60 Days to the Red Planet

Day unknown; somewhere in interstellar space or the Red Planet’s proximity. The location has no bearing. Even if we had known there is only so much we can do. We are just adrift; flying like a dead stick in the endless expanse. The hope of returning to the original path seems dwindling. We look at each other’s haggard face for some light but there is nothing beside the hollow staring back at you.

To sum it up, all is lost save our sanity, at least at the moment.

“Something? Anything?” cried Ryan.

“Oh, you want a story? A game? Or just some stupid idea?” flared Taniya. It should have settled Ryan, however, whenever Taniya was worked out, her uncanny, fast tone - where her words slipped, mixed, and sounded something else altogether - surfaced. “Don’t you dare!” she yelled as Mae’s smile widened.

“Please,” complained Mae. “How can anyone keep calm when your true tone leaks out?”

“Good, good,” said Ryan, nodding. “Catfight! Some entertainment at last.”

“You are just... argh,” Taniya grunted, excusing herself.

“Come on, give her a run,” said Ryan, hoping to have his dose of a happy time.

“You bet,” shouted Taniya over her shoulder.

“How is one supposed to keep himself engaged, eh?” Ryan’s words fell on deaf ears.

The calm swept the room again.

These days, the silence was the eleventh companion. You know that clingy type, who just cannot stand being separated, even for a moment. Such possessive was the eleventh member. How everyone was desperate to rid this guy off! And despite the best of the best efforts, we failed spectacularly. Our spirits were dampened beyond reckoning.

Now that it had made its place amongst ourselves, it was creeping in our bodies and souls. How long it will be before it owns us?

The dread was, despite our united front, growing without any check.

It was not like so... not when we - the Dwellers, a dedicated group devoted to colonization - set out to Mars. Why the need had come, I shall discuss it shortly; for now, it was to find another way through the crisis we, the whole of humanity, had wrought by ourselves.

We were the potential solution to the crisis until we were waylaid by a tragedy. Amid all the hubbub, thrill, and adrenaline, none had thought the Dwellers would hit an insurmountable circumstance. How could anyone? We were the next best hope for our species besides finding a cure.

This should not have had come to pass.

The working of fate is beyond our ken, at least mine at any rate. Those who read the stars and planets, hands and faces, and whatnot, did not forecast such a happening. Or perhaps, they chose not to. Whatever the truth is, I won’t be there to hear it.

Well, the truth! Climate change was the truth of the hour. How much was done, now that it something debatable and anyway, it is history. The thing is, we were slow, like a snail in efforts while beating the Porsche-911 when it came to business or riches. It was apparent, but who bothered. Yes, that included me as well. I thought someone else, the chosen one or a messiah, will come to save my butt while I go about my life; turned out, the whole world was in the same boat.

When the focus was on climate change, something more sinister crept its way as it had done countless times before. The pandemics before SARS-CoV-2 were just warning shots fired in the air. Covid-19, however, was shot in the leg.

If only we had heeded the words of wise environmentalists…

It would a great injustice to leave out climate change’s pivotal role for it was the catalyst in the tragedy when a team of scientists went and studied melting polar caps, only to get injected with centuries-old viruses. These pathogens did not affect anyone; hence, they were brought back to civilization. Why they did not affect anyone right away? Well, that is something beyond my tiny brain. The only thing I’m certain of: The conditions were not met there; and it was not until the mid of 2025 that the circumstances were feasible from them, almost one and a half year later.

Once these scientists disbanded, traveling to various parts of the world, the viruses came in contact with their successors. Only lord what plans they hatched, transforming one of its kind into something even they did not think of. How they did it, that is a topic for a big brain, ill-suited to mine.

Seven months down the line, humanity was pushed to the brink. The Antediluvian Virus was dubbed as the most perfect virus, almost as if it was bio-engineered. With mortality of 50 percent and R_o value 8, the pandemic was unlike anything seen in history. Even if your life was spared, the consequences that followed after recovery were severe; most killed themselves within days after making full recovery, for carrying on was no less than torture.

Then, there was a choice to make! Stay and find a cure; or escape and brave a new world.

Of course, it would take a miracle in uniting all minds to a single cause. Regrettably, 2026 was not the year for a miracle. Hence, the humankind split into two fractions. Whichever option shone brighter than the other, all will follow the suit. Though, it looked highly unlikely any choice would prevail.

My fears were well-founded.

Six months before our catastrophe, we - the Dwellers, numbering 110 fired mission onto the Red Planet. Should the Covid-19 pandemic had not wreaked havoc, things had been different. At the very least, we would have, in all the grace of a better future, had a so-so settlement on Mars. The delay had birthed a number of uncertainties, resulting in a huge backfire even before we began towards the planet.

Resources spacecraft were sent before us. Then, with two spacecraft - Hope, dedicated to exploration while the other, Venturer was devoted to experimentation, we commenced. Venturer also had general enthusiasts - who were ready to shoulder the burden of colonization.

So, we embarked on the journey with little hopes and baggage of uncertainties.

I’m not the type who’d save the world. In fact, had my body caved in during the testing, I would not be here. They told me I had the ability to withstand the pressure, and also mental fortitude - a thorough lie! And I relented because it felt good! What else was there do rather than wait for death to knock? Might as well try something; that way, my name would make it in good books.

Eight months ride to Mars; enough provision to last half a year; and long hours of sleep. You could probably sleep for 45 days straight thanks to this ridiculous tech called Therapeutic Hypothemia - where your metabolism is reduced by 50-70 percent and you just fall into torpor. Why was it not invented before?

Venturer was loaded with several labs and species, all the toys and equipment these brainy people require. Scientists and common people occupied the spacecraft as it was a humongous beast. That environment was for brainy people and people talking big; assuredly, not my type. Hence, I found myself on Hope - a little, tiny thing floating in the vast expanse, where only 10 souls lived. These people were into stars and interstellar planes and planets and asteroids. With time, I gained some insights conversing and observing these geniuses. Taniya, however, was a different story for she was an astrophysicist; and I’d be damned! I do not get half the things she says.

Everything was, well, as it was supposed to be.

We’d get to the planet; establish ourselves; build a so-so civilization; grow some plants and trees; and welcome our fellow humans after a year or two. Yay! We have had saved humanity. Piece of cake, right?

Yep, so we had thought.

The fate, however, had something in store for us. Something nobody had even dared to imagine.

In our bid to save all, we overlooked several things. The haphazardly built or redesigned spacecraft; bringing anyone on-board who was willing to risk; space weather; and the list goes on.

Hope and Venturer were two months away from the destination when fate unveiled its surprise. A massive solar storm hit both spacecraft. The coronal mass ejection fried the circuits, disturbing whole radio contact back at the earth. Since Venturer was the first in the path, it took the hit pretty hard, and the explosion tore it apart, killing everything in its wake. The beast shielded Hope from getting shredded to pieces, but could not safeguard it thoroughly, causing a power outage.

Without radio contact, we’d never know where were we. No electric power meant no equipment to work with.

And now, doomed for sure, I awaited death.

“How long you think, Reinhardt and Berna will take?” Mae said, looking into the gloom.

“If their brains cannot figure out something, I guess then there is nothing to do,” sighed Ryan. “You’ve been awfully quiet, Amvit! What is the matter?”

“W-well,” stumbled I, “what is there to say?”

“Hmm...” Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose, “True that! Something ought to be done or I shall lose my mind.”

There was nothing, and I guess everybody knew that. Still, losing ourselves to madness seemed a bitter choice.

In the next two days, we witnessed fights, arguments followed by periods of silence. The insanity was creeping its way into our minds. Only a matter of time before we lose ourselves for good as Mickie had. The guy had injected himself with a lethal dose of saline solution. The solution was for cryogenics testing - to see and experiment with a longer duration while traveling in space. If my guess is right then it prevented ice crystals from forming in your cell and hence, you can hibernate just like other mammals. Well, Mickie founded another use of it.

“Is everybody here?” Reinhardt said, the lines on the forehead were deeper than the last I had seen of him. That is what stress does for he and Berna shouldered the burden of our survival. I thought it was quite foolish even to hope, but these guys, they just do not give up. And since the power outage, they have been about it. Holed up in a room, devising some unearthly plan to outwit this plight.

The silent nods encouraged him to go on with his findings.

“I present to you three choices: we do ourselves just as Mickie had as it will spare us the slow death; we can fix Hope, but we will miss landing on the planet as the integration drift will push us farther; or we can try to make for it and risk crashing.”

As I said, there was no hope; only vainglorious efforts.

Ryan opened and closed his mouth several times. It was Mae who uttered, “The last two have their risks. The only thing certain is death in all three choices.”

“Well, there’s the fourth: how about doing nothing and letting the people back home send for us!”

Berna let out a chortle. “They are fighting a pandemic. You really believe they’d send out a party just to rescue our sorry asses? That would cost billions! If I were there, I’d invest it in finding a cure.”

“Let me get this clear, help isn’t coming,” Reinhardt proclaimed, just as I had thought: We were on our own.

“We try for the planet,” said I.

How strange is hope! I told myself over and over there was none, and yet I was hoping, at least, one of us will survive. That person might just live enough for others to come and tell what happened. Tell the story - why we failed in rescuing the world and saving our kind.

I guess it all boils down to passing your story to the next. The deeds you did; the choices you encountered; how you spent your last days. Humans are simple creatures after all.

So, I wrote the happenings up till now, in case that person forgets the series of events. It is not detailed but will aid the one or maybe more survivors - I don’t know, where their memories will fail them.

After all the tussle and raging arguments, we formed an accord: We’d make for the Red Planet!

If it is me who survives you will hear more of the new life!

Fingers crossed…