Chereads / Ashes to Red Dust / Chapter 7 - Mars 7

Chapter 7 - Mars 7

Day 5 in space nothing much has really changed well except that we're further and further away from our home planet, Earth. All 50 of us that are awake are now all acquainted with each other. It was me and my subdivision leaders and our captain that were the primary leaders that were awake. Then we had Marcus our chief engineer then there was Monica she was the third party of the cryostasis Pod crew with the twins and there were some other people who did various maintenance around the ship. I got to know them all, Marcus was a funny guy and Monica was former military. She was a marine, but you know the saying once a marine always a Marine. Then there was my crew Ava, Judy, Matthew, Peter and then Matthew sisters Becky and Eva. Then there was Slim well that wasn't his real name but Slim was just one of the people who wanted to be awake for the six-month-long ride.

I didn't quite understand him all that much. then there was Paul Stephenson my most favorite guy, he was also awake because he is the head of security and he needs to be awake. as the head of security, he needs to be given daily updates on our journey and also in case anyone goes crazy. He's awake primarily for the people who might get cabin fever and be harmful to themselves and to those around them. However, if he develops cabin fever then we will have no choice but to put him to sleep and wake up another security officer and make him the new head. but I really don't want to do that. That's just too much paperwork. And I'm just really lazy.

So, for now, I'll just deal with them until the time comes for well I should say if you land on Mars and I will change him from head security guards of the lowest form of security guard there is. Having to have a daily interaction with that guy first 6 months on Earth was a pain in the ass and I can easily just walk away from him on Earth to a different part of the building or go to the beach but we're in space together and there's only so much room for me to walk around I don't walk away from him until he finds me. It's utterly disappointing that have to deal with him but it's a part of the job and what can I say it's a part of the job. Every time I retired to my quarters after my daily 16 hours at the helm I right. I don't write about anything in particular just whatever's on my mind. Sometimes I hand-write or sometimes I dictate my writing onto my tablet. Sometimes their journal entries. Other times I'm writing fictional. Other times I'm writing fictional stories. And every once in awhile, I'll write an entry log recording that day's events even though we've only been in space for 5 days. Well, 5 Earth days. Soon it will be Martian days which are a little bit longer on Mars.

Most times I'm just listening to a different playlists that I created or when we get a transmission from Earth that people create for us to listen to or send us eBooks or different shows. This one guy sent up Naruto and it was amazing I haven't seen it in years. I like watching with some people. Some people send us Bollywood movies or Korean dramas or anime or music relating to their culture and not just mainstream stuff. And that's when I realized or keep realizing that this just isn't about one person or one country it's about everybody all over the world. When I look at the American flag on my left shoulder and it reminds me of where I came from but when I look out to the people who are awake or who volunteered for this I can see the different cultures and their diversity and I realize we're not different people yeah we may speak a different language but we all have one goal in common and knots to venture out into unknown territory. It is to be a pioneer. It is to explore the reaches of the unknown. It is to become United on a new front and to discover what it means to be human and to be alive.

It is times like these that I get into my head and my mind runs free and I think. I think of all the possibilities that happened I think of everything that happened in the past that led up to this moment. Muscle memory doesn't make any sense but then again life doesn't seem to make sense. At first, I thought I was going to become a professor and now I'm doing this sitting here in space watching the stars go by and watching out green-blue planet get farther and farther away from us. Well, I should say as we get further and further away from it away from our first home. Living one home to go to another it's ironic. It's like how the baby bird leaves the nest for its first flight so I guess we are the baby bird and the Earth was our own nest and we're learning to fly. Flying through unknown territory. Flying to make dreams come true.