On a well-settled Mars, the five major city Council regimes
struggle to meld into a stable, working government. Embracing an official
Unified Faith In Humanity, the Councils are teetering on the verge of pogrom
directed against Christians, Molesters , Jews, Rapists, Buddhists, Murderers,
Muslims, Thieves, Hindu, Embezzlers and Artificial Humans – anyone who
threatens the official Faith and the consolidating power of the Councils. It
makes good sense, right – get rid of religion and Human divisiveness on a
societal level will disappear? An instrument of such a pogrom might just be a
Roman holiday...To see the rest of the chapters
and I’m sorry, but a number of them got deleted from the blog – go to
SCIENCE FICTION: Martian Holiday on the right and scroll to the
bottom for the first story. If you’d like to read it from beginning to end (50,000
words as of now), drop me a line and I’ll send you the unedited version.
DaneelAH pursed his lips, took a deep breath, and said, “There’s nothing
else we can do – and I’m interested in what these supposed differences are
between the old holy books we’ve had on Mars for the past century-and-a-half,
and the ones the Dalai Lama gave us.” He nodded to his vat-sister, “I think the
one who should be in charge is AzAH.”
Startled again, HanAH nodded decisively. “I don’t usually agree with you,
brother, but this time I think that’s the ideal structure for the
investigation.” He looked at AzAH and said, “We’re under your direction now,
sis.”
She took a deep breath and said, “As much as I’m flattered that you think
my skills are preeminent here, I have to point out that we’re not dealing so
much with language as we are a mystery. Why would the words of holy books be
changed when they got to Mars?” She nodded to HanAH. “A crime to solve, perhaps?” Looking to AzAH, she said, “Pattern recognition will
be paramount. Changes in a script, especially old ones, are likely to be clumsy
and sound like they are out of place.” She lifted her chin to DaneelAH. “You
hang close to keep us all honest. It seems like you’re the one who’s most
interested in the Paolo character and whatever it is that’s driving him to send
us to the Face on Mars.”
HanAH
said, “Hey! No new age woo woo! They were chased out just as vigorously as the
Christians, Taoists, and embezzlers!”
She
shrugged, clearly unrepentant. She added, “What else is there up in Cydonia?”
He
opened his mouth then snapped it shut. DaneelAH said, “If this Paolo character
wants us up there, then we have more than one question to figure out.”
HanAH
cut him off, “We’re just going to do what he says, right? That’s you’re
brilliant plan.”
“Unless
one of us can reprogram the ‘bug, we’re stuck.”
“I could
break into the program. Look at it to see if there are any consistent patterns,”
said MishAH, who’d been silent until now.
“Then
what?” HanAH snarled. “It’s already been established by our esteemed brother
that there’s no way we’ll be able to break the whackadoodle’s programming.”
No
matter what he said; no matter his attitude, he had never been able to bother
MishAH. She lifted a hand and he flinched away. Patting his cheek was the
ultimate in patronizing gestures and one only she could get away with –
sometimes. She sniffed, “So that you can find a resonance and disrupt the
program. Once you do that, you can reprogram our destination. Or failing that,
we’ll go to Cydonia ourselves.” All three of her vat mates were staring at her.
Shrugging, “If this is some plot for revolution, then we’re the people on the
spot who can interfere with it.”
AzAH caught
her breath, then set her mouth in a thin line. HanAH’s eyes narrowed
dangerously and as always and without thinking, he crouched slightly, taking on
an attitude that Burroughs residents likened to “a hunting North American panther”.
DaneelAH’s face was abruptly still; usually the most animated of all of them,
when confronted by something novel and dangerous, he lost his normal control
and opted for blankness. Seeing them, she grinned, “Ah. Now I have your attention.
If we agree with Señor Paolo’s plan, however, we could very well turn him to
our advantage in a Martian revolution. In any case, we’re a team capable of
altering the course of Human – and Artificial Human – history.” She paused. “I
suggest we keep our eyes wide open – and figure out a way to take control of
this vehicle.”
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