When I Saw The Photo
foolishly assumed that the astronauts were- isn’t it a placebo?
- in an earth-floored hut
- something bigger, something that lasts
- such a methodical revenge
- But I want somebody else, if it ain’t inconvenient
- Don’t approach them.
When I saw the photo, I foolishly assumed that the astronauts were in an earth-floored hut. Of course I should have known immediately that it was a mars-floored hut. The hut was a temporary structure built alongside something bigger, something that lasts: the medical barracks of the Mars Colony.
Which was my workplace. I looked out the window and there was the hut, still intact despite its official purpose being depleted.
“You are to find these people and administer the injections. But do it via blowgun. Don’t approach them.” The person who showed me the photo also brought two slender hypodermic darts. I glanced at their labels.
“Fauxdoxicam? Isn’t it a placebo? But more importantly, I have no way to tell who the people in the picture are. They’re wearing spacesuits.”
“I can’t answer any questions. All I can do is communicate your mission parameters.” The stranger got up and left, muttering, “But I want somebody else, if it ain’t inconvenient,” into a strange wrist-mounted device.
I had always known that I would someday need to repay the favor I owed to the interplanetary mob. It had to be them. No one else would exact such a methodical revenge.