"Basalt"

"You are an explorer, and you represent our species, and the greatest good you can do is to bring back a new idea, because our world is endangered by the absence of good ideas. Our world is in crisis because of the absence of consciousness." - Terrence McKenna

They were so confident. Confident is perhaps the wrong word. Blind. For years man has occupied the red planet, Mars, comfortable in the belief that life existed nowhere but on their formerly beautiful blue planet, Earth. Years were spent gathering data. Water, air, and the ground itself examined. Surely Mars was once inhabitable but no signs of a past civilization existed. Man was too busy wondering when there was ever life there and not asking a far more important question: If there once was life what made them disappear?

Earthship Eden landed with the best of intentions. To start anew. For almost 200 years Earth was barely able to sustain the amount of life that occupied it. Pollution became the second leading cause of death after overpopulation. The seven continents gathered their most intellectual, bravest, and gung-ho citizens for what could have very well been a suicide mission.

But the mission was a success.

Headed by six of the best astronauts the planet had to offer, Earthship Eden arrived after a four year flight that had a minimal amount of casualties. Upon landing work immediately began on Gardens 1 through 6. The first four dedicated to cultivation of food and habitation, the final two, 5 and 6, to combat. No, there was no life on Mars but if anything human history has taught us is that the most dangerous threat is not who you don't know, but who you do.

For eight years the 11,000 that lived in the Gardens enjoyed an existence that could very well be described as paradise. If a skirmish occurred, the perpetrators were handled with swift, but fair, justice.

10,998.

Alan "Yak" Yakamura was the first to voice suspicion. No one had seen the couple for three days. Alan called for a gathering of the six astronauts' assigned to not only handle the mission, but to keep records of all citizens of the Gardens.

"People don't just vanish" Alan said to the other five members.

"Then explain the Bermuda Triangle" Sgt. Reggie Rhodes said to no one in particular. Hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, Rhodes had the type of attitude that rubbed everyone he spoke to for more than a moment the wrong way. Alan has never liked him but knew that if faced with a life or death situation he could think of no one else he would want on his side.

"We did" Lt. Lisa Bowen said with an exasperated sigh. "Overly oxygenized water, remember?" Graduating in the top of her class in an ultra militant (and secret) British academy, Lisa's calculating mind made the decision to send her for the mission extremely easy. Knowing that the chances of women succeeding in her field made Lisa even stronger in her pursuit of her goal of being the only female commander on the Earthship Eden.

"That's what they want you to believe" Rhodes said.

"They employ us" Lisa countered.

"We still have 10,998 citizens left" Shamir Bruntassur said. "I never believed that we absolutely needed as many people as were brought along. I say we should consider this a blessing in disguise." Shamir was born in India where the amount of citizens numbered in the high hundred millions before the general census stopped counting.

"Disguised as what?" Xavier Helms asked. Helms was born in South Africa and migrated to Australia at a young age during the Uprising in which the Northern African citizens reclaimed what they deemed was "their land." Helms looked each of his comrades in the eye as he spoke. "One day we'll be talking about two people missing and the next it'll be a dozen."

"Hopefully…" Shamir said which caused Alan to flinch.

"Perhaps we are not alone" Novak muttered to himself.

"Here we go again" Rhodes said.

"I don't know why you're so upset" Lisa said. "He's just as paranoid as you."

"Call me paranoid as much as you please" Novak said. "Like Yak said, people do not just vanish. Something or someone took them. The sooner we accept that the sooner we can plan on our next move."

"There is no next move" Shamir interjected. "It is not as if we can, as the American's say 'take our ball and go home.' I say we just wish them luck and go on as usual."

"Impossible" Alan said. He removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He had not experienced a migraine in over three years and did not look forward to one at this moment. "We are making history, Shamir. We cant contact Earth and say 'By the way a few people have vanished. We're going to just pretend it didn't happen. Over.'"

"It was not a few" Shamir said while trying to control his annoyance at Alan. Since Yakamura was first placed as commander of the Earthship Eve Shamir has had to bite his tongue. "It was merely a couple."

"Well, thanks for the clarification" Lisa said. "After one more disappears we'll bring back the minutes of this meeting and applaud you for your clairvoyant abilities."

"There will not be any more missing" Alan said with as much confidence he could gather. "Lockdown."

"Oh, come on!" Rhodes shouted. "Two people go missing and you declare a lockdown? That's ridiculous!"

"No, ridiculous is pretending there is no problem" Novak said. "Yak, I agree with your decision. A lockdown is in order."

"I disagree" Shamir protested.

"This isn't up for debate or vote" Alan said. "We lockdown in two hours. Let the citizens in the Gardens know via M.O.M."

M.O.M was code for Motorized Operational Mecha. Built in Japan and designed by China, M.O.M controlled everything from the air pressure in the Gardens to the water temperature. Resembling a large battle robot M.O.M was the new boogeyman used to control wayward children.

"Be good or M.O.M will get you!"

"This is gonna end bad" Rhodes said.

"What was your first clue?" an often silent JB Donavan asked. If everyone knew very little about Novak even less was known of Donavan. Place of birth, age, or race; none was known. He rarely spoke and when he did everyone listened.

"The fact that you just said something" Shamir said.

"9,012?!" Alan screamed from the control room. He stood before the enormous M.O.M as he read the numbers. Shamir smiled to himself much to the disgust of Lisa and Novak. "What the hell is going on?"

"Someone is asleep at the switch" Rhodes said while looking at Alan.

"Everyone in his Garden is still accounted for" Lisa said in Alan's defense. "Everyone that is missing was from you and Shamir's Gardens."

"I knew this would happen" Helms said. "Hell, we all knew this would happen. Over 1000 people taken overnight. Not missing. It's disgusting."

"While you all create a panic amongst the Gardens I will enjoy the fact that something has blessed us with more resources" Shamir said. Even though most of the missing civilians were from his Garden Shamir was not concerned. He felt that the lower the amount of civilians there were, the more supplies they had, and the longer the mission would continue. Shamir had no intentions of returning to India and its hordes of civilians.

"You say that now" Novak said. He wanted to sit quietly as Donovan usually had but he was growing more and more frustrated with Shamir and Rhodes. Their nonchalant attitude towards something so worrisome caused him great concern. "300 of the ones taken were from our agricultural area. What happens when they are all gone?"

"I don't eat vegetables anyway" Rhodes said while laughing to himself. He loved watching Alan, Lisa, and Novak sweat over a few missing farmers. If worse came to worse, which it wouldn't, his family were farmers. He figured he could figure something out. "We'll be fine."

"This is a nightmare" Alan moaned while nursing his headache. A loud knocking at the door caused him to jump. He pressed a small button located on his table making the door slide silently open. A middle aged man he knew worked in the dairy section of one of Lisa's Garden ran into the room barely able to breathe. "What is wrong now?"

"One of the kids..." the man began trying to catch his breath. "She said she saw something outside one of the Gardens. Something...wrong."

"Oh, now we're gonna run from creatures kids are making up?" Rhodes asked. "Next we'll be checking every Garden for the Boogeyman."

"Can you explain a bit more?" Lisa asked while placing her hand on the man's shoulder. It was times like this Alan was happy a woman was hired as a commander.

"Well, she said that her cousin was with her father near Garden 3 when all of a sudden dust started gathering." He had finally caught his breath and a slight Boston accent stood out. Rhodes rolled his eyes as the man continued. "Then all of a sudden they were gone."

"Dust storm" Shamir said too quickly. Novak shot him a glance and he turned away smiling to himself.

"That's just it" the man said. "There have been no reports of any dust storms. We're practically in the middle of Mars winter. There haven't been any dust storms for weeks. Also, she said that she saw something else out there." The way he said "out there" sent chills down Novak's spine.

"Explain" Donovan said. Everyone spun and looked at him as if they had forgotten he was in the room.

"She said something about a tail or something" the man said.

"Boo!" Rhodes shouted making Alan and the man jump. "Told you it was the Boogeyman."

"Thank you, sir" Alan told the man. "We'll be looking into this very shortly." The man left the room looking at M.O.M rather nervously. Alan walked over to M.O.M and placed his hand on a small screen. It read his palm and M.O.M's large robotic eyes lit.

How may I serve you, Yakamura?

"Please check for any dust storms near Garden 3" Alan asked M.O.M. A few moments later M.O.M was finished.

"This should be cute" Rhodes said.

"Could you please shut up?" Lisa said. Rhodes clicked his thumb and fingers together mocking Lisa's request.

No dust storms near Garden 3.

"Have there been any dust storms near any of the Gardens?" Lisa asked. Again M.O.M ran a silent check.

No.

"I have a question" Donovan said. The room grew even more silent as he took a step towards M.O.M. He placed his hand on the screen as Alan returned to his seat and rubbed his temples.

JB Donovan.

"Yes" Donovan said. "I have a question that I believe none of us here have asked. Is there any life form not from the planet Earth near the Gardens?"

No.

"Is there any life on Mars that did not originate from Earth on Mars?" Novak asked. Shamir was barely able to stifle a laugh.

Unable to respond.

"What does that mean?" Helms asked.

Unable to respond.

"Either there is or there isn't" Alan said. "This makes no sense."

"M.O.M" Lisa said. "Where is Earth Transport 5688?" Usually called ET's, each person that made the long trip to Mars was given a number. ET 5688 is one of the missing farmers.

Searching...

Searching...

Searching...

Deceased.

The room grew cold and it had nothing to do with the -63 temperature Mars consistently stayed at. Shamir and Rhodes shifted uncomfortably while Novak looked at Donovan who sat with his thumb pressed firmly against his chin, deep in thought.

"At least now we know where that one is" Rhodes said while laughing.

He was the only one.

Alan spent the better part of a day reading the list of missing civilians. M.O.M fired them off rapidly with absolutely no emotional inflection in "her" voice. It sounded like a roll call of death. As the new day arrived even more were missing. The new number stood at 2,966. This time hundreds from Alan and Lisa's Gardens were gone. Though the situation was dire Alan hesitated to call Earth and report what was happening.

"We'll have to tell them something" Lisa said as she stretched and rolled her neck. She had sat with Alan pouring over the new information as it came in from M.O.M. Novak had eventually called it a night and returned to his camp only to come back an hour later.

"The people are getting restless" he reported. "We cannot continue to tell them everything will be okay. They're not stupid."

"They are scared" Donovan said from his seat near a window that overlooked each of the Gardens. "Something out there is taking us and doing God knows what. Dust storms? Ridiculous. Mars is angry with us."

"The planet isn't sentient" Alan said though he was becoming more and more convinced that if not the planet, something from it wanted them gone. "The last thing we need right now is to start speculating on what is going on. We need cold, hard facts."

"What a novel idea, Yak" Helms said. "Fact. Thousands are missing. Fact. We don't know where they went. Fact. We know they are dead. Fact. M.O.M, in all her glorious wisdom, doesn't know what took them. Fact. Within a day we will have a full scale uprising on our hands. Did I leave anything out?"

The room fell silent as they all took in what Helms had said. They were all terrified at what was happening but none of them could voice exactly what they were all thinking: They had been wrong. Life was indeed on Mars and it wanted them eliminated.

"We must establish contact" Novak said as he approached M.O.M. "Disengage." The list of the missing and dead stopped and Alan let out a sigh. "Whatever it is that is taking us has a method. Look at the pattern. Farmers and weaponry have all but vanished. This leaves us with no food or means to defend ourselves."

"Shit" Alan said louder than he intended. He was rubbing his temples so hard that he was making his migraine worse. "This is a disaster. We never planned for an invasion."

"This isn't exactly an invasion, Alan" Lisa said. "We're going to have to assume they were here first."

"They?" Helms asked. "Jesus H. Christ."

"One creature could not take the thousands that have disappeared" Lisa continued. "I feel very safe in the assumption that we're dealing with multiple creatures. Containing every citizen is not enough anymore. We have to make a concentrated effort to seek out these things and destroy them."

"I see we brought not only the idea of peace from Earth to Mars but the zest for war as well" Donovan added. "How exactly does one prepare for an enemy we've never seen?"

"Easy" Novak said. "We bring them out."

"And how do we do that?" Alan asked. He was afraid of Novak's response even though he could not think of any other option.

"An old technique" Novak said. "We use bait."

"Oh, no…" Lisa moaned.

"Bait?" Helms asked. You can't mean…"

"That's exactly what I mean" Novak said. He walked over to M.O.M and placed his hand on the small screen. M.O.M lit up and he spoke. "This is Novak."

Good evening, Novak.

"Please open all Gardens" he commanded.

"Now wait a damned second!" Alan shouted. "I have given no such order! M.O.M, disregard Novak's previous statement."

Confirmed.

"Initiate Alpha Sequence Cracked Sky" Donovan said.

Cracked Sky initiated.

"What did you just do?" Lisa asked.

"What needed to be done" Novak answered. "Good job, JB. May God have mercy on your soul."

"God does not live on Mars" Shamir said as he stood in the doorway. No one had noticed Shamir and Rhodes enter the room.

"Nice to be invited" Rhodes said as he took a seat on Alan's desk. "Is this a private club or can anyone join?"

"Not now" Lisa said. "Donovan, I can't believe you had the bollocks to pull that."

"M.O.M, disregard previous command" Alan said.

Can not comply.

"Stop previous order!" Alan shouted.

Can not comply.

"You've killed us all, JB" Lisa said as Novak left the room.

"I'm going to watch this" Rhodes said. "This should be funny."

All Gardens are free.

Alan ran to the window as Rhodes laughter went from one of joy, to nervousness in a matter of moments. The civilians were all running towards their command post. Some were armed with weapons while others carried their tools. Shamir stormed over to a nearby shelf and shoved it against the door.

"If they reach us we're dead" he said.

"They won't" Donovan said coldly. And he was right.

As the crowd neared the station clouds of dust spun around them. Many ran back to their Gardens while others, too blinded, merely collapsed to the ground. Lisa screamed as one of the civilians was pulled through the ground clawing and screaming the entire time.

"Look!" Helms shouted as a group vanished in a cloud of dust. "Now what, Donovan?! You got what you wanted!"

"M.O.M, analyze threat" Donovan said calmly.

Analyzing…

Analyzing…

Threat unidentifiable.

"Recommended course of action?" Novak asked. His upper lip was sweating as he looked at M.O.M and silently praying for a solution. Though he and Donovan shared the same views he actually regretted what was occurring. He did not know Donovan's motivation.

Escape.

"My, God…" Lisa moaned. "Donovan, you've sentenced all of us to death."

Numbers began to fill the screen as M.O.M tallied the total of civilians left alive. Alan and Rhodes now joined by Shamir watched as the civilians were all taken. Rhodes visibly shook as he walked over to a chair and sat down hard. He buried his head in his hands and began breathing deeply.

"We have to do something" Alan almost whispered.

"You first" Shamir said as they watched the last of the Garden inhabitants disappear. And then nothing. The dust settled to the ground as if finished with the hunt and subsequent kill, it was resting.

"They're all gone" Helms said. "All of them."

"Damn it" Novak said as he watched Donovan. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"A few minutes ago you were trying to do the same damned thing he accomplished!" Lisa shouted.

"Everyone calm down" Donovan said as he walked over to the window and watched the empty planet Mars. "Now it is time for the hunt."

"Are you out of your ever loving mind?!" Alan screamed. "All military personnel are gone! Do you know how to fire a laser cannon because I sure as hell can't!"

"Yes, I do" Donovan said calmly.

"Who are you?" Lisa asked. "What are you?"

"I don't think I want to know" Helms said as he watched Shamir move the bookshelf away from the door.

"M.O.M, activate Contingency Level 12" Donovan said as he grabbed his jacket and slid into it.

Contingency Level 12 activated.

"What in God's name is that?" Alan asked.

"Don't you worry your pretty head about that" Donovan said as he smiled at the room. "Come if you want. Or you can stay and cower in fear. Me, I am going Martian hunting." Donovan left the room and stormed down the corridor.

Good luck, Donovan.