CHAPTER ONE
Mordecai awoke to the sound of his alarm going off. The small electronic clock had flashed the numbers “7:00” in bright red. This signaled that it was time for him to awake from his slumber. He didn’t want to wake up though. He had gotten very little sleep the night before, it was usually like this when he wasn’t at home in his own bed, and he would give anything for just a few more moments of precious sleep, for a few more moments of blissful dreaming. He wanted nothing to do with what was going to happen today. But alas he knew that he had to wake up, he had no choice in the matter.
He slung the grey blanket from his body and placed is bare feet on the floor of the bunkroom. The cold of the metal floor had sent shivers throughout his body. His mother and father were already awake and out of the room, probably in the cafeteria enjoying their last breakfast on Earth. He could scarcely believe that his family, a few others, would be headed into outer space to be the first family to attempt a colonization of Mars. At least it would be warmer there; he had no idea why this launch was in the middle of winter. He had figured that it would be far easier in the summer. But then again, he was no NASA engineer.
Mordecai sighed and said, “Today is the day.” He was still in a state of disbelief. His parents had told him of their selection only a few months prior. He still didn’t want to go, but he had little choice in the matter. If only this was delayed for six more months, he would be eighteen, a legal adult, and wouldn’t have to go just because his parents had told him to. “This is total bullsh-“
He was cut off by a slightly distorted voice on the intercom. “Number thirty seven, report to the cafeteria for breakfast.”
“Hmph, total bullshit,” he said as he let out a sigh. That part made it even worse; He hadn’t been called by his name by anyone except for his parent and a few of the others who were selected to go. There were fifty people going and apparently that’s forty five too many names in the eyes of the scientists. The only real names that were used were the names of the five real astronauts who had volunteered to go. Mordecai only remembered two of their names, Carla Jefferson and Joseph Armstrong, great, great grandson of the oh so famous Neil Armstrong.
Surprisingly, that didn’t go to Joe’s head. He was very modest and didn’t like being announced as a descendant of the first man on the moon. It apparently made him feel as if he was only recognized because of his ancestor. He wanted to make his own legacy and this was the best way he knew how.
Carla however was an astronaut for only two months before the civilian volunteers had arrived; she was only a few years older than Mordecai. She was a nice young woman from a small town in Oklahoma who had always had a fascination for deep space and astronomy.
Both of the two had taking a liking to Mordecai, he had no idea why. It could have been because they all liked geeky nerdy stuff, anime, comic books, video games, Dungeons and Dragons, and other things like that. It definitely wasn’t because of space. He had no interest in this voyage, no love of space, and absolutely no desire to go. In fact, he was terrified. He could think of hundreds of ways that this could go bad. They could explode before launch, they could explode during launch, and they could explode while in space, most of his thought on this matter consisted of explosions. But the worst of all, the one that made an explosion look like a day at the beach, was if Mars was incapable of sustaining life. They’d all eventually run out of food, then they’d resort to cannibalism, then the last one’s would die of hunger. He figured that would be terrible, slow, painful, and terrible. This brought upon the thoughts of what happened to the others before his group. This had been the sixth attempt at this mission. The body count was in the hundreds and he had a strong feeling that more would be added. He had always had a certain, indescribable feeling when something bad would happen.
He shook those thoughts from his mind and stood up from his rickety cot. He couldn’t think of all those things on launch day, doing that would only cause a panic attack. He exhaled roughly and then walked to the bathroom, a small room with a rectangular box made of glass in the corner for a shower. Next to it was a metallic toilet with a sink on the back with a mirror made of reflective metal instead of glass. He quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth, though it was far less than a thorough cleansing for he had to get to breakfast in the next fifteen minutes or he’d miss it and be hungry for the next several hours.
While he brushed his teeth he looked at himself in the mirror, he was surprised to see that despite his lack of sleep, he had no dark spots under his eyes. He didn’t dwell on it though. It was a good thing though. They’d look pretty bad on his pale skin. Though Mordecai never really cared about his appearance. He didn’t care much for the opinions of others. He did things because he wanted to, well when he had the choice to do what he wanted. Unfortunately for him, this was not one of those times.
He left the bathroom and quickly pulled on his clothes, a white cotton tee shirt, khaki cargo pants, and black work boots with white socks underneath. He sighed again for about the seventh time today before leaving the confines of the bunkroom. Thoughts of escape filled his head. He could do it, and they wouldn’t chase him, the only people forcing him to be there were his parents.
He kept a brisk pace and tried to think of something that didn’t suck. He had left his MP3 player in the hangar yesterday so the only thing that could distract him was counting the tiles on the floor as he walked by. It wasn’t an interesting task but it was better than what he was originally doing. He looked down at his digital wrist watch and saw that he had only ten minutes left before breakfast closed down.
“Shit!” he said as he picked up the pace. He was almost there anyway so it wouldn’t be that long, but he wanted to be sure.
Mordecai had arrived at the cafeteria with seven minutes to spare. It was practically empty except for Joe and a chef. He was surprised to see both of them there. Joe because he was usually one of the first people there and one of the first people gone. And the chef because he was a chef who was no younger than forty. There was usually just some old lady that served gruel out of a large pot. It was the best way to save money when having to serve fifty people three meals a day. He sniffed the air and his mouth began to fill with saliva do to the savory scent of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and so much more. There was an entire breakfast buffet prepared by a master chef. Mordecai assumed that they did this as a departure gift to the volunteers.
Mordecai scampered over to the table like a small child running to the tree on Christmas day. This would be the first proper breakfast he would have eaten in months. He piled his plate with eggs, bacon, French toast, pancakes, and sausages. The chef smirked as if he found Mordecai amusing. In fact, if Mordecai saw someone doing this he himself would find it amusing.
“Thank you,” Mordecai said with a nod to the man who had made the food.
“You are very welcome young man, good luck today,” the chef said.
“We’ll need it,” he said and then walked away towards the astronaut.
Joe waved his hand and called for Mordecai to sit with him, as if he didn’t know that Mordecai sat with him every day during their meals.
“Good morning Captain Armstrong,” Mordecai said with the utmost sarcasm as he sat at the table.
“I told you already, just call me Joe unless the lab coats are around,” Joseph said with a chuckle. He had been rather uncomfortable when people were formal with him. “We wouldn’t want them chewing you out on the big day.”
“You’re right about that, the big day,” Mordecai said with a sigh.
“What’s wrong Mords?” That’s what people other than his parents, and the people who didn’t know his name, had taken to calling him.
“Have I told you how much I really don’t want to go on this trip?” He asked. His mind rushed back to the thoughts of all the things that could go wrong. What if they had happened? Mordecai had no fear of death. It was the dying part that scared him.
“Yes, many times in fact,” Joe said with a smirk. “And I’ve always responded with the same thing. It’s natural to be a bit jittery before your first launch. I was afraid my first time.”
Mordecai closed his eyes. This was different. Joe had gone up in shuttles that have barely left the Earth’s atmosphere. A stroll down the road compared to what they were about to do. “I suppose you’re right,” he said and put a fork full of pancakes into his mouth. They were still moist and fluffy, by far the best breakfast he had had in a very long time.
“Yes I am. Now finish your food and get ready, we’ll be launching in a few hours.” Joe said as he stood up from the table. “Meet me and Carla in the hangar when you’re done,” with that, he walked away.
“Okay,” Mordecai said to the departing astronaut. He, his family, and about ten others would be on their ship. Five ships in total would be going. Each with enough supplies for twenty people to last at least a year. So if Mars was inhabitable, they’d last over a year if they ration properly. Luckily they had made machines capable of turning carbon dioxide into oxygen so as long as they didn’t break, they’d have breathable air. There’s another thing, if they broke, they’d all die. “This blows.”
He finished his food ten minutes later then glanced at his watch. Two hours and he’d be off this planet. One way or another. Dead or alive. He walked to the garbage bin and tossed out his plate. He said thank you to the chef one last time before leaving the cafeteria and heading to the hangar. Coincidentally he was going to head there when he was finished eating whether Joe had asked him to or not. He needed his music. Something to distract him from the crushing thoughts of his imminent death.
Mordecai had walked up to the large hangar door labeled “HANGAR 8”. This was the hangar that contained the Ulysses X7V; At least Mordecai got to ride in the one with a cool name, in his opinion at least. He stared upon the sight of the gargantuan ship. He felt so small in comparison. Hell an eighteen wheel tractor trailer was small in comparison. The part that was even more amazing was that the Ulysses was the smallest of all the ships that would be launching today. Mordecai was feeling even worse about going now. What if one of the ships lost control and crashed into the one he’d be in. If the crash hadn’t killed him, the exposure to open space definitely would. His mind went back to how his parents hadn’t even thought of asking his opinion on this. It didn’t matter though, it was too late. He would have to, unless his parents changed their minds before launch. But that was as likely as them actually making it to Mars.
“Hey Mords, c’mere!” Carla yelled from the other side of the hangar. The room was completely empty except for the ship and a few scientist and the two astronauts.
“Okay,” Mordecai said. After a long, hard look at the Ulysses, he leisurely walked over to her. “Where’s Joe?” He asked.
“Up in the ship. He’s just testing everything out. To make sure that we don’t die in a fiery inferno or something like that,” she said with a wave of her hand. As if she said that he was checking if the cup holders were attached.
Mordecai gulped at the words. “That’s… reassuring,” though it wasn’t at all, that only made his fears more intense.
“Glad I could help,” she said with a large smile. “That’s what I’m here for, witty one liners and making people want to run away before the fun starts.”
“Do you know when the launch time is?” He asked wanting to hurry up and get this over with. Then it dawned on him, he hadn’t seen his parents all day. “And have you seen my parents?”
“There was a slight problem with weight so instead of riding with us they’ll be on the Roosevelt 4P1. And launch time is in half an hour, they decided to do it a bit early. I guess they’re getting impatient or something,” Carla gestured with her hands as she spoke, a little thing that she did. “You’ll see them after we land on Mars. Well if we land on Mars.”
Mordecai gave her a look that could burn a hole through solid metal. He knew very well that they may not make it there, she didn’t have to mention it in almost every sentence. “It’ll take weeks for us to get there,” not that he cared though, The fact that he’d be away from his parents that long was a huge relief. There would be too many arguments if they were all on the same ship.
“If we get there,” she said again, the smile never leaving her face. It was as if she enjoyed making him uneasy. “Don’t worry, the coats are sure that it’ll work this time.”
“That’s what they said the last several times,” he retorted, stupidly reminding himself of the immense danger this holds.
“True, but there’s no backing out now. We’re going and so are you,” she said brushing her long, brown hair out of her face.
“Unfortunately you’re right,” he said, there was no chance of leaving, not at this point. He was far past the point of no return.
He walked over to grab his MP3 player. It was fully charged, it usually was, at this point in time they had already made batteries that lasted a very long time. This thing wouldn’t lose charge for at least a month. Technology was great. He always wondered how earphones worked though. How a file on a device goes through a long wire and emits sound out of the other end. That was cool to him.
A signal came through the intercom. There had been drills of this all throughout the many months that he’d been there. Though now it was the real deal… time to get ready to launch.
Carla gave him a smile and a wave goodbye then walked to the women’s changing room. Each hangar had their own changing rooms. He went into the one that was designated for the males under the age of eighteen, only one other person was there, a young five year old Hispanic boy who was extremely excited about the trip. If only Mordecai was as ignorant as this child, he wouldn’t be as on edge as he currently was. But what kind of parents would let their child, who hadn’t even reached double digits in age yet, go on such a dangerous and life threatening journey? That was just madness and poor parenting.
“Are you excited?” The kid asked. He had a slight lisp that made his words sound strange.
“Not really. But I don’t have a choice,” Mordecai responded as he opened up the locker to the left of him.
“I can’t wait,” the kid said the enthusiasm clearly showing in his young, high pitched voice.
“That’s a good thing. That means that you’re at least braver than I am,” Mordecai joked. The kid then started laughing and they both started getting ready.
Mordecai took his seat in the back, he chose this seat just in case the control panel exploded, this way he wouldn’t be caught in the explosion. Though the explosion would probably break the viewport and cause him to die anyway. There were so many thought about how he could die on the trip, and even more thoughts of how he’d die if they even got to Mars.
He didn’t know why, but this just seemed like the worst idea on the planet to him. Why would humans want to inhabit a different planet? Earth was just fine. Apart from the rising population that would probably cause the world to become overpopulated one day which would lead to mass panic and the implosion of society. Though that wouldn’t happen in his generation. So they could postpone the entire thing until that happens.
Mordecai was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of an explosion in front of Mordecai. They hadn’t even launched yet and the worst was already happening. Something went wrong and the cockpit blew up. He saw Carla and Joseph burning along with several other passengers towards the front. Mordecai fumbled with the very intricate seat belt that was around his waist and torso. Once he was free, he sprung from his seat and ran to door in attempts to open it, but out the window, he saw the emptiness of space fly by. When had they taken off? Surely Mordecai would have noticed that. Though he stopped wondering that because the fire was quickly spreading. Luckily, none of the windows had broken, so he had time to come up with a plan. Not a lot of time, but time nonetheless. He then heard a very high pitched screech. The boy from the changing room hadn’t been able to undo his seatbelt and he was burning. Mordecai held back his vomit as the smell of burnt flesh filled the room. That poor, poor child. But he then saw the boy’s parent in the far corner. They had left the boy in his seat in order to save themselves. Those bastards. Mordecai quickly scanned the room, no one was left except the two parents. He quickly sprinted to the room in the back of the ship with the quickness of a man on fire, or at least a man trying not to be on fire. He locked the door as the two parents tried to get in. He heard their screams but just blocked them out, they left their child young child to die, so he would leave them to die. Fear filled his mind as the fire began to spread towards him. This was how he was going to die, in a giant fire in space. But Joseph had checked everything on the ship. He said it was perfect. Though even the smartest man in the world was wrong every once in a while. This was the end of him, the end of it all. He began to sweat do to mixture of pure fear, and the heat from the rapidly approaching fire that would be his demise. Finally the fire had reached him and began to spread up his leg. It felt as if someone was tearing the flesh from his body with a rusty spoon. The pain and agony of the burning alive was unbearable. He let out a scream of desperation, fear, and agony before he snapped back to reality.
He was in his seat, doing absolutely nothing. He wasn’t even breathing heavily. There was no fire in sight. The room has absent of the smell of burnt human bodies, and was replaced by a sort of new car smell. He was completely dry of sweat, it was actually a bit chilly in the room. He looked out of the window to see that they were still in the hangar. He was completely safe. He didn’t know what that was, or how his mind could make up a thought so horrifying and vivid. But it didn’t matter. It most have been his fear taking over and giving him that awful thought.
“Okay time for a transport!” a voice called from outside. The very large truck that carried the shuttle was about to make its two hour drive to the launching site. This was about to happen, and he couldn’t do anything. He felt helpless and alone. He looked up at the front of the ship where Carla and Joseph sat. They must have taken their sets while he was stuck in his imagination.
Mordecai spent his last few hours on Earth listening to music. The songs that came on were pretty varied. They went from hardcore thrash metal, to classic rock, to ballads, to alternative metal. Basically if it had an electric guitar, Mordecai listened to it. It had always been something he liked, he grew up listening to older music from the days of his grandparents and the rock music of today. It was great.
While listening to music, he forgot all about his fears and that weird scene that played in his mind. It was so lifelike. Like having a nightmare while he was still awake. If that never happened again, it would be too soon. The music that he listened to carried him to a place where explosions and screams only happened in videos, concerts, and guitar solos. He would stay there forever if he had a chance to. Suddenly there was a bump that ripped the earphones from Mordecai’s head. “Damn,” he said.
The young boy had went to the back to sit next to Mordecai, he guessed that the kid took a liking to him. “ You can’ say that word. You aren’t an adult,” the boy said.
“I’m almost an adult. Only six more months until my birthday,” Mordecai retorted. “My name is Mordecai by the way. What’s yours?”
“It’s Manny,” The kid said with a toothy grin.
“So what did you want to do when you grew up? Before this trip.” Mordecai asked, he was trying to keep his mind off of death and things that could go wrong so he asked the question that always got kids to talk endlessly.
“I wanted to be a policeman,” Manny said simply, so much for endless yammering.
“That’s pretty cool kid,” of course the kid would say something like that. Almost all kids wanted to be a police officer, or a fire fighter, or something like that. Mordecai used to want to be a professional wrestler. But now what he wants to be when he’s a full grown adult, is alive.
Listening to music and talking to the kid had passed quite a bit of time. They were finally at the launch site. They’d be taking off in just a few minutes. Mordecai’s heart was going a mile a minute, he added heart attack to the list of way that he might die today. He looked over at many who had the biggest smile on his face. Mordecai shut his eyes tight and imagined things that made him happy. His dog Chip, who was now at his cousins house. The first concert that he had ever been to, Break The Night. His old friends, that he’d probably never see again. And writing, he was an amazing writer and wrote many short stories. Perhaps he’d continue if they got to Mars. But that was highly unlikely, they weren’t going to get to Mars, ever. They’d all die and Mordecai knew it. He’d live an extremely short life of only seventeen and a half years. Because he was ripped away from all chances of survival by people who had lived full lives. They screwed him over, and for that, he hated them.
But that wasn’t important, what was important was that they were being turned so they were laying back in their chairs, the ship was being turned upright in order to launch, their ship was the last one to arrive at the launch site. This was it, go time. Everyone had waited many long months just for this ten second countdown.
A voice came through a speaker that started to count down in a distorted voice, “launch in T minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six-“
It was all interrupted by the same vision that Mordecai had earlier, but this time, he and the Manny had been in the back room and Mordecai was opening some sort of hatch. Why was this vision so different than the last one? Why were both Mordecai and Manny not burning alive? Not that he wanted them to both die such a terrible death, but it was still strange to him. Why was he in this predicament again? Was there a reason for this to happen? But he would get no answers now, the door was shut tight, the rest of the passengers were all burning alive, or just burning depending on whether or not they were still alive, and they’d be burning soon enough, unless Mordecai had not done something in time. He grabbed the door handle to the cargo bay then hurried inside wit Manny in a quickness. They were safe, but now what? They couldn’t get out and the flames were bound to reach them eventually. Mordecai had no clue what to do now. So many questions had shot through his head. The main one being, ‘what is happening.’
Before any of these questions were answered, the vision went away, that was twice now in just a few hours, something must have been wrong with him, perhaps the breakfast had caused him to hallucinate. Or maybe he was so scared that he was having extremely terrifying day dreams.
“Five, four, three, two, one,” the voice continued, obviously it was neither of those things, because apparently the whole vision happened in less than a second. Something was up, he just didn’t exactly know what it was. The voice then uttered the words, “we have liftoff.”
