Flash Fiction Friday: "Flashes of Inspiration" No. 14

#14 "Four Little Words"

Entry 24082020: We are nearing Mars at last! The Red Planet--soon to be covered in greens and blues just like its cousin. Who would have thought that the boy who dreamed of making the world a better place would grow up to be part of the group in charge of outright making a New World?

The chime sounded, and the middle-aged scientist looked up from his journal.

"Standby," the voice on the intercom announced. "We're locking into orbit; T-minus 5 minutes to landing team departure. All landing team members report to the nodule launch bay."

Dr. Thorpe fell in with a group of uniformed astronauts as they filed through the airlock in front of the massive exploration nodule, the vehicle that would actually carry them to the surface of the Red Planet. They all strapped on their padded suits and checked comms, ensuring that everything was ready before they effectively separated from the rest of the shuttle and its crew.

"Standby for launch," Captain Avery's voice came over the in-suit comm's earpiece. The young scientist strapped in tightly, and felt the hum of the thrusters as the airlock sealed and the nodule commenced its automated departure.

The ship quaked like a pressurized soda can as they broke the atmosphere, but everything settled as the nodule completed the landing sequence.

Captain Avery paused to issue some last-minute orders before they disembarked.

"Remember," he glanced around at each of the eight team members, "we are here to verify the areas that Dr. Thorpe designated on the map, based on the soil samples our probe took. He's here with us to make sure that our preparations were not in vain. If he says that a spot is no longer viable, it is no longer viable. Do not lay down the markers unless Dr. Thorpe has given the go-ahead. On my signal, we will activate the radio transmitters all at once, and then we'll have a very small window in which to return to the shuttle, so I don't want anyone to wander off and miss the window! Once your marker is planted, head back to the nodule, and I'll do a quick head count before we arm the markers. Are we clear?"

The team murmured their assent.

The captain grinned and pulled the handle to release the door. "All right," he said. "Let's go see Mars!"

Dr. Thorpe followed the captain out of the nodule and stared around in awe. Mars! He was actually standing on the place that would become the first planet beyond earth to be terraformed to the point of inhabitability!

"Doc!" Captain Avery's voice jolted him from his musings. "Let's get these markers settled!"

Dr. Thorpe sighed and made his way to each pair of astronauts, first testing the soil at that point with a probe, then giving the go-ahead to some, and shifting the position of others. Once the locations had been established, it was a tedious, careful process of setting down the markers without disturbing the area around them. These markers would transmit the radio signals for the seeding mechanisms designed to alter the atmospheric conditions in those specific points, as well as spread certain plant spores and seeds to begin the process of terraforming Mars. They needed to be exact, or the whole project would fail.

After affirming the last location, Dr. Thorpe's part of the process was done, but he wasn't quite ready to leave the surface of the planet just yet. With a quick wave at the captain to let him know he was leaving the area, Thorpe set off over the barren, desert-like terrain. It was strange to see the sun from this angle, and through this atmosphere. He tried to imagine what it would look like once all the elements were in proper balance, once the soil could produce vegetation, once the colonization began, once the—
Dr. Thorpe stopped suddenly. A large pile of boulders had concealed and opening from view, and now that he’d almost walked past it, he saw.
Something square and silvery resting against one of the boulders caught his eye.
Dr. Thorpe knelt beside it and prodded it with a gloved finger. It bore a striking resemblance to the apparatus built into the front of his space suit, but what was it doing way out here?
A gust of Martian wind whistled through the stones, and something clack-clack-clacked its way among the shadows.
The thing, a shiny thing, skittered over the dusty ground and came to rest at Dr. Thorpe’s feet. He bent down to pick it up.

He had seen it often enough during this trip among the stars to recognize it immediately: the inner pouch of a single-serve, ready-to-eat meal.
Thorpe’s heart rate elevated, every beat amplified in the round, plastic helmet he wore. Carefully, slowly, he edged further into the cave. As the dark closed around him, his eyes adjusted and he saw more trash: the remains of the food packets, a space blanket, a helmet, shattered into many small pieces... Finally, at the end of it all, Dr. Thorpe found a human skeleton, with only small shreds of clothing and organ tissue remaining.
Dr. Thorpe recoiled with a loud cry, and would have quit the cave in that moment, when he saw, on the wall, four small words that looked like they were written in a big hurry.

“IL MOSTRO RIMANE ANCORA”

Italian? It had to be! But what was an Italian message doing on Mars? What did the message mean? Was his name Rimane Ancora? What did “mostro” mean?

Dr. Thorpe puzzled over it all the way back to the ship. Captain Avery saw him and waved.
“Hey, doc!” The message came clearly over the intercom receiver built into his suit. “There you are; I was just about to send someone to look for you. There’s a storm coming in, and we have to get these targets lit up for the seeder deployment. Head back to the nodule and get strapped in, okay?”
Thorpe gave a salute and climbed back into the mobile unit that would take them back to the shuttle. While waiting, he accessed the onboard computer and entered the search terms, “Italian astronaut Mars”

The result came in a moment. "TRAGIC EXPLOSION KILLS MARS EXPLORATION CREW," the headline screamed. Three years ago, there had been only one other crew to successfully survey Mars from orbit, but, Thorpe read, the final stage of their re-entry didn't uncouple correctly, and the whole bit exploded in Earth's atmosphere. An attempt at recovering any kind of personal effects or confirming just how much of the bodies remained resulted in dismal failure. The scientist stared at the picture of the crew, taken just before their departure nearly a month before. 

Seated in the very front was a young man with distinct Mediterranean features. His name was Matteo Guiseppe. He was listed as dying in the explosion, but in this awful moment only Thorpe knew: Matteo had never even made it off Mars. How had his captain let that happen? Keenly aware of the dread settling in his stomach, he entered “translate italian il mostro rimane ancora.” Perhaps Matteo's last message would give some insight into his death.

Down on the surface, Captain Avery raised his arm, preparing to give the signal that would mean they had a few more minutes to get off the planet, or they would be caught in the storm.

“WAAIT!” Dr. Thorpe’s frantic screech exploded in his ear, overlaid with lots of static as the incoming storm interfered with the connectivity.
Captain Avery held his position. “Dr. Thorpe? Is that you?”
“Out wa... king... fou...bod... Talian assssssshhh.... messsshhhhhh... wall...”
“Dr. Thorpe,” Avery turned back toward the nodule, watching the small figure waving frantically at him, “I can’t hear you! Speak clearly!”
“Il mosssshh riman.... cora...” Came the reply.
“What? Speak English, doc!”
“MONSTER!” Finally, Avery could hear him, but it still didn’t make sense. “THE MONSTER STILL ABIDES! HE WAS WARNING US!”
“Dr. Thorpe, what are you talking about? Who warned us?”
“IT’S NO STORM! LOOK!”
Avery automatically turned toward the horizon in the direction of the predicted storm. The billowing, cloudy shape was so tall and so solid that it let no light through. They needed to activate the radioactive chemical that would make the target areas glow.
“Get ready, team!” he hollered, as the roar of the storm intensified.
“... It’s no storm...” the doctor had said.
Avery looked again and squinted.
A massive, alien form materialized out of the fog, a nightmarish behemoth with gigantic, scaly wings.

Their time on Mars was up. The Monster had arrived.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>

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