From Earth

The Departure

Two days after she met my friends, my mom left for Mars. The Fighters all got any items of sentimental value from their homes. There wasn't much, just the odd photo here and there. We have all taken to staying in the apartment's basement so that we can always communicate.

It is now a week after my mom left and today is the day that our capsule leaves and lands on Mars. We are all excited but nervous at the same time, especially Amy, Tristan's sister. She is still very timid around us all.

We leave behind the apartment and walk towards the Square. That is where a small team of scientists will meet us and shove us into a capsule and send us to Mars. We are the third group to leave Earth apart from the Explorers.

The team consists of three scientists, two men and one women. The women's name is Isabelle, or so says her name tag, she has blonde hair in a short wavy bob. She looks kind and exactly what a Savior should look like, kind welcoming smile and wide, inquisitive, grey eyes.

The one man's name is Johnny and the other's is Jack. They must be twins because they are identical with their short jet black hair and deep, blue eyes.

"Hello, you must be," she quickly consults her clipboard, "Elizabeth, Nicola, Tristan, Gale, Andrew, Amy and Caitlin. It is wonderful to meet you all, such young people willing to move to Mars. We must get going so that you will not miss your departure time. Follow
me." she instructs.

We walk into the Dome,it's what we call the Saviors' lair. It is a huge industrial warehouse looking building with a metallic grey domed roof. Very original, I know.

It's even bigger than you would expect on the inside. We walk through the DNA protected glass front doors of the Dome. Inside, the walls are an off shade of white. There are doors that look more like they belong in bank than in a science lab every couple of meters and next to the hideous doors are long, bullet proof by the look of them, glass windows.

We walk in silence down the many hallways that we have to take to get to the capsules. A couple of lefts the odd right turn then a few more left.

We finally reach a door, one of the hideous ones, Isabelle scanned her eye, they are so serious about their security. Do they really need a retina scan. We all file into the incredibly spacious room. Its walls are a binding white, not a colour you see every day anymore. In the centre of the room is a pod. It looks big enough to fit one person inside. I can feel everybody's questioning eyes move to Isabelle. The capsule looks positively tiny. The metal also looks too thin to withstand a space launch. Isabelle just smiles. I can feel the nervous energy rolling off everyone in waves and drowning us all.

"I know it doesn't look safe but believe me it is more than safe and also incredibly spacious." states Isabelle. I honestly shouldn't be surprised with the latter, everything here is more spacious than it looks.

She ushered us into the capsule. She wasn't kidding when she said that it was spacious and safe. We are asked to sit in the seven comfortable looking seats that line the circular walls of the capsule. Lots of leg room I see. We are told that our ears will pop when we take off and that the flight will take six hours, a very short time to get to Mars in if you ask me. Jack and Johnny strap us into our seats with seat belts similar looking to those of a baby's car seat yet much more secure looking. The two of them instruct us not to unbuckle them or try to stand up while we are strapped in. A difficult thing to do considering that the buckles are key card controlled and that we don't have the key cards!

Just before we depart we are assured that we are going to be absolutely safe and that nothing bad will happen to us. Need to be fearful hadn't even crossed my mind before she told us that. She closes the door and I hear the distinct click of it locking. Now I'm freaking out. I never realised that I was claustrophobic.

I'm not claustrophobic. I'm not claustrophobic. I'm not claustrophobic.
There is a distant whooshing noise and then a constant whirring sound. My ears pop then and from the looks on my friends' faces theirs did too.

I am so lost in my own thoughts of the future I don't even realise how quickly the time is going and soon enough the flight of six hours that feels like less then six minutes.