Martian Legacy Chapter 1

 The full moon shone brightly overhead as Captain Jay Moore piloted his classic Corvette convertible along the Texas back road. After a brutally hot August day the cooler night air flowing into the topless car was a refreshing treat. Jay had just left his girlfriend Erika's house, and could still smell her perfume faintly as it mixed with the smell of manure from the cow pasture just outside the speeding vehicle.

 

Jay smiled as he thought of Erika and cow manure. Erika was a real Texas cowgirl who grew up on her daddy's ranch near Houston. She wasn't afraid to get dirty, and actually seemed happiest when covered in filth. Jay felt a slight twinge of remorse that he wouldn't be able to see her for a while. His boss, General Fielding, had ordered him back to space center and let him know that he might be stuck there for a while. Jay was excited to start a new mission, yet a little apprehensive about being sequestered at the center. He knew it would have to be something big to cause the general to go all cloak and dagger on him. Jay refocused on his driving and picked up his speed just a bit. The sooner he got back to the center, the sooner he would find out what was going down.

 

The tapping of shoe heels against tile seemed unnaturally loud as General Fielding quickly made his way along the harshly lit hallway. Near the end of the hall he pivoted ninety degrees to his right and glided through the doorway without breaking stride. Inside the room several young pilots snapped to attention and General Fielding called out “as you were” before they could even finish getting up. Despite this command, all the pilots stayed on their feet and gave him their undivided attention. He was the reason they had all assembled here, and they couldn't wait to hear the reason. The general was famous for getting right to business, so without preamble he spoke out in his Mississippi drawl “I asked you all here for a very important mission. It seems our Mars rover has sent some very interesting pictures back here lately, and I've been ordered to get boots on the ground and verify the accuracy of said photos.”

 

The pilots could not have been more stunned if the general had morphed into a monkey right before their eyes. As far as they knew the ability to put together a manned Mars mission was at least 20 years into the future at this point, so they all wondered what the general really meant by the boots on the ground comment. They didn't have to wait long for the general continued without pause “ We have a top secret vehicle at the skunk works in Nevada that should be able to transport a crew of six into Mars orbit with a travel time of 18 days. It has an all new propulsion system called fusion drive that makes this possible. I need four of you ready to lift off in six weeks. You will train with and accompany two civilians on the mission, and two of you will train as backups should anyone need to be replaced. Any questions? Good.” With that the general turned and headed for the door. “Colonel Willis, they're all yours” he said over his shoulder as he left the room.

 

Jay and the other pilots were left speechless by the general's announcement. They could do no more than stare agape at each other before Colonel Willis barked out “Listen up, we've got a lot to cover in very little time so grab a seat and let's get started.” As they all settled into the desk type chairs, the lights dimmed and the front wall lit up with images from the projector. Colonel Willis provided the commentary. “This is the footage from the rover that's causing such a stir.” On the wall was some rather jerky footage reminiscent of a home movie with an eerie orange tint to it. It appeared to be the rover transversing some nondescript orange sand. Slowly something more solid appeared protruding from the sand some distance away. As the rover headed toward it, the object began to clarify as something like stone but with very straight finished looking edges. As the rover crept slowly forward it began to dawn on everyone that there was an unnaturally shaped stone tablet half buried on the surface of Mars.

 

The rover finally arrived at the tablet and slowly maneuvered around to the opposite side. The rover stopped and the camera was able to zoom in to show what looked like hieroglyphics carved on the tablet. The image froze and Colonel Willis said “Our mission is to land a crew on the Martian surface and locate this object. Once there we will determine if it can be retrieved. If so we will package it and stow it for transport back to Earth. If we are unable to effectively retrieve it, we will need to excavate and study it in place. In either case we will need someone there trained to excavate and handle this type of object. So in addition to the four aviators, this mission will also include an egyptologist and a paleontologist.” A slight groan went up from the group when they heard this, because they all knew how much trouble it was to babysit civilians while on a difficult mission.

 

Colonel Willis ignored them and went on. “OK, the four lucky aviators will be; Jay Moore, Scott Simmons, Phil King and Rachel Noonan. The backups will be Morgan Jessup and Tracy Stone.” The group looked at each other and nodded as they were relieved to know their roles in this mission. “Moore is chief pilot and commander. Simmons is co-pilot and second in command. King is in charge of navigation and communications. Noonan is systems engineer.” The assignments were no big surprise to the group, in fact it would have turned out the same if Colonel Willis had left it up to the group to decide. “The two civilians are Clive Aziz and Bethany Howell. They are currently undergoing flight training, and once they arrive here all six of you will begin simulations for the new craft. Don't worry, it's laid out basically the same as what you're used to. The only difference is the propulsion system, which is called fusion drive. Jay spoke up then “I've never heard of fusion drive. How does it work?” Colonel Willis explained, “Basically it's powered by weapons grade uranium. It employs a focused, controlled nuclear explosion. The thrust is so great we don't have instruments that can accurately measure it.” Scott raised his hand and spoke, “Is that supposed to make us feel more comfortable about the mission? 'Cause I gotta tell you, it don't.” Colonel Willis replied, “Well, when the propulsion technicians explain it to you more thoroughly I'm sure your delicate constitution will be put at ease.” Jay and the others had to work hard at suppressing their grins as the Colonel went on. “OK, lets make our way over to the simulation lab and get this show on the road.” And with that Colonel Willis left the classroom with six young pilots in tow.

Reviews

[s]

Good stuff there sir. Not really my style for reading, but the line and cadence of the story were easy enough to follow. This first chapter hops from point of point quite quickly, keeping the theme of being "thrown into a situation", and allows you to feel as the young pilots would, being in that situation.

On the other side of the spectrum, I'd like to add that there is a lot of room for human reaction and to tell of it from a closer perspective. You can paint a scene beautifully, but there's a lack of human emotion that doesn't allow the audience to connect with the character. (Now i know that this is only the first chapter and I'm hoping there will be a lot more delight for me in the upcoming ones.) Maybe you were trying to keep the theme of being thrown into something, and through that caused this first chapter to go without the character development, and to save it for the next chapters. All in all, it was an excellent thought structure, and I'd like to read more. Keep up the good work!

-Senirra

[Jentry]

Like it. The voice you've given to the story is quite entertaining. This sentence 'Jay smiled when he thought of Erika and cow manure' made me laugh out loud.

I find it very easy to read and highly enjoyable. Keep up.