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| SEASON 2: EPISODE 5: "AFTERMATH." |
31. THE DISASTER ZONE.
The ‘Little Thor’ was dipping and rolling as she sped across the sand, the nights darkness was illuminated by bright flashes of lightening and no stars were visible because of the ash cloud that hung above – visibility was limited, but she didn’t slow.
“Nothing but bloody static on the radio and no signal on the MSN; both Military and civilian sites are off line.” Leon shouted and attempted to sip his coffee whilst it was still hot. Troy nodded and peered through the windscreen; “The sand is really starting to fly captain!” He smiled at Jones, adding; "This baby loves a challenge.” Jones checked his PA and found that the ‘No Signal’ sign was still up.
They had another three hours of this before they reached the wreck site. Lilly passed Jones a cup of coffee and he sipped it through the lids hole, the ‘Little Thor’ was rolling like a ship at sea. “I’ve checked the equipment again: it’s strapped down tight.” Lilly had staggered back from the rear observation window after checking the flatbed trailer. “We can’t afford to lose any of that kit.” She added and dropped into her seat behind Jones and popped a mint into her mouth – Sunny had placed a packet of her favourite sweets in the medical kit and Lilly really did appreciate that gesture.
Jones checked the Navicom again and tapped Troy on the shoulder; “Correct your course 2 degrees North-East, the winds are making her drift a little!” Troy nodded and adjusted his route, keeping a careful eye on the Compass as Leon tried to make contact with the Thor over the radio.
“Still fuck all Skipper.” Leon sighed and sipped his coffee which sloshed about in his cup; “This storm looks like it’s just kicked off – you don’t think the fucker has erupted again?” Leon was peering through the windscreen, watching the lightning flashes exploding in vivid colours against the black, ash filled sky.
Jones looked over his shoulder and nodded his agreement with Leon’s reasoning; “I think your right Leon – this is worse than when we left the Thor!” The crew lapsed into silence and the sand being driven against the ‘Little Thor’s’ hull, sounded like a giant drumming his fingers. Lilly broke the silence by dishing out the sandwiches that Frankie had packed and the conversations started up again – particularly when they discovered Frankie had made the Captain curry sandwiches!
Just half hour from the wreck site, the ‘Little Thor’s’ radio came back on line and Eve’s voice could just be heard above the static. They listened without comment to the dire news of the second eruption and finally Lilly grabbed the microphone and responded; “Eve, we just minutes away from the wreck and we’re continuing on – the skipper says we’ve come too far to turn back now!”
The decision made by the crew of the ‘Little Thor’ was accepted with few comments on the bridge of the Thor - the Chief just shook his head and said quietly; “The skipper knows what he’s doing, they’ll be alright.” But Eve sat in silence, arms folded, watching the Communications monitor which had the details of the eruptions and their aftermath playing - there were 164 confirmed fatalities and over three hundred injured. This was followed by the story of the attempted rescue by a weather Service rig: The Thor, which made everyone gather around the little screen and watch the news bulletin.
Everyone cheered as the names of the Rescue crew were broadcast and the Chief squeezed Eve’s shoulder and smiled; “They’ll be fine, they have a couple of hours to get those two poor bastards out of the wreckage and head for home.” Eve nodded and patted the Chief’s hand and they both watched the story unfolding on the late News.
Jones and Leon climbed carefully from the hatch of the ‘Little Thor’ and struggled to reach the flatbed trailer against the driving wind which kicked up dirt and black ash – visibility was still fair and the pair could see the wreckage of the cargo rig some meters from their position. “Troy’s done a great job getting us this close!” Leon shouted into his helmet microphone as he operated the crane which lowered the Rescue Tent onto the swirling dirt. Jones and Lilly manhandled the bulky piece of kit and lowered its wheels.
“Let’s go!” Jones signalled the rescue attempt was on and with Lilly’s assistance began the short, but dangerous journey to the wreck – followed by Troy and Leon hauling the additional rescue gear.
“Cargo hold number three is located just behind the second tyre on the starboard side.” Jones panted, pulling the Rescue Tent with Lilly, the damn thing seemed to get heavier by the minute and he glanced across at Lilly who was also panting loudly – but they were now approaching the dark and shattered rig.
CV: ‘The Moon Queen’ lay broken into three pieces with the bridge smashed open and the Port side ripped apart ; the rear was simply torn into little pieces, scattered about the swirling dust and ash. “What the fuck did that?” Leon shouted as they approached the walls of steel, broken and blackened.
“Projectiles thrown out of the volcano, they travel a lot further than on Earth because of the thin atmosphere – and they are far bigger and a lot more bloody dangerous!” Lilly answered between pants and waved her free arm about, adding; “This place is littered with them.”
Leon looked about and could see several large dark rocks embedded in the dirt: still smoking from their deadly flight. “Oh shit!” He said quietly and nervously searched the skyline, but only saw the approaching darkness in the ash filled air. “Leon and I will get the tent ready, whilst Lilly and Troy check the bridge for any other survivors.” Jones commanded and the team stopped next to Tyre No.5, which was just blackened steel strands hanging around the wheels hub. Lilly and Troy made for the bridge, their powerful torches lighting up the dark wreckage.
Jones plugged the ‘Edison’ into his helmet socket and placed it against the wall; “Got ‘em!” he exclaimed as quiet voices filled his helmet. The Captain then shouted the Rescue crew’s arrival to the trapped survivors.
Jones gave the survivors clear instructions on how the rescue would unfold; firstly they would secure the Rescue tent against the hull and pressurise it. Then they would use cutting gear to open a small hole through which the trapped crew could crawl to safety in the tent. Finally, after any injuries had been treated, they would don emergency pressure suits and then everyone would make it back to ‘Little Thor’ – if they succeeded in all that, it would be a cramped and difficult return to The Thor.
Lilly and Troy had returned with a grim report; the other three members of the crew lay dead amongst the wreckage of the bridge – apparently in two or three pieces each, such had been the force that struck them. Jones nodded and they worked to get the Tent strapped against the hull, whilst Leon prepared the cutting gear. That’s when the two trapped inside the hull informed Jones through the ‘Edison’ that there was a third crew member that required rescue!
“Shit! We only have two fucking suits!” Troy exclaimed and the rescue crew stood in silence – they could only save two people. Then one of the trapped managed a strained laugh – the rig’s mascot was the ‘third crew member’, a cat called ‘Lucy’. “We’ll have to leave her, we can’t transport her to the ‘Little Thor’, as we have nothing to put her in.” Jones spoke quietly, clearly not happy about leaving the poor creature to her fate, but what choice did he have?
Lilly tapped the Captain on the shoulder and smiled; “Dallas’s old pressure box is in the storage drawer of the ‘Little Thor’, he’s too big for it, so the Chief and Tom made him a new one – now that’s what I call luck, she’ll be alright if she behaves herself!”
One of the survivors shouted that Lucy was a big cat and very intelligent, just tell her what’s happening and she’ll be fine and they didn’t mind waiting; while someone fetched the damn box. Lilly set off immediately and returned with the pressure tube which was bright red and had ‘DALLAS’ painted on the top side – and ‘HANDLE WITH CARE – CONTAINS A CAT!’ printed on the lower side. The rescue could now go ahead and Leon cut a not so neat hole in the hull and Lucy was first through; the surviving crew had not exaggerated about her size – she could be Dallas’s sister; except she was a patchwork of vibrant colours with a Smokey grey tail and face.
“She’s absolutely gorgeous!” Exclaimed Lilly and stroked her, giving Lucy some water in a coffee cup lid and produced cat biscuits from inside her suit – much to Leon’s amazement; “Do you always carry cat biscuits inside your survival suit?” He asked incredulously. But Troy simply laughed and stated that the Thor’s Ensign was quite nuts; so she fitted in with the rest of the crew – quite nicely.
The two survivors were pulled through the hole and Lilly treated their cuts and bruises, one had a broken arm which required stabilising and the other a broken ankle. They both gulped down cold water and thanked everyone. Cole Janiski and Tabs Wong had been deck-hands on the cargo rig and had their lives saved, simply because they were in the cargo hold when the rig was struck. Tabs stroked Lucy and told Lilly that quite unusually, she had followed the pair – normally she was laid about the bridge, Tabitha Wong wiped tears from her face and smiled; “Eight to go old girl!”
But Jones knew they were on a very short time-line and ordered everyone to suit up. Leon sealed Lucy in the box, she just squeezed in and he checked the pressure and air twice before giving the thumbs up. The relieved and tired group left the tent and headed back to ‘Little Thor’ across the swirling sand and dark sky, which was punctuated with vivid flashes of red, orange and white.
32. THE LONG VOYAGE HOME.
Lilly had Lucy sprawled across her lap – the big cat was also sleeping. Lilly ran her hand down her neck and back and received a spluttering purr in thanks. Troy was sipping coffee and leaned across to give the cat a stroke; “I really do think that Dallas and our furry friend here will hit it off.” He grinned and Lilly nodded her agreement; “They should be the best of friends.” Leon glanced towards the pair and laughed, then adjusted the drift of the ‘Little Thor’ as the winds grew and fell in strength.
“I estimate at least six hours before we reach the rendezvous point with the Thor, if she doesn’t show up within four hours of our arrival, we’re in the shit!” Jones shouted and tried the radio again – nothing. The storm had renewed its strength and all communications were down again. The visibility was poor and Leon had to slow the ‘sand-cat’ on numerous occasions as great gusts of sand and ash flew against the windscreen.
“It’s like trying to drive with your head in a bag!” He called to Jones who smiled and checked the Navicom yet again. “We’ll change over in another half hour and you can get some rest. I’ll take it for a spell.” Jones tapped Leon on the shoulder and sipped his coffee, then scoffed down the sandwich which Frankie had made: chicken curry and fries.
The big cat stirred and sat up on Lilly’s lap; she dropped her paws upon Jones’s shoulders and sniffed at his sandwich; Jones pulled a little chicken from it and fed Lucy – she ate it with some gusto. “Oh fuck another Dallas! She eats curry!” Troy exclaimed as everyone started to laugh, Lucy also ate from Lilly’s cheese and tomato sandwich, and then lapped, just like Dallas, plenty of weak cold coffee from Lilly’s mug lid.
“They have to be related, through Lucy is a lot prettier than our mangy old bugger.” Troy muttered, pulling the cheese from his sandwich for the cat who now sprawled across both he’s and Lilly’s lap – purring with happiness.
Lilly tapped Jones on the shoulder and spoke quietly; “I’m going to tell our guests that whilst in hospital and then convalescing, we’ll look after Lucy; so they don’t have to worry about how’s she being cared for – is that O.K. Captain?” Jones grinned and nodded his agreement – Dallas will love that sort of company!
The radio came back to life, but only for a few moments at a time, but it was enough for the crew to appreciate the extent of the disaster and now Jones prayed hard that the Thor can make the rendezvous on time; if they missed it, then the rescue crew and survivors wouldn’t last more than a couple of hours – the weather conditions had added time to their mission and time was not on their side.
Oxygen was the deciding factor; the extra time that the weather conditions placed upon the mission sucked up the precious reserves and whilst they can recharge the batteries through the roof solar panels, they couldn’t manufacture oxygen.
If they used their suit oxygen as a last resort, they could add a couple of hours to their survival time – but the figures were grim. Originally, they had worked on having at least eight hours of oxygen after arriving at the rendezvous point – a very good safety gap.
But the renewed strength of the eruption had stolen three or four hours from that and now the travelling conditions were becoming so bad, they may have to stop because visibility was nearing zero. But any delay waiting on the sand simply meant death.
But if they can’t see – they can’t drive and Jones groaned as the sand and ash slapped against the windscreen and the wipers struggled to cope. “We can’t keep going much longer; I’m sorry skipper.” Leon whispered as he peered out at the swirling storm.
“What’s that little dot on the’ Mini-scope’, about thirty Kilometres South-East of us?” Troy tapped Leon on the shoulder and pointed towards the ‘Mini-scope’. There was a small dot blinking, stationary and some thirty kilometres from the approaching ‘Little Thor’. It displayed no identifying signature and Jones reckoned it was about the same size as the Thor; without her trailers.
“Head for it.” Jones said simply and the ‘Little Thor’ trundled over the violently moving sand, rolling and pitching like a cork in a filling bath - It took about an hour to reach the mysterious dot and what they found surprised and stunned the crew.
They parked up some forty meters from the derelict hulk; a wall of steel plates loomed through the flying sand and ash; the strange contraption had the old fashioned ‘caterpillar’ track system and was indeed about the size of the Thor without the trailers. The odd looking tubes and pipes running down the roof and sides betrayed its identity.
“Sweet Mars! It’s a bloody old Geo-Harvester!” Exclaimed Jones with real amazement in his voice; “It has to be nearly a hundred years old - they stopped using these babies almost a century ago.” He couldn’t make out the faded name, but the logo appeared to be some kind of bird in flight.
Troy was already tapping in the details and sat back; “It’s a Class 3 ‘Geo-Harvester’, the last one finished operations and headed for the scrap yard on Week 41: Day 402: Year: 234 and it states that over the years worked, they lost at least two dozen of these machines to storms and catastrophic mechanical failures - whatever that means – and finally the decision was made to pull them. It states that over fourteen of these machines simply disappeared - with their crews – on Southern Mars alone.”
“Well, we’ve found one.” Jones muttered, rubbing his chin and then he turned to Troy and smiled; “What did these big beasties use for oxygen?”
“I’ll get my helmet and Troy can drop the ‘little Beaver’.” Leon grinned broadly as Troy nodded; “Its bottled oxygen; lots of bottled oxygen!” and jerked his thumb up.
Jones and Leon crouched low behind the ‘Little Beaver’, both machine and men struggled against the wind driven sand. “From what I remember at Engineering College, the external pressure door is on the roof – so get ready to climb!” Jones shouted through his headset and Leon gripped the rail of the ‘Little Beaver’; “I’ll climb bloody Olympus Mons for fresh oxygen cylinders!” he laughed between pants; this was hard going.
They climbed the starboard ladder, buffeted by flying sand and ash, to the roof deck and crawled on their hands and knees to the pressure door, which had both a manual and digital opening operation. Jones ran his glove over the access panel – it was, as expected; dead. He gripped the star shaped, manual opening lever and began to turn – like the short walk from the ‘Little Thor’ – it was hard work.
They dropped down the inside ladder and stood on the bridge; “Sweet fucking Mars!” Leon whispered looking at the Geo - Harvester’s young Captain, sprawled back in her chair, the face quite calm with a hand gripping her throat, whilst the other lay at her side.
He glanced to the floor, where a young man, no more than mid-twenties, lay face up with both hands clutching his throat, a piece of paper lay next to the body. Jones scooped it up and read it with interest. “It’s directions to a cave system in the Easters.” He nodded at the bodies; “Batteries were notorious for failing and if the crew didn’t react really fast....” He waved his hand at the corpses; “This happened and that’s why this whole class of Geo – Harvesters were scrapped.”
“Not quick enough for these poor bastards.” Leon muttered and thought the long dead Captain was very pretty and he glanced down at her name tag and was quite puzzled; "Skipper, where the fuck have I heard the name ‘Caroline Palmer’ before?”
The walk back to ‘Little Thor’ was silent; the little Beaver was weighted down with several oxygen cylinders and both Jones and Leon clung onto it, as the winds tried to push them back. “Skipper, we’ve identified the harvester; she’s ‘’Sullivan’s Stork’ and was reported missing in a really bad storm back in 231, but the really amazing thing is her skipper was called....” Jones interrupted Troy’s transmission; “We know; Caroline Palmer. We’ve just seen her dead body.”
They had found five dead bodies in the derelict Harvester, not including the rig’s mascot; a large exotic parrot whose name was; “Arnold’. They had all died apparently of asphyxia, caused by the leaking batteries. When Jones tested the rig’s atmosphere it was still lethal after all these years. They had left the bodies as found; an Investigation Team would be dispatched after the latest disaster calmed down, and Jones didn’t want to disturb any evidence too much.
Jones sat in the cab of the ‘Little Thor’ and watched the storm; occasionally she would roll and shift with the wind. But they could now afford to wait for better visibility. Leon sat eating a packet of fruit balls – a little gift from Sunny – and offered them to Jones, who picked an apple flavoured ball. “Now that is some co-incidence; Caroline Palmer is the Medical Officer at Weather Station Seven in 233 and just bloody well disappears, no trace found. Then we find a Caroline Palmer, who’s a Geo-harvester skipper, stone dead; apparently bumped off by toxic gas in 231. They even had the same name and same age.” Leon grinned and dropped another fruit ball in his mouth.
“This one had a map of some caves in the Easter Mountains, who are located on the edge of the Ice-Shelf and Weather Station Seven, where the other one was to disappear?” Jones said quietly and rolled the fruit ball around his mouth; “Is that another co-incidence?” He studied the Map again; Valley La Mort and the Prospect Plains, then Weather Station No.7 clearly marked.
“Do you know what else is really odd about our derelict harvester?” Jones smiled at Leon and pushed the map back into his suit pocket. Leon shook his head; he didn’t know.
“They had apparently worked that area for three weeks, from the rig’s log that I down loaded, and the hold was empty; totally fucking empty. So what the hell, were they really doing, out there on the sand?” As Leon realised what the Captain was saying; that they should have had a full hold, he simply muttered; “Fuck!”
The wind had dropped and the ‘Little Thor’ set off for the rendezvous point.
33. THE SERVICE OF REMEMBERANCE.
The crew of the Thor had been given Liberty to visit family and friends; so the only crew remaining aboard her was Jones, Lilly and Troy. The Captain had no real close family to visit, Lilly’s family didn’t wish to see her and Troy hated his.
The other members of the ‘crew’ who stayed were Dallas and Lucy. The two big cats were quite inseparable and were always found together somewhere around the rig. Their antics delighted the crew – even old ‘Tapp-Toes’ -who apparently had forgiven Dallas for the ‘Toes’ incident.
Frankie had taken to Lucy [as had the entire crew] and she was fed and watered from Dallas’s rations; topped up after a very generous collection was taken from the crew!
Like Dallas, she was groomed and checked by Lilly and Eve. To everyone’s amazement and amusement, she even allowed Lilly to vacuum her fluffy big coat; just like Dallas. The big cat had been easily accepted by the crew and now was loved as much as Dallas always had been.
Jones had brought Tom, Eve and the Chief up to date with the saga of ‘Caroline Palmer’ or rather the ‘Caroline Palmer’s’ – Leon was now interested in the story - and sat in on the meeting. The other visitor was Professor Jack Dawes, who visited the Thor whilst she was docked at Rossington.
The professor had done some homework on the two Caroline’s, but admitted that the Military had informed him, that both files were still ‘classified’ and would remain so until further notice. “I actually believe there is only one Caroline Palmer and she died on the Geo-Harvester in 231, but why a military crew was working a harvester is a whole different question.”
The Professor had discovered that the entire crew of the ‘Sullivan’s Stork’ rig had been current serving military personnel. No mention of this had been made at the Inquiry into the loss of the Harvester. No one at the company who owned the rig [at the time] knew that the rig was off-course by nearly five hundred kilometres – they had searched the area she was supposing to be working and found nothing at the time.
“Little bleeding wonder that they found sod all [at the time] – she was five hundred Kilometres - from her last reported position!” The Chief grunted; in all his service, he had never heard of a commercial rig operated by the military.
“They must have been doing something during their three week stay on the sand. It certainly wasn’t harvesting sand and minerals; the bloody hold was empty.” Jones informed the group and Tom asked the Professor why he believed there was only one Caroline Palmer, as there was two years between the death on the harvester and the disappearance at the Weather Station.
“Simple my friend, if Caroline Palmer and her crew – all military - but working a commercial rig – were on some classified mission, then her death on the rig was never reported – the crew was never identified by name at the only inquest held about the loss of ‘Sullivan’s Stork’. I would further believe, that someone was posted to Weather Station Seven under her name some two years later, but was involved in some unexpected incident and vanished; probably killed by person or persons unknown.”
“So the missing Medical Officer was never Caroline Palmer because we now know she died on some secret mission, running a Geo-Harvester near the Easter Mountains.” Eve muttered and added; “So who the hell is missing?”
On that note, the meeting broke up and Jones reminded everyone about the remembrance ceremony at the Governor’s palace in the morning; best dress and sobriety was the order for the day. Following the ceremony, the Thor’s crew would depart on leave for an entire week.
Professor Dawes was concerned by the in-action of Jones and Eve regarding the revelations made by the apparent time-travelling hologram, ‘Temptation Jones’ – he quite liked the idea that his great, great, great grand children will be able to live outside in Mar’s brand new atmosphere; thanks to a descendent of Jones and Eve.
"He got the eruption spot on Jonesy - how the hell did he know about that before it happened?" Professor Dawes held up his hands and grinned broadly, adding; "So stop procrastinating and marry the damn woman so we can all breath easily - in the future!"
Jones had to smile at that and shrugged his shoulders with a sheepish grin; "I'm working on it." The professor nodded and returned to his small shop to study the case of ‘Caroline Palmer’ further. The crew of the Thor were all present at the ceremony of remembrance held in the Grand reception area of the Southern Mars Governors Palace. The service was simple and dignified; the names of each person who had died in the disaster were read out by a family member and a candle lit in their memory.
Jones met Eve and her mum; Maggie, in ‘Blind Charlie’s Bar and Diner’ where the crew had arranged a ‘quiet’ drink up to celebrate surviving the disaster; even Margaret, the Thor’s new XO turned up and even more amazement was expressed when Max Tapp arrived and joined the party.
The guest most welcome at the little party was the newest member of the crew: Lucy. Lilly had bought both cats to the party, it appears Lucy also walked on a lead and enjoyed a small beer; just like Dallas!
“It must be the breed. They are all similar, I expect.” Charlie muttered, as he poured the cat’s beer with a huge grin on his face and his wife; Joy fed the pair with chicken pieces and cat biscuits. The crew had a really good party and then dispersed for their leave – Jones and Eve had quite a long goodbye; it should be noted and that Maggie [Eve’s mum] actually invited Jones home for the week – but one qualified Officer must remain with the rig – even when docked - that responsibility fell to Jones and Eve knew it.
The following morning Lilly was up early and Jones found her in the galley cooking breakfast for him, Troy and herself – she had already fed the two big cats - who chased each other about the rig for the remainder of the morning.
“I took a call for you this morning Skipper, it was from Professor Dawes; he said he would drop in at lunch time with some information for you. I thought we could get pizza take-away for lunch?” Lilly slapped some more scrambled egg upon Jones’s plate and smiled.
Jones nodded his agreement about the pizza’s – as long as they came from ‘Monkee’s’ - the little pizza and burger shop near the Dockyard’s Peace Guard Station – he really liked their vegetable and egg pizza with plenty of chilli’s. Lilly wrote up his and Troy’s order, pinning it next to the Communications desk, before setting off to meet Eve and Sunny for shopping.
The Professor turned up early and joined Jones on the bridge; they drank coffee and discussed what the Professor had discovered about the mysterious ‘Caroline Palmer’: The 28 year old had been in the military for five years before her death in 231 and her entire file was still ‘Classified’. We know she had trained as a Medical Officer, but took up ‘other duties’ [not specified] during the Invasion war and apparently did not return to her studies. It appears she has no living relatives and so her body will be passed onto the team of ‘Operation Cenotaph’ – that made Jones shudder - he really disagreed with the purpose of that project and could see no merit in the scheme.
The Professor was really interested in the map Jones had found by the body of the young man, on the bridge floor of ‘Sullivan’s Stork’. “It appears to be an entrance to the caves, from the Valley La Mort, that lay deep under the Easter Mountains. But what do this numbers and letters mean?” Jones had noticed the mix of letters and numbers every few centimetres on the flimsy drawing; ‘AX34 - AY21 - CT84 etc.’
Jones shook his head; he had no idea what they could mean. Both he and the Professor came up with various ideas, but none seemed to ring true and were easily dismissed - they would have to remain a mystery for now.
Both men wondered if her death and that of her crew, had any connections with the legend of the ruined city, hidden deep in the Easter Mountains. Neither man could produce any reason or evidence that there was indeed; a link. The only exception being the map and the code letters and numbers; but they remain undecidable for the moment.
“Class 7 Alpha of Rochester Officer’s Academy in the year 226, the nine officers’ in the picture have just graduated. The other two are instructors, but do you see who number three and number eight are?” The professor tapped the photograph and said quietly; “Number eight is Lt. J.E. Stanner and number three is Lt. Caroline Palmer; they knew each other.”
Jones considered the Professors words for a few seconds and spoke softly; "Stanner's apparently committed suicide in 227, during the Invasion War and Palmer apparently died in 231 of gas poisoning - how can they be connected?"
The Professor placed both hands upon his head and leaned back in the chair; "Do you think that Palmer was leading some kind of secret mission to recover the weapon that Stanner hid in the cave system?"
Jones shook his head; "No one knew about the weapon until we viewed that old communications device and saw Stanner's video." He stood and paced the floor, then clicked his fingers with a broad smile; "Maybe our friend Stanner survived, made a little map and then somehow got it to another officer he could trust; Palmer?"
The Professor had to smile at that reasoning; "That would explain why no-one knew about the Geo-harvester mission in Military Command [at the time] - but someone high up in the Government must have authorised such a mission?"
Jones nodded and wondered what the hell happened to Stanner if he didn't die in the caves of the Easter mountains?
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| "William Alexander Stephens." |
Copyright © 2011-2021 Stephen Williams. No reproduction of any part without permission.
