by M. R. Holman
he entered the research facility in which he was staying. Someone greeted him, an academic colleague, but he ignored them and walked straight to the elevator.
Dr. Marblight entered his room and locked the door behind him. Upon retrieving a full bottle of whiskey from his suitcase, he approached the window. He ripped down the bedsheets that he had affixed over the window the night before. There would be no meditating for him tonight.
He took a long draught from his bottle and looked out of the window. He could see red dust blowing in the wind, far beyond the distant edges of the terraform dome they were beneath. He extracted the paper he had been given by the test administrators. It read: Dr. William Marblight - 66% on New Colony Scale - Unacceptable - Earthbound.
He slid open the window he was sitting beside and raised it as high as it would go. He ripped the paper to bits and tossed the remains out into the air, leaning out and watching them drift toward the ground far beneath him as he took another long drink from his bottle.
Dr. Marblight rose to his feet, his legs wobbling beneath him. He sat on the window ledge and hung his feet over the side. He took another drink and set down the bottle, watching the people walking to and fro below him in the city he would never call home.
"Earthbound..." he said to himself, tasting the whiskey on his breath as he spoke. He began to chuckle in his delirium. Scattered gunshots had begun again. He wondered if his brilliant plan, his system that he had devoted two decades of his life to developing could solve the issues on this rotten planet after all.
"Well, I'm not going back..." he spoke into the Martian air with finality.
A knock on his door broke his disjointed and chaotic reverie.
"Come in," he shouted with a slur in his voice. He relished in the idea of someone walking in and seeing Dr. William Marblight, renowned scientist and supposed savior of Mars, drunkenly sitting on an open window ledge more than one hundred feet in the air.
"I can't. The door is locked..." a muffled female voice said from behind the door. He had forgotten about that... He groaned and fell backward onto the floor, spilling a great deal of his whiskey in the process. He stumbled to the door and opened it. It was one of his academic assistants, Natalia. He had always been quite taken with Natalia, but had never pursued her in fear of damaging his professional reputation. She smiled at him and held up a piece of paper that said 'Certified – 98% on New Colony Scale - Accepted' stamped on it in green letters. She had made the cut. "Well..." she said expectantly, her expression changing to one of bewilderment. "Where is yours?"
Dr. Marblight realized that he had been looking at her hungrily and cast around for an excuse. "Mine is... Where did I put that thing?” he said as he pretended to look around. “I'm sorry, I'm a bit scatterbrained at the moment. Could I offer you a drink to celebrate?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as level and un-slurred as possible.
Natalia looked at him as though he was a stranger. She was frightened. She took a step backward before saying, "I'm afraid I can't right now, Dr. Marblight. I just wanted to stop in and congratulate you..."
"Please, Natalia, stay with me..." he pleaded.
Natalia's expression was inscrutable. She backed out of the room and closed the door, leaving him alone once more. Dr. Marblight retrieved his bottle and sat on the floor with his back against his bed. He shut his eyes tightly and downed the rest of his whiskey before passing out.
Dr. Marblight was still drunk when he awoke several hours later. He shivered, still cradling the empty bottle of whiskey in his hands. He set it down and got up to shut the window, wobbling violently on the spot as he struggled to retain his balance. He looked out over the now darkened Martian city and slammed the window shut, causing it to shatter.
He could not wrap his mind around his situation. There was only one solution that made sense to him, though he realized all the parts to make it work were not there. He would have to stay on Mars. He could not return to Earth after thinking, planning, and working toward his life on Mars for twenty straight years. He did not care what he had to do, he was staying on this planet.
The sound of four consecutive gunshots echoed through the city and into Dr. Marblight's broken window. He was struck with an idea. It was a sinister and vile idea... He did not like where his mind was wandering, but he saw no other options. He realized the hypocrisy of what he was about to do, but in his mind he considered it a necessary evil he would have to partake in to gain his goal of citizenship in the New Colony. If all went according to his plan, he might not even have to hurt his test administrators at all...
Dr. Marblight put on a black sweater, the only article of clothing he owned that even came close to being intimidating, and exited his room. He kept his eyes downcast in the elevator and the lobby. Though he saw some of his academic colleagues in his peripheral vision, he avoided them. It seemed that they were avoiding him as well. Did they already know he had failed? That would complicate matters... He did not take the time to find out. He slid through the rotating door of the building and breathed in the cool night air.
The city that had been erected beneath the terraform dome on Mars felt very similar to an Earth city. There were no cars on the roads, but the roads were painted with the dots and lines that would accompany a road which cars would use. It had been done to create the illusion of normalcy for those who had recently moved from Earth or were visiting the planet. Dr. Marblight thought it was a silly idea. He scoffed at the banality of his surroundings beneath his breath in slurred speech while he wandered.
As he walked further from the research facility, he noticed the people and the environment changing. It was still a city-scape, the terraforming was done on the outskirts of the city, but it was becoming rundown and filthy. How had these people ruined this city in only thirty years? With a constant influx of people arriving to the planet to replace those that were killed or deserted their posts, it seemed that some of them would have taken pride in their city and kept it clean. What was it about this planet that drove humans wild?
He was determined to see his vision of a perfect society come to fruition, to see what surrounded him turn to beauty and efficiency instead of wreck and ruin. All he needed was the right tool, and he had a feeling that he was in the right spot to find it.
"You're lookin' a little blue, pal," a voice said from the shadows. Dr. Marblight looked to his right and saw a young man leaning against a lamp post that had a burnt out bulb in it. The young man was exceptionally skinny.
"I suppose one could say that I am," Dr. Marblight said cautiously.
"You sound like a Green-Back. When did you hit the Rust, eh?"
If Dr. Marblight had not been familiar with Martian slang, this question would have sounded like utter non-sense. The young man was asking if he had come from Earth, and how long he had been on Mars. "Yes, I'm a Green-Back. I've only been on Mars for two weeks."
"I like to find me a fresh Green-Back," the young man said with a malevolent grin. "You can call me Wizard. You holdin' somethin' or what? I buy and sell..."
"Holding?" he asked uncertainly. It was a slang term that he was unfamiliar with.
"Yeah, did you bring anything sweet from the Green 'n' Blue or what? Are you holdin'?" Wizard asked again. It sounded as though he was becoming impatient.
"I'm sorry, no. I'm not holding. I'm looking to buy something," Dr. Marblight said nervously.
"That's good, because I need to liquidate, y'know? Gettin' shipped outta the Rust... What d'you need, old man? I got you. I got everything," Wizard said confidently.
"I need to buy a gun," Dr. Marblight said. Even though it was what he wanted, he felt like a stranger had spoken the words.
Wizard smiled widely. "You're in luck, old man. I only got one left." He looked from left to right and reached into the wide pocket on the front of his hooded sweatshirt and dangled a small black pistol from the handle before returning it to his pocket. "It's the same as the ones the cops use back on Earth. I took it off a Green-Back that bit the r
ust. You want it or what?"
"Yes. What does it cost?"
"I'll give it to you for two thousand Units since I'm in a good mood," Wizard said, glancing around once more.
"Goodness..." Dr. Marblight said. He did not realize the privilege of intimidation and violence could be so expensive.
"We on or what, Green-Back?" Wizard said aggressively.
"Yes. Yes, we are. Hold on."
With shaking hands, Dr. Marblight opened his wallet and counted out twenty 100 Unit bills. Wizard snatched them from his hand as he finished. With one final grand look around to make sure no one was watching them, Wizard slapped the gun into Dr. Marblight's palms. Dr. Marblight felt as though his stomach had dropped several inches.
"I never wanted to hurt anyone..." Dr. Marblight had said this to himself, but Wizard looked up at him and scowled.
"Listen, I don't give a fuck what you do with your gun. That's on you, man," Wizard said angrily as he turned and walked away.
Dr. Marblight looked down at the gun in his hands. It was small, worn, and exceedingly light. Something did not look right about it though...
"Where are the bullets?" Dr. Marblight asked toward Wizard's retreating back.
"Keep it down, you moron! Have you never bought a gun before?" Wizard asked incredulously. Dr. Marblight, lost for words, was only capable of shaking his head. "You think
