The Last Martian

Chapter One

This is Randor; standard date March sixth 2304. I’m still alive, I think, although most of the time I wish I wasn’t. Or maybe I’m not, and this is my own private hell.

People always say they’re lonely, but no one knows loneliness like I do.

I’m the last Martian.

***

I doubt anyone will ever hear this, but I’m recording it anyway, as much as I remember, just in case. People need to know what happened here.

It all started when I found Beldon on the floor—

No, I suppose it started earlier than that. It started the way most days do, with breakfast.

***

I cleared my throat and tried to keep calm. I just don’t see why you have to work so much.

Hayley glanced up at me from her congealed pile of reheated vegetables. Other people milled through the cafeteria but they stayed well clear of us; none of them wanted to get too close to Hayley and Randor having another fight.

Their conversations created a low buzz that echoed off the thick, glass windows that covered one wall. I glared out onto the red Martian landscape and wished that things were different. Was it too much to ask that my wife at least listen to me?

It’s called a work ethic, Hayley said. You should try it sometime.

That bitch—my hand clenched around my fork and my knuckles turned white. You spend more time in that bloody lab than you do with me.

Considering you should be working in the same lab, that’s hardly my fault. If you spent more time working and less time on those lists, we wouldn’t have this problem.

My heart jerked and my fingers clenched around the paper in my other hand. It crackled as it crumpled and hid my scratched writing. Item 1: talk to Hayley.

Not only do you kill animals, you’ve got to kill trees too.

It was an empty jibe; trees hadn’t been used for paper in over a century, but that didn’t stop rage curdling in my stomach. And the animals—how else was medical research supposed to go forward?

Hayley scraped the last of her vegetables from her plate and reached under the table. She came back up with a German Shepherd puppy that she placed on her lap and fed a string of bacon.

Did you have to bring him here? My words burned my throat, and it took every bit of restraint I had not to reach over and shove the dog to the floor.

People at nearby tables watched us out of the corners of their eyes; I could feel their gazes like hot pin-pricks on my neck.

Sykes gets lonely in the lab.

Sykes? You can’t name it!

Hayley scratched the animal’s ears, and it nuzzled her hand. He’s going to be around for a while. I’m not going to spend the whole time calling him Subject One.

Pain throbbed behind my eyeballs. Why was she being so difficult? I’d had such good intentions for our breakfast. We’d sit down and finally talk about the strain that had settled over our relationship like a rubber band waiting to snap then we’d go back to how we used to be. Can’t we just talk like a normal couple?

Not right now; I’m running laser propulsion experiments.

You’re always running goddamn laser propulsion experiments.

Hayley looked up from Subject One and her eyes shone like angry stars. Sorry that I care about my research. Do you know what it would mean for space travel if I made this technology work? We could get to Alpha Centauri in a single generation!

"It’s ridiculous! You’re so busy chasing science fiction that you never stop to consider reality; you know, me."

Just because you can’t get excited about growing beans doesn’t mean you can insult my work. Hayley set Subject One on the seat beside her and stood.

Don’t you dare leave now, I said. My hands shook so much that I had to drop the fork onto my plate.

I’ve got work to do.

If you go now, don’t bother coming home.

I can’t believe—

What is that thing doing here? Beldon, chief of security, said. He loomed over me with two of his goons and jutted his chin at Subject One.

We were just leaving, Hayley said.

I don’t know what goes on with you science geeks, but some of us don’t appreciate having lab animals where we eat.

She said she was going, I said. Rage, like acid, burned my stomach and left a sour taste in my mouth. Why had I told Hayley not to come home? But I couldn’t take it back now, especially not with Beldon standing right there. Besides, she should apologize, it was her choice to run off to work rather than talk to me.

This is the second time I’ve warned you about that thing, Beldon said. Do you have a hearing problem?

Hayley rolled her eyes, scooped Subject One up in her arms, and tried to step past Beldon.

He pushed her back. I asked you a question.

Get out of the way.

Beldon folded his arms across his chest. You nerds are all the same. Think you’re so clever that you don’t have to follow the rules like everyone else.

Next to Beldon, anyone would look smart. I think that’s why he hated me and Hayley so much; he might call us nerds as an insult, but he knew as well as everyone that the days of the jock were over and the age of the nerd had come.

Move, Hayley said.

Subject One growled low in his throat.

Beldon stepped back, even though he could have held the dog in one hand. I’ll be telling Captain Miller to put that thing down. It’s stupid to have it in the station, anyway.

Don’t be ridiculous; the Captain would never do it, Hayley said. Sykes is an important part of research into bone density modifications and—

Whoa! Beldon said. Your mouth is moving but I don’t give one shit about what you’re saying.

The clouds of rage inside my head parted and through them I saw Beldon. I erupted out of my seat and stood beside Hayley. She told you to move.

Do you see what my uniform says? Beldon pointed to the crossed-gun emblem on his chest. Security. That means I’m in charge of keeping everyone else on this planet safe, and that includes from infectious lab animals that shouldn’t be in the mess hall.

I agreed with Beldon, but that didn’t make me hate his fat smirk any less. I kept my trembling fists at my sides. She said she’s leaving. It won’t happen again.

Like hell, Hayley said. He’s not infected, and he’s a puppy. He needs attention, and if his physiology—

Shut up! Beldon said. That’s enough! I told you not to bring that thing here again, and you ignored me. I will report this infraction to Captain Miller with a recommendation for solitary incarceration.

Don’t be a dick, Beldon, I said.

Excuse me?

I clung to my temper like a drowning man to a life-raft. As if my talk with Hayley wasn’t bad enough, now Beldon had to come over and be his usual asshole self. Just let her go, I said through clenched teeth.

Oh, because the bitch doesn’t need to follow rules?

My right fist slammed into Beldon’s jaw and knocked him sideways onto the next table. Plates and food crashed to the ground and silence filled the room.

Everyone drew away from me and pressed their backs against the wall or slipped out into the hallway.

Beldon pushed himself up off the buckled table and wiped mashed potato off his blue shirt. Blood trickled out of the side of his mouth and coated his chin. You’ll pay for that, Randor.

I blinked, I’d punched him without thinking, but now—

Hayley wrenched on my sleeve Why did you do that?

He called you a—

Yes, I heard.

Beldon cracked his knuckles.

I— I floundered. There had to be a way out; if I explained…

Hayley tossed my arm back. You thought you’d put your big mouth and your even bigger ego in the way?

Heat crept up my neck and across my cheeks. This was Beldon’s fault. If he hadn’t turned up then I would have finished my conversation with Hayley and everything would have been fine.

Beldon looked ready to hit me but he didn’t. You’ve earned yourself a day in lock-up at least.

You started it! I said. You insulted—

Please, Beldon said. Resist arrest.

Just do what they say, Hayley said. I will not have my pay docked because you couldn’t hold your temper again!

Better listen to her, Beldon said. He nodded to his two security guards, and they snatched my wrists and twisted.

I tensed and would have tried to throw them off, but the venom in Hayley’s eyes made me stop. She never took my side. I’d only been trying to stand up for her.

I guess I won’t be seeing you in the lab, or at home, she said. And before you come back, I suggest you have a serious think about what you’re doing with your life. She shoved past Beldon with Subject One clasped to her chest.

Beldon smirked. Trouble in paradise?

I clenched my jaw. Beldon wanted me to react so he could slap an even bigger punishment on me, but I refused to give him the satisfaction. Take me to the bloody cell.

The security guards jostled me out of the mess hall and into the corridor. I glared at the floor, couldn’t bring myself to meet the eyes of anyone we passed. I knew what they were thinking: there’s Randor getting carted off by security again. His poor wife; I don’t know what she sees in him. My throat closed. They were probably right.

That bloody dog, Sykes—Subject One—had started this. He was my dog anyway. I was the biologist and in charge of the laboratory animals, but as soon as Subject One arrived, Hayley hadn’t been able to hold back.

As an astrophysicist she rarely got to play with animals, but she should have known better. It was bad enough that she got upset every time I had to kill the rats, now she’d named the dog? She knew I’d have to kill it; what would she do then?

In you go. Beldon shoved me hard on the back and I stumbled into a tiny metal cell, only four paces wide in any direction.

The door slammed shut.

Yeah, screw you, I said.

I slumped onto the thin, steel bench that served as a bed and scowled at the wall. If I were lucky, they’d let me piss at least once in the next twenty-four hours, but the last time they’d waited until my bladder just about burst.

Chapter Two

I woke to sweat trickling into my eyes. It glued my hair to my forehead and my shirt to my back.

I’d been curled up on the metal bench for hours and when I straightened, pain shot up my spine. I sat and rolled my neck; it cracked twice.

I slammed my fist against the steel door. The dull thud echoed around my cell but nothing sounded from the other side.

Will you bastards let me out? There’s something wrong with the vents, I’m dying here.

I tugged on my shirt but the stifling air lay over me like a thick blanket.

They'd turned off the ventilation on purpose, just to watch me suffer.

I wiped my sleeve across my forehead and stared at the floor.

Hayley. She would kill me. She’d warned me last time that if I got locked up again…

My gut twisted. Why had I told her not to come home? What was I thinking?

I wasn’t—that was the problem. I never could think with Hayley around; she made me crazy.

She was so much smarter and always left me feeling stupid even if she didn’t mean to. Sometimes we had conversations and I’d have to sneak off afterward to look up half the words she’d said.

I didn't understand her research either, even though she’d tried to explain it a dozen times. I bet she could do my research in her sleep.

My train of thought brought more rage, and I hurled my shoulder against the door. I need to piss!

I glared at the camera in the corner of the room. A small, red light on its side blinked and reflected off the fire-alarm beside it.

Beldon was watching, probably laughing his ass off.

I pressed my nose against the Plexiglass window set into the door which gave me a thin view of the corridor outside, but there was no one there.

Beep. Beep.

The life-sensor on my wrist vibrated.

I frowned at it. Oxygen: eighteen percent.

That didn’t make any sense because they keep the whole station at twenty-one percent; the bloody thing must be broken again. They don’t make things like they used to.

My vision rippled, and I stumbled against the door. What—

The oxygen sensor wasn’t broken.

I looked up at the vent. If I didn’t get fresh air soon, I’d risk passing out and there was no way I’d give Beldon the satisfaction.

You guys are breaking about a dozen station rules.

Nothing happened, leaving me in a stagnant pool of my own sweat and a disappearing supply of oxygen.

Do you know how much paperwork you'll have to do if I die in here?!

I took a deep breath and tried not to panic. They were just seeing how low they could get it before I passed out. I’d make them pay for that; it was a breach bordering on attempted murder and Captain Miller wouldn’t stand for it.

I slumped onto the metal bench and squinted at the oxygen reading at my wrist. It faded in and out of focus and dropped to seventeen percent.

A wave of dizziness washed over me and I had to lean my hand against the nearest wall to stay upright.

They had to turn the air back on soon. Even if I didn’t pass out it might do me damage. I might not be as clever as Hayley, but I was a scientist; they wouldn’t risk doing damage to me, would they?

Sixteen percent.

I tugged my collar away from my neck and looked to the door. The small square of corridor outside the window stayed empty.

I had two choices; wait here or try to break out.

If I decided to wait for the bastards to let me out then I had to conserve my air supply, but there was no telling how long they’d take, and what would happen if Beldon decided to create an ‘accident’? Even Beldon wasn't capable of that… but my spinning head made it hard to be sure of anything. I couldn't leave my life in the hands of someone like him.

I swallowed, mouth dry, and considered my other option. I had to break out of the cell on my own before the oxygen levels got too low and I passed out.

I emptied my pockets onto the bench beside me to assess my resources. Belt, shoes, clothes, lighter, pen, two rubber bands, and my crumpled list of ‘things to do’. It wasn’t much to get me through a solid metal door.

I licked the salty sweat from my top lip and tried the door handle, on the off chance that the bastards had left it open just to see how long I took to work it out.

It didn’t budge.

My life-sensor vibrated and beeped.

Fifteen percent.

Bloody hell. I had three more percent at most before things got very bad.

Smooth walls surrounded me and the vent was too small to fit my arm through, let alone anything else.

I waved at the camera and pointed at my life-sensor, but if anyone was watching, they didn’t do anything. Bastards.

I pulled off my boot, hefted it in my right hand, and hurled it at the window. It ricocheted off and landed on the floor with a dull thud.

The glass didn’t even have the decency to crack.

I tried a second time but my boot fell short and my head spun. I staggered against the wall and gasped for breath. Stars danced across my vision and my legs wobbled so I dropped to the metal bench.

Beep. Fourteen percent.

Beldon had gone too far this time. I would see him in front of the habitation board for this, maybe even deported to Earth.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to calm my racing heart. Anger would only make me lose oxygen faster; I had to focus on staying conscious.