an unfinished science fiction tale
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woodward had been gone for a year when opal made her decision. she was listlessly existing, with the cat as her only companion when she decided to cut short her seclusion. opal wanted children, some tangible evidence of ward’s existence that defied his death. she thanked her lucky stars that things had proceeded like they had before the launch so she could go forward with her idea.
opal always knew that there was danger abound in ward’s endeavor, but she had never guessed at the inevitability of his demise. woodward had been an astronaut, one of the five that piloted the first manned mission to mars. the shuttle launched on an unseasonably chilly may morning, and she was there to see it. opal stood on the tarmac, staring up at the rocket that would take woodward to the red planet named after the god of war. the wind whipped around her ankles and played with her coat and scarf. as her husband and his four comrades filed out to their chariot that would lead them to the stars, opal was close enough to see his face. that way, she was able to receive the kisses he blew to her and to discern the tears brimming in his green eyes. that certain sight made her chest hurt, it got her right in the emotions, as woodward would say. soon enough, (however, too soon for her liking), the rocket took off with flames billowing in its wake. she followed its trajectory upwards with her eyes, tilting her head back until it nearly touched the base of her neck.
the rocket woodward and his crew took to mars was a speed of light vehicle, so the journey to the planet took approximately four minutes. when she could no longer see the ship, she breathed a sigh of relief. she assumed all was well, so she turned on her heel to depart. she still regretted her hasty exit from the launch site. had she not done so, she would have received the news sooner. opal had gone straight home and fell headlong into bed, emotionally wrung out from watching her husband rocket off to a forbidding alien planet, only to wake the next morning to learn of his fate. on the ship’s descent, something had gone wrong. the ship fell too fast and crashed into the martian landscape. the crash landing let in the planet’s lack of air, and the crew perished almost immediately.
