The Day We Went To Mars - Sidemen Fanfiction

**Chapter 11**

~DESTRUCTION~

T minus : 0 hours

"Come in Trailblazer."

"Earth to Trailblazer? Josh! Anyone?"

Six bodies were strewn across the room, some well fastened into their seats, others thrown across the room, lying immobile. The first to lift his head, Ethan, stared around blindly, a stabbing pain sending lens flares across his vision. He was secured into his seat by the restricting harness, something many of the boys had overlooked in their rush to control the spiralling rocket after the damning final blow. In the hazy fog of his perplexed mind, the first to wake scolded himself for not piecing the evidence together on Earth.

The Sidemen were in the final five groups. It was a miracle to the psychologist who had been given files on each of the crew as part of his responsibilities. After each and every elimination he returned to their shared bedroom, scrutinising each weighty folder for any evidence that they should be allowed on a rocket together. Josh's depression; surely an immediate red flag in any usual application process. Simon's commitment issues; hardly a desirable quality in a team member. Harry's anger control; something you wouldn't want to be stuck with in a confined space. Tobi's tendency to put all others first; not bad for the team, but for himself? Vikk's history of abuse; it may have been a long time since he was a victim of his parents' expectations, but anyone can have a breakdown every once in a while. And that left Ethan; no family but a brother, facing the loss of both parents each day.

So no, there was no reason why such a dysfunctional group should be accepted on to a competitive process such as the one they had found themselves on. For Ethan, this had raised many questions, some of which he had answered before they left Earth. Overhearing one muttered, most certainly private, conversation, the boy felt he had missed all of the warning signs.

"They will be pioneers. A first attempt at something never needs to go perfectly."

"It is a research opportunity; we learn from mistakes."

So what if they wanted the mission to fail?

An exclamation of pain from the floor of the shuttle snapped Ethan's focus back to the room. He watched Vikk roll over on to his back, fully displaying a blossoming bruise across his forehead, hair slicked back with blood away from his face. After fumbling with the catch, Ethan loosened his harness and practically fell to his knees on the floor, gently placing a wavering hand across the younger boy's forehead, eliciting a similar but quieter murmur.

"You're alright," he mumbled in reply, "You don't have to open your eyes until you're ready." Against the backdrop of his closed eyelids, Vikk vividly remembered the moments leading to his harsh deposition on to the floor before backtracking to another stand out memory.

"NASA are the world leading research centre for space travel," he told Harry as they sat outside at sunset one day. The youngest boy was confused about the recent media conflict between the biggest companies invested in interstellar travel. In the shadows of the swaying trees, Vikk was trying his best to explain the shadowy arguments between countries.

"They don't like this project because, one, we are untrained and building rockets is expensive so they see it as a massive waste of money. Two, they want to get there first and have been publicly training actual astronauts to do what we could do if we're chosen for years and now the ESA are coming in from underneath them. And three," he lowered his voice conspiratorially, "I think NASA have got further with Mars than we think. It makes sense; they've landed too many different rovers there in the last twenty years for all of them to be doing the same job."