Mist

Glorious White Dirt

Fire envelopes the room. "Get down!" a scientist screams as the reaction lets loose another blast of fire and fury. The heat flows past me as the table shielding me melts. I squinch my body, trying to adjust to my shrinking cover.

"Why didn't we anticipate this?" the female scientist says, using me as a cover. The shrieking sound of the rock subsides and the air cools. A clicking sound plays quietly from a machine that detects radiation.

"That was a radioactive explosion," a male scientist says. "We need to leave and do more tests."

The girl gets up and takes my hand. "Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yes, but I haven't been that scared since I was in the military," she replies.

I chuckle as she helps me up. "I never saw anything like that. I was on a battleship the whole time," I say as I brush soot from my coat.

We make our way to the showers. "Were you in space?" the male says as he turns the faucet on.

"No, in water. It was a cold war of some sorts. I've never been in battle." I say as the water sprays onto me. The scientists gasp.

The male scientist says, "Seriously, you've never gotten to experience the rush of adrenaline in batt-"

The female interrupts, "Like when we destroyed those imperialistic Empirics!" She makes a six with her hands and high fives the male. I force a laugh and get out of the shower.

"Hey Nobis, want to grab a drink before we leave this planet," the male says. He gets a large smirk on his face. "It's better for us to go out with a bang before the planet goes out with a bang." I shake my head. The two in the shower make a pouty face as I turn around.

I'm so happy to leave Mist. I look out the window and see the two colors of Mist, grey and white. "Nobis!" I hear an angry voice yell to me. I turn to see my manager walking down the hallway. I fix my hair. "When are you leaving?" She says.

"Oh, we just need a few more tests done on the core rock. Then I can leave and forget this colorless planet." I say.

"Ah, Mist is not that bad. It's the universalist that ruined it, the lady of Mist who is the god of this planet." She laughs weakly. "Good thing we're going to send this planet to hell, along with the universalists." She pats me on the back and walks off. I take a moment to breathe. A lot has happened in the last few minutes, more like the last few months.

I go into my office. A purple flower rest in a pot. I touch its petal and it bounces in the gravity. I open a drawer, pull out some headphones, and place them my ears. Music from the stars of stars starts to play a rhythmic beat as I tap the desk slightly.

A message pops up on my computer screen, saying something like, "The Warrior council thanks you for your find. Your pay will be generous. Keep up the good work for the great Warrior Human council."

A different message appears on the screen. "Unity is here to forgive you of your sins." I blink. It remains there as other messages come in.

"We are millionaires!" my friend says at my doorway. I close out of the message.

"Yes, I guess we are. Onus, where are you going after Mist explodes?" I say.

"Oh, I'm going to some unnamed planet with mountainous. It has color, so it's better than this," She says. "Where are you going, Nobis?"

"I want to go home to see my family, but I was called to go to a desert-like planet. We got our work cut out for us. We have so many planets that we're blowing them up." I say as I take out my headphones.

"Yeah, I know right, but like the job says, we're doing this for humanity. Would you like to go to the museum one last time?" She says.

I look out onto Mist. The Mist marshes of white puddles and random waterfalls, white trees, white grass, white sky. "I would love to go the museum again."