The mission was supposed to be a simple one.
The astronauts onboard the Starbound 20 were meant to travel to Mars to secure the special essence needed to cure a brain-eating virus present upon Earth and then return as soon as possible. Of course, this mission was never going to be that easy, especially not when threats lurked onboard their spacecraft. Threats that none of them had been prepared for. Additionally, there was a limited chance that the essence would actually be able to cure the horrible mind-altering disease, but the astronauts were going to do all that they could to obtain it anyway. They had to try. Going to space was meant to have kept them safe, not lead them directly to the one thing that they had tried to escape from. Nevertheless, stranger things had happened.
Time had seemed to drift by so slowly onboard the Starbound 20 and many of the crew anxiously awaited their return to Earth. It had been years since they had last observed the blue of the sky and the green of the grass below their feet. They weren't sure how much had changed but they were certain that things were going to be different. There was a one in a thousand chance that scientists would have been able to have discovered a cure on Earth for the rare disease that had infected roughly thirty-three percent of the population. There was also a chance that many, many more lives had been lost to the horrible sickness.
As they continued to move towards the red planet, they observed the ivory moons Phobos and Deimos.
Ryder Moon, one of the astronauts onboard the spacecraft, had always thought it particularly fitting that one of Mars' moons was named after Deimos, the personification of dread and terror in Greek mythology. He was certainly dreading setting foot upon the red planet. Usually he was optimistic, but after he had witnessed his own family die to the sickness, Ryder's optimism had been on a steady decline. Nevertheless, he knew that he was going to have to continue on this journey. It would be worth it. It would all be worth it, once he was able to place his feet firmly upon the grass of Earth again and look up at the stunning cerulean sky once more. It would all be worth it eventually.
Each of the astronauts onboard the Starbound 20 wore a suit in a particular colour, just so they were easily able to tell each other apart when the mission had first begun. Ryder's was red. He was the second captain onboard the spacecraft, alongside his acquaintance Blake Way. The two of them were required to carry out many tasks onboard the spacecraft including ensuring the electrical equipment was all in order, ensuring that the oxygen tanks were kept full and assisting in anything else that needed to be done.
Aside from this, the crew members were required to carry out regular medical scans to ensure that none of them had been exposed to the virus. As it was something that developed of its own accord, it was very difficult to track. It was able to completely change a person's demeanor. That was what made it so dangerous.
Ryder was a brilliant captain, if he did say so himself. Of course, he wasn't the only one who thought such a thing. He was always willing to talk to the other members onboard the ship, even after everything that he had been through. He tried to hang on to the remainder of his optimism and assured his crew members that this wasn't all for nothing and that they were going to be able to return home eventually.
It seemed, recently, that everything was spoken about it terms of 'eventually'. They would eventually return home just as they would eventually cure the virus.
Ryder really hoped that he was right in having faith in himself and his crewmates. He wouldn't bear it if anything happened to a single one of them because despite himself, he had started to care deeply for them.
The same couldn't exactly be said for Blake, who Ryder was convinced didn't care much about anything.
As Ryder continued to think over all of these matters, he soon heard a knock upon the door to his room onboard the ship. Each of the twelve crewmates onboard the ship had been granted access to their own rooms for the duration of the mission. Ryder's room was located on the south wing, by navigation.
Ryder's warm brown eyes soon looked up from his bed and settled on the figure stood in the doorway of his room.
Oscar Mills.
Oscar wore an orange spacesuit and was the man that Ryder considered to be one of his greatest allies onboard the ship.
"Is it morning yet?" Oscar asked, with a joking tone in his voice.
Ryder's lips twitched at that question.
"I'll just check, shall I?" he asked, as he looked out of the nearby window to observe the brilliant light of the stars outside. "Nope. It still seems like night time to me but then again we are, you know, in space."
"For now we're in space. Soon we'll be on Mars and then after we're done on Mars, we'll be able to head back home!" Oscar said with a positive inflection in his voice.
"Assuming our oxygen tanks don't fail," Ryder remarked.
"Ryder," Oscar said.
"And assuming we don't encounter some blood-thirsty aliens who slaughter us all," Ryder went on to say, which led Oscar to frown at him.
Oscar released a gentle sigh as he looked on at his friend.
"Would it kill you to be at least a little hopeful?" Oscar asked him.
Ryder turned over in his bed before he replied to that question.
"I don't know...probably," he said. "Anyway, the oxygen tanks are all clear, checked them earlier. So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to sleep," he said decisively.
After that, Ryder pulled his helmet off his head and set it down on the bedside table beside him.
Oscar muttered a quick "Sleep well," before he made his way towards the cafeteria.