The Colony

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.