‘Cool, but I’ll probably just stay in my room and play Arctic War 3,’ said Zak. ‘Oh! I bet the cheat won’t work!’
Tom didn’t reply. Zak noticed that the commando was glancing around nervously.
‘Zak,’ said Tom. ‘Have you heard about the attacks on ships going to Mars.’
‘Er… what attacks?’ asked Zak.
‘So far, it’s only been a couple of cargo ships. There was a big fuss on the news a few months ago.’
‘I didn’t see it. But surely passenger ships are well protected,’ said Zak.
‘They’re not protected at all,’ said Tom. ‘There’s a lot of security at the spaceports, but there’s no military escort. Once a ship leaves, it faces a lonely journey across the solar system. It’s assumed they’re safe from attack because they travel at such high speed. It’d be impossible for a short range ship to get alongside a large ship and force it to dock. There’s plenty of dodgy gangs roaming the solar system, but none of them would have the resources to launch such an attack.’
‘So what happened to the cargo ships?’ asked Zak.
Tom sent Zak a news item, which appeared on Zak’s wall. It was a report on the loss of a ship. The footage was simply a view of space, with a grey streak stretching off into the distance.
‘They exploded,’ said Tom.
‘Blimey,’ Zak gulped.
‘No-one knows how for sure,’ continued Tom. ‘The debris is travelling out into deep space, so it’s not possible to recover the evidence. But from the debris, experts ruled out engine catastrophe and asteroid impact.’
‘What haven’t they ruled out?’ asked a worried Zak.
‘Bombs,’ said Tom. ‘Probably planted on board before the journey. And at the moment, suspicion has fallen on the MMM.’
‘Never ’eard of ’em,’ said Zak.
‘The Militant Mars Movement,’ said Tom. ‘A secretive organisation on Mars. They want to stop development on the planet and return it to wilderness.’
