The Apophis Disease

Dr. Claret was a tall, slender woman of thirty two. Her blonde hair fell neatly
around her face as she sat at her desk in the Gravitationally Situated Laboratory, or
Gravlab. Covering every inch of the desk and leaning precariously off the edge were
spreadsheets, asteroid samples, and an old, battered framed picture of her family.
Claret hadn’t seen them in more than a month, and though her time aboard the
Southern and Eastern Nations Space Exploration Station was not even halfway done,
she longed to see her husband and three children again. She allowed herself a short
break to stare lovingly at the faces in the photograph, wondering how they were doing
while she was up in space. After a couple of minutes, she continued her work.
Something very peculiar had been discovered close to the space station. As a result of
the Apophis incident in 2036 that had obliterated the International Space Station and
literally skimmed Russia and the Pacific Ocean (well, it had actually ground eastern
Russia to dust), bits of rock and debris had been caught by Earth’s gravity and began to
erratically orbit the planet. Now, in the year 2102, about a third of the original debris had
either shot off into space or fallen to Earth, vaporizing in the atmosphere. What was left
neatly encircled the planet in a belt that was only a few degrees off from the magnetic
poles of Earth. These stony reminders of why the Russians were no longer an asset to
the International Space Exploration and Colonization Program could be a speck of dusk,
the size of a pillow, or the size of a car. Though harmless to the planet, even a rock as
small as a cat could cause significant damage to the station. Dr. Claret picked up a
specimen about two inches across and kind of pyramid-shaped. After turning it over and
over in her gloved hands, she walked over to the high-power microscope. Placing the
space stone on a fresh slide, she slid it into view and peered at it thoughtfully. It seemed
normal enough. Just an ordinary, tiny asteroid that once zipped around the planet at
25,000 miles per hour. Dr. Yamaguchi, another scientist on board, had told her about a
‘strange contaminant’ on the asteroid. Or had she said ‘in’? Claret chose the simpler
way to find out. After placing the rock on a table next to the eyepiece, she took up a
miniature hammer and chisel. The rough, easily gripped handles felt weird through her
polymer gloves. She shook her head sadly at the primitive tools in her hands. Why did
those idiots at NASA insist on ‘more basic and inexpensive technologies’? If money was
a problem, how was she even here? America was nose-diving into another recession
after a period of incredible prosperity. This, in turn, was preceded by the recession of
the early twenty first century, which some extremists believed to be lengthened by the
Apophis incident. She cleared the issue from her mind and struck the asteroid.
Apophis’s remnants were extraordinarily hard and dense, so even a piece like this took
some time to break open. After a good fifteen minutes or careful hammering, Dr. Claret
beheld the two halves of what she thought was the greatest space discovery in history.

“Doctor Yamaguchi! Hey, Chinappi! Sanson! Come see this!” Dr. Claret began
shouting for her colleagues as soon as she pushed off from the airlock floor. She flew
through the corridor into the control room. She used friction to stop herself on the
‘ceiling’, though there was no sense of direction.
“What is it, Claret?” Sanson asked, slowly drifting toward her.
“Get a look at this.” Claret held the two pieces of rock out for him to see.
“My God… What is it?” Sanson asked enthusiastically. He saw possibilities in the
rock, but not the ones Claret saw.
“Come with me and we’ll find out.” All but Yamaguchi left for the Gravlab.

Chinappi, Sanson and Claret all stared in awe at the screen above the
rudimentary biological analysis machine they had on board, adjacent to the microscope.
With a virtual manipulation glove that had to be older than Chinappi herself, she deftly
turned and spun the 4D figure of the rock. “Chinappi? Any guesses?” Claret asked.
“No, not yet, and you’ve asked me that five times.”
“Eh, fifth time’s the charm.”
“Third, dear, and that expression is extremely outdated.”
“Whatever. Sanson, how about you? This isn’t my field of expertise. For all I
know, it’s a chunk of-“
“Bacteria.”
Claret’s jaw and Sanson’s both hit the floor.
 “Bacteria! Are you out of your mind!? This is space, not Sumatra! How is that
remotely considerable?” Sanson fumed. I feared he would have a heart attack or
something; at seventy one years old, his health was already declining. It was quite early
for this day and age; average people could reach 120 years of age. Sanson had the
money to make it to 200. Seventy one was considered ‘young’.
“It is what it is.” Dr. Chinappi said, shrugging calmly.
“Run the analysis again.” Sanson ordered. He’d been appointed leader of our
expedition and had no qualms against exercising his powers regularly.
“But Doctor Sans-“
“Run it again.”
Chinappi ran the check again. “Bacteria.”
“Again.”
“Bacteria.”
“Again.”
“Doctor San-“
“Again, godammit!”
“Bacteria.” Chinappi said with finality.
Sanson was defeated. “But how? We’ve never come into contact with
extraterrestrial life! If we have, I’m sure Anuszkiewicz is keeping it a secret, holed up in
his chip!” People like Anuszkiewicz, also known as The Boss, had practically unlimited
resources and owned technological wonders years ahead of the rest of the world. His
favorite item was a computer chip surgically implanted in his brain to perfectly store data
without having to worry about leaving it somewhere or having it stolen. “Area 51 was a
hoax, Roswell the same, the Everest Ray was some freak genius’s idea. Now this.
There’s no way.”
“What if it is extraterrestrial? What if-“
“Oh, ‘what if, what if’. Enough. I refuse to believe that this is our first contact with
organisms from the lifeless, nearly inhospitable regions of near space.”’
“Nearly inhospitable.”’
“Humans made space inhabitable. Wherever there is a usable place for people, it
was made by people.”
 “What about the plants on Vis, in the Gliese 581 system?” Chinappi countered.
“You do know that those were subtle mutations of common trees and other flora
of Earth, correct?”
“I still think it’s extraterrestrial.”
“It is from an Apophis rock.” Claret said, defending Sanson’s more rational belief.
This seemed to somewhat change Chinappi’s mind. “I guess it could be
terrestrial. But then, how? What- or who- brought it to spa- where is Doctor
Yamaguchi?”
“I will get her.” Sanson offered, grumbling to himself as he left.
“We should try to find out what species it is. Now would be a great time for that
biological equipment NASA has no use for.” Claret said sarcastically, loud enough for
the people in Tallahassee to pick up.
“Now now, Ingrid, mind your manners.” Colonel Staunton said through the
speaker.
“Screw you.” Claret said, only half joking. To begin with, she hated her first name.
Also, Staunton knew damn well why he deserved Claret’s harsh words.

“Yamaguchi, you should come see this.” Sanson said to the Japanese woman at
the ‘helm’. It was really a large board of small displays and touch screens.
“Oh, do forgive me, Doctor. I was having a problem here. It is fixed now. What do
you want me to see?”
“Chinappi claims to have found ‘bacteria’ in an Apophis rock.”
“Impossible.” Yamaguchi said, clumsily bumping into things as she came over to
Sanson.
“Not quite. Come with me.”

“This is ridiculous. Amazing but ridiculous. It must be another hoax. Some genius
with no life and no balls, so he sits at his computer all day, trying to figure out whose life
he can screw with today.” Yamaguchi argued.
“I’m telling you, it’s at least organic.”
 “Explain how this is possible. We are three hundred miles above the surface of
the Earth and you are trying to convince me that you have found life here. “
“Well, yes. That is what I’m doing. Take a look for yourself.”
Yamaguchi arrogantly stepped to the microscope. Her overly confident manner
quickly dissolved as she was proven wrong.
“It’s alive, Doctor Yamaguchi. It’s alive and thriving.”

“Colonel Staunton, I am requesting permission to speak with Anuszkiewicz.” Dr.

Chinappi said into the speaker, a bit irritated that she had to talk to Staunton.
“What Anuszkiewicz?” he said, asking for his position. He was probably the only
one who knew the official title. He was also the resident ass at the facility in
Tallahassee.
“You sack of shit, put me through.” Staunton grunted and put her through to
Anuszkiewicz, The Boss. He was called the Boss not only because nobody knew his
position title, but few people could even pronounce his last name.
“This is Anuszkiewicz.”
“Hello, this is Doctor Marina Chinappi, aboard the Southern and Eastern Nations
Space Exploration Station. We have made quite a discovery, sir. Doctor Ingrid Claret
was studying an Apophis rock and we- oh, excuse me. An Apophis rock is-“
“I know what an Apophis rock is.” Anuszkiewicz said calmly. He was rather soft-
spoken for such an imposing person, at six feet, two inches and a thick gray mustache
obscuring any positive emotions when looking at him.
“I apologize. Doctor Claret has found what we believe to be bacteria.”
Anuszkiewicz’s tone changed abruptly. “Bacteria? In space? My dear, ninety
percent of all of our extraterrestrial life discoveries were, well, crap.”
“Ninety percent of everything is crap, sir.”
“Sturgeon’s Law. Very good. Now, what do you want to do about this discovery?”
“Wait, you believe me?”
“Should I not?”
“Never mind. To get to the bottom of this, biological equipment far more
advanced than what we have on board is necessary. Shall I send a sample in a pod?”
 “Yes, that will be fine. Have Claret put in the instructions herself, though.”
“Yes sir. Thank you.”
“That is all?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you. Goodbye.”
“Have a nice day, sir.”
“It’s ten p.m.”
“Good night.” Chinappi left the speaker to seek out Claret.

“Doctor Claret.” Chinappi said, having found her quarry in the Gravlounge. Claret
was in a massage chair with a reality mask on. Chinappi lifted the mask from Claret’s
face by the two edges of the eyepieces.
“Girl, I was having Magnus time. This better be important.”
“The Boss wants us to send a sample of your rock in a pod.”
“You told him about the bacteria?”
“Sí señora.”
“Pourquoi veut-il la pierre?”
Chinappi stared at Claret blankly.
Claret sighed. “Why does he want the rock?”
“I suppose he’s going to analyze it with that equipment.” Chinappi said, finishing
loudly to remind Claret of the machinery she mentioned earlier in the day. “He said he
wants you specifically to write the instructions.”
“Ah. Well, I only want to send one piece. That will be plenty. I’ll also ask him to
send it back.’
“Sounds good. I’ll fetch a pod while you pick the sample.”

Claret ‘landed’ in the airlock before walking into the Gravlab. She strode to her
desk to retrieve the sample she had already chosen in her mind. There sat the two
halves, right where she had left them. She thought one piece looked smaller, but she
must have just remembered it wrong. Claret’s mind was focused on nothing but this
discovery. As she left, she barely noted Yamaguchi speaking to someone in excited
Japanese. Claret pushed off from the floor when the gravity turned off and, rock in hand,
headed out to find Chinappi. She found her heading for the Gravlab and came up in
front of her. Chinappi turned upwards and, using the same technique as Claret, skidded
to a stop with the friction strips on the ceiling. “I have the rock.”
“Here’s the pod. I’ve got more rocks to analyze. Maybe some will have more
Ingridosis.” Chinappi teased. Claret glared at her as she passed, then did a ‘figure eight’
with her fingertip on the lid of the pod. A small screen and keyboard showed up. The
letters went by in a blue marquis as she typed. ‘DETERMINE SPECIES OF BACTERIA.
MATCH WITH ALL KNOWN TERRESTRIAL SPECIES. DETERMINE COMMON
LOCATIONS OF BACTERIA ON THE SURFACE. SEND BACK WITH RESULTS
ASAP’ She then swiped the screen twice to the right and typed in the coordinates of the
Tallahassee building, (30 degrees, 27 minutes, 6 seconds north, 84 degrees, 16
minutes, 6.72 seconds west). Claret went to the ‘mailbox’, as it was called; the room for
sending and receiving pods was kind of a hole in the wall with high-tech holes of its
own. Claret put the round, half-sphere end in first and watched as the pod hurtled away,
pushed by its own forceful ejection and pulled by Earth’s gravity. A small parachute
would open at around six miles above the surface. A tiny ion engine would give the
needed propulsion to successfully reach its mark. Claret gazed out into space, watching
the pinpoint of light that the pod gave off when it entered the atmosphere. She looked
on until it was indiscernible, too deep within the atmosphere for her to see. She looked
at the clock and the time was 10:28 p.m. Claret decided to clean up and sleep until
about five in the morning. As she flew to her quarters on the other end of the station,
she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep well. She couldn’t wait for the results to come
back.

In the Gravlab, Dr. Miyuki Yamaguchi was at the speaker again. The time was
10:56. Four more minutes until the people in Sapporo would contact her. They had
found the frequency the space station was on five days ago and would override
Tallahassee’s signal, like they had previously that day, to send Yamaguchi the ‘come to
Earth’ message. At least, that’s what she hoped the message would say. If they were
not ready yet, it would take another day to generate enough power to scramble
Tallahassee’s signal again. Ten fifty-seven. Dr. Yamaguchi tapped her foot impatiently,
checking the door. Everyone had gone off to bed, as far as she knew. It wasn’t
uncommon for any one person on board to be up late, however. She had set up a fake
rock analysis very close to her in case anyone came in, just to be safe. Two more
minutes. Although time was only slightly slower out here in orbit above Earth, it seemed
like an eternity. She decided to count down the seconds. Her finely tuned second-
counting was a little off here, though, and by forty seconds in she was notably ahead.
Ten fifty nine. She was leaning toward the speaker and everything. Her meager
belongings she had brought on board were concealed under her desk about fifteen feet
away. Suddenly, there was a faint crackle. “Hello? Doctor Miyuki Yamaguchi?” a man
said in flawless Japanese. Yamaguchi could still tell that the man was not Japanese or
even close. British, maybe, or French.
“Yes, this is Yamaguchi. Who is this?”
“I am Jonathan Sakamoto. We are ready for you to return to Sapporo. Go to a
pod and put in the coordinates (43 degrees, 3 minutes, 17 seconds north, 141 degrees,
21 minutes, 14 seconds east). I repeat, (43 degrees, 3 minutes, 17 seconds north, 141
degrees, 21 minutes, 14 seconds east). Bring your belongings and the asteroid piece.
Try not to come into contact with anyone on your way and do not stop for anything. Your
flight will be about six minutes long. Once you land in Sapporo, wait for me to arrive. I
am en route there now. Please leave immediately. Do not say anything. Leave now.”
Yamaguchi did as she was instructed and went to her desk, took up her bag and
went to the airlock. When it opened, she hurriedly stepped in, floating up when the
gravity turned off. She was glad she thought to act cumbersome in the zero-gravity
earlier; she nimbly lifted off and flew down the corridor in the opposite direction of the
control room. Unfortunately, this took her past the living quarters. She expertly dipped
down and slid along the floor, under the windows in the doors. She was thankful for the
fact that no feet actually touched the curved ‘floor’. As she passed the last door, she
bent her back to go upward again, her legs gracefully following her as she turned right.
Unfortunately, she was not aware that her bag had drifted up before she did. The lucky
eyes that pursued the bag and saw Yamaguchi were those of Dr. Claret.
 Dr. Claret tried to understand what she had just seen. She had been on the
verge of sleep; was she only dreaming? She rationalized it being real by telling herself
that because she had never woken up and she was wondering if she was dreaming
anyway, she was still awake. To be sure, she pinched her arm. Yes, she was awake.
She was making one discovery after another these days! She was sure she had seen
long, dark hair, though she hadn’t seen a face. Yamaguchi was the only one with that
kind of hair. She fumbled for her little personal notebook that she inspected each
morning and scribbled down, ‘Caught Yamaguchi going to the pods’. She checked the
time. Her small digital clock in the wall read 11:03. She wrote down the time. As she
wrote down the time, she saw the word ‘pods’ and shot up to a sitting position in her
bed. Her legs were strapped in so she didn’t float around in her sleep. She undid the
lock by pressing her finger to the simple DNA checker and pushed herself to the door.
She cursed herself for accidentally bumping into it, making a metallic clang.
Coincidentally, right after that, she heard a small pop as a mail pod came back to the
space station. That would be her sample. She silently slid the door open and lifted off to
go right, down the hall to Sanson’s room. When she arrived, she knocked softly on the
door. To be safe, she went to the corner of the other end of the hall and looked for
Yamaguchi. She was nowhere in sight, possibly already on a pod. She knocked louder,
and woke Sanson with a fright. He glared at Claret through the window and opened the
door with a grouchy ‘What is it?”
“It’s Yamaguchi.”
“What about her? Claret, the war ended twelve years ago, almost to the day.”
“Not that! She just went down the hall towards the escape pods.”
“What if she’s going to the Gravlounge? That’s down there, too, and I’ve had a
midnight retreat more than once in my time here.”
“I’m just not sure. I don’t think she’s ev-“ The sound of an ejecting escape pod
resounded throughout the silent space station.
“Godammit, that sorry Jap! I’ll wring her neck! I’ll-“
“Sanson, your heart. Calm down.” Claret soothed the man.
“I know damn well about-“
“Sanson! Come on, I don’t want to cause a stroke or something.”
 “Fine. Come with me, we need to wake Chinappi and alert Tallahassee.” Sanson
drifted out of his quarters and went toward the control room, rubbing the sleep out of his
eyes. He stopped at Chinappi’s room and knocked. “Chinappi. Chinappi! Marina!”
Chinappi, like Sanson, woke with a start. She fumbled for her lock and rolled in
air to the door, pulling it open. She slid out as it disappeared sideways into the wall.
“Mm hmm?” she said peacefully, her eyes still closed.
“Wake up.” Claret said.
Chinappi’s eyes opened some. “Kay.”
“Wake up some more.”
“I’m awake, what’s the probl- ow!” Claret smacked the back of Chinappi’s head.
“Now you’re awake. Come on, we are going to the control room. Yamaguchi has
left in an escape pod.”
“But why would she do that? What would she need to- your rock, Claret.”
“What about it? Why would Yamaguchi want that?”
“I don’t know. Go check on it anyway.”
“One piece is in the Gravlab, and I think the other arrived a minute ago. Come
with me, you two.” Chinappi and Sanson headed to the Gravlab. Claret quickly went to
the mailbox and retrieved her sample. She met back with them at the entrance to the
Gravlab. Sanson opened the airlock and they stepped down in unison, striding in
briskly. Claret arrived to her desk first and picked up the half of the asteroid on the desk.
“See? Right where I left it.”
“Try fitting them together.”
Claret tried, and no matter what configuration she attempted, they didn’t fit. After
a few moments, she found where they should have fit together. There was a bit missing!
Just enough to hold some of the bacteria, too. “You’re right, she’s taken some! But
why?”
“We’ll find out. We need to contact Tallahassee now.” Sanson said, already
heading over to the speaker. “Tallahassee? This is Doctor Jean Sanson. We have an
urgent matter to discuss with Anuszkiewicz.”
“And who do I say is calling?” Colonel Staunton said.
“Dammit, Staunton, I just said who! Let me talk to Anuszkiewicz!”
 “Actually, he is not available at the moment. He stepped outside, I believe to
smoke.”
“You idiot, Anuszkiewicz doesn’t smoke.”
“Yes, he does. You didn’t know? He’d quit six years ago, but this mission has
been quite stressful.”
“You are so full of sh-“
“Because of what, Staunton?” Claret asked, intrigued.
“I’m not quite sure… it’s on the tip of my tongue…”
“We’re not bribing you, you douche bag. What is stressing him?” Chinappi asked
fiercely.
“Damn, fine. Something about Japanese interferences. He said they put up a
fight to get a specific scientist on bo-“
“Yamaguchi.” Claret said.
“That’s her!” Staunton said.
“Shut up.” Chinappi said.
“No! Do you know anything more?” Claret pressed.
“Yeah, I vaguely remember something about Martian soil. If that’s any help.”
“It is, a lot. Thank you, Staunton.” Claret said, grateful for the news.
“Mm hmm.” Staunton said a bit dismissively.
“So is Anuszkiewicz still gone?” Sanson asked.
“No, he just walked in. I’ll get him. Anuszkiewicz,” Staunton said, his voice fainter
when he called The Boss. The three heard mumbled speaking and then Anuszkiewicz
came on.
“Yes, who is this?”
“This is Doctor Ingrid Claret. We believe your suspicions of Japanese
interferences have been confirmed, sir, as Doctor Miyuki Yamaguchi has escaped to
who knows where.”
“Thank you for the update. Do you know why she did this?”
“We know she has taken a piece of the Apophis rock with bacteria that I told you
about. We do not know anything about her intentions, but I also recall hearing her
speaking to someone in Japanese, presumably with the speaker.”
 “That means the Japanese are scrambling our signal and then repairing it. Those
bastards!” Anuszkiewicz said in a rare moment of ire.
“Do you know where the Japanese space program is headquartered?” Claret
asked.
“Yes, in Sapporo. I will gather a team and go there immediately. Thank you for
the news, Doctor Claret.”
“Of course, Anuszkiewicz. Have a safe trip.” Claret stepped away from the
speaker and sat at a table, staring idly out a window at the Sun and Venus. They were
both quite beautiful, Claret thought. She noticed that Venus and Earth were aligned
when she looked over to her home world. Something bright and fiery caught her eye.
“Jesus Christ, look at that!” she exclaimed.
“Oh my God! It’s not that big.” Chinappi said.
“It looks like it’ll reach Earth.” Claret said, agitated.
“Venus is in the way.”
“Is the colony safe?”
“For the most part.” They were arguing over a solar flare, a fairly common but
wondrous phenomenon. They stared on in awe as it blasted out through the orbit of
Mercury, which was nowhere to be seen. Soon it reached Venus and it scraped the
North Pole of the bright planet. Some of the energy continued on and reached Earth’s
own North Pole. Claret thought about the beautiful aurora it must be causing. Then she
noticed the bright points of light in an arc around the North Pole, stretching down to
what she guessed to be southern Canada. “It burned up some asteroids.” Claret told
Chinappi and Sanson, who had long since lost interest.
“Hmm.” Chinappi grunted. Claret mentally noted that it might have taken the
remainder of the bacteria-containing asteroids. She pondered on those asteroids and
their existence. Someone must have intentionally put the bacteria in the asteroids. She
was fairly sure it was the Japanese in Sapporo. She stepped away from the window and
was going to start a conversation with her colleagues when Anuszkiewicz came on the
speaker. “Doctors Sanson, Claret and Chinnapi?”
“Yes?” Claret answered on everyone’s behalf.
“I am almost to Sapporo. I have acquired more information. We believe the Ja-“
 “Anuszkiewicz? Anuszk-“
“Well, well, well, you thought you had it all figured out,” an unmistakable voice
said.
“Yamaguchi!” Claret said angrily.
“Who else? Silly Western society, so arrogant and narcissistic. I hate to not let
you have your fun playing detective. But we, for once, actually feared some slight
interruptions. I hope you don’t mind us intruding on your conversation with
Anuszkiewicz. And I hope you don’t mind us taking him hostage.”
“No! What do you want with him?”
“Oh, we don’t want anything from him. We just need him out of the way. We will
send him on his way after our goal has been accomplished.”
“Well, if you’re so sure your plan will succeed, why don’t you tell me what it is?
Why did you steal my rock?”
“I’m not sure your primitive Western mind will be able to wrap your mind around
the concept. But I’ll try to dumb it down. Basically, we are going to send a new bacteria
strain in another asteroid to Mars. The original bacteria, the one you ‘found’, was
engineered here in Sapporo to resemble a species that went extinct at the beginning of
the Silurian period, 445 million years ago. It can, remarkably enough, survive in space
by obtaining nutrients from the metals in the Apophis asteroids. I’m impressed myself,
really. We will encase our newest production in the Silurian bacteria, further encased in
another asteroid, and send it to Mars. It will break open upon impact and both species
will flourish on the planet. These bacteria will ultimately render the materials on Mars
useless for human colonization, dooming us to overpopulation. We have already
arranged for those who matter to surely survive. It’s the perfect crime against humanity.”
“…Ingenious…” Claret said, dumbstruck.
“Nothing less. Ah, here we are.”
Claret heard the struggling and grunting of someone being dragged in to the
room. “Is that Anuszkiewicz?”
“Yes, it is. We’ve already briefed him on why he has been taken captive. Isn’t that
right, Anuszkiewicz?” Claret heard nothing, and then a thud, followed by a sharp cry of
pain.
 “Don’t hurt him!”
“Oh, he will learn to do what we say soon enough. All I needed was an answer.”
“I have no time for this. Anuszkiewicz, it will be okay. We’ll get you out of there.
Tallahassee has to know of your situation.”
“On the contrary, you three are the only people who know of his predicament.
And with your signal taken by us, how will you contact Tallahassee? I locked the other
escape pods before I left. You three are, for lack of a better word, stranded.”
Claret could barely contain her extreme hate for this satanic woman. There had
to be some way they could contact Tallahassee. Suddenly she had an idea. Her
moment of brilliance evaporated all of her anger. She had found the one flaw in
Yamaguchi’s plan. She had the good sense to whisper to Chinappi and Sanson.
Sanson put his hand over the speaker while Claret spoke. “We will send a mail pod to
Tallahassee with a note explaining our situation.” She took her notebook out from her
pocket, tore out a page and neatly wrote, ‘Stranded by the Japanese in Sapporo.
Anuszkiewicz is being held hostage there. They are sending bacteria to Mars to make
the soil worthless and unusable. We need to stop it somehow! It will be in an asteroid,
presumably of their creation. If we had a shuttle of some sort, we could retrieve and
stop it. Send help immediately.’ She swiftly flew to the mailbox and got a pod, stuffing
the note in and typing brief instructions and coordinates. She shoved it through and it
went rocketing to Tallahassee. “Now all we can do is wait.”

Fifteen agonizing minutes later, the pod returned. Claret grabbed it up and tore
the lid off, pulling out the new note. It read, ‘Sending a shuttle now. It’s a bit of a jalopy,
from the ‘70’s. The pilot is an expert, however. The Japanese have already sent the
bacteria. We expect it will pass by the station in about seven minutes. The shuttle will
be there before then, in about two minutes. Whoever is going must board quickly! The
shuttle has a ribbon arm, though primitive in design. You know what to do.’ Claret
stuffed the note in her pocket and rocketed down the corridor to the docking station, on
floor up. Chinappi and Sanson followed her. “I’ll go alone.” Claret said.
“No, I’m coming with you.” Chinappi demanded. “Can’t let you have all the fame.”
She grinned, excited about their new mission.
 “Okay. Well, come on!”
“I’ll stay by the speaker.” Sanson said, going into the control room, where another
speaker was located. Chinappi and Claret went into the docking airlock. Literally
seconds after they arrived, the shuttle expertly maneuvered into position. Claret and
Chinappi went through into the craft. The captain introduced himself as Derek Klinken.
The doctors introduced themselves, shortly before essentially taking command of the
shuttle. “Turn on all of your sensors. Fly.”

Three minutes later, a sensor went off. Claret looked at the screen. It read,
‘Object approaching shuttle at forty one thousand miles per hour.’ “Can we catch that?
That’s awful fast.” Chinappi said, concerned.
Klinken said, “I think so. This old girl can catch anything that comes her way.”
“Lovely. Turn toward the asteroid, please.” Claret asked. Wordlessly, Klinken
turned the shuttle toward Earth. Almost immediately, the asteroid was in sight. “Release
the arm!” The arm instantly flew outwards, already detecting the asteroid. Within
moments, the asteroid was within range. The arm shot forward.

With a horrible ripping sound, the arm was torn off. It now trailed behind the
asteroid continuing on to Mars. Time seemed to slow down even more as their only
hope clung weakly to the asteroid.
“No!” Chinappi said. She was pressed to the back window, watching in shock as
the asteroid flew unaltered to its destination.
“We’ve lost Mars. I can’t believe it. We’ve lost Mars.” Claret said.
“How fast can this thing go?” Chinappi asked.
“She’s the fastest of her fleet. She takes a little while to get going, but-“
“How fast.”
Klinken looked up at Chinappi, shocked by her sudden change in temperament.
For Chinappi, it was just a matter of getting him to say how fast this thing could go. She
had no time for idle chatting.
“Forty eight thousand, max. It’s dangerous to do that immediately, without a
gradual acceler-“
 “Do it.” Klinken shoved the throttle forward and turned sharply. The shuttle
whipped around and was gathering speed quickly.
“Thirty two thousand… thirty five thousand… thirty seven thousand…”
“We need to go faster! We need to beat the asteroid to Mars!”
“Then what?”
“I’ll jump out. If you can get me low enough, I can jump out and land safely.”
Claret said.
Chinappi looked at her with bewildered eyes. “Are you insane? We’ll be going
nearly fifty thousand miles per hour! You’ll never survive!”
“It’s the only chance we’ve got. I’m willing to risk my life to protect humanity. You
don’t realize that this truly is about humanity, do you? Earth is already miserably
overcrowded, and we are on the verge of being able to colonize Mars. I don’t know
what those people in Sapporo think they’re going to accomplish, but we have to stop
them. Klinken, what is on this shuttle? Packs? Any weapons?” Claret knew she would
need the pack, an ion engine apparatus for personal use, if she wanted to keep her
body in one piece.
“I think I have a couple second-generation particle tunnels.” A particle tunnel was
a very advanced, very expensive and very effective weapon that destroys the target by
splitting the individual molecules. However, anything fourth-generation and older had
quite a few bugs in it that were never really worked out completely until the sixth
generation. People like Anuszkiewicz had eleventh-generation tunnels built onto the
sides of shuttles forty five years ahead of the one they were riding in.
“That will do nicely.” Claret said, going to the storage hold at the back of the
shuttle. She knew this type of spacecraft well; her father had built them in a hangar just
outside of Toronto, her hometown.
“Just be careful. Okay, we are traveling at forty six thousand miles per hour and
just now passing the asteroid.” Klinken informed her.
“Okay, thank you. How close are we to the surface?”
“I’d say about two thousand miles.”
“Nose up. Don’t go directly towards the planet. Circle the area.” Klinken obeyed,
and within seconds they were skimming the surface. Claret went to open the hatch. She
donned a spacesuit she had dug out from the hold. Pulling on the pack Chinappi had
found for her, she turned it on and blasted out of the shuttle.

On board the SENSES, Sanson had stayed by the speaker like he said. Not
saying a word, he heard quite a commotion in Sapporo. Little did they know that Sanson
knew Japanese very well and had been listening to their every word. So far, they had
abused Anuszkiewicz beyond belief and were now arguing. Suddenly, he heard, “Go!”
and a large person running. Yamaguchi screamed, but the wail was cut short, Sanson
knew, by a blade.

The liftoff was smooth as a pebble. The inertia from the shuttle had pulled her
along for almost a minute, but eventually she slowed and the engine took control of her
flight. She landed on the surface, tunnel in hand. Powering up the tunnel, she looked
through the scope, scanning the Martian sky for the asteroid. About ten seconds later,
the rock came through the thin atmosphere. Claret decided it would hit Mars about half
a mile to the right of her location. She began to fly toward the spot she thought the
asteroid would collide at. She knew right then that she was going too slow. She would
never make it in time. Mars was condemned to lifelessness. In a last attempt to save the
red planet, she pointed the tunnel at the asteroid. It was very hard, keeping up with the
asteroid as it sped up further, pulled by gravity now; also, she was moving at a good
eight hundred miles an hour. She followed the trajectory of the rock and using the best
of her timing skills, she fired.
Four seconds later, a blue and violet explosion blazed in the sky sixteen hundred
feet above the surface. Mars was saved. Humanity was saved.

Klinken brought the shuttle to a stop on the Martian surface about twenty feet
from Claret. The small airlock opened and she stepped in, feeling the tiny room
pressurize before the other door opened. She stepped in and Klinken began to go back
to the station with his party of celebrating women. When they arrived back at the station,
they both kissed him on the cheek. He smiled toothlessly and said, “Anytime.”: with a tip
of his old battered cap. Chinappi and Claret danced aboard the space station and upon
meeting a pale Sanson, asked “What’s the matter?” though they didn’t much care.
 “It’s Yamaguchi… She was killed.”
“What?” Claret asked in shock, now understanding Sanson’s pallor.
“I believe someone cut her throat. Most likely one of the
higher-ups in Sapporo.” “Oh… So, this is all… over?” Claret asked.
“It would seem so.” Sanson answered.
“Wow… We just saved Mars and I’m
craving more adrenaline.” “When we get home, ride a roller
coaster or two. That’ll do fine.” Claret laughed. “Will do. I’m off to
bed.” “Good night, I think I will too.”
Chinappi said, yawning. All three of them drifted off to bed.

Three Weeks Later

The Southern and Eastern Nations Space Exploration Station had continued on
in its mission and was now orbiting two hundred and ten miles above the surface of
Mars. It was four o’clock in the morning when the alert went off: ‘Contaminant detected.
Location, surface of Mars.’ Doctor Claret left her quarters and went into the control
room, wondering what was wrong. She saw the alert and immediately knew what the
problem was. Chinappi and Sanson had come in behind her. “What is it, Claret?”
Chinappi asked.

“Something has survived…”