The Colony

by Rishi Sriram

  hope remained, he still believed that they had a chance. From both sides,

  Ravas aimed their guns at him, arms extended. He activated his gloves, he

  didn’t have time to defend himself, and he couldn’t move out of the way; so

  his only option was to deflect the bullets. He crouched and covered the barrel

  of the weapons with his gloves, just in time to repel the bullets

  They didn’t have the energy to fight the Ravas head-on, so they had to

  fight strategically. On the right-hand armrest of every seat, there was a small

  button that if clicked, projected a screen in front of the passenger.

  Nemiah looked like he had an idea, and he screamed aloud, “Everyone

  click the display button on the seats!” The colonists ran through the shuttle,

  stopping at a random seat and pushing the associated button. In the course of

  thirty seconds, countless screens lit up, gradually filling the entire section

  with flurries of light. In utter confusion, the Ravas slashed at the screens, and

  to their surprise, their hands phased entirely through.

  This distracted them, yet it only made them angrier as they continued to

  slash at the light. The two, Nathan and Kara, grasped this diversion to their

  advantage, attacking the two nearest Ravas. That only left one other to fend

  off, and Emily was the only one up to the job. Pulling her hand back, she

  flung two of her knives. One missed the Rava’s head by a quarter-inch and

  the other was planted into the ground.

  The other two weren’t having as much luck, either. Nathan was trying to

  inject the antidote, but neither would stay still. The Ravas wriggled around

  trying to fight both the colonists, and the screens. Alas, the Rava still

  managed to gain the upper hand, kicking its left foot and knocking the

  syringe out of his hand. Nathan promptly dove after it, barely catching it with

  his fingertips.

  The colonists were amazed at his quick reflexes; the Rava, however,

  didn’t care. It grabbed Nathan and slammed him against the wall with a loud

  bang. Body trembling in pain, he didn’t get up in time. Kicking him between

  the aisles, Nathan hit his head against the back of a seat, blood seeping out.

  Nathan’s head was going blank, and in a blur he could see the Rava

  coming after him. The little energy he had was leaving him, struggling to get

  back on his feet. Reaching out, he clutched the handle of a seat, and pulled

  himself up in pain. He could barely move.

  In an attempt to land a hit on the Rava, he stuck his hand out, clenching

  his fist. His fist was immediately caught and twisted sideways. Screaming in

  pain, he dropped to the ground, thrashing around.

  Kara looked around in disarray, and flew at the nearest enemy with a

  kick. Without even directing his attention toward her, the Rava seized her leg

  midair, shook her back and forth, and then flung her into a row of seats a

  short distance away. Nathan couldn’t see straight, and was heavily bleeding

  out. Emily limped behind them, flinging a knife at the Rava beating down at

  them. The knife bounced off its back like plastic and fell to the ground.

  Irritated, the Rava pushed her back and she fell on her injured leg, the stilt

  cracking a little.

  Emily sniveled in pain.

  Amongst all of this, Nemiah couldn’t do anything. Apart from the

  children, he was the only one who couldn’t fight, although that didn’t render

  him useless. He had an idea. Eyes burning up, he ran in their direction and

  slid on the floor. He picked up the antidote and grabbed the Rava’s foot,

  jabbing at it with the needle. It almost worked. The antidote was again kicked

  out of his hand, and Nemiah was quickly thrown into the wall.

  In less than five minutes, Nathan, Kara, Nemiah, and Emily had been

  defeated. The colonists couldn’t just stand there; they felt obliged to do

  something. One after the other, a group of adult colonists ran after the Ravas

  in an attempt to take them down. Though in due time, they were easily and

  brutally defeated. They didn’t stop trying; their determination was

  unwavering, no matter how low their odds were.

  Nathan couldn’t bear to see the colonists in pain, especially after knowing

  that he could have done something. He groaned in pain and slowly came to

  his feet, screaming as his limbs ached.

  Nathan limped after the Ravas and used what remained of his strength to

  throw a punch; but it didn’t land. Nathan was in return punched in the jaw,

  instantly knocked unconscious. His mind was completely blank, not a

  thought in his mind. He couldn’t move any part of his body either,

  completely helpless. His senses had left his soul. He couldn’t hear the

  screams. He couldn’t feel the pain, he couldn’t smell the blood, and he

  couldn’t taste the bitterness of the blood on his lips. It was as if his mind and

  soul had been extracted, and all that was left of him was his body, spiraling

  off into a deep slumber.

  CHAPTER 13

  HOPE

  Fact: Unlike on Earth, sunsets on Mars are blue.

  Nathan’s senses slowly returned. At first there was a high-pitched trill

  that rattled his ears, but it soon dissipated. His sight began to de-blur,

  the fuzziness melting away. He could feel the tingling pain again. The dry

  blood was bitter on his lips, the taste numbing his tongue. The smell of blood

  was thick in the air, invading their air passages. He observed his area: there

  were numerous seatbelts strapped around his body, restricting his movement.

  Instinctively he turned to look at his palms; the gloves were no longer there.

  They had been taken off while he was unconscious. He clicked his tongue.

  Without his gloves, the chances of him standing against the enemy had

  slimmed even further.

  Then he remembered about the other colonists. He turned around

  frantically. The colonists were all seated, starting a few rows away from him,

  although he couldn’t quite spot any of his friends. The other colonists were in

  their seats, none of them budging even a little. Many of them were bashed up

  and seemed in immediate need of medical attention, but there was no chance

  of that happening. There was a familiar voice on the speaker: the mastermind

  himself.

  “Those of you that opposed us, which seems to be all of you, here is a

  message. In a few minutes, the Ravas will take you all out of the shuttle and

  kill you. Why not immediately? Consider it a final wish being granted. As

  well as the fact that I enjoy seeing your pitiful hopes rising, to only get

  crushed in the end. I’m allowing you a few minutes to see the faces of your

  close ones before they die alongside you. I promise you, there’s no escaping

  this time. The lot of you has proven to be a serious pain. That doesn’t matter

  anymore, now that everyone on this shuttle including the seven delinquents

  will be killed at the place it all started. I would end it here but I’d rather not

  dirty the shuttle. After all…it does have to be reused in the future. And as

  soon as all of you are killed, I’ll still be on schedule, and the shuttle will

  return to Minneapolis to board the next group of scapegoats.”

  Nathan wasn’t even li
stening to him anymore, the outcome was expected.

  He didn’t have the energy to think anyway, there was no adrenaline in his

  veins. His body wouldn’t move, no matter how hard he tried. The other

  colonists were like robots, blank expressions on their faces. Whatever hope

  that they contained had been ripped to shreds in front of their eyes—it didn’t

  get more demoralizing than that. They were all simply awaiting their deaths;

  the thoughts of their lives back home had left their minds. No one could save

  them. It was over. What was the point of them signing up for the expedition

  in the first place?

  Nathan stared out the window. He remembered looking at the sky as a

  child, wondering what was beyond his world until his father bought him a

  planet-viewing telescope for his eighth birthday. Till that point, Nathan didn’t

  even know there were larger things beyond their planet’s atmosphere. After

  that, he could see the sparkling stars in the sky, the shimmering moon

  orbiting their world, and the sun, their source of life, the reason they were

  even alive. The telescope allowed him to see things he didn’t even imagine

  existed. It opened his mind to new ideas, new thoughts, it became a topic that

  he was interested in. Science started to intrigue him. He fell in love with all

  of the laws of nature, theories of the universe, ridiculous conspiracies; he

  knew them all. His classmates ran to him with questions more than they did

  their teachers, and he always answered them happily.

  Things had been great in his life until his father’s cafe had been

  destroyed. That was the one thing that really broke him down. It drove his

  focus towards other things in his life and made him want to leave the

  destruction and darkness of Earth for a more hopeful future on another planet.

  The event had really scarred him, changing the way he thought about a lot of

  things. It was another reason he hated The Chancellor, for ripping apart that

  piece of his childhood, that piece of his personality; of something he loved.

  However, looking out at the sky and the red planet’s surface, his passion

  slowly returned. Memories of his childhood emerged from the darkness in his

  heart, and he felt a twinkle in his soul. A smile grew on his face; he longed to

  return to his home, for everything to be back the way it used to be. From

  before the second Pangea, before his father’s cafe had been destroyed, and

  even before the ruthless beast Chancellor came into power. He wanted things

  to go back to the times of his innocent childhood, thirsty for knowledge, and

  quite outgoing. The times when he was safe, life was peaceful, and more

  importantly than anything, he was with his family.

  There was no going back to all of that, at least not without escaping the

  literal shackles he was tied to. He swiveled his head around to see if there

  were any Ravas around, and to his surprise there were none. He started to

  worry about his friends, it made sense that they would have been kept far

  away from one other, but he wanted to make sure that they were safe. All of

  his efforts to squirm out of the seatbelts were useless; they only seemed to get

  tighter. His arms burned, it was all in vain.

  Nathan’s heart thumped faster, frustrated. It was hard for him to accept

  that there was always someone smarter, always someone stronger, always

  someone better. That didn’t mean he was going to give up either. It only

  meant that he had to strive to be even more. Having persistence was vital.

  Tightening his muscles, he pulled his arms up, trying to pull them over the

  belts. Nothing changed, he couldn’t move at all. Whoever had strapped him

  into the seat had done a great job—they could have been a sailor for all he

  knew. The seatbelts kept him in place, there was no getting out.

  The shuttle doors opened with a familiar noise, their time was over.

  Nathan didn’t even know where his friends were, and he couldn’t help but

  worry. It was time. From a short distance away, a Rava made its way toward

  him, and ripped off the seatbelts. The Rava picked him up, and heaved him

  out of the shuttle. Nathan fell to the floor, dust and sand collecting in his face.

  In an orderly fashion, the remaining colonists exited the shuttle, awaiting

  their verdict. There were only a little over a hundred of them left, everyone

  else was dead. On the other side there were only three Ravas, but armed.

  The colonists’ faces were covered in blood, tears welling up in their eyes,

  not daring to roll down their cheeks. It was hard for Nathan to watch, he

  couldn’t just stand there. He moved quickly at the Rava nearest to him, and

  kicked it in the shin. The Rava caught his foot and planted its foot into his

  chest.

  The other two Ravas moved past them, guns in their hands, prepared to

  attack. Nathan had to act immediately. They had to strategize, and quickly.

  If only he still had the antidote, that would have been his best bet;

  however, he had no idea where it was. From his memory, there wasn’t much

  of the liquid left, either, only enough for maybe three injections. But that was

  more than enough, he just had to find it, and find it quick.

  Nemiah emerged from the crowd and understood Nathan’s thoughts,

  pulling out a syringe from his pocket. It was the antidote. He handed it to

  Nathan. “I picked it up on the shuttle, and kept it with me even after they

  attacked me. Hope you can figure something out.”

  Nathan thanked him quickly, and darted toward the nearest Rava, who

  was already firing his gun at the frontlines. Soon Nathan was a few feet

  behind his target. This was the moment, he couldn’t afford any hesitation.

  There was no time to think. He pushed through the people between them, and

  came down on the Rava’s right leg with the needle. The Rava let out a

  scream, dropping to the floor.

  The scream alerted the other Rava near him, who began charging in his

  direction. Without any tension, Nathan moved toward the Rava as well,

  hiding behind the colonists around him. Once he was close by, he pulled out

  the syringe and flung it at the Rava’s stomach, implanting itself in the Rava’s

  body. Nathan rushed towards the Rava, squeezed some of the antidote, and

  then pulled the needle out—that only left one more, and everything should

  have been over. His estimate was on point; there was only enough antidote

  fluid for one more person, which should have been the remaining opposition,

  who was now running at him.

  Nathan had to think carefully, each and every one of his next moves

  mattered. The Rava threw aside the people in his way, fuming with anger. As

  soon as the Rava’s eyes rested on Nathan, it loaded its weapon and shot at

  Nathan’s head. The weapon charged up and the bullet flew out, Nathan

  immediately rolled to the side, carefully avoiding the attack. His sides ached,

  he might have had the willpower to take them down, but his body surely

  wasn’t cooperating.

  The Rava bounced up and kicked him in the stomach. Nathan flew back

  but he was undaunted, he wasn’t going to let one kick ruin everything. Not

  with just one Rava left, not like that. He stood up and started his

&n
bsp; counterattack. Bending his knees, he moved as if he was going to leap at the

  Rava, and in return, predicting the move, his enemy jumped in the air. That

  was a mistake, Nathan wasn’t going to jump, and he slid under the Rava

  shoving the needle directly into the thigh of the Rava, and then he let out the

  remaining drops of the antidote. With a loud screech the Rava dropped to the

  floor, color slowly returning to its face. Nathan’s body was fatigued from the

  past battles, and yet, in the heat of the moment he was able to singlehandedly

  take down the Ravas quickly.

  There was just barely a little fluid left inside the syringe, not enough for

  one more use, but enough to reproduce for future usage. He shoved it in his

  pockets and heaved a sigh of relief, the fight was over. The Ravas had all

  returned normal. One of the Rava’s who had returned to normal stood up; and

  a metallic device glinted on its arm. No one had ever noticed it before. The

  device was attached to the right arm of the Rava, and it was vibrating. It was

  a tracker and it was receiving a signal. Signals were transported both ways, so

  that meant that if they could reroute the signal, they could trace where it was

  coming from.

  They should have been able to investigate the device. The device was

  attached around the Rava’s arm like a rubber band, and the tracker was

  inconspicuous, it was no wonder they hadn’t noticed it before. The once-

  Rava who had the tracker on his arm noticed everyone eyeing the weird piece

  of metal on him, and effortlessly pulled it off.

  He handed it to Nathan, “I have no idea what that is, but if you want it,

  then take it. I have no idea what just happened. I need some time to myself.”

  Nathan nodded, and looked over the device. Nemiah walked over, and

  Nathan tossed the tracker to him. Nemiah grabbed it and turned it around,

  saying, “I think I can reroute the signal, just give me a few minutes.” He

  pulled out the pencil from his hair and tapped the eraser side twice. The

  pencil glowed and slowly split apart, projecting a screen forward. After what

  they had been through, at this point no one was surprised. The other colonists

  waited around for Nemiah to finish, somewhat joyous. Celebrating so soon

  hadn’t quite worked well for them the previous time. If the mastermind was