by Rishi Sriram
healthy, and water it once a day. More information is inside your digital
guide booklets, which you can access from your bracelets. But getting back
to the plants, energy is not the only purpose of this plant; they can also grow
into any green vegetable. Broccoli, celery, spinach, cauliflower—you name it
and it can do it. It all just depends on where you grow the seed; we have
twenty-four different farming factions. And in each farming faction, the soil
is made to grow the seed into a certain fruit or vegetable. We use these uni-
plant seeds because they supply the soil with chemical energy that allows the
plants to grow twice as fast.”
“If you would kindly direct your eyes to the nearest faction, the potato-
growing section of the dome, you can see that we have briefly begun growing
some crops.” Nathan was paying deep attention to the moderator; he didn’t
want to miss out on a single bit of information.
Mr. Schultz looked out at the crowd. “You colonists have three main
duties. Those are construction, maintenance, and research. Each of you will
be assigned to one of those three duties and will work along with others in a
crew. Construction involves working on the settlement. The main duty of the
construction crew will be to make their new home into a comfortable place to
live. They will install extra solar panels and equipment, including the
building of greenhouses. They will spend time on the crops and food
preparation.”
That sounded interesting, Nathan wanted to be a part of the construction
crew.
Mr. Schultz continued, “The job of the maintenance crew will be
maintaining crops, as explained earlier, and monitoring the technical systems.
This includes overseeing that the water and food storages are functional and
distributed properly. Your lives depend on the technology present in the
settlement. All these systems need to be checked and maintained regularly.
Research is also an important part of work on Mars, especially when the
settlement is fully operational. Any data found on possible life forms or other
areas of study will be collected and transmitted back to Earth.”
Mr. Schultz rubbed his forehead, droplets of sweat forming. “As for the
children, meaning anyone under thirteen, they will be taught in their own
personal environments—their ‘dorms’ as we call them. There are holographic
screens inside every dorm, so that the children can be digitally taught by
online instructors back on Earth. Each child has their own teacher, to produce
the most effective results. Finally, there will be a select group of adults who
will be working in the research laboratory, which is ideally the central
building, with a group of scientists who will teach you the ropes. The first
couple months or so will be strict work until we all get settled in and we’ll
only begin to speed up from there. I’ll remind everyone that this isn’t some
luxury excursion with staff that’ll serve you exquisite meals and tend to your
needs. This is Mars, fellas. Get used to it! And here are some words of
motivation: Think of the uni-plant seed as a representation of how long you
will live. The entire colony is run by those plants, so if anything goes wrong,
just imagine what could happen to you.”
The hover pad lowered to ground level and he stepped off of it. Nathan
knew he was in for a long stay, filled with hard work, but it couldn’t have
been avoided. Nathan looked at Kara. “This is going to be a difficult
journey,” he said. “And man, is your dad scary.”
She laughed, “Yes. Yes, it will be. But don’t let my dad get to you. He
just acts like that so that no one questions his authority.”
“Definitely,” A familiar voice came from behind him. It was Mr. Schultz,
Kara’s father. Nathan had absolutely no idea how he had gotten behind them
but he wasn’t the least bit surprised. The serious look on Mr. Schultz’s face
had faded, and was replaced with a cheery smile. “Hey, you’re Nathan, right?
I remember you. How have you been? It’s been a while.”
“I’m doing fine, just fine, a little intimidated, and that’s all.” Mr. Schultz
patted Nathan on the back then brushed past him.
He stretched his arms out and gave Kara a hug, “How was the trip,
honey?”
She smiled broadly, “It was quite nice, more comfortable than I expected.
But more importantly, how was it for you?”
Kara’s father laughed out loud. “If I’m being honest, most of the time it
was in autopilot and I just sat there admiring the scenery.”
Kara’s face turned gray, “Dad?”
Mr. Schultz chortled, “I’m just kidding of course, it was a difficult trip
but I managed to pull through.” His watch flashed red, and his expression
tensed. “I’m sorry, kid, but I have to leave now. I have to make a report to the
higher-ups back on Earth.”
Kara looked a little gloomy but nodded understandingly. “All right, it was
good to see you. Bye.” He pulled her in for another hug and gave her a slight
peck on the forehead, and then he walked away into the crowd. Nathan
heaved a sigh of relief; he couldn’t believe that just a minute ago, this was the
man who had scared the living wits out of the entire group of colonists
himself. But Nathan knew that he really was a good guy, and that he had
nothing to worry about.
Kara yawned and stretched a little, “According to what my father told me
before we departed, in short time, they’re going to unveil the biggest surprise
about Mars.”
Nathan furrowed his eyebrows, “Surprise? What is it?”
Kara shook her head, “I don’t know, my father just told me that there was
a surprise. That’s it. We’ll have to wait and find out. Well, until then, let’s go
look around.” She pointed ahead of them, where the others seemed to be
gathering.
Nathan shrugged, “Maybe we don’t get to look around; let’s go see
what’s keeping their attention, I’m pretty curious to see what that whole
‘surprise’ is.”
There were too many people in front of them that they couldn’t get a
proper look. All they could see was that there was this large door, with
extensive amounts of locks on it. Nathan jumped up a little, managing to see
in front of him for a split second. But it was all a blurry haze as he came
down. Nathan knew it would have been impossible to go anywhere if nearly
one hundred thousand other people were going to the same place at the same
time. He couldn’t imagine the pain he’d have to go through working every
day, having to work in whatever clothing they would be given, with a tent to
sleep in and snacks to last him the day. It would be an expedition just walking
outside of his dorm. It perplexed him as to why they would leave an
overpopulated planet to be overcrowded on another. Some of the logistics
didn’t quite add up, although it was a little too late in the game to be having
his doubts.
There was a series of loud roars ahead, where everyone was crowding
around. It was then followed by throat-scratching chips and growls. The
colonist
s gave each other uneasy looks, but slowly moved toward the noises.
The crowd had soon passed and they could finally see ten feet in front of
them. On the tips of their toes, they could spot a large, reddish-brown arch
emerging above the gate that read, “Animal Center.” Nathan’s eyes went
back into their sockets, and his ears twitched. His worst nightmare was being
fulfilled; there were animals on Mars. They were distinct animals. They were
massive. They were mystifying. And that list of descriptions included
dangerous animals.
CHAPTER 4
MARTIAN ANIMALS
Fact: Due to Mars’ weaker gravitational force, anything would weigh
more than on Earth.
Animals hadn’t always been the most delightful essence of Nathan’s
life. His experience with them was very…noteworthy. Every year, there
seemed to be some strange encounter or occurrence with an animal that
involved him, and it was never a pleasing thing. He vividly recalled one
particular event that happened during his third grade City Zoo field trip. The
sky was clear—light blue painted across the horizon. Nothing but one or two
white, fluffy clouds floating across the sky. And the wind was calm—a slight
breeze, but that was all. People walked around sleeveless, no big deal. No
sweaters, no jackets, and no jeans. The wind was as light as a feather, slightly
blowing past but nothing that required any extra covering.
Nathan, however, was not aware that the weather would be so—
compatible. The weather report that morning said that they were in for some
light snowfall later that day and chilly temperatures. After that day Nathan
had never really seen weather reports the same way. He came to school that
beautiful morning in a thick, golden yellow sweater. That was his first
mistake. Back then he was a little slow at understanding things, and it took
him until they reached the zoo to realize that it wasn’t going to snow, and that
the temperature certainly wasn’t getting any lower. Not to mention that
certain animals would be extremely fond of seeing a bright yellow snack
prancing outside their habitat. Long story short, his trip ended very
memorably, getting tackled by a hungry chimpanzee that wouldn’t resist
biting off his sweater. He never wore yellow after that, either.
Chimpanzees had been a dark page in his book ever since, one to never be
opened. There was also his “rabid alley cat incident,” the “angry buffalo
incident,” and lest we forget the “dog who decided to chomp on Nathan’s
behind” incident.
Mr. Schultz appeared again on his hover pad, floating in front of the large
gate. It became dead silent as soon as people noticed his presence. He flew
toward the locks on the door, hopping off his hover pad. He wrapped both of
his hands on the locks and they unlatched. A scanner emerged from the hole
in the locks and rays of light scanned his retinas. Another lock broke off the
door and then a holographic keypad popped up. He typed in a combination
and the doors slowly opened.
Mr. Schultz spoke. “It is up to each of you to decide to enter this area, but
I advise those who do enter to do so with the utmost precaution. Crane
Enterprises is not responsible for anything that happens beyond this gate, so
enter at your discretion.”
Groups of people split apart to the sides and stayed behind, as the rest of
them, including Nathan, continued beyond the gate. He might have been
devastatingly afraid of animals, but he couldn’t resist his curiosity—it always
got the best of him. The atmosphere distorted, an ominous feeling entered
their bodies. It was the smell of danger. It looked like a zoo, just more
restricted; the habitats seemed like cages, or cells. The animals seemed
enraged, eager to leave their toil and move as they please. From the outside,
most of the animals appeared normal, just a few distinct features struck out.
There were a few extra horns here, extra heads there. It was quite unusual.
These animals seemed to have been brought over from Earth, and then
mutated of sorts, although Nathan couldn’t quite understand why. On the
bright side, Nathan didn’t see any monkeys so he had that going for him. If
anyone was capable of keeping a large group of people in order, it was Mr.
Schultz, whose very demeanor commanded respect, and no one dared to fray
from the path.
The hover pad returned and he walked back onto it. “It is with deepest
concern that we don’t do anything that’ll frighten or agitate the animals.” He
looked deep into the crowd, his stare piercing through the startled souls. “So
please remain calm at all times.” The crowd’s movement was stiff; as people
walked as subtly and as unnoticeably as they could.
It took Nathan a while to realize that after he had walked for a while, he
felt less drawn to the ground, a little lighter. It was subtle, due to the
constraints of the dome’s gravity-altering machinery, but he felt lighter
nonetheless. His attention was shortly directed back to the animals. A large
blue peacock stood off in a corner of a cage. It was the same size as a
peacock one would find on Earth, but its appearance added to its breadth. The
sunlight beamed brightly off of the steel rods, the peacock’s eyes twinkling.
Its long feathers stretched out across the cage, brushing the edges of the
Litracon walls. Litracon was a material created from a combination of optical
fibers and fine concrete. Forty or so years prior, scientists had made a
breakthrough in Litracon studies. They were able to tamper its inner
structure, allowing the material to become both lighter as well as applicable
to practically any architecture work or object.
The peacock’s long legs were firm and glossy. Its plume was a blend of
colors, the base color a lush green. Its legs were long, shaded a dark yellow,
with claws on edge, ready to strike. The bird took decisive steps, eyeing them
with its head cocked to the side. The bird defensively lifted its legs up one at
a time, displaying deep bruises around the thighs. The marks were blood-red
lines; it had been struck with some sort of whip.
Nathan spoke softly, “It’s been hurt.” The bird glanced in a direction near
the rear end of the crowd, abrasively. His quizzical eyes made it clear he was
looking for something, eyes scanning the area.
Mr. Schultz hovered higher. “The animals are in a particularly decent
mood today. That’s all I intended to show you, a glimpse of the kinds of
creatures you will be working with. It wasn’t on the information packet—and
till recently it was a surprise to me as well—but there will be an additional
group of colonists attending to these animals, assuring their health is tip-top
and making records of their actions. Well, the rest of the day is yours.
Retrieve your belongings from the shuttle before you get settled in. You will
find on this digital map”—above them a large screen brightened—“the places
you will be staying. That is all, everyone is dismissed.”
From the sky, a blur of red soared down. It was a scarlet cardinal; it
perched on the moderator’s s
houlder.
He was unfazed, and turned toward it, amused, saying, “Now, where did
you come from?” The cardinal faced him, and then flew up into the air,
looking down on the crowd just as the peacock had done. The bird flapped its
red wings and flew past the people and stopped near the back of the crowd.
Its round eyes narrowed at a certain area. The cardinal squawked, whatever it
had seen had the bird chilled to the bone.
The bird started screeching loudly and flew wildly around the crowd. It
crashed into the wall in a daze and soared back into its cage. Its eyes were
blood-red, its abnormal ears sticking out, rapidly twitching. The feathered
creature flew toward the corner of the cage, and tipped its head to the right a
notch. Its jaw crunched as its mouth started chomping on the edges of the
steel rods. Its front teeth were chattering, as if it had seen the darkest thing
imaginable, the most petrifying object to ever set foot in the universe. Mr.
Schultz was at a loss for words, which didn’t happen often, he couldn’t
explain what was going on. The sound was beginning to irritate the other
animals, who began beating at their cages, running around in their habitat in a
trance.
The ruckus didn’t stop until a while later when the animals had exerted
every last bit of their energy. Their eyes were empty, minds driven to
insanity, deprived of whatever conscience they contained to begin with.
Apart from the few people who were curious to see if the animals would
break out of their habitats, the greater part of the crowd had already left the
Animal Center. Nathan had been the first to run head over heels as soon as
the red cardinal started squawking crazily.
He didn’t hesitate to say to Kara that he was heading to his dorm before
he ran off. He had been a part of enough situations like this that he knew it
was never an exciting thing to be in the middle of an aggravated crowd. Since
departure, something had seemed out of place; there was a continuous uneasy
feeling in the back of his head. Nathan couldn’t see the bigger picture, but he
felt as if the colonists were all pawns dancing around in someone’s hand.
Nathan remembered something about there being four color-designated
sections of the dorm, and he believed that the “G” in the end of his code