They reached the outcrop and navigated their way through the obstacles. They always had to be careful of the sharp and jagged terrain of Mars, as damages to their mechanical counter pressure suits was far from ideal. The risk of radiation was a small concern in low dosages, the complex repair work afterwards plus the difficulty and expense of sourcing new equipment was more of an issue.
As Larson navigated the close terrain he noticed that Ruby had stopped up ahead, standing like a statue as she looked ahead. He moved to her side and stood with the same dumbfounded expression as she had on her face. In front of them was what appeared to be a ship of some kind, but its surface was almost identical to the Martian terrain, making it blend in like a chameleon.
The ship was twice the size of their shuttle and completely unrecognisable to them. It had a bulbous body and large engines, with wings protruding from its hull. The camouflage effect of its bodywork made it difficult to make out much more than a rough shape. Before they could study it any longer, their eyes were drawn to movement on the surface in front of the vessel.
They could see what appeared to be their two colleagues, wearing the same suits as them. One was kneeling down on the ground, the other stood beside him. Ten metres in front were two other figures, though substantially taller and not recognisable at all.
“Who the hell are they?” asked Larson.
Ruby pulled out her binoculars from a pouch on her belt. Tapping a small switch, they expanded out into a high power device. She lifted them and looked on in horror at what she saw.
“What is it?”
She was still speechless. Having run out of patience, Larson snatched the binoculars from her hands. She put up no fight and was still stunned, looking in on the scene in terror. Larson lifted the binoculars to see what had shaken her so badly. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The two figures stood before their colleagues were well over two metres tall and wore some type of metallic armour.
Their suits appeared to have sprung lower leg mechanisms that more resembled a cat or dog standing on its back legs than a human. Their bodies tapered out into a broad chest section. A helmet-like device was embedded in the front of the suit, as if either they had no neck, or the suits were completely encapsulating their bodies. Larson was as fascinated as he was terrified by the sight. Nothing they saw resembled anything they had ever seen. A hundred questions began to roll around in his head, but before he could say another word, he saw the two figures lift something from their sides. Light flashed from the devices and their two colleagues spasmed with the impact of some kind of energy.
Ruby had to stop herself from screaming, realising that doing so would risk their lives. She dropped within the rock outcrop with Larson as they hid from sight.
“What the hell are they?” he asked her.
“I have no fucking idea!”
“Did they just execute those two people?”
“What do you think?”
“What the hell are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, okay!”
Larson crept up from behind the rock face and peered out into the valley. The two figures strode towards their ship and into a small lifting device that hoisted them into the vessel. He looked down at the bodies, still lifeless on the hard ground. A low pulsing sound resonated from the peculiar ship as it began to lift off from the surface. Keeping low to the ground, it soared off in the opposite direction from where they had left their shuttle.
“Are they gone?” asked Ruby.
“Yes, what are we going to do?”
“Get the hell out of here!”
“What about them?” he pointed to the bodies of their fallen comrades.
“They’re dead. I have no idea what we have just witnessed, but unless you want to follow them I suggest we make a run for it.”
“Right, let’s move!”
They got up from behind the rocks and made a dash for their ship, as quickly they could in the gravity on Mars. It felt like a long run back to the vessel. Despite the valley being just as tranquil and desolate as it previously was, they expected to be struck down at any moment. Larson arrived first, surprised to have made it. With seconds of getting aboard they were in the air. He reached for the intercom button to contact their colony.
“Wait!” shouted Ruby.
“What? We have to call this in!”
“And say what, that we just saw some unidentified beings kill two of our research team, but that we don’t have any idea who or what they are, where they came from, or have any evidence to backup our story?”
“That doesn’t change the fact that it happened,” said Larson.
“No, but this has to be handled properly. We need the base staff to take this seriously, not to think we have lost our minds.”
“Alright, you do it.”
She reached forward and hit the intercom switch. “This is Shuttle 12 to Ares, please come in, over.”
“This is Ares Command, over.”
“We have a Code Red, I repeat, Code Red, over.”
There was an uncomfortable silence as they soared across the surface of the planet. Clearly their signal had caused a shockwave to the colony. Code Red was an emergency signal for extreme situations only, none of which they had ever experienced. Finally a signal came back over the radio.
“This is Morris, what the hell is going on?”
Morris was the research base commander, a leading scientist and project leader for over twenty years.
“Please switch to a direct and private channel, over,” replied Ruby.
A few moments later the Commander came back on the line.
“You’re on with me directly, explain to me what the hell is going on!”
“Sir, we just witnessed the execution of the crew of Shuttle 5 by two unidentified personnel, over.”
“What? Where are they now?”
“They left heading south in a vessel which appeared to mimic the ground’s surface and was approximately twice the size of our shuttle, over.”
“Did you collect any data from the scene?”
“No, Sir, we left in fear of our lives. I advise an immediate issue of the Lee Protocol, over.”
“Listen to me, Ruby, these are some extreme suggestions you are making, based on no evidence that you can present to me. I can’t risk widespread panic based on hearsay.”
“This is not a joke, Sir. We came close to death and some of our people were not so lucky. Now issue the damn protocol and lock the colony down!”
“I’ll issue it, but you’d better be right about this or you’ll be out the door!”
“Sir, I wish I wasn’t, we’ll be with you in just under three hours, be ready, over and out.”
She turned off the intercom and continued to stare out at the ground as their shuttle darted across the rough landscape, hugging the terrain. Larson looked over to her, but it seemed she didn’t intend giving anything up.
“Lee Protocol?” he asked.
“It’s an emergency protocol calling for all weapons trained personnel to immediately arm themselves and prepare for imminent attack.”
“We have a plan for that?”
“It was always a possibility, we just never expected it to actually happen.”
“What did happen?” asked Larson.
“I really don’t know!”
They finally caught sight of the Ares research colony, knowing they were all in big trouble. But somehow facing it in larger numbers made them feel much safer. The compound was still, all vehicle movement had been stopped and all exits sealed except for their docking bay.
“This is Shuttle 12 to Ares, requesting permission to land, over,” said Ruby.
“Permission authorised, over.”
The large steel doors slid open, revealing an almost full docking bay. Only their bay, Shuttle 5’s pad and the freight loader area were empty. The doors quickly shut behind them, sealing the environment and allowing people to again walk freely. Ruby brought the shuttle down to a quick and smooth landing. They could see that Morris and several others of the senior research team were waiting for them. They all wore pressure suits and several had pistols slung on their waists. Ruby and Larson stepped out to greet their colleagues who were grim faced.