Day One: The Discovery

The sound of the alarm clock startled Lester from his peaceful dream. To most that would be a rude awakening that would nag at them for hours, but not Lester. Whistling as he stepped into the sound shower, he had a great feeling about today.

With the forecast for today calling for light showers on the lower west side, he decided to take a walk before the meeting this afternoon. Lester stepped out of the front door whistling to himself again. He looked up to see the beautiful red tinted sky just as the meteor blasted through his forehead, killing him instantly. Seconds later every monitor in his house blared to life for the Emergency Broadcast System announcing meteorites in lower east side of the Mars community.

An hour later after the all clear was given several small cleaning robots made their way to the front porch to clean the mess up. Sensing the blood, the first little robot automatically dialed the Martians.

The private security members had been here longer than any of the other scientists. Unlike everyone else that came to the planet they didn’t cycle out every few months. They were sent here to train at a young age and lived the rest of their lives here. They were the only true residents of Mars, hence the nickname “Martians”.

Three of them pulled up in the jeep already seeing the cause of death. There were no weapons out here. This was a true science community trying to set up a livable place for those who could afford to get away from the dying Earth. If the giant hole in Lester’s head didn’t give it away then the brownish looking rock that the cleaning robot was holding definitely did. Hern reached into the jeep and called for the morbid mobile as Sev grabbed the body bag out of the back. Piht, the youngest of the three, helped Sev place Lester in the bag. He was hoping there would be something interesting.

This was Piht’s first time out of the training hall and he wanted it to be special. It had been ten years since he arrived, since his family bartered him so that they could have a future place away from Earth. He started training as soon as he was handed over at the age of four. Now, at the age of fifteen, he finally got to go outside and see Mars. He wasn’t impressed. He picked up the meteorite and threw it as far as he could. He would have been amazed at the weight of the small rock had he not seen the mess it had made when it landed.

Hern walked up and smacked the hell out of Piht’s head “Go get that ya dumbass! This is a science community; don’t you think they might wanna look at the damn thing?” The young boy trotted off after the meteorite pissed. Not at Hern, but at himself for not realizing something so simple. Picking up the rock, he noticed a foul smell coming from it. He threw it in the container on his belt and ran back just trying to get away from the smell. Hern and Sev had the body inside the morbid mobile and were sitting in the jeep waiting when he returned. Sev looked up to him “Okay, now go shut down the house and meet us back at the pit.” Piht’s eyes got wide and he almost said something. He still had a year to go before he could speak in the field. Unless there was an emergency, the Caddies weren't allowed to speak at all outside of their dorms for a full year after they’re regent training began.

He walked through the front door and over to the Nuem. The main control pad in every building was located next to the first monitor you came to, with the exception of the Pit and the Face. There were numerous Nuem pads in both buildings. He swiped his PerChip and punched in the code, ceasing all power in the home with the exception of the cleaners. He walked back outside and started the five mile hike back, cursing in his head the whole way.

Piht finally arrived back at the Pit starving. Swiping his PerChip to open the door he stepped inside. Before he could even relax the container on his belt exploded, sending a horrible smell throughout the main hall. Alarms started blasting, ViroBarriers starting slamming down, and HepaVents started roaring sucking the cloud of fumes into a Haze Casket. Thirty seconds after the ordeal the alarms stopped and the barriers lifted. Thirty second after the ordeal and Piht lay dead, the small meteor gone.