“You are correct, Sabrina. They won’t know for another twenty minutes or so. We’ve successfully landed on another world, and we’re the only ones to know!” said Dedrick with a big smile. “How amazing is that?” He got off his seat, grabbed the Guatemalan woman in his big arms, and lifted her off the floor of the cabin effortlessly, laughing.
“Hey! Easy there, cowboy!” reminded him Vera, looking at the two with a teasing frown.
“Ha, ha! Don’t worry, Vera. He’s not my type,” reassured her Sabrina.
Dedrick put her back down.
“What do you mean, not your type? Am I not the most handsome man on the planet?” as he winked at her.
“Now, you’re starting to sound just like François. Give those two a chance to land on another world, and they think they’re Gods of the planets!”
“Hey. Wait a minute…” began François.
“You know you’re the only one for me, baby,” said Dedrick to Vera.
“That’s more like it.” She gave him a playful smile.
“Oh, come on you guys, you’re not gonna start this right now, are you? None of that romantic crap, OK? Come on, let’s get to work!” interjected François.
Dedrick looked at his French friend with lassitude and got back to his seat.
“Ok. We need to contact the station and give the rover our coordinates. Check on our exact location while I attempt contact,” said Dedrick to François.
After making a few adjustments to several dials in front of him, Dedrick grabbed the keyboard and started typing a direct message to ARC 2, one of the two rovers waiting for the ship’s arrival at the Mars First outpost.
“Hello ARC 2. This is Mars First One team leader, Dedrick Sokolov, requesting transport assistance.”
A few seconds passed.
“ARC 2. This is Mars First One, requesting transport assistance.”
“What’s that rover doing?” asked François. “We have signal, right?”
“Yes. ARC 2. This is Dedrick Sokolov of Mars One First. Requesting transport assistance.”
“Welcome Mars First One team leader Dedrick Sokolov. Please provide exact landing coordinates for transport assistance.”
“Well, it’s about time.” said Dedrick out loud. “Ok, so where are we exactly, Sherlock,” he asked François.
“I’m sending it to you right now,” replied François as he looked over at Dedrick’s screen.
“Got it! Thanks. Forwarding coordinates to ARC 2 right now.”
“How long do you think before the rover gets here? Are we far from the station again?” asked Vera.
“We’re exactly two point six kilometers away; not quite where we were supposed to land, but still within acceptable margin. I would say about fifteen-twenty minutes for the rover to get here, an hour or so to secure the ship, and another one to get back to the station. We should be home for supper!” finished Dedrick, with a wink.
Eight minutes later, the ship’s door opened, and Sabrina emerged in her white and black spacesuit, one hand holding on to the wall of the cabin, the other casting a shadow over her glass helmet as she scanned the horizon.
“Mars!” she thought. “I’m on Mars!”
Vera was soon standing behind her, staring at the amazing view that none of the simulators or pictures could ever have done justice to. The two of them stood there for a while. Far in the distance, the orange horizon was meeting with the immense plains above the cliffs. The steep rocky faces surrounding the flat lands were a sight unlike any they had ever seen. And no other human, as a matter of fact, would see for at least another two years. Most of the immediate area around the ship was flat and predominantly desert like. Low dusty mounts, dirt, and loose rocks covered the ground. There were no clouds. The sun, low to the left, was adding a surreal tint of reddish blue to the alien landscape.
“Wow, check out the sun! It really looks smaller… I’ve seen countless pictures and videos, but now you can really tell. Crazy, don’t you think?”
Vera did not reply. She was mesmerized by it all. Yes, the sun looked smaller from Mars, and several kilometers away, what had looked like small dried out river beds from space, now looked more like deep canyons with sharp cliff sides, taller than they had imagined. Being there was so different. The sensation was indescribable, and their hearts were beating faster than normal from the excitement. Yet, once one took in the immensity of the cliffs and their dark shadows; dust, dirt, and a reddish-brown ground was all that comprised the entire scenery, as far as the eyes could see. There were no oceans on Mars, nor rivers or streams; no trees, no plants, no grass. And this eerily silent, desert-like planet, a world completely devoid of life, was now their new home. The four of them had just spent the past six months traveling through space, crammed together in the confined space of the MF1 spaceship, in a space barely larger than a small studio apartment, and though their new habitat would only be slightly larger, they knew it was all worth it. This was the new frontier, mankind’s next adventure.
There, just a few miles away to the right, Vera spotted the white glow of the Mars First station. “Look, Sabrina, the station.”
“I see it!”
About halfway from there, a small trail of dust could also be seen behind the moving ARC 2 rover, clearly visible on such a nice day, even if still over a kilometer away.
“This is it, our new home,” thought Vera.
After almost ten years of preparation and hard work, they were finally on Mars. The entire planet was now their new backyard, a barren world where they were going to spend the rest of their lives.
“So, are we going down or what?” asked François who had just come to the hatch to join them.
“We have to wait for Dedrick,” replied Vera.
“Right!” he said as he pulled the lever next to him to release the outside ladder.
A few seconds later, François approached the small opening.
“Pardon me, ladies.”
“Wait! You’re not supposed to go down yet. Dedrick is still in the cockpit. We’re all going down at the same time, remember?” voiced Sabrina as he started climbing down.
“What’s the difference? Plus, we can’t really all go down the ladder at the same time, now, can we? One of us will set foot on Mars first, no matter how we do this. I’m going down.”
“Thanks, Pal! I thought you guys were gonna wait for me,” said Dedrick who had just rejoined his colleagues at the door.
“There you are!” replied François, still climbing down.
“That’s what we were just telling him,” added Vera.
“I know, I heard you all in my helmet headset. Never mind. Let’s go take a look at our new world. After you, ladies.”
Sabrina started down the ladder.
“Go ahead, baby. I’m right behind you,” offered Dedrick, gesturing to Vera.
A few seconds later, all four were standing on the bare rocky floor of the red planet, the Mars First One spaceship right behind them, its white shell shining in the orange glow of the mid-afternoon sun. They were now completely silent, taking in the fantastic view. François kicked up a small rock that went flying a few meters away.
“So… Where’s the nearest bar?”
“Very funny,” replied Dedrick, sarcastically.
“Should we say something? I mean, some profound line for posterity? You know, like Neil Armstrong did when he landed on the Moon: “A small step for—”
“Yeah, we all know the line, Sabrina. How about, ‘Here we are!’ blurted François, cutting her off.
“You can be such an idiot at times, really! I’m serious. Dedrick, wasn’t there something headquarters wrote for you to say?”