Dive In

Chapter One

Hi! Thanks for giving this fanfic a chance... and I don't really know that much about astronauts and space shuttles and crap-- so please bear with me

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"Hey, aren't you Victor Fuentes?"

A shrill voice cut through the night and I turned to look. Standing there was a teenager, staring at me in awe. I smiled and nodded. "Yep. And you are?"

"J-Jenna! Are you excited for tomorrow, sir?" She questioned, eyes wide.

I thought about it. Tomorrow was the day of the expedition. Tomorrow I was going to be on a space shuttle that took me and my crew farther than any other man has ever gone. We were going to be making history.

"You know, I think I might be." I responded with a smile. In all honesty, I loved my job. I wasn't always in space, but I had been to the moon once before, and not a whole lot of people could say that.

"Can I have your autograph?" The young girl asked me. My smile grew wider and I nodded.

"Yes, yeah, of course! Do you have a pen or a piece of paper?"

The girl dug through her bag and pulled out a pen, but then frown. Dread washed over her face, along with an embarrassed smile. "Please don't be offended, but the only thing I have in here that you could sign is a pad..." She pulled out a pink pack.

I shrugged. "As long as it's not used, I don't care. Anything for a fan."

A genuine smile spread across her lips again as she handed them to me. I signed the objects and wished her a good day before continuing home to get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow was an important day for humanity.

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"How are you feeling?" Brendan asked as he finished helping me with my suit. I shrugged, though it's not like he could really tell. He gave me a smile and a nod, before sticking his hand out. We shook hands before I took a deep breath.

"I don't have a good feeling about this expedition," I finally muttered.

Brendan frowned. "What? Just yesterday you were gushing about being born to make history. What changed?"

I looked away. "I... I had a strange dream."

"What happened in it?" He prompted.

"I don't know, I can't remember. Just, I remember everything going to hell."

Brendan sighed, and pat my back. "Well, it was just a dream, Vic. Now, you'd better head out."

I nodded, and walked down the hallway that lead to the shuttle. As I passed the few people they said words of encouragement, and I gave weak thanks back. Finally, I was in a more open room, surrounded with a lot more people. Near the door to the shuttle were standing the other men who were going on the expedition with me, Jaime and Tony. I sped walked over there, and greeted them.

"How do you guys feel about this?" I asked.

They shrugged, and Tony answered. "A little nervous, I suppose. How about you?"

"I'm-"

"Men! Are you ready?" A heavy hand slammed down on my shoulder and I looked over to see a red headed man. Mayor Matty.

"Yes, sir," we all chirped. He smiled a very creepy grin before nodding.

"Are you all excited?"

I shrugged again and looked away, barely listening to the answers from the rest of my group. I was the captain on the space shuttle today, and I honestly believed that Tony and Jaime were a bit bitter. That was unfortunate, seeing as how they had been my friends since high school.

After about a half of an hour of last minute adjustments, Mayor Matty was on the podium for his farewell speech. He was wearing a tuxedo and his hair was slicked back. There was a news crew recording as Matty began.

"Today we are here to send our astronauts farther into space then any other human has ever ventured. They will be led by Victor Fuentes to the planet that everyone's wanted to go to since it was discovered; Mars. Fuentes will be accompanied by fellow astronauts Perry and Preciado, to make history. Let's give them our best wishes!"

Everyone erupted into cheers and clapping. I rolled my eyes at Matty's shotty speech. Only God knows how he got elected Clairmonte Mayor. During the chaos of people cheering us on, Tony, Jaime, and I climbed into the cockpit.

As I buckled in I broke out into a cold sweat. My hands trembled slightly, and I gulped. Usually, I didn't get this nervous. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Tony giving me a weird look, but I shrugged it off, instead listening to the radio, and HQ.

"Tone, can you handle the radio, please?" I asked, as I started punching a few control buttons. So far everything read good. "And are you all buckled in? I swear I won't drive an inch if you aren't!" I joked lamely. I heard a small chorus of 'yes' and began to start everything up. At this point we were in the hands of HQ.

The whole cockpit was filled with the roaring from the noise. I leant back and prepared myself for the jolt of lifting into air. I put my hands out like we did the other two time the three of us had went into space, and we all held hands. They must have sensed how stressed I was, because they squeezed my hands. I smiled faintly and jumped a little as we were suddenly lifted into the air. Blue sky rushed by the windows and I let out a scream. This was so different then what I usually was during expeditions. I took a deep breath and started laughing. I probably sounded crazy, but I was just so anxious. The sky outside slowly turned from a pretty blue to an unsettling black. I felt myself become weightless, and that was when I finally began to relaxe a bit more. Now that we had successfully made it to space, what could happen? There wasn't a damn thing to worry about.