From Earth

The Landing

The capsule landed with a bump, not too bumpy but a bump. Since the capsule had no windows we couldn't see any part of the flight or the landing. And now we were stuck inside this thing for another few minutes before somebody came to let us out with the key card.

While we were still in the capsule Tristan tries to assure his sister that everything is going to be fine and that we will carry on with life as normal. I think I may have fallen asleep because I seriously doubt that everyone went an entire six hours without talking.

Finally the lady with the key card arrives, her name tag on her lab coat reads Amy she is a tall, slightly muscled lady with a freckled face and light brown almost blonde hair. She let's us out of the seats briskly and only then starts talking to us.

She tells us that she is the head scientist here on Mars and that she will help us get orientated but after that we will need to speak to the Explorers if we have any queries.

We walk along a set of passageways and get our first look at Mars, our new home.

The ground is dusty and a red-brown colour. You can see exactly where the dome of safe, man made air ends and it is massive. Wherever you look floodlights light up the ground because the sun doesn't reach this far as potently as it does on earth. Along the horizon and straight above you the sky is filled with stars. I think it's the only thing that I really like about Mars so far, you could never see stars this clearly from earth.

We are ushered along down one or the tarmac streets on Mars. It just shows how people living on earth can spoil any planet they want to really. Eventually if humankind keep doing what they are doing Mars will fail too, but of course there is no need to worry about that because the Saviors will just keep making our little dome of air safe even if we can see huge consequences. I hate them for that, they don't care about the rest of anything, just themselves. We approach an entire city made entirely of twenty storey luxury looking flats. They are all identical. I can already see the monotone in this place.

We walk along more streets passing luxury malls and shopping centers. I only saw people walking, no other forms of transport. Not that we had many cars on earth, only the Saviors had cars because they surpossedly needed them for official business and nobody else could have them because they were bad for the planet. I thought they cared, they were supposed to set an example for the rest of us.

We are shown into Apatment Building Four by Amy who I have noticed does not speak much. We are pushed towards the registration desk to receive our key card to our apartment as well as our ID cards which is now our form of money as well, it works similarly to a credit card. Nicola and I are staying together because you need two adults per room and if there is a child there must be two adults living with them. Tristan will stay with Jamie because he can't leave her. Gale will be staying with Tristan and Jamie because Jamie is underage and needs to have two guardians and seeing as Gale is Tristan's best friend and was staying with him before we left, said he wouldn't mind. Caitlin and Andrew are sharing. My mom was staying with Zach in a room. I don't know how I feel about that but they apparently were staying together during the exploring phase.

Everyone is in Building Four. Nicola and I are on floor 11. Tristan, Jamie and Gale are on floor 12. Caitlin and Andrew are on floor 13.
It's a pity that my mom is staying in Building One so she isn't in my building so I can't always see her.

We all step on to a lavish elevator and press the fancy buttons to get to our floor. Nicola and I are dropped off first. We say a quick goodbye and Tristan invites us all for breakfast tomorrow morning at 08:00 in his room before the doors slowly slide shut.

There is a short entry passage and then a large wooden door with a metal number 11 nailed to it. There is a key card recognition machine just to the right of the door with a small speaker on it obviously to act as a doorbell. Nicola quickly swipes her key card and the door pops open slightly. We push open the door and step inside.

The kitchen is well equipped and the lounge area looks comfortable with its two couches and square coffee table. On the wall opposite the couch is a TV, a really big one. The dining room has a wooden table big enough to seat ten and ten wooden chairs. We walk through to the bedroom. Our room has two single beds which we decide to share instead of one of us staying in the double bed in the other bedroom. The dressing table is beautifully made with intricate patterns carved into the wood. The mirror on the table is only big enough to reflect you head and shoulders but the mirror standing next to it is a brass framed full length mirror. The cupboard is divided into two halves, one for each of us. But so far has no clothes in it.

"We'll go shopping tomorrow after breakfast at Tristan's, okay?" I ask.

"Yeah." she replies.

The bed is plain white as are the walls.

"We'll make this place feel like home...eventually." I say.

We both sit down on our beds and decide to go to sleep.

Before we go to bed Nicola suddenly bursts into tears. And I completely understand why.