Chapter Text
PURPLE’S POV
I was expecting to never find a job again. To die hungry and alone on some random street. Instead, I received a letter. A letter with a “unique and exclusive work opportunity”. A year long mandatory contract on none other than Polus, the most remote, cold and inhospitable planet that humanity ever reached so far. MIRA couldn’t turn it into a colony, so they built a research base on it. And that’s where I was heading.
As I was boarding the dropship, I took one last look back, wondering when I was going to see my home again, or if. I kept my head down, looking at my feet while I fastened my seatbelt, until a familiar voice called for me:
‘Purple! It’s you!’ Cyan was sitting a few sits away from me. Right next to them, there were Black and Orange. Further on my right I noticed Blue and Lime. White was sitting in a corner by themselves.
‘Cyan! Guys you are…you’re here too’
‘Yeah, I guess MIRA is too stupid to separate the crew that they were trying to dismantle’ replied Black
‘And you?’ I asked White, who didn’t look up, ‘did you win another contest?’
‘No. I’m…an intern now. I got the same letter as you guys’ they mumbled, barely audible.
The dropship’s door opened again, letting Brown and Yellow enter. Yellow looked pissed and Brown had an arm around their shoulders.
‘I knew we’d find you here. MIRA decided to shut us all up and exile us to the shittiest planet they could think of. They probably hope we’ll all freeze up there’ Yellow exclaimed, with Brown nodding along behind them
‘We’re never getting out of that planet alive, I hope y’all said all the last goodbyes you had to say’, Lime chimed in, ‘those bastards want us dead’
‘Well at least we’re all together! Nothing can separate us now!’ Cyan said
‘Well it’s not all of us’ I replied
‘Yeah, someone is too much of a spineless bootlicker to stand up for what’s right’ Black added, clearly alluding to Red. I didn’t know where they were, probably promoted somewhere much more comfortable than where we were heading, but I didn’t care. Not anymore. I wasn’t talking about them anyway.
I took off my hat, Green’s hat, and held it tight in my hands, the chitchat of the other crewmates and the sound of the ship taking off drowning under my thoughts.
Polus was notoriously one of the coldest planets under MIRA’s jurisdiction, if not the coldest. But no amount of knowledge could ever train you for actually stepping into the snow, with the wind slapping your face and the air freezing your lungs. We all immediately started shaking, despite all the layers of clothes we already had. I think I heard Lime whisper ‘Told ya we were all gonna die’.
I tripped and fell to my knees, when I looked up there was an impotent figure throning over me. They had a long beard, a thick coat with a few medals and a hat that was similar to the one Red had back in the skeld.
‘Need an hand, kid?’ They said holding out their arm. They introduced themselves after helping me get back on my feet:
‘My name is Grey, I am the leader of this base, and therefore you all now work for me. All decisions must go through me, my word must be the final one. All clear?’
A choir of “yes sir” rose between the crew. I had a weird feeling about Grey. I wanted to see what was laying under the authoritarian mask.
They gave us a tour of the base. Luckily, the indoor rooms had an heating system powered by a big, old looking boiler that was located near O2. My station was right across the hallway from that.
‘Do these cameras record?’ I asked, already knowing the answer
‘They do not, and they’re only available in black and white’
‘So they’re completely useless as usual’
I heard a loud scream coming from behind my shoulders. We all turned around to see White hanging over a huge hole in the corner of the room, with Blue holding them by the collar of their shirt.
‘Shit, thanks Blue you…you saved me’
‘It is only my duty and pleasure as a doctor to do all I can to preserve the lives of those around me’
I swear I could’ve seen pink sparkles floating around White’s head.
‘Is the hole…supposed to be there?’ Orange shyly asked Grey, who answered with uncertainty
‘Well erm…there are a few holes around the base from past analysis of the terrain. We believe that they could be connected, forming an intricate system of tunnels, but-‘ they were interrupted by Lime screaming ‘Perfect!’ before diving head first into the hole. Blue kneeled on the edge, trying to check on them.
‘…should I be worried?’ Grey asked
‘Nah they are the most, erm, peculiar member of the crew. I’m sure they’ll be fine’ Orange answered cheerfully.
The tour continued (without Lime). After seeing two tiny buildings that were separated from the rest, the storage and communications room (‘Comms tend to be a bit unreliable, we’re very far from the next MIRA base and snowstorms usually to put them down for a while’), they showed us the weapons room, where another crewmate was sitting at a desk pressing some buttons on a keyboard. As they pressed, the small reactor in the corner of the room flickered slightly.
‘This is Maroon, our head of weaponry. Their job is to defend the base from external threats’
Maroon looked up from the computer. They, like Grey, looked like they’ve been working on Polus for quite a while. They looked each of us up and down, I could see a glimpse of pity in their eyes. After some quick formalities, we moved on to the next part of the base: the office (that worked as a cafeteria), the administration room and a little laboratory.
‘Which one of you is the doctor?’ Grey asked. Blue, who’ve been checking every hole we had encountered, took a step forward.
‘On this computer you’ll be able to check the vitals of every crewmate on site. As you already know, we are all monitored 24/7, for our safety’.
Blue got closer to the computer and started to analyse it
‘I don’t see Lime’s vitals’ they immediately said
‘They…refused to be monitored. They yelled about some “gremlins” who wanted to know every move they made. We decided to wait until they’re asleep to try and get the microchip on them.’
‘Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. Lime trusts me’ Blue replied, keeping their eyes on the screen.
‘Oh well, if you are so sure.’ Grey said, an hint of something really close to bitterness in their voice. They then cleared their throat and continued:
‘The next room is the specimens laboratory. Only the authorised scientists are allowed to enter. Black and Cyan? Please follow me’.
The two geologists (sorry, the geologist and the gemologist, who seemed very excited to be considered an “authorised scientist”) followed the orders, leaving us in the office.
‘So…how do you guys feel?’ I asked to break the awful silence
‘I feel like MIRA exiled us to keep our mouths shut’ Yellow yelled from the kitchen, that they were exploring with Brown
‘Indeed they are! And I’ll tell ya more’ Lime jumped out a hole near the door, startling us all.
Blue got up from their seat and started to check on Lime as they continued
‘These tunnels are connected to everything around here. I already found my way around, they’re just like my vents. I saw the folks that we’ll have to deal with here and trust me they’re all coo coo crazy!’
We all exchanged looks, trying to understand if Lime was aware.
Apparently they weren’t.
‘Maybe they are like us, they knew too much and they got sent here’ White suggested
‘Orange, you’re HR, aren’t you supposed to know everything about these people?’ I asked
‘Oh well most of the information is actually confidential and by handbook I can’t really tell you anything-‘
‘Fuck the handbook! Just tell us who our cellmates are’ Yellow screamed, sitting on the counter like a kid waiting for their goodnight story.
‘Well erm…what I can tell you is that Maroon and Grey have been here the longest. Despite their contracts having expired a few times, they keep asking to renew them, so that they can stay here. The rest of the crew has been here only for a month or so. There’s a nurse, a meteorologist and and astrophysicist. They look all pretty much ordinary to me!’
Something about their shaky tone and the drop of sweat rolling down their forehead told me that they didn’t look ordinary at all, but before I could ask for anything more, Grey came back with Black and Cyan, and our tour continued.
Like Orange said, there were three other crewmates on the base. In the main laboratory, we met Coral and Banana.
‘These are the two scientists of our base. They-‘
‘Erm excuse me?’ Banana said, taking off one earphone ‘I’m an astrophysicist, Coral is a meteorologist. Be specific. Do you think that I could ever estimate the variability of this planet’s weather to predict exactly what is going to happen to the climate in the next few hours?’
‘Yeah, and do you think that I could ever track down the movement of each and every celestial body to understand the impact it has on our base?’
‘Yeah and do you think that we could do…whatever the geologists do?’
‘Analyse the surface and understand of which materials it’s made of’
‘Check Polus’ vibes!’
Cyan and Black replied in unison.
Banana looked at them weird for a second.
‘Yeah, that.’
Coral and Banana seemed to leave Grey speechless and to gain the respect of both Yellow and Brown, who high fived them.
We moved on to the adjacent room, the medbay, where we met the nurse Rose.
‘Rose this is Blue, the new doctor of the base. For obvious reasons you’ll be working in close contact with them’
Rose seemed particularly happy about working with Blue. They basically jumped on them, holding them by the arm talking about how “honoured” they were to work with them. Lime got in between them and started to shoo Rose away like a fly.
‘Hey, this contact is too close, back off’.
Grey then took us to our rooms, small cubicles with no windows that fit barely a bed, a desk and a drawer, told us about the curfew and work hours and let us unpack.
I was left alone with my thoughts, the last place where I wanted to be.
I didn’t know what to expect from my stay on the planet, I just hoped that dying hungry and alone on some random street wasn’t actually going to be my best option.