The Mars story #2 | Unexpected visitor
Time for the crew is still going very slowly, visible places in the universe are virtually unchanged. Tom Lee was just looking through the window into the universe when Charlotte came into the room.
"What a difference, the earth is alternating regularly on a day and night, here we have the same scenery behind the windows," said Tom, for whom it is the first trip to the universe at all.
"Do not complain, Tom, be glad to see at least something," Tom got an answer from the on-board computer called Albert. "Some would give anything for this look and have to stay on the ground, you were chosen amongst the crew, Albert got the point," Charlotte said instantly.
"I do not complain at all," said Tom. "I just warn that nothing is happening. And I don’t like to be bored, that’s it."
"Albert, when the gravity assist throw us in the direction of Mars?" asked Navigator Mick Jackson. "It should be today or tomorrow, isn’t it?"
"In exactly ten hours and fifty minutes, we run a maneuver that separates us from the orbit of the moon."
"Thanks for the information, I'm going to have a nap then if we have that time," Charlotte said.
"Charlotte, after a maneuver you'll sleep for a few months in a piece, will not you wait for those few hours?" Tom asked, wondering. "You can still look at the earth, chech it out, our beloved blue planet."
"We've been looking at that for a long time, it's almost night for me to see dark out there," she replied to Tom.
The view on Earth was truly unique. Most of astronauts would rather have lengthened their service or sent correspondence with their relatives than would this last possibility of seeing the blue planet from a close and alive.
Charlotte fell into sleep almost instantly, before that she had to check the health status of all crew members, which took a long time, so she was quite exhausted. She had to do an analysis before everyone was put into artificial sleep, then these conditions had to be compared to those after awakening in the future.
Milky way
"Charlotte, get up quickly, come on!" Mick roared at her as she opened her sleeping chamber.
"Where are we, what's happening?" Asked Charlotte, surprised and sprawled.
"Just a short distance from Mars, just a few weeks before the landing. Quickly, something terrible is happening!"
"What do you mean?"
"Something or somebody unexpected is on board, I don’t know exactly, but Tom disappeared. It was a terrible noise, I heard him screaming! Come quickly, we have to run to escape module." Mick struggled with fear, and as Charlotte could notice, he awakened all the crew members.
"Why the escape module? Calm down Mick, you're scaring us."
"I have seen it! Don’t ask me, just trust me, I'll explain it to you in the module. I saw IT, IT was a shadow, IT was pulling Tom, IT was after him! Tom Lee is no longer among us, I've seen IT! Quickly, we have to disappear as fast as possible. "
"Albert, Albert, what's going on," Charlotte tried to find information from the on-board computer. But no answers came to her. Mick is probably right, we must trust him. But the crew didn’t want to believe that system operator Tom Lee was no longer alive, and it was not until a few months ago that they had set off on their way, and nothing seemed to be a threat on board. The situation looked very weird and scary at the same time.
When they reached the escape module, Mick lasted for eternity until the correct code had been tapped by his trembling fingers. "They're all in there," frightened Mick called.
When everyone was seated in the escape module, Charlotte slammed the door. But in the last few seconds, she heard some spinning legs. She glanced quickly into the window of the transition chamber and saw the bloody operator Tom with a terrified expression.
Suddenly, she rose as Tom shuddered with her shoulders. "No!" Charlotte screamed.
"What's happening? In a moment we will have the last supper before going into an artificial sleep, what's wrong with you, Charlotte? You look terrible, did I scare you?"
"Tom, are you alive?"
"Of course, why would not I be alive?"
"Uh, sorry, I just ... but nothing, actually nothing, we're not at Mars yet?"
"No, you just went for a nap before a minute, maybe you just got some bad dream. I should tell you from Commander Holloway, that in ten minutes we should be ready at the Bridge Commander.
Charlotte nodded and breathed a long breath. Dream, it was just a dream. I'm probably looking too much at the space horrors, uh, I'd rather have a shower before the dinner.
Earth