A 9 month journey awaits until they can reach Mars. The 3 scientists and Asher constantly worked to maintain the rocket and keep sane. Days passed and they had much longer to wait. Once they arrive the main mission to form a small colony on Mars will begin. Years of vigorous testing had been put into the finest details and nothing was overlooked. The rocket was in high Earth orbit but needed to wait for Mars to come back round the Sun so the journey was the shortest possible.
Asher understood almost nothing that was happening but Rosalind kept him informed. They are light-years ahead of him in terms of knowledge but Asher's athletic build will be vital to colonising Mars. If the equipment can't be set up efficiently they won't be able to survive as it is vital to change the atmosphere and terraform Mars.
'The plan is to find the first cave we can and set up the temporary house there, then during the day start setting up all the equipment, given how much radiation from the sun there will be we will have to try and set everything up during night and then take cover from radiation at any other time. The first thing that needs setting up is the plants. we have seeds that can just be scattered across the surface and will quickly grow without any problems. After a while we can start drilling down to extract the water below and it will slowly evaporate and make the atmosphere thicker. Eventually it will start raining and snowing from the water vapour.' said Rosalind. 'While all of this sounds easy and simple to follow it will be extremely dangerous and everyday will be a challenge, many problems will occur but we just need to keep focusing on surviving whilst slowly making progress.'
Asher felt awkward sat idle whilst 3 giants of science grinded away with all the tasks they had but he would soon realise how important anyone can be. Once again he was deeply overthinking any tiny decision he has made since being aboard. Everyone else was too busy to remember the small things but the mix of low confidence and lots of spare time led him to analyse everything he does and even decisions made years ago. He made the decision to go to Mars and never come back so he will never be judged again but he still worries about how he's seen and his past but now it is all meaningless. In 9 months Asher and the group will become the 4 most important people and will decide how the future of exploration will progress.
There is too much uncertainty for anyone to predict the future but everyone knows this mission will decide how space is seen by the public and is vital for increasing space travel funding. The potential of this mission is huge but 4 lives are on the line if anything goes wrong and the time it takes for help from Earth to arrive is too long for any immediate threats. The room for error is miniscule but the rewards from success will make it all worth it and those 4 will be the first to experience it. They have 5 years until another crew will be sent up to expand the base and speed up any progress but they can arrive in 9 months after any emergency at Mars. Rosalind, Albert and Neils all understand the risk is high but are willing to be a sacrifice if it means to progress science. despite being world leading researchers at the top universities across the world they were all released easily and were supported until they left. All their colleagues watched the launch and plan on keeping updated on any news or progress of the mission. However no one supported Asher or knew who he was but he will soon become known as the mission progresses as he will play a key role.
What was about to unfold couldn't be imagined and Asher was the centre of it all.