One Day on Mars

1:54 PM Mars Tharsis Standard Time

"CDC. CO." Captain Jefferson was having trouble understanding the warnings going off in his head. They were launch warnings of undesignated vehicles but there were so many that it made no sense. The virtual sphere in his head changed scale to encompass Mars out past the Belt and all the way to Luna City. There were trajectories scattering the sphere that, at that scale, were merely blinking red dots. But there were so many red dots that the CO was having trouble comprehending what it was he saw.

"Aye, sir?"

"What the hell is going on? I'm seeing hundreds maybe thousands of launch warnings. Several hundred from Mars space, the Belt, and, well hell, all over the damned system!"

"Yes sir. It looks like every damned ship in the solar system just lifted off. We are also getting hyperspace signatures as soon as they clear the gravity wells, sir." The CDC sounded as confused as the CO did.

"Hyperspace! Here?"

"I don't think so, sir. Some of the ships going to hyperspace are leaving from Mars and have been in the conduits longer than it would take to get to you. No exits detected, sir?"

"What the . . . ?"

"Sir, we just lost the main DEGs on all forward decks!" the XO said. The overheating had been a problem since the Seppy ships had started focusing their attack on the flagship. The SIFs holding the hull plating together on one side would overheat while the DEG coolant systems were overheating on the other and there was no balance that seemed to be working. Were it not for the Marine mecha pilots on the hull of the ship and the Ares pilots in the mix, the supercarrier might have to abort the mission and attempt a run at hyperspace.

"Goddamnit, Larry, get me my main guns back online!"

Kira Shavi and her AIC Allison had made an impression on the right Separatist Prime Wife and her daughter. Elise Tangier had turned out to be the niece of Gisele Tangier, the true Prime Wife of the Tangier shipping dynasty of the Separatist Laborers Guild. The Separatists' view of economics had often been considered socialistic by intelligence reports. But from all that Kira could discern, they were nothing less than purely capitalistic. True, the Separatists and all their resources seemed to be spent toward freeing the entire Reservation. But the direction of any individual's resources appeared to be fully owned and controlled by that individual. It didn't appear to Kira or Allison that General Ahmi told Gisele Tangier what she could or could not do with her wealth. Still, all of the wealth of the entire Separatist culture seemed to be focused toward something more specific than just "freedom." This Exodus that Elise had spoken of was the most likely candidate. And it was often that the Separatists would use the phrase "Ahmi was served!" enthusiastically and emotionally, but Kira was still uncertain of its true meaning.

Kira sat in the small, but very accommodating, stateroom that Elise had put her in once they boarded the Tangier I at Umbra Spaceport on the northernmost region of the Martian Reservation. Kira knelt on the bed with her hands resting in the sill of the large portal overlooking her small bed. Phobos and Deimos glimmered faintly in the foreground of the red, green, and blue planet.

What a view, Kira thought to Allison. Mars began to shrink below her rapidly as the large cargo ship accelerated beyond low Mars orbital altitudes and approached the hyperspace initiation distance.

Yes. Enjoy it now. No telling how long it will be before we see Sol System again, the AIC said.

True. What now? Kira thought and then yawned. Almost simultaneously her stomach growled. It had really been a long hard day.

Food perhaps? Maybe a shower and then a nap? Kira's AIC had long taken care of her human counterpart since back during her training on the "Farm" and the AIC knew that she often would be too missionoriented to take care of the essentials. That was what AICs were for. That was what best friends were for. And Kira and Allison had been through a hell of a lot in the years they had worked together for the CIA.

Good idea. We'll take it slow. After all, it sounds like we'll be in this ship a full long month, at least. Plenty of time to snoop around. Kira looked around at the little room. It reminded her of the room she and a classmate in college had shared on a sea cruise that she had taken in the Caribbean on Earth. That cruise hadn't been the time she'd lost her virginity, but it had been the time she was most free and uninhibited in her life. There were some fun memories there and Kira couldn't help but smile and nod from the emotions that were triggered by them. College had been a lifetime ago it seemed.

The room was about three meters wide and about five deep. The bed stretched across the end of the room by the outer bulkhead where the large oval portal allowed for great views of space. There was a Martian oak changing table and a pine desk on the right side and there was a small couch opposite those, leaving just enough room to squeeze between them. There were three drawers in the changing table. Kira rummaged through the drawers and found basic female essentials including undergarments and socks. In the desk was a notescreen that had a schedule of meals, laundry pickups, and a list of virtual entertainment programming channels. There was also Elise's AIC email address scribbled on it with a note to link to her for dinner plans.

Past the furniture was a closet on the right with a full-length mirror for the door. Opposite that was a three-quarter ornate, yet small, bathroom. The little bathroom was typical of staterooms. There was just enough room to squeeze in it and use it, but not enough to loiter around in it for a long period of time. The accommodations were far better than those that she had seen on the Navy supercarrier she had recently been on, but they were far from Earth's version of comfortable. On the other hand, they were quite luxurious for interstellar travel.

Kira stuck her head in the closet and noted that it was full of clothing that as far as she could tell was her size. Her e-suit pack was stored at the bottom of the closet as well as several pairs of shoes ranging from athletic gear to dress heels.

Allison, have you linked to Elise's AIC yet? Kira asked and pulled off her clothes. She had been through a hard day and wanted to get out of the worn Seppy BDUs.

Yes.

She requests that you meet her for breakfast in the morning to discuss realigning your talents to duties onboard the Tangier I.

Good. I'm glad she didn't want to meet tonight or I'd have to take some stims. Kira yawned again. She could go without sleep for several days without too much difficulty, but today had been unusual and had taken a lot of energy. She really need to shower, eat, and sleep. The radiation treatment had given her a pounding headache all day long and was wearing her down like a bad case of the flu.

Actually, she did request that. But I told her you were incoherently tired and grieving the loss of your brothers. She understood. The memory trigger brought tears to her eyes and she felt an overwhelming urge to cry. Kira sniffled lightly and dried her eyes. Her AIC was specifically designed to trigger her hypothalamus with appropriate emotional response to her cover story. The emotions seemed as real to her as the ride in Lieutenant Commander Jack Boland's fighter plane did and more immediate to her than the memories of her carefree Caribbean cruise from her college days.

Okay. Then I'm taking a shower. Why don't you order me some food? However it is that we do that. The BDUs hit the floor as she kicked the soiled and worn red Martian camouflage into the closet with her left foot.

Instructions for ordering are in the notescreen, but I can take care of it.

You know what I can't figure out? Kira opened the bathroom door and stepped through the very narrow opening.

What is that?

How in the hell do millions of Separatists just up and leave the system without any military action or at least some of them getting stopped? This diversion that Elise mentioned must be one hell of a diversion. The toothbrush on the sink was new and Kira had to remove the safety seal from the small plastic box. She placed the small one centimeter cube in her mouth and activated it with her tongue. The cube instantly expanded and filled the front of her mouth with tiny microfiber bristles that crawled across her teeth removing plaque, microbes, and stains as Kira chewed on it. With each chew a refreshing burst of spearmint flavors and germ-killing fragrances filled her mouth. She spat the toothbrush back into the box and paused to watch it curl the bristles back into a cube, a scene that had amused her since she was a little girl. Some memories would always be more real than others. Kira then drank a cup of water using the small clear plastic reusable cup from the dispenser on the edge of the sink.

We do have news channels and I've downloaded some summaries into your screen but we are about to jaunt to hyperspace and will lose live feeds. I've been screening some of it. Take a shower and I'll catch you up, Allison said. Kira had pulled back the shower curtain and was about to step in. The warm water and steam filled the room and felt so inviting on her naked skin. Kira moaned slightly at the thought of how good a hot shower was going to feel.

We're about to jaunt? Kira reached over and slapped the water off.

Yes.

Shit, why didn't you say so? Do we still have an internet connection?

Yes.

Good. Send the following email to mom20505@gomail.com.earth. Kira paused for a second to think of what to say exactly to her case agent back at the directorate of operations at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia, on Earth.

Hi Mom! The bachelor party was an absolute blast! It was tough to find at first but I ended up getting to it. I picked up a good-looking guy and went home with him. He says he is from Tau Ceti. How about that? I hope it is more than just a one-night stand. Don't worry about me, I'll find a ride home. By the way, I made lots of tips and will buy you a present real soon. Call you when I can. Love you, your daughter.

The message has been sent. About thirty seconds to jaunt now.

You know I like to watch! I can't believe you weren't going to tell me. Kira turned and carefully squeezed out of the narrow bathroom door.

Sorry, Kira. I thought you were so tired that you just wanted to shower and crash. Allison hoped her counterpart wasn't too sore at her. And she didn't want to ask Kira at this point if she didn't think sending the message to HQ was a bit premature. But Kira had always managed to pull them through every tough spot they had been in and there was no need to start second-guessing her human counterpart—her friend—now.

Ask next time. Kira closed the bathroom door and made her way to the small bed, walking naked across the room, too tired to look for something to put on. Kira again knelt on the bed with her palms resting on the windowsill. Mars filled only about a third of the sky from their present orbit and was slipping away fast. She made out several features that she had studied in school at Langley. There was the Planum Boreum ice cap lakes and the Korolev Crater steam plant, the artificial ocean at Syrtis Major Planum due south of that in the middle of the planet, the scarred Elysium Planitia green and red algae fields, and the Tholus and Phlegra mountain regions covered with forests of Martian conifers and oaks she had so recently seen up close and personal—too close and too personal for her tastes.

"All hands, all passengers, this is the captain speaking. Prepare for hyperspace." A woman's voice sounded over the intercom and was followed by three long blasts of the horn.

A violet and blue reverse cascading shower of sparkles suddenly appeared forward of the Tangier I and a whirling blue tunnel opened at the bottom of the converging iridescent light vortex. Kira leaned quietly in the window and watched Mars and the stars in the background converge into the distance into a single point and then vanish in the collapsing violet sparkles. The hyperspace tunnel swirled around the ship, spreading the whirling blue dim flashes of light over the ship, and washed over Kira's naked body as the absolute beauty and strange magnificence of the interworkings of the other-dimensional conveyance took her mind from her present predicament for a brief but enjoyable moment.

"Well, that's that," Kira said. Immediately, her mind went back to running scenarios for gaining access to more useful Separatist strategic planning information without getting herself killed. And how the hell was she going to get that information back to Earth? All of that could wait. For now, Kira's mission had been a success. The entire plan was to get somebody on the inside of the Seppy culture who could blend in and work up to a level of trusted status within the Separatist Resistance movement. Kira had planted the seeds for that with Elise. Now all she had to do was play along and wait a while. Access to more detailed information would come, but today was all about phase one of the plan. Phase one was complete. Now Kira could think about phase two, after she took a shower, and maybe after she had eaten something, and maybe after a long, very long, night of sleep.

"Mr. President! It's coming over every known frequency across the system and is playing on millions of websites simultaneously," The national security advisor informed President Alberts.

"What is it?"

"It is a repeating message saying that General Elle Ahmi is about to make a systemwide statement in one minute." The NSA nodded to a technician who was adjusting the inputs for the flatscreens in the Situation Room in the basement of the West Wing of the White House. The technician nodded that the screens were ready.

"Well, don't keep us hanging here." Alberts leaned back in his chair and took a sip from his Ohio State coffee mug that the governor of the state had given to him.

"There," the NSA said as the image on the viewscreen went from blue to the Separatist Resistance flag and a timer counting down. Five, four, three . . .

"Check out the JumboHoloTron." The pregnant lady sitting next to Rod Taylor pointed toward the main elevator tube at the edge of Mons City Central Park. The giant JumboHoloTron was a three-dimensional upside-down cone that continuously surrounded the elevator shaft with advertisements, terror alert status, stock market data, and breaking news ticker tapes. There was also music videos, commercials, and mini-movies playing on the larger portions of it. The size of the screen was such that it could be seen from most of Central Park. The giant conical holoscreen stretched from the street level up to the thirty-third-floor ceiling and made contact with the top of the dome.

The JumboHoloTron had a very large captive audience today—"captive" being the key word. The Seppies had rounded up and packed several hundred thousand citizens and tourists alike into the main field of the plush green Earthlike city park and then surrounded them with mobile force fields. There were only a few exits to the field and at each of these bottlenecks were several divisions of heavily armed Seppy troops.

"Well, maybe some of this damned waiting will be over with," Vincent Peterson answered with a bit of an edge to his voice. He sorely needed a cigarette or at least a beer to take the edge off his nicotine habit.

"Well, maybe the Seppies are finally giving up and going back home to the Reservation with their tails between their legs." Rod didn't use sarcasm normally, but there had been nothing normal about this long Martian day.

"Maybe so, bud." Vincent didn't care much for the sarcasm either. The Separatist flag being displayed on the giant holographic screen faded out and a familiar face of terror took its place.

". . . Citizens of Sol's System! I am General Elle Ahmi." The most-wanted terrorist of the system had been long thought to be dead but apparently the reports of her death had been a bit premature. Ahmi stood in front of a large bot-mode Separatist armored Stinger fighter craft and beside that was an American flag. From the view angles of the video camera it appeared that there was a blue-gray Martian sky behind her that could be seen through an atmosphere dome. Elle Ahmi was somewhere on Mars! She wore a Separatist armored pilot flight suit with the helmet off. She was in full battle rattle as if she actually were going into combat. Over her face was the long renowned red, white, and blue ski mask and her long straight black hair hung freely out the back of it. From the image there was little that could be said about her physical age or attributes other than she was female and about one hundred and ninety centimeters tall and had brown eyes. But there was no doubt to anybody who had seen or heard her before that it was indeed her.

"This is a tumultuous time for the human race. Earlier today the Separatist Freedom Fighters dealt a great blow to the tyranny and oppression of the past century that the Great American Nation has thrust upon the Free People of the United States! Your President Sienna Madira forced the free people of Mars across the planet, slaughtering tens of thousands of them in a tyrannical death march to what is now known as the Reservation more than fifty-eight years ago. We, the Freedom Fighters of the United States of America, have opposed such tyranny and oppression with the blood, sweat, and tears of our sons and daughters, our mothers and fathers.

"Today, as the great power of the United States Navy was forcing its way into the periphery of the so-called Separatist Reservation near the Elysium fields to slaughter yet more innocent mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters in the name of the once great country, We, the Free People of America, have risen up and said NO! No more! It stops here and goes no further!" Elle Ahmi stood stalwart and stern, her brown eyes visible from beneath the red, white, and blue ski mask through the video camera and into the screens of people across the system. There was no doubt of the steel resolve behind those eyes.

"Today was obviously not the first time that American tanks, fighter planes, and mecha have rolled and marched over gallant men and women fighting to redeem the independence of their homeland. Nor is it by any means the final episode in the eternal struggle of liberty against tyranny, anywhere in this system, including Earth itself! It will happen again!" She pounded her right fist into her armored left hand. "But I say not from the people you would know as the Separatists!

"My entire life I have dreamt of a truly socially just and free society and exactly for this reason I have always led the Free People of the United States of America to speak out against tyranny and to strike it down with all of the might that can be mustered only by a Free People. I believe America, the Great America of our revered forefathers is lost to history. Then, in those great days of the Great America and only then, when justice and freedom existed, could human problems be solved in a peaceful and fruitful way. I have always felt in my heart of hearts that only through the solution of these problems could human values be realized and mankind reach its full and amazing potential. Mankind is meant to live in freedom! True freedom! Freedom from taxation without true representation! Freedom from being forced to accept the stagnation and quagmire of a species because political gain is all that drives the will of those of what is left of the Great America. A truly free individual, a true American citizen who lives justly, is beaten down by American law and can no longer offer all that he or she has to offer, all of the citizen's greatness and all of the citizen's human dignity is lost to the corruption and self-serving darkness that has become America!

"If the Great America still exists, then why do the average citizens of Earth read and perform math skills at levels that were far exceeded a century ago? If the Great America still exists, then why does the average citizen not understand the nature of government and the concept of law? If the Great America still exists, then why does only one in a thousand understand how even the simplest of technologies operate with no hopes of understanding the sciences that drive them? If this is the Great America, then why has humanity had the means for interstellar flight more than a century but there are only four extra-solar colonies and why have there been only a handful of expeditionary missions? If this is the Great America, why is it not safe to walk down the streets at night only a few blocks away from the White House and the Houses of Congress? If this is the Great America, why are the prisons overcrowded with animals who only desire personal gain from evil purposes? And why will those evil men and women never see the executioner for the deeds they have done? If this is the Great America, then why must the federal government be involved in the approval of most all aspects of free citizens' lives? It is this final aspect of what has happened to the Great America that triggered the American Civil War and indeed what originally drove our forefathers to revolt against England! Why have we let this happen again to the Great America?" Ahmi paused briefly and nodded to someone off camera.

"I will tell you why. This is not the Great America of our forefathers and of history. America died centuries ago with the taking and grabbing and giving away of the Great Freedoms given to Americans by the Great Constitution, simply because of a culture ridden with fear of offense to special interest groups and the destruction of the moral base from which the country's laws were governed. Splinter factions of idiots and charlatans with nonsense ideologies and lust for power for power's sake discovered that it was easy to usurp power from the American citizens as they had grown docile and ignorant. The forefathers were quite correct in their fear that once the lowest common denominator of the American society learned how to vote themselves into money and power the checks and balances of the Great Nation would fall into an abyss of devolving culture of greed and stagnation, of welfare and false racism. By the time General Madira was elected as president of the United States of America our nation had already folded into something far far inferior to the Great Nation it once was.

"But the Free People of the United States of America understand this, and when it was clear to us that the oppressive socialists of the Sol System government would no longer listen to reason, would no longer understand why we lash out in violent opposition, would no longer even consider us worthy of sending a true ambassador to the peace summit, we decided it was time for something new. Something that would change mankind for the better. Indeed something that has been evolving for centuries. That something is freedom. The Free People of the United States of America are leaving Sol's System today! In the greatest Exodus known to the history of mankind and in order for American law to prevail and the freedom of mankind to flourish, we are leaving. We are taking with us those dearly held philosophies that so many Americans have given their lives for and, to paraphrase a great American president, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom about a new star—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the galaxy!

"But finally, I warn you people of Sol's System. Do not try to stop us! We would have left in peace but you would not have allowed such an Exodus. Your decomposed government and economic system would lose its middle class workers and lose its economic tax base. So instead, like our true Great American brothers that died so bravely in the pursuit and the defense of liberty, many of us will stay behind and fight you to the very last breath of the very last one of us so that others may escape this system's tyranny and the ideal of America shall live elsewhere in the universe! Why should fear, killing, destruction, displacement, orphaning, and widowing continue to be the fate of the Separatist People, of the Free People, while security, stability, and happiness at the expense of the hard working Free People remains the fate of the corrupt and dark government of this system? This is indeed unfair and the balance of nature must sway back in our favor. It is time that we help tilt that balance; it is time We, the Free People, get revenge upon you for the slaughter of our loved ones and our true heritage. You will be killed just as you kill, and will be bombed just as you bomb. And expect more that will further distress you and to make certain that you will not follow after us. The Free People are making their last mark on the Sol System today as we leave. Do not try to find us! Do not try to stop us! Do not try to bring us back into your evil devolved fold!

"As one last conundrum I give you this. Do you make attempts to stop humans who only wish to be free from this system or do you try to stop the last of the Separatist Military from destroying the millions of your people in the Tharsis regions and great Mons City of Mars? You have only moments to decide."