New Worlds

CHAPTER 1 - The Departure

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

-

“Mayday! Mayday! Our ship is going off course and the routing systems are failing. We are heading straight into the asteroid belt. We need you to manually override our ship and reroute us immediately!” Captain Luke Reid relayed over the radio for what seemed like the thousandth time in the last 6 days. His clammy hand shook as he lowered the mic he had a vise grip on. His hazel eyes stared intensely at the screens on the instrument panel as they lit up with flashing red warning signs. He looked up from the screens and out the giant window that spanned across the whole bridge of the ship.

Captain Reid and his crew stood in the bridge and stared out into the abyss. Their eyes fell upon thousands of floating rocks. Except these rocks were nothing like the ones they saw on Earth. The rocks before them were massive. Some were the size of buildings, while others, larger than the tallest mountains on Earth with craters, from crashing into each other, so deep that they looked like valleys. Passed the asteroids, in the far distance, they could see stars shining. The sight looked like a beautifully painted picture and if it were under different circumstances, this view would have been the most magnificent scene any of them have experienced. But, they knew that what they gazed upon meant they were minutes away from the end.

Captain Reid brought the mic back up and with one last try repeated to EMMH, Earth’s Mission to Mars Headquarters, “Does anybody copy? We are heading straight for the asteroid belt and need you to reroute the ship immediately!”

Silence.

He put down the radio for the final time and looked back at his crew. He stood there with sweat cascading down his wrinkled forehead passed his gray unkempt eyebrows as they relaxed once he acknowledged nothing more could be done. His face, which seemed to add a few more wrinkles over the last few days, dawned a look of fear mixed with acceptance.

Luke always did his best not to allow his crew to see him in a state of panic. However, nobody could blame him for it this time. His gray hair was disheveled from the numerous times he ran his rough, calloused hands through it. His eyes were bloodshot from being sleepless for nearly a week. His overheated cheeks shared the color of a tomato. The navy blue shirt he wore was soaked through from his sweat. And each time he spoke, his once confident, cut-through voice, shook and cracked more with each passing day.

Luke slowly turned his head to his right and he looked straight to his co-captain, Captain Martin Andres. They shared the same knowing look and nodded. Together they glanced back at their 1,000 member crew standing in front of them and the silence that enveloped the room spoke more than any of them could in that moment.

-

6 Months Earlier

-

The alarm went off to alert Luke that he was done his first workout of the day. He picked up his water bottle and chugged down what was left inside before using the already drenched towel hanging around his neck to wipe whatever sweat was making its way toward his eyes. He put the dumbbells he just finished using back on the rack and crossed the room to the door.

When he got to the kitchen, he opened the fridge to pick out the ingredients he needed for his morning smoothie. Each morning after his workout, Luke had the same smoothie made up of kale, a banana, some peaches, a little bit of ginger, a cup of protein powder and almond milk. He was very meticulous and needed to have structure, so at a young age, he built routines into his life that he rarely strayed away from. His morning smoothie was one of them.

After finishing it, Luke made his way to his home office. He turned on the lamp which lit up the small room that consisted of a bookshelf filled with books he and his wife collected together, a single black chair, and a small desk that he spent most of his time sitting at whenever he was home.

Luke took a seat to write in his journal, but a picture frame that was sitting in the corner of the desk caught his eye. He looked at the photo of his family on vacation and reminisced about their trip to Hawaii. The sound of the waves crashing onto the shore and the smell of sea water as the breeze carried it in the air brought him back there.

Luke looked over and admired his beautiful wife laying back in her beach chair reading a book. She had her chestnut brown hair up in a bun while her bangs fell, outlining her oval face. Her light brown eyes, which sparkled like a star filled night sky, scanned the pages of the book. Her olive skin glistened in the scorching sun. As he watched her, he felt like the luckiest man in history being able to marry somebody as perfect as her.

He then looked over to see his twin boys as they ran up and down the beach chasing their younger sister. Their boisterous screams and laughter reaching him from the other end of the beach. After the boys caught their sister, they came sauntering back to Luke and his wife.

“Mom, we’re hungry. Can we have some snacks?” The eldest boy asked while trying to regain his breath after running around for the past 30 minutes.

“Of course. Let me just get them from the bag,” Luke’s wife responded in her soft tone. She put her book down and turned to reach for the bag laying in the sand beside her chair. She rummaged around and pulled out a water bottle to give each of them before reaching back in for the snacks.

Luke gazed at the four of them with love in his eyes. His kids were almost mirror images of their mother with the same brown hair, eyes and olive skin. While watching them, his daughter looked up to him and smiled at him with a smile so bright it could light up the darkest room.

All of a sudden he heard a sound blaring. He looked around again and saw his phone sitting on his office desk with the alarm going off. He stroked the picture five times with his thumb before he focused again and started to write in his journal before he finished getting ready for the day.

After his shower, Luke looked at himself in the mirror. With shaky hands, he brought his razor up to start shaving the beard he had let grow out over the past year. As the gray hairs fell into the sink, he thought about all the times his wife would tell him how he was going to be a silver fox one day. During that time, he would always get his hair dyed because he feared getting old and wanted to push back the signs as long as possible. Now though, he wondered what she would have said if she could see him. When he finished shaving off the last of his beard, he wiped his face with a cloth, picked up the bottle of pills sitting on the counter, emptied 3 of them into his hand and washed them down with a glass of water. Within minutes, his hands started to settle.

-

Luke arrived at headquarters just past 6 am and there was a crispness in the air that made him feel uneasy. The gray skies were covered by clouds blocking the light of the sun from breaking through. Luke got a sudden chill that ran through his body. The sounds of the cars driving by, the birds chirping and the wind whistling as it blew, all started to drown out as a rush of thoughts flooded his head. He looked across the street and saw his wife walking.

Immediately his thoughts silenced and all he could do was watch. She strode along the sidewalk like a model walking down a runway. Her hair, curled in waves, bounced with each step she took. Her face was relaxed with a soft, welcoming expression waiting to engage with anybody that came in her path. She was wearing a black dress filled with white roses that flowed down her thin frame. She also had on a pair of black heels that would capture the attention of anyone around with each step that collided with the pavement. Luke felt like at that moment nothing else seemed to matter but her. She started turning her head towards him when he saw a hand waving in front of his face.

“Captain. Captain! Are you there?” Captain Martin Andres questioned while waving his hands in front of Luke’s face to get his attention. Luke looked up to see Martin standing there with a confused expression on his face.

Luke snapped back and all the sounds came crashing back into his ears all at once. When he looked back across the street to where his wife was, she was gone. His stomach dropped and he felt pain and sadness wash over him.

“Sorry, I was just thinking. How are you Captain Andres?”

“Must have been something big for you to zone out like that,” Martin laughed. “But, I’m doing good. The family is all ready to go.”

“Oh, that’s right! Your wife and kids are part of Generation 1” Luke answered with a smile on his face, trying to masquerade how he was truly feeling at that moment.

Martin looked at Luke, smiled back and nodded as they entered through the front doors and walked up to the security.

“Good morning captains” the guard greeted them with a slight bow.

“Good morning!” Luke and Martin both responded in unison as they handed over their badges to him. They emptied their pockets and then proceeded through the full body scanner.

“Have a great day,” the guard said to them as he returned everything and nodded.

Immediately they were met by Adam Smith, the man who was the head of the entire operation. “Good morning Captain Reid, Captain Andres. It’s great to see you both again. We wanted to give you a proper send off, so we set up a walkthrough in headquarters today for you,” Adam smiled and reached out his hand.

“Thank you sir!” Luke responded as he extended his right arm to return the handshake. Martin did the same, then Adam turned around to lead them down the hall.

While walking down the same hallway they did almost every morning, something was different. Luke looked up and saw black banners that hung from the normally empty white walls. They stopped to read the writing in big gold letters.

“WELCOME GENERATION 1

CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING THE PIONEERS OF MARS

WE LOOK FORWARD TO JOINING YOU IN THE NEAR FUTURE!”

After passing the banners, they continued on toward the elevators near the end of the hall. The black and gold elevator door opened as they approached it. The three of them stepped into the elevator and Adam pressed the button for the 5th floor.

They stepped out into a large open area which was shaped like a semi sphere. There were two hallways on each side of the room and one straight down the middle at the back. Each hallway led to several other hallways and rooms where research was done. The room was filled with a waiting crowd of all the scientists that worked from the 3rd floor up to the 5th. They were the ones who came up with the theories on what would be needed to allow humans to live on Mars. It took years of research and planning, and with the help of both Luke and Martin on the last mission, they were able to prove their ideas worked.

Luke and Martin stood there shaking dozens of people’s hands as they were met with applause, praise and adoration. Everybody looked up to the captains as the reason for everything being a success.

A short, thick, shaggy man walked up to Luke. With both hands, he grabbed hold of Luke’s right hand, vigorously shook it and said “Sir, thank you. We wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you. I would really love to have your autograph.” He pulled out a permanent marker and a picture of the scientists in his department from his pocket and handed it over to Luke.

Luke felt weird signing the picture. He never felt like he was somebody that people should look up to, let alone be asking for an autograph. He never wanted to be famous. He was just doing his job. So as he looked at everybody in that room and thought about the “farewell tour” he was on, he felt uncomfortable inside.

Adam stepped in to intervene after he felt like they spent enough time there then brought Luke and Martin up to the 8th floor. Each floor from the 3rd to the 8th had the same layout. The only differences were that the rooms on each floor were set up for the purposes they were meant to be used. When the three of them stepped off the elevator, once again, they were greeted with cheers. Only this time, it was from the engineers. Unlike the 3rd to 5th floors, the 6th to 8th were designated for those who built the ships they took to Mars and the infrastructure needed to live there. Finally, after meeting with all the workers, Adam led Luke and Martin to the auditorium.

As they approached the doors, several security guards stopped them. They had to walk through full body scanners again before being allowed through. It felt unnecessary at times going through a second body scanner; but, because of who was in the room beyond those doors, it was warranted. When the check was complete, one of the guards scanned his badge, input a code and then opened the door for Adam, Luke and Martin to enter.

No matter how many times they walked into the room, Luke was always taken aback by who was in there. Every country in the world had their leader inside. There were also leaders of the largest businesses in the world, along with the world’s best individuals of different fields, such as military, doctors, scientists and engineers. Although, on the day before a mission, there were always extra people because they couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. On top of that, family members of the crew were also allowed in on those days. And since there were not only going to be 1,000 crew members, but also 4,000 civilians on this trip, the room was filled.

Luke looked around the auditorium which had close to 15,000 seats that circled a stage at the bottom. He could hear the echoes of thousands of people talking amongst each other from all different directions in the room and he could see the excitement in many of their eyes as they scanned the room for the very first time. He had never seen the room so packed. With this mission set to be their biggest and most important one, there wasn’t an empty seat in the auditorium.

Adam motioned for Luke and Martin to enter the elevator to take them down. As they neared the bottom, an announcement came through the speakers along the walls asking everybody to take their seats. Adam, Luke and Martin each took a seat near the stage.

About a dozen screens around the room turned on and started playing a video. “Welcome to Generation 1,” a voice spoke. As the video showed regular footage of people living on Earth, then cut to a view of space and all the stars and planets, and then finally to Mars with people building infrastructure on it, the voice continued to speak, “For the longest time, humans looked up to the stars and dreamed of one day living there. Well, that day has come. Thanks to the thousands of people who traveled back and forth building a safe place for us. And for those who continuously do extensive research making sure that what we are doing works, we have accomplished together what seemed impossible. Tomorrow is the first day of a new beginning for mankind.”

The screens went black for a second before the image of a large group of people sitting in the auditorium filled them once again. The voice continued, “Please get to your feet and help me welcome Generation 1!”

The auditorium erupted. The voice then began to read off name by name of each person part of Generation 1 as they walked onto the stage to be welcomed. It felt similar to a graduation and by the time it was nearly over the stage was almost filled with people standing shoulder to shoulder.

Finally, the camera panned to Luke standing by his chair. The room slowly started to quiet down as the voice spoke up once again, “And now, for the man who will lead this group on their journey - Captain Luke Reid!”

Luke hated the recognition and being the center of attention, but he knew this was all for show for everybody else in that room and those watching live around the world. He got accustomed to the attention he received, though he would have preferred not to have any.

He walked onto the stage and to the podium standing in the middle. The room was so loud, he couldn’t even hear his own footsteps. “Thank you everybody for being here,” Luke spoke while looking around at everybody in the room. Immediately the room silenced. “As you all know. I’ve been the head of the 5 missions to Mars over the last 15 years. We’ve gone there with a team of people and built infrastructure to make it habitable for us all.”

He paused to take another look around and see the people in the seats nodding their heads in approval. Then he continued, “We’ve spent over six years combined on Mars to get this done. Our last mission was a two year test run to see if everything we did would actually allow us to live there safely. I’m happy to be able to stand here today and report that it was a success.”

Luke took another break as a boom of applause quickly erupted throughout the room. He winced and his hands started to shake as a high pitched ringing filled his ears. Quickly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out some pills. He washed them down with the glass of water that was placed on the podium for him before he made his way to the stage.

Luckily, the cheering lasted long enough for the ringing to go away and his hands to stop shaking. Without anybody noticing what happened to him, he spoke again with a steady voice that captured the attention of the audience like few people ever could, “Tomorrow, we will be launching the Generation 1 ship.” Luke turned around to acknowledge everybody standing on stage with him. “There will be 5,000 people on board who have been hand selected by all of you based on their skill set.” Luke then looked over at Martin and nodded. He looked back into the camera in front of him, placed his right hand over his heart and said “It has been an honor serving Earth and starting tomorrow, I will make sure that everybody with me will continue to prepare our new home for the arrival of the rest of you in the years to come.”