Aurora (The Exodus Trilogy) (7 page)

“What I’ve been thinking about lately is the fact that someone can just decide that you can do this, but you can’t do that, and so on. It’s not like we elected him or anything.” Kenneth didn't answer immediately. He didn’t know much about the inner workings of the Havelar administration, but he knew that Maria’s father, Ramon, was one of their leading figures. He would have to choose his words wisely. Still, he wanted to help the girl, and she seemed sincere.

“You think we should have an elected governor?” he asked.

“Yes. Absolutely. But that’s not…” she hesitated.

“Actually, I think that’s just part of it. I didn’t realize this back on Earth... Well you know I was sort of... pampered, I guess... But now that I think about it, I think it was just the same back there. We had President Andrews, and the rest of them were just to make it appear democratic. Everyone knew who’d win, almost like the old dictatorships, you know, China, Russia, Germany…” She trailed off, and he smiled at her.

“Not that bad, you cannot mean that. The U.S. never put people in camps, or mass murdered opposition, even after Mars. And thank God for that!” Kenneth said. Maria mused for a second, before speaking.

“You’re right, of course. As far as we know, the U.S. under Holloway and Andrews never went that far. But I wonder… If Devastator hadn’t shown up, how long would it have taken…” She shook her head, and put her still-full cup back on the table.

“I’m digressing. What I mean is that America has quietly, for years, been moving down the road taken by so many others before, a road that seems so even and smooth at first, but ends up in a deep dark hole. But I never realized it. I had no idea, and it wasn’t because Daddy’s rich or anything. I don’t think he realized it either. I think most people just went on with their business, and lived their lives, and felt a little safer every time the government told them that new measures were being taken to fight terrorism.”

“So you think it was terrorism?” Kenneth asked.

“Maybe. What do you think?” Kenneth thought for a moment before answering. He had blamed terrorism as well, until he thought about the enormous amount of power such a theory credited the terrorists with. A power he frankly never believed them to be capable of handling.

“For a long time, I believed Seattle to be the turning point.” He took his time. It had been a long time since he’d talked to anyone about these things.

“And in some ways, that’s probably right. After Seattle, things definitely changed, with new laws and the reforms, crackdowns on interest groups, leftists. Hell, even long-standing members of congress were ‘interrogated.’ Bet you didn’t read that in your history books in school.” He stood and turned up the heater. It was getting colder by the hour, and the howling winds outside made everything feel even colder.

“But I think everything changed years before that.” He sat back down. “I think it was the Mars incident,” he said. Maria looked puzzled.

“The Mars incident? You mean, the colony?” she asked. He just nodded.

“But why? I mean, everybody knows it was a disaster, but why should that…” He smiled sadly.

“I think the Mars incident was the turning point. Up until that point, there had been a lot of international cooperation, not just in space, but everywhere. Business, art, culture, politics, science. You name it.” He sighed heavily as he remembered how different everything had been back then.

“You know, the Mars colony would have been a huge achievement. And it would have belonged to all of humanity. It was a huge project; Americans, Russians, Chinese, Europeans, Indians, and a lot of others were involved. No wonder everyone cheered and celebrated when they landed safely…” Maria was sitting on the edge of her chair now.

“So it was the terrorists that changed everything,” she said, but Kenneth shook his head.

“Terrorists? We’d known terrorism for ages, and we’d dealt with it before. There were some hard blows back in the early 21st century, and we made a lot of mistakes, but in the end, we dealt with it. It never broke us. Or changed our basic ideas of liberty.” All of that had been before Kenneth’s time, but he’d read the books and heard the stories. And the fact that there had been controversy and changes in direction afterward told him that the attacks never broke the ideals upon which the country had been built.

“No, the terrorists never really changed anything.” He shifted in his seat. “I don’t know how much of the details you know about the whole Mars incident, but let me sum up a few major points, all right?” Maria watched him as he searched for where to begin.

“All right. By the time Scott and Reynolds first landed on Mars, the terrorists had infiltrated several of the space programs involved, including ours. So when the time came to establish the first colony on Mars, there were terrorists both among the colonists and on the crews running mission control. Well, at first everything seemed fine, and it wasn’t until three weeks after landing, when one of the colonists doing a routine inspection discovered that one of the return vehicles had been tampered with that suspicions began to arise. The broken return vehicle wasn’t anything crucial. It just meant that the technicians who were scheduled to return after their jobs were done wouldn’t be able to in a couple of years. Nothing they weren’t prepared for. Sadly, it was just a diversion, and what happened next took everyone by surprise.

“When the reactor blew up, things changed profoundly. With barely enough power to keep the oxygen levels up, time started running out, as life support systems started failing one after the other. The situation soon became critical.”

“They starved to death…” Maria said.

“Yes, in part, that’s what killed them. Although some killed each other first, thinking they had exposed the terrorists, or just fighting over dwindling resources. We’ll never know the whole truth, just that in the end, man’s darkest side showed itself in the red dust of Mars.” Kenneth closed his eyes, knowing that if not for his mistakes while in Space Academy, he might have been one of those who fought to be the last human standing on the red planet. He opened his eyes.

“Well, Maria, the rest may or may not be known to you. It’s nothing they hid, but it has become rather obscure in the history books.” Maria nodded.

“They said it was poor security that killed the Mars mission. That such a level of international cooperation naturally led to the opportunity for terrorists to work their way into the teams.” Kenneth shook his head slowly.

“It’s not entirely incorrect, but not entirely true either. Yes, the terrorists made it happen, no one else should be blamed for that. But there was a rescue attempt. Back at NASA, they calculated that some might survive for the two years it would take to get the rescue mission up there. That if the colonists pooled their resources and managed to keep essential systems going, air, water, heating, they could make the food last a while, and even resupply some of it, to make it last long enough. So a team was assembled. The Chinese wrote their people off from the beginning, and withdrew from the effort. I’m not even going to try to understand why. They have always made their own decisions for their own reasons. But soon after, the Russians followed suit, as the civil war claimed all their attention. So then it was just us, the Indians, and, of course, ESA. In the end though, an engineering failure in one of the rockets of the Mars lander kept the rescue team in Mars orbit with no chance of getting the lander safely down. By the time they were ready to try to get down to the surface, the mission was aborted. The colonists had been silent for weeks, and with the dodgy rocket, mission control decided they didn’t want to risk any more lives.” Kenneth shivered, thinking back on those poor souls stranded on a hostile, dead world. What must they have thought when no one came to their aid?

“In the end, no one ever walked the surface of the red planet again.” Maria looked at him, and cocked her head slightly.

“I still don’t get it though. Why do you think this changed everything? I mean, it was a tragedy, but…” Kenneth smiled back at her.

“When the astronauts of the rescue mission returned, they became fuel for those who had said NASA chickened out. That NASA had planned poorly, that we never should have worked with the other nations in the first place. They had some valid points, but these astronauts became puppets of those with political agendas that had nothing to do with Mars. NASA was just a beginning. In the next election, Holloway won a landslide victory, partially due to his stance on disbanding NASA. Of course, he also promised to fight terrorism by all means necessary, to extricate the United States from the bonds of weaker nations who never contributed. And people bought into it,” he said, remembering those last days of actual democracy, wondering how the world would have looked had they chosen differently.

“The Mars incident was a pivotal moment, in more ways than one. We chose our path back there, the path of Holloway, and later his darker shadow, Andrews. I believe that first election after the Mars incident was the point of divergence. The nations of the world took different paths from there, some for the better and some for the worse. Ours ended up governed by fear and institutionalized paranoia, weakening and eventually rewriting the Constitution into something unrecognizable.

“Havelar is just an offspring of the Andrews administration. The way he takes his power, his legitimacy for granted, as a natural consequence of having been part of the governing elite…” He suddenly stopped, remembering to whom he was talking. He’d gone too far. If her father ever heard about this…

“I’m sorry…” he said. “Sometimes I get so worked up, I don’t know what I’m saying.” her laughter cut him off.

“Don’t worry, Professor. I’m glad you told me. I’ve been having these thoughts myself; I just didn’t have anyone to talk to about it. And don’t worry about my father. I wouldn’t talk to him about this. Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d been having these thoughts too.” Maria got up, and extended her hand.

“Thank you for taking the time, Professor. I really appreciate it.” He smiled back at her, and took her hand.

“It was a pleasure. Don’t hesitate to come back.” She smiled, then went to get her coat. When Kenneth closed the door after having said goodbye, he let out a breath of relief. What was he thinking? To say those things in the first place, and to the daughter of one of Havelar’s closest associates! He smacked his forehead with his palm, swearing quietly. Nothing he could do about it though, and who knew, perhaps the girl was actually to be trusted. A light shiver crept across his back, as the cold from outside still lingered by the door.
The only sensible thing to do in such weather is to stay inside with a hot cup and a good book
, he thought to himself, as he walked over to the counter to pour himself another cup of chocolate.

BEN WATERS

Winter had come, and it was worse than expected. Ben chided himself for being naïve, as he tried to cover Lisa from the worst of the gusts. She didn’t react, but nevertheless her feet kept moving. For now. He didn’t relish the idea of carrying her, but if it was necessary he’d do it, of course. Harry seemed to cope better; although Ben worried that he might just be putting on a brave face. He tended to do that when things got difficult, which was generally a good thing. Out here though, it could be very dangerous.

Ben had lost track of the days, but still remembered the first day of the blizzard. It had surprised them all, and when Harry suggested they wait it out, they had all agreed it was a good idea. But the winds kept blowing, and soon the snow covered everything, including their tent. After a week, they were quickly running out of food.

“We need to get moving, or we’ll starve to death,” Ben had finally said, and so they had packed up what supplies remained and ventured out into the white hell that awaited them beyond the tent walls.

A few hours ago, they had discovered a lone balder, a fearsome creature they had learned to keep their distance from. They had managed to evade it, but in the commotion, they had to cross a river, and the strong currents had prevented the ice from freezing enough to hold them. So he and Lisa had fallen through into the icy water, and only managed to crawl back up after ditching their backpacks. Afterward, they had kept moving for an hour, before stopping. Harry had hurried to build a fire, and they slowly dried off. Ben had been carrying the tent though, so there would be no more shelter from the wind that seemed to pierce through their very bones. Ben could tell Lisa was hypothermic, and she wouldn’t be able to walk much further. But if they stopped, they would all surely freeze to death.

The perimeter shouldn’t be far off now though. If they could only carry on a bit longer. That’s what they had said hours ago, but there was still no sign of it. They could be anywhere for all he knew, everything looked the same. All they knew was that if they stopped, they’d surely die. So they kept moving, one step at a time, trying not to think too much, keeping despair at bay.

“I recognize this place!” Harry suddenly screamed through the howling wind.

“This is where we sat watching the patrol pass once we had crossed the perimeter!” Ben almost didn’t get it, his mind was working slower somehow. But then it dawned upon him.

“That would mean…” Harry nodded fiercely and tried to make some kind of contact with Lisa, who seemed to have almost passed out.

“We’re safe, Lisa! We’re safe now.” Ben and Harry helped each other carry Lisa, one on each side, as they stumbled over toward the perimeter.

A few minutes later, Ben heard Harry shout again.

“Hey! Hey you, we’re here! We need help!” He doubted anyone would hear, as the wind drowned all sound that was more than a few meters away. But it meant Harry must have seen something. And soon he saw the lights of the snowmobile.
We’re safe
, he thought, as it approached. And not a minute too soon, as he was holding on to consciousness by a thread. Then, as the figures on board became vaguely visible, he heard a shot pierce through the noise of the blizzard. Something heavy dragged him down, and he stumbled over and fell to the ground.