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She had been chosen! She had been chosen! Abigail Rose! To settle Mars!
Of course, not by herself. That would be ridiculous. Abigail’s pod consisted of 99 more people, each with skills invaluable to the mission. She herself was tasked with keeping an eye on potential new diseases that might arise during the mission. While previously sent robots and probes hadn’t found any life on Mars, not even microbes, one never knew what might crop up down the line.
“Abby? Are you coming?”
“Yes! Yes, I’m coming, Frank. Was just fighting with this zipper.”
“Zipper?” Frank walked through the door. “Where on your space suit did you find a zipper?”
“You know, this thing.” Abigail gestured at the part of her suit that she had been fiddling with for the past five minutes.
“Abby, that’s not a zipper.”
“What would you call it then?”
“It’s a …. An … uh … you know what, I don’t have time for this. We need to get in the ship, everyone is just waiting for us now.” With a practiced movement, Frank helped her close the zipper, and together they walked towards the boarding area.
“Nervous?”, he asked.
“Nah, this is just a normal Monday for me, you know? Quick trip to Mars, no biggie.” She kept a straight face, and Frank chuckled.
“Please don’t say that to the press, or the conspiracy theorists will be all over it. Just imagine the blog posts! Mars project a fake! Astronaut Abigail Rose admits that long anticipated take-off day is just like any other Monday! What do they have to hide?”
“That is much too articulate for a conspiracy theorist, and you know it.”
“You’re probably right. Okay, brace yourself, here comes the paparazzi.”
A storm of flashing lights greeted Abigail as she stepped out into the crowd of waiting journalists. Microphones were shoved into her face, pictures from all the unflattering angles taken. She reached up and pressed a button, prompting her helmet to expand over her head and shielding her from all the overwhelming attention. Immediately, it was quiet, and the lights were dimmed.
“Much better”, she muttered, and looked over at Frank. After a few moments of consideration, he followed her example.”
“They are going to complain about this so much”, she heard his voice through the communicator. “We’re supposed to be the faces of a new era, and here we are, hidden away.”
“Please, it’s not like they didn’t get any pictures of the others. I’m pretty sure Georgie basked in all this attention. She’s always been one for the cameras. Do you remember the talk shows she went to?”
“No, because there were too many.”
“Exactly.”
“Point taken.”
The crowd of journalists parted for them reluctantly, and they finally reached the boarding ramp. Once in, the doors closed.
“Wow, we really were the last two, huh?”
“Last one. I was already in, but they asked me to come looking for you.”
“Rude.”
“Would you have preferred to have been left behind?”
“If you had, then Mars would’ve had 99 problems, but Abby-tch ain’t one!”
“Why.. why am I friends with you.”
Helmets down again, they greeted their fellow settlers and then took their seats. Abigail was delighted to see, that her request to sit next to Frank had been granted.
“If you vomit on the way up, please turn to your other side”, he said.
“Hey!” Sandra, who was seated on Abigail’s other side, looked offended. Abigail grinned at her.
“Don’t worry, babe, I haven’t thrown up since basic training. The first time up was a bit rough, but Frank was there to catch the worst.”
“Maybe I can find someone to switch seats with”, Frank mused, but before he could continue that thought, a voice instructed everyone to take their seats and get strapped in safely.
“Too late, much too late. Now you’ll have to stick with me.”
“Only till we’re far enough into space.”
The countdown started, and all conversation fell silent. The hairs on Abigail’s arms stood up, as she shivered with the anticipation of what was about to happen. Years, she had trained for this. Had spent countless weeks in isolation training and crowded living situations both, to determine if she could handle the solitude of space mixed with seeing the same one hundred faces each day, every day, for the rest of her life. Not everyone in her cohort had made it, in fact they had started with 1000 potential recruits.
Everyone wanted to go to Space.
Everyone wanted to go to Mars.
The countdown reached zero, and the G-forces pressed Abigail into her seat, hard. She felt the well-known nausea rise up in her stomach but had learned to control it long ago. Looking at the faces of her teammates, she saw the same anticipation, anxiety, and excitement she was experiencing.
When they hit orbit, Abigail could feel the engines turn off. She started counting.
One heartbeat.
Gravity was barely noticeable anymore, and if she hadn’t been strapped into her seat, she would have floated. She loved that feeling, always had. Single strands of her hair rose up around her, and she wondered if she should’ve gone for that buzz cut that had been offered to her after all.
Two heartbeats.
The ship shook slightly. The magnetic beam had locked onto them. Space flight using fossil fuel had been too slow, so new technologies had been explored for decades. In the end, it had all come down to magnets, the bane of every astronomer.
Three heartbeats.
Acceleration, way beyond speeds any human was ever supposed to move. Through the windows, Abigail saw the moon skip by like a building on the side of a highway. Here one moment, gone the other. The shipped hurled away, further and further than any human had been before.
They had made it. They had survived the start and were headed for their new home.
Celebratory noise rushed through the ship, the elation of having made it, the realization of what the future would bring. Mars! They were going to Mars! All of them! A new planet to explore, a place with no human footprints. Not yet. They would be celebrated heroes, they would be …
A bright light filled the cabin, and the ship slowed. Slowed, until it stopped. Panicked, Abigail looked over to Frank. What? What had happened? This should not be possible? Why had they stopped moving?
And then, a voice, sounding almost like it was generated by a computer. Stilted, alien.
Alien.
“You are in breach of directive 934615-846C. Previous warnings have been ignored. You have been informed, that travel outside the exclusion zone is prohibited. You will now be taken into custody. Stand by to receive dampeners of magical abilities.”
Frank stared at Abigail. Abigail stared at Frank.
What in Space was happening?
