Here's a picture of my character Sam:

Chapter one—Arrival

The large warehouse was empty, except for 10 chairs all in a circle, and five staff members roaming the area. The walls were padded, but the floor was made of cold, grey cement. Each chair was labeled with a name, and held various luggage underneath. The scene was set. The only thing left was to wait for people to arrive. 

A portal opened on the left side of the warehouse. Selena tumbled out of it and was immediately hit in the head with a rolled up newspaper. She stood up, brushed off her clothes, and stared down the staffer. Her facial expression turned and she went back to being her energetic self.

“Hi! I’m Selena! Who are you? Why’d you hit me on the head?”

“I know who you are.” The staffer begins, in the same monotonous voice used in the hologram just minutes earlier. “I am Jace. One of your directors.”

Jace begins to walk away, but Selena follows not too close, just close enough for Jace to snap.

“Sit down, please. The next one’s arriving soon.”

“But you didn’t answer my second question! And the next who? And where are we? I thought we were going to space!”

Jace ignores the pestering girl, and lets Selena find her way to the chair with a bright, yellow banner holding her name in curly, bubble letters. The rest of the staffers fuss about while Jace assumes a spot on the wall. Xe’ve just begun to pace back and forth when the next human comes tumbling through the wall. 

“Welcome, Nova.” Xe announces, shocking the poor person. 

“Where’d m-my room go?” Nova says, quietly, inching away from the rolled newspaper in Jace’s hand.

“Please go join that girl over there, we’re on a schedule. I don’t have time to answer questions.” says Jace, in xyr regular monotonous voice.

“Which chair is mine?”

“Just take a guess. It shouldn’t be that hard.”

Jace dismisses the girl and Nova walks over to the circle of chairs, finding the black piece of tape marking her seat. Selena jumps in front of her and sticks her hand out. Nova takes it skeptically and is violently shaken. 

“Hi! I’m Selena! Who are you?”

Nova wriggles out of her grip. “I-I’m Nova. N-Nice to meet you.”

“Aww, come on, loosen up. We’re going to Mars! Let me show you some of my DS games.”

“Okay…”

On the right side of the warehouse, Jace has assumed another position by the wall, this time without the newspaper. Scaring the humans is not necessary, xe thinks. To Jace’s surprise, two people come tumbling through the portal and crash into each other, sending jolts of pain between each other, and for some reason, through Jace.

“Get up.” Xe grumbles. “We don’t have time for pain.”

The two turn to each other. 

“Who are you?” They say in unison. “I’m Sam. No, I’m Sam. No, I am.”

“You are BOTH Sam’s. But for this, we will call you Sam D.” Jace says, pointing at Sam Dayler.

“Sounds good to me.” They reply. 

“Awesome. Where do we go?” Sam Jersey says.

“Where are all the other people? Go there. Common sense people!” Jace quips before walking away. 

Sam J. turns towards the other Sam. “Nice to meet you, Sam D.” He says. “Not often you meet someone with the same name.”

“Yeah.” They reply. “Hey, lets go check out those chairs.”

The two Sams march away towards Nova and Selena. Selena’s loud voice echoes through the warehouse. 

“Hi! I’m Selena, this is Nova. Who are you?”

Three people come through three different portals on three different warehouse walls. Jace grumbles at the timing, but makes sure to greet each human before sending them off to the chairs. Xe walks up to Athene Parthenna first, causing the girl to scream by the sudden appearance of a strange non-human. 

“Welcome, Athene. Please join your fellow crew mates in the circle of chairs.”

“O-Okay. How did I get here again?”

“You signed a form, don’t you remember?”

Athene shakes her head. “I’m sorry… but no.”

“Ah, you are one of those people. Your memories will come back soon. Don’t worry.”

Jace plasters on an obviously fake smile and moves on to the next human, Valerie Lopez. The girl is holding an empty bucket of fried chicken and is staring at it confused. She doesn’t know how it got there, it wasn’t there when she signed the form. 

“Hello, Valerie. Welcome. Please go over to the chairs. That is where you’ll find your stuff, as well as others of your own species.”

“Sounds lit… buuuut, why in the world am I holding an empty fried chicken bucket?”

“Did you wish for it?”

“Why would I wish for an empty fried chicken bucket?”

“If you wanted fried chicken, the portal would give you a bucket, Valerie.”

“Oh. Uh. Okay. Also, It’s Val.”

“I know, don’t care.”

“Cool.”

Xe stomps away, grumbling about the newly formed headache because of Selena’s echoing “Hi! I’m Selena! Who are you?” every time that a person comes to join her in the circle. Zo Kennedy is the last person waiting, but they don’t seem as confused as the others were. In fact, they’re wearing a large grin and are glancing around the warehouse, in awe. 

“Hello there! I’m Zo Kennedy. Thank you so much for this experience!” They chirp.

“I know who you are. Please go join the others, over there. Your stuff awaits.”

“Okay!” Zo says before cartwheeling away. 

“Humans.” Jace sighs.

Nathanial Baxter comes flying out of a portal that has mysteriously opened on the ceiling and lands with a huge thud on the cement. The only problem? Jace was right underneath him, mumbling something about how ceilings are a conspiracy created by the government. Nathanial scrambles off of Jace, mumbling an apology before disappearing off to the others.

“Welcome, Nathanial…” Xe growls before realizing that he is nowhere in sight. 

Jace begins to walk off to another wall of the warehouse when xe’re tapped on the shoulder. Jace spins around, ready to give the person a talking to, when xe realizes that the person in front of xyr has arrived before schedule. And that person is Finn Day.

“Uh, I’m in the right place, correct? I filled out that form thing and it said it should take me somewhere, but I don’t know where that somewhere is, and I don’t want to just be in some random warehouse waiting for—”

“Yes, you are, Finn. If you couldn’t tell by all the noisy humans over there, this is the right building. Why don’t you—”

“Go over there? I saw the Nathanial person head that way, I just wanted to make sure that I was in the right place first.” 

Jace doesn’t answer, xyr face twisted into something that looks like awe. 

“I’m just gonna go…” says Finn, before walking away.

Finally. One who understands. Jace thinks.

Selena’s cheery voice begins to falter, as she gets tired from greeting every random person who walks into the building. Nova has somehow wedged themselves underneath a chair, and so has Athene. They’re both trying to talk to each other, but neither of them has the social skills to figure it out. Zo is trying to teach Val to cartwheel, but Val keeps crashing into chairs. The two Sams are talking to Nathanial about the strange theory about ceilings that Jace had muttered earlier. Finn joins the group by finding his chair and documenting each event on his camera, and on a small notebook in his lap. Jace paces around the warehouse, waiting for the last guest to arrive, mumbling something about how the girl is ruining xyr schedule and that she is 10 minutes late already. 

Unfortunately for Myriad Finch, she didn’t pay attention to where she was going to go after signing the form and was surprised to find herself falling from the ceiling (which is totally fake, it’s just a conspiracy created by the government, obviously). Unfortunately for Jace, xe happen to be in the wrong place for the SECOND time and broke Myriad’s fall. Thankfully for Myriad, everything about her is cat-like and she bounced off of Jace and landed on her feet. Thankfully for Jace… well there was no thankfully for Jace. The girl pestered xyr by profusely apologizing which worsened Jace’s headache. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m so so so sorry.” Myriad mumbles embarrassed. “Do you need any help? I can go get someone…”

“No. I don’t. Just shut up for a second. That’ll help.” Jace growls, scaring the poor girl who is already very confused and scared. “I’m sorry. That was rude. I’m Jace, your Myriad, please go over there. Where the humans are. I’ll be over there shortly.”

The girl slinks away to join the others while Jace recovers, slightly cursing why xe volunteered to run this whole operation. Once xe do, xe walk over to the chairs and summons a gong out of nowhere. Jace bangs the thing, sending the sound throughout the empty warehouse, causing an echo. Everyone winces, but understands. They all scramble into their chairs and focus on Jace who has assumed a spot in the center of the circle. 

“Welcome, you 10. We are thrilled to have you in our company. Congratulations. You will be the first normal humans on Mars.” Jace says with fake enthusiasm. “Training begins at approximately now. Who can tell me the difference between polyester and cotton?”

***

Welp, that's the first chapter! I hope you all like it. I've decided this isn't going to be a routine thing, but more like a "HEY I just finished something here you go." XD. But yeah, first chapter done! 

This is so awesome! You’re writing Val very well, she sounds like me lol

I like the first part a lot, I'm really like how you interpreted my character, especialy the part about not having enough social skills. XD.

Author's Note: Asdfghjkl sorry this is so late, my motivation to write was dead and my dog woke me up at 1:30am, so I spent most of the day sleeping. Anyways, here you go. I'm finally posting it at 7:55pm. Happy reading. 

Chapter Two — Training

T-MINUS FIVE DAYS TO LAUNCH

“No! No! No! Get me out of here! Ahhhhhh!” Myriad screams. “Make my legs work! This is unfair! I don’t want to float, I want to stand. Humans have legs for a reason. ARGH.”

The air tunnel’s strong wind current muffled Myriad’s words, but her voice seemed to echo loud enough for Jace to be able to hear. 

Then why did you sign up for a trip to Mars? Xe think, silently regretting choosing this girl.

“This echos the conditions on the space shuttle on your journey to Mars, before you have access to the gravity boots. If you cannot sustain yourself in the wind tunnel, then I suggest going home.” Jace says harshly, xyr voice booming through the speakers in the tunnel. 

“No, I want to stay. Just, maybe, can you let me down? I think I’ve had enough for today.” She says, narrowly missing bumping her head on the glass of the tunnel. 

“Fine.”

Jace cuts the current in the tunnel, sending Myriad flying to the bottom of the tube, landing her in a giant air mattress that sinks upon impact. Selena jumps up from her chair and runs over to the tunnel, helping Myriad out before suiting herself up to take the next turn. Jace sighs.

“Selena, you’ve already gone twice, please let someone else go who hasn’t. This is training, after all. Once you launch, you can mess around all you want.” Xe says, watching Selena peel off the gear sadly. “NATHANIEL. You’re up next.”

Xyr face twists into a toothy smile and xe watch as he slinks over to the supply cabinet and hesitantly pulls on gear before he marches into the wind tunnel. Once he’s inside, Jace pulls the lever starting the current and Nathanial is launched into the air harshly, before it settles and leaves him floating in the giant glass tube. The current flicks him in circles, causing him to somersault into the glass. Nathaniel stabilizes by gripping onto the black handle on the top of the tunnel and flicking himself at the handles alongside the glass walls until his feet brush the top of the air mattress. The current then sends him back to the top, where Nathaniel proceeds to complete the same pattern five times before Jace releases him from the grasps of the zero gravity simulator.

“Good job, you will do well on-board the Mars Bar One expedition.” Jace says, her voice staying monotonous.

“Isn’t the Mars Bar a candy bar?” Sam Dayler asks.

Others in the group mumble their approval of the question and Jace rolls xyr eyes. 

“It’s not a candy bar anymore. It will now be the first expedition to Mars with humans. Anyways, Athene, you’re up next.”

Jace continues sending people through the simulator tunnel, watching their struggles and laughing about it, or watching them succeed and praising them with the simple words of ‘good job’. Athene Parthenna attempts to do absolutely nothing, which gets her stuck in the turbine on the top of the tunnel, causing a whole shutdown in order to remove her from the tunnel. Finn Day brings his camera into the tunnel and documents everything with his camera, while grumbling about how zero gravity actually doesn’t exist, and how gravity is still there, there is just less of it around. Selena manages to sneak her way onto the platform for the third time, this time just aimlessly floating around while trying to take over one thousand selfies to post to social media later. Myriad Finch is bribed by Jace to return to the simulator with ethically farmed cow cheese from a pig and fancy almond flour crackers, pretends to accept, and runs away with the cheese and crackers. Zo Kennedy enters the simulator and copies Nathaniel’s actions almost perfectly, but their Polaroid camera goes floating away, and is only inches away from being shredded by the turbine before Jace realizes to shut off the machine. Sam Dayler hesitates before entering, stalling by further questioning Jace about the Mars Bar and wondering if they’ll have any on the rocket. Once they actually get in the tunnel, they clutch to a black handle until Jace allows them to leave. Sam Jersey brings a bucket of various foods into the zero gravity simulator, attempting to have a food fight with himself, but ends up watching the foods float around in the tunnel before coming crashing down on him at the end. Nova stands on the air mattress, holding on to a black handle, pretending as if they were too cool to be engaging in such activities. Jace ups the wind power and sends Nova flying. Eventually, they relax and let themselves become one with the wind. Finally, Val Lopez walked the tunnel, longing for a large bucket of fried chicken. She attempts to do zero gravity gymnastics, which turns out okay, but she is distracted by the smell of chicken. Lucky for her, a giant bucket full of the stuff came flying into the simulator, which Val promptly stole out of the air and ate. Once she leaves the simulator, Jace gathers the group of ten and prepares for the next announcements. 

“Congratulations, everyone. You have officially completed all of your training, including the quiz portion, the ‘in case of emergency’ portion, the ‘oh no, the astronauts forgot you’ portion, the ‘how to actually take care of yourself on a foreign planet’ portion, the ‘meet the crew’ portion, and finally, the zero gravity portion. I-”

“Zero gravity actually doesn’t exist Ms. Jace. Weightlessness and gravity are two different things, and if there was no gravity all the planets wouldn’t have an orbit and we probably wouldn’t exist right now. Also, weightlessness occurs because of the constant freefall in space, meaning we have nothing pressing against our bodies, but instead we are actually just falling. I studied to be an aerospace engineer. Actually, I am just finishing up graduate school right now. A-”

“Thank you Finn for that LOVELY interruption of corrections. Anyways, as I was saying,” Jace begins again, smoothing out xyr ruffled blazer as xe spoke. “I was saying that I was proud of you 10, and I am happy to have trained you. Y-”

“You don’t seem happy or proud.” Someone mumbles within the group, causing Jace to scan it intently, an ugly look plastered all over xyr face. 

“Whatever.” Xe mumble before continuing for the second time. “As I was saying, you will have five days of rest/measurements/whatever you want to do in the space lounge over in the next department. After that, you will be given your suits, allowed a visit to your family members one last time before leaving, and will head into space for the six month trip to Mars. Unless the rocket explodes and you are all blasted to smithereens like the poor crew on the Challenger expedition who only lasted seventy-three seconds in flight. Lucky for you, that is unlikely to happen, as you will board a spaceship with nine trained astronauts and payload specialists, as well as a sturdy and extraordinary build.”

“Then why in the world did you tell us we might explode?” Sam D. says, their voice wobbling. 

“Why not? It’s fun to see humans worry.” Jace smiles and continues. “I will not be on-board the ship-”

“Thank goodness.” Myriad mutters, staring at her feet, longing for more cheese. 

“But, I will be part of Mission Control and you will hear from me Every. Single. Day! Also, I forgot to mention, your space suit fitting is in approximately five minutes, so I should probably take you over there now. Any questions?” 

Jace smiles and ugly, toothy grin that totally does not fit xyr face or mood, and each human shakes their head no violently.

“Alright then, let’s go. I desperately need a break from these feet, they’re killing me. Not literally, of course, though, someone did die so I could have these. Never mind. Let’s go.”

Xe walk away, expecting the group to follow, but they hang back for a second. 

“Did xe just say that someone died to give xyr feet? That- that- that being is so… strange. Everything is strange. I think something might be wrong with Jace... and with this whold thing in general…” Val says quietly.

“I agree.” Myriad says. “Xe tried to force me into the tunnel with cheese. Who does that?”

“That’s a first world problem, Myriad, let it be.” Finn says calmly, too calm, maybe.

“Okay, Mr. I’m Almost an Aerospace Engineer and I Know Everything About Gravity.” She retorts, ending with what sounds something like a hiss. 

“Let’s just go, guys, we’re falling behind. We have five days ahead to do this kind of stuff.” Nathaniel points out.

They all agree, and begin to run after Jace, the weight of their feet pounding against the cement floor of the warehouse. Only five more days of heat, only five more days of having a sense of direction, only five more days of touching the ground before they would be launched off of Earth and headed to Mars.

Little did they know that as soon as they were all safe in the confines of the next warehouse, the old one exploded, sending glass everywhere. Maybe there was something wrong.

***

Stay tuned for chapter three! Thanks for all the kind words last chapter, I appreciate it. Enjoy your ethically farmed cow cheese from a pig! (I totally did not take words from @Morning and shift them into something else. Definitely...) And remember ceilings are a conspiracy created by the government and zero gravity doesn't exist! :) XD