LSWC The first man on Mars.

“Nick please remember, never lose your faith in God” his mother’s words kept playing over and over in his mind. Sometimes he couldn’t remember her face and that scared him. A sudden jolt tilted the shuttle pod forwards. The computer showed the shuttle had entered the atmosphere of Mars. Not long now thought Nick “Please God, help me through this” he said in a quiet voice. He remembered his mother when she became ill and the way she drew strength from her faith. He didn’t understand fully what it meant to her but knowing she had gone to a better place when she passed over gave him some comfort. The lights on the console in front of him started to flash and a warning alarm began to sound. This is it thought Nick the moment he had waited for all his life, he was about to land on Mars and be written into the history books. The countdown started 10,9,8,7,6...

Five seconds to impact, his hands gripped the seat as the turbulence rocked his chair and all the equipment around him. Four...three... Christ he thought as his whole body shook, two.... he clenched his teeth...one.... then there was a slight pause as if everything had stopped. The shuttle pod hit the surface of Mars with a heavy thud sending up clouds of dust in all directions. Slowly silence filled the cabin. He stared out of the window looking at the dust blowing in the wind and as he did a voice spoke “Congratulations Viking4, you have successfully landed on Mars. How are you feeling Nick?” He sat there looking through the porthole window at the red planet, both excited and scared. “Er..Hi, NASA everything is fine, the landing was ok, all systems checked, I’m switching the camera on” The camera was in his helmet and a visual link to the new world. The video feed was going to be shown live across the Earth in to every country and every home; everyone would remember where they were on the day we landed on Mars.

Jack was in charge of the whole operation and standing in the main control room at NASA watching the pictures coming up on the screen in front of him. This was his big day too, he watched his father work on this project all his life, he knew how much it meant to him, and still couldn’t believe it when he handed the project over. They spoke about it on the phone the other night though that wasn’t the reason Jack called. He gave a retirement party for his father and everyone was there, apart from him. They argued about it and said things that they didn’t really mean; it all got out of hand.

Jack’s father stood in the corner of the room, waiting and watching. He was lurking in the distance wondering why they had asked him to step down and hand the project over to his son. His life and career was meant for this moment, he gave up everything to be here and yet it was not his day. History only remembers the people of the moment and not the ones that got us there.

Jack looked at the screen before him, people were rushing around the room, carrying pieces of paper, working on the computers, and generally preparing themselves. There was a buzz of excitement and everyone was ready “Nick are you ready to step outside” said Jack reading from the script, everything was planned in detail for this mission even down ready prepared scripts “Hi NASA, I’m making my way to the door” said Nick. He didn’t have a script and had to remember every word in his head, which only added to his anxiety. He checked his suit as he started to walk to the door.

“Ok NASA, I’m opening the door now” he said pulling the handle and pushing the door open. A sudden gust of wind rushed into the shuttle pod pushing him backwards for a second. He looked down and got ready to put his left boot onto the first step, he stepped down. The video signal died. “What?” cried Jack “I can’t see anything”... “Where’s the picture?”

Nick paused upon hearing the commotion in his earpiece; this is not what he wanted to hear stuck on this planet alone. There was a brief silence which was interrupted by people shouting it can’t be fixed and then silence again. The long cold pause carried itself through space and time moved very slowly. “Nick... said Jack breaking the silence... probably best if you carry on, we still have audio” great thought Nick that’s going to be impressive. He looked down to see where to place his right boot on the Martian soil, he stepped down, his foot pushed into the hard red soil and he looked up...”This is one small step for man.....he paused.... then nothing.... still nothing.... the silence grew longer, and began to feel awkward, Jack mouthed the words and one giant step for mankind, why wasn’t he saying it.

“Er...excuse me sir” said a man in the control room, his voice was directed towards Jack, “we’ve lost the live audio link to the media networks ” this was all going wrong and Jack felt out of his depth, people began to look towards him for answers and support but he didn’t know what to do.

Jack turned to his father in the corner of the room, looking for guidance and help but his father just looked away. It only took that brief second for him to see the disappointment in his father’s eyes. He knew he had failed him. As his father turned to leave the room Jack continued to look in his direction hoping he would look back but he didn’t.

Nick stood staring into the distance on Mars, trying to work out what it was he could see. The wind was getting stronger, causing giant dust storms that obscured his vision. What was that he thought, it looked like a flashing light, the silence broke.
“Nick, its Jack you can speak feely now we are not live anymore, what’s going on?”
“Jack...I can see a light, a flashing light in the distance...it’s not that far away.” the audio signal started to hiss and break up.
What thought Jack a light, what the hell was he talking about.
“I’m going to walk towards it.” shouted Nick through the crackling signal and with that the audio signal died.

The weather on Mars was disrupting the audio and video links back to Earth. Suddenly the NASA control room came alive with noise, machines started processing data, people were shouting, telephones ringing, and it was all too much for Jack to take in. He was losing his grip on the situation and had no idea what to do.

Continued below...

Slowly Nick pushed onwards towards the flashing light, his body leaned forward into the wind as it constantly pushed him backwards. The dust storms were growing in strength and speed as he stretched his arms out to protect himself. He thought of his wife and the things she said the day he left.

“Why Nick, why do you have to go?” she said in a sharp voice.
“I don’t but you know how much I want to do this” he replied softly.
“Just don’t be a hero, I want you back here with me” she said.
“Me, a hero, as if I would, you know I don’t do stuff like that “ he said smiling at her.

The light was only a few yards away from him now, even at this distance he could see it was some kind of beacon. Why is there a beacon on Mars and what was it for, he thought as he made his way down a dusted path. The winds started to die down and he heard the audio signal start to crackle again. He had reached his destination and stood in front of the tall flashing beacon. It was made from some kind of dark metal and half way up was a metal box about 30cm x 30cm x 30cm again made from the same material. It had a simple handle on it to open.

“Nick, can you hear me....its Jack, what’s happening?”
“Jack... I’m standing in front of the light, it’s a beacon of some kind, there’s a small metal box, do you want me to open it?” said Nick.

The NASA control room fell silent as Nicks words echoed through the speakers. Jack looked towards his scientists, researchers and analysts. One of them spoke up,
“It’s not a good idea Jack; we have no way of telling what’s in there”
“Yeah, we could be unleashing hell” said another “or even worse” said someone else.
Jack paused for a moment trying to think what could be worse than hell.
“Nick its Jack, do not open the box, I repeat do not open the box” he said in a firm voice.

Nick stood there alone on Mars waiting for the reply from NASA. The wind pushed and pulled him in all directions as he tried to stay upright. He felt out of his depth on this distant planet. As he stood there watching the dust swirl in the wind his mind wandered to home and how things used to be. Slowly the dust particles began form images in front of him as he remembered.... first a car, then his house, then his wife, and finally his mother.

“Hey mum” he said quietly.
“Hi Nick, how are you?” she said.
“I’m not doing to good right now” he replied as he watched the dust swirl around him.
“Never lose your faith Nick, remember that” said his mother.

The radio signal in his ear piece started to crackle and the image of his mother faded back into the dust storm.

“Nick .... Jack, d ...... t open ..... box .... open the....” sounded the words.
“ What?” replied Nick, “You want me to open the box”
The signal died.

Nick stood there in front of the box, thinking and waiting. Is this what he was meant to do, slowly he reached out and turned the dial, the box lid opened with a rush as the vacuum seal broke. Then all went quiet. No hell was unleashed, no explosions, just.. nothing.

He opened the lid and peered inside. The video and audio signal to NASA came back on and pictures of the box covered the huge screen in the control room. Nick looked deeper inside towards the bottom of the box. There was a piece of paper with “Document 1342-17” written on it, he reached in and picked up the document.
“NASA, can you see this?” said Nick.
“Yeah, we have the video link back up now” said Jack.
He opened up the document, it read,

GENETIC ORIGINS PROGRAMME

Department: Genetic Origins Department
Galaxy: Milky Way
Planet: Mars
Status: Deactivated

Results: Due to circumstances beyond our control the genetic origins programme for Mars has been terminated, please note the Genetic Origins Department (G.O.D.) will not be held responsible for any loss of life that occurred during termination of the Mars programme. Next programme to commence shortly.

Next Project: 1342-18
Planet: Earth
Status: Active

G.O.D. will return to evaluate the Earth programme within the near future. In the meantime please direct all enquiries to our customer services department. Thank you.

The NASA control room went quiet, with just the whirring noise of the air conditioning system above them. Everyone sat there in silence trying to take in what this meant to them alone. The silence was interrupted by a scientist in the corner of the room.

“Jack.... our live feed to the media networks, it came back on 2 minutes ago, we’ve just shown this live to the world.”

FIN.




[edit on 1-7-2008 by John Q]

[edit on 1-7-2008 by John Q]

I loved it.

You had me from the first sentence.

Exciting...

wow john
what a gread story and what a solution
the idea of seeing god as a abrivation of a "Genetic Origins Department" is absolutly marvelous



i enjoyed every word
well done my friend