Battleground Mars Read Free Page A

ship too?”
    He looked horrified. “Bring them with me to Mars? No way, it’s a hellhole, and there’s no way I’m having my sons there. They have huge dust storms that batter the whole planet, and Tauron monsters that’ll attack us for no reason. There are a thousand and one ways to die up there if you’re not careful. I want to keep them safe. What are you here for? I assume it’s the money.”
    “That and a change of scenery.”
    Josh stood up. “It’s a hell of a change of scenery on Mars, believe me.” He walked along the aisle towards the ship’s canteen.
    “What do you reckon, these Tauron monsters, they couldn’t be that bad?” Saul looked at Rahm for an answer.
    “Probably not. They can’t be as big and ugly as you, Saul.”
    His friend grinned happily, then closed his eyes and promptly went to sleep. Rahm tried to doze, yet the crew boss’s comments kept coming back to haunt him. They’d said little about the threat from the Taurons back on Earth. The impression given was that the aliens mined one side of Mars, and the humans the other. Yet Josh had suggested that it wasn’t so clear cut. In fact, he’d made it sound not too far from open warfare. Rahm digested that thought. Surely if it was that bad they’d be recruiting soldiers, not miners. But still, now that they had the warning, they could be prepared if they did meet any Taurons.
    He sighed, thinking about the Red Planet. As if there weren’t enough difficulties to contend with. There was little atmosphere, less than one percent of that on Earth. The whole planet was intensely cold, with sheets of ice at the poles. They faced two years on a planet that was airless, freezing cold and occupied by hostile aliens. It was sure going to be interesting. He noticed that Saul was stirring. On an impulse he stood up.
    “I’m going down to the ship’s library. I want to look up a couple of things.”
    “Bring me back any monster comics you find,” Saul laughed. “This’ll be a long journey without any good movies to watch.”
    “I’ll see what I can find,” Rahm promised him. He walked through the huge cabin. It was not unlike the size of small commercial aircraft, except that the cabin was circular, with room for just over one hundred seats. There were other, smaller rooms that led off the main cabin. Most important was a tiny gym, which was necessary for any space flight of long duration, and there was a galley and canteen, as well as the ship’s library. His technician, Kacy, was scrolling through the onscreen catalogue when he entered. She brightened when she saw him walk in.
    “Hi, Rahm, are you after anything special, anything I can help you with?”
    He glanced at his technician. Kacy Lakkin was tiny, he estimated she stood about five feet in her socks. She was pretty, yet her best features were a cute snub nose and patches of freckles on her face. But she was no Barbie doll. Kacy had experience in some of the toughest sites on Earth.
    He shook his head. “I thought I’d look up some general stuff about Mars.”
    “I’ve been reading through the files, what can I tell you?”
    He smiled. He’d read her file, before becoming a technician she’d been a police detective on Earth. She was probably treating her new assignment like a crime scene investigation. She was working through the information gathering phase.
    “Go ahead, give me the big picture.”
    “Right. Well, the Martian days are very close to Earth's. The day is twenty four hours and thirty nine minutes long.”
    She was smiling, she appeared pleased to have someone interested enough to listen to her. Her blonde hair was tucked into a blue polka dot scarf fastened over the top of her head. The blue complimented her deep blue eyes. She was tough, sure, but cure.
    “Kacy.”
    She stopped. “What?”
    “Why did you come, why Mars? A girl like you, I could picture you with a husband, nice house, and a couple of kids.”
    Her bright smile faded. “You know I was a