by Rishi Sriram
“Sorry, I’m in a hurry.” Before he could get any farther, Nathan caught him
by the shoulder, shooting Kara a nervous glance, “Hey Nemiah…It’s me.”
Nemiah paused for a moment, “I’m sorry, Nathan. I have to leave.”
Kara picked up one of the packages from the ground, “Hmm, so this is
how the food is contained.” Nemiah ran up to her and snatched it.
His pointy nose scrunched up, “That’s mine! Don’t touch it.”
Kara stepped back, hands up, as if to say, OK, I get it.
Nemiah tried to run past him again but Nathan firmed his grip on his
shoulder, “This won’t take long, we just want to form ties with you so we can
work together to get out of here.” The kid didn’t hesitate to respond, he
wasn’t accepting alliances, “Definitely not. Nathan, I know we already met,
and you seem like a good person, but I’m still not sure if I can trust both of
you.”
He paused, as if unsure what to say, “The two of you just want my food,
and you’re probably going to ditch me right after. Not taking the chance.”
Kara anxiously glanced at Nathan, eyebrows raised. “No, that’s not true. I
mean yes we do—but we also need another—”
“Exactly, you said it yourself,” Nemiah said. “You don’t need me, so if
you don’t mind, I’ll be leaving.” This time, Nathan simply stepped out of the
way; he didn’t want to force him. No matter what Kara said, he didn’t want to
think of everyone as their enemies. Just an hour ago, they were all comrades,
companions on an interplanetary mission, and in a minute, everything had
changed. Two burly men walked by, looking around for things they could
use. One of them set their eyes on the packages in the kids’ hands, and
nudged the other one, pointing to the food.
“Easy game,” he sneered. They stepped in front of the kid and flashed
him a fake smile, “You wouldn’t mind handing over those boxes to us, would
you?”
Nemiah gulped and turned to the other two, “I’ll reconsider my decision
if you can help me get out of here, and I like you two better than these guys.
Let’s bail!” They each grabbed a box or two and sprinted out of there, no
turning back. Nathan’s heart pumped faster as the two men gained on them.
Nemiah spoke between breaths as they continued running. “My… huff…
dorm… huff…is up ahead. If you two can…distract them then we can hide in
there.”
Kara’s breathing was shallow, but she could speak, “OK. Then give us all
of the boxes, that way they won’t come after you while we stall.” He knew he
was out of options and reluctantly agreed, quickly handing over the boxes to
them.
The large men were trailing behind, getting closer. Once the three of them
reached Nemiah’s dorm, they turned a sharp corner, leaving Nemiah behind,
and then running in another direction, to lure away their chasers. Nemiah’s
dorm was on the ground floor. He hastily entered every password and rushed
inside. The Litracon material that constructed each dorm was so identical to
one another, it was nearly impossible to differentiate between the two. The
men didn’t even notice Nemiah, and continued to chase after the other two.
Although Nathan’s heartbeat said otherwise, deep inside Nathan, he felt a
feeling of exhilarating thrill. Pumping his legs back and forth, Nathan
scurried across the street, searching for a crowd to lose their perpetrators in. It
didn’t take him long, he found a group of people fighting over water storage,
and they ran through, hiding the packages from the crowd’s sight. The two of
them managed to slip through the people, the men chasing after them stopped
at the fronts. They couldn’t get through, Nathan and Kara had lost them.
Even though they had lost the two big men, neither of them stopped to take a
breath. They hastened back toward Nemiah’s dorm, which was standing there
flailing his arms around, and they all rushed inside shutting the door tight
behind them, while breathing out heavily.
Kara and Nemiah were clutching their stomachs, leaning forward, taking
deep and slow breaths. Nathan wasn’t as affected by the running; his Soo
Bahk Do training, as well as the situations that occurred in Minneapolis, had
conditioned him to athletic activity. He was used to it. They tossed the
packages on the bed and leaned against the wall, sweat streaming down their
foreheads. The boy stepped forward and introduced himself, entirely out of
breath, and looked at Kara.
“I don’t think I’ve introduced myself to both of you. I’m Nemiah. Thanks
for helping me, but I lied about forming an alliance with the two of you. I
appreciate the help, though, so feel free to take a box of food as gratitude.
That’ll last the two of you a few days each. And the remaining—” he counted
the boxes up one by one “–seven boxes I’ll keep for myself. It’s only fair
because I was the one who brought them at first, and those boxes should last
me a good three weeks. But I should be out of this dump by then. Alright
then, thanks again. You can leave now, but I appreciate the offer.”
They were dumbfounded; they couldn’t believe it. After everything that
had happened, he still wouldn’t agree to an alliance. They were still irked that
he rejected their request after they saved him, but they understood where he
was coming from. They decide to give it another shot, it wouldn’t hurt. It was
Kara’s turn this time. Nathan stepped aside, “He’s all yours. Not me this
time.”
She rolled her eyes, “Coward.”
Nathan scowled, “Hey, it’s only fair for both of us to have a chance to
change his mind, and this is yours.”
Ignoring his primitive response, she turned to Nemiah, “Are you sure you
don’t want to have an alliance with us? Clearly we can be of use and it’ll help
for us to stick together. Three minds are better than two. And what happens if
someone like those two brutes chases you again? Will you be able to hold
them off on your own, because of your—you know—size?”
Nemiah pulled the pencil out of his hair and fiddled with it, paying no
attention to the comment about his stature. “I know I’m small and I’m bound
to need help against people like them, but I don’t need the two of your deaths
on my conscience, I don’t need to feel responsible if anything happens to
you. And the same would go for you if we did help each other. Besides, I’m
plenty capable of getting out of here myself. I’m fluent in programming
Horizon, Biton, Scyther and many other languages I’m sure you’ve never
heard of. In fact, I’ve even been able to hack countless government
information from my laptop at home. So I’d find it best not to underestimate
me, at least my technological skills, which I know will find some purpose in
getting me out of here. And in fact, I already have a plan sorted out.”
Nathan sighed.
He knew a friendly negotiation was not going to work; so they needed to
take it a level higher.
Kara picked up a package off of the bed and twirled it around her hands,
“And what’s to say we won’t dea
l with you and take the food for ourselves?”
Nemiah’s eyes opened up a little, sneaking glances at the other packages.
“You wouldn’t,” he jeered, but not looking too sure of himself. “You won’t,
right? You aren’t like that.”
Kara sighed, thinking of something contemptuous to say, but she shook
her head. She didn’t want to hurt anyone else just as much as Nathan didn’t.
“You’re right, but think one last time about our offer, and if you do,
remember, we’ll all have a weeks’ worth of food for ourselves. And if you’re
as smart as you say, we might be out of here in less than a week...”
Nathan was impressed at how intimidating she could be, just as much as
Nemiah was; she was making him change his thoughts.
Nemiah tugged the pencil above his ear, and then sighed. He took a deep
breath, “Fine. But my word is final. I don’t want the two of you dragging me
down.”
Kara beamed, “Sounds good.” She looked at the packages and her
expression changed, “Wait. Where is the water?”
Nemiah shuffled uncomfortably, “Right…about that. I only managed to
get packages of food; I couldn’t get my hands on the bottles of water.”
Kara sighed, a disappointed look on her face, but she was hopeful. “Then,
Nathan, that’s your job.”
Nathan blinked, “Sorry. What?”
Kara stared at the ground, “Well you’re obviously the more physically
able person of the three of us, and while you’re gone, Nemiah and I can hash
out whatever plan he has.”
Nathan forced an unsure smile on his face. “OK…OK,” he said. “I’ll be
back in an hour, tops. If I’m not back by then, don’t come after me.”
Nemiah chuckled, “Ha-ha. Didn’t plan on it.” Both Kara and Nathan gave
him an ugly look.
Nemiah continued, “Hey, I was just kidding, don’t take it so seriously.
And don’t stress yourself, I mean it’s just water.”
Nathan didn’t feel any bit reassured. “Right…it’s just water. No trouble.”
He walked toward the door when he remembered something. “Hey, how do I
get in once I come back?”
“If you come back,” Nemiah chuckled. They glared at him again, but he
just laughed, “I’m kidding. Geez, you guys can’t take a joke.” He picked up
the pencil from the floor, “Here, slide it under the door when you’re outside.
It’ll be our secret signal.” Nathan took the pencil and shoved it in his pocket.
Nemiah formally stuck his hand out towards Kara for a handshake.
“Sorry. I didn’t quite catch your name.”
Kara grabbed his hand and shook it. “I’m Kara.”
He thought for a moment and then nodded, “Nemiah, Nathan, and Kara
save the world.” He waved his arms around, lost in thought. “They could call
us NKN; it’s like M&M but not really.” They gave him blank looks. Nemiah
didn’t look like he minded.
“Not the best acronym but it’ll work. Hey if we get out of this alive we
could start a cleaning service or something and, our catchphrase would be
‘sweep the world.’ Get it? Cause we’re cleaning.”
Nathan and Kara forced a smile but ended up laughing anyway. Humor
didn’t hurt; it brought their spirits up a bit. Nathan opened the door and
stepped out. “OK. I’m off then, see you guys in an hour.”
Nathan quickly shut the door; there weren’t many people in the near
vicinity. Nathan didn’t want anyone else on their tail, and two hefty guys
were enough. He scanned the area, making sure no one was watching him. To
his surprise, not too far ahead, he found a stack of food packages and bottles,
lying against the side of a storage center. In near proximity of the resources, a
family of colonists stepped toward Nathan and glared at him. Their eyes
flickered at any sudden movement.
Nathan stepped back, apprehensive of the strange family. The father of
the group slowly walked toward him, one eye set on him, and the other
keeping a keen eye on the food behind him. He was anxious, and considered
searching for water somewhere else. But he couldn’t resist, the opportunity
was right there, and he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to find much water
anywhere else.
One of the children in the family started biting on a bottle of water and
turned to his mother, telling her, “Mom, this sandwich tastes weird.” Nathan
pitied the child; he had lost his sense of reality, possibly from shock.
In their minds, the omened colony had become a blood fest, only
themselves to trust. Nathan came up with an idea, not the best but the only
one he could think of. He slowly walked toward the family.
The father howled at him, “Stay right where you are! Any closer and I’ll
throw this rock!” The man picked up a package of food and threatened to
throw it.
Nathan approached him like an animal-phobic zookeeper would a
bloodthirsty hyena.
“I come here with a truce!” Nathan yelled as loud as he could. The father
hesitated, lowering the package in his hand, “What is it?”
Nathan’s heartbeat returned to normal, sensing that they were open to
negotiation, and that was a good thing. He didn’t like it, but he had to use the
family’s sense of disorder to his advantage. It required a simple lie that was
all: “I’ll give you twelve boxes of food in return for a third of your water.” Of
course it was a complete fib, but he had to say something.
The father counted his bottles, “That’s eight bottles?”
Nathan nodded, he was firm, and he wouldn’t negotiate for any other
price. “That’s my only offer. And from what I can tell,” Nathan glanced to
the father’s side, “You seem to be a little low on food. You have more than
sufficient water, and this is the only peaceful negotiation I’ll make.” The
family took some time and thought about it, talking to each other like
monkeys fighting over one banana.
After some consideration, the father spoke: “It’s a deal. And to show you
that us Mitchells mean business, we’ll give you the bottles first, and then you
can give us your food, wherever it is.”
Nathan beamed; this was going better than he had thought. Once all the
bottles had been rolled to him, the guilt set in. He had planned on running and
giving them absolutely nothing in return, but that wasn’t right. He had to give
them something back.
“I’m going back to my dorm where my food is kept; I’ll take the bottles
with me and bring back the packages.” Nathan acted quickly. He grabbed the
eight bottles, two in each hand, and the remaining four clutched between his
forearms and his chest. As fast as he could, he raced back to the dorm, set the
bottles on the ground, and slid the pencil halves under the door. He heard
footsteps, and the door opened. Kara stood at the door, she didn’t ask any
questions. Nathan handed her each bottle and she threw it inside on top of the
bed.
“I made a deal, one package for eight bottles,” Nathan spoke quickly.
“Heck of a deal,” Nemiah spoke, impressed.
“Well, yeah, the thing is I told them I would give them twelve packages,
so
I need to act quickly.”
Nemiah’s jaw dropped, “You told them what? Who are they, anyway?”
His head peeked out of the door, and observed the impatient family chewing
on their packages. “You made a deal with them? They look like primates who
escaped from the local zoo!”
“It was an act of desperation, and we got what we needed. Just give me a
package so I can get this over with.” Nemiah uneasily handed him a package
and he walked outside. The family seemed to relax, seeing that he was
keeping his side of the deal. Nathan stopped once he was twenty feet from the
family. “This is the first package, and I’ll go back and get the rest. Here you
go.” He tossed the package at the family and it landed on the ground with a
thud. He immediately ran back toward the dorm, and shut the door tightly
behind him. At this point, the family had realized that they had been duped
and scrambled after him in anger. It was followed by a series of loud
banging, and growling. The family seemed enraged, less so that they had
been tricked. And more as to how pathetically they had been fooled. It was an
embarrassment to them. After a while of hollering and hitting the door, the
family eventually gave up and left the area for good.
Nathan slouched against the wall, exasperated. They all laughed, talking
about what had happened. The days to come were going to be difficult to get
through.
Suddenly, there was a soft hissing noise, and the air vents above them
croaked, spewing gas.
Nemiah was quick to realize, “It’s poison gas! Hold your breath; we have
to get out of here!”
They took a deep breath and pulled at the door. It didn’t move at all, the
door was locked. Nathan tugged on the handle with all his might, nothing
changed. They panicked, scrambling around to try and find something to pry
open the door.
And then Kara’s face lit up, she had an idea. She pulled out a card from
her pants pocket, and slid the card halfway in between the gap between the
door and the doorframe by the knob, and bent it the opposite way. The other
two pulled on the door simultaneously; everyone was doing whatever they
could to get out.
They were running out of air, the poison gas was nearing their air
passages and it was tempting for them to inhale. Another ten seconds and