An Alarming Holiday

My first foray into sci-fi adventure....

An Alarming Holiday

Monday was a holiday at office and it was raining heavily. That is what my TSR (Temporal Sleep Regulator) said. Although it is much more nowadays, sometimes I still call it my 'alarm clock'.

I waved my hand across it and it read my gesture to stop its ringing sound. Being a holiday, it had given me half an hour of extra sleep. I stretched myself and spoke out loud.
“Good morning everybody”

I was expecting a number of replies but was met with complete silence. That woke me up faster than the TSR. Something's wrong! 

Then I realized my earphones had fallen off. I quickly put them back on and was relieved to hear the familiar sound of radio static in my ears. I tuned them with soft touches to the right ear piece.  AD's voice greeted me.
“Wake up, sleepyhead!”
“Already am, buddy” I answered back into my collar mike.

I quickly put on my protective suit and checked the gauge for the oxygen levels outside. 
“Are they going to leave the oxygen blowers on the whole day today?” I asked AD on the mic. 
“Yeah, dude! Holidays are rare!”
“Awesome! Today is going to be legendary!” 

I carelessly flung the oxygen tube across my shoulders. Without putting on the oxygen mask, I pressed a switch beside my bed. A section of the front wall slid aside and I stepped out of my small oval chamber. I took a deep breath of air. Around me, people were coming out of their chambers without their oxygen masks too. We greeted each other over our mikes and I realized how fresh everybody felt today.

AD spotted me and waved. Soon, among the multitude, I could make out other friends of mine. Normally we would have moved toward the exit of our residential complex and trudged on our way to the office complex. But today was a holiday.

It’s not that I don’t like my office. I like my job of monitoring the temperatures, pressures and humidity levels of all the complexes. It is a very important job and the safety of nearly half the human population on this planet rests on my skills to fine tune the internal atmospheric conditions. But it is also a stressful job. A slight human error on my part could, in the worst case, cause a whole complex to explode! A holiday is much welcome once in a while. Today a substitute was doing my job while I spent a day cooling off. And I planned to spend the day at the activity complex.

The distance between our residential complex and the activity complex was hardly 500m. Along the way we also crossed the smaller complexes, each for different purposes. Farther off, I could see the personal residential complexes for the Governor of the Martian Colony and lower officials. But it took us much longer than usual to cross the distance because of the heavy acid rains. We covered ourselves fully with the protective suit to save ourselves from the rain as well as the naked radiation of the Sun. 

Farther off, I could see the personal residential complexes for the Governor of the Martian Colony and lower officials.

***

There had been a time when we had had no need for suits, masks and the domed complexes. That was when our race used to live on Earth, so long ago, that it was almost a myth. But it had been nearly 300 years since we had had to relocate to Mars. Earth was no longer able to support us. Our energy demands were escalating with the population and there was nothing we could do to reverse the effects of pollution and deforestation. All other species had already died out about 100 years before we had to move out. But the decision to relocate was not sudden. It took the loss of more than 80% of our entire population to persuade the remaining to finally use their technology for their own survival. They left behind their dying planet and built a new home here on Mars, the nearest rocky planet. 

Earth was no longer able to support us.

They built huge domed complexes within which they tried to recreate the same conditions as on Earth. And this time they were careful not to repeat their mistakes. Now all energy usage is recorded and regulated to avoid it from increasing. Population growth rate is so strictly controlled that for the last decade it has been almost zero. We have not been able to grow plants till now but artificial foods are serving us quite satisfactorily. We are the descendants of the survivors from the dead planet. We are living proof that humans can prevail in all conditions.

***

We entered the activity complex huffing from the short walk. After the customary antiseptic shower, we could remove our suits and masks and enjoy our time at the complex freely.

I was feeling hungry and so was AD. So we made a beeline for the Eatery. Breakfast was served from the automatic voice activated food dispensers. We gave our biometrics at one of the dispensers for our artificially created breakfast.

While eating the colored porridge-like stuff, we talked about what we could do next. I was all for jet-packing after seeing the number of people somersaulting in mid air over our heads. But AD wanted to watch the latest 4D movie. Just then a kid stumbled on our table while running over to the virtual playground on the other side. His parents ran behind him urging him to go slow. A group of teenagers from the next table rose and made their way noisily to the gaming zone. Some people were sitting relaxed on the benches in the virtual park.

We were still arguing when I felt the ground shake. At first I thought it was my imagination. But the shaking continued. AD felt it too. Soon the noise in the complex became hushed as everybody felt the shaking strengthen.

I knew what was happening. It was a Martian quake! Suddenly everybody started screaming and running around. AD and I tried to calm them down. The dome complex was designed to be able to withstand Martian quakes up to a Richter scale of 15. I was not at all worried about the dome’s structural stability. What I was worried about was my substitute at my place in the office. He was a young guy. He could be easily unnerved by such a quake, maybe enough to forget his training on how to manipulate the atmosphere so that it augments the dome’s strength.

Quickly I tuned my earphones to connect me to the substitute and shouted his name into the mike. But before he could reply, I heard an echoing sound that spread a chill to my heart. It was sound of the dome straining to hold itself while the quake increased in intensity. I looked up and around and could easily see the whole structure trembling. A nameless terror gripped me.

Just then the substitute’s voice filled my ears. He was literally screaming with panic and sounded on the verge of crying. My last fears were confirmed.

“I am sorry! I am so sorry! It was a mistake. I got scared and made a mistake in the settings. The pressure in all the complexes has dropped down. I didn’t mean it! It was just a difference of 0.02 atm! I am so sorry!

I didn’t say anything. I looked at AD and from his face, I knew that he had also heard what I had heard. The pressure is too low! The complex will not be able to stand this quake! The whole structure is going to implode upon us!

The warning sirens started ringing loudly and filled my ears. Around me, all I could see was all the people screaming, running and trying to get out of the complex at the same time. I looked up and I saw the spherical dome curving slowly inwards. The sirens continued to ring in my ears. Darkness spread around my eyes and I could see no more. All I could do was listen to the blasting sound of the sirens.

***

Trrrrriiinnng Trrrriiinnng Trrrriiinnng

I woke up with a frightened start. My alarm clock was ringing.

It took me few moments to realize that I had been dreaming. I was still on Earth!

Apparently I had fallen asleep, leaving all the lights and fans in my room switched on, the TV on, my laptop beside me with a Facebook chat window still blinking on it and the AC running. I silenced the alarm clock and looked at my phone. It was Monday and a holiday in office today. I pushed apart the window curtains slightly and saw that it was raining heavily. A happy smile spread on my face as I realized how rare such a day is. I yawned deeply, fluffed up my pillow and went back to sleep.

A happy smile spread on my face as I realized how rare such a day is.

-- Pune, August 31, 2011