The Way Home

By Lloyd Martin

The four Martians could be stranded on Mars.
They trust one or two of the robot / androids - but not completely.
One of them left the door open to the habitat - deliberately.
A plan is hatched in the Alamo - but with all electronics of any kind out of their reach, the four martians have many problems to overcome.
The first is how to fight wo robot / androids, granted, they have found ways of hiding from the robots electronically, or they would have been dead within seconds; their thin Marsuits would have been quickly compromised.
Then there came the question of the escape from Mars - and how do you navigate without computers?
They have mixed feelings when they find that one of the robot / androids is following the on their journey back home. He claims to be friendly, and would like to dock to help them. Would you let that happen? but how can they stop him?
On Earth, half of Gran Canaria has slipped into the Atlantic - sending a Tsunami that wipes out the East coast of America, including most of NASA.
There are elements who are still helping the returning astronauts, but there are also elements who are not.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lloyd Martin
• Release date: Aug 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005860677

Lloyd Martin

Worked for BAe for 20 years on Lightning (XN726), Canberra (Venezuela), Jaguar, Tornado. Went to be professional artist specialising in military aircraft. Finished work to nurse wife, during which time I began writing the first series of books: the Coniston Fowler trilogy. Since then I have written a trilogy of novellas about mans first landing on Mars, and a set of books of a James Bond type.

Book preview

The Way Home

Part Four of

Thrones of Mars

A novel

By

Lloyd R Martin

Chapter 1 Battles

Chapter 2 The Way Back

Chapter 3 Xanthros on the Net

Chapter 4 Docking

Chapter 5 Loneliness of Command

Chapter 6 The Chase

Chapter 7 Thrones of Mars

Chapter 8 Cold Dark Silence

Chapter 9 Meeting in Hilbert Space

Chapter 10 Gerald and Sarsen 2

Chapter 11 Citation

Chapter 12 Death Valley

Chapter One

BATTLES

Hoshi and Galina were in the Alamo with Steve, the other two robots were on their way back to Homer Base, Jake and Ash have started to climb out of the hole above the reactor.

‘Is this the real life, or is this just a tragedy?’ Dr Galina Danilenko said quietly to Hoshi Masuto as they donned their Marsuits.

‘I know this much is true,’ she replied, as she straightened her grey hood in preparation to place her helmet on her head, ‘they will not allow us to leave this planet. We must find a way of letting Ash and Jake know that we think we have found a possible way out.’

‘Not if he gets wind of what we are planning, we would be like China in his hands.’ She indicated the direction of the robot Steve.

‘I will try to find out about the other two as soon as we get inside the lab.’ Hoshi said.

They left the Alamo to find the door to the living area open. When Gerald left in such a hurry he left both airlock doors open. The whole unit was now decompressed and could not be lived in by humans without spacesuits, or Marsuits. They turned to face each other.

‘How long will it take to re-pressurise the unit?’ Hoshi asked Galina.

‘It’s not a matter of how long, but more of how much air have we left? I don’t know that we have enough to fill the whole unit.’

‘What about Marks workshop? That is separate from the main unit.’

‘Yet it is.’ She turned to Stuart, who just nodded, then turned to the entrance that would lead them into the area that Mark used to use as a workshop and laboratory.

Once inside Hoshi removed her hood to see if he could find out what was happening to Gerald and Steve. She stood still whilst Galina and Steve began doing calculations and measurements to see if the living accommodation could be re-pressurised.

‘Not looking good.’ Galina shook her head in despair, ‘we lost too much air when Gerald burst out. I can’t see this being a viable option without more air from the Phoenix.’

‘I am finding the same conclusions.’ Steve agreed.

Hoshi let a small smile creep across her face. Galina noticed this and sensed that she must be getting good news from the net.

‘Are Gerald and Stuart coming back here, Steve?’ Hoshi knew that robots couldn’t lie or deceive, so would give her a straight answer – one she already suspected.

‘They are at present having difficulty crossing something they refer to as the prehistoric pavement. Steve is pressing on, but finding it very hard going, Gerald has veered off to try to find an easier way around.’

That is what she had heard from the net. She replaced the hood.

‘I think we should try to contact Ash.’ She said to the other two.

‘That seems like a good idea, but how? They have no radio on their rover.’ Steve said.

Hoshi turned to Steve and said, ‘Of course they have. You don’t think they would leave us without the most rudimentary of communications, do you?’

Steve looked confused, ‘But we have not been able to pick them up.’

‘No, that is because their radio is only very short-ranged. It only works in line-of-sight, and here on Mars that is not very far. But there is a small mountain to the south-east of us where we might be able to get them.’

‘Right,’ Steve’s head tilted to one side as he considered the situation, ‘But to get that far we would need a rover.’

‘Yes, all three of us can take the other rover to contact Ash and Jake.’ Hoshi did not want to stay at the homer base any longer than was necessary in case the other two robots came back – they had already decompressed the main living quarters and lab area, who know what they might do. He turned to Galina,

‘You up for this one?’

She recognised the folly of staying on base for too long, so she agreed.

They were already in their Marsuits, it only remained for them to replace their helmets and go to the rover.

Ash and Jake were now walking quietly away from the shimmering shapes of Xanthros and Michelle, who were still talking, but fortunately not asking any questions. Every now and then Ash would call back to let them know that there was still someone there. Jake was the first to stand on top of the reactor box, as Ash joined him they both looked up to see a square column of light with a darker square at the top. This was the Martian sky beginning to darken, they knew that within minutes it would be completely dark out there, and the robots had limited infrared vision capability. The humans had rudimentary lights on the front of their rover, Ash was hoping that Silver had not found it, and was still guarding the entrance of the cave.

Then the reactor began to move. It had cooled sufficiently to allow it to restart its work on the ice. The machine began to rise towards Jake, who as clinging on to the pipe-work. Ash had just reached the machinery when he saw it begin to move. Without hesitation he jumped on to the top of the reactor, Jake joined him. There they rode the contraption to the top of the hole, on to the Martian surface.

As they scrambled on to the ground beyond the pipe-work, they kept low and silent as they reviewed their situation. There was no sign of Silver. Strangely they could still hear Xanthros from deep within the cavern below because of the way their own communications worked, so they knew not to speak in order not to give their position away. The ridge of rocks they had hidden their rover behind had a top fringe of light as the sun dropped the rest into darkness. Ash signalled Jake that they should climb over this to gain access to their transport and make good their escape.

At about the same time Hoshi, Galina and Steve got into their rover at Homer base. They fired up the machine, and headed for the hills to the south of Homer Base. As the vehicle climbed higher Steve received a message from Gerald. The lone robot was now to the north-east of base, battered, tattered and torn he called Steve,

‘What is the situation at Homer Base? I am one thousand yards from you but having to move slowly due to undercarriage damage and failing light conditions.’

Steve replied as he spoke. This meant that the humans knew what he was reporting,

‘Hello Gerald. Most of the base is not useable by humans. It has been decided that they must all return to the Phoenix. We are now moving to higher ground in order to communicate with Drs Ashton and Jensen.’

‘They must be stopped. No one leaves the planet. If necessary, they must be destroyed to prevent this. First Law of Robotics has been rescinded for this mission. Use of deadly force is authorised.’

The humans did not hear this part of the communication, but they heard Steve’s reply,

‘Yes. I got that instruction, but I do not agree. The essence of the First Law still stands good, and the reason for the implementation of such a law overrides the need to cancel it, the great Lord Azimov did not introduce this law without good reason, so I countermanded the instruction.’

Hoshi and Galina knew the law had been rescinded for robots on Mars, but this was a revelation.

‘You must prevent these humans from leaving,’

Break in comms as Gerald stumbled in the rapidly darkening and uneven ground,

‘the planet. If you cannot do this, bring them all back to the base, and I will execute whatever,’

Another stumble and crump as he fell over,

‘measures are needed.’

‘I cannot do that, Gerald. According to the Laws I cannot allow, by action or inaction, any harm to come to a human.’

Hoshi turned to Galina and smiled.

Gerald turned to his right, looked at the darkening prehistoric pavement that he had now moved out of and called,

‘Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve. Alan, Alan.’

There was no reply.

Ash and Jake got into their stripped-down rover. Unfortunately, the throttle did not allow for a smooth, stealthy departure. It was either on or off. As Jake opened the potentiometer the machine spun all four wheels, kicking out dust and dirt. This disruption to the Martian atmosphere was picked up by Silver, who leaped from behind the hill into which the cave had been dug. Ash and Jake were now at full speed and headed straight for him.

Jake turned the steering full to the right, the machine began to turn, but not quick enough, it was not built to go around corners. Jake stopped the drive on the right wheels. This had the desired effect; the vehicle began to dig in on the right and swivel round away from Silver, who had by now begun throwing rocks. Because of the vehicles sudden and violent manoeuvre, the rocks all missed by a long way. But then the vehicle began to tilt alarmingly. With the lower gravity there was not much to assist the stability. As it began to lift the stationary right wheels, their effect on turning diminished. Jake realised what was happening, and reinstated drive on the right wheels. As they contacted the ground again they had the effect of virtually cancelling out the turn. Just then Silver had allowed for them continuing their turn, so his next salvo went wide again. By now they were almost side on to Silver, still turning, and throwing up dust from the darkening ground. All this interfered with Silver’s infrared detection system, which in turn made his accuracy much more erratic. As a robot he should be able to hit something the size of a rover with every rock he threw, but there were getting to be more and more problems with his aim. Not least of which was the way that Jake was throwing the little light rover about. Another detriment to accuracy was the way Silver himself was moving. He was climbing the slope using three legs, then four, then he had to use another limb to prevent himself from slipping backwards.

Now the distance and failing light were coming into the equation. Eventually Silver used a limb that Ash had swung on during their fight to prevent slipping. This limb gave way, causing the silver ball to roll backwards. Legs, limbs and arms were quickly retracted to avoid damage, but they did not all retract fully, so became damaged in the fall. Neither did they slow him down. Five and a half tons are still a lot of weight, even on Mars, with a lot of inertia. As he gained momentum down the hill, the Humpty Dumpty of robots collided with quite a few rocks. Some of these punctured his casing, especially causing damage where limbs came out. When he reached the bottom of the hill his inertia carried him up the other