Void by AD Starrling

Author:AD Starrling
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AD Starrling

Gary Armstrong cursed as the rover hit a shallow ditch. The engine roared and quickly powered the vehicle up and onto the rocky Martian terrain.

‘Easy,’ murmured his companion.

Armstrong glanced sideways and scowled. He had known his co-pilot, palaeontologist Elmer Gatsby, for five years. That was how long the engineer had been stationed at the Mars Baker5 colony on the Chryse Planitia. Although he had spent endless months in the older man’s company, he still found his presence grating.

It had been a fortnight since they lost all contact with the Baker2 colony. Despite being hailed by the other Mars outposts and the orbiting Zubrin space station, there had been no response from the Acidalia Planitia settlement. All signs appeared to point to a faulty radio mast. Mars Baker5 being the closest station to Baker2, Zubrin had ordered a team to travel there to investigate.

Armstrong maneuvered the rover around a large boulder. ‘How far now?’ he said impatiently.

‘Give or take, about one mile,’ Gatsby replied.

Armstrong’s frown deepened.

What was that, ‘Give or take a mile’? They had a goddamned map, didn’t they?

Moments later, the white domes of the colony appeared through the red dust.

Armstrong sighed. Had it not been for another blasted sandstorm, they would have been here a week earlier. His eyes slowly widened. ‘Hell. That explains why we couldn’t get through.’ He stared at the mangled remains of the station’s antenna. ‘I wonder how that happened.’

Gatsby did not reply. Armstrong glanced at him.

The palaeontologist was looking straight ahead. ‘I’d slow down if I were you,’ he said quietly.

Armstrong looked around, swore, and slammed on the brakes. The rover juddered to a stop.

A figure in a pressurized spacesuit stood watching them a few feet from the front bumper of the vehicle.

‘What the—?’ Armstrong looked sideways and saw Gatsby pull the helmet of his extravehicular mobility unit over his head.

‘Let’s go say hello, shall we?’ said the palaeontologist. Armstrong stared at the older man and grunted. He entered the airlock and climbed out of the rover after him.

The figure had not moved.

Gatsby walked to the front of the vehicle. His voice came through Armstrong’s com line. ‘Hi. Can you hear us? We’re from the Baker5 colony.’

The figure remained silent.

The palaeontologist turned to him. ‘Are they on the same radio frequency as us?’

Armstrong shrugged. ‘As far as I know, yes. It’s standard protocol across the colonies.’ Unease filtered through him as he watched Gatsby head toward the motionless figure. Something was not right.

His gaze dropped. The figure was holding something in its hand.

Armstrong’s eyes widened. He shouted a warning.

Gatsby paused and turned.

The hammer swung through the air and hit his face shield. The plastic cracked. The weapon arced through the howling Martian wind and struck him again. The palaeontologist fell to the ground, his strangled gasps harsh in Armstrong’s ears as his body convulsed from acute, severe hypoxia. The engineer stared from the dying man to the figure holding the hammer.

It pulled off its gloves, reached up, and undid its helmet.

Armstrong heard a faint whimper.

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