A moment later, the main lights dimmed, and as the music started reverberating against the colorfully decorated walls of the large room, the crowd began mingling and dancing under spinning spotlights of varied colors, syncing their movements to the tempo.
Dedrick wasn’t much of a social bee. He preferred to keep to himself, and was standing towards the back of the gathering, munching casually on appetizers, when he noticed her.
She was definitely looking in his direction. He was leaning against a file cabinet, and a wall was right behind him so there could be no mistake. There was no one else around. For a few moments, his glances kept meeting her gaze, causing him to look away each time, but he eventually gazed back at her long enough for the exchange of a few smiles and a toast from a distance.
By now, Dedrick knew her name, Vera. She had been in training with him and two other applicants for almost a week already. She was from Chicago and she had a sister… Katy or Cathy. She liked cats and preferred white wine over red, had been a flight attendant for a major airline until her selection for the astronaut program, and had never been married. That was all he could remember at the moment. She was beautiful, and she was smiling at him. He gave her a weak smile in return and turned his eyes away once more. He found it hard to look at her, particularly tonight in her black dress with low V-neck, cleavage cut that left little to the imagination. To make matters worse, her beautiful shoulder length blonde hair and bright blue eyes would have made any man melt. After staring at his wine glass for a few more seconds, he took his courage back and glanced in her direction once more. Now, she was walking straight for him. As a wave of panic grabbed his body, she quietly stopped right next to him and turned around to face the rest of the room.
“Hi Dedrick,” she said smiling while looking at the dancing attendees.
“Hey Vera. How are you?” he replied a bit shy.
“I’m good, thank you.”
After a few seconds passed…
“Nice party.”
“Yes. It’s great!” he replied, shaking his head in approval with a bit too much enthusiasm.
“What are you drinking?”
“Oh, huh… It’s Chardonnay,” he replied.
She looked down at her glass and then back at him. He followed her eyes and suddenly realized her glass was empty.
“Oh, let me get you another one,” he said, feeling a bit clumsy as he walked to a table a few meters away and grabbed another wine for her.
“There you go.”
“Thank you!” again smiling at him.
A few moments passed.
“So, what is the name of your hometown in Russia again?” she asked seemingly genuinely interested.
“Tambov. It’s a mid-sized town in the region of Tambov Oblast, in East Russia,” he replied modestly. “My family has been there for four generations, now. I’m the fourth generation.”
“So, you mean, three generations then.”
“Three?”
“Well, yes. You see, since you’re leaving to go to Mars, you can’t be counted on Earth as well. You’re either an Earthling or a Martian. But you can’t be both.”
He did not realize right away she was having a bit of fun with him and responded as if seriously intrigued by her statement.
“Mmmh. I guess you’re right. I didn’t really think about that.”
It took him several seconds to notice the funny smirk on her face that said, “Really? Can’t you see I’m messing with you?”
He chuckled.
“Ha, yes, of course. You got me there.”
“I’m from Boston, by the way, but I was born in Charlottesville, Virginia,” she suddenly offered.
“Ah… Nice. I’ve never been to Boston. In fact, I’ve never been to America.”
“That’s too bad. It’s beautiful. You should visit, sometime,” she added with a little smirk on her face.
He felt a slight tinge in his back. “I would like that,” he replied with a smile.
Dedrick took another sip of wine and finished his glass.
“So, looks like things are going just as planned with the program. I can’t wait to start the next phase of the training.” He vaguely looked at the podium where Lars was standing earlier.
“Yes, so it would seem,” she replied without much enthusiasm.
In all truthfulness, she was more interested in the two of them than the boss’ speech.
A moment of silence passed…
Leaning close to his ear, whispered, “You want to go to the pool?”
“The pool?” he whispered back in surprise, as he turned to her.
“Yes. Come, I’ll show you,” she said smiling, as she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the exit.
The music was still resonating through the hallway when they reached the indoor pool area. The door squeaked and reverberated as they entered the large tiled room. The pool was almost exactly in the center of it. The water was barely moving, its almost perfectly flat surface reflecting occasional rays of light from the neon lights above as the steam rose from the warm water. The only hint of color was coming from the red overhead exit signs above the four doors around the perimeter.
“You’re sure we’re allowed in here this late?” asked Dedrick.
“No, we’re not. That’s what’s exciting!” she replied with a mischievous look in her eyes.
She began undressing as she faced the pool, turning her back to him. Her skirt fell to the tiled floor, followed by her top, underwear, and bra. Without hesitation, she plunged, head first, in the water below. Dedrick stayed still for several seconds, watching her body move through the ripples. She turned around, facing him while maintaining her floatation by waving her arms and legs in the water.
“Are you coming?”
He suddenly felt his member get aroused as he started to take his clothes off. He dove in, reappearing after a few laps underwater right next to Vera who was now standing in a section of the pool only one and a half meters deep. She slowly walked to him and brought herself right against him. As he felt her beautiful, sexy body press against his briefs, he tried in vain to keep his erection under control while she slowly wrapped her arms around his neck. As he watched her lips get closer to his, her beautiful sparkling blue eyes entranced him, and they kissed passionately. He grabbed her hair and the back of her head in his hands, and her body started to slowly pulse against his. In the distance, the crowd screamed in unison as the AC/DC song “Shook Me All Night Long” echoed through the complex.
The journey had begun, and it was off to a great start.
Team One
The first six years of the Mars First program had gone on without hardly any incidents. The very first year had been the most exciting and the easiest in many ways. Aside from the centrifugal accident of Petrea Stonovich, one of the women candidates, during which the subject had had a mild heart attack, forcing Mars First to remove her permanently from the program, most of the twenty-six applicants picked by the committee had proved up to the training expectations. Of course, there were a few resignations from uncertain candidates who, realizing the true magnitude and demands of the mission after the real training had started, had chosen to leave Mars First of their own accord. The company had expected that much and a smaller group of applicants had also been selected as replacement for such situations. Overall, the program was a success and on schedule.
By 2020, the Mars First engineering team was now comprised of some of the best on the planet. After the explosion of interest in the reality show, “Mars First Now,” Lars’ company had created to finance the whole endeavor, the company had acquired some well-deserved recognition in the media as well as the scientific community, and the entire planet was watching. By that summer, the eight members comprising team one and two were in a race to be the first team to land on Mars. Their lives were broadcasted almost twenty-four, seven in twenty-nine countries around the globe. Most of the world’s news was keeping up with the daring project as well. The decision to give the future astronauts a few hours of privacy at night had been reached after the psychiatric advisory board had made it absolutely mandatory. The candidates were left alone from 2100 hours to 0600 hours, military time, every night, unless a special situation prevented it. The rest of the time, a small crew of two, a cameraman and a sound technician, followed them around from their bedroom, to the cafeteria, to the test labs, and especially to the simulation facilities where most of their physical conditioning and training took place.