Awakening

Chapter 3 - Alba Mons (2/2)

The Miner landed, scattering the red sand around the perimeter and creating a giant circle of freshly moved rocks, as Eelaya shut the engine and stopped the humming and the storm of red particles.

It was dark, slightly too dark for her taste, but she had to do it now. No need to delay the inevitable, and better do it while your back is watched rather than risk it all.

She waited until the light of the pressurization went red and opened to cockpit's air-lock. It was a two-step seal to prevent any damage done for the thing from the outside or in.

Dark red revealed itself from behind the round shaft of the air-lock as a slight gust of wind breached the cockpit, littering it with some red particles of sand.

She grabbed the railings outside the cockpit and after a moment of calibrating her body, she dropped the 3 meter elevation, not wanting to waste the remaining light outside.

The power-suit took most of the drop, making her feel only slight shock from the fall. Jumping from this height on Mars was like jumping from a meter on Origin--nothing challenging--but she always kept her suit powered and ready to absorb any shock. You can't ever know--she always said.

Eelaya was all too familiar with the monument. Stowing so many deposits here over the years. Inspecting its dish and the different shapes.

She glared at the Mars lander. The piece of history one day men cheered for, probably crying from excitement when this little white piece of equipment promised them advancement, prosperity and knowledge.

It was a relic from a time long past--when humanity still resided on Origin. When Origin was called Earth and every human-being had his own flag to salute to each morning.

Now though. So many years after the two great wars when mankind destroyed the beloved Earth and crafted Origin singlehandedly. So many years after inhabiting most of our solar system with marvels of technology and grit of men and women.

So many years passed and we now salute greed, she thought.

Eelaya stepped closer to the lander and reached the dish. She usually took her time here--making sure not to look suspicious when in fact she was intrigued by the thing. Cleaning it with her suit, she uncovered the symbol.

Red stripes with a blue square and many white dots inside of it, enclosed in a rectangular shape. It was a fragment of what humanity represented in ancient times. It was the flag of a great nation once populated Earth, though she never uncovered its name. It had no significance today. All of this was long gone. No nations. No Earth.

She crouched. Touching the sand with her hand and toying with it, creating circular patterns.

Five years.

The voice of Ameer resonated in her head as she remembered his scruffy face telling her not to do it--not to risk it. But he didn't know. He didn't know what it was like being chased by other miners at the Dome, afraid for your life or for your dignity. He was a man. He was a Martian. Things that she was not. She needed it. She needed the protection of the gang. The protection Cron promised her so many years ago.

Determined, Eelaya extracted an almost transparent crystal from her chest-pocket and inspected it.

Red rocks, she cursed in the Martian way, I have to do it. I have to survive this. Just five more years and that's all.

The slightly glowing particle inside the crystal was its essence. The reason Arbium was so precious to this corporation. The reason this corporation was even called after its name. Arbium-The fuel of the future.

Tapping an invisible code-box, she masterfully entered her personal code in the ground and the sand sank. The center of her scribbles on it served as a wormhole which swallowed the particles around it and revealed a hidden compartment right under the lander.

She focused. Silencing all her thoughts and locking herself in a meditative state. She released her tension and her worries, trying to concentrate on her breathing and then on nothing.

Nothing.

Opening her eyes she let the magical crystal roll from her gloved open palm and into its graveyard.

The sand quickly spat from the inside of the compartment, partially sealing the spot where she stowed it and she completed the job, rubbing and leveling the sand surrounded it.

130 more deposits like this, she thought.

She stood, slowly straightening her posture and facing the lander again. The lander--her sole masquerade of the crime she committed once a week. The game she played to make sure she was safe for the rest of her life in here.

Eelaya was cleaning the lander, carefully wiping all the sand accumulated on its sharp surfaces and making sure she doesn't damage it as she did. It was an historical symbol. An idea of people long lost to the power of tomorrow. A memento of what humanity could achieve if it worked as a collective. She always felt it was her duty to preserve it as best she could--the team leader she replaced made sure she understood it.

"You done cleaning the lander?" she heard Cron's rugged voice over the communication channel.

"Yeah. I'm done." She said.

"Good. Better have the thing spotless before inspection."

"It will be."

"Roger that."

"Come on, gal," Ameer's voice cut in. "We wanna eat."

She heard his disappointment, his fear. Even though he didn't say it out-loud, he didn't approve what she did.

She figured out after some time who she was working for--some pirates collected the crystals during the nights without anyone noticing, probably selling the thing on DarkNet to gain more credits to their names. Cron told her that much. He was part of a gang inside the Dome which worked with them to receive payments in equipment. She knew what it meant. Every miner heard about the rebels and what they planned to do. They were the reason the security was brutal at the Dome.

Eelaya didn't really care for them--not the rebels and not the guards. If the rebels wouldn't kill some guards in a protest for brutality or mishandling other Martians, the guards wouldn't start using lethal force against them. Prisoners. Slaves. Guards. They were all the same. We are all the same. All stuck on this red rock, waiting for our time to leave it to be stuck in another place. 

Life.

Having paid the last look at the lander, she averted her gaze towards the base, which stood not far from her. The sun already dropped below the horizon, leaving the lighting of the base and the monument's poles the only reason for her vision. All the electricity powered by the damned crystals she mined with the crew.

It struck her. Not suddenly, but steadily. Growing slowly and crawling up her stomach, spreading to her limbs and touching all her nerves. The coldness. The sixth-sense. She knew what it meant. She always did. The distant lights of two shuttles approaching the perimeter of the base reassured her of the feeling. They came not a moment after the coldness. As always. And right on time.

Inspection.