Red Storm

Lieutenant Brenda Ivanova and pilot Ralph Brown were part of the Ares XII mission, which aimed to find water deposits in the subsoil of Mars to establish a permanent base.

The expedition had landed in Arcadia Planitia, one of the best candidates because it had accessible underground ice and relatively flat terrain, ideal for future human missions.

During an exploratory walk 12 kilometers from the shelter, a strange magnetic anomaly interrupted their communications with the base and caused a failure in their navigation systems. Before they could orient themselves, the wind began to whistle with increasing intensity. Brenda checked the sensors on her suit and her face tensed.

Brenda said with concern - "There's a storm coming, Ralph. And it's a big one." -

Ralph responded perceptively - "Great. I always wanted to die suffocated on a lifeless planet." -

Brenda smiled, but answered urgently - "Shut your mouth and move. We have to get back to base.”-

The storms could last for days or weeks, much like dust storms in Earth's deserts, but with finer, electrostatically charged particles.

Dust gusts were already enveloping them, reducing visibility to less than a meter. The dense cloud of dust obscured the sunlight and made navigation difficult. The dust was electrically charged and interfered with radio signals.

With no sign of the sun or the base's beacons, Brenda and Ralph had to rely on their wits and orientation to get back. But as they blindly advanced, their boots hit something unexpected: a steep slope.

Ralph stopped his partner by the arm to say, "Stop! We have a problem. I don't remember there being a damn cannon here."-

Brenda shook her head, "Neither do I... and that worries me."

As they probed the ground, the dust generated an electrical discharge and, for a brief moment, the illuminated sand revealed something buried: a metal structure of unknown origin.

Brenda touched the surface with her gloved hand and, against all logic, a hatch opened. Inside, they found an artificial tunnel.

Ralph said in disbelief - "Tell me this is a joke. A buried structure?" -

Brenda replied - "I don't know. But it's either go into that or die buried." -

Ralph seemed confused - "None of this makes sense, Brenda. How the hell does something like this get in here?" -

Brenda opted to be pragmatic. The situation was dangerous - "I have no idea. But if this helps us get out alive, then we ask." -

In the middle of the Martian storm, astronauts Brenda Ivanova and Ralph Brown manage to enter a long metal corridor, with walls covered in a dark patina and a series of closed doors, each marked with strange symbols.

The place did not look human. There were no recognizable inscriptions, no obvious technology. Just a dimly lit corridor and a background hum, almost imperceptible, as if something was still working.

The hatch closed softly, isolating them from the storm outside. As it closed, a red button suddenly lit up.

When they tried to contact the base, their radios emitted static with fragments of distorted voices. They did not recognize the usual voices of Earth... or their own.

Ralph asked, "Did you hear that?"

Brenda said, "Tell me it's me echoing back."

Ralph shook his head, "It doesn't seem like it."

The doors that lined the hallway did not open manually, but when she touched one of them, Brenda felt a soft electric shock, as the door clicked. The metal of the door slid smoothly... revealing an empty room with a metal chair in the center. On the chair, they saw something impossible: a human astronaut helmet... old, dusty, with a design never used on any mission.

Ralph checked the helmet and found something disturbing: a NASA logo... from a mission that never existed in any record.

Suddenly, a second door, further down the hall, opened by itself. A slow, metallic step could be heard from inside.

Brenda glanced at Ralph. Her companion had stiffened, his eyes fixed on the half-open door. The sound of metallic steps echoed in the hall, slow, methodical. While they were both in expectant silence, Brenda's voice echoed from the hall saying:

—"Ralph, we have to get out of here... Now."-

It wasn't a distorted recording. Nor was it static. The voice sounded exactly like Brenda Ivanova's. Every intonation, every pause. But Brenda hadn't spoken.

Ralph carefully pulled out his scanning knife, and took a step closer.

—"Who's there?"— he demanded to know, his voice reverberating in the metal hallway.

Silence. Then, something more disturbing happened.

—"Ralph..."— It was now the sound of her own voice that answered from inside the room. —"Don't open the door."-

Brenda felt a chill under her pressure suit. Ralph turned to her, his expression a mix of confusion and fear.

—"This isn't possible."- he hesitated.

Brenda scanned the wall with her helmet light. The symbols carved on the doors seemed to move when she looked at them too long. As if they weren't recorded, but alive.

Suddenly, the door at the end of the hallway opened on its own with a heavy sound, revealing an even larger room. And inside they could see something that defied all logic.

In the center of the room, three glass capsules, covered in dust, were connected to a machine that emitted a faint blue glow. But what really took their breath away was what was inside the capsules.

It was themselves.

Brenda stepped back. Inside the nearest capsule, a woman identical to her, wearing the same mission suit, floated in suspension. Her eyes were closed, as if in a cryogenic sleep. Ralph approached the second capsule, where he found his own sleeping reflection.

"This doesn't make sense," he stammered in a broken voice.

Brenda looked at the third capsule, the only one that was empty. The screen beside her showed a text in an incomprehensible language, while its interface projected a countdown timer. There were less than two minutes left to zero.

The storm outside was raging, and the ground beneath their feet was shaking. Something activated in the structure.

The voice activated again.

But this time, it came from everywhere.

—"The cycle repeats itself. Do not open the third capsule."-

Brenda exchanged glances with Ralph. Their doubles were still asleep in the capsules. If they were there, walking in that hallway... then who were those in the capsules?

The counter continued to go down.

00:01:14... 00:01:13...

They had less than a minute to decide.

They backed up to the main hatch. Ralph pressed the illuminated red button. The hatch opened and they stepped out. An unseal occurred that momentarily illuminated the storm and revealed the correct direction to the shelter.

Ralph shouted, "There's the base! Come on, come on, come on!"

In disbelief the structure began to sink into the sand, as if it had never been there.

After a few moments of hesitation, they ran through the gale, fighting the pressure of the wind and the sand that hit their visors. When they finally reached the base, panting and covered in dust, the communications system blinked with a new signal.

Brenda exclaimed, "Tell me that's coming from Earth."

Ralph checked the console and replied, "I don't think so.."

After a few moments, a coded message came through his console. The signal was not coming from Earth... but from Mars itself. It was an S.O.S. signal.

When he checked his recordings, everything was blank.

END