty.

“I’m so sorry, Greenie,” she said. “That never occurred to me. God, I’ve been so selfish.”

“Really?” he laughed as he kissed her and then opened the door to the bakery. “All this time together, and you never realized that I’ve been a celebrity all my life?”

“Well...” she said, hesitating. “I mean, you’ve always been you. So, yeah, it never occurred to me.”

He laughed. “Well, rest assured, that you are not being selfish. It’s not like it’s something a lot of people have to deal with, or even think about. Now come on, let’s go look at the cake.”

The baker, who insisted on being called Mrs. Baker, even though her name was Jacobs, took the two to a room in the back to see the progress on their cake. This newest design was something that Aries had suggested. It was a little unconventional for a wedding cake, but they were an unconventional couple. He smiled as Amelia saw it. She knew of his plan, but she never saw the drawings or the mock cake Mrs. Baker made.

“It’s amazing,” she said. Aries had to agree.

From the base, it had the look of a traditional wedding cake, a white square with columns to hold the next tier. That was also a white square, and both tier’s had some amazing filigree and trimmings on the edges. The sides had little pictures of the two of them, taken from photos Aries gave Mrs. Baker for this purpose. But the top layer, that was the one that really did it. It was circular, and made to look like a globe when viewed from the top. Half the globe was blue and green, the Earth, with North America showing. The other half was Mars, with Olympus Mons in disproportionate prominence. And standing on their respective sides were the bride and groom figures. The bride figure even had on a Marine Dress uniform.

“It’s perfect, Mrs. Baker,” he said. “Absolutely perfect.”

“Fantastic,” she said. “Well keep it frozen for the wedding.”

“Before you go,” Mrs. Baker asked, “A rather polite gentleman from the Olympus Herald said he would pay me a goodly sum if he could just get one picture of the cake. I told him that I don’t allow photographs of my work before the are displayed that aren’t taken by my staff. However, he was rather insistent, and I told him I would ask you first.”

Aries looked at Amelia, and she just rolled her eyes. Then, she nodded. He smiled. They were doing this more and more often lately, this communicating without talking. It reminded him of his parents. He turned back to Mrs. Baker.

“Tell him one picture only,” he said. “If it’s not good enough, tough. Make it clear to him that we are allowing this, though. I don’t want him publishing that he got this behind the scenes. That would be bad for your business, I think.”

“Indeed,” she said. “Very well.”

He must have offered her a goodly sum indeed if she was even asking, he thought. Still, she did fantastic work, and she deserved it. Besides, it was an amazing cake. It was worth showing off to the world. Aries paid her and the two lovebirds left. Only one more stop to go, at least as far as he went. After checking on the flowers, Amelia would be picked up by her friends and taken to get her final fitting on the dress. The stories he heard about it had propelled it to nearly legendary status. He was beginning to think he would never actually see it.

****

It was a beautiful day, with the sun shining bright in the pale blue sky. Aries loved days like this. This kind of day wasn’t found on Earth, or so he had been told my many natives to that world. But on Mars, they were typical of the summer months. The music started, and Aries attention was brought back to the present. He looked back over the gathering of people in the park, his friends and family, Amelia’s father and brother, who had come to Mars last week to witness this event. And at the other side of all this, he saw her, and his heart skipped a beat. She never looked more beautiful than she did in that moment.

Her hair, as curly as ever, was pulled back and held in place by a diamond studded tiara. The tiara held a veil that covered her hair and shoulders, but not her face. And the dress itself was simply stunning, every bit the legend her friends had made it out to be. For a moment, Aries couldn’t believe that this woman, this angel made real, was consenting to spend the rest of her life with him. He felt Bo tap him on the shoulder.

“Step down,” his best friend whispered.

Aries shook his head. Right. He took a step down and looked back up. Amelia was smiling, obviously amused at his befuddlement. When she got up to the edge of the crowd, her father stood forward. He was a tall man, muscular man for his age, made all the more intimidating by his marine dress uniform. He once asked her how it was that the daughter of a General would end up in the enlisted service rather than as an officer. She said it was because she ignored her daddy and signed up behind his back.

After her father stepped aside, she moved forward, to be by his side. And the ceremony began.

****

The reception was jumping and almost everyone there was on the dance floor. Aries managed to extract himself for a drink of water and a much needed rest. He looked around and saw that Amelia was still out there, dancing with some of the younger kids. She really did seem to be having the time of her life. He sat down at a table that was empty save for a few purses and jackets. He saw his father and mother out on the floor, too. Except for the beginning dances where they danced with the couple, they had danced with just each other the entire night.

A few seconds after sitting down, a hand appeared with a glass of ice water, and placed it in front of him. Aries looked up and saw the arm was attached to Bo, resplendent looking in his dress uniform. The Best Man sat down next to Aries, a huge smile on his face.

“This has to be the best party we’ve ever seen,” he said in Chinese, and Aries smiled and nodded.

“So, did you get my last message?” Aries asked.

“Yes,” Bo nodded, getting serious. “Are you sure we can talk here?”

“Everyone here is either a part of the Movement, or knows about our involvement,” Aries said. “So, yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“Well, then,” Bo said. “In that case, you’re information is out of date.”

“What?” Aries said. “But I thought our emissary was well received?”

“Oh, he was,” Bo said. “The Chinese government is finding that the expense of an off world colony that doesn’t want to be part of the Republic is getting to be more than the payoff. They were willing to listen to our offer, and were very serious about it. It was unlikely that they would have accepted the offer, of course. A movement without any solid political pull with the colony can only go so far, but the fact that the Ministry of Colonization was even willing to listen is am amazing step forward.”

“So, what happened?” Aries asked.

“China invaded Korea,” Bo replied.

Aries goggled at his friend. “Invaded?” he asked. It seemed impossible.

“Well, not in the traditional sense with guns firing,” Bo replied, waiving his hand. “But they made it pretty clear that North Korea needed to accede their right to rule to the Chinese government or it would go badly for them. After some tensions and posturing by the Koreans, they eventually allowed the Chinese Army to roll in. It’s really caused an international stir. America, especially, is concerned, and is talking about sending troops into South Korea.”

“Why?” Aries asked.

“Resources,” Bo said. “After all this time, strip mining their own country, the Chinese government has found that it’s running low on needed mineral resources. Resources that Korea currently has in abundance. Including South Korea. America is afraid that China will continue it’s roll into the rest of Korea. Everyone is watching the national stage to see what happens next.”

“So, with a lack of resources in its own borders,” Aries said, “and American threatening to stop its march for those resources on Earth...”

“Mars is off the table as far as Independence goes,” Bo said. “They need what we offer too much. The only good news is that China is looking towards the Martian moons as locations for new colonies.”

“How does that help us?” Aries asked.

“If they can find the resources they need on Phobos and Deimos, then they won’t need us as much anymore,” Bo said.

Aries nodded. And then an idea hit him. “What if we helped them?”

“What?” Bo asked.

“What if Free Mars offered to aid China is setting up a new colony on Phobos, say,” Aries said. “It cold build up political capital with China for a later bid of Independence.”

Bo nodded. “It’s a plan,” he said. “Think you can get it started before you leave on your honeymoon?”

Aries smiled and nodded. “You bet,” he said. “I’ll get Harry on it. He’s the perfect man for this kind of thing, and I trust him to keep that processes going without the two fo us.”

Bo nodded again. Then he smiled and nodded over Aries’ shoulder. “Business is done now, it seems.”

“It better be,” Amelia said, a grin on her face as she came up behind Aries. “I plan on getting some dancing from my husband before the night is through.”

“I like the sound of that,” Aries said. He winked at Bo. “Come, my wife. Let’s tear it up.”

****

“So, Mr. Webb,” Amelia was saying, her eyes covered by a blindfold, “are you going to tell me what this surprise of yours is or not? I feel like I’ve we’ve been walking forever.”

“We’re almost there, Mrs. Webb,” Aries said.

“That’s Mrs. Day-Webb, if you please,” she said, giggling.

“Oh, excuse me,” Aries replied.

The walked on again, until eventually Aries stopped them. Then, he yanked off the blindfold.

“Taa daa!” he said.

She blinked her eyes at the bright afternoon sun and then saw that they were at the spaceport. This wasn’t too unexpected, they had, after all, planned their honeymoon to be on the moon. What she did see that wasn’t expected, however, was the gleaming white space ship with the words ‘Princess of Sol’ painted on it’s side. It looked brand new.

“Is that one of the new starliners?” she asked.

“Yup,” he said. “Makes the trip from Mars to Earth in a matter of two weeks instead of four. And we’ve got passage on it’s return trip, stopping off at Luna Station on the way.”

“Oh my God,” she said, turning to look at him. “How did you manage to do that? We don’t have the money for this.”

“Nope,” Aries replied, holding the tickets up. “But Bo’s family does. They gave it to us as our wedding gift.”

She smiled and gave him a great big, back breaking hug. “You have got to tell that little red soldier thank you from me next time you see him.”

He hugged her back, and they marched onto the ship. Their luggage was already on board, and the captain himself welcomed them. They were guided to one of the four honeymoon suites, a large, four room apartment complete with a hot tub.

“Oh, we’re so going to use that,” Amelia said.

Aries smiled, looking around at the suite. “I think this place is bigger than our room at the hotel on Luna.”

“I promise not to get too used to it,” Amelia replied. She slid up to him, her eyes half closed, that ever so slight smirk on her face, and wrapped her arms around him. “In the mean time, I think there’s a bed back there we need to break in.”

He laughed and let her drag him into the bedroom.

****

The trip on the starliner was as laid back and extravagant as Aries could have ever expected. He lounged on the pool deck, his wife next to him in her bikini. It was enough to almost make him want to go back to their cabin. Almost, but he wanted to get in the water at some point. Plus, he was enjoying the smoothie he had just ordered.

“This is the life,” Amelia said. “I haven’t had to do a 10K run in a week!”

“You still run first thing in the morning,” Aries said.

“Yes,” she said. “In sweats. Not in full kevlar, with fifty pounds of gear on my back. This here, this is living.”

“Yeah,” Aries said. “I could get used to this.”

He sipped his smoothie and then laid back in his chair, closing his eyes. The artificial sky, complete with sun, was a little brighter and bluer than he preferred, but it was re-creating an Earth sky, not a Martian one. He started to doze a little when he felt Amelia snap to attention next to him. He slowly opened one eye to find her sitting in her chair, her back ramrod straight, her sun glasses off, eyes darting about the deck.

“What?” he said. He had long ago learned to trust her instincts. It was part of being a trained Marine, after all.

“I thought I saw someone,” she said, still scanning the deck.

Aries looked around. The deck was just as full of people as always. “Care to be more specific?” he said. “There’s lots of someones around.

“Very funny, smart ass,” she said, smacking him. “No, I mean I saw someone who was just standing there, watching us.”

“Another autograph hound?” Aries asked. They had been accosted by no less than five people who recognized the First Man from Mars and his new wife, seeking pictures and/or autographs.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “They usually come up to us. This guy just stood there, by that poll, and watched us.”

Aries stood up then, also looking around. “Creepy,” he said.

“Yeah,” she said. “But he disappeared as soon as I sat up. I didn’t get a good look at him, either. He looked Asian, but it was hard to say, and he wore what everyone else here is waring. Swim trunks and a Hawaiian shirt.”

Aries looked around and saw at least three people that fit that description.

“Don’t bother,” she said, sighing. “I think I’m just paranoid. There’s so many people here that fit that vague description, it’s not worth the time.”

He nodded, but he could see she was still concerned.

“Come on,” she said. “lets go take a swim!”

She smiled at him and nodded.

“Last one in has to feed the winner dinner!” she said and raced towards the pool.

“Hey, no fair,” he said, just barely standing as she jumped into the pool.

****

Amelia lay in bed, sweat covering her naked body, a smile on her face. She had never felt this alive before, not even in basic training. She still couldn’t believe that the brass had let her use all her saved leave to go on this honeymoon. Apparently, someone back home thought it was good PR to have the First Man on Mars marry a US marine, and she was grateful. She looked over at her husband, who was looking back at her, a smug smile on his face.

“Think you’re that good, do you?” she said, rolling onto her side.

“No,” he said. “I think you are.”

She hugged him and kissed him. She rolled back off him a moment later.

“I need some water,” she said.

“I think we’re out,” he replied. “Want me to order some from room service?”

“Nah,” she said, getting up out of bed. “I could stand to take a walk and stretch some.’

“Didn’t get enough stretching here?” he replied.

She swatted him, but got up and threw on her sweats.

“I’ll be right back,” she said.

He nodded at her, getting up himself. He was probably going for his ePad to check in on things back at Mars. Or maybe he was just bragging. Either would be very like him. She smiled and left the cabin. She didn’t get two feet outside the door when a spot of movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. She turned and briefly saw a tall Asian looking man run around the corner.

Without thinking, she chased after him. She got around the corner to see him turn a second one. She started running. She knew she had to be faster than this guy. When she rounded the corner, she saw that she was right. He had on that same stupid Hawaiian shirt and sun glasses she saw earlier. It was the same guy! He turned another corner. He was heading towards the elevator. She raced forward, but saw that it was too late. The elevator doors were closing, and her man was no where in sight.

“Damn,” she said.

She returned to the cabin and told Aries what had happened.

“We need to tell the captain,” he replied. “Security needs to know about this.”

She nodded. Something about this whole thing bothered her.

“Why?” she asked after he hung up the phone.

“Why what?” he asked.

“Why would someone be following us like that?” she replied.

“Who knows,” he said. “Paparazzi?”

She shook her head. “No one but you and the Wu’s even knew we were coming here. Not even the crew until we arrived. How would they know we were here?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. But he couldn’t imagine anyone else following them. “Are you talking about spies?”

She rubbed her eyes. It sounded crazy now that he said it back to her.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I think I’m just tired. And in desperate need of water.”

He started laughing and she started at him. Then, she started laughing too, realizing that water was why she was out of the cabin in the first place.

****

Aries and Amelia looked at each other across the table. Aries smiled. He couldn’t help it, he’d been smiling almost non-stop since the ceremony nearly two weeks ago. He wondered if the two of them looked like the newlyweds they were. He realized then that he hoped they did. She smiled back. He looked around the room briefly, just to pull himself away from her pure black eyes and his desire to just hold and kiss her.

They had left the starliner that morning, and were now dining in the Lunar Lounge, a raging hot spot for vacationers. Aries could easily see why. It was only his second time off Mars, and Lunar City was far more like he was used to than Earth was, being built with the same dome technology Mars used. But this restaurant offered an unparalleled view. The whole roof was open to the dome, and thus everyone in the restaurant could get a view of Earth. It truly was beautiful, blue and green. From here, Aries could almost think it was innocent.

Aries took a few bites of his food. The pasta was made from a locally grown wheat, and had a light flavor that he enjoyed. Amelia ate a chicken breast covered in a tomato sauce of some kind that looked amazing. He looked in her eyes again and started feeling dizzy. He smiled, but the look on her face was concerned. She was looking over his shoulder. He turned to see, but the dizzy feeling was getting worse. What was that about? Then, he saw what she saw. A man, vaguely Asian looking, in a casual outfit with sunglasses.

“Is that the guy you saw on the Princess?” he said, but most of the words came out in a slur. “What’s going on?” came out as more slurs.

Amelia dropped her fork and rushed over to his chair to check him out. He tried to stand, but the dizziness was worse. His stomach lurched. He fell to his knees, grasping the table. Amanda was smelling his plate and hunched over him. Over her shoulder, he saw the Asian man, and thought he saw a smile on his face. He wasn’t quite sure, everything was starting to look blurry. He looked at Amelia and saw she was trying to talk to him.

“Aries,” she said. “Aries, can you hear me? We need to get you to a hospital. I think you’ve been poisoned.”

****

Amelia paced in the waiting room of the hospital. Had she not been so worried about Aries, she wold have noticed that the room was very modern and comfortable, with chairs, couches, televisions and even Net stations. Instead, all she saw was the hallway that lead to the room where the doctors took Aries to have his stomach pumped. They didn’t seem at all to be concerned by her story of poison. Was that kind of thing common on Luna? She hoped not.

“Please, Mrs. Day-Webb,” a voice from behind her said. “Stop pacing and have a seat.”

She turned around to see the young doctor that had taken her husband down that hall earlier. She couldnt remember his name, and he was still in his green scrubs, so no name tag.

“Is Aries all right?” she said.

“Oh, yes,” he said. “He’ll be fine. Turns out it wasn’t poison at all.”

“What?” she said. “What happened then?”

“Food allergy,” he said. “Your husband appears to be allergic to the wheat used to make his pasta. You did right in bringing him here right away. Though it wasn’t poison, it might have been just as deadly.”

She sat in one of the chairs. Food allergy? Her mind was just having a hard time wrapping it self around the concept.

“So, no one tried to kill him?” she replied.

“Not on purpose, at any rate,” the doctor said and let out a little laugh. Doctor humor was strange, she thought. “He’ll be find by the morning. Right now, he’s in our facility where our machine is purging his body of the food he’s allergic too. You can see him tomorrow morning, when the processes is done.”

“I don’t want to leave him,” she said. Suddenly, the thought of going back to their hotel alone was terrifying.

“We already have a room set aside for him to recover in,” the doctor said. “You’re welcome to stay there.”

She nodded and let him lead her down another hallway, up an elevator and down another hall. She lay down on the small couch in the room, which folded out into a futon, and slept.

****

She didn’t know what time it was when she awoke, but the sun was shining in through the window. It was hard to tell if it was natural, though, given that there was no sky on the moon. Just the black of space and stars. And with a ‘day’ on the moon being almost a full month long, people set up fake lights to simulate daytime and night time during the moon’s rotation. Still, it had to have been several hours since she fell asleep. She pushed herself up from the futon and saw that Aries was asleep in the hospital bed, several tubes running from his nose and arms to machines. She gasped and started to stand.

“I assure you, he’s quite all right, Mrs. Webb,” a deep male voice said. She turned and saw someone standing in the dark corner of the room. He was waring a black suit and tie. This was not the doctor.

“Please, sit down,” he said. “You and I have to talk.”

She didn’t sit, and instead balled her hands into fists. The man sighed.

“Your father did say you would be difficult,” he said.

“My father sent you?” she said.

“Not exactly,” he replied. “But he and I work for the same people.”

The US Government, she realized right away. This man was some kind of spy, probably CIA.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“The same thing you do,” he said. “The safety of your husband. He’s quite a valuable asset to the country, ma’am. Does wonders for our moral, especially against China.”

She sat down. “Why are you here now?” she asked. “Surely a little food allergy wouldn’t bring you out of the shadows.”

He chuckled. “No, of course not,” he said. “I’ve come to let you know that your instincts about someone trying to kill your husband are correct.”

“That man with the sunglasses,” she said.

“No,” he replied almost immediately. “That man is a photographer for a tabloid back on Earth. He’s been taking photos of your honeymoon with those sunglasses of his and sending them back to Earth this whole time. No, I mean there is someone else.”

“Who?” she asked.

“We don’t know,” he said. “I’m only telling you this because I’ve been ordered to. Personally, I’d rather do my job without your knowledge that I am ever here. But, my bosses seem to think otherwise. I don’t know why, I was just told to tell you to keep your eyes open. Oh, and also that the paparazzi guy will be taken care of.”

“Taken care of?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“We won’t kill him,” he replied, getting out and leaving the room. “Honestly, some people watch too many movies.”

****

The rest of the honeymoon seemed down right dull compared to their first night. Aries apologized several times for waisting their first few days in Lunar City in the hospital, as if he had a choice about that. They made up for it, though, by visiting all the sights they could squeeze in. They saw the space elevator that reached to Lunar Station 1. They visited the Armstrong Museum of Lunar History, which included the lunar rover and foot prints left by the first astronauts to the moon. They visited several other places too, when they decided to leave their hotel room. During the entire time, Amanda saw nothing out of the ordinary. She never even saw the man from the hospital. She started to wonder if she had just dreamed it all.

Their return trip was on the same starliner that took them to the Moon, and Amelia was excited about that. Aries was just looking forward to some down time. The moon had involved a lot of walking and picture taking and other activities that left one physically drained. She teased that he needed to get up and run with her in order to get in better shape. He retorted that his shape was plenty fine for someone that wasn’t in the military.

“Fine then, go back to sleep on me,” she said as she put on her sweat pants for her morning run. “But you’d better be ready to be ‘athletic’ when I get back.”

He grunted, and she laughed, then left the cabin and started her run. It wasn’t as easy as it should have been. The last few days she had been felling nauseous in the morning, though she never quite got to the point where she was throwing up. She was getting concerned. Maybe she was sick. It was possible, she supposed, what with all the strange food she had eaten lately, and the different places and all the people. She continued her run, deciding that she would go visit the doctor later today.

That was when she saw something. A man, in a full body jump suit, all black, standing back in the shadows, looking right at her. If she hadn’t looked right into that spot, she would never have seen him. Even now, after she had passed him by, she wasn’t sure. Did she really see someone, or was it just her paranoid imagination. When she ran back that same way moments later, she didn’t see anything.

She shook her head, feeling dizzy. She must have just been seeing things. She came back to the cabin to find Aries laying in what she could only assume was supposed to be a provocative pose. He sat up when she came in, though.

“Are you all right, honey?” he asked. “You look kind of green.”

“No,” she said, and then ran towards the bathroom.

****

Aries and Amelia held hands as she sat on the uncomfortable table in the doctors office. They could create engines that traveled across space at blinding speeds, or allowed communication from Earth to Mars in very short order, but they couldn't invent a comfortable doctor’s table. That just seemed wrong to Amelia.

“How long do we have to wait?” she asked. “It’s not like there were a lot of sick people in the waiting room. It’s a starliner, not a city.”

“It’s also the only doctor on board,” Aries said. “Don’t worry, he’ll be back soon.”

As if on queue, the door opened and the doctor entered. He had a big smile on his face, and Amelia felt relief. He wouldn't be smiling if he didn’t have good news, right?

“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Webb,” he said. “It looks like your honeymoon was more productive than you might have thought.”

Aries and Amelia looked at each other. What in the world was he talking about.

“Mrs. Webb,” the doctor said, his smile getting even broader. “You’re pregnant.”

“What?” Aries said.

Amelia smiled. That was what was going on with her? She looked at Aries. He looked back at her and smiled.

“We’re going to have a baby!” he cried.

She reached over and hugged him. This was indeed a good way to end their honeymoon.

****

“Bo!” Aries cried. “Bo, I have the most fantastic news!”

“I have some news too,” Bo said. “Though not so fantastic. Maybe you should go first.”

“Okay,” Aries said, somewhat deflated. “Amelia is pregnant!”

Bo light up and looked at him in pure shock. “Really? Wow, that is great news!”

The two men hugged and Bo congratulated Aries.

“So,” Aries said, “what’s your news?”

“Well, like I said, it’s not good,” Bo said.

“Just spit it out,” Aries said.

“China and America have declared war."

The End

Week 47

2010-11-28T08:41:00.000-08:00

Here we are, the end of November and nearing the end of NaNoWriMo. I'm right on track to win this year, which is good news for you, because it means more stories to be posted here!

Now, let's get to Part 4 of the Life and Times of Aries Webb!

Bonus Story: The Christmas Elephant

2010-11-26T14:20:00.000-08:00

So, I wrote a quick little flash fiction piece for my kid. I like it, so I'm posting it here. I hope you enjoy. :)

The Story of the Christmas Elephant
(Or, Santaphant is Coming to Town)

By Christopher M. Blanchard

Tembo moved slowly through the savannah, enjoying the hot sun on his back and the clear sky for the view. He flapped his ears, one small and one large, in pleasure. It was another wonderful day for an elephant. He traveled around the region he called his home, and visited several villages. He liked these villages because the people there were very friendly and left him food to eat. Some of them even came up to feed him by hand, and a few of the particularly brave boys would climb on his trunk and hang upside down as he swung it back and forth.

Today, everything was decorated all in greens and reds, and everyone was wearing their church clothing. The priests were smiling and in one village one of them even came up and blessed Tembo. He liked that. After getting his last bit of water from a lake near that last village, Tembo walked back to his favorite tree and settled down for a long nights sleep.

He was in the middle of a particularly good dream about some of those round, red fruits the priests called apples, when a loud crashing noise woke him. Tembo snapped his eyes open and looked around. Nothing seemed to be out of sorts at first, but in the distance he saw something that looked like a red and gold box, with a team of animals he had never seen before tied to it. They looked something like gazelles, but with really impressive racks of antlers on their heads. Looking over the box was a man.

He wore a red suit trimmed with white fur, something that looked very hot to Tembo, even in the cool evening air. He also had a long white beard that covered most of his face, but when he looked up at the bull elephant, he smiled, and the warm appearance made Tembo feel good.

“Tembo, isn’t it?” the man said, and Tembo nodded. “Good. My name is Santa, and I need your help. You see, my sleigh has broken from my rather disastrous landing. See this sack?”

Tembo looked and saw that the box held a large red and green bag, tied at the top with a gold cord. He looked back and nodded.

“That contains presents for many of the children who live in the villages around here,” Santa said. “But now I can’t delver them on time and still fix my sleigh. Would you be willing to help me?”

Tembo nodded. The villages were good to him, and the idea of helping by providing gifts to the children… well, it made Tembo’s heart warm. Santa smiled and quickly packed a selection of boxes and packages onto Tembo’s back. He was careful to let Tembo know where each group of packages was to be delivered, and instructed him to set them under the large tree that would be in each village. Before sending him off, he put a red hat that looked just like Santa’s on Tembo’s small ear. The elephant nodded and trudged off.

It took him a long time to deliver all the packages, and by the time he got to the last village, he was tired. He put the packages on the ground under the tree and then fell asleep. He thought he heard at one point some bells jingling and the laughter of the man called Santa, wishing him a Merry Christmas. Tembo sleepily wondered briefly what that meant.

When he woke, it was to the hoops and hollers of the children in the village, who were swarming to the tree. Even the adults were smiling, watching the whole scene.

“Look!” one little girl said, pointing to Tembo. “Tembo helped Santa delver the gifts!”

He looked to where she was pointing and saw that he still had a present tied to his back. He reached over to it and pulled if off with his trunk. Then, he handed it to the little girl, who took it and smiled at him. Then, she grabbed his trunk and gave a great big hug.

“Merry Christmas, Tembo!” she said.

It send warm shivers all through Tembo, who smiled in return. If this is what Christmas was, he wanted to experience it all the time.

The End

The Life and Times of Aries Webb Part 3: When Aries met Amelia

2010-11-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

“Graduation. It’s happening in a few days, and in more ways than one.” Aries paused for a second, looking around the room to make sure his audience appreciated the gravity of his words. The collection of Martian citizens nodded their heads in silent agreement. “Not only will we be graduating from high school, but our society, the entire Free Mars movement, will graduate from being a harmless club for disgruntled teens to a real force for political movement on our world. We move from children and young adults in actual adults, taking roles of leadership in our society. From here on out, we will be in a real position to push our agenda, to make a real difference in trying to take Free Mars from a movement to a reality.”

The group stood up and applauded. Though most of them were teens getting ready to graduate, there were a few adults there too. The number of them were getting larger every year, and Free Mars was getting momentum. It made Aries proud. When he joined the group a few years ago, he wasn’t entirely sure he believed in its goal, but now he was completely behind it. And not just that, he had moved into a position of leadership, second only to his best friend, Bo Wu. The two of them had convinced many Martians, native and immigrant alike, that it was in Mars’ best interest to be independent from the US and China back on Earth. It had been especially easy lately with the adults, as the two governments had started bickering with each other, most recently over China’s move into North Korea. The blatant power play forced to US to move troops into South Korea, and tensions were high. Many adults feared war between the superpowers, and what such a war would do to their community, where people from both nations lived in peace as neighbors.

He felt that such a move would allow the Free Mars movement a chance to negotiate for their independence. I mean, imagine freeing up needed troops, but still getting the resources you require from Mars. At a cost, of course, but still less than Mars charges other countries. Mars had to survive, after all. Bo didn’t seem to share this view, though. He and several others saw this new tension between their home countries as a bad sign. With war looming, loosing Mars would be the last thing they would want. They need the resources Mars offers to wage said war, and thus the only way to secure Martian Freedom would be through its own war. They liken it to the American War for Independence. Aries wasn’t convinced. Fighting a war to win peace just didn’t sit with him.

The applause was still going on, and it shook him out of his thoughts. He nodded his head, accepted the praise and took his seat. The rest of the dinner went just fine and everyone talked about what they wanted to do for a graduation celebration. To no one’s surprise, most people were talking about Aries’ party. His family was still was of the most influential on Mars, his dad being the head of the Martian Research Institute, still the number one employer on Mars.

Aries phone buzzed in his pocket just then. He looked at the screen and saw that it was his dad. The old man must have felt Aries thinking of him. He clicked off the phone. He knew what his dad wanted to talk to him about, they had been having the same conversation several times over the past few weeks, and he was getting tired of it. And this was a good party. He couldn’t avoid his dad for ever, true, especially given that his summer internship started tomorrow. But he could avoid him for another few hours, and that was good enough.

Bo came up to him and nodded at Aries phone.

“Just my dad,” Aries said, waving it off.

“Is he still mad at you?” Bo asked.

“Yup.”

“Wow,” Bo said. Then he switched to Chinese. “My parents are not surprised by my choice, but are still insistent that I give up the Free Mars thing. They say I will bring dishonor to them.”

Aries nodded. Then, he slapped his friend on the shoulder and pointed to a pair of girls standing across the dance floor.

“Enough talk of parents,” he said, also in Chinese. “This is a party.”

Bo smiled and the two young men left their troubles on the table to go have a good time. Tomorrow comes soon enough, Aries though. Tonight, let’s eat, drink and be merry.

****

Aries paused outside the massive dome that was the Martian Research Institute. An entire dome, dedicated to a single company. The building inside was created around the dome, the architecture something not seen on Earth, making it uniquely Martian. Aries smiled at that. It was impressive, with a courtyard just inside that featured a large fountain and a rotating steel globe of mars. The fountain was a big deal, water still being an import on Mars. That alone showed off how wealthy the company was. He paused not because he was drinking in the sights, though. He paused because even after all this time, it was intimidating.

“Aries?” a voice called. Aries looked and saw a man in a black suite with a pencil thin tie, the latest in corporate fashion straight from Earth.

“Hey, David,” Aries said.

“Where have you been?” David said. He held an ePad in his hand, tapping it. Aries smiled. David had been his dad’s executive assistance for ten years now, and Aries never saw him without that ePad. “You’re dad is looking for you. He thought you might be ditching your internship after not returning home last night.”

“Nah,” Aries answered, waving off David’s arm. “I’d still show up, even if I’m not looking forward to seeing Dad today. I know the way, David, you don’t need to drag me.”

“You’ll forgive me if I make sure that you go right there,” he said. The man was a stickler for schedule. Really, Aries was okay with that. He liked to stick to a schedule himself. But, it was just lots of fun to raise hell with David. He was such an easy target. The two walked into the building, past the large, dome shaped lobby and down the hall. Aries tried not to look up at the top of his dome, which was a window to his father’s office. He didn’t want to see the look on his dad’s face until they were in the same room. A brief set of sitars and walk down a short hallway had them at the door to his father’s office. Aries hesitated once again. He took a deep breath. Now that he was here, he wasn’t sure he wanted to face his dad at all.

“Allow me,” David said, pushing past him and opening the door. Aries followed the man inside, and saw that not only was his dad there, but his mother was as well. Aries cringed. Both at once? Maybe he should have gone home last night.

“Dad,” Aries said, slowly moving into the room. “Mom.”

“Aries,” Dad said. Aries cringed again. Dad never called him that unless he was angry, it was always ‘Son’ or ‘Squirt.’ “Take a seat. We need to talk. David, if you could excuse us? Aries’ mother and I need some parent time with our son before we do business.”

“Of course, Charles” David said, already sliding out of the room.

Aries watched his last hope of avoiding a chewing out leave the room, gulped, and turned back to his parents. Both were glaring at him, his dad sitting behind his large, round, clear plastic desk, and his mom sitting on the edge of it. His dad help up an envelope. It had the logo of the University of Mars on it. Aries tensed.

“This came in the mail yesterday,” Charles said. “It says that you’ve signed up for a Law Degree, with a Political Science minor. Is this true?”

“Yes,” Aries said.

“I thought we had discussed this,” Charles said, standing up. “Aries, we decided that you were going to pursue your science degree in geology and join us here at the company. One day, you would take over my job, and that was how you would help lead and shape Mars.”

Aries lowered his face. This was exactly what he was expecting. He kept hoping that some day his parents would understand, but whenever someday was, it wasn’t soon enough. Then his dad said something that changed everything.

“You betrayed my trust, Son,” Charles said. “You betrayed the decision we made together. You had such grand plans to learn about the world you were born on, and now you’re throwing it all away to do what? Become a lawyer?”

Something inside Aries snapped. Betrayal?!?

“Betrayed?” Aries said, the anger rising inside of him. “‘We’ never made any decisions, Dad. You made all the decisions, and made it pretty clear that if I didn’t at least pretend to agree with you, it would be very bad for me.”

“Aries,” His mother said, speaking in Chinese. “You shouldn’t talk to your father that way.”

“Don’t give me that ‘respect and honor your parents’ line, Mom,” Aries said. He took a sharp breath after saying it, being just as surprised as his mother was. Aries had never spoken to either of his parents like this before. But now that he had started, he found he couldn’t stop. Not that he really wanted to. “This isn’t China, Mom. It’s Mars. And when I finally go to University, I will no longer be subjected to your rules or restrictions. I’ll be an adult, by both US and Chinese standards. I can make my own decisions, and more specifically, decide how my future goes.”

Charles sat back down, and Aries’ mother, Ju, stood up, shock registering on both their faces.

“If you look carefully at that notice, Dad,” Aries continued, pointing at his father. “You’ll see that I’m still taking geology courses. I’m taking a double major, Law and Geology.”

“Son, a double major,” Charles started saying.

“I can do it, Dad,” Aries said. “I’m smart enough, you know that. Even the school thought I could be able to handle it fine.”

“But, Son,” Ju said, switching to English. “Are you really sure that you want to become a politician?”

“Do I want to?” Aries asked. “No, not really. But I don’t see that I have much of a choice. People look to both me and Bo to be leaders. Don’t deny it, even you do. You want me to take over the company. Even if I did that, I’d still be in a major leadership role for the colony. And I’d still have to deal with the politicians back on Earth. So, I’ve decided that if I’m going to end up being a leader not matter what, I might as well be a prepared one. Most politicians back on Earth are also lawyers, and why not? If you’re a lawmaker, you should know the law. And if I plan on leading Mars to independence, and I do, than I need to know the laws as well.”

He took a deep breath and paused. He realized that he was done talking, and sat down. His parents just stared at him for a few moments, then looked at each other. Aries watched them hold an entire conversation with just their eyes. It was something he loved about his parents, and something he hoped to one day have with a woman.

“Okay,” Charles said.

Aries stared at him. That was not even remotely close to what he had expected.

“Okay?”

“Okay,” his dad said again, and smiled. “I’m proud of you, Son. Not just for standing up to us, but for pursuing your dreams and goals. You’re right to do so, and your mother and I just can’t stand in your way. You’ll be a great leader one day, Aries Webb. And a great scientist, I know it. Now, what do you say we start our tour and show you to your new boss for the summer?”

Aries smiled and nodded. He was grateful that finally this discussion was over.

****

Aries and Charles walked down the hall, stopping every now and then to meet some scientist or another. After a few introductions, Aries got the impression that his dad was just showing him off. Every so often, though, Aries would spot some soldiers, US Marines, if Aries remembered his US military branch insignia. Truth be told, it was hard to tell. They all wore a red and black camouflage outfit that consisted of boots, loose fitting pants, jacket, ball cap and some kind of utility vest. They were rater intimidating, and all armed with black rifles.

“Hey, Dad,” he said, nudging Charles as they walked down the hallway. “What’s with all the soldiers?”

“Marines, Squirt,” Charles said. “They hate being called soldiers. They’re here for security. Ostensibly, they always were, but we tried our best to not use them. But the new general at the base wants a full military presence, and sent over the Marines. At first, I was perturbed over it, but then I started to see the benefits...”

Aries lost track of what his dad was saying. He was instead staring at her. She was a Marine, dressed like the rest, but there was nothing like the rest in her. She was beautiful. Creamy milk chocolate colored skin, full lips, and the most amazingly intense eyes he had ever seen. Her hair was as dark as her eyes were, and was so wavy that it was almost curly. She had it cut short, just below her ears, but even at that, it was still exotic and amazing, just like the rest of her.

“She’s way out of your league, Squirt,” Charles said.

Aries blinked and looked at his dad. “What?”

“She’s a Marine, Son,” he said. “They are not the normal type of women you go for. Strong of both arm and will. Plus, she’s on duty.”

Aries nodded, but looked back at her. He noted that she seemed to be guarding a door to a lab, checking badges as people entered. He memorized the corridor and door number, so he could come back later.

“Come on, Squirt,” Charles said. “Let’s go introduce you to Dr. Sun.”

****

The next few weeks flew by. Dr. Sun, the leading geologist on Mars, put Aries to work right away, and he never did have the chance to go back to that door. In fact, he had forgotten about it and the girl. He only barely made it to his own graduation, he was so busy. But, the work with the grizzled Chinese doctor was exhilarating. Dr. Sun’s team was verifying things believed about Mars for years, or disproving said beliefs. They had even discovered what could be hidden water on the red planet, as the latest core samples indicate that there could be frozen water under the surface, much like there was on the moon. It was all exciting. But, the midsummer carnival was coming up, and Aries managed to convince Dr. Sun to let him have time off to go. Aries learned that the grumpy scientist considered him his shining star, and that was part of the reason he pushed Aries so hard. It also meant that Aries could do things like ask for time off when others couldn’t.

Ever since the trip to Earth, Aries tried to avoid manipulating people like that, but he figured he deserved some time off, and no one else really seemed to blame him for it. They were all working hard, and wanted the time off.

Aries called Bo, and the two met at the transit station. Aries still marveled at the elevated train, even though it had been a part of Olympus Mons City since he was ten. He could remember back when he was a little boy, five or six, and all of Olympus Mons was two domes, no more than a mile in diameter each. Now, those were called Colony Town, and there were eight total domes. The largest, Center City, was six miles wide. The tram was placed to allow free travel between the domes. Manufacturers back on Earth had tried to get cars sold on Mars, but no one wanted them. In the domes, things felt crowded enough, cars weren’t needed. Buses, trams and moving sidewalks got everyone where they wanted to go just fine. And tongiht, the tram took Aries and Bo to Dome No. 6, the Park.

Upon exiting the tunnel and look about The Park, Aries could see that the name was a misnomer. There were, in fact, five large parks in here, including the newly renovated Olympus Mons Zoo. The buildings that housed people here were rented or owned by either the very wealthy or Mars University students. The school was also in this dome, and Aries looked at the clock tower from the tram and smiled. It was perhaps his father’s greatest achievement, a public university that drew the best minds to Mars, later to be hired by his company.

The festival would take place at Langston Park, named after the first man to land on Mars. He could see from here that everything was set up. The ferris wheel and other rides, the booths of games, he cold even smell the food. He looked over to Bo, and the two grinned at each other. This was going to be a blast! They jumped off the tram and ran to the ticket booth. The next few hours was a blur of looking at oddities, buying food they would normally never eat and riding rides. Then, Aries saw her.

It took him a moment to realize that he recognized this stunning beauty at the ring toss game. She was with several friends, but she stood out. Tall, with perfect posture, and the most exotic skin and eyes. She was easily the most beautiful girl at the fair, possibly on the whole of Mars. She was also the Marine he had seen guarding that door at the Institute a few weeks back. This time, she wasn’t on duty, as evidenced by the jeans and shirt she wore.

“Bo, I’ll catch you later,” he said and wandered over to the ring toss. When Bo looked up from the basketball he was trying to get into the hoop, he saw the girl. A smile crossed his face and he returned to his game.

Aries walked up to the group of four girls, three of which were all giggling at the dark skinned woman Aries had his focus on. Clearly, they were teasing her about her aim. One of them spotted him and brought him to the attention of the others. They tried to get the girl to notice him too, but she simply shooed them away with a wave of her hand.

“It’s all in the wrist, you know,” he said as he stood up next to her.

She turned to look at him, and he saw that her eyes were in fact black. A slight smile crossed her full lips, colored a dark brownish red to match her skin. She stood up, reaching a height a full head taller than Aries.

“Oh, really?” she said. “Why don’t you show me.”

He smiled. He paid the woman behind the counter, who handed him three rings. He three them very carefully, making note to the girl exactly what he was doing. His first two rings bounced of the bottles, but his third one landed. The woman behind the counter handed him a small, stuffed dolphin. He handed it to the girl. She smiled again, and Aries felt his throat tighten at that look. She waved the stuffed animal off.

“Keep it,” she said. Then, she leaned over again and threw her three rings, one, two, three. All three landed on different bottles, right next to each other. The carny yelled, and the girl pointed to one of the large, stuffed green martians hanging from the tent’s ceiling. She smiled and handed it to Aries. He looked at it for a moment, than laughed, accepting it.

“You are amazing,” he said. “I’m...”

“Aries Webb,” she replied, taking his hand. “I know.”

“Well,” he laughed again. “You have me at a disadvantage.”

“Indeed I do,” she smiled again. He was more and more impressed by this girl. He laughed again, and this time, so did she. “I’m Amelia . Amelia Day.”

“Well, Amelia,” he said, leaning over to kiss her hand. “The pleasure is all mine, I assure you. Would you like to join my green friend and me in a tour of the festival?”

Her eyes twinkled, and she turned to look at her friends, who were all nodding at her. She turned back and smiled. “Sure, I’d love to.”

The rest of the fair was another blur, this time of her hair and eyes and scent and laugh. He would remember later dancing with her at the main stage, eating dinner and mostly walking and talking. They talked about all kinds of things, and Aries learned that Amelia was the daughter of an American General in the Marines, and that Mars was her first assignment right out of Boot Camp. She was excited to see the red planet, and he offered to be her guide. They continued to walk and talk until the early hours of the morning, long after the fair closed.

****

“I’m telling you, Bo,” Aries was saying around a mouth full of french fires. “Amelia is the most amazing girl ever. I’m going to marry her one day.”

“So you’ve said,” Bo said, “about ten times now.”

“Have I?” Aries said. “Oh. Well, it’s true. My heart has finally been won, and it was by Amelia Day!”

“Aries, you’ve only been dating for a week now,” Bo said. “Leave the marriage thing for at least another week, huh?”

Aries laughed at his friend. Then, he noticed that Bo was not laughing.

“Bo, why the long face?” he asked. “I mean, I know you and Fenfang broke up a few days ago, but you can still be happy for me, right?”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with Fenfang,” Bo said. “I broke up with her, remember? No, I just got... stuff on my mind.”

Aries sat down. He put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Talk to me, Bo. What’s going on?”

He pulled a letter out of his pocket and handed it to Aries. It was written in Chinese, and though Aries could read most of it, his Chinese reading still needed work. Still, he could make out that it was from the Ministry of Defense, and something about... work? For the military?

“You’re being drafted?” he asked.

“Yup,” Bo said. “After years of not bothering to enforce the mandatory military service, the Chinese Department of Defense declared that all Chinese men living on Mars of ages 18 and over would now be required to fulfill this duty.”

“But, what about school?” Aries asked.

“It’s going to have to wait,” Bo said. “Look, Aries, we need to talk about something important.”

“What?” Aries asked. “Whatever you need, Bo, you know that.”

“I do,” Bo said. “You’ve been the best friend I could ever ask for, especially the past few years. You joined Free Mars at my request, I know, to make up for what happened on Earth. But you’ve since embraced it fully, even serving as my vice chair at the meetings and helping me organize things. We had plans, Aries. Plans that I am no longer going to be able to participate in.”

“What?” Aries asked. “Why not?”

“As a member of the military, I can’t be a part of an organization that seeks to displace the Chinese government on Mars,” Bo said. “It would be very bad for me. So that’s why I’m asking you to take over.”

“Take over?” Aries asked, afraid he knew where this was going.

“Free Mars,” Bo said. “I’m asking you to take over the leadership of our movement completely. Free Mars needs you, Aries. Take the reigns. Do it for me. Most of all, do it for Mars. People look to us for leadership, and without me, it’s going to be just you. Will you do this, Aries?”

Aries took a deep breath to consider what his best friend was asking him to do. He looked up at Bo and saw the intensity in his eyes, but he also saw the fear. Everything that Bo had worked for, an Independent Mars, was in danger of collapsing. And Aries couldn’t let that happen. He slapped Bo on the shoulder.

“You know I will,” he said. “I’m here for both you and Mars, Bo. I’ll do it.”

****

The next few weeks were crazy for Aries. Trying to find time through work to do both Free Mars meetings and date Amanda was taxing. He actually fell asleep in the theater during their last date.

“What’s going on, Greenie?” she asked. Greenie was the nickname she had come up for him, short for Little Green Man. “You’ve been really distracted lately.”

“I got a lot on my mind,” he said. “I’m sorry, Amelia. I don’t mean to be such a downer, but my life got really complicated lately.”

“Is this about Bo?” she asked. Amelia and Bo had become good friends lately, even though they argued politics something fierce. The Chinese Communist and the US Marine. Aries nodded.

“Partially, yes.” He took a deep breath and looked Amelia in the eyes. He loved this woman, truly and deeply. He needed to tell her the truth. She deserved nothing less. “Amelia, do you know about the Free Mars movement?”

She snorted. “Of course I do. Basic intel we all got when we arrived. It’s a group of disgruntled mine workers, scientists and kids that think they can just talk and convince the US and China to give up Mars. China has the group listed as a potential terrorist organization, but the CIA thinks it’s mostly harmless.”

“Well,” he said, cringing, “I’m the leader of it.”

There was a moments pause, and then Amelia bust out laughing.

“You had me going there for a second,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes. “Leader of Free Mars indeed.”

He looked her in the eyes, his face dead serious.

“Aries,” she said, the smile gone from her face. “You’re not pulling my leg, here? You’re really the leader of Free Mars?”

He nodded.

“How is that even possible?” she said. “You’re only eighteen! And your dad is a staunch support of the US government! Not to mention, it’s stupid!”

“It’s not stupid,” he said. “And my age has nothing to do with it. Free Mars was founded by people that were here from the beginning, and almost everyone that was born here is a member. Is it really that difficult to think that I want my world to be free of outside influence?”

“Outside influence?” she said. “The US and China paid for you to be here. This colony wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for us.”

“The same could be said of the US and England,” he said.

“That was different,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “England didn’t respect the people of America. The US Government has listened to your father and other Martian leaders, and taken their advisement under consideration when making rulings about Mars.”

“My point is that Earthlings are making decisions about Mars, and not Martians,” he said.

“That’s what elections are for,” she said.

“We can’t vote in Chinese elections,” he said. “Not that it would matter much there.”

“You really want to stop being a US citizen?” she said, in a much quieter voice. “Why tell me this?”

“Because, Amelia ,” he said. “I love you. More than I have ever loved anyone, I love you. And you deserve to know the truth.”

“I don’t...” she started. “This is too much, I need some time. I’m sorry Aries, I have to go.”

She stood up and left. Aries sat there, watching her go. Tears were racing down his eyes.

****

“Aries Webb,” snapped Dr. Sun in his clipped, sharp accent. “Focus! You nearly broke this sample.”

Aries bowed and apologized, and went to go get some cleaning supplies to clean the broken drill and glass on the table. Dr. Sun was right. Ever seance his discussion with Amelia a few days ago, he hadn’t been able to focus on anything. His work was beginning to suffer, and he had even missed the Free Mars meeting last night. He wasn’t sure what to do. Amelia hadn’t talked to him at all, and she hadn’t been on duty at the Institute lately, either. When he got back with the cleaning supplies, he saw that Dr. Sun was still there.

“You are sick,” he said looking at Aries.

“I assure you, Dr. Sun, I am not,” Aries said, talking in Chinese. Dr. Sun always preferred to talk in his native tongue.

“No, you are sick,” he said again, sticking to English. “I cannot have sick worker in my lab. Go home. Take two days off. Come back when your mind is clear of sickness.”

Aries looked up at the old Chinese man. Was he really being kicked out of the lab? The accident wasn’t that bad. The sample was preserved. Dr. Sun winked at him. Aries blinked. The old man smiled and nodded ,and Aries realized that the grumpy old scientist was giving him a chance to get his life in order before coming back to the lab!

“Yes, Dr. Sun,” he said. He stood, bowed, and ran out of the lab to go home. Once outside of the Institute, he slowed down to walk. The light blue sky was clear today, the few clouds absent from the sky. There were more and more clouds every year, and scientists predicted that if a lake or ocean could be created on Mars, it wouldn’t take long after that before it desert world would see rain. That would be something, Aries thought. He’d never seen rain, even when he visited Earth.

He walked up to the tram station, and looked at the schedule. Where he was going was a place he hadn’t been to before, having only been built two years ago. He wasn’t even sure he would be allowed to go there. When the tram to the US Military base came up, the soldier at the door told him he couldn't get on board without a military ID. He sighed and nodded. That was to be expected. He needed to see Amanda, though. He needed to see her now, and get a final answer from her. He loved this woman, and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Would she be willing to be with someone that had such a differing political view?

“Aries?” he heard a voice say just as the tram pulled away. He turned and looked. It was Amelia. She rushed over to him and hugged him, and he hugged her back, grateful for the embrace. She was warm against him. It took a few moments for him to realize she wasn’t in uniform.

“I came here hoping to find out at the Institute, working,” she said. “What are doing here?”

“Dr. Sun game me the next few days off,” he said. “I came to find you.”

“My platoon got leave today too,” she said. “We’d been doing combat drills the past few days, I couldn’t call you.”

“Oh,” he said. That explained a lot. He broke their embrace and pulled her away from him. “Amelia, I need to know. Are you still interested in seeing me?”

“Interested?” she said. “Of course, silly! Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, you ran off after I told you about Free Mars,” he said.

“That?” she said. “You think I was worried about that?” She laughed.

“No, silly boy,” she said. “I can handle you having a different political view. I was really freaked out by your admission of love. It’s the first time you admitted that to me.”

“Oh,” he said. Was it really? He felt like he had always loved her, how could he have not told her?

“And?” he asked when she just stood there looking at him.

“And,” she said, grabbing him in a hug, and kissing him full on the lips. “I love you too.”

The End

Week 46

2010-11-21T08:55:00.000-08:00

Well, NaNoWriMo continues, and I've managed to catch up to my word count goal. Which also means I've gotten ahead of my stories, to post them here for you. :) I'm having fun, even though this last week was plagued with work issues and a sick child. Next week is the last week, and I should be able to get this novel done in on time.

In the mean time, please enjoy part 3 of The Life and Times of Aries Webb.

I'll see you next week.

The Life and Times of Aries Webb, Part 2: Self Discovery

2010-11-14T10:14:00.003-08:00

“Bo!” Aries called out as he ran across the grassy ground. “Bo! Come check this out!”

The young Asian man that Aries was yelling at rolled his eyes. He had been in the middle of Taekwando practice, not to mention impressing a few girls with his moves. But Aries just had a way of drowning out everything else by him. It started with something simple, like his trying to get Bo’s attention. Then... yup, just as Bo expected. The girls spotted Aries and went running across the high-school gym. Bo was sexy when practicing, apparently, but not when compared to Aries Webb, the First Man Born on Mars. Bo was born nearly four months later, but apparently being second born didn’t matter for much.

“Oh, hey girls,” Aries was saying. Bo sighed. He dropped form his practice stance and grabbed a towel. Then, he walked over and grabbed Aries his arm, dragging him away form the gym.

“Hey” Aries said, but didn’t really resist being dragged out.

“What was so important that you had to interrupt me in the middle of my warm up?” he asked.

“Oh, right!” Aries. He fished into his jacket pocket and pulled out a letter. He haned it to Bo, who read it over. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Did Aries have to take this from him, too?

“Isn’t that awesome, Bo?” Aries said. “I’m going to get to go to Earth with you, courtesy of the American government. I’ll get to watch you compete!”

Bo sighed. He looked at Aries. Despite his feelings about the other teen, the truth was that he was Bo’s best friend. And he also seemed mostly unaware of what his presence did to Bo’s life.

“Yeah, Ari,” he said. “That’s great. Just make me one promise?”

“What’s that?” Aries asked.

“Try not to take the media away from the tournament, huh?” Bo said. “A lot of us have worked very hard to get to this thing, and it would be very upsetting if a celebrity, especially one from Mars, came by and took all the limelight from the athletes.”

“I wouldn’t do that!” Aries said with a smile on his face that indicated this was completely untrue.

“Right,” Bo said.

“Come on,” Aries said. “Let’s go to the Red Sands and get a burger.”

Bo sighed. He still had practice to finished. He looked over at the coach, who just waved him away. Coach liked Aries, plus Bo was so far ahead of the rest of the team that taking some time off probably wasn’t a big deal. For a brief moment, Bo considered not going and finishing his practice. But the truth was, he liked Aries too, and a burger sounded great.

“Okay, let’s go,” he said.

****

“Man, I can’t believe you’re actually going to Earth,” Aries was saying around a mouthful of burger.

“I don’t know why,” Bo said, taking a more petite bite. “It’s only something that’s been coming for the past two years. Not to mention we’ve had this exact same conversation almost every day for the past two weeks.”

“I’m just saying,” Aries said. “It’s a big deal. The Junior Taekawando World Championships, and you’ll be the first Martian to go.”

“Yeah,” Bo said. “If only I was going as a Martian. No, my friend, I will just be another Chinese entry.”

“Not this Free Mars stuff again,” Aries sighed.

“Why is it that you, of all people, don’t get this?” Bo said.

“Get what?” Aries said. “So what if neither of us have been to Earth. Olympus Mons is a colony, under the jurisdiction of two governments, China and the USA. And I know your next argument, too. The USA was once the colony of England. But there’s a big difference. America had the ability to grow its own resources. We don’t. Not really. I mean, sure, we have hydroponic gardens, and the new farm dome seems to be doing well. But we’re still looking for a natural resource we can use to make energy. As it is, we trade with Luna City, another American colony, for Helium-3. If we could find a deposit of even coal, we might be in business, but so far, nothing. And not surprising, given that coal is a biproduct of organic life.”

Bo only looked at him blankly.

“What?” Aries asked.

“You’ve put in a lot of thought about this since our last argument about Free Mars,” Bo said.

Aries threw a french fry at his friend, causing Bo to put up an arm in defence.

“And where did you learn all that stuff about minerals?” Bo asked.

“Last month,” Aries said. “Remember, I transferred into Professor Lembeck’s Geology class?”

“Yeah, so?” Bo smirked.

“Don’t make me throw another french fry at you,” Aries said, smiling himself. “I really like it. I think I may have finally found a science I can get into.”

“Huh,” Bo said. “Very cool.”

“Yeah,” Aries nodded, stuffing more fries in his mouth. “What about you? You sticking with robotics?”

Bo had gotten used to understanding Aries speaking with a full mouth over the years. “I guess so,” he said. “It’s really the only field I’ve had any interest or talent in.”

Bo’s real passion, however, had been martial arts. He had excelled in Taekwando and Kung Fu, to the point where he had been invited in the world championships back on Earth. But, Olympus Mons was still a scientific community, and almost everyone here either was a scientist, or in a field that supported science.

“Too bad you can’t get paid for fighting,” Aries said. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Hey Ray. Can we get our check?”

“Check?” the fat man behind the counter said. It sounded almost like he was spitting. “Aries Webb, you know you’re money is no good here. You bring in too much business for me to make you pay. Go on, get out!”

Aries smiled and nodded for he and Bo to leave, then got up and headed for the door. Bo sighed, reached into his pocket and placed some money on the table. The waiter at least deserved a tip. He looked at it briefly. Being the product of two different countries, with different currencies, Olympus Mons officially switched to the Euro as its standard unit of currency to compensate. They didn’t even have their own money. He sighed again.

Outside, he and Aries walked towards Olympus Park. Outside, of course, being a relative concept, since they were still within the domes. But, through the clear dome they could see the thin blue sky, and Olympus Park had trees and green grass, which was still an anomaly on Mars. It felt like outside. The construction vehicles were there, building what the signs proclaimed would be the Martian Zoo, but Bo heard that the funding for that project had dried up. Apparently, both the US and China were uncomfortable with providing the colony animals that were not part of the initial colony setup, what they called “unnecessary.” So, while Olympus Mons had cows, sheep, chickens and even dogs and a few domestic cats, things like apes and elephants were going to remain the sole property of Earth.

“You know,” Aries said, bringing Bo out of his revere, “you really should watch it with all this talk of Free Mars. If the Chinese government ever figured out you were part of the movement, you could be arrested, or taken away from your precious Taekwando competitions.”

Bo snorted. “You really think that the Department of Defense doesn’t already know who all the members of the ‘potentially dangerous terrorist organization Free Mars’ is? They don’t consider us a real threat. At least, not yet. But they keep an eye on us. As far as they’re concerned, were just a group of disgruntled young people. They keep an eye on us, but they don’t believe we’ll ever be a real threat. But, we’re getting bigger all the time. Even now, this colony is grow way beyond the little science station your dad built. Olympus Mons is now home to nearly a hundred thousand people. In six years, we’ll be at a million if this trend continues. And the more people that live here for a long period of time, the less they want to be tied to Earth. It’ll happen, you’ll see.”

“Maybe,” Aries said.

“So, what why was it you got invited to Earth, exactly?” Bo asked, changing the subject.

“Well, officially, its because there’s a television network in America that wants an interview with you, and they figured that they if they could snag an interview with me as well, all the better,” he said.”

“And unofficially?” Bo asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I think that America wanted to remind the world that they own half the first man born on Mars,” he said, seeming kind of grumpy about it. That may have been the most cynical think Bo had ever herd Aries say about his celebrity status.

“What does that mean?” Bo asked.

“I think the Americana's were threatened by you,” he said, staring ahead. “The first Martian to go to Earth, and it’s a full Chinese citizen. This way, they get to tromp me out as an American and remind the world that I was first.”

“You don’t sound happy about that,” Bo said. “I thought you liked being interviewed.”

“Oh, I do,” he said. Then, he sighed. “I just don’t like being used for political gain. It sucks, and I feel like I’m someones tool than a person.”

Bo laughed out loud. Aries gave him a dirty glare that indicated just how much he didn’t appreciate that.

“What’s so damn funny?” Aries asked.

“You,” Bo said. “I have never heard you complain about your fame before. For someone that doesn’t like being political capital, you sure do take advantage of your status readily enough.”

“I do not!” he said in a voice that was louder than he expected.

“Oh?” Bo asked, his eyebrow raising once again. “Than what was that back at the Red Sand? ‘You’re money is no good here?’”

“That’s different,” Aries said. “If people want to give me stuff, who am I to turn them down?”

Bo laughed, and at first Aries just glared at him. Then, he started laughing too. The whole thing was pretty funny.

****

Aries and Bo were sitting next to each other. Aries was gripping his chair hard, his knuckles turning white. His stomach lurched. The worst part about this was that the shuttle hadn’t even moved. Why in the hell was he so nervous about space travel? People did it all the time, especially the politicians. If they could do it, then so could he.

He looked over at Bo and saw that he had his eyes closed and was breathing slowly. If you didn’t know the young man, you might think he was sleeping. But Aries knew that Bo was meditating. It was a technique he used to calm his nerves before a match. Aries smiled. It meant that Bo was just as scared as he was. It was also a good idea, so Aries closed his eyes and started to slowly breath in and out. He focused on his breath, closing out all other noise. In and out. The talking of the captain over the intercom, the muted discussions of the few other passengers, even the sounds of the engine. All left. All that was left was the sounds of his breathing. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

He didn’t know how long it had been since he started, but he could feel the shuttle moving at some point. She slowly took himself out of his trance. When he opened his eyes, the ship was already in the air. He looked out the window to the colony below. It looked almost like a star shaped scar on the northern side of the giant mountain. Bo told him to look up, and he did just in time to see the pale blue sky suddenly turn the black of night. The stars were just stunning from space, and eve though there were thousands to be seen from Mars through the domes, there were millions to see now. It was truly breathtaking.

The actual trip to Earth took about a month, even with the advanced ion rockets, which was why most trips to Mars were one way. Despite this length of time, the boys had a ton of fun on the trip. They got their own cabin, next to Bo’s parent’s, and were able to do lots of stuff they wouldn’t normally be able to do. So, they stayed up late watching movies, slept in and generally ate the kitchen staff out of goods. Bo still got up and did his practice, and Aries managed to find a pair of sisters who’s father was a senator from Earth, and the two boys hung out with them a lot too. By the time they got to Earth, the boys felt like they had the best vacation ever.

Once on Earth, Aries was amazed to see just how... alien it all looked. First off was the crowds. Sure, Olympus was pretty small compared to the number of people, but he felt like there were more people in the Hong Kong spaceport they landed in than there were at home. Second was the sky. It was bright, and a much darker blue than at home, and full of fluffy white clouds. Those were still rare on Mars, despite the best efforts of the terraforming committee. But the most disturbing thing of all was that everything on Earth was outside! Back on Mars, even the outside parts of the city were in the dome. Here, nothing was sealed in, everything was just exposed to the atmosphere. Even though he knew it wasn’t dangerous, it was disturbing, nonetheless.

Outside the spaceport was a press conference waiting to happen. They were ostensibly there to interview Bo, but even Aries knew that they would want to talk to him over his friend. Normally, he wanted that kind of attention, but he really did want Bo to have his chance in the sun. So, he suggested to Bo that he go first. His friend sighed, sure that Aries was up to something, but agreed to do so. He and his parents stepped through the doors and the reporters started taking pictures and asking questions immediately.

Bo moved up to the podium and started answering questions. He was good, Aries thought. They were eating his words up. He was even slipping in pro Free Mars propaganda, disguised as pride of his homeland. And then, things went horribly wrong.

One of the reporters noticed Aries standing near the door, and pointed him out to the crowd. They practically dragged him to the podium, and Bo was shoved aside in favor of the world’s favorite Martian. The questions came so fast they were practically on top of each other.

“Aries, what brought you to Earth?”

“Aries, are you planning on visiting any place in particular?”

“We heard you were dating one of the Senator’s daughters, is this true?”

“What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?”

“What do you think of Earth so far?”

“Pop princess Andi Archer said she wants to get to know you better. Interested?”

Finally, Aries raised his hands to quite everyone down. He smiled. This was his element, in front of a crowd of people, all listening to him.

“Everyone, please,” he said. “I am only here for one reason, and that is to support my best friend, Bo Wu, who is here to compete in the Junior Taekawando World Championships. He’s a fantastic martial artist, and I know that he will do fantastic and represent China with all the honor and skill that we all have come to expect from such an august nation. Bo Wu has worked hard to get here, very hard, and has won every competition that there was on Mars, mostly against adults, as there were no other teenagers to compete against. He’s ready for this level of competition, and I think we all owe him some attention. So, I’m going to step down this once, and let him come back up here and answer the questions you actually came her to ask. You and I can and will talk later.”

He winked, and a few cameraman were on the ball enough to take the shot, and then he stepped down. Everyone was silent. Slowly, and still watching Aries as if not quite believing what he was seeing, Bo stepped forward and took the podium. He resumed answering questions, and the press conference went on as was expected. Aries really did like Bo, and believed all those things he said. But, he also knew Bo’s story. He’d been there through the whole thing, after all. Eventually, Aries got bored, so he made his way to the back of the crowd. After finding a nice looking blond reporter, he got her attention and led her away to give her an exclusive.

****

The next morning, Bo woke up and started his exercise routine. He still wasn’t sure what had happened at the space port. He was trying to figure out what Aries’ game was. Normally, he would have reveled to be in a crowd of reporters like that, answering questions and the like. But yesterday, he seemed to actually give it all up to Bo. Amazingly unlike him. Bo shook his head to clear it of worry and went out for a morning jog. The air on Earth seemed thicker and less... pure than back on Mars, but he supposed that shouldn’t surprise him. The atmosphere had no air filters like the domes back home did.

As he was running he ran by a digital news stand, and saw something there that made him stop. It was a headline for today’s paper, and it had Aries on it. “First Man from Mars Visits Earth” it read. Bo couldn’t believe it. He jammed his phone into the downloader and put his thumb on the “buy now” space. After reading his thumb print, the money was deducted from his account, and the paper downloaded to his phone. He yanked it out and ran back to the hotel.

****

“Aries Webb!” Bo cried as he stormed into the room they shared at the hotel. Aries came out of the bathroom, having just exited the shower, with a towel wrapped around his waist. He had a confused look on his face.

“What’s up, Bo?” he asked.

Bo threw his phone on the bed and pointed at it. Aries walked over and saw the headline of today’s paper on the screen. He smiled. He had just read that on his laptop about twenty minutes ago.

“Isn’t that great?” he said.

“Great?” Bo yelled. “Great? I gave an interview about the tournament and what it meant to Mars, and you go and sneak off and give an ‘exclusive’ to this bimbo of a reporter? And get the front page? My whole interview and speech is reduced to a three paragraph story on the sports page.”

“Yeah, but look,” he said, pointing to the article, “I mention the tournament here and here, and point that you’re my best friend and I’m only here on Earth to support you.”

“It mentions me once, Aries,” Bo said. “And only then referring to me as a fellow resident of the Olympus Mons colony. This article is entirely about you, and once again, it’s taken away any kind of recognition that I might have received for my actual hard work.”

Bo grabbed the phone out of Aries hand, and stormed out of the room. Aries looked after him, confused. Didn’t Bo know that this was just the media? He really did come to Earth to watch Bo compete. He heard his friend slam the door. He felt concern that maybe he had really screwed things up this time, but he quickly let it go. This was Bo he was talking about. Bo always got mad at him for something or another, and then he got over it. This, too, would blow over.

****

The tournament went off pretty smoothly. Bo found himself winning, and by the time round four came up, he could see that he was going to make it to the semi-finals. That was better than he was hoping, considering this was his first real tournament. He took this break he was on to look around the stadium. He didn’t see Aries before the event started, which was odd. Aries always saw him off before he fought. He didn’t see him in the stands either. Is it possible that he took their last argument to heart? That would be a change for Aries.

The official came and tapped Bo on the shoulder. He nodded. Aries would have to wait, he had a fight to get to. He took three deep breaths to clear his mind and refocused himself. He stepped into the ring and looked at his opponent. The young man he faced had on the black and yellow gi of his school, while Bo had the red and brown of his. They both had padded chest plates and headgear. When the referee dropped the flag, Bo struck. He discovered early in this tournament that being aggressive would often win points from the judges, even if your hits weren’t that hard.

This guy he was facing, however, was just as good, if not better. It was a hard fought match, and by the end of the three rounds, Bo wasn’t sure who was winning. He heard the crowd start to cheer and make a lot of noise. Was it possible that he had won? That would be amazing, to have made it to the finals! When he looked up at the score board, however, he saw something else. He saw Aries Webb. At first, he was confused. His presence alone wouldn’t distract from the tournament, would it? There were two fights going on right now, the outcome of which would determine the final match. How could Aries alone have deterred from that?

Then, he saw who Aries was with. It was Andi Archer, the music star. The crowd, in fact all the media there, seemed to be centered on the two super stars, and their apparent date. Aries was smiling that smug smile of his, and Bo felt that heat of anger rise inside of him. The entire tournament had shut down, and it was all because of Aries. This time, Bo wasn’t going to stand for it. He charged across the stadium, straight to where Aries and Andi were answering questions of the reporters.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Aries was saying. “Long distance relationships are hard enough when your on the same planet...”

Bo stood up to Aries then and pushed him, hard. Aries landed on one of the plastic seats with a grunt, obviously hurt by the fall. Bo didn’t really care. He pointed a finger at Aries.

“This is it, Aries,” he said. “You and I are no longer friends. Do you see what you have done here? You stopped the entire tournament! No one knows who made it to the finals, because all the judges and camera men are on you! Once again, your blasted ego and its desire to hog the spotlight have ruined things for everyone else, and the worst part is, you don’t even care. You arrogant, self-seeking son of a bitch!”

And with that, Bo left. He didn’t even care if he had won his last match. He was to angry to focus on any kind of fighting. He just wanted to go back home to Mars, and be done with the whole thing. On the big screen in the center of the hall he could see Aries, rubbing his chest, a look of sadness on his face. Good, Bo thought. Maybe he finally learned his lesson.

****

Aries walked down the city block, trying hard to avoid being hit by the throng. Hong Kong was more crowded than he expected it to be, and he wondered how the people of Earth breathed in such close quarters to each other, especially with such thick air. But none of that was really was what was on his mind. He had hurt his best friend, and hurt him bad. It was entirely possibly that Bo really wouldn’t be his friend when the two of them returned to Mars. And what hurt most about that truth was that Bo would be right to do so.

He came to a stop suddenly, something catching his eye. He looked into a window, a small corner shop that sold hand painted re-workings of newspaper headlines and photos. The one that had caught his attention was a picture of him. He looked at himself, painted in the rainbow of colors the artist used to re-create the black and white photo of the newspaper. He was smiling, waiving at the crowd, winking. It was him at the space port. Good god, he did looked arrogant. What in the hell was he thinking, doing that to his friend, and then doing something even worse later. Even after Bo tried to warn him. But he knew the answer. He was thinking of himself.

Looking at himself, he faced the truth. He really was arrogant. And with that truth, he knew what he needed to do to make things right.

****
“Thank you all for coming to this press conference,” Aries said, staring at the sea of faces. There were many reporters, true, but there were also lots of just regular people there, as well. Everyone wanted to know what this unexpected press conference was about. “I want to start by letting you all know that this conference is not about me. This is about a very close friend of mine. A man that I have known since we were little babies. A man who worked very hard almost his whole life to make it to the Junior Taekwando World Championship. An event that yesterday I ruined.”

“It wasn’t my intention to cause Bo Wu any harm, or even to interfere with his dream of participating in this tournament. All I wanted was to see Earth,” he said. “But that’s the problem. Everything I have done in my life was about what I wanted. I never took into consideration what anyone else wanted, not even my best friend. As a result of this continued arrogance, I have caused the worst pain to my best friend in the whole world, stealing the spot light that was rightfully his. And not just his, everyone that was fighting at that tourney. I took away from their accomplishments. Real accomplishments, I might add. I am a celebrity due to the circumstances of my birth. I haven’t really done anything worth this kind of fame. But these people, these boys and young men like Bo Wu, worked hard to get where they are today, and I ripped it away from them just to get my face on TV.”

He took a deep breath before continuing. “This conference is therefore for me to apologize to Bo and the rest of the people that worked hard to participate and bring you all that tournament. I am sincerely sorry for what I have done. I don’t know how I can make it up to you all, but I hope this is a good start.”

He choked back some tears that were starting to form. He took another deep breath to steady himself.

“Thank you all for coming today.”

He rushed off the platform and back to his waiting car to return to his hotel.

****
Aries didn’t see Bo for the rest of the visit to Earth, which was fine. He did his best to stay out of his friend’s way, mostly staying to the hotel room. He saw from the news that Bo did finally receive the recognition he deserved. He made it to the final round, and then was defeated by his opponent, to come in second place. It was a huge deal, most first timers never made it that far. He was hailed as a Chinese national hero, and a fine example of what Mars could offer the world. Aries nodded. It was all right, and everything that Bo deserved.

He had all his stuff packed and ready to leave. He was hoping that he could get a cab to the space port and be on the shuttle before Bo, so he didn’t have to ride in the car with him. He didn’t know if he could face him just yet. He grabbed his bags and headed out of the hotel. He paused briefly, thinking that maybe he should stop and face Bo. Hiding like this seemed just as selfish as his hogging the spotlight. But he shook his head. The month long trip home would be plenty of time to face Bo.

When he got outside, he saw that there were reports waiting for him, flashes from their cameras going all at once. He stumbled back slightly, blinking away the bright lights in his eyes. How did they know?

“Aries,” he heard a voice say. He turned to his right and saw Bo standing there. He looked grim, and his hands were balled into fists at his side. Aries couldn’t do anything, frozen there staring at his friend. “Aries Webb, I am here to talk to you about what you did the other day, with that Press Conference you called.”

Aries gulped. He had hopped that the conference would help smooth things over between them. Maybe not. Bo stepped forward, and Aries felt the desire to run. He started to, in fact, but froze when more camera flashes went off. The, Bo stuck out an arm, his hand extended. Aries stared at it for a few seconds before he realized that Bo wanted to shake his hand. Slowly, Aries put his hand hi Bo’s. His friend them pulled him close and embraced him in a hug. Aries breathed a sigh of relief. He hugged Bo back, and more cameras went off.

“Thank you, Aries,” Bo said. “Thank you.”

The End

Week 45

2010-11-14T10:14:00.001-08:00

Here we are, the end of NaNoWriMo Week 2, and another story ready for the blog. I hope you enjoy Part 2 of The Life and Times of Aries Webb. :)

The Life and Times of Aries Webb, Part 1: Welcome to Mars, Aries Webb

2010-11-07T16:54:00.000-08:00

Charles looked out the window and the shifting red sands that were blowing down the side of Olympus Mons. A storm was brewing, he thought. Fitting, considering a storm of a different type was brewing in his office. He looked back at his desk where the video phone he just had his conference with Earth still sat. It seemed to stare at him in mockery. He was tempted to throw something at it. Instead, he clenched his fists, gave a deep sigh and returned to looking out his window.

“I take it the call with Earth didn’t go well?” Ju said as she entered the room. He turned to look at her. At 8 months pregnant, his wife was beautiful. She glowed with the energy of the new life within her. Charles always through that his devotion to science would leave him a batchlor his whole life. It took coming to Mars as part of a joint project with the Chinese for him to find the woman that would make his heart stand still.

“No,” he said in response to her question. “They seem to be completely unwilling to understand that we need resources if we are to provide them with the discoveries we came here to make.”

“What demand did the joint chiefs make now?” she asked. She always knew what had happened, even though she was almost never in the room when he talked to home. She had her own call to take from her government. The had both discovered the two governments that funded their colony on Mars, while claiming to have different motives, were amazingly alike in the way they conducted business.

“They want the energy cells,” he said. “And they’re demanding a sample be sent to them by the end of the month.”

“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “Didn’t you tell them that we’ve had trouble getting the energy to remain stable? Every time we’ve used one to power even a simple device, the power cell explodes.”

“I know that, and so do you,” he said. “But these morons think they can motivate us by threatening to not send a new generator.”

“What?” she replied.

“I know,” he sighed and then slumped into his chair. “I just saw the latest readings from Chen. Our current generator will likely fail to meet our power needs in a matter of weeks. I’ve even sent that report to the Joint Chiefs. We’ll just have to find new ways to conserve power.”

“How?” she replied. “We cant shut down more projects. Many of the scientist's here are already not working.”

“I don’t see what else we can do,” he replied. “I’ve asked Chen to draw up a list of projects that are not essential for our continued survival.”

“And?” she demanded, her voice getting tense. She already knew what was coming next, he could tell. He hesitated in answering. “Charles Webb, you answer me right now. Who’s project is getting cut?”

“I’m afraid that yours was at the top of the list,” he said. “I’m sorry, honey. It has to be done.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, wrinkling her round face in a rather unattractive way. He tensed, ready for her outburst. Instead, she stormed out of his office, slamming the door on her way out. He sighed again. He looked back at the video phone once more, and this time he did throw something at it.

****

Ju stormed down the hallway. She hated how emotional she was, even at this stage in her pregnancy. Still, she was angry at her husband. His projects always seemed to get more priority, even according to her own government! When China agreed to set up this facility on Mars with America, she imagined that the leadership would be joint as well. Instead, a charming and handsome American scientist was assigned as the station’s director. And she fell in love with him. Sometimes, she hated herself for that. It felt a little like sleeping with the enemy. Then, she rubbed her belly and felt the baby shift. The stooped walking and landed against the wall.

“Oh, little Aries,” she said. “I don’t know what kind of world we are bringing you into.”

She continued walking, thinking of her own phone call with the mother world. She was having a harder and harder time thinking of Earth as home. She had only been on Mars for two years, but she couldn’t help but think of it as her planet, her world. Earth was that place she left behind. And it helped that it was here that she met Charles. And also that it was here her son would be born. And it was her son that had been the focus of the phone call. It seemed that both American and China wanted to put on a big celebration for Aries’ birth. He would be the first human born on Mars, and being the son of both an American and a Chinese made it all the more monumental. She had been that a crew would be arriving in a few days. They would be planning a big party for her son’s birth, and filming the special event. This was to be broadcast back to Earth as a symbol of unity.

She rubbed her belly again. Her son wasn’t even born yet, and they were already putting pressure on him. A symbol of unity indeed. He was a human being, and more importantly, he was her child. She was going to be damned if she would let a government, even her own, use him to further their own agenda.

And now, to top it all off, her project had been canceled. By her own husband. She sighed. She had to be fair, he wasn’t doing it to be mean to her. He was doing this because he was under his own pressure. He just never seemed to understand that he wasn’t the only one under pressure. The stress was starting to get to her. She felt a headache coming on, and her stomach suddenly felt nauseous. She took several deep breaths and started walking again, this time to go to Dr. Landry’s office. She was afraid that this stress would be bad for the baby.

****

“Why didn’t you tell me they were coming?” Charles asked as he stood in the receiving bay of what everyone laughingly called the Mars Starport. The Starport was really little more than a runway for the shuttles from Earth attached to several buildings that would re-pressurize everyone so they could walk around the station without space suites. The shuttle out there now currently was unloading some needed food supplies, as well as a group of guests that Charles hadn’t know about until a few hours ago.

“I was going to when you hit me with the news that you were cutting my project,” Ju replied, her arms crossed. He couldn’t help but think she looked beautiful, even though she was pissed at him. Hell, even though he was pissed at her. Not telling him important information was just like her when they were fighting. But she was always beautiful.

“I tried to tell you yesterday,” he said. “I didn’t want to cut your project, but no other project gave us the energy savings that yours did. I didn’t have a choice.”

She glared at the airlock door, steadfastly ignoring him.

“Fine,” he said as he noticed that the door was opening. “It’s no use arguing now. Let’s just get through this and shuffle these people out of the way so we can all get to the real work we do here.”

The door opened fully, and five people in space suites stepped through. The leader of the group indicated that they could remove theirs now, and everyone started a strange strip dance. Charles, Ju and several other people there for just this purpose helped them out. Space Suites took some time and effort to both put on and off. One of the projects on this station was to fix that very thing. It, too, had been cut due to the energy crisis.

“Alex Brandt?” Charles said, looking for the person that would be conducting the interviews and filming the birth of his son. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about that yet. A woman with long brown hair tied back in a ponytail responded. She was thin, and the jumpsuit she wore looked baggy on her.

“That’s me,” she replied. “Charles Webb, I assume?”

“Doctor Webb, please,” Charles replied. He preferred that people working with him in any kind of professional capacity spoke to him professionally, and thus address him by his title.

“My apologies, Doctor,” the woman said, smiling. “This is my camera crew, and this is Jordan Lane, my producer.”

Another woman, older with a shock of close cut silver hair, stepped forward, and Charles shook his hand.

“This is my wife, Ju, and the rest of my senior staff,” he said, making introductions all around. “Now, let’s talk about how this is going to work.”

“Yes,” Alex said. “I knew that was going to come up soon, but I had hoped that at least we could get to our quarters, and maybe dress in something more comfortable? Get something to eat first?”

“Oh,” Charles said. He hadn’t even thought of that. “Of course. Marsha here can show you the way.”

“I understand that you want to get straight down to business,” Jordan said. “I apprecaite that. After all, this is your son we’re talking about. I don’t mind doing business right now while the others relax.”

“Excellent,” Charles said. “Please, come right this way.”

****

“Absolutely not!” Jordan said. “We were sent here by both the US and Chinese government. They picked an English news crew on purpose, because they wanted a neutral party doing the filming. And I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a tin plated dictator of a little science base in the middle of the Martian desert tell me how to do my job.”

Charles sighed. “Mrs. Lane, I assure you that it is not my intention to tell you how to do your job...” he started to say.

“Well, it is mine!” Ju interrupted. “We’re talking about my life here, and I am not willing to let you stick that camera in my personal business.”

“As I was saying,” Charles said. “What we want is that you and your crew will not go to restricted areas, which includes people’s private quarters and the doctors examining room.”

“I would be willing to buy that,” Jordan said, “if it wasn’t for the fact that the restricted areas you’ve listed are the places that the story Alex is her to cover were where the story was at. Look, I get it, you want your privacy. But you no longer have that luxury. You’re celebrities now, and so is your son. Perhaps the biggest celebrity on Earth.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Lane,” Charles said. “My decision is final. If you still disagree, you are welcome to file a formal protest with my superiors in the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Ministry of Defense.”

“Don’t think I won’t,” she said, standing up and storming out of the room.

Charles collapsed his chair and heaved a great sigh.

“Charles,” Ju said quietly. “thank you.”

He opened one eye and looked at her. Her head was bowed. “Honey,” he said. “There is nothing to thank me for. I may be the administrator of this building, but I am your husband fist. The fact that I can use my administrator rights to get things that benefit you is only a perk.”

She smiled down at him.

“That’s why I was thanking you,” she said. “You do realize that her complaint will lead to your bosses telling you to let her go wherever she wants, right?”

“I know,” he sighed. “But in the mean time, that gives you at least a week of breathing room. And they can use that time to focus on this party they want to throw.”

“Wait, you’re going to let them throw the party?” Ju asked standing up.

“Well, of course,” he replied, looking at her confused. “I think it’s a brilliant idea. I mean, how often does a new born get to be a celebrity?”

“They want to film my birth and air it as if it were some kind of American reality TV show,” she said, storming across the room. She placed her hands on the desk and stared him in the eyes. “This is now some New Years party, or the celebration of the end of a hard fought war. No, this is my son. I will not have him turned into some tawdry rating scheme.”

“Honey, look...” he started to say.

“No, you look,” she interrupted. “I am dead set against this party happening, and if I have to scratch out that bitch's eyes to stop it, I will.”

“Damn it, Ju!” he said in a loud voice. She backed up, and he stood. It was rare for him to get actually angry, and when he did, she took notice. “I don’t have a lot of choices here. I can either stop them from filming the birth live, or I can stop the party, but I cannot do both. I don’t have enough clout either politically or with the television station. So, as I assume you don’t want a camera looking at your private bits as Aries makes his way into the world more than you don’t want a party celebrating that blessed event, I am oking the party. And that is final. Am I clear?”

“As crystal,” Ju said.

“Excellent,” he said, quieting down and returning to his seat. He let out another sight. “I promise, honey. It will be classy. I used up what little clout I did have the the TV station to make sure that only one celebrity is coming up here for the event, and I think you’ll be happy with who it is. Nala.”

“Nala?” she said in a whisper. “Really?”

“It was easy,” he said. “I told the station that you were a huge fan, and when she heard that she had to come here. She’s a big enough name on her own that the TV station was willing to forgo the other celebrities to get here up here.”

“Oh, honey,” Ju said. “Having her here to play will be wonderful. Thank you so much for working to arrange that for me. I just wish I cold be there to witness her playing. But I can’t, because I’ll likely be in labor at the time, in case you forgot!”

And with that, she too stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Charles sighed again. That was happening a lot lately. He really should have maintenance check to make sure the door wasn’t going to break or anything.

****

“I can’t believe that he agreed to let them put on this stupid party,” Ju yelled in Chinese into the video phone. On the other line was her sister, Lin, who was back on Earth.

“I don’t know why not,” Lin replied. “It’s pretty typical of the Americans to televise things like this. They televise everything over there.”

“Will you lay off him being an American?” Ju asked. “That has nothing to do with it. I really don’t know what to do here.”

“Oh, my Baby Panda,” Lin said. “You’re crying. Listen, this really isn’t anything worth crying about. In a way, you’re husband has a point. Your baby is a celebrity, and there really isn’t much you can do about that. So you might as well embrace it. It will be easier to control later if you don’t make it forbidden. Besides, there are lots of people down here on Earth, even here in China, that want to celebrate. We can always use a reason to celebrate, and the fact that the first man born on Mars will be the son of a Daughter of China is fantastic. Historic on many levels. Let it be historic, let go of trying to just make it a normal birth. You’ll sleep better, trust me. Pregnancy is hard enough without you trying...”

The screen suddenly cut off then, and the lights in Lu’s room followed a second later.

“What?” she said. A few seconds later the lights and video phone came back on. The line was empty, of course, and she didn’t want to waist energy by calling again. She’ll send her sister an email explaining what happened. Right after she had found out herself. She put in a call.

“Yes?” Chen asked as his face came into view. He looked haggared. “Oh, it’s you, Ju. Got caught in that power outage did you?”

“Yes,” she said. “What was it?”

“We’re not really sure,” he said. “I’m looking into that now. Listen if that’s all this is about, I really need to get back to it so I can find out. Your husband is climbing down my neck to make sure that the air supply or the dome seals didn’t get compromised in that outage.”

“Of course, Chen,” she said. “Of course.”

She hung up and sat down on her bed. She had a very bad feeling about this. She couldn’t help but fell that things were going to get worse before they got better.

****

“I came as fast as I could Chen,” Charles said between panted breaths. “How bad is it?”

“Pretty bad,” Chen said. “The whole construction machine just fell over when the power in this section went out. Completely smashed the building it was working on.”

“A classroom,” Charles said silently. “This was going to be the first of an entire school system up here.”

“Kinda jumping the gun there, ain’t ya, boss?” Chen asked.

“Oh, not really,” Charles replied, looking back at the scene of destruction. “I don’t get it, though, Chen. This machine isn’t connected to the main power lines. How could it have possibly fallen, never mind lost power?”

“Well,” Chen said, clearing his throat. “This particular model is remote controlled. The poor guy over there was using it normally, when his controller, which was plugged into the wall just right over there, lost power. He was in the middle of doing some delicate work. So, it collapsed. Right into the building it was helping build.”

“This is no joke, Chen,” Charles said. “This represents a week’s worth of work. And what would have happened if this machine had hit the dome? I know it couldn’t break it, but it might have cracked it, and that would have been just as bad. I need to find out what is causing these blackouts, and quick. I can’t afford to cut any more projects, the ones that are left are either top priority to Earth or required for the running of this station.”

Chen smiled at Charles. “You know, boss, I think sometimes you spend too much time running this place and not enough time relaxing.”

Charles looked like he was going to say something, but Chen raised his hands. “I get you, I get you. You’re right, of course. I’ll get my team on it right away. We’ll figure out what’s causing the power outages. Last thing I want to see is the life support suddenly suffer a power outage.”

Charles sighed. He nodded at Chen and headed back to his office. His own project was getting behind, despite the excellent team he had working on it. He wanted to get back to that, but he had so many other things to deal with, including an appointment with the doctor with Ju. Despite the longer Martian day, there still wasn’t enough time to get things done.

****

Ju looked at her watch. She was going to be late to the doctor’s appointment. And what was worse, Charles was likely to be there. She was still an emotional mess. She went to the bathroom and washed her face with some cold water and soap, brushed her hair, and put on a fresh set of clothes. Since she wasn’t working on her project anymore, she didn’t feel like wearing her jumpsuit. She picked an empire waisted top and plain slacks that were comfortable and stylish at the same time. After she reapplied some make up, she decided that she looked better. She had to admit that those simple acts made her feel better too. Oddly, she learned to do those things from Charle’s mother, the night before the wedding. The fact that she was willing to fly all the way to Mars for it made her all the more lovable in Ju’s eyes. Her own government wouldn’t allow unauthorized civilians up, even for such an event as her wedding.

She took a deep breath, felt the baby kick, and smiled at the reflection of her swollen belly. Soon, little Aries, she thought. Soon. She walked out of her room and headed towards the elevator. She found herself eyeing the lights in the ceiling as she walked. That feeling that something really bad was going to happen still hadn’t left her.

As she walked down the hall, she saw someone coming around a corner and had to dodge to the side to avoid getting slammed into. Her belly still threw her balance off, and so she ended up bumping into the wall. The man coming around the hall stopped suddenly, looking up from the personal computer he was carrying.

“Oh, Ju!” Edward said. “I didn’t see you. I’m so sorry, I was reading these reports on the diagnostic for our new power cell... oh, but you don’t want to hear about that. Here, let me help you. Are you okay?”

The whole thing came out of the short man in a quick succession, making it difficult for Ju to really understand what he was saying. She smiled as the other man pushed his thick glasses up on his face and ran his hand through his shaggy black hair. Even with lazer surgery being common place, Edward seemed to like his glasses. They were a source of pride for him, that he had kept his original eyes. “As God intended,” he had said on more than one occasion.

“Thank you Edward,” she said. “I’m okay.”

“Heading to the lift?” he asked. “Me too. I’ve been having migraines lately, and I think its due to the energy cells. Or maybe I’m just stressed. Anyway, I’m heading to see Doctor Li. You?”

“I’m heading to the hospital too,” she said, rubbing her belly and smiling. “Regular check up.”

Edward nodded as if expecting this, and lead the way to the lift. The lifts were marvels of modern technology. They were a German invention, but one quickly adapted by the rest of the world, and, so Ju was told, based on an American TV show called Star Trek. Basically, they were elevators that not only went up and down but side by side, allowing quick travel through large ground facilities, like the Mars base. When they got to the lift, another woman was there waiting.

“Laura,” Ju said. The two women hugged. They were lab partners, working on a project together that involved getting plants to grow on Mars. It was not considered a top priority project, and had been canceled a few months ago due to lack of funds. But that didn’t stop Laura from continuing her research on her own. Ju hadn’t seen her in a week.

“Ju,” she said as she pulled back and looked at the other woman. “You look great! How are you doing?”

“Fine,” she said. “Just heading in for my regular check up with the doctor. So, tell me, what have you been up to? I haven’t seen you in a week. How’s the hydroponics farm going?”

“Oh, its fine,” she said, waiving it off as if it were nothing. “We’ve been asked to increase our production, but that won’t be difficult. At least one of my projects is still getting money.”

The lift arrived then and the three got in. The two women continued their conversation, catching up on little things. Edward mostly kept to himself, only interjecting when the girls asked his opinion. He was in the middle of describing his grandmothers recipie for blueberry pancakes when the lights went out and the lift came to a sudden stop. Everyone lurched forward a bit, Ju having to catch herself on the wall.

“What happened?” Ju asked, panic building inside her. She just knew something wrong was going to happen.

“Looks like another power outage,” Edward said. Ju could hear someone shuffling around and the sonds of a metal door opening. Edward made some humming noises, and bright light suddenly flooded the room, causing Ju to close her eyes.

“Emergency battery in the lift still works,” he said. “Won’t get the lift fully working, but it will allow us to make an outbound call and keep the lights on. I might even be able to get it to open the doors with some work.”

“Why can’t we just use our cell phones to call out?” Laura asked, holding hers up.

“The lifts block cell transmissions,” he said. “Interferes with the signals that run the lift. But, the internal lift phone will work, it still uses hard lines to call out.”

“Great,” Ju said. “Call Charles.”

****

“You’re where?” Charles said. He was in his office, where the power had gone out as well. According to the reports he was getting manually from his senior staff, power had gone out almost everywhere in the base. Now, he was on his cell phone in the dark, talking to his wife, who was telling him she was trapped on the lift while on the way to the doctors office.

“I’ll be there personally to help you out, honey,” he said. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you out!”

He hung up the phone and then immediately dialed Chen.

“What’s the status, Chen,” he said. “I’m getting reports that the whole station is down, and I just got a call from Ju. She’s stuck in a lift.”

“Oh, no,” Chen said. “We’ll get right on that, boss, just tell me what lift.”

“I’ll take care of her lift, Chen,” Charles said. “I want you to continue to figure out what the hell is causing this power drain.”

“We’re working on it,” Chen said. He hesitated, then continued. “It looks like most of the power has been rerouted to the mess hall.”

“Mess hall?” Charles said. “There’s nothing in the mess hall. Get over there and figure out what is happening, Chen. I want a report in ten minutes.”

“You got it, boss,” Chen said and hung up.

“Don’t worry Ju,” Charles said as he got up from his office, grabbing a flashlight from off his desk. “I’m coming to get you.”

****

“I cannot be trapped in an elevator, I can’t!” Ju was practically screaming at the top of her lungs. “This is not some American movie, I don’t want my baby born in an elevator.”

“Ju! Calm down!” Laura said, grabbing her friend and shaking her. “You are not due for a few more weeks. The only way you’ll go into labor now is if you stress yourself out. You get me? Don’t stress out!”

“Don’t tell her that,” Edward said, not looking as he fiddled with the controls for the lift. “That’s like telling someone to not think of the color blue. As soon as you say that, all they can think of is the color blue. You need to distract her with something else. Talk about something that can take her mind of our situation, like shoes or Earth or something.”

“Shoes?” Ju said. “Did you really tell her to talk to me about shoes? I’m not some capitalist consumer. I don’t need to have hundreds of shoes, thank you very much!”

“See?” Edward said, still not looking at them. “Ah, ha. This should do it.”

A click happened, and the lift moved.

“What?” Laura said. “Edward, what did you do?”

“I distracted her with shoes,” he said.

“No, to the lift,” she said.

“Oh, that,” he said. “All the lifts have an emergency routing protocol that sends them to the nearest exit in case of an emergency. Of course, that assumes power, but I rewired the recall to the emergency power in the hopes that we weren’t too far away from a door.”

“Edward, that’s brilliant,” Ju said.

He smiled, but blushed and looked back at the control panel. A few moments later, the lift stopped. They all stood in front of the doors. They remained closed.

“What happened, Edward?” Ju asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. He went back to the control panel and looked inside. After a few moments, he sighed and pulled his head back up and slumped his shoulders in defeat.

“There’s not enough power to open the doors. We’ve barley got enough to run the lights, and that will only last another couple of hours.”

“Oh, my God,” Ju said, and collapsed against the wall.

“Now, don’t worry, Ju,” Laura said. “We’ll get out of this.”

“No,” Ju said. “It’s not that. My water just broke.”

All three of them looked down at her now soaked pants.

****

“The party?” Charles said into his cell phone as he made his way through dark hallways towards the last known location of the lift his wife was in. “I don’t understand. They had their power needs approved by you. How can they possibly be the cause of the power drain?”

“Apparently,” Chen said in his ear, “the bastards decided that they needed more than I was allowing them. See, the approval I gave them was for less than they initially asked for, and they decided to just get what they wanted themselves. Something about doing the show their way despite what you said.”

“So they drained power,” Charles said, “and now we’re in a station wide black out and running on back up generators. Fantastic. Can you restore the main generators?”

“Oh, sure,” Chen said.

“But?” Charles said as he bumped into a column. He shook himself off and kept walking.

“It will take a few days,” Chen said after a moment’s hesitation. “Until then, though, the Emergency generators will keep life support and the dome seals running. We won’t have running lights in most places, but important places like the command center, sensitive labs and the hospital will all keep running.”

“I guess that will have to do,” Charles said. “Earth won’t be happy when we don’t report in tonight. Get every available person with even the smallest hint of power training and get them to help you on that generator, I want it up as soon as possible. In the mean time, try to keep people from burning out the emergency generators. Oh, and have the security detain our trouble making guests, would you?”

“You got it, boss,” Chen said.

Charles hung up and then thumbed a command into his phone to get a map of the complex and the nearest lift door. This should be where or nearby where Ju’s lift would be. When he got to the door, he thought he could hear people on the other side.

****

“Breath, Ju,” Laura was saying, “Just keep breathing.”

Everyone froze as a tapping came from the door. They all looked at each other and then back at the door. The tapping came again.

“Someone’s outside,” Edward said, and then started tapping on the door himself.

The tapping repeated, this time quicker, and they could hear someone outside. It was muffled, but it sounded like someone was calling Ju’s name, and asking that she call him.

“It’s Charles!” she said. “Edward, call him now!”

Edward fumbled away from the door to the control panel. Then he hesitated. “If I do, we’ll lose what little power we have. The lights will go out, and I’ll only get a short call out of it.”

“I don’t care, do it!” Ju yelled, and then went into another contraction.

****

“Edward?” Charles said as he picked up his phone. “Is Ju okay?”

“Listen to me, Charles, we don’t have a lot of time,” Edward said in that quick way of talking he had. He sounded stressed, though. “Your wife is in labor, and we’re almost out of power. We’re sitting here in the dark due to this call. You have got to get the doors open so we can get Ju to the hospital.”

“Got it,” he said. He was about to hang up when a thought occured to him. “Edward? You got a spare power cell on you? The ones from our project?”

“Yeah,” came the response, but it was hesitant. “Boss, these things explode in the lab.”

“I know, but I’ve got an idea,” he said. “Reroute it through your phone. Let the lithium battery be a dampener. It’s something I’ve been thinking about trying anyway. At the very least, it will give you a few seconds warning to disconnect before any explosions.”

“Okay, I’ll tr...” the line went dead. They were out of power. He immediately dialed the hospital to get Ju’s doctor over here and deliver his son. Once that was done, he started looking with his flashlight to see if there was something he could pry open the lift doors with.

****

“I don’t care,” both Ju and Laura said at the same time.

“Just try it, Edward,” Laura said. “If you can get enough juice to open the doors, it will be worth it.”

Edward had Laura hold her cell phone up for light so he could see what he was doing. He had to grab her arm once as she kept trying to look back at Ju, who was just focused on her breathing. He carefully hooked up his power cell to the cell phone’s battery and then to the controls for the doors. He hoped this would work.

“Okay,” he said. “We’re ready to give this a try. You two should probably get as far away from this as you can.”

They both scrambled as best they could to the far side of the lift. It really wasn’t enough room, but it was the best they could do. As further protection, Edward made sure he was between the control panel and the women. Then, he pressed the door open button. There was a few sparks, and he held his breath, but nothing else seemed to happen. He was about to give up that the doors would open when he saw them start to move. That’s when the power cell in his hand decided to explode.

****

Charles fell back as an explosion came from the inside of the lift. He grabbed the small metal chair he was planning on using as a crowbar and rushed to the door. It had partially opened, and black smoke was rising out of it. Coughing, he jammed the chair into the door and shoved. It took effort, but the doors opened and more smoke came out. He saw Edward laying on the floor, his arm a bloody mess. Ju and Laura were in there as well, eyes closed and coughing. Ju cried as another contraction took her. He rushed in and helped Laura pull Ju out. He could already here the medical staff coming their way.

“What happened?” He asked as he and Laura lowered Ju to the ground.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Edward did something with his cell phone and the wall, and it exploded in his arm.”

He rushed back into the lift and grabbed Edward by the armpits, pulling him out of the smoking room. There was a small fire coming from the cell phone and power pack next to it. The medical people showed up then, three stretchers ready to go. When they asked what had happened, Charles explained it quickly.

“Edward used an unstable power pack to try and get the doors open,” he said. “He used a technique I authorized, and it apparently backfired on him.”

They nodded and picked him up. They demanded that all three go to the hospital, and Laura did not argue. Charles rushed after then, catching up to his pregnant wife. His phone began to ring, but he simply shut it off. This was more important.

****

Ju opened her eyes, and then blinked at the brightness. Looking around, she saw that she was in a cold, white room that only existed in the station hospital. How long had it been? She didn’t know. She just knew that she had been given some kind of drug so they could perform a c-section. Her baby wasn’t fully turned, she remembered. Her baby! She sat bolt up right and then lay down immediately, both her head and stomach swimming in unnatural ways.

“Easy, honey,” Charles said. She looked over and saw that he was sitting right next to her. “Everything is okay.”

“Where’s the baby?” she asked, trying to not let the panic sound in her voice. She wasn’t sure how successful that was.

“He’s actually on his way here,” he said. “They had to keep him over night. He’s a month early, Ju. And he was born under some sever stress. They wanted to make sure he was okay. He’ll be here in a few minutes.”

She sat back down and sighed. Then she looked at him. “What happened?”

“Turns out those news reports were looking to get their story by hook or by crook,” he replied. She still didn’t understand all his idioms yet. But she think she got the jist of this one from his tone. “They caused a massive power outage. But, I was able to turn this all around. The Joint Chiefs and the Ministry of Defense are going to give us all the power funding we need. No more shutting down projects. Everything can go on as planned now. I suppose I should thank Ms. Brandt.”

Ju found herself laughing. She took his hand into hers and smiled up at him. No matter what their differences were, they didn’t matter, she realized. This was her husband, her scientist. She was happy with that. A few seconds later, a nurse came in carrying a bundle up blue blanket. A small pink hand could be seen peaking out of one corner of it.

“Aries,” she said, and opened her arms to receive the baby from the nurse. It was red and wrinkly and squirmy, and both its eyes were screwed tightly shut. But it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. “My son.”

“Welcome to Mars, Aries Webb,” Charles said, tickling the baby’s chin. “Make it your own.”

The End

Week 44

2010-11-07T16:53:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, as promised, the first part of my NaNoWriMo novel, The Life and Times of Aries Webb.

This is the introduction story, and our hero, Aries Webb, doesn't actually appear until the end of the story. But, we'll catch up to him in the next story, which I am already half way through.

So, see you next week, and enjoy Welcome to Mars, Aries Webb!

A Word Above

2010-11-01T00:02:00.003-07:00

Kaya screamed. She frantically pulled herself out of bed, panting. She fought with the sheets, trying to find her rifle. Her dark eyes were wide open and wild, her dark brown skin covered in sweat. It took her a few moments to realize that she was in her bedroom on the coast, and not back in the jungles during the war.

“Home,” she said, as if to reassure herself. It was feeling less and less like home. She took several deep breaths, bringing herself under control and then walked to the window. She stood straight, in a military rest position, and looked out at the sea. As much as the thought terrified her, she missed those jungles from her dreams. And the dreams were getting worse. She needed to do something soon, or she would go mad.

She looked over to her table. The note was still there, from her good friend Thabo. It had invited her to his estates to the south, for a vacation. He worried about her health, and felt that a trip to the south, maybe for a hunt in the plains, would do her some good. She smiled. She hadn’t seen Thabo in years. Maybe a holiday would do her some good.

****

“Colonel!” Thabo shouted, waving as Kaya’s carriage pulled up to his mansion. Though he was only a mile from the city of Tenshibo, his estates were on a grassy hill that made it appear as if it were the only place for miles.

Tenshibo and it’s surrounding territories were currently in the shadow of M’Tibo, the World Above. She looked up at it, and through the clouds could just see the outline of continents and oceans. The other world in the sky had always been there, and her people had always wondered about it. In ancient times, it was believed to be the home of the gods, which is where it got its name. But, about a hundred years ago, a man developed the telescope, and it enabled people to study M’Tibo closely. They saw forests and deserts and lakes and rivers, much like their own world. But they never found signs of habitation, mortal or godly. So it was believed that it was an empty world by modern people. Oh, sure, some still believed it to be the home of the gods, who could remain hidden from the people because they were not ready to see. But, they were rare.

Despite the shade provided by M’Tibo, it was still hot. As a result, Thabo was wearing a simple white vest, embroidered in rich golds and reds, and simple long shorts that tied just below his knees. The white contrasted well against his charcoal, nearly pitch black, skin. He ran down to her and gave her a friendly hug. She kissed him on the cheek, and they smiled at each other.

“I’m so glad you could make it, Colonel,” Thabo said. “I have something very exciting to share with you.”

“I really wish you wouldn’t call me that, Thabo,” she replied. I haven’t been in the army for nearly four years now.”

“Three years and ten full moons tomorrow,” he said. “But who’s keeping track?”

They both laughed. She felt better all ready. A trip to visit Thabo was just what she needed.

“So,” she said as her friend lead her up the drive to the path that lead to the back yard. “What adventure are we going on while I am here? I brought my hunting gear, I was hoping to get a good shot at a Three-Horn while I was here.”

“Oh, I have something more exciting and exotic planned,” Thabo said.

She narrowed her eyes at him. Those words always lead to trouble. When they were kids, it was fun, but as she got older, especially after having served in the army, it was less and less fun and more and more like work to pull his fat out of the fire. Still, Thabo had known her longer than anyone, and as a result knew her heart and mind better than anyone. Even her late husband didn’t know her as well as her best friend. So, she followed, not trusting that this would be fun, but at the same time trusting that Thabo had exactly what she needed.

***

“Okay, Thebo,” Kaya said. “What am I looking at?”

“It’s a hot air balloon!” Thabo said, as if that alone explained everything.

“It looks like a giant, empty water bladder tied to a cage,” Kaya said.

“Funny,” Thabo said, looking at the balloon and stroking his chin. “It does, now that I look at it.”

“Thabo,” Kaya said, bringing her friend back to focus. “Care to explain to me what, exactly, this thing is and what it does?”

“Oh, right,” he said. “Well, when you were in the army, did you ever use those little sky lanterns?”

“Of course,” she said. The small paper lanterns had candles placed in them that allowed them to float in the air, at least as long as the candle burned.

“Well, this was built using the same principle,” he said. “The air in the lantern was heated by the candle, which causes the paper to expand and the air to push it upwards. This does the same thing, only on a bigger scale, and with a fire rather than a candle.”

She raised an eyebrow incredulously.

“No, really,” he said. “Here, look.”

He took her to a table nearby, where several smaller versions of the bladder and cage sat. He picked one up and pointed at the cage.

“People will get inside the protected cage. This one I built to hold my monkey, Kallah,” he pointed to the monkey who was sitting at the end of the table eating a banana. “Now, watch.”

He used a fire starter, aiming at a small oil lantern looking device at the point where the ropes holding the bladder to the cage met. The lantern ignited, sending juts of flame up. It filled the bladder with hot air, which slowly started to rise. Eventually, Thabo let go, and the whole apparatus flew up into the air, held down only be a tether tied to the table.

“Kallah flew for forty five minutes in this,” Thabo said. “And would have stayed longer if the lantern hadn’t run out of fuel.”

“Interesting,” she said, looking up at the thing. “I can see some uses for this as a scouting tool, though it looks horribly vulnerable. Even a poorly aimed shot at that large bladder would destroy the thing, possibly killing your scouts.”

“Ah, true,” Thabo said, looking even more excited. “But that assumes a military application. I plan on using this for exploration.”

“Exploring what?” she asked, and then realized she fell into his trap as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

“Why, M’Tibo, of course,” he said, pointing up.

She looked back up at the World Above. Then, when she looked back at Thabo, her face broke into a broad smile.

***

A few hours later, they were rising into the air. Kaya had her arms gripped to the hand holds inside, but she was looking out the window with a huge grin on her face. This was truly amazing. They were flying! And to top it off, they were going to fly all the way up to M’Tibo. It was exciting, exactly the kind of thing she needed. She felt alive again. A sense of freedom rushed through her as she watched one world recede below them and another come at them from above.

“So,” she said after a few moments, “What’s the plan.”

“Uh... plan?” Thabo replied. He was feeding peanuts to Kallah, and looked confused by her question. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what is it you plan on us doing once we get to M’Tibo?” she said.

“Well, I don’t know that I have a specific plan,” he said. “I mean, I just wanted to be the first person to ever touch foot on M’Tibo. Beyond that, I don’t know... gather some samples of rocks and plant life, maybe bring back an animal for study.”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I brought my hunting gear along then,” she said, pointing to her rifle and other gear by the packs on the side of the cabin. It was small, but comfortable, with padded walls, comfortable chairs and windows everywhere. She looked up out one of those windows and could see the World Above around the balloon. It had never looked this big before.

“How long until we get there?” she asked.

“Oh, my guess is several hours,” Thabo replied. “It’s much further off than most people think.”

“So, how do we land?” she asked. “Being that we’ll be upside down when we get there.”

“Oh, that,” he said. “Well, obviously at some point will cross a line where what we now consider up become down. M’Tibo’s down. I assume that at this point, the balloon will flip over and we can then descend towards the surface and land normally.”

“How do you know that?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s been pretty common knowledge for a while now that M’Tibo must have it’s own down,” he said. “I mean, if that weren't the case, why are we not constantly being barraged by falling rocks or trees or animals.”

She blinked. That had never occurred to her.

At five hours, they reached the dividing point, and the balloon tilted. Kaya panicked, trying to push herself out of her chair, but Thabo only told her to stay put and re-check her straps. She did, tightening them, and then sat. The feeling was odd. They were tilting sideways, slowly. Eventually, the entire cabin was sideways. Then, there was a strange feeling of vertigo, and suddenly, sideways was the other way around. They were tilting again, obviously in the same direction they had been going, but now they were tilting back down. A few moments later, and the bottom of the cabin was once again pointed down. She looked out her window, and saw that the World Above was now below them.

“Ha!” Thabo said, looking out his own window. “I knew it!”

“I guess so,” she said. “Will it be the same amount of time to get to the surface?”

“I don’t think so,” Thabo said. “M’Tibo’s a smaller world that ours, so I imagine it’s atmosphere is too. Probably take us only a couple of hours.”

“Well, since we still have time either way, let’s eat.” she said.

They unpacked some of the food they had brought and ate a hearty lunch. Kaya would have preferred some hot tea to go with it, but Thabo hadn’t prepared for that many comforts in the balloon. A few hours later, Thabo went to his special viewing station and played with the controls to find them a suitable landing place. It wasn’t difficult, given that the area they were coming down in was a series of rolling hills and grass. Very few trees were to be seen.

“This is it, Kaya,” he said, the excitement evident in the way his eyes danced. “We’re about to be the first people to touch the ground of M’Tibo.”

He sounded almost reverent. And why not? Even though no one believed the Gods actually lived on the World Above, it had been such a central part of most of the worlds religions that it was hard to not think of it in those terms. Thabo slowly lowered the balloon, and Kaya started to wonder if he didn’t want to land the balloon, for how long it was taking. Finally, the balloon landed, and Thabo hit the lever that dropped the heavy anchor that would keep the whole contraption tied to M’Tibo’s surface.

Thabo opened the door and looked outside at the new world. Kaya came up behind them. There was a long moment of silence as the two took in the scene with reverence. Then, they gathered up their gear and went back to the door. Thabo paused once again.

“What is it?” Kaya asked. She was excited to get going.

“I feel like I should say something here, something historical and important,” he replied.

Kaya giggled.

“What?” Thabo said. “I’m serious.”

“I know,” she said. “That’s what makes it so funny.”

He glared at her. She sighed and put her hand on his shoulder.

“Look, my friend,” she said. “I’ve been at a few historical events in my time. Believe me, no one really says anything important in the moment. Let’s just get going.”

Thabo sighed. “Oh, you’re right. Still first step on the new world, made by me. That’s pretty exciting.”

She giggled again, and Thabo stepped out of the cage. The plains they were in looked much like the savanna Kaya used to hunt in back in Nuturo, except it was greener and had more trees around it. She checked her rifle to make sure it was loaded just to be sure. Places like this back at home were home to some of the deadliest predators, and she figured that this world wouldn't be any different.

Thabo picked a random direction to try exploring in and they marched off. They were heading for a group of trees, a large one that could actually be a forest. It was about an hours walk away, and by the time they got there, Thabo was tired and ready for a rest. Kaya rolled her eyes at him.

“How can someone in as good a shape as you are be so tired after such a short march?” she teased.

“Hey,” he said. “I lift heavy things a lot to build my inventions, I don’t spend a lot of time walking. That’s for you army types.”

Kaya laughed at him. There were a lot of reasons why men weren’t allowed into the army. The biggest reason, of course, was that while they were aggressive, they tended to be overly so, where as women were more defensive minded. But from Kaya’s point of view, the fact that men were so whiny at the slightest wound or effort of physical labor was the key reason that no one ever spoke of.

A sharp sound brought her attention to the present. She quickly raised her rifle and scanned around at the trees they had just reached. Thabo startled at her sudden movements.

“What is it?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“I don’t know,” she said. “Could be nothing. Stay there.”

She took a few steps in the direction the sound might have come from. She heard the sound again, and this time she knew it was real. And that it was closer. A few more cautious steps had her right by a few bushes. She poked the bushes with rifle. A second later, a small, fury creature with long ears and powerful hind legs came bounding out of the bushes and started running away. She had never seen anything like it before, but it was obviously just trying to get away. I prey animal, she guessed. Too small to hunt anything.

She lowered her rifle in relief. Of course, that’s when hell broke loose. A large lizard, about half the size of a horse, came charging out of the bushes, chasing the long eared animal. This thing had six legs, a long body that seemed to flow almost like water, and a mouth full of sharp teeth. It pushed her over in its haste to get the target of its affections. It stopped, however, as soon as it realized what it had just leaped by.

The beast stared at her, and she stared back. This was familiar to her, and she found herself smiling. The creature roared and bared all it’s teeth. Let it bellow and charge, she thought. She gripped her rifle. She had teeth as well. Just then, Thabo let out a little cry, and tried to run away, stumbling over the log he had been sitting on. The creature turned to look at him, and roared again.

“No!” Kaya cried as the beast leaped at Thabo, who was still struggling to stand up. She yanked her rifle up and fired without thinking, and the rapport sounded very loud in her ears. The beast was hit and flung to the side, but it was getting back up. It gave Thabo time to get up and run, however. Kaya eye the six legged monster. It was wounded, one of its legs useless, but not out of the fight yet. She raised the gun again. Her cartridge would have three more bullets in it. This time, she didn’t wait for the monster to attack, she pumped and fired. The creature had started charging her, and so ducked as she fired. However, the rapport from the gun startled it, causing it to stumble over the wounded leg. She fired again, and this time the shot rang true, hitting the beast in the head and felling it for good.

“By the Twelve Gods,” Thabo said. “What was that thing?”

Kaya came up and poked the beast with her rifle a few times just to make sure it was really dead. She shook her head at Thabo’s question, and then bent down and turned the monster over. It was heavy, and very muscular.

“I don’t know,” she said. “But I’m glad I brought my gun.”

“I cannot wait to show this thing to my colleagues back home,” Thabo said, stepping up to get a closer look. “Reptiles of this size just don’t exist!”

“They apparently do on M’Tibo,” Kaya said.

She heard another snap, and stood up, swinging her rifle around, prepared to shoot at another of the lizard beasts. Instead, she found herself facing a large group of men, mostly naked except for loincloths, with pale, nearly white skin and armed with spears, all of which were pointed at her. She counted twenty as she made a circle, and realized that they were surrounded. She only had one bullet in her chamber. And what was worse, they had snuck up on here so completely. She was a better hunter than that. A better soldier.

“Thabo,” she said through gritted teeth. “I thought you said this place was uninhabited.”

“What?” he said, looking up at last. “Oh, my.”

One of the men said something that Kaya didn’t understand, and that surprised her somewhat, as she was fluent in four languages back home. She looked at Thabo, but he shrugged his shoulders. The man who spoke seemed to understand that they didn’t understand, so he pointed with his spears at Kaya’s gun. Then he pointed across the circle. Kaya understood immediately. She was reluctantly to throw away her biggest weapon, but she still had a knife on her belt. Plus, there were way more of them. Sighing, she threw the rifle across the circle, and another of the men picked it up. She raised her arms and motioned that Thabo do the same. The men with the spears prodded them slightly to get them to move, then marched then away from the trees.

“Fascinating,” Thabo said. “All this time, we were convinced that there were no people on M’Tibo. We never could see any signs of intelligent life. Although, we really couldn't see more than the largest trees and the silhouettes of birds anyway.”

“Why are they so pale?” she asked. “They look almost like ghosts.”

“I’m not sure,” he said. “Maybe the temperature here is on average colder than at home. I mean, those who live in the north, where it’s hotter all year round, are darker than those in the south where it gets pretty cold.”

“Could be,” she replied.

The man that had spoken, which Kaya had begun to think of as the Lieutenant, pushed them with the tip of his spear, speaking again.

“I think he wants us to be quiet,” she said to Thabo, who nodded in reply. They spent the rest of the march in silence.

They traveled for several hours, during which the terrain never changed much. Green rolling hills broken by small forests. Eventually, they came to a river, and the marched changed direction. They followed the river, and Kaya recognized that they were heading into a river valley. This would be a place that would be easily defensible, because the hills here got steeper. The river created a natural boundary. If it were up to here, she would build a fortress or a settlement in just such an area. And she was proven right.

They crested a hill and saw the village. It was primitive, at best, with the housing made of mud and wood. There was no outer wall at all, but it was also clear that these people had made a practice of protecting themselves from raids, as several other men with spears, bows and arrows and strange looking knives made from what looked like stone, could be seen. Kaya still had trouble accepting that these men were the primary military force to these people, though that was clearly the case. As they neared the village, she saw women and girls doing more domestic tasks, like sewing, cooking and taking care of children.

They were lead through the village, where more of these white skinned people stared at them. The temperature here was distinctly colder than their landing point, and the dress of these people led her to believe that this was their summer months. Perhaps Thabo was right about their skin tone. If this was the most sun they saw, they would be pale like this. They were lead to a large, round structure. Inside sat a semi-circle of six men, all aged. She guessed this must be their leadership, though again she found it odd that there were no women present.

The Lieutenant spoke to the elders, apparently telling them the story of how he discovered Kaya and Thabo. He made gestures that had her believing that he saw the balloon descending, and followed it until he captured the two of them. He also told about the lizard creature, and how Kaya shot it. From the looks on their faces, the old men had trouble believing the part about the gun. If the primitive technology she had seen so far was typical of them, she wasn’t surprised. A gun would be beyond their understanding. It must have seemed like magic.

One of the elders tried speaking to her and Thabo, probably to verify the story. They only shook their heads. The elder seemed to understand. He said something to the Lieutenant, who nodded and led them back outside. There, he took them to a small hut, and placed them inside. They were no alone, though a they could see through the cracks in the that a guard had been placed over them.

They spent the next few weeks in the village. At first, they were kept to the hut, or brought before the elders, but eventually Kaya started picking up their language. Enough, at least, to understand and answer the questions being asked of them by the elders. Things like, did you really come from the World Above (strange that they would call her home the World Above when that was what her people called this world), did you really kill a quickstrike (their name for that lizard beast) and what were their plans for this world. After convincing the elders that they were simple explorers who didn’t even know that people lived here, they were allowed to wander the village freely.

Thabo was having the time of his life, learning their culture and ways. He had a harder time with their language than Kaya, but he picked it up out of necessity. They learned that these people moved to this area from an even colder climate where it snowed most of the year. Kaya had only seen snow once, back in the army while crossing the mountains. She couldn’t imagine actually living in the stuff. Apparently, the men were the warriors here, but they were not defenders like the women back home. They were aggressive, and this village was here mostly so the men could raid from another tribe that lived not far from here.

However, they were likable folk. They were aggressive, but they also came from a hostile environment, and really just wanted a better life for their people. Thabo learned that they raised their children as a community, and that they had the basics of forging down, though they had yet to develop past bronze. He figured that it wouldn’t be long before they learned iron, however. They were smart people. The two of them talked about these people, who called themselves the Viknavians, after their homeland, and the world of M’Tibo itself.

“I was hoping that M’Tibo could be a place of resources for our world,” Thabo said one day, “And now it can also be a place of cultural trade as well. It’s so exciting! What we can teach these people, and what they can teach us!”

Kaya wasn’t so sure. In her experience, those with the better guns rarely did any trading, even in her world. She had also learned her own things from the Viknavians. She learned that they were at war, and that this village had bee raided several times during that war. The Lieutenant, named Valk, was a war leader, and had been leading a raiding party of his own when they saw Thabo’s balloon. At first, they though they were gods, but when they saw Thabo scream and try to hide from the quickstrike, they knew otherwise. She laughed at that, but never could bring herself to tell Thabo. She told Valk about how her rifle worked, but never let him fire it. It was too precious in this land of spear and arrows.

After about a month, the village elders said that they were allowed to leave the village, if they so choose. The balloon had been brought to the village weeks ago, and Thabo had looked it over thoroughly. He declared it was still in perfect order, and that he could get them home, no trouble. Of course, that’s when the trouble came to them.

The morning they planned on departing, the village was attacked. The raid came in the form of horsemen, armed with axes and spears. It came suddenly and with little preamble. Kaya watched in shocked horror as the men on the horses indiscriminately killed, women, children, men actually trying to fight them. It didn’t seem to matter to matter to them. She quickly ran to the hut she shared with Thabo, and retrieved her gun and ammo. She found a good spot and start shooting. In a matter of mere minutes, she had taken down five of the horsemen, and was reloading.

They didn’t know where the shots were coming from, or indeed what was causing them. Kaya used this to her advantage, and moved to a new firing point before unloading another clip. She took down four more horsemen, and the raiders were now thoroughly confused, allowing the men of the village to rally and start to push them back. Then Thabo came up to her, yelling something.

“They’ve taken them,” he shouted. “They have the women!”

Kaya looked and saw that a group of horsemen had, indeed, grabbed several village women and were using them as shields as they attempted to retreat. She froze. She was back in the army, fighting against a superior force, but her troops were holding their own. The village would be defended. That was when she saw the woman leading the enemy troops ordering the capture of children. With them as shields, she would get away. Kaya made the hard choice, and fired on the women. They won the battle, but several innocent kids died, at Kaya’s orders. The nightmares plagued her to this day. And now it was happening all over again.

“You’ve got to do something, Kaya,” Thabo said. “Stop them!”

Still frozen by fear of hitting the women, Kaya watched the horsemen. Then something hit her. Horsemen. She didn’t need to fire at the riders. The horses made larger targets, and they were often not being protected by the women. She set her jaw. This time, she was going to save as many from the village as she could, and none would die by her hand. She took aim and fired.

The horse fell. Then another. As they fell, the women were able to escape and the men were set upon by village warriors. Her resolve set, Kaya fought on, freeing all the women captured. The battle was over not longer afterwards, the villagers victorious. Kaya was grateful, too, because she was running low on bullets. The village elders were thankful for Kaya and Thabo’s efforts during the raid. They rewarded them with full status as members of the tribe.

The next day was departure day. It was sad for all of them, and the village made a gift to Thabo of two of those strange fluffy, floppy eared creatures they first saw those weeks ago. The locals called them rabbits.

“Well, I don’t know about you,” Thabo said once they were on their way, “But I cannot wait to tell everyone at home about this.”

“We can’t,” Kaya said.

“What?” Thabo said.

“Think about it, Thabo,” she said. “What would be the first thing our people would do if they knew we could finally reach the World Above?”

“They would go there, to get its resources,” he replied immediately.

“And would they stop because of a tribe of primitives?” she asked. He gave no answer.

“Look at how effective those horsemen were, and all they had were horses,” she said. “Imagine what would happen if a troop of soldiers with rifles were to fight those white skinned folk down there.”

“It would be a slaughter,” he whispered.

“it would,” she said, nodding her head. “It’s in M’Tibo’s best interest that we never talk about this. We need to destroy the balloons, too. We must protect those people. They deserve the dignity to at least live their own lives, according to their traditions, and no have ours forced upon them.”

“You are right, of course,” Thabo agreed at last.

After a few seconds of silence, he asked “What about my rabbits?”

“It’s a couple of small animals,” she replied. “Keep them. How hard can it be to hide a few animals?”

The End

Week 43

2010-11-01T00:02:00.001-07:00

Here it is, the story before NaNo! I hope you enjoy it!

Bonus Story: Waiting for You

2010-10-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

Hey gang! It's time for yet another bonus story! Once again, I really dug my entry into Leah Petersen's 5 Minute Fiction challenge, and after doing some editing with suggestions from twitter friend @RCMurphy. So, enjoy my somewhat twisted flash fiction.

Waiting for You

Steven walked out the Starbucks and looked around to find his car when he dropped his coffee. Instead of the busy street where he had parked, there was a forest. No buildings, but trees and grass. He looked to his left, and saw a large, white horse with a single, strong horn sprouting from its fore head. It winked at him.

He reversed direction, heading back into the coffee shop. When he turned around, everything inside looked the same. The tables were still there, the music was still playing, the coffee was still brewing. But a closer look showed that the tables were real wood, the music was being played by a live band made up of tiny fairies and the coffee was being brewed over a live fire. The woman behind the counter, the same woman that had given him his coffee earlier, now had long, pointed ears. He spun as a man sitting at a table next to him in a business suit got up, setting his paper down. Steven backed away when he saw that the man’s lower half was that of a horse.

He turned again, heading towards the door. The unicorn was at it now, pushing him back inside. He fled from the beast, all the way to the table.

“What the hell is going on here?” he screamed.

The horse winked once again.

“What’s going on?” it asked in a pleasant, female voice. “Why, you are, darlin’.”

“What?”

“I’ve been waiting for you,” she said, her voice getting husky.

“You.. you have?” he asked, swallowing to try and wet his now dry throat.

“Oh, yes,” the unicorn said in that strangely erotic female voice. “A big, strong human like you, to rub my horn and that I can give a ride to.”

She winked again, and Steven felt himself getting light headed.

“So,” she asked. “What do you say? Take a walk on the wild side?”

Steven looked around at them all and then back to the unicorn, and promptly fainted.

The End

Mine 642

2010-10-24T23:06:00.003-07:00

Mine 642 wasn’t anything spectacular to look at, just a giant rock floating through space along with thousands of other giant rocks. The only thing that distinguished it from the others was the large “Property of Interstellar Minerals” sign and the big “642” painted on it. You couldn’t even see the mine proper from the angel the transport ship was coming in on. Steven sighed. He expected it to be a bit more romantic.

Still, it was a good job, and it paid amazingly. Steven made more in the signing bonus alone than he did in three months work back in Texas. And all of it would go back to Pam back home. He would miss her during his year long rotation at the mine, but it would be worth it. He was just glad he didn’t have kids. A year was a long time to miss out on kids.

The shuttle docked, which meant it attached its rear hatch to the hole cut into the side of the rock. Steven had a brief moment of concern. He knew that the mining company had air pumped into the rock, and that there was a green house to help with the air purification, but the idea that rock and a few inches of steel were all that kept him from the cold of space was frightening. But, he had little choice. He needed this job. His family back home needed this job. So, he said a quick prayer and took a deep breath as the hiss of pressurization took place behind him.

Once he walked into the mine he found himself in an area that was much like an apartment building, clean and well lit. He and the other six men on his transport were greeted by a man named Oscar, who would be their direct supervisor. He took them on a tour of this main facility. There was a main hall for eating with a cafeteria, that reminded him of high school. There were even a few shops to buy entertainment in, and one movie theater that was showing movies three years old back on Earth. Still, working in the rock was lonely, and entertainment such as that was worth it.

Then they were shown their rooms. This is where the analogy to an apartment building really took shape. Each man got a room that had a small kitchenette, a living room and a single bedroom. It was small, but comfortable, and private, something Steven approved of. On Earth, he had worked in places where all the miners lived in bunks, including the supervisors and management.

As part of their orientation, they also got a brief tour of the mines. Back at home, Steven knew people that still thought of mining as a group of guys in a tunnel hitting at a wall with pick axes, despite the fact that it hasn’t been like this for a few centuries now. No, like the mines back home, this mine was done with a room and column approach, and lots of modern machinery was in place here. Lights were all over, making the place as bright as noon time in the summer, and in the places that had already been mined out, there were tables and chairs for breaks, including plants, making it all rather comfortable.

Steven’s job was going to be running one of the remote controlled digging machines. He always thought that terms was kind of odd, given that he was going to be all of three feet away from the thing. He met his co-driver, Jose, who was from Argentina. The two would be working the same shift, but there were two other men who would be working the other shift of the mine. he digging was a twenty-four hour processes, but no one referred to anything as day shift or night shift, given that such things were meaningless both in space and underground.

The strangest part, and that which was the most different than the mines he worked on Earth, would be the gravity. Or rather, the lack of it. The living quarters and upper levels of the facility, the place everyone called the Station, was covered in the new “gravity plates.” These were expensive, state of the art technological marvels that gave the quarter mile facility the same gravity as Earth. But the mine itself was left to its own devices, which meant no gravity. A series of hand rails ran throughout the facility, and every man was required to wear a tether, called the life line. Most men worked in machines, so it was just a matter of strapping in. Those few that weren’t in machines wore special boots that gripped the rock and allowed them to move about slowly. He was told that it wasn’t uncommon for men to get gravity sickness during their first few days of work, and the company expected it, so no one would get docked pay. At least, not for the first two days. After that, you were on your own. But, everyone seemed to get used to it pretty quick. Or at least, that’s what Oscar said.

And that was pretty much the end of the tour. They would have the rest of the time until their first shift to settle in, unpack, eat, sleep and do whatever else they wanted. Oscar closed out the orientation by asking if there were any questions. There were a few, and Oscar answered them all with friendly smiles. He was a knowledgeable man, aware of the unique conditions of working in a rock floating through space. Obviously, this wasn’t his first time at the rodeo. But, he was also patient and friendly, traits that Steven had rarely seen in a foreman. He found himself looking forward to working with this man.

The next few days went smoothly and easily, and by the end of the week, Steven had fallen into the grove of work. He even began to like the little apartment building/town that made up the Station. He rented movies for his own personal viewing pleasure, sent messages back to his family and hung out with his fellow miners, making quite a few friends. At the end of three months, Mine 642 had become home. That, of course, was when the accident happened.

He was working in the mine as normal, on his machine with Jose. While they were working out a stuck gear when the cave rumbled. They looked at each other for a moment.

“You hear that?” Jose said in his thick accent. Steven still wasn’t used to hearing Y’s pronounced as J’s. He nodded at Jose, and then looked around, waving to get another Miner’s attention. This was Rocco, a short, skinny man that worked on the filter assembly. He claimed to be from New York, but Steven always thought his accent sounded fake. Rocco had obviously stopped working as well, and nodded when he saw Steven waving at him.

“Everyone calm down,” Steven could hear Oscar’s voice, coming down the tunnel. “What just happened was not a big deal. A smaller asteroid hit us, is all. Just keep working, we’re fine.”

Steven nodded. That had been mentioned in orientation as happening sometimes. The company did their best in picking a stable asteroid that didn’t get hit often, but it was unavoidable in the belt to find one that never got hit. He nodded to Jose and the two returned to their controls. That was when the second shake happened.

It was bigger than the first one, and included a loud nose that sounded to Steven like a bomb going off. He immediately shut off his digger and turned around to see that the main tunnel leading back to the Station was collapsing. He thought he saw fire in it. Then, he noticed that there were men in that tunnel. Immediately, he unbuckled his harness and pushed himself across the room towards the tunnel.

The whole complex was still shaking, as if it were in the throes of a huge earthquake, but flying across the weightless chamber, he didn’t feel it anymore, only watched it. It was an odd sensation, but he pushed those thoughts out of his mind and tried to angle his trajectory towards one of the emergency tethers. He grabbed it and the hand hold next to it, landing slightly harder than he intended. Then, calling to the men in the tunnel, he three the line to them. Before they had even grabbed it, however, he felt a presence behind him. It was Darrel, a large, mostly silent man who worked one of the other diggers. He grabbed the tether behind Steven, nodding in readiness to pull.

Steven turned back to the three men, who were now blocked from going back up by falling rocks. One looked like he had been hit by one, but the others had tied the line to him. Then, they tied it around themselves and gave Steven a thumbs up. Steven and Darrel pulled. It a weightless environment, it didn’t take much. The three men hurtled into the room out of the tunnel, which continued to collapse. As soon as the men were clear, Steven and Darrel both let go of the tether and pushed themselves away from the dangerous falling rocks and collapsing tunnel. A few moments later, the shaking stopped.

Everyone just stood there, looking back at the tunnel that lead to the Station, their only way out of the small room they were now stuck in. A quick look around revealed to Steven that there were twelve of them, counting Oscar. No one quite knew what to do next. Everyone turned to look at the foreman.

“Okay,” he said, “let’s not panic. First, let’s get a head count and check on injuries.”

He went around the room and confirmed Steven’s initial estimation. Then, they learned that three of them were seriously injured. The man from the tunnel, Dmitry, a Russian, had a broken leg. Another man, David, had done the same, and a third, Steven’s own partner, Jose, had a blade from the digger sticking out of his arm. Apparently, the machine had been pushed into the rock wall, breaking off a several of the blades, one of which hit Jose. Steven was grateful that the injury was only to his friend’s arm, and not someplace more serious like his head or chest.

Oscar continued to direct things. He had two men check the tunnel, to see if it would be possible to dig their way out. He then went to his station to check the phone and see if he couldn’t get a hold of the Station. He quickly found out that there was no connection. All he got was static. Finally, his computer was able to access one of the outside cameras that watched for incoming asteroids. He pointed one around and saw something that made him gasp. Steven rushed up to see what w as going on.

It was the most horrific site he had ever seen. A second asteroid, probably about half the size of Mine 642, had smashed into the rock they were currently trapped in. It landed right where the shuttle bay and the Station were located, smashing in and completely destroying the complex. There were bodies floating in space, and a few fires could still be seen through the leaking atmosphere.

Steven backed away, his had to his mouth, trying to not throw up. There were over one hundred men in the Station. All were dead. And the devices that provided fresh air down to the caves were destroyed. The men in this cave were still alive, but Steven realized right away that they wouldn’t last. They were all dead. All of them.

Twelve men. Steven couldn’t bring himself to look around at them all, because all he could think of was how terrified he was for himself. His kids and his wife went through his mind. What would they be told about how he died? Because he was now certain he was going to die down here. With these twelve men. And he couldn't look them in the eye.

The other men came up to see what was going on, and when they got a look at the screen, they all came to the same conclusion. Steven expected it to be pandemonium, but surprisingly, nothing happened. When he finally made himself look, he saw that they, like him, were shocked into staring off into space. Even Oscar couldn’t bring himself to look at anyone else.

“We’re dead,” Jose said. “There’s nothing that can be done. We’ll die here, floating into what’s left of this rock. Dead.”

That seamed to shake Oscar awake. He looked around and glared at the men in that room.

“Now you all listen here,” he said. “We are not dead yet. There is still a chance that we can be rescued.”

“Right,” Steven said. “A slim one at best.”

“A slim chance is better than no chance,” Oscar said, which caused Steven to actually look at him.

“Listen to me,” Oscar said. “We are NOT dead yet, and until such time as I see that we are most assuredly dead, then I will let you all give up. Until then, we continue acting as if we can get out of here, and do all we can to survive.”

“Oh, yeah?” Richard, one of the men that Steven pulled out of the tunnel, asked. “And what can we do about that?”

“Well, for one thing, we can go check out the other abandoned tunnels,” Oscar said. “One of them was our break room, with refrigerators, and another one had the backup generators that we used here for our equipment. We might still have food and power for a little while. I mean, after all, I was able to use my station, right?”

Even Steven had to nod his head about that.

“Okay,” he said. “So we got some food and some power. Maybe we can even hook up the power to the food. It still won’t last that long. It will take another week before the next shuttle comes by.”

“True,” Oscar said, “for the regular shuttle. But we also keep in regular contact with Earth. A report would be sent every night, relayed through the string of satellites. It’ll take a few hours to reach home, but still, they’ll know something is wrong when they don’t get that message.”

“Hey,” Richard said. “Maybe we could use your phone or computer to tap into that satellite network? Send our own message, at least an SOS.”

“That’s an idea,” Oscar said. He glanced back at his desk. “I’m not really the best guy for that, though. I only use the computer to file reports on. Anyone here know how to use a computer enough to hack into the network?”

Slowly, one of the men raised his hand. Everyone turned to look at him.

“My name is Michael,” he said in some accent Steven couldn't quite recognize. “I was caught trying to hack the company’s mainframe several years back, stole a few thousand dollars. My punishment by the court was to pay back every cent. As I couldn’t, I was assigned to work here, until my payment was done.”

“Wow,” Oscar said, then shook his head. “So, you can work this computer? Hack into the network?”

“Well, I don’t know,” Michael said. “Those are government satellites, I’ve never done anything that big before. But, I’m willing to give it a try.”

“Good,” Oscar said. “Good enough. Get to it. Meanwhile, I want other men to check on food and power.”

In a few minutes, Steven found himself on a team that was set to check on the power generators. Jose and Dmitry were also on this team. Together, the three went down the tunnel that led to the chambers where the generators were stored. It was pretty easy going, as far as traveling down a tunnel with no gravity was concerned. But it had Steven worried. This tunnel was going in the direction that the other asteroid hit Mine 642. He had a bad feeling.

When they got there, he felt his feeling was justified. Fully half of the chamber was collapsed in on itself, and they could see chunks of the other rock through the rubble. Three of the four generators were smashed or buried completely, totally unusable. That left just one generator. He shook his head. It wasn’t going to be enough.

“It’ll do,” Oscar said. Steven tried to protest, and Dmitry was right there with him, but Oscar just wouldn’t hear of it. “It’s all we got, there’s no use in trying to make the situation worse than it is. It’ll do, because it’ll have to. Will do things like shut off lights in areas we’re not using. We’ll move the fridges here, and shut off lights there too. Everything we can do to preserve energy. We’ll make it.”

The food hunting group had a little better luck. It turns out that the shift before had a pot luck, and there was plenty of left overs, including stew, pot roast, chicken, sandwiches and even pizza. Combined with the food left in there from the other minors and staff, there was enough food to keep everyone fed for a week. Steven hoped that would be enough. Oscar decided that they would need to ration right away, so as to drag out the food supply. Everyone would only eat once a day, bringing the food supply to three weeks. It would be tough, but they could make it.

Harder would be the water supply. It didn’t fare as well, being that the majority of it was back at the Station. Still, there was a tank with a good thirty gallons of water left. They would ration that as well. Now, really, all they could do was wait. Oscar couldn't force them to follow his orders, but they all agreed to do so anyway. Not that there was much to do. Over the next few days, they mostly sat in the dark, with the lights off. Dmitry and Jose told ghost stories from other mine jobs they had worked on, but other than that, there wasn’t much in the way of entertainment. Steven couldn’t bring himself to join in conversation most of the time. He still felt that all they had done was delay the inevitable.

Finally, things started to look up. One day four, they received a reply via the satellite network. The company was sending a rescue crew, and was being back up by the Earth government. Specialists in Asteroids were already on the way, and in fact would probably arrive not a day after they received this message. They were asked to preserve as much generator power as possible, and also to try not to expend any energy if not necessary, so as to preserve the oxygen. Steven snorted, as they were already doing both of these.

“Why do you do that?” Dmitry said. “Snort like that. They are coming. We will be rescued. Why do you snort?”

“Why?” Steven asked, the whole thing getting to him. “Because it’s ridiculous. What do they think we’re doing in here? Running in circles with the lights on? Of course we’re preserving oxygen and electricity. We don’t have a choice, and I’m sure they know that. It’s all pointless, anyway. They won’t be able to simply dig down to us, we’re too deep in. It would take them days to simply dig down. We’ll run out of oxygen before then.”

“You are very negative,” he replied back. “You only try to help when Oscar commands it. If you’ve given up, fine. But don’t try to make the rest of us give up.”

“Make you?” Steven said. “There’s nothing to give up! We’re already dead!”

That seemed to set Dmitry over the top. He swung at Steven, hitting him square on the jaw. Steven leaped at the other man, grabbing hair and punching in the gut as he went. They took a few more swings at each other before Oscar got to them and pulled them apart.

“Are you two idiots?” he yelled. “Don’t you realize that by fighting, you’re just waisting oxygen? You’re only killing us faster. Steven, I know the situation is dire. But it’s not hopeless, and as long as we’re alive, I’ll keep fighting. Dmitry is right, you want to give up? Fine. Go do it over there and leave the rest of us alone.”

Steven nodded and moved across the chamber. He didn’t quite leave the light, though. He couldn’t do that. He pulled out his wallet when he was alone, and looked at the pictures he had there of his family. Tears ran down his face as the others got back to planning.

“Guys,” Richard said. “We’ve got some trouble. We’ve been conserving as much energy as we can, but according to what they need from us when they get here, we’re short several hundred terrawatts. I don’t know what else we can do to give it to them.”

Everyone kept silent. What more could they do?

“can we shut off all the lights?” Oscar asked.

“It won’t make that much of a difference,” Richard replied.

“There’s gotta be something we can do.”

Steven turned to look back at them. It all seemed so hopeless. And cold. He realized it was cold over here, but warmer over by Oscar’s desk. That made sense, his desk had a heater by it. Then, something occurred to him.

“The heaters,” he said. Everyone turned to look at him. “We could turn off the heaters. It would get damn cold in here, and quick too, but we could do it. There’s some thermal blankets in the storage bins by Oscar’s desk.”

“Richard?” Oscar asked.

“That... would work,” Richard said. “If we shut them all off, including the one around the generator. It would give the rescue team what they need.”

A few moments later, everyone was huddled under thermal blankets. There wasn’t enough for each man to get his own, but there was enough that they only had to huddle in groups of three. Dmitry and Jose welcomed Steven into their group. He nodded and came up with them. Steven realized that he really wanted to live. He wanted to get out of here, to see Pam again. And he wanted it bad enough to believe that they might be able to make it out.

Even with the blankets, it was pretty cold. Mostly, Steven tried to sleep, as did most of the other men. One meal a day didn’t give you a lot of energy, which was fine, as they couldn’t do much anyway. On the next day, they got the signal from the rescue crew that they were beginning their efforts. They asked for a head count and were please to find that all twelve men were still alive. A few hours later, Steven thought he could feel a breeze.

“Hey, guys,” he said. “You feel that?”

The others started to stir. Then, they nodded. Richard went to the computer and checked for messages. There was one waiting for a reply, so he responded that they were still here, but that now they could feel a breeze. Was it the first signs of a leak?

“Not a leak,” Richard read. “It means that phase one worked. We managed to snake in a small tube through the small space between the other rock and yours to pump in air. This will save us a lot of effort We’re working on how to get you food and water. We might be able to do something similar. In the mean time, hold tight and enjoy the fresh air.”

“How are they going to send us food via a small tube?” Richard mused.

“Protein shakes,” Oscar replied immediately. When everyone looked at him, he shrugged. “This isn’t my first mine collapse. Oh, its the first one I’ve been trapped in, but I’ve helped rescue men from being trapped before.”

Sure enough, the next day, they got a water tube down to the men. They kept in pretty constant contact with everyone down there, and Steven was even able to get a message to his wife, and heard back from her as well. She was terrified, and he couldn’t blame her. He was too. But, he told her, have hope. It’s all they had down there, in that rock floating in space.

For another week they huddled down there, cold under their blankets. They ran out of food, and occasionally, the water was replaced with that protein shake that Oscar mentioned. It tasted horrible, but it kept them all alive, so as far as Steven was concerned, it was the Nectar of the Gods. Tensions were high. Communications were pretty steady, twice a day, to let the men know of the rescue team’s progress. The digging was progressing, but very slowly.

Then, things started to turn really bad. Jose got sick. He broke out in sweats and a fever, and his wound started issuing puss under the bandage. They told the rescue team, but there wasn’t an immediate response. The next hour was extra tense. Oscar ordered the men to move Jose to a separate part of the room. They lashed him to the sifting machine, and wrapped him up in the blanket. They washed his wound as best as possible, and used the first aid kit to give him a clean bandage. But, he didn’t look good.

Steven felt real fear at this point. It was different from the numb fear he had when this all started. This was sharp, jabbing right into his heart, and hurt. Jose was his friend. It was one thing to think they were all going to die down here. It was another entirely to think that one of them, especially one he cared about like he did Jose, would go first, and in a painful way like that. Steven didn’t consider himself a religious man. He left that mostly to his wife. But he prayed now. For the first time during this entire ordeal, he prayed. God, let Jose live. It was a simple prayer, but it was the best he knew how to do. He just hoped it was enough.

Finally, after that hour, they got a response from the rescue team. They were asked some questions about Jose’s specific symptoms, and after getting the responses, they disappeared again.

“This is bad, isn’t it Oscar?” Richard asked.

“Maybe,” Oscar said. It was the first time he didn’t sound positive that all twelve of them were getting out. “If they’re not talking to us, it’s because someone topside as told them Jose won’t make it. It means they’re trying to come up with a faster, but riskier, method of getting us out of here, so they can rescue Jose as well.

A few hours later, the team responded. They confirmed what Oscar said. The doctors topside said that if they didn’t get to Jose quickly, he just wasn’t going to make it. So, they were going to try a very risky plan, but they weren’t going to do it unless all the men agreed. They were going to use explosives to blow a huge hole in the rock. It would cause another collapse, which could injure them more, or even bury them. But if it worked, it would provide a tunnel to the room they were trapped in. It would also cause explosive decompression. Some of the men might be thrown out into space. They had a back up plan for that. They would be putting a dome around the explosion, so as to keep the air in and prevent as much decompression as possible. They also had teams watching all around the asteroid. They had special boxes to try and capture anyone thrown outside before the vacuum could kill them. Ideally. There was still a chance that everyone down there could be killed. As much as a 40% chance, and a 90% chance that more people would be injured.

“But they could rescue Jose, “ Steven said. “I saw we go for this option.”

Several other’s nodded. Oscar raised his hands for attention.

“This has to be unanimous. We either all agree, or this doesn’t get done,” he said. He looked around the room, one by one. Everyone slowly nodded, or raised their hand, indicating that they were agreement. They would go with this plan. They sent the message back up top.

It only took the rescue team an hour to set up. They told the team to take what cover they could and hang on. Everyone gathered around the sifter with Jose. Then the countdown began. It was the longest ten seconds in Steven’s life. Four. Three. Two. One. The entire cavern shook violently, and the roof and floor both started to collapse. Steven, in one of those weird moments where your mind goes someplace different than the danger around you, wondered why he didn’t hear an explosion. A large rock came down and him him, cutting a gash across his arm. More came down, and the men raised their blankets to protect themselves. That helped for the most part, but the bigger rocks still hurt them.

There was no explosive decompression. That was good, it meant their dome worked. The shaking and rock falling only lasted a few minutes this time, but when it was all done, they found that they were buried again. This time, all around them rather than just the tunnel mouths. Their large cavern turned into a small circular chamber only big enough to hold them. Everyone had wounds now, and Oscar only avoided a head wound because of his helmet.

A few moments later, Steven could hear something.

“Did you hear that?” he said. “It sounds like...”

“Drilling,” Oscar said quietly. They all listened. It was drilling. The rescue team was drilling through the rubble that had sealed them in. This was it. In a few moments it was all over. Steven and these eleven other men would all be rescued. Freedom. He knew then that he would leave behind their cavern and return to his wife. And he couldn't be happier to be rid of the place. But he also knew that he would never forget Mine 642.

The End

Week 42

2010-10-24T23:06:00.001-07:00

Well here we are again, with one more story. I've been busy with NaNoWriMo prep that this story comes a little late. Sorry about that, I'll try to be more on time next week. :)

In the mean time, this week's story was inspired by real life news events. I'm not sure it's all that good, but it was one of those stories that I had to write. Glad that it's out of my head and on paper... or web page, as the case may be.

So, enjoy, and see you all next week!

Preparing for NaNoWriMo: Cleaning House

2010-10-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

So, here I am, gearing up for the massive endeavor that is National Novel Writing Month. And like most WriMo’s, this includes outlining my novel, getting to know my characters and generally lots of other writerly activities. But there is one thing I need to do in order to make sure my mine is focused on the task at hand in November. Something I hardly hear spoken about by other WriMo’s. Cleaning House.

I mean that in the most literal sense of the word, too. I have dishes that need to be cleaned, so that keeping them clean during November is easy and doesn’t interfere with my writing. I need to vacuum the carpet. I need to clean out the cat’s litter box. In short, I need to clean house.

Oh, sure, some of these will still be done during NaNo. Dishes get used despite my best efforts to the contrary. But at least I can make sure they are all clean before the month starts. Clothing will be worn and dirtied, but I can make sure that the piles don’t just get added to the existing piles before NaNo starts. Some things can be skipped during the month, like dusting and vacuuming, but especially if I do them before November.

So, my biggest preparation for the week or so before NaNo is to clean house.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, there are some dishes waiting for me to clean them.

-Chris

My Plans for NaNoWriMo

2010-10-20T12:55:00.000-07:00

Yes, that’s right, I have signed up to do NaNoWriMo this year. For those few reading this that don’t know, this is National Novel Writing Month, where those of us who are crazy attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days. You can learn more here: http://www.nanowrimo.org.

Now, some of you have already asked me how I plan to do NaNoWriMo AND write one story a week for this blog. The answer is simple. I’m going to combine the two. I have been spending the last couple of months outlining a novel that tells one overarching story through several short stories. Each story will still fit the rules I have set for myself here, and be between 5,000 and 7,500 words.

Pretty simple, right? And easily doable as part of NaNoWriMo. Now, comes the second question, the one that is asked after someone does some math. With at least 50,000 words to write, and assuming an average of 5,000 words a story, that’s ten stories. And only nine weeks left in the year. And if my outline is any indication, I’ll have at least twelve or thirteen stories. So, what do I do with those left over stories?

I’ll keep posting one a week here, of course. Yes, that means I’ll be posting more than a years’ worth of short stories, but it’s only fair, since I’ll have written the last two months worth of stories in one month anyway.

And no, there won’t be any “to be continued” stuff going on. Each story will be a complete stand alone story. That’s the plan, and so far my outline is holding up to it, so I think I can stick it out.

So, there you have it in a nutshell. I will get out a story this week, and next week will be my last regular story. Then, NaNoWriMo, and all the remaining stories will be part of a single, long story.

Now, this may lead to another question. At least it has in me. What will I do once I’ve finished writing one short story a week for a whole year?

Good question, and one I’ve been giving some thought to lately. I’ll be keeping this blog up, of course, and may even post to it on occasion, when I’ve edited a story here, or to let you all know if I’ve got a story published some place or something. But what I’ll likely do is create another blog, one dedicated to my journey to publication. When I figure out where that blog will be located in the Web, I’ll let you all know. Meanwhile, keep in mind that there will are still two and a half months left to the year, and more if you count the end of the novel I’ll be writing next month. There will be plenty of stuff here to keep you all entertained for a little while.

For those of you that are also doing NaNo, please buddy me here: http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/88058

In the mean time, keep reading and enjoy!