by Rishi Sriram
his hand towards the map to grab it, and his hand passed directly through.
There was something behind it! Nathan walked forward, through the map,
making way for another expanse.
He couldn’t believe his eyes, there was an escape pod sitting openly in
front of him. The escape pod was spherically shaped, and docked hefty
ducted fans on each horizontal side. In a partial circle outlined around the
pod, there were transparent shielded windows. Nathan imagined that beneath
the pod was an array of rocket-propelled boosters, mechanically whirring
gears, and light sparks spewing out – but nothing happened. The pod could
seat a maximum of four people, no room for any more than that—hence
presenting a problem, as not all of them could safely passage in it. He could
hear loud footsteps in the near distance; he would have to worry about that
later. His first priority was getting out of there.
Parker tugged on his shoulder, telling him, “We have to go!” He leapt
back through the passageway into the laboratory. Throwing his arm backward
he shut the door tightly and stepped away from the area. The last thing he
wanted to do was alert the enemy that they were aware of the existence of an
escape pod. At least he was leaving with more information; one way or
another he had to get back to the others and let them know about everything.
In spite of that, the seven of them couldn’t all leave in the pod, not without
leaving someone behind, which was entirely out of the question. Wherever
they went, they went together.
No one left behind, that was the plan, and that was what they were going
to stick with. In Max’s hand there was the blank book he had found and a
silver ballpoint pen he had picked up. Parker was empty-handed and Jessica
held a stack of formulated papers in one arm and a dark case in the other. A
bright reflection caught Nathan’s eyes; he looked at the cover of the book in
Max’s hands. It was glinted along the fringes, and in the center the word “For
my son” was written in red cursive. Aware that Nathan was captivated by the
book in his hands, Max handed it to him. He grasped it carefully, and took a
hurried look at it, turning it around. It seemed like an important book, aside
from the matter that there was nothing written in it.
The footsteps grew louder, and in short time there were three Ravas
standing directly opposite them, holding their guns in their hands. The three
children huddled behind Nathan, who stepped back in a defensive stance. He
acted quickly; he pushed the button on his two palms, as he had seen the
Rava perform, and punched a table in their direction. One of the Ravas
merely held the tip of his finger out, stopping the table immediately.
To Nathan’s relief, he didn’t spot the intimidating Rava they had met
outside. Even still, the people in front of him were fearfully powerful and
could kill them in an instant. Nathan couldn’t hold back any bit, but at the
same time he knew he couldn’t punch his way out of this one. Craning their
heads forward, he noticed the Ravas keenly eying the book in his hands. It
was important after all, and that meant it was also his way out. Smirking a
little, Nathan decided to test a little speculation. He reached out for a syringe
lying on a nearby stretcher and made an act of stabbing the book. The Ravas
looked panicky, dropping their guns to the ground. It was as if the existence
of the book meant life or death to them. He had found some leverage, which
meant he wasn’t completely out of options. He just needed to figure out how
to use that leverage against them and find a way out of there.
The atmosphere thickened, hairs standing on end as the Ravas inched
toward them; they were running out of time. He had to come up with
something quickly. He found another book resting above a stretcher and
quickly switched it with the blank book behind his back. If his conjecture was
accurate, then things were going to be fine, he just had to act with quickness.
He snatched the syringe again and pretended to stab the book, and as
expected, the Ravas reacted the same way. It was a safe assumption to make
that they didn’t know the difference between the two, and that the book in
front of him was utterly useless. Although in that case, the first book could
have been a dud as well, although it was a gamble they had to take. They
didn’t have time to think it through. Nathan flipped through the second
book’s pages; it was filled with absurd scribbles and quantities that seemingly
contained ill or no relationship to one another; nothing he could decipher.
He thought for a second, and it came to him—he could use the second
book as bait. All he had to do was light it aflame, and toss it into the secret
room behind the first door, and if all worked well they still wouldn’t realize
that he had ventured to the escape pod. Thank goodness he had the lighter or
else his plan couldn’t work. If the Ravas took his bait, which he was
confident they would, he just had to shut the door behind them and barricade
it with a table or two. It would buy them enough time to get out of there.
The Ravas inched nearer to them; he had to tell the others the plan
quickly. He held the syringe directly in front of the book, keeping their
confronters away a little, giving him the time to talk to the others. He bent
down a little, and whispered four words, “Book–Fire–Bait–Run.” Hilariously
enough they seemed to understand, and nodded softly, awaiting a signal.
He spoke softly, “Three…Two…One…Now!” He slammed the door
wide open, flicked the top of the lighter open and lit the redundant book
aflame, throwing it inside the secret passageway. The Ravas scrambled like
dogs, chasing after the book no sooner than had it left his hands. Once they
were all inside, Nathan shut the door tightly, and dragged two tables in front
of the door.
Aware of their immense strength the four of them knew their trick
wouldn’t last long, taking to their heels and running down the passage they
had entered from. The door in the laboratory was still shut, but they could
hear the banging and growling on the door getting louder. They were also
faced with a problem: for some reason the entrance door wasn’t opening as it
should have. He had no choice but to punch it down. He reared his fists back
and rammed the door a few times; it didn’t budge. He began to panic,—how
were they going to get out of there? If only the other three were there to help;
he hoped they were safe. From far behind him, he could hear the door
slamming open, the Ravas fuming with anger. Out of the blue, the door in
front of them opened and behind it stood the other three, distraught looks on
their faces. They cleared out of the lab, back outdoors, and hastened as far
away from there as they could.
After a few minutes, once they were far away from the laboratory, they
turned back to check if they were being followed. The Ravas weren’t on their
tail. The seven of them made their way near an open field of barely sprouted
crops, which were clearly on the verge of death. The plants were shriveling,
<
br /> and the leaves wilting. Had things gone the way they were supposed to, they
would have been maintaining these crops and watching them flourish. Of
course things hadn’t gone as planned—not for the colonists, at least. There
was a construction site further down the street, and to their left was a large set
of dorms. They were safe for the time being.
Nathan collapsed to the floor, exhausted, the blank book still clenched in
his hands. He held it out, “We found this, some scattered papers, a black case,
and a ballpoint pen.” Jessica paced around the place, appearing more nervous
than ever, “Uh. Yeah. About those papers—they kinda sort of slipped out of
my hands when we were running here. It’s near the research lab. And I
dropped the case too.”
Nathan sighed, but gave her a forgiving smile, “That’s alright, it’s this
book that I really wanted to investigate, don’t worry about it.” Her shoulders
relaxed, and she dropped to the floor, exhausted.
Nathan continued speaking, “Beyond one of the walls there was a secret
room, and a hidden door to get to it. And further behind that room there was
a four-seat escape pod. There was also a phone on the wall, which I pulled off
of the wall, signaling the alarm. That was my fault. I’m really sorry.”
Kara broke down in laughter. “So it was you. Thank goodness,” she said.
“As rude as that might sound, the thing is, the alarm also rang the second
Nemiah picked up a pen off the floor. It scared him so much that he
screamed, dropped the pen and bolted out of the passageway—the door was
already open for some reason. We heard the sound of people coming our way
so we hid by the side of the building. Once we saw the Rava’s enter the
building, we ran after them to help you but the door closed itself and we
couldn’t get in. It was a matter of time till we heard you on the other side of
the door that we were able to get the door open. There was a hidden button on
the right hand-side; it just took us some time to find it.”
There was a smell of smoke in the air, cirrus fumes stirring in the
atmosphere, the smell of something burning spread like wildfire. The first
person to notice the sudden change was Emily, her jaw dangling: “Fire.”
CHAPTER 9
FIRE
Fact: Mars has the largest mountain in the whole solar system: Olympus
Mons is three times higher than Earth’s highest mountain, Mt. Everest.
They could hear the crackling of fire from far away, it was flickering
bright crimson. One by one, the dorms encircled by the fire were
burning down, and people close by. Dangerous or not, they had to hurry
down there and help anyone stuck in the fire.
“We have to help them,” Emily said, her voice ringing with sincerity.
Emily didn’t have to ask the others to help; they were going to help anyway.
They rushed down to the fire as fast as they could, tension and pressure rising
steadily. The atmosphere grew thicker with smoke, stretching out like a
blanket, trapping everyone in a gray cloud. The fire gleamed, spitting burning
sparks at them. Licks of heat attacked them from the sides, a circle of
buildings blazing on fire. There couldn’t have been anyone inside, but there
were people trapped outside in the crossroads, stuck in the middle of the
roaring circle of flames.
Nathan was worried, the blazing fire was getting hotter, and there were
still people on the other side of the flames. He heard the sound of people
wailing ahead, a short stretch away. A few people lay sobbing on the ground,
with difficulty, pointing to the area around a dorm. It had crumbled to ashes.
The only thing that was left was a chain, resting on the ground, glowing
among the ruins, amongst a pile of ashes.
People had already died. It was already too late. He looked around, he
could see many others making an effort to help as well, but their actions
seemed to be in vain. His friends were scattered around, near the duller edges
of the fire, helping people out, brushing flames off of their clothing. For those
they couldn’t help in time, they consoled the families who had lost a member.
He almost faltered at the sight of so much pain, but he knew that he could
still help people.
He hopped up on the toes of his feet, scoping the area to see where those
trapped were. There was a little girl crying, dead-center in the flames. Debris
from the wall of a building trapped her between the flames, stretching its
burning tips toward her. He completely tossed aside the notion of pain; he
didn’t care if he got hurt. He was going to run through the flames, and he was
going to save her. Those were the only thoughts running in his mind.
He counted to three, and took a slow breath. Head inclined forward, he
leapt through the first wall of flames, licks of heat attacking him from all
sides, his shirt sparking aflame. He didn’t care, his skin burned, but he didn’t
react, he continued running. The wall near him collapsed, Litracon
collapsing, he couldn’t move. And the flames were getting hotter. He
screamed out loud, and activated his gloves, thrashing around, heaving the
pieces of cinder and metal off of his body. Everywhere on his body ached,
from the top of his head to the bottom of his toes, but he still didn’t stop.
The cries of the little girl were louder. He was getting nearer, that was the
only motivation he needed. There was heap of fallen debris between him and
the little girl; he just had to punch his way through it. He could see the frame
of the dorm bed melting in front of his eyes, shards of the sink twinkling in
the fire. He moved to the side, reared his arm back with all of his might—and
punched down a pile of wreckage, making a small hole so he could see the
girl clearly.
“Almost there.” He groaned. His skin felt like it was burning, and the
sensation was getting more painful, only his motivation remaining. Reaching
into the hole, he ripped apart the remains of the obstacle, making a path to the
little girl. Her knees were on the ground, shivering in fear, streams of tears
flowing down her cheeks. He reached down, and lifted her into his arms—she
was so filled with shock, she didn’t even move. The fire struck his legs and
he felt a burning sensation spreading across his feet. He was sprinting faster
than ever before, with a dire urge to get the girl out of the fire. Before the
flames spread to the girl, he gently tossed her out of the fire near where
Nemiah was helping someone. In shock, he looked at Nathan, who was still
entrapped in flames. The fire had spread over his entire body, and he felt like
he was melting in a hot furnace. He remembered what they had taught in
school.
He dropped to the ground and rolled back and forth, trying to get rid of
the fire. It didn’t seem to work, the hot air was entering his lungs and he
could hardly breathe, his pain receptors were being burnt off and the flames
were searching for his organs, to make for a quick death. He almost lost
consciousness until he was hit with a cold splash of water, bringing him back
to his senses. The area the water had hit stung, but it
was far better than the
blazing flames.
He struggled to turn to see where it came from as he was soon hit with
another splash…from another direction. This time his body was used to the
stinging feeling, and it lowered his temperature to healthy limits. He was hit
with another splash, and again, and again, and again until finally every single
inch of the fire on him had been put out and he was drenched in water.
The pain still tingled across his skin, and the burning feeling still made
his skin shiver, but now that the fire had been put out, the pain was
manageable. The fire hadn’t made contact with his skin long enough to burn
him, but there were still smoldering ruby marks all over his skin. He pushed
himself up and struggled to his feet, his kneecaps twitching in pain. He
craned his head around; people all around had dumped portions of their own
water supply on him to save his life. There was a soft hiss, and then it grew
louder. People had managed to grab some of the fire extinguishers that were
around the area, and started spraying at the flames, and soon there wasn’t a
spark left. There were some people remaining in the fire, who in short time
were doused with water.
He still felt a little tired, his legs went weak and they began to collapse.
He fell toward the ground but Nemiah immediately caught him.
“I got you, buddy.”
Emily and Kara ran toward them, with Max, Parker, and Jessica
following behind.
“Are you alright—you look terrible. That was amazing.” Kara smiled
down at him, but she looked worried.
“You’re still hurt, so you should take some rest. Had you not been soaked
in water so soon, you could have been left with some serious burns—or even
worse, joined those piles of ashes.”
Nathan looked at her like she was crazy. He grumbled, “Thanks for the
encouragement.”
She smiled, “It’s true though. We managed to help some people out of the
fire and reunite them with their families…but there were still some that…
didn’t make it out.” He didn’t need her to explain. There were always
casualties, always.
There was the troubling crackle above the dome again; the man behind it
all was back. And there was no way he was going to bring good news.