When They Left the Red Rock

As the spacecraft left Mars, everyone in mission control cheered. Most of the astronauts themselves toasted with Tang. They then replaced the masks on their faces.

“I didn’t know they still made this stuff for missions,” Rear Admiral Lower Half Henna Lark noticed. As the commander of the mission, she still figured out other things.

“They don’t. They gave it to us because we’re all black! I’m kidding,” Marine Colonel Nastasia Honeywell cracked.

Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Afeni Packerson observed the Marine’s humor.

“It could be true. We do have these packets of wine,” she noted.

“We could just hunt for more of this stuff,” Air Force Colonel Beulah Mayright pointed out. “Four black women aboard a vessel on a mission back from Mars truly will set a precedent.”

“That’s if we can get everyone together. Where’s Nya?” Nastasia asked.

“Why don’t you go check on her?” It sounded like a suggestion but was construed as an order from Henna.

“She’s in the other compartment. She’s been in there for the past few hours.” The engineers designed for the astronauts to float from one section of the vessel to the next.

“Hey, Nya? What’s up?” Nastasia asked with a mask and canister strapped to her waist.

Army Colonel Nya Clarkson looked up. Some fear remained in her eyes.

“I saw them.”

“You saw whom?”

“The Martian men.”

“There were no Martian people.”

“There had to be.”

“All you have to do is come into the compartment with—”

“No! I have to wait here until they get back to this compartment.”

“Nya, there’s not even ice deposits or microbes to speak of on the red planet. Now, c’mon. Let’s go back and see what the other ladies are up to, now.”

The two senior officers journeyed back to the front of the spacecraft. Nya felt a little at ease seeing her sisters in space.

“I’m sorry if I might have alarmed you all. I just knew there were three Martian figures. I couldn’t tell if they were male or female. I just wanted to get back on the ship and get the hell out of there,” Nya related.

The three other women showed furrowed brows. Masks still attached to their faces.

“You know I was the only one on this mission who stayed in the spacecraft? I got worried about you three and wanted to make sure all of you were safe,” a tear streaked down her eye.

“It’s okay, Nya. We’re all safe now.”

“Yeah, Ny’ we’re all present and accounted for!” Afeni exclaimed.

“You guys…I was having a rough time thinking that, I don’t know that some beasts from the red rock had somehow got on board. But it was you all. You helped to sustain my sanity. I felt like I had to remember my training all over again. That helped. But it was just the isolation that really did a job on me. I wanted to scream! I just wanted any of you, all of you to hear me. Then you came back.”

“Yes, we did, Nya. We’re here for you,” Henna imparted.

“That’s why I was in that compartment so long. I wanted to make sure those Martians would not attack us,” Nya explained further.

The spacecraft then went into a patch of space debris. Pilot Afeni maneuvered through the stellar stuff with ease.

“You see, Nya, we’ve got the Marine ready to go through the worst stuff just to get us to greatness,” Henna said.

Nya smiled. She turned to go and then heard an incredulous sound. It was like flesh tearing. Nya turned back to her three other compatriots and noticed that they had been transformed into hideous beasts. They looked like a cross between wolf and hyena. Nya had just enough time to float into the compartment where she had just left. She sealed the hatch and programmed the lock to be on her side. She heard muffled gnarls and scratches. Then, silence. She put eyes up to the top of the spacecraft. She looked for a weapon, anything that could be used against these monsters. Nothing. It was a non-combatant mission and therefore no weapons were aboard the spacecraft. She had an idea.

Nya looked at the controls and found that she could adjust the carbon dioxide levels of the ship. Because she had access to every part of the ship as a mission specialist, she used the carbon dioxide gauges to alter the flow of air in the cabin.

As the carbon dioxide depleted, the muffled cries began to dissipate. She heard some final yelps and then heard nothing once more. She waited ten full minutes and then turned up the oxygen even more. The cabin had one hundred percent pure oxygen levels. Nya floated to where the bodies of the crew had laid.

She moved Afeni’s corpse out of the way and piloted the ship. She noticed that the bodies started to decompose within a few minutes after getting back to the Moon. She moved the two other bodies on to the next compartment. She piled all three of them together and ensured she sealed the cabin. She opened the hatch and let them float around until she closed the cabin hatch. Next, she kept them floating to have proof of alien life.

As she piloted the vessel, she had every indication to call mission control because the screen blinked like a flashing light on an ambulance. She needed one right now. Or at least a medical examiner to determine what those things were.

“Cape Kennedy, this is the Ashanti. All crew save one are incapacitated. Heading towards Moonbase, now. Using hydrogen fuel cells. Will be there in the next few hours.”

“What do you mean incapacitated, Colonel?”

I mean that the admiral, colonel, and lieutenant colonel have expired. Before that, something inexplicable happened. I will explain everything after I get out of this debris field.”

“Stay safe, Colonel.”

“Roger.”

Nya did her best to guide the spacecraft. She heard muffled bumping of the bodies in the rear as they floated. She focused on her task of getting to the Moon. Alas, she saw rocks the size of a recreational drone strike the side of the ship. Nya was thrown to the side.

“No, no, no! This has to be documented.” With camera equipment available only to Beulah, she was at a loss to capture the horror she just experienced and tried one last attempt to get to someone.

“The spacecraft has just been struck by debris and has been knocked off course. I am reporting again that abnormal activity has doomed this mission. The other crew members experienced something akin to a complete metamorphosis into beasts. I am Army Colonel Nya Clarkson and I have seen Martians. They exist. They are real. Keep this as a recording for future explorers so they know what to expect. There is no God, but God bless you all.”

The transmission slowly faded away into a screen of snow and then went black.