Hello everyone this is Dave the Mirical Maker up here in the high desert of Southern California. I would like to wish everyone a happy Independence Day. As you celebrate the holiday, maybe you are barbecuing or watching a fireworks display I would encourage you to reflect on the history of this great country of ours that is two hundred and forty seven years old today. reflect on the men that wrote that founding document and put their lives on the line by signing it.If you have never read the Declaration of Independance here it is:

Declaration of Independence: A Transcription.

In Congress, July 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

Georgia

Button Gwinnett

Lyman Hall

George Walton

North Carolina

William Hooper

Joseph Hewes

John Penn

South Carolina

Edward Rutledge

Thomas Heyward, Jr.

Thomas Lynch, Jr.

Arthur Middleton

Massachusetts

John Hancock

Maryland

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

Pennsylvania

Robert Morris

Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Franklin

John Morton

George Clymer

James Smith

George Taylor

James Wilson

George Ross

Delaware

Caesar Rodney

George Read

Thomas McKean

New York

William Floyd

Philip Livingston

Francis Lewis

Lewis Morris

New Jersey

Richard Stockton

John Witherspoon

Francis Hopkinson

John Hart

Abraham Clark

New Hampshire

Josiah Bartlett

William Whipple

Massachusetts

Samuel Adams

John Adams

Robert Treat Paine

Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island

Stephen Hopkins

William Ellery

Connecticut

Roger Sherman

Samuel Huntington

William Williams

Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire

Matthew Thornton

---

The last phrase of the Declaration of Independence says: we mutually pledge our Lives our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. When those brave men signed that document they were immediacy branded as traitors to the British crown. If caught their property and their fortunes would have been seized. They would have been taken to the gallows and hanged by the neck until they were dead. Today our county is divided. We need to remember that we are one people and one nation. I pray that men of the same caliber as our founding fathers will rise up to guard our liberty and constitution. These are my thoughts on Independence Day. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. Have a happy Independence Day and God bless America.

Now for your reading pleasuerechech out chapter 20 of my science fiction novel, the Battle for Europa. The Battle for Europa is the first book in my Space Corps Cronicles series.

Chapter 20

David Gallagher drifted up from the depths of unconsciousness. He felt someone grab him by his arms and pick him up. Pain racked his body but he couldn’t see who was carrying him. His heart thumped inside his chest and he couldn’t seem to catch his breath. David heard a few gunshots and saw the flash of a laser. Someone sat him on a metal deck; he heard the rumble of an engine and felt tracked wheels moving underneath him. I’m in a vehicle. They’re taking me back to the base. He drifted back into unconsciousness.

The next time he woke up, he felt the vehicle stop. His stomach dropped and he felt like he was sinking into the depths of hell. I’m dead. The next face I see will be the face of the Devil himself. His’ world faded to black.

***

Paul Rosenbaum came off of watch on the defensive perimeter and headed to the mess hall. He saw a group of marines assembled by HQ, so he headed over. “What’s up?” he asked a young marine standing on the edge of the group.

“The recon patrol they sent out earlier didn’t make it back. They were due over two hours ago.”

Icy fear sank into the pit of Paul’s stomach. “Have they made contact with them on the com-net?”

The young marine shook his head. “They tried, but so far they haven’t got a response. They’re assembling a team to go look for them.”

“My buddy was on that patrol. I’ll go.” Paul stepped into HQ. Twenty minutes later, he assembled with a large group of marines. This time the convoy was double the size. It had twice as many troop carriers and twice as many main battle tanks. They had several shuttles to provide air support.

Paul let out a sigh. “Hurry up and wait. I wish they’d get this shit ball rolling,” Paul said to the marine standing next to him. His voice resonated through the speaker inside the helmet attached to his EVA suit. The vehicles formed up in a long line and an NCO climbed out of a half-track shouting orders. The Martian wind picked up blowing sand across the tarmac.

“Let’s go, marines! Get your asses on board now!” The boarding ramps lowered. Paul charged onboard the first troop carrier along with ten other marines.

“Do you think they’re alive?” the marine sitting next to Paul asked after they took off their helmets.

Paul settled back in his seat listening to the rumble of the troop carrier’s engine. “I hope so. They could have had a mechanical breakdown. Maybe they’re working on their vehicles. The com-units might not work so well inside those canyons.”

Another marine shook his head. “Don’t count on it. We’re deep inside Indian country. We own the colonies, but these damned rebels own the bush.” The convoy moved out passing through the base’s outer perimeter. They headed through the wire while Paul held onto the armrest of his seat. The troop carrier bounced over the rough terrain. It entered the canyon country following the route of the previous recon patrol. The convoy reached the ambush site forty-five minutes later. The troops deployed and formed a defensive perimeter.

The hulks of what had once been main battle tanks and troop carriers lay smoldering on the canyon floor. Bodies lay scattered on the ground and most of their EVA suits had depressurized. The stench coming from the burning vehicles filled the air. Paul led a patrol to search the wreckage. They put the dead bodies in one of the troop carriers and attached tow cables to the disabled vehicles. God, where’s David? Paul tried to swallow the lump in his throat. The lieutenant in charge of the convoy and a medic stepped up to Paul while his squad loaded the last body.

“Is that all, of them?” the lieutenant asked, but the medic shook his head. “I checked the bio scanners. We have one man missing.”

Paul slung his Blaster over his shoulder and stepped up next to the medic. “Who is it?” Paul’s heart hammered in his chest and he felt hope start to rise.

“David Gallagher.”

“If he’s missing, then that must mean he’s still alive,” Paul said.

“Could be, but if he’s alive, he’s in rebel hands. Let’s button down this convoy. We need to get back to the base before the rebels decide to go for round two,” the lieutenant in command said. They deployed back to the troop carriers. The convoy pulled out towing a couple of the disabled vehicles behind and carried the bodies of their fallen comrades back to the base.

***

Alonzo and Louis gathered in the ready room with a company of marines. The captain ordered the entire ship into a heightened state of readiness as they approached Jupiter. So far, things had remained at the status quo. Alonzo and Louis crossed the ready room to a beverage dispenser. They poured themselves a cup of coffee, picked up a doughnut, and headed to a table near a viewscreen. Several of the marines in the ready room smoked cigarettes and a cloud of tobacco smoke filled the room. Alonzo took a sip of his coffee, grimacing at the taste of the bitter brew, and bit into a doughnut. The voice of the captain resonated through the ship’s PA system. He announced that they had reached an agreement with the people on Europa and said that the main battle fleet would move aside. They would pass through the federal blockade and continue on their journey. He also canceled the alert and said that the ship could now return to routine business. When the captain quit speaking, a wild whoop went through the ready room.

“It’s about bloody time, mate,” Louis said. “I thought we’d be stuck here for a few months. I thought we’d get caught up in this foolishness and have to shoot our way through the blockade.”

Alonzo smiled. “Me too, bro. I’m kind of anxious to get out of the solar system and see what’s out there.” They watched the viewscreen. The ships from the main battle fleet created a hole in the blockade and the deep-space fleet approached Jupiter. It took one revolution around the planet and headed for the outer edges of the solar system.

Several smaller ships flanked them on the viewscreen. “I guess them blokes don’t trust us. They sent some ships along for the ride mate. Do you think they’re gonna bird dog us to Saturn?”

“Who cares, bro. At least we’re on the move again. They’ll turn back after a while.”

Louis grinned. “That’s right, mate. We have a couple of hours to kill before we hit the rack. Tomorrow it’s back to the same old grind. What do you say about heading to the pub? I’ll buy the first round.”

Alonzo smiled. “Louis, you’re a man after my own heart.” They stood up, crossed the ready room, stepped out into the main corridor, and headed to the officers’ pub. In the weeks and months that followed, they fell back into their normal routine. The captain held no scheduled training events. The admiral didn’t want to antagonize their escorts. Louis and Alonzo spent eight hours a day in class and four hours a day serving as third lieutenants. Their days were long and taxing but they were also rewarding.

***

David drifted up from the depths of unconsciousness, opened his eyes, and glanced around taking in his surroundings. He lay in a hospital bed, bios monitors set next to his bed along with a metal surgical cart. An IV drip was attached to his left wrist along with plastic heart monitors attached to his chest. One of the machines beeped. The room smelled sterile, like any other hospital he’d ever been in. He looked past the medical machines at the granite walls of the room where he lay. I must be in some underground cavern. The walls looked smoother than glass. It looked like some massive boring tool had hollowed out the room. David had heard rumors about deep subterranean caverns controlled by the rebels.

An elderly man with short gray hair stepped through a set of blue steel doors. David took in the crow’s feet at the corner of the man’s tired gray eyes and the dark bags underneath them. The man looked up and smiled. “Oh. You’re awake.”

David glanced about. “Where am I?”

“I’m Doctor Guthrie. You’re in rebel-occupied territory deep below the surface of Mars.”

David let out a sigh. “How bad am I hurt?”

“You took a laser bolt through your upper chest. We have you on regeneration nanoprobes. You should be fine in a couple of days.”

David’s eyes widened and he gripped the blankets at his sides. “I guess I am a prisoner of war?”

“We’re not in a declared war. You’re a detainee classified as an enemy combatant.”

David nodded. “What’s going to happen to me?”

“After you recover from your wounds, there are some people who want to speak with you. They’ll talk to you about your future.”

David noticed the scar on the doctor’s wrist. “What happened to your biochip?”

“I had it removed. How else do you think the rebel alliance can operate with impunity?”

The doctor stepped up to his bed, ran a handheld bio scanner over his chest, and poured a glass of water from a pitcher that was set on the metal cart next to the bed. He handed David the glass along with three pills “Take these. You need to sleep so the nanoprobes can do their work.”

David tried to sit up. “What happens to the nanoprobes when I get well?”

“They go dormant. Your body absorbs them.” David took the pills, lay back on his bed, and once more, he sank into the depths of unconsciousness.

***

Paul arrived back at the base two hours later and helped unload the bodies of their fallen comrades. The sound of engines whined in his ear coming through the speakers of his EVA suit. Several shuttles descended toward the landing pad. Paul went to the mess hall for a hot meal and a cup of coffee. He had finished eating when the alarm buzzers went off. The base’s PA system ordered all personnel to fall out and report to the tarmac in full combat gear. Paul put his EVA suit back, on rushed out the door, down the hallway, and through an airlock. He crossed the base to his barracks, retrieved his combat gear, and assembled with his company. His top sergeant and their lieutenant lumbered up to where the marines stood waiting. When the marines saw them coming, they snapped to attention.

“Gentlemen. I came from a meeting with the brass. An air recon mission reported a large rebel force heading our way. They’re currently occupying all three of the canyons to our north. We expect the base to come under attack within the next twenty-four hours. The base is now on lockdown. Our orders are to guard the northern perimeter. We will work twelve hours shifts. Sergeant Richer will assign the duty roster. You will occupy the gunrooms and the trenches on the perimeter. Let’s stay sharp. This has the makings of a long night. If you’re not on watch, try to get some sleep. When the rebs attack, I want everyone on the line,” the lieutenant said. The wind picked up blowing sand across the tarmac.

Sergeant Richer stepped up and spoke in a rough gravelly voice. “First, second and third platoons will occupy the gunrooms! Fourth Fifth and sixth platoons will occupy the trenches. The rest of you get some shuteye. But sleep light. If you hear the alert whistle sound, drop your cocks and grab your rifle because the rock men are coming.”

“I’m glad we pulled duty in the gunrooms instead of the trenches,” Paul said to the marine standing next to him.

“Yeah. At least we’ll have a bit more cover in the gun room if they do attack.” The marine’s southern drawl echoed through the speakers in Paul’s EVA suit. Paul slung his rucksack over his shoulder, picked up his rifle, and headed to the northern perimeter. Other marines occupied the gunroom and trenches to the east, west, and south. Paul and ten other marines occupied a gunroom on the northeastern edge of the perimeter. He stood at the firing port nearest the hardened steel door of the gun room. The other marines took up positions at the firing ports down the line. Paul touched a small button on the side of his helmet activating the helmet’s night vision feature. He looked out at the barren landscape illuminated into a bright green world.

He scanned the razor wire and bungee pits on the outer edges of the perimeter. There were various other obstacles set up to hinder an invading force. The marines on the line occupied a series of trenches. They were, constructed in such a way that they could give up ground if they had to, but stay undercover and zigzag their way back to the inner earthworks. Now and then one of the marines on the line would fire an illumination flare. The night passed slowly. Paul and the marines in his gun room grew tired.

Paul yawned inside his EVA suit. “If these rock men are gonna attack, I wish they’d get it over with.”

“I know. I’m so damned sleepy I could fall asleep standing up,” the marine at the firing port next to him said.

“Private Rosenbaum to HQ,” Paul said into his throat mike inside his helmet.

“Keep the chatter down, marine,” someone said.

“Could you send a runner around with some coffee?”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Paul sighed, staring out the hardened glass above his firing port. More time passed. A runner came by going from gunroom to gunroom delivering coffee and Paul met him at the doorway. He handed out thermoses of coffee to his fellow marines. Once he’d passed out the chrome thermoses, Paul attached his to a slot on the side of his EVA suit. He inserted the feed tube into a receptacle on his helmet and sucked in the hot elixir.

“Why do they call these guys rock men?” Paul asked the marine at the next firing port.

The marine yawned. “Because they rise out of the rocky surface of Mars as if they were part of the landscape. They hide in the most, rocky barren places you could imagine.”

“I hear they have bases underground.”

“You’d be, surprised what’s under the surface of Mars.”

Paul’s head nodded. He lowered his head and turned off the night vision feature on his helmet to give his eyes a rest and looked at the digital timepiece on the wrist of his EVA suit. Its green numbers flashed zero, three hundred hours. He turned on his night vision once more looking at the perimeter and his bottom jaw dropped. Seconds before, he saw nothing but the rocky landscape. Now he saw thousands of people swarming through the wire attacking the base from all directions. They wore desert camouflaged EVA suits. Paul’s heart boomed inside his chest and he thought he was going to hyperventilate. “They’re on the wire!” Paul yelled, and opened up with his blaster. An illumination flare lit up the night. The marines on the line opened up, a fiery explosion erupted and rebels in the hills fired mortars down on the base. Tiny bits and pieces of cement rained down on their heads. Bodies piled up on the wire, but the rebels climbed over their dead and stormed the base. Paul thought the noise inside the gun room was going to make his ears bleed. Rebel shuttles came in from the north. They flew low and fired laser-guided bombs. Main battle tanks on the south side of the base opened up with their main guns and tracer fire lit up the night.

Through the wire, the rebels stormed the trenches. Paul and the marines in his gun room returned fire. They used the weapon’s laser feature until they ran out of energy packs.

“I’m switching to solid projectiles!” Paul yelled to the marine at the adjacent firing port.

“I’m using explosive rounds! We’re in a world of shit! There’s too many of them out there!” They heard a loud explosion and saw a bright flash. Debris rained down from the ceiling. The dim lighting inside the gun room flickered and went out.

“One of those mortars landed right on top of us!” Paul yelled.

Paul heard the hardened glass above the firing port next to him shatter. An explosive charge tore through the glass. A small piece of debris entered the faceplate of a marine three positions down from him and pierced his cheek. It exited out the back of his skull. Blood, brain matter, and minute pieces of bone, splattered against the back wall of the gun room. For a few seconds, Paul froze, staring at the gore.

The invading horde pushed the marines out of the trenches. They drove them back over the earthworks surrounding the base. The rebels stormed down the hill overwhelming the remnant manning the line. Paul heard a loud explosion outside the door of their gun room. The doors blew open. Someone threw in a grenade and a piece of shrapnel hit Paul’s shoulder. He fell over backward. Fierce eerie-looking rebels dressed in camouflaged EVA suits stormed into the gun room. They sprayed the inside with their blasters. A bullet pierced Paul’s chest punching a hole through his heart. They do look like rock men. A few seconds later he slipped into unconsciousness and died. The battle was over. A pitch-black shuttle landed on the tarmac. After the dust settled, the rebel colonel lumbered down the exit ramp and surveyed the scene.

“Kill them all. I want this base torn down within the next two hours. We’ll salvage what equipment we can use. Frag the rest. It’ll teach these federal sons of bitches. They may own the colonies, but we own the bush,” the rebel commander said. His aide relayed the commander’s orders. They killed the few marines that had surrendered along with scores of wounded that lay on the ground. Four hours later, the rebel army pulled out. They took anything not destroyed beyond repair with them. The federal base lay in smoking ruins.

***

David woke up and gazed about the hospital room. He wondered what noise or sound had awoken him. Someone had removed the biomonitors from his chest and the IV drip from the back of his hand. The doors to his hospital room opened. The lights went from dim to bright and five men dressed in black flight suits entered his room. David took in their appearance thinking that they looked strong and capable. Their short hair and their posture put off a military bearing. When they saw that David was awake, a young man with sandy-colored blond hair smiled. “Good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

David shrugged, catching a faint trace of whiskey on the man’s breath. “Pretty good.”

“That’s great. The doctor said you might feel a little weak but that you were well enough to travel. Here, I brought you some clothes. Get dressed.” The man laid a change of clothes down on the bed.

“Who are you, people?”

The young officer smiled. “I’m Captain O’Brian and this is my crew.”

David sat up and moved to the edge of the bed setting his feet on the cold floor. “Where is it that you think you’re taking me?”

“We are taking you to Europa. Your brother Shawn would like to speak with you.”

“I’m afraid you’ve made a long trip for nothing. I have nothing to say to Shawn. As far as I’m concerned, he’s dead to me.” David let out a sigh.

O’Brien and his crew stepped up to David’s bed forming a semi-circle around him. O’Brian’s face turned serious. “It was not a request, Mr. Gallagher. You can either come with us peaceably, or we’ll take you in restraints, but either way, you’re coming with us.”

David looked at the door and thought about making a run for it, but noticed the men standing around him. They had laser pistols strapped to their sides. Their hands rested on the butts of their weapons. Like, their captain, these men looked rough and capable. Nausea, passed through David’s stomach when he tried to stand up, so he sat back down feeling light-headed. I wouldn’t make it to the door. “Give me a minute. To tell you the truth, I still do feel a bit weak.”

O’Brien nodded. “Take your time. We’re in no hurry. You’ll have three months to recuperate while we’re in space.”

David caught his breath and stood to his feet. Captain O’Brian and his crew surrounded him while he dressed. “I guess I’m ready. All I had was my combat gear when they shot me. I don’t know what happened to that stuff.”

“It doesn’t matter. We have everything you’ll need, onboard the ship.” O’Brien led him out of the hospital room and down an underground corridor. His crew flanked him. They passed several other people dressed in military fatigues heading in the opposite direction. O’Brien stopped at a turbo lift and punched a button on the outside of the lift. “This way.”

David glanced around. “No one uses biochips down here?”

“I had mine removed.” David shook his head in amazement. He stepped into the turbo lift and felt his stomach drop when the lift descended into the bowels of the red planet. The lift stopped a few minutes later. The doors opened and O’Brian stepped out onto a raised metal platform. David stepped out behind him and looked out across a vast underground cavern. He felt a slight breeze tickle his face. “This way,” O’Brien said, leading David to a stairway to the right of the platform. They descended the metal stairway. David noticed metal catwalks running across the walls of the cavern. He saw lights coming from what looked like rooms cut out of the rock in the sides of the cavern. People moved up and down the catwalks. Others seemed busy working in the various rooms lining the cavern’s walls. When they reached the cavern’s floor, David noticed a small landing pad lit up by overhead lighting. Several small space vessels were set on the landing pad and off to the left, there was a metal launch control tower. Through the hardened glass windows, David saw men working in the tower.

O’Brien led David across the cavern to the landing pad with his crew flanking him. O’Brian weaved his way through various shuttles and light cruisers. They came to a black space cruiser that bristled with armaments. He punched in a code next to the ship’s entrance port, the hatch opened and an exit ramp extended. “Welcome aboard. This will be home for the next three months,” O’Brien said. They climbed up the boarding ramp. The ramp retracted, the hatch closed behind them and David paused looking around the interior of the small ship.

“Pretty fancy.” David took in the plush blue carpeting and the paneled bulkheads.

“The crew cabins are down that corridor to the aft. The first door on your right leads to the galley if you’re hungry. The lounge is in the middle of the main corridor before you get to the cargo bay. If you want to watch the take-off, there’s a VID screen in the lounge. If you cooperate and don’t cause trouble, you can have a free run of the ship while we’re in space.”

“I’ll find the galley. Then I’ll watch the take-off on the VID screen.”

O’Brien nodded at a dark-headed lieutenant. “Jackson. Take Mr. Gallagher to the galley and fix him something to eat.”

Jackson led David down the corridor while O’Brian headed to the cockpit. He sat down, powered up the ship and his co-pilot took the seat next to him. Lieutenant Jackson fixed several ham and cheese sandwiches. He took two bottles of beer from a cooler and led David down to the lounge.

O’Brien turned on the ship’s com-unit. “Free Bird Two to launch control.”

“Go ahead, Free Bird.”

“Request permission to launch.”

“Be advised, Free Bird. You will leave at terminal three seventeen tier two. You are free to launch. I am opening the doors now.”

O’Brien applied thrust. The cruiser lifted off the launch pad. Through the forward viewscreen, O’Brian saw a red flashing light. It bordered the edges of a large set of rectangular doors near the top of the cavern. The doors slid open and the free Bird Two flew through the center of the rectangle exiting the cavern. Once clear of the launch bay doors, O’Brian applied upward thrust. They climbed out of the depths of one of the Martian canyons and gained altitude. Breaking through the atmosphere, they entered an orbit around Mars. Ignoring the calls from the Martian spacedock to identify themselves O’Brien broke orbit and headed for the asteroid belt. Two PPF vessels followed on their tail but soon gave up the chase. David watched the scene unfold on the viewscreen inside the lounge.

***