by Rishi Sriram
situation as her anyway, making it all the more worse. The only things they
had left were some bandages, disinfectant and a couple of old antibiotics, and
she was grateful. It was much better than no treatment; however, it wasn’t
enough. What she needed was a trip to the emergency room, in an actual
hospital. That was the only way she would have a chance to ever walk again.
On Mars, the closest place to a hospital was the eerie laboratory in the
research lab. And there was no way she was ever going there again,
especially since the whole “strong girl” act she was putting on was a total
facade. There were many things that scared her down to the core: loneliness,
deathly pain, and her worst nightmare…the loss of a near one. Her
expressions didn’t portray it, yet she was ghastly worried for her father. He
could have been dead for all she knew. The last memory of him, separated in
a massive crowd reverberating with infinite calls of names—they weren’t the
only one’s split apart from family.
Acting fierce was her only fail-safe to prevent her from spiraling into
despair. It was a simple assumption that if she acted stronger, it would give
her strength and she would feel indestructible. In a sense, it worked. The
impression surely came across to everyone else, and it fell out nicely when
they encountered the massive beast.
In total honesty, her thought process was to distract the animal with the
bullet. How she managed to truly hit the lion, no one would ever know. The
only thing that mattered to her at that moment was that she contributed—it
made her feel needed, like her presence meant something. The worst thing
that could happen was being cast away and the others refusing to take care of
her sister. Deep down she was well aware that it wouldn’t happen, yet she
couldn’t help but be worried. Then was the matter of Nemiah. Man, had she
misjudged him. At their first encounter, what she wanted was information,
and for him to leave her comfort zone. She took evasive action and in return
got punched in the face. That turned out for the better, since he took her to
her sister, filling her with mixed emotions.
The pain had soon spread across her entire left leg, leaving it entirely
immobile. Words couldn’t express the horrific shooting pain she was
experiencing. It was clear that she felt like she was bringing down the rest of
them. The last thing she wanted on her conscience was their deaths as a result
of her condition. Nathan could tell that Emily felt guilty about the entire
group having to stay in one place because of her.
Emily called Nathan over, and spoke softly so that no one else could hear
her: “Leave me behind, I’m bringing you guys down, and I don’t want you
guys to die because of it.” Her eyes were watery and she looked at him with
remorse.
Nathan’s response was down to earth: “Listen, Em—can I call you Em?”
She didn’t care, and nodded, allowing him to continue.
“I know I’ve said this countless times but I’m serious. Wherever we go,
we’re going together. Whether that means we die together, or we live
together, it doesn’t matter. There is no way we are leaving anyone behind.
Believe me, I understand more than anyone where you’re coming from, and
you might not know it, but we need you. The very presence of every single
person in this group is enough; sticking with each other is the only
contribution that needs to be made. No one is asking of anything more. We’re
all friends in this, and friends don’t abandon each other. I hope that convinces
you enough that we aren’t sacrificing anyone, and you surely aren’t dragging
us down. In fact this gives us some down time to relax. That’s all. Relax and
don’t worry about a thing.”
Not having the energy to respond, and pretty convinced, she just nodded.
Nathan might have disagreed with Emily, but he still listened to her. He
understood where she was coming from. Nathan agreed not to tell anyone,
but he was still against her approach. Not having a choice, Emily agreed to
his terms. It wasn’t what she wanted, but he had managed to convince her,
and if it was what Nathan wanted, then fine.
Nathan rested his back against the cement walls, a serious cramp in his
neck. The past few days had been hard on him, it wasn’t an easy life. He had
lost some weight, his skin was losing color, and he hadn’t had a good night’s
sleep in a while. It wasn’t just about the food or water. He was constantly
worried about how things were back in Minneapolis. He hoped his parents
were safe. It was interesting to think of what the news would have been
telling the people on Earth. There was no way that they knew what was going
on, or else someone would have come to help them. His brain went crazy
thinking about it, there were so many possibilities, so many things he didn’t
know, so many things he still didn’t understand.
Out of curiosity, he pulled out the blank book and the pen Parker had
found. There was a small button on the back of the pen, he clicked it with his
forefinger and it shone a light out of the top. He had an idea. He flipped open
a page in the book, turned the light on, and shined it at the page. Words
appeared under the light as he moved the light around; it was written in
invisible ink. He laughed, finding it childish to write something down in
invisible ink. Yet to be fair, had Parker not picked up that pen, there was no
way he would have figured that out. He turned back to the first page, and
began to read.
It was a diary. On the front page, was written largely in bold, “NOT A
DIARY.” And below it was written, “Evade your eyes and return this book to
678 Land Morrow Dr.” Nathan’s eyes swelled, he recognized that address. It
was just down his street, and he had passed it numerous times as a little kid.
That didn’t make sense, why would someone’s diary from Minneapolis
be on another planet, inside a laboratory? The date on the front cover read,
“June 18th, 2064.” He turned through the pages. For the most part it was
about the life of a young boy. From what he could tell, the person was in
middle school. He continued to read until his eyes fell upon a certain date:
“September 27th, 2066.” That was strange. That was the exact date the
second Pangea occurred, the day every mass of land realigned with one
another, forming a supercontinent. That day, the world was in a great state of
disturbance; in complete turmoil. However, as time passed, it brought people
together. It brought together people of different ethnicities, languages, and
religious beliefs. It was around this time of uncertainty when a certain man
rose to power, sparking order in the world. It was the rise of The Chancellor,
and his fight to rally the hopes of humanity, to trust him to keep them moving
forward.
He continued reading the entry.
“I was resting on my bed, when the earth suddenly shook. I could hear
the sound of bookshelves rattling against the wall. There was a loud clatter in
the kitchen; things were being shaken out of place. I stepped off my bed to see
>
what was happening, when the roof above me collapsed, and I was crushed
under a dense mountain of wood. I couldn’t move from my knees down, stuck
under the massive pile, and I couldn’t feel a muscle in my body. My sight
began to go dark, until my father arrived at the scene. He was worried sick,
and after great struggle, he managed to help me out and took me to the
nearest hospital. I could hardly use any of my senses. I didn’t want to think
about it, but a small part of me worried if I was even still alive. In short time,
I had been admitted to the emergency room, and taken good care of. I’m fine
now, and here I lay, awaiting plenty of surgeries and other procedures. I’m
definitely grateful to my father for everything he has done. And it is with
great strain that I write this sentence, but I still don’t believe I will make it
out, so lastly a word for my—”
The sentence closed off with a scribble. There was nothing written
beyond that. He desperately turned pages, back and forth, to see if there was
anything else written. There was nothing, till he came to the final page of the
book. He couldn’t believe his eyes. In the top right corner of the page, was a
name written in red handwriting: “This book belongs to Samuel Crane.” He
dropped the book. For the past ten minutes, he had been reading the personal
journal of Samuel Crane. The son of the CEO of Crane Enterprises; the man
the colonists had identified to have been behind the extermination plan.
Thoughts ran in his mind, and he swallowed. He stroked his hands through
his hair nervously; this notebook supported his beliefs all the more. It wasn’t
something he wanted to accept, but it made sense. It was most likely the case
that Isaiah Crane had been the man who had planned to kill them all.
That still didn’t explain much about Isaiah’s actual motives. Was it
actually because he wanted to get rid of overpopulation? Or, was it because
of something else, something connected to his son’s death? There had to have
been some link, but he couldn’t come up with anything. He sat back and
pondered the logic behind it. It all came down to the issue of overpopulation,
and in every respect, Nathan agreed that it was a critical matter. However, he
knew that killing large amounts of people was not the solution. Humans were
an intuitive species, adaptive. With no doubt they could have come up with a
better idea.
The dome sputtered, making a rapid clicking noise, it was the man he had
been thinking about.
“I’m assuming that most of you are curious to know what everyone back
home thinks about this special expedition. So here’s your answer, let me
show you a couple news channels and their reports on this successful start to
a progressive journey.” The man laughed an evil cackle, betraying all
innocence. Nathan considered it; the man could very well be Isaiah Crane. He
didn’t want to believe it, but it was quite likely.
There was a soft noise of something shaking. From the overhead of the
dome, multiple black circular objects lowered down, projecting thousands of
images and clips. Screens flashed across the dome, countless stations
reporting the “great progress” colonists had been making, and word of the
shuttle getting ready to return to Earth. There were at least one hundred
different digitally enhanced pictures and videos of the colonists, which
seemed entirely realistic. The quality of the images nearly made it
authentically convincing. His eyes wandered around the place until he found
a picture he was in. It was a fake image of him plowing the soil, a wide grin
on his face. What a sham. The world was full of fraudulent information, and
people believed whatever was on the Internet. As ironic as it was, at least this
reassured him that things were going well back home, and that his family and
friends were all safe.
The screens flickered, and then disappeared, the circular objects rising
back into the overhead compartment.
“Well, that’s all the information you’re getting. I hope that helped.” The
fizzing noise ended. Nemiah yawned and stretched his legs out. “Would you
believe that? The world is so full of junk,” he said. “There is nothing you can
believe, no one you can believe, and to be frank, we can’t say any better.”
Nathan stood up, and crept around, surveying the area. They were near a food
reserve, and there was a construction site down the street. He heard a scream
nearby, his ears twitched. Turning his head to the right, he found a small
group of people being chased by a vicious Rava. Nathan exchanged glances
with Kara. She understood that he wanted to try and help them. He didn’t
want to stand there knowing that he could help. Kara flashed him an
accepting smile, saying, “Go ahead.”
Nathan looked at Emily. “I’ll be right back,” he said.
“Don’t overwork yourself.” Nemiah gave him a wide grin. “And don’t
worry about us, we’ll be fine.” Nathan grinned back, and sprinted in the
direction the Rava had left, with a sudden burst of motivation. He lifted his
legs up and down, puffing air out of his mouth into his nose. After a while, he
had caught up, and could see the Rava running ahead, but he couldn’t see the
people it had been chasing. From behind the corner, someone grabbed him
from the back and he almost let out a scream. He turned around in a split
second; it was the group of young people he had seen getting chased. They
were all a head shorter than him, but had fierce looks in their eyes. There
were four of them, two of them were guys, and the other two were girls. One
of the guys spoke in a soft voice, “We happened upon the Rava a while back
and he has been chasing after us ever since. We narrowly managed to slip
away—although thanks for trying to help us, anyway. We’re fine now.”
“Yup, we really appreciate it,” said a girl who was rapidly chewing gum.
“Well, we’ll be off now, thanks.” They quickly ran off, leaving him alone
in the street. He was slightly embarrassed. A hand on his shoulder had scared
the living wits out of him. He was stressed; he needed to calm down a little.
He could still see the Rava ahead and decided to follow him for a while.
The Rava endlessly ran through the streets, arriving at the research lab.
Nathan was a little hesitant to follow any further, and hid behind the wall of a
dorm. It didn’t make any sense—the Ravas only returned to the research lab
with bodies, never empty-handed. The Rava looked around, confirming that
the coast was clear. He pushed the button that was connected to the door.
There was a subtle creaking noise as the entrance slid open. The Rava walked
through and the door closed behind him. Nathan had followed the Rava for
no reason. He had to hurry back to the others. He turned back—it was getting
dark outside, and for an unknown reason he had a strange feeling that
something was going to happen.
CHAPTER 11
SANDSTORM
Fact: Dust storms are not limited to Earth; Mars has the largest dust
storms in the solar system. They can last for months and cover the entire
> planet.
The air outside the dome seemed to be building up, beating against the
strong barrier. Nathan had returned with an idea—they could help Emily
travel around faster by giving her something like a stilt, a board attached to
her calf for support that would keep her leg straight at the same time.
They looked around to find anything that they could strap around her leg
—something that was stiff, but not restricting.
Nemiah shot up with an idea: “We could use the Litracon edges of the
dorm roofs to make the stilt.” It seemed like a good idea.
Nemiah placed his hands in front, palms facing up, “Here, Nathan. I’ll
give you a boost.” Nathan placed his foot in the hold, and sprung up,
grabbing the roof by the tips of his fingers. He heaved his legs up, and rolled
over, lying flat on the flat roof. Closing his eyelids, he rested still for a
moment, and then he sat up straight. He activated his gloves, and punched a
small hole in the roof. Large chunks of material split apart from the
foundation. Gripping a chunk of the roof tightly, he ripped off a large stick of
Litracon. The piece was around the preferred size they needed for her leg.
The only thing they needed now was something that would hold the wooden
plank in place.
Nathan grabbed the edge of his shirt, and forcefully ripped off strips of
cloth. He held the cloth toward Emily, who took them in her hand and
reached for the piece of Litracon. Nemiah lifted the plank into the air, as if to
say, let me help, but she shook her head.
“No, it’s fine—I got it.” He didn’t bother arguing, and promptly handed it
to her. She softly rested the plank on her leg, avoiding contact with the
wound, and then stretched out the strips of cloth and pulled it over her leg,
holding the Litracon taut. It didn’t seem to hurt, but Emily didn’t look
convinced.
“Are you sure these straps will be enough—what if they tear?” Emily’s
face was worried. She eyed her leg peculiarly.
Nathan nodded. “I’m sure it should be fine,” he said. “The cloth is quite
elastic, and to the extents I’ve messed with my shirt in the past, it hasn’t
shown me any issues. Then again—” No longer looking too sure of him,
Nathan looked away.
There was a soft chuckle. It was Nemiah. “Try to stand up and walk with