Knot in Time (Tales of Uncertainty) by Tucker Alan

Author:Tucker, Alan [Tucker, Alan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: science fiction
ISBN: 9780988504714
Publisher: MAD Design, Inc.
Published: 2012-11-11T05:00:00+00:00

21

Alone once again, Lauri and I discussed our situation after I shared Ru’am’s last tidbits.

“How much longer before Dr. Lansing would assume our air supply was gone?”

Lauri checked a display on the forearm of her suit. “About five hours. Maybe less.”

“And we don’t know what Ruschick was up to, though, if he had sent out another party to attack the surveyors, you’d think Ru’am would have told us.”

“Makes sense,” Lauri agreed. “Whatever he’s planning, though, I’m sure it won’t be good.”

“What’s his deal?” I asked her. “I mean, it’s hard to believe everyone hates him like you do or else how would he be in charge of the colony?”

“You have to understand, Dare, those who’ve been sent to Mars weren’t necessarily the best and brightest. It’s a hard life and the ones that agreed to come often had no alternatives. Many of the colonists are simple laborers who couldn’t find work and refused to submit themselves to a labor camp back on Earth.”

“Labor camp?”

“They’re called ‘Infrastructure Initiatives’ by Earth’s various governments, but ‘labor camp’ is a better description. People who get themselves too far in debt, and don’t have any other useful skills, are given the opportunity to work in an Initiative to get back on their feet. Very few, however, ever manage to work their way out once they’ve joined.”

“Sounds like slavery,” I said.

Lauri nodded. “It’s the same in many ways, but the governments are always quick to point out that it is a choice, and widely publicize the handful of success stories — people who rejoined regular society — to deflect that label. Mars is offered as a last alternative to the truly desperate.”

“So, what’s Ruschick’s story? Was he one of these downtrodden folks who climbed above it all?”

She shook her head. “He came about twenty years ago to be the facility’s administrator. Everyone assumes he must have gotten in some sort of trouble on Earth to get himself shipped out here, but it’s all just rumor and speculation.”

I thought about this and tried to make some connections. Obviously, the guy was more than a bit off if he’d asked a scientist to genetically engineer him a living blow-up doll. But what benefit could he derive by provoking the aliens to attack the colony? He must have realized they possessed superior technology. And why hadn’t he been using the working satellites to scream to Earth that Mars was under attack if he thought the aliens were hostile? I couldn’t just chalk it all up to the guy being a few cards short of a a full deck. So, what was the angle? “Is he in charge of the Hub, too then?”

“I’m not sure, honestly,” Lauri said. “Karl checks in with Ruschick often, but I don’t think the other scientists have much to do with him. They always talk privately. I think Karl wants to protect me from him.”

I felt like I was trying to put together a picture with pieces from about ten different puzzles. Nothing fit. “When he told you to show me around, Dr.

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