Mission: Mars

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say.

July 22, 2027 was the launch date of the first ever manned mission to mars. There were eighty-eight astronauts and twelve robots on the crew of Space X's Starship SN22. It was supposed to be a six month journey to mars to set up the first ever Martian civilization. At least, that's what we were told...

July 22, 2027

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... The countdown is on, I reached the moon base by space shuttle two weeks ago, now we begin our journey to Mars on the Starship. 5... 4... 3... 2... Here we go! 1... and liftoff!

Looking out the window of the Starship as we ascend into space, I watch as the moon base shrinks int0 the greater surface of the moon. The Earth is behind the moon, fading away in the distance as we begin our journey farther into the depths of space where no one has travelled before. I've been to space and on the moon many times before since the moon base was first established in 2024, however none of it compared to how I was feeling right now. To be a part of the first group of people on Mars was like a dream and a nightmare at the same time.

My name is Luke Collins, I'm one of eleven engineer's in charge of performing any necessary repairs to keep the Starship operational throughout our adventure. We have been training and preparing for this journey since 2018. Out of all eighty-eight crew members I am the second youngest at twenty-seven years old.

January 7, 2028

We are less than a month away from reaching Mars's atmosphere, there were a few minor repairs needed here and there along our journey, nothing major. I've been getting really close with Ashley, she is the youngest astronaut on this project. She is an astronomer and by far one of the brightest people I have ever met. Her hair is a beautiful golden blonde and she has deep blue eyes that remind me of the ocean. Everything about her is just perfect to me. We have our first date tomorrow night and It's my first ever date in space so I'm not really sure what to expect.

"Hey!" Ashley said, "What're ya writing?" Slamming my journal shut I looked up to see the most beautiful woman my eyes have ever gazed upon. "Uh... It's nothing er.. just a little journal I'm using to record life on Mars." I replied. "Ah can I read it?" She asked, "Um... It's just a bunch of stuff about the mechanics, nothing really interesting," I told her with a smile, trying to convince her not to read it. "Ooo very interesting, haha, are you ready for tomorrow?" She asked, a pretty white smile lighting up her face. "What's tommorow?" I responded, my mind went blank and I completely forgot everything glorifying her beauty. "Haha, you're cute! Don't you remember asking me out?" She said. Before I could respond...

BOOM!!!

"THE BACK RIGHT ENGINE JUST EXPLODED! GET READY TO DEPLOY IMMEDIATLY" A voice on my radio exclaimed. "I guess I have to go now, talk later?" I said to Ashley, "Of course, duty calls!" She replied.

I got to the part of the ship where we would exit to the outside and repair the engine. "What the hell happened!" Said David, a fellow engineer and good friend of mine. "The engine exploded, no explanation but we need to fix it immediately." Craig explained, he was our foreman on the spaceship. "David, Simon, Luke, and I will fix the engine from outside." Craig continued. We got our spacesuits on, tied into the cables, and headed out to fix the engine.

20 minutes later...

"Shit! Check out that meteor!" Craig yelled out. About seven kilometers from the Starship was a meteoroid roughly the same size as the Starship. "That's moving pretty slow for a meteor don't you think?" David pointed out. "Are you a meteorologist now? What do you know about how fast they move?" Replied Craig. "That's actually a meteoroid! It's only a meteor if it reaches earth's atmosphere and a meteorologist predicts the weather," Simon said. "Whatever it is let's hope it doesn't hit the ship," I added.

Suddenly, the meteoroid lit up with blue lights and a deafening sonic boom shot past the starship. "What the hell is that!" David screamed. I couldn't believe my eyes, the meteoroid was beginning to look like a spacecraft. A large wave of blue light shot from the meteoroid towards the Starship. "Shi..." Craig began to say before he was interrupted by an explosion.

The blue light burst through the center of the Starship slicing it in half. The Half we were attached to began spinning towards deep space, the front half began spinning towards Mars. There are pieces of the Starship breaking apart and flying by us. I try to grab a hold of the Starship but the handle I grabbed broke off and I started floating off attached only by the chord. Still spinning around the four of us were hanging by threads on the outside of a broken spaceship.

David and Craig were still grasping ahold of the Starship, Simon and I were dangling from our safety cable's. A shard of metal from the broken ship flew past us cutting Simon's cable and sending him spiraling into the abyss. "Simon!" I yelled. The piece of the ship David was holding onto began to rip apart, his cable had broken off and his only hope now is the part of the Starship engine that he desperately hung onto. I tried to climb up my cable towards the ship but the force pulling on me was too much. Escape pods were ejecting from what was left of the Starship. One of the pods crashed directly into Craig, crushing him between the pod and the ship. "Craig!" I shouted. It created an explosion that caused David's part of the engine to break off, sending David and the engine into the void of space. "David!" I screamed.

I was now the only one left, still dangling from my safety cable as the back half of the Starship swirled into the depths of space. What am I going to do? What about the rest of the crew? Did anyone make it? Did Ashley survive? Will I survive? I frantically searched for a solution to my problem while dodging debris from the starship. I won't make it if I stay attached to this cable, maybe there is an extra pod left in the Starship. I dethatch the cable from my suit and try to climb towards the ship, but I lost my grip and starting spinning uncontrollably and flying into the depths of space.

After spinning uncontrollably for a few minutes I finally slow down. Watching the Starship fade away towards the sun, I find myself floating in space. Mars looks the size of a large boulder and there are explosions far off in that direction, like a fireworks show. I try screaming even though I know no one will hear me...

end of chapter 1