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 (They are HanAH, the
security expert (m); DaneelAH, xenoarchaeologist (m); AzAH, language
expert (f); MishAH, pattern recognition (f).) – 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 (100,000+ words as of now), drop me a line and I’ll
send you the unedited version.
As the stuffcapsule slid through the
tunnel deep under the surface of Mars, AzAH said, “Stepan can present the artifacts
to the Mayors, but we need to get word to people who can help him.”
HanAH snorted, “Like who?”
“Our mystery guide, Paolo. He seems
to know what’s happening on Mars. He’s certainly been manipulating us.”
“I don’t trust him,” said HanAH.
“You don’t trust nobody,” said
QuinnAH. “‘at’s why we get along s’well.” His street urchin drawl had returned.
“I don’t trust nobody, neither.”
AzAH said, “You trust Stepan.”
QuinnAH snorted, then dodging the
statement, said, “Sit and take a breather. Once we get back up and into the
HOD, we have to pass through it to get to Breachport.”
“We don’t have time to rest. We keep
on from here. Once we get to Breach, we need to contact Paolo. He has some kind
of plan to gather the artifacts and change Mars,” said MishAH.
HanAH snorted derisively.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
HanAH rolled his eyes and said, “What
makes you think…”
DaneelAH cut him off, “Because he
keeps pulling our strings.” He paused, then added, “As far as I can see, he’s
pulling everyone’s strings.”
“He’s not pulling mine,” said HanAH.
“No one…”
“Get ready!” said QuinnAH, then
suddenly shouted, “Jump!” They did. All five of them tucked and rolled. Here
the floor was clean; cleaner at least than it had been, and it was also a
soft-hard floor, absorbing impact by giving. It kept damage to the floor to a
minimum by giving way under hard impact. Brushing himself off, QuinnAH said, “All
right. You go up from here and you’ll come out in the Freight Station in the Home
Owner’s District. I’m gone get you started, then you go up the rest of the way…”
HanAH’s arm flashed out to grab QuinnAH – and closed on air. “Nice try, old
man!” he laughed as he danced away. “Take yourselves on up, then! Double door
portal over there. Only open the left side or you set off deadly security. It’ll
scan you as Human ‘cause we got people up top that have changed the scanners. I
gotta go back and save preacher man. He need me.”
HanAH clumsily lunged again and
laughing, QuinnAH easily slipped away, vanished over the platform edge, and was
gone. His vatmates laughed as they headed to the portal at the edge of the
tunnel, cautiously opening the left door. HanAH stood, arms crossed over his
chest. AzAH stopped, looked back at him, and said, “Coming.”
He angrily shook his head. She
shrugged and followed the others.
As they disappeared through the
portal, he called, “Fine by me! See if you can make it to Breachport by
yourselves!” Either AzAH or MishAH stuck a hand past the rim, waved, and vanished.
He stood for a while longer, then with a deep sigh, he followed after them,
stomping his feet until he realized he sounded like a child having a tantrum. Muttering,
“I was the last one decanted. It’s my privilege to act like this.” They’d vanished
up a steep ramp that curved gently into a spiral. Grumbling, he started to jog,
following after them.
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