Mission to Mars

 The loud chattering of the crowd and the faint whirring of the engines only served to increase my nerves. My hands shook ever so slightly in fear as I clutched the safety belt on my seat on the Atlantis, a prestige available to only a hundred people. Our family’s luggage had long since been taken and packed away in some corner of the titanic spaceship. It had been a few hours since take-off, and I was still too scared to look out the window.

“Man, you seem more nervous than me!” laughed the boy sitting next to me, tilting his head in amusement. Reaching his hand forward, he gave me a bright smile. “My name’s Rowan White, from England. I’m a fellow passenger on the Atlantis, but I think you already knew that.”

I offered a small chuckle at his joke. The only reason he would be next to me is if he were a passenger, obviously. He could be a member of the ship’s crew, but he was too young. Plus, he didn’t have the uniform on, and wasn’t helping with the flight.

Shaking his hand, I introduced myself as well. “I’m Mikhail Vasilyev, from Russia. Nice to meet you, Rowan.”

The boy, Rowan, leaned back in his seat and stretched his arms. “So, how did your family get on board?” Although it seemed like he didn’t care much about my answer, his green eyes were peering at me curiously.

I gave a short look of humour before recounting the absurd tale that resulted in my current situation. “Ah, my dad was given the tickets by a work colleague who had managed to register on time, but regretted his decision and was too scared.” 

Rowan snorted. “That’s nice. I was the lucky draw winner. Just decided to try, and won the tickets for my family.”

I couldn’t help but whistle in amazement. “Imagine that. Winning a spot on the first trip to Mars, by pure luck? So cool.”

“I know right!” the boy exclaimed, but quieted down when he was shot looks by the other passengers. “My Mum was terrified and kept saying that something could go wrong, but come on! The design for the Atlantis has been checked a thousand times over, and no spaceship built to go to the Moon by NEBULA has ever failed before. In the end, Dad and I convinced her.”

The sudden mention of the spaceship’s riskiness had me quivering in my boots once again. I had just managed to forget my fears, and here they were brought up again. I didn’t want to kill the mood with my cowardice. If Rowan thought I was weird, this budding friendship could be ruined. Plus, he might be the only other person my age on the spaceship filled with mainly adults.

So, I pushed my terror away and quickly asked a question to distract myself. “What do you plan to do when we reach-”

My inquiry was interrupted by blaring alarms and flashing red lights. My heart rate skyrocketed as I listened to the emergency announcement with bated breath.

“Attention to all passengers. This is not a drill. A stray meteor has hit the right engines E3 and E4 of the Atlantis, causing a failure in its mechanisms. We are not going to crash, the spaceship will fall apart into pieces far before that. Kindly recall the safety instructions from earlier and equip the spacesuit in the compartment above you. Request for aid from the crew if needed. I repeat, this is not a drill.”

I let out a chuckle of disbelief, feeling slightly numb. All my fears had practically come to life, and were mocking me. I wondered if this was a dream, and I was just asleep on the Atlantis.

Looking at the boy next to me, Rowan’s expression of pure terror convinced me this was reality. I couldn’t imagine such a face even in my wildest dreams. Maybe this was Hell.

I heard a soft whisper from beside me, but quickly got up to find a crew member. Behind me, the words seemed to echo out into the chaos of screaming passengers.

“I should’ve listened to Mum.”