Chapter 5: Close One!

Phobos Solar Observatory.

“Earth… We have a problem…”

“Go ahead, Phobos… What’s the nature of the problem…”

“I can’t contact anyone on the surface…”

“Check your systems, over…”

“My systems check green across the board… I’m saying I can’t contact ANYONE on the surface, not just Command…”

“Must be your systems, Phobos… We’ve had no reports of… Well, we’ve had no reports at all… Just a second, Phobos…” “When is the last time we received anything from Mars? Routine data transfers, e-messages, that new TV show?”

“Let me check the logs… Uhmmm, it looks like 14 hours ago. We received a routine data trans and 4,286 e-messages, but no Manhunter Martian.”

“Damn. I wanted to see that, too! Did you say 15 hours? Isn’t there an automated data trans download every 3 hours?”

“Yep. Got it on schedule at 200 hours… haven’t received it since.”

“And no alarms went off?”

“The system hasn’t had any trouble since the food riots… The out-of-normal warnings were probably shut off years ago to save money.”

“Oh man. My ass is gonna be on the line for this. Have we transmitted on schedule?”

“Logs say we have. Should I restore and re-send?”

“That won’t do us a bit of good… They’ve already gotten our stuff… We need to find out why they aren’t transmitting. Initiate a solar diagnostic and start sending a feedback loop to MarsComCen. I’ll try to access their comm system and see if I can find the problem.”

“Uhhh, Earth… I think we have a real problem…”

“Go ahead Phobos.” “Stupid time delay!”

“I got out the binoculars… There are fires… Most of NewChicago is burning… NewParis is just ashes… I switched my detection grid to the lower bands… It’s going crazy… Emergency messages continuously…Something very bad is happening down there.”

“Dear God! Get Mr. Reynolds on the phone NOW! And find out how we can contact the Pentagon.”

“Daddy, could you check for monsters under my bed?”

“Punkin, I’m sure there are no monsters under your bed.”

“But, Johnnie Davids said that there are Mars monsters that live under peopleses beds and bite their ears off…”

“Johnnie Davids is just a smart mouth little boy that will still be in second grade next year. See, I’ve looked under your bed AND in your closet and there are no monsters in here. Now, give me a kiss and go to sleep, punkin.”

“OK, Daddy. Wuv you.”

“Wuv you, too, punkin. Go to sleep now.”

“Did you get Sam to sleep?”

“Yes. That Davids boy has been scaring her about Marsmonsters again. I have half a mind to call Mr. Davids and tell him to straighten his boy up!”
“Now, Joe, That would just cause more trouble than it’s worth. I’m sure the boy will grow out of it. Plus, We’re only gonna be on Mars for another year… Unless you re-new your contract at the facility.”

“It’s mighty temptin’. The research is very interesting. Plus, we could sure use the money with Sam’s little brother on the way. Sam’s birth went so well in zero grav at the orbital station… It’s too bad that that ate up most of our savings… But, in the end, it was all worth it for you not to suffer.”

“You are so sweet… Hey, the message light is blinking; Who could be calling us at this hour…?”

“I’ll check it, you get ready for bed. I’ll give you a back-rub if you give me one, too.”

“You KNOW where that’ll end up. Horny devil! Forget about the message and just come to bed.”

“Naw. I’d better check it, might be something ‘portant.”

“More important than me…”, she said dropping her shirt to the floor.

“This is gonna be the fastest message-checking you’ve EVER seen!”, Joe said, literally sprinting out of the room.

“… Joe, Dear God, Joe, Are you there? Please turn on your phone! Dear God, Everyone’s dead, Joe,” sound of deep breaths being taken, ”Something, someone attacked the research facility tonight. I was late getting to work and I saw the smoke… The whole place was… destroyed… Everyone’s… dead… Oh, dear god, Joe, please pick up…”

“AMANDA! Get your clothes on, NOW! Get Sam up! Load the buggy up! Everything you can carry!”

“Wha…, what’s going on?”

“Get your clothes on, NOW! C’mon Sammy, wake up and get dressed, honey. Please.”

“Daddy! What going on? I’m tiiiiiiered.”

“SAM. Get dressed right now! Amanda, start packing! I’m gonna load the buggy with all the fuel she can handle.”

“JOE! What the Hell is going on? I’m not taking another step until you explain yourself. Was it the message?”

Joe sits down on the edge of Samantha’s bed and starts putting shoes on the still sleepy little girl. “There has been an… accident down at the facility. I think it would be best if we… went to Phobos for awhile.”

“JOE! We can’t afford that and you know it!”

“I… know, I just think it’s… best”, looks lovingly at his daughter, “if we go away for awhile.”

Amanda, seeing the resolve in her husband’s eyes, says, “C’mon Sam… Let’s get you dressed. We’re gonna go on holiday to Phobos! You like Phobos, don’t cha?”

“I’m gonna go out and load the buggy up so we can make the jump to orbit. Grab all the clothes that you think we might need for… a week… and some food and stuff. And thanks, love.”

“You take care of the buggy. I’ll get Sam and the clothes ready.”

“OK, Mister! Sam’s strapped in the buggy and I want to know what the HELL is going on! Stop for a second and explain yourself!”

“The message… message was from… said that the facility had been… destroyed…”

“WHAT?”

“And that everyone was dead…”

“WHAT? Dead? What the hell happened? You weren’t doing particle research, were you? Did something happen?”

“No. Nothing like that. We were trying to find a way to use solar winds to carry messages. There was no way that something like this could have happened. Not, naturally, anyway.”

“What could have caused it? Who was it that called? Mike? Was it Mike? Is he OK?”

“It was Mike… He sounded like he was in shock. I didn’t even answer the message… C’mon lets get the buggy fired up.”

“Let me go lock the house up. Did you get everything out of the storage bins that you wanted?”

“Yes, got most of my tools… And I grabbed the pistol, just in case.”

“Joe… Please don’t let Sam see that. She’s scared enough as it is.”

“I was gonna keep it in the drawer under my seat. Out of sight, but close enough to get to.”

“Let me lock the house and we can go.”

“Hurry up… I have the buggy ready to go.”

“I’ll be right… Joe… Joe… JOE! Something’s coming!”

“What?”

“Look! Over across the flats… Something’s coming this way… I’ve never seen a ground-car move that fast, before.”

“Get in the buggy.”

“Who do you think it could be?”
“Amanda, get in the buggy, now.”

“What if it’s someone who needs help?”

“AMANDA. Get in the God-damned buggy, NOW!” Amanda looked at her husband and saw the same resolve as before, but mixed with fear this time. She leapt in the buggy and started strapping herself in.”

“Mommy! What’s going on? I’m scared.” Joe had climbed in and was doing the pre-flight rundown.

“Don’t worry Sammy. Everthin’s gonna be OK.”

“Daddy, I’m scared.”

“You just hold on to Teddy and close your eyes. Everything will be OK.”

“Joe… It’s getting closer.”

“I’m almost ready… Don’t wanna charge the cylinders too fast… Almost ready…”

“Joe…”

“Almost ready…”

“Joe, it’s getting closer…”

“Almost ready…”

“I’m scared daddy!”

“Joe, get us out of here…!”

“Almost ready…

“Daddy!…”

“NOW!” The glowplate on the bottom of the short range sub-orbital vehicle when from pale blue to vivid, blinding white and the ‘buggy’ lifted off.

The acceleration pushing her back into the seat, Amanda said, ”Thank God, Joe. You got us up just in time.”

“What was it? Could you tell.”

“It was a Marsmonster, daddy. Johnnie Davids was right. It was gonna eat my ears.”

“Hush, honey, What ever it was, I won’t let it get your pretty little ears.”

The elder god watched the ‘buggy’ lift up and off the planet.

OURRR HUNNGERRR GROWWSSSS… WEEE HAVE TOO RETURNNN TOO THE PLANETTT OF OURRRR BIRTHHHH… ANDDDD FEEEEEDDDDD…

Slowly it turn it’s head until it was looking directly at Earth.

POWERRRR… WEEEE OFFFFFERRRR POWERRR TOOO ANYYYY THATTT CANNN HEARRRR…

Jennifer Skavin turned her head to the sky, deep in thought. “Maybe tonight would be a good night to do a ritual…”

Continued in War of the Blood Gods #5

We hope you enjoyed this brand new original fiction series by Grim, writer of Cosmic Powers Unlimited's Drunk Thanos fan fiction stories.  Please send Grim your feedback at cpufeedback@yahoo.com and if you have an original story, e-mail cpufeedback@yahoo.com about having it published in our new Beyond Reality imprint at Cosmic Powers Unlimited.