“Circa 2218 anno Domini…
The Armageddon has occurred… The Earth has been destroyed… Luckily, only a few years back, MARS had been discovered habitable for mankind… To ensure the survival of life, a few days before the Armageddon, a select few people from Earth were moved to MARS… This select few consist of an equal mix of males-females, literates-illiterates, young-old, Hesperian-Oriental etc… Along with them, go an equal mix of living / non-living things considered vital in human eco-system…
I am one of that select few!!”
The rucksack at my back, the sunglasses on my eyes, adjusted for a bigger sun in this world, and a mask for oxygen, I looked more like a Hitchhiker on a trail of the galaxy; remember “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”. To my amazement there was a bus service taking the immigrants from Blue to the place considered home on this not so conducive planet. I took the bus and was in a flash of a second at the entrance of a huge building resembling the white house with a huge wooden door.
As the doors opened, I found the first trace of activity going on inside. It was much like a small township being developed indoors. I strolled towards the reception looking at the ceiling, which was quiet a simulation of the sky on Blue. The receptionist was a pretty lady with blonde hair. She asked me my passport to Red. After some clicks, she handed over an envelope and a key and directed me towards the escalators. Inside the envelope, I found currency notes of crimson color. I reached my room #1130 and with the key in, an automated voice asked me for my name. I pronounced my name loud enough for the entire floor to hear and the doors flanged open. Inside, the room was the size of a regular studio apartment in DC. It had all the means for a human to survive on Red.
With the money stuffed into my pockets, and all the necessary amenities into my rucksack; I locked the room and set out to look for a means to move around. I found a small car that uses the ever abundant solar energy with a good amount of oxygen, enough for a person to survive for 90 days and two for 45 days. I bought the car and was in a jiff to leave the place, but my eyes landed on a small shop selling pets. It was a good idea to have a pet and bought a cute little squirrel to jump inside the pocket of my jacket.
I took out the car on the barren roads of Red and stepped onto the accelerator. I thought it to be much similar to the drives I had through the deserts of Blue, but the sudden burst of gas just next to the path I took made me realize that this is not going to be a cakewalk for me. I stuck my eyes to the path ahead and drove on. There was a trail left by someone else, good to know that there was another crazy immigrated to Red. I diverted from my chosen path to follow the trail and concentrated on the path ahead, looking around for something that would attract my attention.
I finally found it. It was a garden inside a glass house. I parked the car near the door to the glass house and stepped inside. The place was amazingly kept. It was filled up with all the beautiful plants and shrubs and even trees from Blue. I heard someone call out, “Didn’t you read the board outside?” He was an old man; heavy glasses resting on his nose, wrinkles round his eyes and hair all gray. I said, “Sorry?” “It says trespassers not allowed. So just get out of this place.” I didn’t understand, after all it was only a garden. “You dumb struck or what? Now don’t wait till I call the security.” the old man furious. With a note of apology I came out but didn’t want to leave. Out of curiosity, I started walking along the periphery of the glass house. It was quiet big for a garden. I was appreciating the collection of the flora inside, which suddenly started turning weird. The plants I could see now were different. They were moving, sanguine in color and scary to look at, resembling predators of all those fictionla movies I had seen. Didn’t know, which category to put them under, flora or fauna?
Now, I was all the more interested in finding out what the hell was going on. I was so engrossed that I didn’t see the grotesque shadow like figure next to me. It was of a security guard of some sort. As I was about to say something, he punched an injection into my upper arm. Everything blacked out.
When I woke up, I saw myself in a small cell with nothing but a small peep hole. My belongings were taken away and so were my keys of the car. I was baffled. Trying to calm my heart rate down, I gave reasons to myself like, this, probably, is a nightmare. But it was not, it was worse than that. I was devoid of all the senses of time and direction, felt like a lost soul in the huge huge universe. I heard a squeak, and the squirrel jumped out of the pocket. I got an idea. It was my only chance. I sent out the squirrel through the peep hole hoping for it to return with something I could use for. There was a sound of some sort of babble outside and the door flanged open. The two security guards were fighting with each other. They shot each other. I ran out, picked up the squirrel and started carefully down the corridor. I was passing by a closed door, when I heard something about the Armageddon. It was a familiar voice. With a little pressure on my brains, I realized, it was the voice of the president of the “Project Red”.
The voice was remorseful; for they had caused the destruction of Blue. As the fact dawned to me that the Armageddon was human triggered, a conspiracy of the governments; a thunderous sound made me almost deaf. Everyone started pouring out of all the doors and kept running, ignoring the intruder inside. I too, followed the steps. Once outside, I could see the fireworks in the sky. Blue was in huge flames, Moon was cracking apart; the war of good and evil had begun. Another shrill, and to the horror of all supposedly safe humans on Red, a huge chunk of moon flying across the sky, was descending right on the spot. Panic struck, people were running from death, which was inevitable.
