Part 34 (1/2)

11, 5: Again my men returned from the island without incident. I should be relieved, but if anything my anxiety is increasing. When I questioned them about what they found, they just say I must visit the place and see for myself. I keep hearing the same story.

Somehow those who return from that dark place are different. For example, Ivan is always smiling, but he does not seem happy. Plus they all stay together, and talk in whispers among themselves. Gregory, who accompanied Ivan and Nicholas today, laughed when I tried to reopen the discussion on the possibility of infection. Something terrible is happening to my crew, but I do not know what it is, or how I can stop it.

I hesitate to tell Moscow of my fears. I have no proof to substantiate what I am feeling. Anyway, Moscow is pus.h.i.+ng for further exploration of the island. It would not matter what I told them. They are not as pleased with us anymore. They are becoming irritated with the lack of information my men are returning with. They have ordered me to send different people, along with a couple who are experienced with the island. I think, for the first time in my life, I am going to disobey an order.

Carl has been on the radio all day. He says he is lonely and wants to go home. He even began to weep while talking to me. He is suffering from nightmares, too. He says he hates having Mars outside his porthole all the time. He says the red is hurting his eyes.

I received a message from Anna today. I am beginning to doubt I will ever see her again.

11, 6: We have lost contact with the Gorbachev, and therefore with Earth. Both the Katarina's and the Karamazov's communications systems have been overloaded by a sudden power surge from our main generators. Repair is out of the question. This could not have happened by accident. I haven't slept in two days. I feel I will be murdered if I do. I know Ivan and those he has taken to that forsaken place are responsible for the sabotage. I am reminded of how Ivan survived without air. How easily I accepted that impossibility! I write these words sitting up in my bed, and I listen to Ivan sleeping below me. Not only does he no longer snore, he no longer breathes.

When I was young, my grandmother told my sister and me ghost stories. Some of these tales were of people, or things, that came back from the dead. Of course, she was very old at the time, and a little senile, but as a child I believed her stories. Now tonight, on this alien world, I believe her once again.

If only I had told Moscow of my fears. Now there can be no warning for those who should follow us here. I feel sorry for those people.

Lauren stopped translating, afraid to go on, perhaps afraid to discover her own fate. Good old Ivan - he had been the first as well as the last.

She glanced in the direction of the haunted cave and opened a circuit to the bas.e.m.e.nt.

'How are you doing?' she asked.

'I have the bomb free,' Gary said. 'It's not too heavy to carry around, not here on Mars.'

'Can we go? I'll be right down.'

'No. I have to put a second timer on it. The original one is too easy to tamper with. Plus it can't be set for anything above ten minutes.'

'How long will all this take?'

'I'm not sure. A few minutes.'

'Where in G.o.d's name are you going to find a timer that you can just hook onto the bomb?'

'I have one already. It's not as complicated as it sounds. I've already triggered the code, but I've prevented the circuit from being completed. Honestly, I should be done in five minutes. What does Dmitri have to say?'

'All his men that traveled to the island turned into monsters that didn't have to breathe. Except for Alyosha. It seems he didn't take to the new brotherhood. Jim probably didn't, either. There's only one entry left. Should I continue to translate or do you want me to stop and help you?'

'You can't help. Finish the translation. Have you found out anything that gives us a better idea of what we're facing?'

Lauren considered a moment. 'No.'

'Well, I guess it'll be good to know what happened.'

'I guess so,' she agreed. 'Hurry with your work.'

Lauren started on the last day.

11, 7: I pray that you who discover this record will not make the mistake of thinking me insane. If you do, then the evil on this planet that turns men into walking corpses will invade the Earth. Above all else, that must not happen. We should never have come to this place.

I don't have much time. I must explain what happened today. My dearest friends are now aliens. They smile constantly, with vacant eyes that remind me of animals. I feel a strange power in them, a cold hatred.

I decided our only chance was more medical tests. Since I no longer trust Gregory, I had his a.s.sistant, Fyodor, subject all of us to physical exams. Fyodor has never been to the ca.n.a.l or the island. But as he listened to my heart beat, I noticed his smiling expression. Where his hands touched my skin, I felt a disquieting chill. I asked if he was feeling well, and he laughed and said he had never been better. That made me suspicious. Fyodor had been feeling miserable like the rest of us. I asked him if he had examined Ivan and found anything unusual. He said no. I pointed out that Ivan no longer appeared to breathe. At that Fyodor laughed again, and said that must mean he's dead. Then he offered me a bottle of water and suggested I drink it immediately, for my system was dehydrated.

I smelled the water and detected a faint, nauseating odor. To the touch, the liquid felt different than water. It was thicker, and it stuck to my fingers like glue. It also gave me a slight burn. I asked Fyodor where he got the water and he told me Ivan had given it to him. He also said that it was delicious stuff. I ordered him to continue his examinations and left for the control room.

Once there I considered the idea that Fyodor had been changed, like the others, but without having visited the island. I felt anxious about having placed my uncontaminated men in his hands. I turned on a remote camera that viewed the laboratory. There I watched as Fyodor withdrew a blood sample from Peter. At first Fyodor appeared to do nothing unusual. Then he attached a tourniquet and IV to Peter's arm. He explained that he needed an exceptionally large amount of blood for a special experiment he wanted to perform. Peter agreed reluctantly. After Fyodor was done with him, Peter left the laboratory, and then Ivan appeared.

What happened next was terrible. Fyodor handed Ivan Peter's blood. He bowed as he did so, and thanked Ivan for the opportunity of decision. Ivan took the beaker and made a toast in the direction of my camera - he must have known I was watching. Then Ivan drank down the blood and gave the empty beaker back to Fyodor. Ivan promised him that soon his thirst would be quenched.

My old friend drank Peter's blood!

I checked our weapons locker. The rifles and lasers are gone. The weapons the Katarina carried are also gone. They are way ahead of me.

I have called for a meeting at the Katarina tonight. I believe they will come - they seem to fear nothing. There is only one way of stopping this plague. Ivan's remark about quenching their thirst haunts me. Fortunately he does not know of the weapon we carry that is far more powerful than the missing lasers and rifles.

I have fed a program into the Karamazov's computer that cannot be overridden. This s.h.i.+p will never leave this world, but it is my hope that she will continue to serve mankind by protecting this record. Whoever should read this - leave this place before it is too late.

I wish I could see Anna one last time. I wish I could get a message off to Carl. He will have a lonely journey home.

I have to go now. They are coming.

Lauren closed the diary and shut her eyes. Now she desperately wanted to leave Jessica. She longed to blast off and get back to Earth and warn everybody. She didn't want to be given the opportunity of decision.

Gary came in over the radio. 'I'm ready, Doc. We can leave now.'

She squeezed Dmitri's diary. At least it felt warm. 'OK.'

'Did you find out anything?'

'Yes.'

'What?'

'Gary,' she said. 'Let's make a couple of crosses before we go down there. They couldn't hurt.'

Coming, Lori?

TWENTY-SEVEN.

The boat was where they had left it, floating on the ca.n.a.l at the end of the cave two hundred feet below the edge of the cliff. The rope ladder that led down to the water was also in place, and they climbed dowrf into the boat without difficulty. Lauren found paddling a relief after the long walk. Her injured knee had swollen to twice its proper size - another waste of precious moisture. Yet the black waters that surrounded them no longer tempted her.

'Where did you get this water, Fyodor?'

'Ivan gave it to me. It's delicious.'

'When we get back home, Lori,' Gary said, breathing hard inside his suit, 'I'm going to take you surfing in Tahiti. You can lie on an empty beach all day and let the hot sun bake your beautiful body a s.e.xy brown.'