The Mars Shock Read Online Free PDF Page A

a maidbot to mop the carpet. This was the glamorous reality of working for the solar system’s biggest surviving NGO.
    And now, the job was about to get more glamorous than ever.
    A briefing from Admiral McLean’s office arrived in his inbox as they tidied up. Dr. Peguero got it, too. They were to vacate their quarters within 24 hours and prepare for transfer to Mars.
    When Star Force moved, it moved fast.
    The other security personnel drifted out of the room before they were done tidying up. Pencil Mustache stayed behind. He walked down the corridor with Kristiansen.
    “I heard you had a job offer from the ISA, back when you were in the Space Corps.”
    Kristiansen snorted. The only way this guy could know that was if he worked for the ISA.
    The Information Security Agency. The spooks.
    Well, he’d kind of guessed it already.
    “You turned us down, huh?”
    ”I’d just graduated from the Space Corps Academy. I wasn’t interested in leaving.”
    “But you did leave,” Pencil Mustache said. “In what, 2284? Five years ago.”
    “Yeah. For personal reasons.”
    “We don’t actually have a record of that.” Pencil Mustache hitched his shoulders and let them drop, a gesture that said he wasn’t used to wearing uniform. “I’m just wondering if we’re dealing with, you know, if you’ve got a hero complex, if you’re going to cause trouble out there.”
    “Doing good often does cause trouble,” Kristiansen said flatly.
    “You know, I looked at the rest of your presentation. There was one thing that didn’t come up, and I was curious if you just forgot, or if you left it out for some other reason.”
    Kristiansen tensed. They passed beneath a craggy overhang of asteroid rock, a reminder that Eureka Station was a hollowed-out asteroid. Pencil Mustache’s voice echoed beneath the rock.
    “That atrocity pic? You didn’t mention that the leader of that platoon was a Space Corps agent named Jennifer Colden. You and her have some history together, am I right?”
    “Of course you’re right,” Kristiansen said angrily. “You guys are always right.”
    “Thanks. So I was just wondering, who are you really trying to save here?”
    Kristiansen uttered a dry laugh. “I’m afraid Jennifer Colden is beyond saving.”
    They entered the junior officers’ mess. Kristiansen wasn’t supposed to be in here, but Pencil Mustache walked in like he owned the place. He strolled over to the 24-hour buffet.
    “Want anything? Mine’s tea. Hot, sweet, and milky.”
    “Coffee.”
    Pencil Mustache pushed buttons on the drinks machine. Kristiansen followed him to a table. Pencil Mustache said, “So, fill me in a bit about you and Agent Colden.”
    Kristiansen sighed. He resented the invasion of his privacy. “You’re correct that we dated for a while. But it was never going to last. I was stationed on UNLEOSS, the UN Low Earth Orbit Space Station. She was on Earth. On our rare weekends together, we spent most of our time arguing. Eventually we split up.”
    “What were your arguments about?
    “The Corps, of course.” Kristiansen grew more forthcoming. This, he didn’t mind talking about. “The official mission of the Space Corps is helping and protecting people in space. But even at that time—five, six years ago, well before the war—it had been fatally compromised by political interference ... She refused to see that.” The memory of her wilful blindness still hurt. He drank some coffee. “Nowadays, of course, no one can pretend the Space Corps has a mission of its own. It’s nothing but the telepresence division of Star Force.”
    “It must’ve been a shock to find out that Colden was involved with atrocities.”
    Kristiansen chose his words carefully. “I admit that I glanced into her platoon’s data archives for sentimental reasons. But that’s how I discovered the vid I showed Admiral McLean. It was a fortunate find. These things are never flagged. Shocking? Yes. Surprising? No,