“He kept saying that the planet was made by devils. Devils, that’s what he said.”
As he followed the white sidewalk, Lamont considered Carter’s reaction to his Hail Mary. His thoughts went back three months, when he had been sitting at a concrete table across from a portly older man. The checkerboard between them was empty save for a cigarette tray and a smattering of ashes. The park in which they sat was a long strip of hardy grass and small trees that had been planted along the edge of an open canal that burbled with cold water from the polar reservoirs. On the opposite side of the canal were tall, thin columns of greenish metal that receded into darkness far above them. Small speakers fitted to every other column piped the unobtrusive sound of birdsong, their wires disguised as creeping vines. The man across from him had been a member of the original colonizing expedition to Mars, led by Francis Carter.
“There were six ships,” the man was saying, his voice low. “Six ships, twelve hundred people, but only one of the ships was designed to make a return trip. But everybody knows that.”
“Assume I don’t, Albert,” Lamont had urged him.
“Pioneers is what they called us,” Albert continued. “But I’ll tell you, we didn’t feel like pioneers when we landed. There was something...mechanical...about the whole expedition. Of course, with anything related to space travel, you’ve got to be precise. But this was clockwork. You could just tell that the expedition had been planned in every detail from the moment Carter returned to Earth in ‘59. Now, ten years later, we knew exactly where to land, exactly what equipment and how many people to bring. There was a big sort of elevator platform, big enough to build a house on, and Carter showed us how it could take us down, miles-deep, where there was what we called the Honeycomb.”
“The Honeycomb?” Lamont asked.
“A big tower that was partitioned into cells that were perfect for making barracks. And I mean perfect—there was fresh air, a water source…” Albert nodded toward the canal. “I’ll tell you, I’ve stayed at worse hotels. There was this feeling that none of us was expecting, and we kept saying it to each other as we followed the setup plan.”
“Saying what?”
“This was waiting for us. It’s been prepared.”
Lamont scribbled something on his notepad and sat back, cradling his cigarette against his cheek. “What about Carter? Was he overseeing the—settlement?”
“No, he left the moment we arrived.”
“Left? Where?”
“On the surface, that’s all I know. He took a suit with three hour’s worth of air and just started walking. Not a word to anyone as far as I know.”
“When did he return?” Lamont asked.
“Weeks later. Maybe a month. Showed up back in the colony and started planning new expeditions. But…” Here he leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially: “Of course the rumor was that he didn’t come back alone.”
Lamont had tried to sound casual. “Was it?”
Albert nodded. “He had his own chamber, away from the Honeycomb, and nobody or almost nobody else had access to it or even knew where it was, exactly. But there were pioneers who said they’d seen him with somebody—or something—else. It was like a baby, or a small child. They had a name for it, though. Called it Phobos. Like the moon—it means ‘fear’ in Latin.”
“There wasn’t anyone who could say for sure what it was?” Lamont asked.
“Well, there was Tyler, but he was drunk.” He paused thoughtfully for a long moment, until Lamont’s interested expression prodded him to continue. “He came back to the Honeycomb one night after going off on his own for a while. Raided the medicine stores and managed to get himself plastered sick. We were kind of buddies, so I ended up being the one to nurse him through it. He was babbling while he was drunk, but afterward he acted like it never happened.”
“What did he say,” Lamont asked, “Before that?”
“He kept saying that the planet was made by devils. Devils, that’s what he said.”
“Did you keep in touch with Tyler?” Lamont probed.
Albert shook his head. “He didn’t want anything to do with me after that. He was part of the group that returned to Earth with Carter. No idea what happened to him.”
Next: The Trap is Sprung
Did you enjoy today’s installment? Leave a comment or share with a friend!
Devils! Devils I tell you!