by Nolan Oreno
And then it all disappeared. Something brought him back. A voice, light and pure.
Because the rain is warm, it sang.
Hollis was paralyzed. The visions of Earth disappeared. He shook himself until the static that tingled his mind and his nerves withdrew and he regained control again. Sluggishly, he pushed himself into a sitting position in the grass and looked around the garden. Everything was as it was. The air vents above wafted a gentle breeze through the thickets of plants and trees encircling him. The faint Sun flickered through the glass dome and produced colorful light that danced on the soft grass. Cool mist from the water suppliers sprayed and sprinkled through the brush to coat the leaves with dew. Hollis took a deep breath of the fresh oxygen and held it, hoping to hear the voice come once more.
Because the rain is warm
Hollis spun about the garden. He saw the something pass through the nearby bushes. He leaped up after it in hopes to catch the haunting spirit at long last.
“Wait!" Hollis screamed through the leaves, still feeling the pain in his bones from the poison. “I need to talk to you!" he grunted
Hollis burst through the other side of the treeline with nothing to find on the other side.
“Why are you hiding from me?!" he called in the air.
Another set of bushes trembled, and Hollis pushed himself towards them, and just the same, there was nothing to find behind them. He was soon to give up the chase, but then a gust of air passed directly behind him. He abruptly turned towards it and found himself facing the massive glass wall of the dome that stretched high above him. There, beyond the glass, the blurry shadow of the Creature stood.
The Creature was in the shape of a large, yet trim man, and its skin was completely translucent, capturing the full light of the Sun in its silhouette. Because of this trick of the light, it appeared to be a shadow on fire, making it difficult to describe its finer anatomy in words. When Hollis cautiously approached it, the Creature outstretched its long arms to unfold great insect-like wings from its back. The light and the glass barrier obscured the figure so that its general features could not be made out, but it was clear to Hollis it was far from human. Hollis drew himself nearer in hopes to see its face and better understand what he was looking at. He moved himself inches from the glass and lifted his hand to it, resting his palm against the wall between them.
“I’ve seen you before," he said softly. “Where have I seen you?"
The Creature did not move and did not speak, but it stayed with him. It lingered there in silence and appeared to be inspecting the dirty man trapped in the glass cage with reluctance. After some time, the Creature carefully lifted its own hand to the glass, paralleled with Hollis’, and touched it’s four fingers to the man’s five. The warmth of their palms conducted through the glass and linked their bodies together as one. Together, shared in their gesture, they connected in an understanding that needed no words or faces to realize; They knew they were on the same team. But before Hollis take the first contact any further, the Creature lifted itself backward by its wings and disappeared into the orange skies of Mars, ceaselessly and soundlessly.
Astonished and sobered, Hollis withdrew his hand from the glass and stumbled backward. The Creature was not a hallucination like the others, he knew that now. It was not in his mind. It was real. It existed. And more importantly, it was trying to help him. Hollis could not explain it or formulate it into comprehensible words or images, but the instant they touched hands he could feel its true intention. It had traveled unimaginable distances and endured many hardships for one purpose and only one purpose. It wanted to set them free, all of them, and without speaking it told him how this could be done. It told him how to escape the garden and save his species at long last. He must overcome his fear. He must fight. He must grow the tree. Because the rain is warm.
Part Eighteen: Decomposition
“Are you scared?" Jackie asked, swiping through the electronic journal in front of her and reading about the correct procedure to birth a child. “Sorry, that was a stupid question," she added.
Autumn resituated herself on the couch to reduce the tension around her waist.
“No, no it’s not. Actually, I’m not scared. I guess I’ve been ready for too long to be scared," Autumn said. “It’ll be a relief once it happens, believe me."
“It’ll be a relief for the whole colony once it happens.” Colleen chimed in from her own reclined chair in the Hub’s lounge. “Everyone has been looking forward to this ever since the day you first announced it. It’ll be a great day for us. A historic day," she said.
Autumn tiredly smiled at her. “Maybe we can name a holiday after it," she said. “The day of the first Martian."
“I would love a holiday," Colleen said. “Maybe then we’ll finally get a day off from civilization building. Then again, what would you know about that Autumn? You’ve been on vacation for quite awhile now."
Colleen and Jackie chuckled in unison. When their laughter died down Autumn spoke.
“True, but this is as much civilization building as anything else," she said more seriously, rubbing her plump belly. “We should all realize by now that bearing children may be more important than anything else we’re doing here. City or no city. Forest or no forest. Our children are what matters most. I wish Janya realized this with Asnee-"
They nodded hesitantly. Upon eyeing them, Autumn noticed the tension that with had developed with the topic and was quick to redirect the course of the conversation.
“So what are some good Martian names?" Autumn said quickly, carrying a more playful tone with her. “I feel like a good Martian name must start with an X or Z. Something alien."
“You’re making it sound like your kids going to come out green and have antennas," Colleen laughed. “That would be quite the twist, wouldn’t it."
“Hey, as long as it comes with a flying saucer I wouldn’t complain," Autumn smiled. “We could fly far away from here." She closed her eyes and dropped her head back into the cushion of the couch. “That would be nice."
“I don’t know," Jackie interrupted. “Lately I’ve been getting this feeling that one day, not too long from now, I’ll be happy to live here. It sounds weird, seeing what has happened lately, but something’s telling me we’ve passed the hard part and it can only get better from here on out. Who know’s, maybe one day this will be a great place to raise your kid. I trust in Saul to make us a good home, and I see the progress in all of us."
Autumn shrugged casually, feeling a glint of regret. “I hope so," she said.
“No, I agree with you Jackie," Colleen affirmed. “We’re working day and night, so it’s hard to see the bigger picture, but we’ve definitely come much farther than where we were a few months back. Think about it, we’re well into the construction of the city, we almost have Tower One complete, we’ve made major repairs to the Hub and outlying stations, and more importantly, most of us have come to terms with what happened to those we lost in the best way we can. I’m finally excited about our future again. I definitely think we’ve gotten over the hard part."
“A few months ago we had four of our friends, no, our family, alive and with us, and the most important member of our colony wasn’t locked miles away in a prison for the crime of protecting his friend," Autumn unexpectedly snapped back. “Do you really think we’re better off now?"
The aggressive response startled Jackie and Colleen. They looked at each other in a limbo of emotions.
“Sorry," Autumn recovered. “The stress these days have been getting to me."
“No, I completely understand," Jackie said. “You don’t need to apologize for what you’re feeling."
Colleen nodded but spoke less apologetically. “The deaths have been hard on us, but you have to admit they’ve been better for the colony overall. I loved each one of them, we all did, but they had their problems, each one of them, and they were hurting all of us emotionally and physically. Novak, Janya, Asnee, and even the Commander, as hard as
it is for us to come to terms with, they were all weights on the colony. They couldn’t cope with what happened like the rest of us. They weren’t healthy, and just like Saul said, turning all of us unhealthy too."
“Asnee, he was all our friend, but sometimes that's not enough," Jackie added. “Saul did the right thing, putting him out of his misery. What Asnee did to Janya was awful and there was no way that we could forgive him for it. It was the only way we could bring our friend peace and peace for ourselves. Each of their deaths, as heartbreaking as they were, can be seen as sacrifices for the greater good of the colony."
Autumn slowly felt herself nod along with them, as hard as it was for her to do so. Saul’s message was getting to all of them. “Maybe you’re right," she said.
“Of course we are. The same goes for Hollis. Just think about the people you want to surround your child with," Colleen exclaimed, and Autumn suddenly felt her heart drop. “You want your child around people like us, not people like him. He’s not stable, and I honestly never felt safe around him since he first attack Franco after the blackout."
“Yeah, better that he’s far away from us and can work on his research alone. He’s a smart man, but the kind of person who doesn’t work well with others, especially a child," Jackie said.
The couch Autumn was sitting on began to grow unbearably uncomfortable. She squirmed back and forth to find a better sitting position and began to panic when she couldn’t.
“I wonder what he’s doing right now, in the garden?" Colleen said. “I hope he isn’t losing his mind in those drugs of his and can actually finish his research. I dream of what the world would be like with grass and trees and breathable air. It’s what keeps me going. But maybe that’s all it is, a dream."
“Saul said to me he’s still not taking Asnee’s death well and needs to stay there a
good while longer," Jackie responded. “And I believe him too. God know’s what he’s doing in there, all by himself. All I know is that I would never want to check and see for myself. I would not want to be alone with that man, no right now. Let him stay there until he comes to terms with what's happened."
Out of nowhere a swelling ache festered in Autumn’s stomach. It rippled through her muscles and jolted her upwards. She stood before them for a passing moment, attempting to make sense of the faint feeling that had come to her, but could not.
“I need to go," she said, and urgently left the lounge.
As Autumn scrambled to find a safe haven in the station, the aching in her stomach heightened to a degree of unbearable nausea. She had to take pauses to catch her breath, and even then, it only worsened. At just eight months pregnant, Autumn should not have been expecting any major changes in her medical condition, and she was well versed in the stages of pregnancy. Whatever was happening to her body, to her child, Autumn could not allow to let it happen now, not when she was so close to the end. She was almost there. The colony was almost there. Her only job now was to see this single action through to its final moments. She could not afford anything stopping her now.
Autumn began to fear the worst, but deep down, in the clouded caverns of her consciousness, she knew the real reason for her stomach pain. It was her psychology that was torturing her, not her biology. The true source of her pain was a consequence of her support of Hollis’ banishment from the colony, and her rejection of him as a father. She shook her head to bury the thought before it overpowered her, but it wouldn't leave. His loneliness was all that she could see, and her part in his pain was possessing her. She had written yes on the voting ballot, she had disbelieved him like everyone else, and the ink from the pen stained her hands red with his blood.
Hollis Reyes, a past love, and a present hate. Just as her two most trusted friends had said, would it be a better colony without his presence in it? Since his banishment three weeks ago, there had been no more violent incidents or mental breakdowns. No lunacy, no fights, no deaths. It was true, the Hub and everyone in it were as healthy as they had ever been, but whether that had anything to do with Hollis’ absence was still up for questioning. Perhaps that was exactly what she needed: her questions answered.
Autumn caught her breath, steadied her heart, and concluded that she had to visit the Computer to discover the truth. She remembered Hollis’ final request to do just that. It was for this very reason Autumn hesitated to see the machine in the first place because she understood the massive repercussions of the truth being told. If Hollis was, in fact, sane, then the colony would become insane. Was it worth opening this Pandora's Box? Autumn closed off her thoughts before she dug herself into a deeper hole and rushed after the Computer to finally bring peace to herself and her child.
The soft lighting of the digital psychologists room flickered on when it was detected that Autumn had entered. The spherical space was sleek and empty apart from the lone reclining-chair resting in its center. The electronic floor illuminated around the chair and beaconed Autumn to move forward. She approached the seat, hesitantly at first, and then regained her composure, recalling the fond memories of her faded relationship with the Computer. She remembered the soothing voice that eased her fears away and the sound advice that had guided her through her darkest days on Mars. She lifted herself onto the chair and leaned back.
“I know it's been awhile, and I’m sorry," she said upwards into the lights. “A lot of stuff has happened these past few weeks, and I really just need to make sense of it all.
She waited a moment, and after no response tried again.
“I was hoping that we could just talk. I realize I don’t have an appointment for today,
and I’ve missed the last few, but if we could just talk that would really help me out. I’ve been having a hard time with what’s happened to Hollis, and I need to ask you some questions about what he said."
Once again, nothing happened.
“Hello?" she asked.
DATA FILES MISSING: ERROR. SYSTEM CORRUPTED: ERROR. UNABLE TO
PERFORM TASKS: ERROR, a foreign, computerized voice echoed around the room.
“Run diagnostics check," Autumn fearfully ordered.
FORTY-SEVEN HOURS AGO DATA CACHE DELETED. FORTY-THREE HOURS AGO MEMORY BANKS WHIPPED. FORTY-ONE HOURS AGO SYSTEM FAILURE. ERROR. UNABLE TO PERFORM TASKS, the voice stated blankly.
Autumn felt the throbbing faintly return to her stomach. “Identify backup visitor-log in the past forty-seven hours," she said.
FORTY-SEVEN HOURS AGO: COLONIST SAUL LIND ID 273. FORTY-THREE HOURS AGO: COLONIST SAUL LIND ID 273. ONE MINUTE AGO: COLONIST AUTUMN FLORENTINE ID 412, the voice responded.
“Saul," Autumn whispered and pushed herself off the chair. “Power-down into safe-mode," she yelled, marching to the door. "Lock-out any intruders.”
POWERING DOWN, said the emotionless voice.
Autumn found Saul where normally he was at that time of day. The colony was gathering for the mornings distribution of nutrient-bricks and exosuits and debriefed of the day's work in the mess hall, and as usual, Saul was giving a motivational speech to rally the others. Autumn gave no attention to what he was saying and pushed between the chairs and listeners to get closer.
“I was informed that it’ll be another few months before we finish directing the power to the base level of Tower One," Saul announced. “Right now only the top floors are fully functioning, but until then, we can leave extra O2 tanks in its supply room so we don’t need to make the extra returns to the Hub to refill. We’ll continue doing twelve-hour shifts of groupings of four at the construction site until the end of the month. Maven, how’s the solar cells holding up?"
“We need to continue cleaning off the sand that collects on them every week to get maximum energy into the Crawlers and the outlying stations. It’s a two man job, so me and Marcus can handle it for now. The Hub’s generators are self-sufficient, but we should probably do a systems repair check within the month," he said. “Oscar and Laura will do a full sweep of the Hub’s diagnostics before then."
Laura nodded. “It’s more of a formality. There haven’t been any signs of damages, but then again these sorts of things usually build up. Especially since sandstorm season is coming, it’ll be smart to reinforce the Hub’s shielding," she said.
“And what’s this about a faulty Crawler?” Saul asked.
“I’m working on it," Alexander spoke up. “A rock got jammed into the wheel’s shock-system, but it’ll be an easy fix. Just give me a few days. The other four should be enough for your upcoming work schedule."
“Great to hear," Saul said. “Any more incidents we should bring to everyone's
attention?"
“I’ve got one," Autumn yelled, moving to the front of the mess hall. Everyone looked
at her and saw the determination on her face. “Why did you delete the Computer’s files?" she demanded.
Saul let out a small sigh and motioned her into the hallway. “We can talk about this-" he started.
“No we can talk about this here," she pressed. “Why wasn’t this a group decision? I thought this was a democracy."
“It was a group decision, and you would know this if you would ever come to these meetings," Saul responded. “We had enough of the vote to decide it was best to end the program. We no longer need its assistance. We’re all fine now, well most of us anyway."
“What if I need his assistance? You can’t make this decision because you think it’s best for us all," she said.
Saul straightened his face and his shoulders. “You can talk to me if you’re having any problems. That program was only designed for emergencies. We’re no longer in an emergency. We don’t need a machine to tell us how to think or how to feel. We’re strong enough now to get out of our heads and start to work on rebuilding this colony," he said. “It’s better this way."