Martian Settlement: The Fight For Mars

Chapter 5: Launch

Location: Cape Canaveral, Florida

The Invar StarCross stood in its splendor, sunlight reflecting off its gleaming body. An amazing machine, thought Roger. The StarCross boasted a slightly higher lifting capacity than the top-of-the-hill Starship 2 but was fifty percent more fuel efficient. Its boosters could run on both methane/oxygen and methanol/oxygen fuel, making it versatile and cost effective.

Igneon's mobile base lay at the top of the rocket, concealed by an aerobraking cap. The base would be attached to a modified direct fusion drive propelled second stage that would bring the base to Mars at dangerous speeds never attempted before. They could all hope only for the revolutionary aerobraking cap and the propulsive landing mechanism to be able to bear the brunt of atmospheric entry.

Roger glanced at his SlatePC. Four minutes to launch.

He wondered if he was being too self-conscious, but he swore he could feel his boss' eyes on him the whole time, as if he knew what truly was going to happen. He turned to stare in his boss' direction and could see him talking to a security guard and then pointing in his direction. The guard slowly started to walk towards him, his hand resting on a Taser clipped to his belt.

Millenia-old survival instinct kicked in, prompting him to run away from the guard with no particular idea of where he would be going. He sprinted up a random staircase, taking two steps at a time. The guard chased him, hot on his heels. The menacing thump of the guard's rhythmic footsteps became a two-fold faster. Roger turned back to find two guards now chasing him.

His mind flashed back to a scene in his childhood when he was chased up a staircase in a game of cat-and-mouse.

Must focus.

He found himself in a large corridor bustling with people. Good. He could lose his pursuers in the crowd.

He pushed through the crowd and found himself running into the aerobridge that led into the mobile base. He reached the end of the bridge and yanked open the door. He pounded on the door of the mobile base.

"This is head-engineer Roger authorised to do a last minute check-up on the base's software," he said in a clipped voice.

The circular metal door unlocked. He opened the door and threw himself inside, slamming the door shut.

Oops, thought Roger.

He'd forgotten that they suspended the base vertically for it to fit inside the rocket.

He landed on the abdomens of the two astronauts inside which were seated abreast before the controls.

"Sorry!" he shouted as he flipped over the seats and fell to the back of the base. He ripped the extra G-Suit out that he needed to wear to sustain the high G-forces during launch.

"Ten seconds to launch!" blared mission control.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"You're not really here to do check-ups are you?" asked one of the astronauts.

"No," admitted Roger. "But I am in control of the fuel system and can blow us up if you abort the launch. If you keep quiet about me for the whole mission I will do you no harm."

He was still binding himself to the auxiliary control console to prevent himself from being thrown about during the launch and had no control over anything but the two astronauts couldn't turn back to see him.

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

"Six!"

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Did you see a man in a blue cap with an Igneon corporate T-shirt and jeans around here?" the security guards asked a woman.

"I think I saw him," said the woman. "He ran into the aerobridge."

"Three!"

"Two!"

"No, no, no, NO!" said one of the guards as he and his comrade ran into the aerobridge.

"One!"

"Abort launch! Suspicious character is suspected to be aboard the rocket," he yelled into his comm.

"Too late!" yelled another voice.

With a thunderous roar, the StarCross fired its boosters. Plumes of fire billowed, enveloping half of the rocket like a dress of fire. The rocket powered towards the skies, blue turning into navy blue and into a black hue dotted with stars.

The booster separated and fell back to Earth, its rocket motor following a specific trajectory as it eased itself down to a soft landing pad. Meanwhile, the second stage, attached to the back of the mobile fired its fusion motors and propelled the base towards Mars.

"This is mission control. Launch successful. You are following your intended trajectory to Mars. Do you have any stowaways aboard the base?"

The two astronauts looked at each other. They were not sure whether the man was right about the fuel system but it was too dangerous to leave that to chance.

"No," said the female astronaut.

"Okay then. May this mission be a success."