Authors note: sorry for taking so long, but discipline is my biggest vice!
Chapter II: Under the surface
Day 48
4-19-2057
At 9:00, it was time for breakfast. Me and Tamalia just walked into the room with the rest of the senor crew.
There’s Tamalia, the computer officer, of course you know her. But there is her brother, Kyle. He’s pretty muscular, and has a slight beard on his face. He’s the ship security officer.
There’s Chen, second in command to Kyle. He’s medium-build, Asian, jet-black hair, and a pretty quiet guy. I actually feel a little sorry for him, since most of the crew gives him crap, but I always thought he was cute.
There’s Kelly. She’s pretty young, about 18 actually. She’s actually my lab assistant. She has short black hair, which she keeps in a pony tail. For such a young girl, she has a pretty supple body (I actually get the impression she looks up to me as a big sister. She always follows my every movement in the laboratory and always sits next to me during social functions).
And while I’m at it, there’s me. I’m the science officer.
Oh, and we cant forget captain Lillard. Oh GOD do I think he’s sexy! He’s slightly muscular, has blonde, crew-cut hair, and brown eyes. He’s pretty serious most of the time. He keeps himself very calm, maybe because of his massive gift. Of course, that was just a rumor. But still, I would have him in the sack.
It was ten minutes into our breakfast when it happened. The ship began to shake violently. We all looked up from our meals. Everyone was silent.
“Everyone, to the bridge.” Said Lillard.
On the bridge, Api was at the helm. (Api is our auto-pilot robot. His name is sort for Auto-Pilot-Intranet)
Mars, although still thousands of miles away, was like a beautiful bloody sphere from our point of view.
“Api!” said lillard “what’s our status.”
“I am not quite sure.” Said the bot in his mechanical, monotone voice. “We are still three days away from mars, yet im detecting a gravity field affecting our ship.”
I spoke up “The gravity field couldn’t affect our ship yet. Mars has the same rules of gravity as earth.”
Everyone took their stations. (Me and Kelly just sat at two seats in the middle, which was our emergency stations) The captain took his seat at the back.
“Holly, what’s going on?” Said lillard.
“I don’t know.” I answered, looking at the side panel of my armrest. “The scanners are reporting that something on the surface of mars is holding us in a tractor-beam.”
“No device could hold us from that far away.” Said Kelly.
“Our modern weaponry cant even achieve space-combat.” Retorted Kyle.
Then sirens began to blare. “I'm reading a massive energy surge coming right at us.” Said Kellie.
“Everyone, brace for impact!”
Our ship rocked violently, then began to zoom violently forward. “Were traveling at massive speeds captain!”
The Red planet got closer, until we smashed right through its atmosphere. I felt the force of gravity push against my body as the bloody surface of mars came closer…
IT was hours before I woke up. I was strapped in, so I was safe. In fact, all of the crew was safe.
It was Kelly who woke me. “Holly, we’ve crashed on mars.” She told me.
“How?” I asked. “we were still three days from…”
“I still don’t know.” Said the captain, who was kneeling next to us. “But I want you and Chen to inspect the nearby terrain.”
I was another hour before me and Chen got outside. To our surprise, the atmosphere was breathable. The terrain was rocky, and mountainous. There was a red haze all around.
After a short time, we came to a large hill. As we hiked it, I began to notice an object on top of it. We began to walk faster. We got to the top to realize it was a giant metal rod sticking out of the ground. I began to scan it with my scanner. “I appears to be a piece of a spacecraft.” I said. “I'm reading a large structure underground. It appears that its hull collapsed and its filled with sand.”
“How old is it?” Asked Chen.