Space & Time

Chapter 3-Keep it Together People

On the other side of the colony, Ivan continued his detour to building five, the storage facility. He moved quickly and with a purpose. Ivan used to be in the Russian military, he was Spetsnaz "Special Forces" for five years, completing many covert operations on behalf of the Kremlin and the KGB, Russia‟s covert spy agency. He then took to flying and became one of Russia's finest Mig fighter pilots. His skill and ability as a pilot got him noticed to be part of the Mars team. With his military training, he was a natural choice for a co-pilot to get the crew to Mars and then to be a security and safety officer once the ships arrived.

Ivan tried to open the door to the room, but the electronic lock was in operable, he cursed under his breath. "Damn technology, I will get the rest of those crystals for myself one way or another." He was able to remove the control box and tear out the shorted wires, causing the pressure lock to remain tight. Then with all of his strength, he slid the heavy door back and rushed over to the rear corner where the crystals were stored in isolation.

Ivan paused, as his eyes searched for the large pile of crystals he hoped would be there. As he stood there looking at the tiny pile of crystals, he started speaking to himself. "Leon, if you were not so dead, I believe I would have to kill you for using so many crystals in your research. If only you were alive to see what you revealed, this ability to prolong life held in the Petorium will make me very wealthy and invincible back home, dasvidaniya."

Ivan took the few remaining crystals of Petorium, almost a backpack full, thinking he would need to head to the mine when he had the opportunity to gather loads more to bring back to Earth. Then he did make good on what he said to Sergei and Vladimir and headed directly for the weapons storage room.

The first year on the outpost saw no use for removing any weapons from the armory, but Ivan would regularly check the operating condition of the pistols and rifles he brought to Mars with him. No one else ever went in there so the disappearance of the two high power automatic pistols he removed and tucked into the back of his belt would go unnoticed. Once Ivan was satisfied with his stash, he headed back toward the group to convince them to get on their two ships and return to Earth.

*****

Sergei started, "Everyone listen up"

That is how my dad talked when he really assumed his role as our mission commander. "As a whole we are safe and secure momentarily, but the operating systems are slowly failing. It is imperative we split up into teams to start working on evacuating as quickly and safely as we can."

Everyone was now staring at Sergei. He was not a joker, ever, so this was serious. Then he could not help but focus on Izabella‟s eyes.

Once she stopped looking for a third person to come in through the door, she stared blankly into my dad's eyes.

"Izabella, kids, Leon did not wake up. " He paused a moment as they looked at each other "He is still in the lab, we closed his eyes and covered him. It appears he received a fierce blow from a fall. I think it had to do with his research and what happened to the rest of us."

Izabella, though physically becoming ill at the thought of her husband being gone said, "I need to know more Sergei, what was he studying, I loved my mad scientist but surely he would not have brought this upon us."

My dad had the attention of everyone in the room, I think right then we all wanted to know more.

Sergei continued, "Leon discovered the Petorium crystals, once converted into a gas, were highly volatile and at the same time quite useful. This Petorium vapor when it simply makes contact with carbon based organisms it slows down and virtually stops all cellular activity at a molecular level. It is like this, the vapor or gas works at keeping the organism, whether it is a crop, an animal or a person, in an alive but unconscious cryogenic stasis indefinitely. As long as the gas was present in our facility and enveloping us, our molecules remained frozen in time keeping us in perfect physical condition."