Submitted for the May 2025 prompt: Many Minds

To think, I’d spent four hours on the surface of Mars collecting samples for Jerry and he didn’t even have the decency to check them. My job informs his job, and his job informs the botanist’s Denise’s job, which leads to our chef Benny’s job. Does Jerry want us all to starve?

Being the only scavenger of the crew is HARD. Don’t they appreciate the sacrifices I make for them?

 

I have half a mind to tell Captain Robin about this insubordination she says it’s not my duty to oversee the others, but hers and hers alone. Doesn’t she see I’m trying to help? What happens if we all starve?

 

* * *

 

I stab my fork into a piece of broccoli, produced in foreign soil all thanks to MY contributions, when Patrick, the engineer, joins me.

 

“How’d your walk go yesterday?” he asks. His voice is smug and his face perfect in all the worst ways.

 

“Flawless,” I reply. “Not that it matters.”

 

“Oh? Why is that?”

 

“Jerry won’t even... never mind. You wouldn’t understand. Any issues with the hull?”

 

“Not yet. At this rate I won’t have anything to repair until we’ve at least been here a few years.”

 

“We won’t have that long unless Jerry starts actually doing his work.”

 

“What does that mean?”

 

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

 

“That’s a serious accusation, Marty.” His spotless white teeth prove an eyesore as he chews. “Jerry works just as hard as everyone else around here, I should know. I spend my downtime working with everyone in this dome. Everyone except you, that is.”

 

“Then why hasn’t he gotten to the samples I provided yesterday? They’re still sitting in the decontamination chamber.”

 

“Maybe he’s busy? Have you tried asking him?”

 

Such sage advice. How would I manage to do anything without you? Oh, wise and wonderful Patrick with his perfect hairline and perfect ideas.

 

“Captain Robin has asked me to stay out of other’s business.”

 

I leave Patrick to finish his food alone. There isn’t anything else for me to say to him. He’s just like all the others. This colony is going to fail unless I do something about it.

 

Denise stood with her back to the open doorway.

 

“Dangerous,” I say. “Something could slither in here.”

 

“Or someone.” She gives me a warm smile as I approach her workbench. “How are you today, Marty?”

 

“I’m good. I came here to ask a question.”

 

“Ask away.” She set down her pair of scissors beside the freshly clipped bonsai tree. “You know you can always ask me anything.”

 

“Did Jerry ever get back to you about the samples from yesterday?”

 

“No, not yet. Why, is something wrong?”

 

What could he possibly be doing that’s more important? There is literally nothing more important than our survival.

 

“I should tell Captain Robin.” I tap my foot as I feel my blood boil. “This isn’t good. What if something has changed in the soil since my last walk on the surface? You’d have to know that immediately.”

 

“The last sample we have from you is only a week old. I don’t think anything would change too drastically in only a week. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

 

“You don’t think… never mind.”

 

Nobody here seems to want to think. I’m the only one doing any thinking.

 

* * *

 

I can’t imagine the occupants of this dome making it another week if I don’t intervene. Our team of six is responsible for keeping this dome up and running. If one of us fails to do our duty this well-oiled machine will rust and fall apart. If Jerry is already neglecting his responsibilities in the first year, what will this place look like in four years when the civilians arrive?

 

I must tell the captain.

 

Captain Robin stares out into vast red dust of our new home. I stand beside her and let out a heavy sigh.

* * *

 

“What is it, Marty?” She turns to me, her eyes like cosmic pools of royal blue, and her right eyebrow raised nearly to her hairline. “Patrick tells me you’re rifling around where you shouldn’t… again.”

 

“He said that?” I puff air from my lips and place my hands on my hips. “I just said…”

 

She isn’t impressed with my findings. Instead of rewarding me, she sends me away.

 

This operation is going to fail. I can’t have people coming here to start a new life when the crew isn’t taking their jobs seriously. I must act now. I’m humanity’s only hope.

 

I return to the lab to check one last time, and of course Jerry is nowhere to be found. This is nothing but another sign I must enact my plan. I rummage through his drawers looking for a box I’d seen when helping him unpack not long after our initial landing. I find it next to a butane lighter, the skull and bones mascot staring back at me like an old friend.

 

He’d used the poison to see how it interacts with the plants grown by Denise. In his notes I can see that it has the same effects as it does back on Earth. Which is perfect for my needs.

 

I visit the greenhouse. Denise isn’t tending to her plants. I swear I’m the only one who works around here. This will be for the best. I make my way around the room, sprinkling the poison dust onto all the plants.

 

It just wouldn’t be safe for the civilians to come here.