Rabbit Hole on Mars - Day 25 (Nov 25) 1073 words

Chapter 25

Scott opened Opportunity's eyes.

Everyone was at the Rover Control Room. Brian sipped coffee and talked to Agent Kantpis and Just Joe. Donna brought up satellite imagery from the night before. Patty was delivering the last of the high school group photos to Brian's office.

Scott looked around the Martian landscape. Panning left he was a bit startled. Frankie stood right next to Opportunity, just out of sight.

Bluetooth connection requested. Confirmed.

There was a pause before the voice began to speak.

“I can't tell you what to think or how to feel,” Don said, “All I can tell you is, it's time to go.”

Scott froze. He froze as if Don was right there in the room with him. The devil there to deliver him to hell. Scott didn't know what to say or do. He looked over at Donna. She read the expression on his face.

Donna cleared her throat to get everyone's attention.

“Come on,” Don said, “Let's go. I'll walk you to the entrance of the labyrinth.”

Sadness isn't a good enough word to explain how everyone felt in the room. No one knew exactly how to respond or if there was anyway to escape. Helpless. Helpless is worse than sadness. At least in sadness, there's a way to find strength to fight back. Even Agent Kantpis and Just Joe from the NSA felt it.

“Listen, you've made great advances in space exploration,” Don said, “People are proud of you, but time has caught up. I'm here now. There isn't room for both of us. I'm what real freedom looks like.”

Silence.

Don felt their silent emotions pouring through the speaker, “You can say something if you like.”

Brian walked up to the main screen looking directly at Frankie's rabbit cake pan face. His voice shook as he spoke, “This is the only life I know. I've never given so much of my life to anything else but this. We belong on Mars too.” It was obvious how much of an emotional toll this was all taking on Brian.

“I know, Brian,” Don said and then paused, “I've got a penny for your thoughts. Let's go.”

Brian stormed out of the room.

Scott looked around at everyone else and whispered, “What do we do?”

Don leaned in to his microphone, “Scott, I'm going to tell you what you're going to do. You're going to come with me of your own free will. The alternative is that I drag you. I have a lot of respect for you, so I'd prefer you join me on our last walk together.”

Brian entered the bathroom, walked up to the first sink. He looked at himself in the mirror and began to punch it. Over and over. The mirror cracked over and over, but refused to shatter. So he punched harder. Once he finished beating the mirror, he moved on to the next one. And the next one.

Opportunity traveled like an old pet along side Frankie the Rabbit Rover. Headed to the vet to be put down. Scott pushed the controls as everyone else watched in horror.

Brian reappeared in the doorway, hands bloodied, wrapped in toilet paper, “What are you doing?”

“I don't know, Brian!” Scott yelled, “I don't know, but I don't have any other options.”

Frankie stopped on the hilltop and waited for Opportunity to catch up. They both stared at the Labyrinth down below. It was massive and appeared to go on forever. The other problem with the labyrinth was that it was beautiful. The pathway called to be walked on. The large circle in the center begged for visitors. If it wasn't such a mental guillotine, everyone in the Rover Control Room would have been more than happy to go.

Opportunity looked from the labyrinth over to Frankie who looked back at it.

“You can hate me later, right now I want you to appreciate this work of art.”

Frankie began to roll down the hill.

Scott took one last look at the labyrinth from a distance. His hands shook. His hands on earth shook as he prepared to head down the hill and experience his final moments on Mars. There was a craving for loneliness on Mars again. To not see anyone for miles and miles.

A flash of light shot through the sky on the other side of the labyrinth.

“What was that?” Brian asked the room.

Donna pulled up the last minute of footage from Opportunity on a side screen. It was clearly a flash of light. The same kind they saw right before Frankie appeared.

“Scott,” Brian yelled as he gestured to cut the Bluetooth connection with his bloodied hand across his throat.

Scott cut the connection, “What was that?”

Kantpis spoke up, “I'm not sure, Frankie caught onto the light. Let's play it cool and go down to the labyrinth.”

“Sounds good to me,” Brian said, “Donna let's get some images of what new problem we are about to deal with on our way to the chopping block.”

Bluetooth connection requested.

Donna put images on Screen 2, “It appears we have a parachute, some kind of opened capsule and some tracks on the surface.”

Brian put his bandaged hand to his forehead, “Tracks, tracks to what? Which way is it headed?”

“Direction is towards us,” Donna said, “And it appears to be another rover. Let me zoom in a bit and...it looks exactly like Frankie.”

“Great, now we have another rover to deal with.”

“Maybe this one's going to be friendly,” Scott said.

“Maybe we can get it to destroy, Frankie before Frankie destroys us,” Just Joe said.

Bluetooth connection requested.

Brian tried to think of the next best move at the moment, “Reconnect, and play it cool.”

Bluetooth connection made.

File transfer requested. Accepted.

Don had sent over one last song for the Rover Control Room to listen too, Ben Howard's song 'To Be Alone.'

They all sat in the room watching Opportunity follow behind Frankie to the labyrinth as the song played. Then the lyrics began which felt like a punch to the gut of each person in the Rover Control Room.

I don't need nobody

Oh I don't need nobody

Oh I don't need nobody

To be alone...