Fictional story

Fictional story for vocational school. I got inspired by project "Mars One".


Journey to the Red Planet

With the eyes of the fly on the wall

Man landed on the Moon fifty-four years ago, since there have been dozens of visitors, years after years new astronauts have walked on top the our only orbiter. After conquering Moon, man has took a look even further, he has sended satellites, Rovers and probes search information a lot further from unknown space. We know nowadays so much, but not yet enough and we are thirsty to knowlegde. And know, finally, after ten years planning and training astronauts, we are sending four to long trip to the Red Planet. Those four, two men and two women, will be the first ones landing their foot place where not single one other has ever landed, and those four, will live rest of their lives on the cold, lonely planet, building and preparing new home to people.

People all around the world are watching the launching via televisio, internet and radio. Feelings are corresponding to first launch to Moon. Astronauts have said goodbyes to their family and friends and exactly at midday countdown starts. 10... 9... In the rocket Captain and other three astronauts are waiting. 7... 6... Captain is sitting next to youngest astronaut, he can feel that man´s pressure and the cold fear, that young man is breathing heavily and squeezing armrests. On Captain´s face, there is only a small, peaceful smile. He doesn´t feel fear. He raises his hand and calmly pats young astronauts shoulder, gives him smile. Young astronaut nods a bit and Captain can feel in the atmosphere that young boy calms. A little. 2... 1...

It starts with strengthen tremor, young astronaut close his eyes tightly and holds his breath. Shaking makes him feel bad and he wants throw up, it feels like hundreds of hours used for preparing this moment are gone from his mind, he doesn´t remember anything what educators have told him, he is like that 18-year-old kid who started training eight years ago with excitement and big expectations. He feels as naïve as he was then. They doesn´t hear hurrays and joy because of magnifient noise. First booster rocket falls after pushing module on 70 kilometres high and when next boost starts, it makes tremor and noise even worse, as well as next two boosters which pushes module all the way to Earth´s orbit. Noise keeps on and on, worse every second and young astronaut is sure his ears will blow and tremor make him heart stop. But finally noise starts go down. Tremor still shakes them, but they hear on speakers voice of whole project´s leader. ”We did it.” Same joy raises among astronauts as on the Earth within people.

When rocket finally reaches Earth´s orbit, Captain takes his safety-belt off and three others follows his example. Gravity is gone and astronauts starts float around control room. Round windows shows them darkness, shiny stars million miles away and blue planet, moving further away every second. Rocks and spacetrash hits module, but astronauts can´t feel or hear those little thumps and journey goes on without worries, only a pure, silent excitement fills air. Now they´ve started seven months long trip. Aim on Mars.

Days go similar with eachother, astronauts eats simple food, exercises at least three hours every day, sleeps, plans and talks to Earth´s station, some days they get messages from their families and they can also send original or videomessages to family and close-ones. Everyone of them has their own special jobs, Captain example stays mostly at control room, where he can make plans and preparations for journey and landing. Others ofcourse help him, but they mostly focus on their own projects, breeding plants and vegetables, writing reports and making researches.

One day, after they´ve been traveling for a seven months, Jenny, the head mechanic turns on radio as every day before at the same time, but she can hear only a fuzzy noise. She tries to turn it off and on again, but nothing happens. It´s not unusual that connection loses and mostly it comes just soon back so Jenny doesn´t worry too much. She sits on chair and waits for a while, tries to do some little fixes to make connection work. Captain comes soon control room to see what colleagues on Earth has to say, and he gets far more worried about radio than Jenny. Ofcourse Jenny is confused and asks what is the problem, but Captain explains her just slightly about his worries, and says that it´s not so bad that it sounds. That Jenny´s doesn´t have to worry. Jenny doesn´t answer anything, just keeps her doubts silently on herself. Radio doesn´t start working that day, so they keep doing other jobs and just hopes that problem will be fixed on Earth.

Few days go on, they can´t get radio work and fuzzy noise makes especially youngest astronaut anxious. After a week when Marianne, the flight´s only botanist is on her watch turn in control room, radio suddenly makes different, ratching noise. Marianne straightens herself and takes the microphone. She tries to ask if Earth would hear her, but ratching noise keeps going. She is already going to give up, they probably just got some area with different frequency and radio is taking signals from nowhere, when ratching noise goes down and sharp, a bit like mumbling sound takes over. Marianne just sits there frozen, she can´t move. Voice sounds like talking, but it´s no any human race´s language. Mumbling doesn´t stop and Marianne forces herself to get up, she runs to get someone. Captain is the first one coming across so he goes to control room with Marianne. That mumbling sounds still when Captain and Marianne reaches control room. For a moment Captain only stares at radio and Mariannes stares Captain. ”What do we do?” Marianne askes, silently as whispering. Captain doesn´t answer, just sits down and takes microphone and press contact button. He doesn´t have time to say much when mumbling suddenly changes, bitter, like angry bird´s hiss. Still phrasing stays, they can here it´s still talking. Captain cannot react at all as well Marianne can´t and both freezes completely. Rocket jolts a little at first, but it makes travellers flinch. And in no time rocket jolts again, harder and it throws Captain and Marianne to the wall and right after third jolt brakes factitious gravity.

They can hear screaming and both starts to fight their way cross the air out from control room. Every time when rocket jolts, scream hardens for a while. Captain and Marianne reaches maintenance room and they see youngest astronaut, tears on his cheeks and face filled with pain, and metalbar through his thigh. Jenny ties tightly piece of cloth above metalbar to young astronaut´s thigh to staunch bleeding. Captain hurry comes help her and tells Marianne to go get first-aid kit from control rooms cabinet.

Marianne tries to hurry, but moving was hard and she was scared and panic. When she reaches control room, she glances from window and sees thousands of long, huge metallic cords, moving slowly in the space. Even when cords moved slowly, Marianne sees them gathering closer, around rocket. Marianne just stares outside, she can´t move, she can´t breathe, she can´t believe what she is seeing. She just hears her colleague´s screaming for pain, Captain yelling orders to put on space suits and mostly she just listens that horribly mumbling from radio.

Rocket jolts again and walls scrunches a bit. Marianne closes her eyes and holds her breath, trying not to be crying. ”Can you hear me? Flight Falcon Heavy can you hear me?” Marianne opens her eyes and stares at radio. She can hear Earth, voice that they´ve lost days ago. She hurries to radio and tries to answer, but walls scrunches again, more. Now she cries, cries for a help, cries that they are all going to die.

Rocket jolts again, and this time, straight trough the wall comes one of those metallic cords. Broken wall absorbs all the breathable air in no time and cord moves silently and slowly at control room´s door, leaving Marianne float above radio. Lifeless eyes stares after cord, unseeing and giving no reaction short, choked screams. Just less than a second, whole rocket silents, just cords slowly braking in and flight stays there, floating around space with no aim.