Cameron x Nash Short Stories - cash -

Meet Me Halfway Part One

For- Matts_bae1997

He is alone.

He's been sent by a desperate world who's resources were dwindling rapidly. The last shuttle in existence was used to send him to Mars, to have him do reconnaissance on what life is like there. They want to know what's happened to the colony that was sent up a hundred years ago but has been radio silent for the last 17 years.

The world is dying and it's humans cling to the hope that maybe the colony grew and they'd be able to start sending people to Mars. Send them to the red planet that seems barren and dead. A storm has been raging for 17 years, it caused the communications to go down on their colony. They have no visualization of the colony and have no idea if anyone is even alive there.

But they need to know.

Time is running out and the human race needs to leave the planet or face extinction. They need to know if Mars is  survivable and it's up to the astronaut Cameron Dallas to find out. They need to know if the colony has been able to grow food for themselves in modified greenhouses. The last communication that was received regarding their food situation was that they were still living off of supplies that had been sent with the original crew. At that time, there was an abundance of resources and so the expedition was very well stocked, they don't know if they were ever able to figure out how to gri their own food. The fate of the human race lies on the answer to that question.

It takes close to a year to get to Mars. Cameron is by himself and his shuttle is small. There's not a lot of space to work with and he now understands why an in depth psychological evaluation was part of the weeding process. The government needed to know that the person they send is not going to have a mental breakdown from the isolation. They needed someone who would get things done without issue and they found the perfect match with Cameron.

He was an Air Force pilot who studied aerospace engineering at the best university in the country. He's at the top of his field and was a front runner for the very beginning. He was miles ahead of the other applicants,  they never really stood a chance against him.

He has no family to speak of, his parents are dead and he's estranged from his older sister. As the resources dwindled on Earth every country began to ration. Cameron has been a top government official for years and his sister thought she could use his status to get more than her fair share. Cameron refused to allow her to do that, she hasn't spoken to him since.

He knows it's hard to go from living a life of luxury to having to ration necessities but that doesn't mean she deserved more than another person.

When he was asked to apply for the mission, he didn't hesitate. Being in space has been his dream since he was a child. Right after he graduated the space program was shut down due to lack of funds but now that things are completely dire, the United States turned the switch back on because they only have 5 more years of rations left before people begin to starve.

Americans were probably the luckiest of all the countries, they always had more resources stored up than any other country.

Africa was hit the worst with millions dying from starvation.

Money no longer has any meaning.

The world is on the brink of chaos and the future of its inhabitants lies solely on the shoulders of the man who's small shuttle is headed directly to the red planet.

He's almost at the end of his journey, he can see his destination off in the distance and although he feels a little nervous, it will be a completely foreign and alien environment, he's also excited.

This mission is everything he's ever dreamed of.

"Houston this is Dallas, I estimate that I will be touching down on Mars in approximately 3 days. My plan is to land just outside the storm and make my way in on my rover." He speaks quietly, he has no idea what time it is on earth but he knows someone is always listening.

"Dallas, this is Houston. We copy, over."

Cameron recognizes the voice of his best friend Aaron, he wants to ask how his family is so much but the communication line can only be used for official business. Nothing personal.

He finds it interesting the most random things the body misses when put into a situation like this. All he has is prepackaged vacuum sealed food that tastes horrible but provides the sufficient nutrients to survive. He recently had a dream about maple syrup, not pancakes or French toast. Just syrup. He woke up craving it and the craving didn't leave for days.

Cameron does have a secret mission, something that no one knows about. 17 years ago a baby was sent to Mars as part of an experiment on how a child born in earth would turn out if raised in Mars. The children on Mars are children of the original colonist, their gene pool is likely different than the one on earth.

An orphaned child was sent along with one astronaut, confirmation that they landed was received before all communications cut out.

It was a top secret mission that very few people on earth were even aware of and Cameron is determined to find out what happened to the child.

That experiment is no longer a priority for the U.S Government, all they want to know is Mars colony is still in operation and when can they start sending people.

A/n- this is more like a prologue than an actual part. What do you guys think?