Martian Legacy Chapter 2

 The man seated behind the great desk looked deep in thought. He rested his pointy chin in one slender hand as he ruminated. At the slight knock on the door he immediately called out “enter.” A pale diminutive man eased into the room and strode up to the desk before he spoke. “Sir, the rumors have been confirmed. They have photos of the ancient runes and are mounting an expedition to the sacred planet.” The man behind the desk looked deeply troubled. He almost shouted, “How did they get so far along without us knowing? Don't we have infiltrations into every aspect of their space program?” The pale man replied, “Sir, it seems the rover was a closely guarded secret known to only a few. It was developed covertly by what they call the skunk works and launched under the guise of a satellite, a Trojan horse as it were. The publicly launched rover was a decoy to disguise the true capabilities of their technology.”

 

At this the man behind the desk looked even more worried. “This of all things, we should have known about. An assault by the mongrels on our own sacred soil. We must have an infiltrator on the expedition.” The pale man smiled an bowed his head as he said, “I have good news. The infiltrator is already in place with orders that no mongrel shall ever set foot on our sacred soil.” The man behind the desk seemed a bit relieved by this statement. “Is this infiltrator up to the task?” he questioned the pale man. The answer came almost too quickly, “Oh sir, a true zealot if ever there was one. The task will be accomplished without regard to cost or consequence.” The pale man then scurried to the door gently closing it behind him, leaving the man and his great desk to themselves.

 

The man resumed his chin on hand posture as he mumbled to himself “I am glad you are not alive to see this terrible day. The mongrels have become the leaders, and we of pure descent sit in shadows like petty thieves. Perhaps the time has come to launch the great undertaking.” He opened a drawer on his great desk and removed an ancient book, very worn and bound with soft dark leather-like skin. He carefully turned the pages until he came to a sketch of what looked like a temple shaped like a pyramid, but not solid. It was open in the middle, and made of stones that were covered in hieroglyphs. His eyes started to tear as he stared at the page. “Forgive me for waiting so long. I became too comfortable and forgot the lessons I learned at your feet. I let fear deceive me into waiting until we had more assets in place. Well the long wait is over at last. We will begin the undertaking with what we have, and with your help it will be enough.” He closed the book and put it away, then lifted a secret cover in the leg of the great desk revealing an unmarked button which he depressed with his thumb.