D.I.A.S.

by Brian Burkhardt

The ship had been injected into the fresh air dome that surrounded System 78, and the cargo bay doors burst open with a gush of wind. Out came one large crate, and with it 69 scientists, dressed all in red, ran out into the cold metallic building known to the Government of Mars simply as Number 53. It was, however, known to its 300 military personnel as home. None of them were overjoyed to hear about the cargo.

Sitting in the break room, Dom, Maria, Stan, and Jack listened to the relaxing beat of smooth jazz, as they discussed the newest arrival.

“I hear it’s really 70 people.” Dom said, bringing his feet down from the table and back to the floor. Born Dominic Paul Raverez, raised in the tough streets of Puerto Rico, Dom was a fighter long before he joined the Mars Defense Force. Though he could take on three muggers at once, thinking was not one of his strong suits.

His white shirt crumpling as he leaned forward, Stan stared directly at Dom. “We all know there were 69 red heads comin’ in on that ship. There was a head count.”

Red heads were another name for scientists; the military personnel were normally referred to on base as white heads, due to the white steel armor and burning white clothing they donned.

Dom pressed forward, matching Stan’s intense gaze. “Yeah, but I hear there was one,” he held up his right index finger, “in the crate.” Smiling, Dom sat back in his chair, waiting for a response.

If Dom was the bruiser, Stan was the brains. Of the two of them, Stan was the one with the college degree, and he used that to his advantage in all of the many arguments between the two of them. So rather then continue another pointless argument, he decided to end it: “That’s bull-”

Dom’s smile simultaneously fell from his face as Maria slammed her fist down on the table, “Would you boys please cut it out? There’s no seventieth person who came aboard that ship, and that’s the end of it.” Maria was the mediator of their arguments. Having been the middle child in a family of eleven, she quickly learned how to put an end to fights, whether that was with words, or muscle.

The newbie Jack piped in, as he chewed nervously on the side of his lip. “I actually saw what the crate said.”

Maria, Dom, and Stan turned, puzzled, toward him. Dom signaled slowly for some more mashed potatoes to the electronic waitress, a robot with a painted on waitress outfit, that gave a pre-programmed selection of crap on a plate, but stopped to ask Jack, “just what the hell do you mean, you ‘saw’ what the crate said?”

Maria flashed Dom a look for being so hard on the 19 year old recruit, but Stan was also on the offensive. “If you mean you read what the box said, that means you were going against command. You were in direct order of-”

“Shut it, Stan, lets hear what the newbie has to say,” Dom said with his usual smirk.

“Well,” Jack began, starting to sweat nervously and wishing he hadn’t brought it up. “It said Project D.I.A.S.” Jack smiled.

Dom looked straight into Jack’s pimpled face , and asked, “Dias? What in the hell’s a dias?”

“Well, it wasn’t ‘dias’, it was Dee Eye Ay Ess, D.I.A.S.” Jack explained.

“Deplorable Imported Asian Sardines, perhaps?” Stan joked.

“Yeah, or maybe Demonic Insulated African Spiders,” Dom broke into laughter. But before the jokes could continue an alarm rang out, and the four donned their white armor and rushed to the medical bay. It was 11:00.

At 10:30 all was fine in the medical bay. The previous work on the Trojan Project, which would have gotten scientists deep into the surface of Mars to discover what lay beneath, had been dropped to study the new D.I.A.S. Project: Defensive Injected Agro Solution: The project that would turn the tides of war.

“I saw a new white head looking in at the shipment today,” One of the scientists began.

“Yeah? I bet he couldn’t even read the crate!” They all had a small chuckle over this; It was the unspoken general belief among red heads that becoming a white head required an IQ of 50 or below.

White heads don’t understand we’re fighting a war here! They all think that they’re just on guard duty, I heard that one- Dominic I believe- saying that this was ‘sooooooooo boring!’ Can you believe that? Boring? If one of them had to do our job for just one day, just one, they wouldn’t be able to handle it!” The red heads were in charge of all scientific endeavors, which included the testing of new weapons, and the unknown chemicals of Mars.

It was 10:45 when the jokes ended, and it was time to get back to work. The two red heads who had been standing by the water cooler stepped back into the group of over 100, and all crowded around the crate containing D.I.A.S. They might have known what the letters stood for, but not many had even the slightest idea what was in the crate. People speculated more about quantity then anything else.

When the top of the crate flew open, most were disappointed to see that they’d been given only one vial of the stuff, but others knew that must have just been because one vial was all they needed, assuming it must be really potent.

At 10:58 while James Macroy carried the vial out of the decontamination chamber one of the main air circulating carbines exploded, shooting compressed air out in a circle, shattering vials filled with chemicals. The toxins in the air soon burst into flames, incinerating everything almost immediately. The vial, and its contents, disintegrated within seconds. Flame and fire enveloped the halls, causing the very air to bubble, and knocking pieces of concrete from the walls and ceiling. It was now 11:00.

“It looks like hell in here,” Stan exclaimed as the four white heads burst onto the scene.

“Yeah? Well hell ain’t no match for me,” Dom yelled, about ready to put the fire out with bullets, and then added, “Finally some action in this dump!” He then began pumping his arms in the air in excitement.

Maria was the only one who heard the coughing coming from a dark hole in the wall of the medical bay, and was one of the only spots around them not blocked by flames. She curiously crept over and saw a small red head looking up at her. He was badly hurt. She called the others over, and all but Dom came over to her.

“Where’s Dom?” Maria asked.

“I don’t know, who’s this guy?” Stan asked.

“Well, I’m not sure,” she turned to Jack, “go figure out where Dom is, will ya?” Jack reluctantly went back the way they’d come.

Upon closer inspection it was obvious that the red head had received massive burns to most of his body: his skin was charred, a clear leathery surface replacing it, bone showed in many parts, yet he could still talk. His words came out in slow croaks, “One of the turbines blew… it was bad… fire everywhere… we lost the… the vial…”

“Shh, just rest now,” Maria soothed, but Stan could tell the guy wasn’t going to last long, and that he might be the only survivor, so he questioned him. “Vial of what? This… Dias stuff ?”

“D.I.A.S. yes… Dias… that sounds better…” A smile cracked his face, as skin broke off, “… that sounds much better indeed.”

“Dom? Dom!? Maria found somebody, Dom! He’s badly hurt… a red head!” Jack nervously looked around, his weapon jerking from one dark hallway to another, as the fire raged on around him.

He found Dom in a back room staring at a wall. His helmet lay on the ground next to him. He was muttering something. “Dom? Dom, that’s you, isn’t it?” Jack stammered, slowly walking toward him. He laid one hand on Dom and turned him around, “My God… Your head!” Jack pointed up at Dom’s head, and the blood gushing from the hairline, the blood slowly spreading across his forehead. “What… what happened to…” Jack’s words trailed off as Dom pushed one hand through his hair. It emerged stained red.

“Newbie… get out… get out of here… newbie.” Dom started to take a step forward, then fell to his knees, then onto his face, where he lay still.

Jack rushed to the environmental regulator, which showed the current status of the air in the room, due to the fact that because Mars’s natural atmosphere was poisonous to humans. It was just as he had feared: the entire room was contaminated. The masks had a gas mask feature which turned on automatically. Why had Dom taken off his mask?

Jack was thinking of ways he could break this terrible news to Stan and Maria when he saw the two white bodies lying on the floor. He rushed to them.

Both of their masks were off, their faces covered in blood. Jack turned around just in time to see a piece of concrete from the wall swing straight into his face.

His head rang and spun as he got to his feet, his faceplate was cracked and poisoned air seeped through. He took off the helmet to get a clear view of his target. It was a red head, but his face was burnt black.

“Hello,” the scientist began, his breath a slow death rattle, “I am Dias… and you are…?”

“Ja… Ja… Jack.” He managed to stammer out, “What… what are you?”

“I am Dias, also known as the Defensive Injected Agro Solution.” Dias smiled, his skin once again flaking off, “I was created by the Xrantha, or as you…” A sudden convulsion ripped through his body, and then he straightened out. “As you call them; Mars Monsters.”

Jack’s vision began to blur, “You’re a spy then?” Jack’s head was getting foggy.

“No. A biological weapon. You see, I have been shipped out to well over 100 of your bases, so that the Xrantha may take back their planet. You came in here with your machines, mining for oil. The Xrantha were here first. Your military forced them underground, and built up these…” Dias looked around at his surroundings; Jack was fading fast, “These air domes. Fresh air? It is not fresh for the Xrantha! It is poison for us!”

“Disas… Diaasss..ss…shh… dais… Aid…” Jack sat back against a wall, and began to close his eyes. He didn’t know it, but his head was bleeding.

“Yes, just close those eyes and let the Xrantha take back their land. After all of the hundreds of bases I have infected, only one has lasted for longer then a few hours… and that one was like magic.” Dias put his fingers to Jack’s eyes and closed them forever. Then he got up, digging the raw bone of his fingers into the wall, and began tearing at the walls. It was now 11:30.

When the turbines exploded at 10:58:43, and the alarms sounded, the Xrantha rose from their underground caves and began their march to System 78. Now, at 11:45, they had arrived. Lo’Cd, walked silently into the fresh air dome, and his very presence clogged the air turbines with debris from System 78. With the poisonous air gone, the others began to invade. Legions of Xrantha, some with burning skin that lit the walls around them on fire, others with gelatinous forms that blocked vision from the white heads that were defending the System. One Xrantha, known to his people as Ria’erlht Felau, caused the Systems walls to crack and fall apart. When they were done, and General Lo’Cd stood upon the rubble and called out into the sky, one of the thousands of Diases stood beside him, looking out at the red surface. All across Mars, Diases were breaking down the systems.