When I mentioned the mat-trans unit and the space station, their decision was for me to join my father in exile. Since I saw no way to make them understand, I was determined to make them relinquish their decision-making powers.
“I reached out to the transadapts, persuaded them that we must leave and find a safe new home. They supported me. Since they were the majority of the colony’s population, I had hoped the humans would bow to their will.”
He shook his head sadly. “They preferred death to ceding to the wishes of creatures they considered inferior. That made a revolution not only necessary, but inevitable. The true tragedy of it all was that no neutrals were permitted in the conflict. Transadapts who wished no part of the revolt were slaughtered by humans as potential foes. The handful of humans who were sympathetic to my cause were killed by enraged transadapts.
“Once the first blood was spilled, there was no turning back. Blood called for blood, vengeance followed vengeance. It lasted a month. At the end of it, all the humans in the Cydonia Compound and three-quarters of the transadapts were dead.”
Sindri exhaled a weary breath. “Mars, the god of war indeed.”
Grant stated, “Then you went to the gateway and made the jump to Parallax Red ?”
He shook his head. “If only it were that simple. First I had to find it. When I did, the mat-trans controls defied all of my early attempts to activate them. The process of trial and error lasted for months.”
“The jump chamber was hidden?” Kane asked carelessly. “Where?”
“It was in” Sindri broke off suddenly, favoring Kane with a slit-eyed stare. “Very clever, sir, my congratulations. You almost had me telling you its location. Never fear, if all goes according to plan, I’ll take you to it soon enough.”
“Let’s get to your plan,” said Grant impatiently, “unless there’s another vid you want us to sit through.”
Sindri stood up. “Once again, it’s something easier shown than told. Come with me.”
Trailed by the trolls, they followed him out of the theater. He commented, “My apologies for running you around so much, but it’s for the best. I imagine all of you will be feeling a little limp by the end of the day.”
They passed the open observation port that looked out onto the compound. Kane glanced at the Pathfinder and asked, “If the American government knew that Mars had been inhabited only a century before, why did they waste time with dropping things like that here?”
Sindri laughed. “Cover stories, Mr. Kane, nice and neat. In the late ’90s, NASA announced the discovery of microbial life in a meteorite that had come from Mars several billion years before, even though they knew more than a few single-celled organisms existed here. So, they broke it to the public gently, watering it down.
“The public could easily accept amoebas might have lived on Mars three billion years ago. The concept that an advanced race, superior to humanity, had inhabited it for thousands of years would end the reign of Earth as the center of universal intelligence. And horrors of horrors, the public might decide that nationalism and partisan politics didn’t fit their needs anymore…not if they realized they were citizens of an entire galaxy instead of a subsection on a tiny planet in a backwater solar system.”
The hatch Sindri led them to was not in the wall, but in the floor. When its segments irised open, they saw a metal-runged ladder extending into a barely lit gloom. Without beckoning to them, Sindri swung his body into the opening and climbed down. Grant, Kane and Brigid looked at the hole distrustfully, then to the four trolls standing around them like swart, short sentinels.
“Ah, hell,” Grant growled in disgust, and climbed down into the aperture.
The descent was short, less than twelve feet, and they found themselves standing on a low-ceilinged platform. A dim yellow bulb cast its feeble rays upon a dark, bullet-shaped vehicle resting upon a single raised rail. It was about eight feet long, six in overall diameter. The track stretched out of sight down a long round chute.