The Darkness of the Stars

David breathed in. The air was stale, and humid, recycled oxygen and carbon dioxide for days on end. The air wasn’t fresh, the view was bleak, and the base was often claustrophobic.

But it was worth it. All the work, all the sacrifices and lives that were taken in preparation for the world’s end all lead up to this moment. And like a miracle, it worked. The sun was burning brighter than ever, the abrupt release of quantum neutrinos giving over four hundred percent more energy to their solar panels than before the calamity happened. Before the world ended.

David was interrupted by his thoughts as his comm rang in his visor. Lights and signals gently streamed across his vision as he subconsciously selected the voice channel.

“Palinski, do you copy?”

David slowed his rover. “Yes, I copy, Rae.”

“We have a slight problem. The water towers in sector nine aren’t responding. They went dark about thirty minutes ago.”

“We both know Sector nine has a few kinks in the system. Same thing happened last week. Just restart the system like normal.”

“I did, David.”

David paused. “Have you run a structural assessment?”

“We tried. The whole thing went dark. It’s not a maintenance problem. It might be something serious.”

“Well…I’m on my way back from sector twelve. I’ll give it a run over and send an assessment on my way. Copy?”

Rae sighed over the comm. “I copy, David. Just be careful, alright?”

David smiled and pushed the throttle on the rover. “Oh, missing me already?”

“You know it,” she replied sarcastically.

David grinned, then logged off the comm. Rae was a special person. Of course, she was the only person for a few hundred miles, but that wasn’t the quality that made her important. David loved her, and Rae loved him as well.

The scenery here was red for infinity. Red sky, red stones, red canyons. Any variety that could possibly sport some imagination showed itself in slightly darker or lighter red.

It was easy to get lost down here. Mars had its canyons and valleys and mountains, but everything looked the same, especially at a distance. Although it was better than going in the base and cleaning out the toilets.

He made it to sector nine, his rover beeping out and the gps showing the invisible lines between each sector. It only took a few moments before the water tower came into view, which pumped the water straight from Mars’s crust and brought it to the colonies on the other side of Mars.

But instead of standing straight up, the massive structure was laying on its side, broken in several pieces.

“Uhhh, Rae?” David opened a comm in his suit. “That problem you mentioned is definitely more serious than I anticipated. The tower isn’t offline. Its…shattered. Sending PDA now.”

Rae gasped. “Good lord…”

David got out of the Rover and walked over to the broken tower. It was shattered about halfway up, and the root of it was completely bent. Looking at it, large scratches marked the metal surface of the tower, and the small bots that cleaned its surface still gently cruised over it.

David got closer and looked at the control panel on the tower. “Rae, the control panel and cleaning bots are still functional. I’m going to see if I can look at the tower’s weather sensors and see what happened.”

David squinted and clicked the panel. It scanned his eyes with a single flash, and recognized him immediately. It turned on, a steady warning flashing on the screen.

A female, monotone voice gave a full report on the tower. “Control and heating systems, functional. Pumping system, damaged. Radial system, damaged. Weather prediction system, damaged. Radial connection system, damaged.” He took fifteen minutes going over the safety protocols and examining the damage.

He walked over to the tip of the tower and found a large satellite dish, broken on the ground.

“Rae,” David said, “the satellite dish was broken in the fall. That’s why you disconnected.”

David clicked another button on the panel, and a screen popped up, showing the weather patterns of the clouds directly above them. He scrolled past.

“There were no major wind or storm patterns within the last hour. And there aren’t any sort of lightning patterns on the side. What do you think?”

He waited for a reply. It didn’t come.

“Ray? Are you there? Ray, Copy!” David stood and ran back to the rover, nearly tripping as his foot caught on a piece of rubble. He got in the rover, and pushed the throttle, roaring his vehicle over the dunes and hills of Mars.

Now that he was thinking about it, Ray hadn’t copied to any of his comms since he made it to the tower. Anything could’ve happened. If she had medical conditions or family medical history, he would know about. But it could be possible that she is having a medical emergency.

But then there’s the aspect of living on Mars that makes this place so dangerous. The weather is unpredictable, and shards of molten metal sharper than diamonds can possibly breach the base’s hull. Or, the oxygen respirator could have shut down for some reason. Or there was an architectural mistake in the base. But whatever it is, David could only think of the worst. Ray always replied. ALWAYS.

He made it to the base, his rover automatically taking over and attaching itself to the base. David kept his EVA suit on, just in case. Nothing seemed wrong at first glance, the square base was covered with a thin layer of dust, but bots were cleaning it up. The windows were tinted, as always, but no obvious protrusions thus far. He entered the base.

And saw his girlfriend, lying on the ground. Her eyes were bulged, her body frozen, and her mouth was open, her final moments freezing into place, desperately gasping for oxygen.

David knelt, shocked. Tears slowly made their way down his cheek, and David felt his pocket, where a golden ring, forged from the rarest metal on mars, was placed in utter mockery. He was going to propose. He was going to marry this woman that he had lived with for months. 

David hugged her frozen body, still crying. Then he noticed the wound. A large portion of her leg was frozen bloody. And looking around, he noticed for the first time the massive claw marks surrounding the room. He felt vibrations through his feet, and looking to his right, he saw a black creature, staring with no eyes straight at him. Its growl reached his ears, through the floor, into his suit. It had been waiting for him. 

And when it attacked, David screamed.