by Nolan Oreno
But even Saul was forced to realize the symbol that was the tree and the sentiment it brought for the others. It was a dream worth fighting for. It was a perfectly crafted lie. Catharsis for the masses. Hollis’ tree was the shining beacon of light in a time when darkness only existed. As unfortunate as it was for Saul to come to terms with in that moment, he needed desperately the tree, and he despised nothing more than desperation. He could not dispose of Hollis because he himself was bound to the roots of his tree, the symbol, and if he were to die, the hope in the colony would die with him. He knew he needed Hollis alive, only in his control.
“I hope you haven’t taken what I said back there too seriously, I was only presenting an option of ours, which is one out of many. Obviously I would never consider doing such a thing," Saul said, barely turning his head from the road ahead. “I was only stressing our need to overcome stagnation. Our need for-"
“Let’s just focus on this emergency at the Hub," Hollis returned right away, trying very hard to keep his voice steady.
“Of course."
Hollis recognized that Saul expressed no fear regarding Autumn’s possible danger back at the Hub. It was her voice they heard sounding the emergency, and he had yet to comment on it. He seemed to still worry about their conversation left behind in the city, the one revolving around tones of a rape and murder and abuse of authority. Had Hollis found him, the man in the red mask, not deep within the shadows, but right there before him? This hurdle would need to wait. Whatever was happening back at the Hub, Hollis had never heard Autumns voice filled with so much panic before. Images of their dead child and Autumn writhing on the floor in a pool of blood spend through his mind, and he suppressed them as much as he could for the remainder of the trip back to her, along with all other thoughts that haunted him.
The Crawler rolled into the hangar deck of the Hub, and its engine hissed to a stop. Without waiting for depressurization, Hollis jumped from the vehicle's cabin and rushed across the large platform to the main walkway, Saul following just a few steps behind. They both bolted through the station and into the mess hall, still dressed in their armored exosuits, and amidst the panic and confusion of the small group that clustered there, Hollis managed to find Autumn first.
“Are you alright?" Hollis pressed, looking down at her stomach. "What's all this commotion? What's the emergency?"
Autumn’s eyes frantically darted between Hollis and Saul, who lifted off his helmet as he approached them from behind.
“It’s Asnee," she let out.
Hollis nodded his head hurriedly, fearing the worst for his friend but relieved that it had nothing to do with his unborn child.
“He’s threatening to kill him," Autumn stuttered. “He’s threatening to kill him."
“Who?" demanded Saul as he pushed aside Hollis.
Autumn motion towards the furthest reaches of the crowd. “Franco."
Hollis quickly assessed the situation that was playing out before him. Only about four other colonists appeared to have responded to Autumn’s distress call, the rest probably being hard at work to finish Saul’s city on time, and these few that responded gathered around what looked like two others separated from the rest. Tables and chairs were scattered around, tipped over and broken as if there had been an intense altercation not long before. Hollis moved closer and saw that the two separate people were Asnee and Franco, and what looked like hugging from far away, was actually Franco locked beneath Asnee’s arm. Pointed into Franco’s throat was a long and sharp butcher’s knife that glinted under the florescent lights.
“It was him, don’t you see!" Asnee manically screamed to the ones that watched. “He’s the one who killed her!"
“Put the knife down, man. This isn’t you," Julius reasoned, adjusting his thick glasses to see the threat better. “Let's just go back to the workshop and continue doing our jobs."
“Asnee, we love you. Please, don’t do this," said another onlooker, Selena Trent, sobbing through her hands.
“No, it was him," Asnee continued. “He’s the fucking monster amongst us. You all are blind, but I can see him for what he truly is."
Frozen in place, Hollis began to make sense of what was happening. A suppressed memory of himself telling Asnee that Franco was Janya’s killer flickered into his consciousness from last night's madness. He had not remembered until now, and quietly cursed himself for being so foolish to take the altered Datura seeds again, thinking somehow it would be different. As much as he hated Franco, he did not deserve to die, especially considering he was not the man responsible for Janya’s suicide. That responsibility laid with another man. He knew that now.
Hollis slowly turned his head to look at Saul standing beside Autumn, and Saul looked right back at him in knowing.
“Asnee!" Hollis yelled, turning back to his friend and lunging forward towards him in his heavy boots. “Asnee, don’t do this!"
Asnee flinched upon hearing Hollis’ voice and cut slightly into the skin of Franco’s neck with the knife’s point. Franco cried out in pain as blood trickled down and soaked his white colonial suit. His United National Forces insignia throbbed red further down.
“Hollis!" Asnee screamed, steadying his trembling hand and aiming the knife back towards his victims jugular. “Hollis, you told me it was him. Tell them it was him. Tell them he’s the one who hurt Janya that night. Tell them everything!"
“What’s he talking about?" the crowd began to murmur. “What did he do?"
“No!" Hollis yelled louder than the rest. “It wasn’t Franco. It wasn’t him, I was wrong." He held out his hands facing up. “Please, just put the knife down, he didn’t do it."
“I didn’t do anything to Janya," Franco choked under Asnee’s grip. “Listen to him, I didn’t do it. I didn’t even know her that well. Please. She did it to herself. She needed help."
“Shut up!" Asnee screamed. “Just shut the fuck up, all of you!" He looked at Hollis again. “Tell them what you know, Hollis. Tell them he raped Janya repeatedly and got her pregnant. You said he was the one who did it, so tell them how you knew!"
Hollis shook his head. “I was wrong Asnee," he said. “It wasn’t him. I’m so sorry, I lied to you. I lied because I was angry and delusional."
Asnee began to sob beneath his breath. “You lied?”
“I’m so sorry." Hollis began quietly again. “I wasn’t myself, and I was going mad on those drugs. I have a problem, and I’m so sorry I hurt you like this. But it wasn’t Franco, I promise you this. He did nothing to Janya."
Asnee looked around at the crowd that surrounded him, and from the expressions on their faces, he felt himself became the monster he had been hunting all this time. They gawked at him in horror, and he knew then that there was no way to salvage the situation. There was no escape. It was all leading up to this moment. It always had been. He had led himself to his own demise, just as the fish did.
“Who was it then?!" he cried. “Who killed the woman I love?!"
Hollis opened his mouth with an answer, but before he could make a sound, a louder sound whistled through the air. A strong gust of air flutter past his right cheek and a sharp clap rung in his ears. Everyone remained silent for a moment to adjust to what happened.
Once his ears regained their hearing, Hollis lifted his head to see Asnee standing where he had been prior to the deafening sound, except a large nail was the logged into his shoulder. Asnee scream aloud in pain and flung Franco aside into a table. Another moment later, he was charging towards the crowd, holding the knife high above his head. He was running at someone in particular.
Another shot emerged from the crowd, bringing with it another industrial-sized nail ripping through the air. This one hit its mark. Asnee halted and staggered. A black dot appeared on his forehead and around it a wet red halo, and the red slowly ran down the contours of his face. He dropped the knife, lifted his arms to his sides, and the instant before he fell backward, Hollis could see the light leave his eyes just as it left his s
uit.
“No!" Hollis screamed, and lunged towards his friend. He met Asnee on the floor.
“No! No!" Hollis continued screaming. He held Asnee in his arms, frantically searching for a way to revive him, but his old friend was long gone the moment the sailing nail stuck.
“No hermano, don’t do this. Don’t die here. Please, don’t die here," Hollis moaned.
Hollis cleared his eyes and looked up to see Saul looming within the crowd, directly in the path of Asnee’s run. Wrapped in his gloves was an massive nail gun designed for repairs. Steam leaked from its protruding end which was vacant of a nail.
“You!" Hollis screamed at Saul in a fit of rage. “You did this! You fucking killed him!"
Saul looked down at his gun and back up into the faces of the shocked onlookers. “I did," he said strongly and confidently. “He was going to kill Franco, or anyone of us if we gave him another minute. There was no reasoning with him."
“You fucking killed him!" Hollis screamed again, standing over the body in a protective stance.
“It had to be done. You know that," Saul said in a monotone voice. “There was nothing else we could do. He’d been on this path since Janya killed herself."
“She didn’t kill herself!" Hollis screamed. “You killed her!”
“Hollis-" Saul sighed. “You can’t believe that, can you?"
“You fuck, you know exactly what I’m talking about! You’re the man in the red mask! The Computer told me about everything! You’re the one who would come to Janya in the night and abuse her! You got her pregnant against her will, for the sake of keeping humanity alive, just like you told me back in the city!"
“You’re sounding crazy, just like Asnee," Saul said in a contained voice, still gripping the gun tightly. He looked around at the others. “Asnee would have killed any one of us, everyone saw that."
“You saved my life," Franco wheezed while rubbing this reddened throat. “You saved us.”
“He was crazy. He wouldn’t listen,” Julius joined in.
“How many others are you doing it to, Saul?" Hollis screamed again, turning his gaze to the two women present in the crowd, Selena and Marissa Strauss. “Is he hurting you too? Is he coming in the night?"
“He’s drugged out again," Saul responded to the other’s growing fear. “Everyone needs to stay away from him, we don’t know what he’ll do."
“No, I’m not drugged out!" Hollis said taking a step closer to him. “I’m telling the truth. They need to know what kind of man you really are. Tell them what you told me back at the city. Tell them your plan for saving humanity, Saul. Go on, tell them."
Hollis felt the blood boiling in his body. He was finally confronting the red face that haunted him in his nightmares.
“Why don’t you tell them about your episode last night instead, where we caught you stalking my pregnant wife while you were high and manic, just like you are now," Saul fought back. “Now look, Hollis, I’m sorry about Asnee, but there was no other way. You have to see that. You have to see reason, not some baseless conspiracy."
“Don’t talk to me like you fucking cared about him- about any of us. Don’t make me out to be the bad one here when you’re the murderer. Twice, you’ve killed now. Twice! The two people who had the power to show you who you really are-"
“Hollis, I’ve given you many opportunities to get well. I know losing your daughter was hard on you, and I honestly thought that with this therapist program you would get better. I thought all you needed was psychiatric guidance, but I’m starting to think this Computer system is as defective as you. You’re not getting the help you need. While the rest of us are getting better, you’re getting worse. If you continue acting out like this, we might need to find a solution."
“Is that a threat?" Hollis yelled, taking one step closer. “Because I know now that you’re capable of killing if it means keeping your power over these people. Thinking about it now, I’m sure you were the one who made the Commander crazy so you could take his place as the dictator you were always meant to be. We had that conversation too, remember. Aren’t I right, Saul? Did you plan to kill the Commander just like you killed Janya and Asnee?"
Saul cleared his throat and adjusted his exosuit. He stepped towards Hollis so that they were nearly face-to-face. “The Comman- Richard, lost his mind, just as you are now. If anything, I put him out of his misery, just like I did Asnee."
“How do you not see this man for who he is?" Hollis chuckled to the crowd.
“As we don’t have a legal system yet, I’m going to take precedent and arrest you until further questioning, for the safety of the colony."
“Oh, you’re going to arrest me, all by yourself?" Hollis laughed. “If this isn’t the beginning of a dictatorship, then I don’t know what is. Have I lost my freedom of speech suddenly?”
Saul moved forward and grasped Hollis by the arm, the gun still rocking at his side. “You’re under arrest, Hollis Reyes."
For a few seconds nothing happened. No one spoke or moved. They only watched to see what would happen next, for this was a defining moment in which kind of society they would live in.
Hollis stared at the hand that held him, and then at his own as they balled into fists. “I won’t let us repeat the same mistakes again," he said to himself, and shot his gloved fist forward into Saul’s face, twisting his body to the side and cracking his jaw.
Saul fell to the floor beside Asnee and moaned in pain as his mouth hung loose.
“Arres hum," Saul choked through blood.
Julius grabbed Hollis from behind and began yanking him upright.
“You’re killing us!" Hollis screamed down at Saul.
Saul’s face drowned in blood.
“You’re killing us all!" Hollis screamed again.
Julius finally managed to successfully drag Hollis from Saul, and Franco rounded in-front of him before he could break free.
“You’ve spent your last chance just then," Franco said, and knocked Hollis out with a well-thrusted elbow.
Hollis awoke a few hours later. His back ached and a small lump was growing on his forehead where he was hit. He rubbed his temples and painfully turned himself over on the cold metal floor to get a view of where he now was a captive.
The Decompression Room was much smaller than he remembered it being. Around him, the dark red stains from the rooms last prisoner crusted over the tiles and urged Hollis to lift himself off the floor and onto his feet. He straightened his back and steadied his weak legs and listened outside the hatch. Muffled voices penetrated into the room with what sounded like a heated deliberation beyond the room, most likely one that would determine the rest of his life in the colony. He slowly staggered over to the vault door and attempted to open it even knowing it was securely locked. After the second try, he gave up on the effort entirely. He cupped his eyes to see through the small window on the door in hopes to make sense of the situation.
Outside the Decompression Room, inside the Hub, a small cluster of colonists congregated. As usual, Saul appeared to be leading the debate. Upon seeing the bandages that wrapped around Saul’s broken jaw, Hollis was assured that the man was fighting against him. He could not hear exactly what they were saying through the reinforced door but became aware that it was Autumn who was leading the opposition against Saul. She was screaming until she was forced to take another breath, and then she screamed some more. Unfortunately, even from Hollis’ limited perspective, it looked like Autumn was vastly outnumbered by the opposition, and Saul had the people’s support, as he always did.
Saul was certainly given the upper-hand now, Hollis thought as he pulled himself away from the door and rested his body beside it, far away from the Commander’s dried blood. As a result of Hollis’ careless actions in the last few days, Saul was now given the opportunity manipulate the colony to turning against him with a flick of his tongue. Saul had proved his masterful ability to deceive and lie and dispose of those that were in his way with his past exploits, and
because of this Hollis’ destiny was defined just as Janya and Asnee’s were. It was no longer realistic to believe that the dictator could ever be defeated. He had grown too great a following, and it was crystal clear the colony entrusted in him as their leader. But unknown to everyone else, Saul lived a double life as the man in the red mask, and if unstopped, he would devour the entire colony, bones and all, if it only meant himself surviving another day.
How could Hollis fight? He literally had the whole world against him. In his solitude, Hollis found himself wanting nothing more than to have one last conversation with the Computer so that his path would be revealed to him and all the chaos would make sense again. That was his last wish before he was condemned to whatever torture awaited.
Hollis spent the next few hours listening to the loud voices debating his fate while staring towards the opposing end of the Decompression Room. Beyond the single blast door, Mars awaited. The hours ticked by, and as Hollis struggled to keep his eyes open, he smiled knowing that perhaps today he could finally feel the cold desert’s sand between his toes, unconfined by an exosuit. If Saul decided Hollis’ fate would be the same as the Commanders, then perhaps there could be some beauty in the death. It would be the first time in a long time that he was able to walk beneath the Sun with nothing more than the clothes on his back.