Atlas Arising Read online

  Chapter Two : The Red Colony

  T hough Atlas frequented the Mars base regularly, the strange alien landscape never failed to mesmerize him. There, in the midst of a vast, barren landscape, a white compound stood, tarnished rusty red from the harsh winds that littered the planet and brought martian sand into the air, staining every surface. The majority of the Red Colony was located approximately 72.4 km from the great Olympus Mons Volcano and the many, interlocking structures were reinforced with carbon steel and a thin layer of regolith. The building was long and winding, each of it’s tube-like corridors joining at a large, domed structure at its center, which was enclosed by thick, curved windows.

  The ship’s radio crackled to life, “Pilot, you are nearing the Red Colony. Please report to your nearest docking bay and distribute your cargo accordingly.” A tinny voice declared. Axel was looking ahead of them, eyebrows raised.

  “Is it always like this?”

  Atlas nodded. The hangar bay was choked with ships and it was impossible to tell which faction they each belonged to. Atlas angled the Landho, following the long row of vessels travelling in the same direction.

  The hangar was a wide, curved chamber, long and capable of housing hundreds of small ships and trading vessels. An atmospheric barrier circumvented the interior of the bay, and covered the whole of the settlement from the harsh martian wind and toxic environment.

  “Once we get in, I’ll pick up whatever it is and we can get in, and get out.” Atlas said. “And,” he continued, “you can head back to Earth, right?”

  “Wrong,” was the short reply.

  “Look, Sarge,” Atlas entreated, and then paused. Positioned high on a lift in the hangar bay, was the spitting image of his mother’s delicate features, complete with his father’s dark hair. She wore a dark jacket emblazoned with the Red Colony’s insignia and held a tab in her hands, checking off each ship as they passed through the bay. It had been months since Atlas had laid eyes on his little sister. She had been stationed at the colony for over a year and a half now, splitting her time between sorting merchandise for “the cause” and taking stock of the many vessels that transitioned through the docking bay.

  As the ship neared the dock, Sergeant Santana sat up in his seat, looking around in suspicion

  “It’s all good, Sarge.” Atlas reached out a hand and clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t think anyone here wants to hold me for ransom.”

  Axel scoffed, “Half of these pilots have to be working for the Shadow Regime.”

  “Which implies that the other half are Alliance, and therefore, on our side.”

  Axel ignored him, “Do not leave my sight.”

  “You got it Sarge,” Atlas saluted, planning on leaving his sight as soon as their ship was cleared.

  Their ship grew closer to the lift and Atlas watched recognition dawn over his sister’s face. The ship’s comm crackled and her familiar voice came through, shrill with excitement.

  “Johnny?!”

  “How you been little sister?”

  Grace Atlas was nothing like their father. She had inherited his dark hair and green eyes, but the callous nature and short temper were entirely absent. Grace was quick to forgive the ones lucky enough to be loved by her, and she might’ve been the only person within the solar system that Atlas really, truly loved without restraint.

  “Hang on-” Grace replied quickly. Atlas watched her fiddling with her tab, “Okay you’re cleared, come on through!”

  Atlas turned the Landho into the parking annex. Lines of ships sat, awaiting their pilots and traders.

  The ship’s entrance let out a sharp hiss of air as the doors opened and he and the sergeant exited. There was the sound of running footsteps and then Atlas was engulfed in a tight embrace.

  “Sarge- help,” Atlas cried, choking dramatically as of starved for air.

  “Not my department,” Axel replied, unbothered. At the sound of his voice, Grace extracted herself from her brother and stared over his shoulder in surprise.

  “Axel?”

  “You know each other?” Atlas cut in before he could answer. Grace twirled the end of her braided hair between her fingers distractedly.

  “We met at dad’s retro Christmas banquet last year,” Grace said. “You know he loves all of those old, Terran traditions.”

  “Right,” Atlas replied slowly, unconvinced. Grace was still staring at the sergeant and Atlas could’ve sworn the tips of his ears had gone pink.

  “Let’s get inside before the others realize I’ve left,” Grace said conspiratorially. The sergeant let out a small puff of laughter and they followed her into the aerodrome. The wide, metallic structure resembled the Earth airports of the past, spacious and airy. However, there were no windows and Atlas always hated how strangely confined it felt to stand in one of the many long lines, waiting for his flight pass to be cleared. He was glad when Grace led them through the automatic doors and into the atrium with it’s wide, lofty view of the Martian night sky. Out of the corner of his eye, the sergeant shifted a hand to the weapon on his hip, wary of the travelers milling around, holding various items.

  “So,” Grace turned to them as she began to speak, walking backwards. “Atlas has been here before, but you,” she said, pointing at the sergeant, “it’s your first visit, right?”

  “Right,” he replied shortly, nodding at her. It was a long walk to the main desk where Grace could check them in without the wait, and Atlas felt sure that his sister would fill the time with as much backstory as she could.

  “This structure was the first to be constructed on Mars and it served as home base for the development crews and scientific party that originally began the Red Colony. Those first few years were laden with dangers. Those rooms down that hallway,” she pointed off to the right and both men turned to look at the dim corridor, “were used as makeshift research labs before the actual ones could be completed.”

  Atlas had heard this story many instances throughout the years. The scientific party had been researching a strange phenomenon deep within the Valles Marineris; a change in atmospheric pressure that could only be detected from inside the canyons themselves. They had, supposedly, discovered bizarre caverns beneath and sought to investigate. Something went wrong with the mission and two of the head scientists were killed, caught below a cave-in.

  “Anyway,” Atlas brought his attention back to his sister as she concluded with her story. “The whole thing brought safety protocols into question and the Alliance commissioned a larger facility and strict safety codes, both of which you’ll witness here today.”

  “Are you a tour guide now too?” Atlas questioned dubiously. Grace shrugged, rolling her eyes at him good-naturedly.

  “Some of us actually enjoy history,” she turned back around and continued walking, though Atlas could hear the amusement in her voice. “But yes actually, I am a tour guide here when the occasion calls for it.”

  “How did you obtain this position?” Atlas was surprised to hear Axel’s voice and Grace too, froze for a moment, before she continued through the thin crowd of people. They were almost to the check-in and Atlas regretted not grabbing his rucksack from the ship. He would have to walk all the way back to the hangar bay for his payment chip if he wanted to have a place to stay for the night. Grace spoke again.

  “I was interning at the Alliance headquarters for my father for a couple of years,” she said. “I was only sent the Mars a year and a half ago. The unrest on Earth was growing closer to home and our father,” Grace glanced at Atlas then, like he knew what it was like to have their father care about what happened to him (he didn’t), “worried that I would be caught in the middle of a war.”

  “The Shadow Regime is growing stronger,” the sergeant nodded. They had reached the main desk and Grace exchanged a few words with the secretary before tapping the screen on her tab and turned back to them.

  “You have access to the labs and supporting structures,” Grace said, pressing two thin key cards int
o Atlas’ hand. He passed one over to the sergeant.

  “It was good to see you, Grace.” Atlas replied truthfully. Grace threw her arms around him for the second time that day. She pulled away after a moment and her features were soft.

  “I missed you, Johnny. Don’t leave without saying goodbye, okay?”

  “I won’t,” Atlas promised.

  As much as he resented his father, he could never feel anything but fondness for his sister who had gotten everything he had been denied. Grace shadowed him when they were children, tagging along on all of his little adventures, and he knew she still looked up to him, though he wasn’t sure he’d given her much to aspire to.

  Grace turned to leave, headed back to the hangar. Axel watched her go, looking strangely wistful.

  “What’s that about?” Atlas said, motioning for the other man to follow him as he walked. The science division’s substantial laboratories were a ten minute walk from the atrium, down a long corridor that attached the two structures, and passed the crew quarters. Atlas dragged his fingers over the waxy leaves of a potted plant as they reached the corridor’s entry.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Axel replied, pointedly avoiding the look Atlas was directing his way.

  “Oh yeah, Sarge?”

  “Yes,” Sergeant Santana replied shortly, hovering his keycard over the slot to open the hallway door. It opened with a whir and as the sergeant tried to walk through, Atlas stepped in front of him and the door closed again behind them. The corridor was dimly lit, the rows of lights on either side of the ceiling glowed softly and Atlas moved out of the way as a thin scientist in a bright white lab coat brushed by them and headed through the atrium.

  “It’s okay if you have a crush on my sister-” Atlas stopped talking abruptly as Sergeant Santana grabbed him by the upper arms and moved him out of the way like a bag of bothersome potatoes. “Hey wait-!” Atlas cried, sputtering. “That was embarrassing and I”m going to pretend like it didn’t happen.” He nodded to himself.

  “We have a job to do.” Axel stalked doggedly ahead, ignoring Atlas’ chatter.

  “I have a job to do, you just have to follow me around,” Atlas said. The sergeant ignored him. “You don’t even know where you’re going!”

  Axel slowed only to point a finger at the signs on the wall that proclaimed they had arrived at the crew quarters. The scientists and other employees of the Red Colony resided within the small dwellings when they weren’t working. They passed the commissary and the narrow rec room. A couple of workers dressed in overalls bearing the colony symbol left from the rec room and Atlas caught sight of a chess set and a vintage, refurbished pool table, as well as a synth-food generator and a hologram screen.

  “How do you know where we’re going?” Axel asked.

  “There was a name at the end of the assignment- Dr. Alan Lee,” Atlas shrugged. “He was the head scientist the last time I checked, so I just assumed this is where we should be headed.”

  “I don’t have clearance to enter the labs.”

  Atlas paused in the hallway. Axel held up his key card, which listed him as level 2 clearance. Atlas’ own card gave him access to the entire colony, which was strange.

  “Well,” Atlas said, perplexed. “I still need my payment chip and my rucksack from the ship.”

  The sergeant looked conflicted, hand on his stun gun. “Maybe I should-”

  “I think I can handle things for the maximum twenty minutes it’ll take us to reunite, Sarge” Atlas replied, resisting the urge to laugh. The sergeant’s face was pinched but he nodded.

  “If anything happens, locate a comm and radio the ship or the front desk, I’ll find you.”

  “Yes sir,” Atlas saluted, already turning to walk away. He heard Axel’s footsteps grow farther down the corridor. Atlas reached the labs and with a wave, scanned his key card and stepped through.

  Chapter Three : Science Division

  A s a child, John Atlas had always dreamed of becoming a scientist. His IQ ranked high, and on Earth, his early educators had been hopeful of his abilities. His father, however, pushed and pushed until Atlas was no longer the bright child deeply interested in the darkening world and the many possibilities. He drew further from the life he had planned and became someone his father wouldn’t recognize as his own, if he ever had.

  “Hello?” Atlas called into the empty research laboratory. Tall freezers lined the wall closest to the door. Microscope stations and display monitors covered the far wall, flickering images and flashing equations flitted across the screens. Atlas made his way through the room and then through another door that housed what looked like offices and another, smaller lab. Someone moved inside the lab and Atlas swiped his card.

  “Dr. Alan Lee…?”

  The scientist in the white lab coat turned around, moving away from the granular soil permeameter blocking Atlas’ view and after a moment, Atlas caught sight of a face. It was a woman, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, displaying fine features and bright hazel eyes. She snorted, raising an eyebrow as she pulled off her gloves.

  “Do I look like Dr. Alan Lee?”

  Atlas looked her up and down, feigning consideration. “Hard to say, haven’t met him yet.”

  “Dr. Lee’s office is just down the hall, third door on your right.” She said nonchalantly, brushing him off.

  “I didn’t catch your name,” Atlas said, directing his most charming smile at her, the one that made Earth bartenders swoon. She barely glanced back at him.

  “I didn’t throw it.”

  Atlas grabbed at his chest dramatically, “Ouch.” A small smile quirked up the side of her plump lips that he could see but before he could add anything else, a deep voice interrupted their conversation.

  “What’s this about?”

  A tall, thin man stood in the doorway, holding a handful of empty beakers and a tab. His pale hair was sparse on top of his head and he wore glasses that slid down slowly from his long nose as he looked down at Atlas.

  “Helene?” The tall man questioned, looking at the other scientist.

  Helene? Atlas mouthed, looking triumphant. Helene wrinkled her nose at him and then her face smoothed as she addressed the man.

  “This guy is looking for you, Dr. Lee.”

  “You’re Dr. Alan Lee?” Atlas asked. The man nodded, sitting the beakers down on the long metallic table in the center of the room. He swiped a finger over his tab and squinted at the screen.

  “You must be Atlas, John? You arrived sooner than I expected, the samples aren’t quite ready yet. It will be another day, I’m afraid.”

  “A whole day?!” Atlas exclaimed, as Helene said “You’re the son of William Atlas?”

  Atlas looked away from the doctor, “Unfortunately,” he said, cringing at her. “John William Atlas, at your service. Call me Atlas,” he bowed, extending a hand for her to shake.

  “Dr. Helene Riley,” she said, ignoring the hand and looking unimpressed with him again.

  “Will you be able to collect the samples in the morning, or not?” Dr. Lee asked, growing impatient.

  “Don’t know anything about samples, doc, but I’ll be here in the morning.” Atlas nodded.

  “Wonderful,” Dr. Lee started collecting equipment from the table. “Dr. Riley?”

  Helene gave him a nod and followed him as he left, giving Atlas one last look before disappearing through the door.

  Atlas returned to the atrium to find Sergeant Santana standing awkwardly in the middle of the foyer, holding the rucksack and another, larger bag slung over his shoulder.

  “Clothes,” he said shortly when Atlas approached, glancing at the unfamiliar bag.

  “We need to find somewhere to stay for the night, the pickup isn’t ready yet.” He said and then remembered something, “do you know anything about samples?”

  “Samples?”

  “Yeah like soil samples, I’m assuming?” Atlas said. He had been travelling to Mars for years and the only m
aterials he’d ever transported were small pieces of equipment, such as drills and microscopes, and crates of deactivated stun guns for recycling. It was strange that a transport pilot had been tasked with something so unlikely.

  “I don’t know anything about samples, but we have a room for the night.”

  “Wait, what?” Atlas replied in confusion. “How did you know the transport would be delayed? I just found out myself.”

  “I didn’t. Some scientist was waiting at the front desk when I walked back in, arranging accommodations for J, Atlas and company.”

  “Pretty? Blonde? Maybe a little self-righteous?”

  “Sure,” Axel replied, unconcerned. He hefted the bag higher up over his shoulder and Atlas took his rucksack back and slung it over his back.

  After Atlas checked in at the front desk, he and the sergeant made their way to the aerolift. The aerolifts were an updated version of the multi-elevators on Lunar Base One, capable of quicker voice command and ease of travel throughout the Red Colony’s structures. Their quarters were on the floor just below the one they were walking and they passed dozens of people walking back and forth from the atrium. He spotted Grace walking in the opposite direction and she waved as she passed.

  “Can’t talk now, but come down to the lounge tonight at around 20:00!” She exclaimed hurriedly. “You too, Axel!”

  Again, the sergeant’s face went red, and Atlas snorted.

  “I’ll find out one way or the other, you know that right?” He said, narrowing his gaze at the sergeant. “Friends don’t keep secrets, Sarge.”

  Axel looked to him then, disbelieving. “A few hours ago, you were willing to leave me on the moon.”

  “Ah but that’s all in the past, my good man,” Atlas clapped him on the shoulder. “I prefer to live in the now, and now I want you to tell me what happened with my sister.”

  They were at the aerolift and as they stepped inside, Atlas said their room number out loud. The movement beneath their feet was barely distinguishable inside the blue-lit aerolift.

  “It’s not-” the sergeant paused, struggling with himself. “I know what you think but- I don’t-”