Mission To Mars

Chatterbox: Inkwell

Mission To Mars

Mission To Mars Solo Write

You flop down on your bed, bored. You’ve read every book on your shelf, twice, you’ve scanned numerous websites and apps on your computer, and you’ve scrolled through your phone for what seemed like hours, with no avail. You sink into the bed and pull the covers over you. Maybe a nap will relieve the boredom. 

 

 

You’re about to drift off into the heavenly blackness of sleep, when a large book falls off the nightstand next to you, creating a large thud. What was that? You think, flipping the blanket off you with a large sigh. Another book falls, landing perfectly on top of the first. You flinch and hesitantly move over to the books. A third book falls, but you catch it before it can land on the pile. The Complete Ender’s Saga, The title reads. This confuses you. You’ve never owned the whole saga, just the first one, Ender’s game. You look over at the two other books, curious to what you might find. One is titled Star Wars: The Complete Collection, and the other, The Martian. You’ve never owned those, either. 

 

Curiosity overthrowing the confusion, you take the three collections and sit in the basket chair you built; your personal reading nook. You choose The Complete Ender’s Saga, find the second book in the saga, and settle in, attempting to immerse yourself in the world of Ender. But the words aren’t there. Only a blank page, holding a neatly folded, crisp white paper. You slide it out of the page protector and unfold it. The paper is empty. No words, ink, colors. Nothing. Deflated, you cast the paper aside, and flip through the empty pages of the book you were trying to read. 

 

Suddenly, a bright light flashes in front of your eyes, temporarily blinding you. You feel the sheet of paper rise from beside you, floating towards the center of the room. The light grows brighter and then flickers out, taking your lamp light with it. The paper is gone, the only remnants of it is a glowing, pixelated, blue outline. There is a brief static, then a steady whir. You stare at it, unable to look away. The outline begins to shift, and before you know it, there is a face before you.  A holographic face, that is. 

 

“Hello, Listener.” They say, their voice monotonous. “You have been selected to join a crew of astronauts on our first ever voyage to Mars. We know of your boredom. We can help you. With us, you will be able to explore beyond the confines of Earth. You will go on to places that some will never even get to dream of. All for the cost of nothing but your presence. If you choose to come, there will be a form waiting for you to sign, after our departure. Bring only the necessities in your packing. The rest will be provided for you. Once you fill out the form, you will be escorted to our launch site and trained accordingly. We hope to see you there.”

 

The hologram disappears without waiting for a response, and like promised a form along with a pen flutters down into your lap. You scan over it. Going to Mars has been something you’ve always dreamed of. You uncap and recap the pen about five times before actually putting it on the paper and begin to fill out the form.

 

***

Welcome to my Mission to Mars Solo Write! I’ve been planning this out for a while and I’m really excited to finally write it all down. If you would like to go to Mars through the world of words, please fill out this form:

 

Name:

 

Age (Somewhere between the 15-25 range would be nice):

 

Gender/Pronouns:

 

Long, Thorough, Appearance:

 

Personality in 10 words: 

 

Luggage:

 

Favorite Food:

 

Favorite Color/Least Favorite Color

 

What would you do with zero gravity?:

 

How do you react to being left behind?:

 

Are you a Leader or a Follower?:

 

There is space for 10 people on the spacecraft (no pun intended heh-). I hope you can join us on our Mission to Mars! Oh, and feel free to guess my identity. :)

See you soon,

The Martian

submitted by The Martian, age Who Knows?, Everywhere
(February 4, 2021 - 9:24 pm)

back to the Inkwell

This was so cool to read! A perfect mix of mystery and fun; I look forward to chapter 3 :)

submitted by Silver Crystal, age Infinity, Milky Way
(February 19, 2021 - 11:23 pm)

I'm sorry I missed the first one, but I did read it and it was great!  Just as the second part is too. You are portraying Nathaniel wonderfuly well and I am absolutely looking forward the coming parts. Seems like this thing our characters signed up for is suspect for SkiLodge like activitiies.  And yes, ceilings are a conspiracy created by the goverment and 0G doesn't exist (which I do think is scientifically correct, the latter I mean).

submitted by Peregrine
(February 20, 2021 - 10:53 am)

Your writing style is so fun to read! I really enjoyed this part, and Jace is super suspicious. Is xe not human? Seems like the start of a mystery!

Also, are you NerdFace?

submitted by Quill
(February 20, 2021 - 3:16 pm)

Oh, thanks! I'm not going to say whether or not Jace is human because I'll probably write it later.

Also, yes I am NerdFace, and I know I totally gave it away XD. Good guess! 

submitted by The Martian@Quill
(February 20, 2021 - 7:50 pm)
submitted by New Chapter Out!
(February 19, 2021 - 10:56 pm)

That was fast, Admins. Thanks.

submitted by The Martian , age Who knows?, Everywhere
(February 19, 2021 - 11:20 pm)
submitted by LazerTOP
(February 23, 2021 - 2:00 pm)
submitted by top top top!
(February 25, 2021 - 11:19 am)

This next part will probably be one to two days late, I'm not doing too well on creativity, focus, or motivation. :(. 

submitted by heh-
(February 26, 2021 - 10:54 pm)
submitted by tipity topity!
(March 3, 2021 - 5:50 pm)
Author's Note: I hope I wrote your charries similar to how you created them, these little snippets do include random back stories or things based off the character's personality that may not be entirely correct.
Chapter Three — Leaving pt. 1
 
T-MINUS FIVE HOURS TO LAUNCH
~Nova~
Nova sits on the small cot in her assigned room, flipping through the pages of Racing in the Rain, cherishing the feeling of a bed. Six months of sleeping in a sack did not sound fun to them. But it was worth it. They set the book down after getting bored, and attempt to play their saxophone. Someone shouts through the wall to be quiet, so they place the brass back into the case and sigh, dramatically flopping onto the flimsy mattress on the cot, wincing the creak of the frail metal frame underneath. 
Their phone buzzes a small jingle, notifying that there is a new text message. Nova walks over to their bags and picks up the phone, types in the passcode, and opens their messaging app. 
Where are you????? 
We’ve been looking for you everywhere. 
Where’d you go? Who are you with? 
Nova, come home. 
Nova???? Hello??????
I give up, come home, or don’t.
We miss you.
The messages go on for the past ten days. No response from Nova. They don’t care. They’re happy here. Nova’s parent’s will find out soon, on the worldwide broadcast of the launch. Their family will be mad. Nova defied their orders. Nova wanted adventure. They will not pay for curiosity. 
“Nova, we’re ready for you.” A voice rings out. 
It is Nova’s chance. It is their chance to finally get out of the shadows.
~Sam Jersey~
Sam lays in the small reading nook he created in the closet of his room. He holds a beat-up copy of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. The poor paperback book looks as if it had existed since the dawn of time; its waxy, clear taped cover had several white creases, the threads of the binding were disintegrating, causing the pages to hang out of the cover, and the faint Number Two pencil markings reading belongs to Samuel S. Jersey Sr. we’re hardly legible. This book was very important to Sam, as it had belonged to his grandfather before he was kind enough to loan it (and the entire series) to little seven-year-old Sam the Third before he passed away and his house was seized, along with all of his possessions.
Suddenly, he gets a strange craving for cabbage. Sam doesn’t even like cabbage. But he allows his feet to carry him out of the closet and into the hallway, past everyone’s rooms, and into the kitchen area. He pulls out a jar of sauerkraut and devours the vinegar-soaked strands of cabbage before tossing the glass jar into the recycling bin.
And at that moment, hearing the clank of the jar hitting the other empty jars and the slight hum of the refrigerator, Sam Jersey knows he’s ready. Ready for anything that may come ahead. 
“Sam J., we’re ready for you.”
~Athene Parthenna~
Athene hides under her bed, sketching something on a worn and dirty notebook, using a provided headlight as a lamp. She can make out some words coming from the hallway, but it’s nothing worth paying attention to, or so she thinks. Her luggage has already been neatly put away and stacked near the door for convenience. Nothing is out of place; the room looks as if she was never there.
But she was.
This is what Athene keeps telling herself. She’s here. She’s here. She’s here. For some reason, it won’t stick. She feels invisible, and it’s not like anyone else is helping. Maybe Nova, but that’s it. Athene is practically invisible. The daunting thing is, though, it’s not just being here that has made her feel this way. It’s been her whole life. Invisibility. You’d think maybe this would be a cool thing; a super power, maybe. 
It’s not.
Athene wants to be here, she really does. It’s just hard to feel like part of the group if no one can hear her. She will change this, though. It may be hard. Her plan, well, it could fail. Easily. But she isn’t going to let it. 
Right?
I’m here.
She looks down at the sketch and sees something, something that may not be very good. It might be very, very bad. She’s already very skeptical of that- the instructor. Xe don’t even seem like xe should be hauling young adults and adults into sketchy training sites. If the group didn’t leave when they did five days ago, they would have been blown to bits. Did Jace want that? Her unconscious sketch is freaking her out. So she closes the notebook and hides it deep into her luggage. 
The notebook resurfaces. 
“Athene, we’re ready for you.”
~Zo Kennedy~
Zo has a tangled red web of something that resembles earbuds plugged into their computer and are rocking back and forth, eyes glued to the screen, a scarily wide grin plastered on their face. It’s real, though.  A rather large bag of M&Ms sits by their side, slowly losing height as the rainbow of chocolate is eaten. Whatever Zo has on their computer screen finishes, and they unplug the mass of cords before shutting the computer and tucking it away into a small tote. 
A large bang echoes into Zo’s room, coming from the hallway. Someone mutters ‘I’m so sorry.’ and someone else grumbles and stomps away before leaving. They decide to walk out into the hallway, to try and investigate. 
There’s no one there.
Am I hearing things? Did they leave before I came out? Weird. They think before taking one last survey of the area and walking back into their room and flopping onto their bed. Something or someone is in Zo’s room, right next to them. They can’t see it or them but there is a presence. Zo’s grin falters but they manage to keep it on.

I’m here.
“Zo, we’re ready for you.”
~Val Lopez~
Valerie, or Val, is bouncing off the walls in her small room. No, not literally. It’s an idiom. But she will be able to bounce off the walls, literally, quite soon. Not because all of the sudden she’ll become a spider and crawl all over the wall, ending in violent smashing or being let outside. Of course not. It will be because of weightlessness. Val will be on a rocket, headed to a foreign planet. And she hasn’t forgotten (that was not sarcasm). In fact, in case you couldn’t tell, she’s excited, waiting for her turn to be called and whisked away, suited into her beautiful, handmade, dark blue jumpsuit, strapped down into a rollercoaster-like seat, and launched into the black depths of space. 
Clothes and other various items are strewn around the room, as if Val doesn’t even notice it’s almost her turn. Her mind is elsewhere, perhaps it is already on Mars. Who knows? Only her. 
One single heartbeat changes it all. A simple skipped beat, a shock, a girl being sent to the floor in a gasping mess. She takes laboured breaths, bracing herself on the frail metal wiring holding the cot. Val knows what happened. It’s been happening since she was 16. The scar reminds her of it all. Exhaustion settles in, taking the place of all the excitement, the happiness, the joy.
She’s not ready.
“Valerie, we’re ready for you.”
She sucks in air. “No.”
~Selena~
Selena is sprawled across a small, plastic chair under the fluorescent lights in the kitchen, where not long ago, Sam Jersey stood, eating cabbage and having a revelation. She, however, is perfectly content with the fact that she will be far away from Earth, with no one but 9 semi-strangers and 10 astronauts to keep her company. Everything is an adventure with her. She can make a bad time look as if it never existed. And that’s what she plans to do. Create an adventure. 
Sam Dayler is also in the kitchen, staring at Selena, watching her as she gulps down three containers of Taco Bell tacos and a liter of Mountain Dew. Selena knows she’s being watched, but it doesn’t matter to her. She does decide to engage, though. To her, everything is fun.
“What? This is the last time I’m able to eat a taco that isn’t freeze-dried or cold for, like, six months. Let me eat in peace.”
Sam laughs nervously before taking a bottle of water and walking to the far corner of the room. Selena finishes eating and places the greasy wrappings and plastic bottle in the trash. A small breeze flutters through the open window, disturbing her perfectly straight hair. Then comes a sound. No louder than a whisper, but slightly sing-songy.
I’m here.
“Was that you?” Selena asks Sam, only to be responded to with a curt shake of a head.
“Weird.” She mumbles to herself before shutting the window and surveying the cabinets for any other foods that she could devour while still on Earth. 
The searching comes to an end with that familiar monotonous voice that everyone knows so well.
“Selena, we’re ready for you.”
~Sam Dayler~
Sam sits in the back of the kitchen, playing an almost silent drum solo on the fake, plasticy wood tables, reminiscent of the round tables they used to sit at in primary school, and drew all over with the navy blue markers, hoping not to get caught. A voice echoes through the room and a slightly irked Selena glides out of the room, ghost like. Sam watches her leave, waiting for their chance to leave the nasty warehouse that they’ve called home for the last ten days. 
Bored out of their minds and finished with all the water they could possibly drink, Sam decides to head back to their room and await the people there. After all, maybe it would be nice to cherish a bed for the last few minutes they have before having to sleep upright, zipped up inside some breathable sack. I’m definitely not going to get any sleep in those. They determine.
Once in their room, they flop on the bed and listen to the tired, creaking springs that lie underneath them. The cot isn’t the best, it’s full of disintegrated cotton and smells of must, but it’s better than at home, sleeping on the rickety, pull-out sofa bed they have in their apartment. For just a moment, they let their eyes flutter shut, barely letting themself cross over into sleep when they’re awakened by someone stepping on the creaking floorboard Sam memorized since the beginning of being here.

Goodbye, sleep. See you in six months. 
“Sam D., we’re ready for you.”
~Nathaniel Baxter~
Nathaniel lays on a small beanbag he found in the closet of his room while observing it, just a mere ten days ago. He has a sketchbook and a number 4B pencil in his hands, shading in a drawing he made five days ago, while observing Selena complete the zero gravity machine challenge. The page is slightly smeared from his resting hand, but that’s what erasers are for, anyways. His luggage already packed away, sitting out in the hallway as instructed by Jace, Nathaniel has all the time in the world to shade. He does so, not knowing about the aide who took Sam Dayler to the dressing rooms and then on to the interviewing room, where everyone would get to see the ten lucky people and the ten astronauts for the last time before they’re safely launched into orbit. Not knowing that that same aide is on their way to receive him, and follow the same procedures. 
He places the shading pencil back in the case, and pulls out a single colored pencil, sharpened down to almost a nub, tinted a light cobalt blue. The pencil on paper appears faded, like jeans that have outlived their time. But it’s his favorite color, of course it would be the only color pencil left standing in the small, metal case. 
The tip of the colored pencil brakes just far enough to show that the impending doom of the pencil would be in the garbage bin. Nathaniel sighs and tosses it to the nearest waste bin, then proceeds to run his fingers through his hair. His mind dwells on the loss of the faded blue shade, but he reminds himself it doesn’t matter much. There must be another one out there somewhere. After convincing his own mind to let the pencil go, he walks out the door and tucks the sketchbook and metal tin into his bag. When he goes to stand up, Nathaniel runs straight into the aide, his head knocking their chin.
A simple “Sorry.” is all he can muster before the aide throws a hand in his face, shutting him up.
“Doesn’t matter. Anyways. Let me say my line. Back up a bit.”
He listens to them.
“Nathaniel, we’re ready for you.”
~Finn Day~
Finn walks out of the bathroom adjacent to his room and sighs. It’s almost time for him to leave, and he knows. The last minute jitters hit everyone differently, and for him, it is melancholy. 
A textbook lays on his cot, open and full of ink markings that could have only been made by Finn himself. He sighs yet again and slams the book shut harder than he means to, tucking it away into the seemingly endless backpack living by his pillow. 
The silence hits him hard. There’s no music coming from his phone to drain it out, nor is there chatter coming from the hallways. Just… silence. 
His window opens suddenly, blowing a small breeze, similar to the one that came through the kitchen when Selena was in. Finn is obviously confused by this, sure he bolted the window shut after arrival, afraid of burglaries and what nots. 
I’m here.
The voice comes in an almost inaudible whisper. But Finn hears it. It’s enough. 
When it comes to all things metaphorical, Finn is standing at the edge of a cliff, unable to turn back, blocked by nothing but his own mind as the weapon. And when he picks up the whisper, a small, child-like whisper, the voice reminiscent of another human here, it’s as if the wind-like whisper blows his mind further and shoves him off the cliff and into the canyon. You’d think he’d fall to his demise, either all his bones breaking or he would land in a river or drown, but he doesn’t. Instead he lands the fall. 
Right on his feet.
Finn always took this as some kind of sign that he was resilient or some other crap. It really was just all an allusion; a simple metaphor used to distract himself from the pains of his own mind. And that was what he had to remove himself from. 
“Finn, we’re ready for you.”
~Myriad Finch~
Pink fluffy cats dancing on rainbows. That’s the world Myriad lives in. Well, only in a dream. She’s asleep, of course, that’s how she’s been for almost the whole trip with the exception of training and feeding and the occasional running. Myriad sits on a bed of rainbows and watches the experienced, pink cats dance ballet on more rainbows. When they finish each act, she throws exploding roses, watching as multi-colored glitter rains from the explosions. Oh, and don’t forget the massive bowl of vegan ice cream on her left, towering at least ten feet above her head, and covered in rainbow, cat-shaped sprinkles. And all the rounds of brie cheese and expensive crackers only corporations could afford. 
A rocket shows up, filled with ten cats and ten dogs. She can hear the countdown. T-minus 10, 9, 8. She wonders why there is a rocket when all she wanted to do was watch the cats dance ballet and reenact the best Broadway musicals. The count seems to slow, and the cats resume their dancing. Myriad takes a large chunk of ice cream and tops it with cheese, only resulting in a massive brain freeze. She giggles. 
3… 2… 1… liftoff, we have a liftoff.
Circus music plays as the ship lifts from the landing dock and is launched into the rainbow tinted sky. It makes it approximately 10 seconds into the air and explodes in a fiery mess, raining down pieces of hot metal and burning flesh. Myriad gets hit with a piece of metal and falls unconscious. 
This is when she wakes up, heart pounding, hair matted, sweat everywhere. But evidently, it is time to go. 
“Myriad, we’re ready for you.”
~Jace~
Jace stands at xyr desk, watching the humans ready themselves for the expedition, smiling evilly. She watches as the weird cheese girl walks by, expecting her to be the last, but is met with a tap on xyr shoulder. 
“Uh, we’re missing someone… a girl named Athene? The aide sent to deal with her said she dropped her luggage and it landed on them, but then she disappeared. We’ve been looking for her through the entire area, but she seems to have just… i don’t know.”
“What are you talking about, she’s right there, talking to Nova. See?” Jace says, beckoning to the screen. 
“Ah, okay. Well, we are ready then.” They say scuttling away.
“Let the mission begin.”
***
Author's Note (yes, again): I'm so sorry this too two weeks to do! I loved writing it, I guess I just didn't have any motivation. But anyways, here it is, 2,800 words later. I apologize to you, admins, this might be a long read. But thanks for reading it. :).
submitted by The Martian, age Who Knows?, Everywhere
(March 6, 2021 - 11:10 am)

Wow thanks for all this story, Martian! I'm not finished yet but I'm exicted to read it!

submitted by Lazerbat
(March 6, 2021 - 1:57 pm)

Ahhh, so excited for launch!! You've really developed Sam's character a lot; can't wait to see where this goes!

submitted by Silver Crystal, age Infinity, Milky Way
(March 6, 2021 - 10:49 pm)

I love this! You're such a great writer, and I can't wait to read more.

Also, are Nova's parents saying... Nova phone home? (Sorry, I couldn't resist XD). 

submitted by Quill
(March 7, 2021 - 5:16 pm)

This is amazing!  The sense of impending doom you bring into your writing is captivating.  I can't wait to read more.

submitted by Peregrine
(March 13, 2021 - 10:44 am)
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