CHAPTER 10: DEPARTURE FROM A NEW WORLD Xanthir's hand moved over another arrangement of crystals and he started speaking again. "Now if you watch the space behind you, I shall show you the plans for our terra-forming project." They turned around and a three dimensional, holographic projection of mars appeared before them. The surface of the slowly revolving sphere was divided up into grid squares, on which certain points were marked by circles. "The circles mark the positions of huge underground ice melting machines, water pumps, and evaporating stations. They have been built over the centuries throughout the ice deposits beneath mars' surface. They are honeycombed within the ice and all interconnected by huge pipes and supporting structures." As he spoke, the hologram changed to a three dimensional map of one of the ice deposits showing the honeycombed system of pipes and machinery. "When activated they will melt all of the ice on the planet. Some of the reclaimed water will be evaporated into the thin atmosphere, filling it with oxygen. The rest will be pumped to the surface to create oceans, rivers and lakes. This has been precisely calculated to create conditions much the same as Earths. Soon the planet will be ready for the introduction of vegetation and animals." The image changed again, mars reappearing, this time devoid of grid lines. It slowly metamorphosed into a planet covered with blue oceans and dotted with clouds. Then the red pigment which so distinguished the planet was slowly replaced by the green colour of vegetation. The hologram then flickered out of existence. "We shall then repopulate Mars with both our race and yours. It is now the time to activate the machines." Xanthir ran his delicate hands over the rows of crystals on his chair and the wall screen blinked on with the picture of one of the gigantic melting machines, embedded in one of the ice pockets. With great hisses of steam and the sound of sliding metal it plunged great heating rods into the ice from every direction. They glowed red hot and the ice began to transform into water and steam. The picture changed to a section of the Martian landscape, huge cylinders bursting through the soil and releasing great geysers of water vapour into the air. "What about our colony?" asked rick. "Will they be covered over with water?" "No." replied Xanthir. "They are positioned on one of the soon to be land masses," said Betl, "as is our city." Xanthir now had the base of the disc shaped building displayed on the wall screen. Four metal hooks on the top of the cylindrical support building slowly released their hold on the base of the disc. The disc then slowly disengaged from its resting place atop the cylinder and hovered over the green landscape below it. "Where are we going," demanded Rick. "To your planet," said Xanthir. "I shall speak to your people, we have much to do if we are to rebuild mars." "What about Freeman and the scout ship?" "They will be taken care of, I shall send one of our smaller crafts out for them." A huge, rectangular, airlock door opened in the wall of the pyramid and the ship glided through. It then closed behind it and the outer door receded, letting the craft out into the martian night. Jets of water vapour could be seen dotted around the landscape shooting hundreds of feet into the air. Captain Freeman was staring at the wall screens which showed the strange phenomena outside, the towering jets of water vapour shooting out of the ground. "What the hell is all that?!" he asked no one in particular. Grey was panning the ship's cameras over the dark landscape outside. "We've got their homing signal again!" cried Will from the tracking station. "Excellent!" said Captain Freeman. "Where are they?" "They're leaving the pyramid in some kind of flying vehicle," he replied. "Where could they be going now?" Freeman asked himself. While Captain Freeman stared at the tracking screen, Grey trained the cameras on the top of the pyramid, in search of the flying ship. And there it was, slowly moving across the sky. "Captain, look at this," he said. "What...?" Freeman stopped when he saw the ship. Something else appeared on the screen in the distance. It shot towards them at a frightening speed and hovered alongside the scout ship. "My God!" Captain Freeman cried. "Did you see how fast that thing moved!" Will joined them at the screens and stared in astonishment. The disc hovered beside them for a few moments and then slowly moved up and sat in the air above the scout ship. It stayed positioned there with the rim still visible over each side. "What's it doing?" Will asked. "I don't know," Freeman replied. Suddenly the scout ship was plucked from the ground and held in mid air by the disc's magnetic field. The ship was then speedily flown to the larger disc hovering near the pyramid, where it was taken inside through a hatch in the base. The larger ship then flew straight up through the newly forming atmosphere, and into the blackness of space. Waiting in the darkness, hung a long cigar shaped mothership. The disc flew towards it and entered through the end docking bay which closed behind it. The mothership then sped off towards Earth, leaving a new Mars behind. THE END.