Stranded

I stand at the window of our habitat with the rest of my crew. My breathing paused as I watch the shuttle sent to rescue us approach. “They're coming in too fast” Josh says. I flinch as the shuttle hits the surface “Do you think it got any damage?” “I hope not.” Zena whispers. It bounces across the rocky terrain 50ft before stopping. “Who's going to greet them.” Chancellor says. “On it” Warren pulls on his suit. “Wait up” Douglas says grabbing his suit and pulling it on. They head for the airlock chamber. I turn back to the window and watch in anxious silence. Dyson presses his body against me and squeezes my shoulder; to my right Zena grabs my hand. The door to the shuttle open and someone appears at the entrance. Slowly the crew climbs out of the shuttle. Douglas and Warren meet them halfway between our habitat and where they landed. They lead the new arrivals back to the habitat.

“Mason Stuart” A man of average height and strawberry blonde curls sticks his hand out to me. “I'm Andrea” I say shaking his hand. Introductions are made between both of our crews as we tour our habitat, our home for the last six years. We were only supposed to be here for just over two, but our ship was damaged. “Yall should go get cleaned up and settle into your quarters.” Douglas tells Alana. “What about our ship” Alana ask. “We can assess the damage to the ship tomorrow” Christina says “Victor prepared a special dinner for tonight which will be served in two hours.” “Thank you all for the warm welcome.” Alana says. “Thank you for coming to rescue us” Christina responds. I take off to my quarters leaving everyone behind me.

I pull my duffle bag out from under my bed and set it on top. I scoop out all of my clothes from their drawers and shove them inside of the bag. I finish packing just in time for dinner. I run into Zena in the hall between our rooms. “Hey” “Hey you on your way to dinner?” “Yes” I stop outside Dyson's door and knock. The door swings open “Hey” Dyson says. “Dinner” He nods and the three of us walk together to the cafeteria. “Can you believe we will be back on Earth within the year or two.” “I'm so excited and nervous.” Zena says. “Its kind of strange after all this time to think we will finally be going back to our lives on Earth and leaving all this behind us” Dyson spreads his arms out motioning around us. “Yea I'm going to miss our experiments and the community we've created these past six years” “Yea same” Zena sighs. I drape my arm across her shoulders. “Don't worry we will still be friends even if we aren't living and working together 24/7” Zena and I grin. “I miss painting, on a canvas with actual paints” she says. “I miss the sun” I say. We push open the doors to the cafeteria and are greeted with the sound of chatter. We grab our dinner and make our way to an empty table to sit. Dyson to my right and Zena across from me.

“Mind if I join you?” Mason ask “Not at all” I say. Mason takes the seat on the other side of me. “I have to say I was not expecting food like this” Mason says spearing a bite of sweet potato. “Well the options aren't varied but it is tasty.” Mason smiles angling his body towards me. Dyson places his hand on my thigh under the table. We excitedly chat with the new arrivals about everything we've missed in the 7 years we've been gone. So much has changed.

A short man with dark hair walks in “Hey I'm Walker” he holds his hand out to Dyson. “Dyson. This is Andrea” Dyson points to me. “Nice to meet y'all” “Same. So you will be taking over for us?” Dyson ask. “That's the plan.”

The doors to the cafeteria burst open. “Commander” Josh waves around a piece of paper as he moves to the center of the room where Douglas is having his breakfast. “We just received a message from the Agency. Everyone is to report to the communications room for a meeting with the Director at 0900hrs.” “Let me see that” Douglas says getting up from his seat; he closes the distance between him and Josh. He takes the note from him and quickly scans it. “Alright everyone finish up here and report to the communications room. Looks like we are being summoned for a meeting.” He folds the note in half and slips it into his pocket. “I wonder what this is about?” Dyson shrugs swallowing the rest of his juice. “Come on” he stands grabbing his tray. I shove the last bite of my food into my mouth and follow him to the conveyor to put our trays away.

We all gather around the communication station waiting to connect with our command on Earth. I watch the series of dots move across the screen. Director Smith appears on the screen “Commander Grissom, Commander Wilmore” “Director” Alana and Douglas say in unison. “Is everyone here?” “Yes sir” Douglas answers. “OK great. The reason for this meeting is to inform you that the company has decided not to send another ship to rescue you. Also from here on forth we are scrubbing this mission” “What” “I'm sorry but we can not waste anymore money on this mission. The cost is already too high. We've already lost two ships and are out Billions of dollars” Director Smith responds. “Y'all are just going to leave us stranded up here!” Chancellor yells. “I'm sorry but the decision is final” “You can't do this” Virginia shrieks “How can you do this to us” “This isn't right” Dyson says standing next to me. “From here on out y'all are on your own” The screen goes black. “Are you kidding me” Walker yells. “This can't be happening” I inhale shakily. My knees buckle so I grab Dyson's arm to keep myself up. “Whoa are you OK?” I shake my head as the tears spill out. “Come here” he wraps me in his arms and presses his lips to my head. “I'll walk you to your quarters then I need to call my son.” I nod and let him lead me out of the communications room and down the corridors til we get to the living quarters. “Thank you” I whisper. He nods “I'll come check on you later.” I watch as he walks to his own quarters across the hall and a few doors down.

I gently open my door and slip inside. I stand just inside looking around the small room that's been my home for the last 6 years and will be for the rest of my life. I slide my duffle out from under my bed and put everything back in its place. I sit on my bed and grab my E-Pad off the side table. I take the stylus out of its slot and open my journal. I press the plus sign to add a new journal entry.

'Today is even worst than the day we arrived here. All of our hope has been ripped away from us. Even harsher this time. Today we were told that there will be no more rescue attempts to bring us back to Earth. We will now live out our days here on Mars. Their reasoning our lives aren't as important as money. One good thing about living here is money isn't an issue. We've survived here on our own for 6 years but not without challenges. Now that our population has doubled food will have to be rationed. Or we will have to double the production of food. The latter will be the most reasonable considering we will be here forever. I know we will survive this even though at this moment our reality feels crushing. Especially for those who have families waiting for them back on Earth. I guess I'm lucky I don't have a spouse or kids waiting for me back on Earth. I can't even imagine how terrible that must be to know you will never see them again.'

I place my E-Pad back in its place. I make my way through the corridors to the cafeteria.

I enter to find it without its usual chatter. I grab a small salad and a protein bar and take a seat at an empty table. A few bites in Dyson plops down next to me without a word. I glance over at him staring at his food. I reach over and squeeze his hand. Our eyes meet briefly. He looks away and slowly picks at his food. I return my attention to my own dinner. I wait for Dyson to finish eating and walk out with him.

We stop in front of his door. Dyson turns to me and tears pour out of him. I wrap my arms around him and my own tears spill out. His crying slows so I let go wiping my face. I take his hand and lead him into his room. He pushes the door close behind us. He pulls me to him; his arms wrap tightly around me and I cling to him with equal intensity. We part just enough to look into each other's eyes our foreheads resting against the others. His hand glides up my back and stops at the nape of my neck and tangling in my hair. I lift myself onto my toes and press my lips to his. He leads me backwards without breaking our kiss. My legs hit the end of his bed.

Beep beep beep beep “Good morning” Dyson's voice grumbles in my ear. I open my eyes and the night's events come rushing back to me. Dyson pulls me closer and kisses my head. “Breakfast?” he asks his lips still against my head? “Hmm” I snuggle closer to him.

“Can I get everyone's attention” Douglas stands in the center of the room. “Since this will now be our permanent home I think we need to have discussions about how we will proceed. Such as how much food we need. What do we need to survive here for the next 50 years or so. And so forth. All input is welcomed.” “Since we aren't working for anyone anymore I say we keep all of our research and experiments to ourselves. Let them figure it out without us” Walker says. “I agree.” Josh says. “Do you think we could find a faster way to change the atmosphere to be more like Earth's so that we could hopefully be able to go outside without wearing a spacesuit someday.” I ask Dyson. “We can work on that today if you're up for it” I smile “Always” “Great after this we'll head to the lab.” I nod and turn my attention back to Douglas. “Just compile a list of all concerns and ideas for living here permanently and zap them over to me so we can create a game plan.” Dyson and I finish eating and place our trays on the conveyor.

“Brainstorming?” I grab a dry erase marker from its tray attached to the bottom of the whiteboard. Dyson pulls a stool closer to the board and has a seat on it. “We need breathable air.” I say aloud as I write it on the board. “An atmosphere of 1,013 millibars.” “What we got here?” Walker asks entering the lab. “We're brainstorming how we can get the atmosphere and air to safe levels for humans so that we can hopefully go outside again without our spacesuits” I say.

After dinner Dyson and I return to his room. Dyson sits on the edge of his bed. He drops his head into his hands and sighs “What are we supposed to do now?” I sit next to him and rub his back “We just take it one day at a time. That's all we can do.” He laces his fingers through mine. “I'm glad I have you here with me.” he says “Me too” I say as our lips meet.