Martin in Mars

Travel 2: Bad News

It's eight o'clock the next morning and Marttin is getting up right now. His alarm clock isn't working and he didn't buy any battery yesterday night because he was in the lab. His wife is very happy because it's the first time he sleeps more than three hours.

— OMG! – says Marttin

— Good morning, baby – His wife looks at him and smiles

— Morning, baby, I'm sorry, I'm so late

Marttin is getting up of his bed. He knows he's late for work

— Wait, Marttin! Hug me, please!

Marttin hugs his wife very fast. He's angry because he woke up late.

— Baby, listen! – He looks at her eyes and smile – I know that I would stay in bed with you but I can't now. My assistants are waiting for me. We have lots of things to do. It's something for us... To our Family!

— Marttin, sometimes I don't understand you... — She looks at him watering – Every day you say the same thing... You only talk about the lab, you only live in the lab, you only 'breath' in the lab, Marttin.

She cries.

— I can't understand you, sometimes. I try to do everything you want! Am I not a good wife, am I?

— No, no, no, baby... – He looks at her – Don't think about that. I love you, but...

— But you need to work and work, and work – she says it unconformable.

His wife is very sad now. Every day Marttin only thinks about his job and this is complicated to her and their family.

— Let me tell you just one news...

He breaths.

— Ok, baby. You can say the news.

— Yesterday, when I was having breakfast with the children, all of them said "Dad isn't here with us. He never drinks coffee and stops talking to us".

Marttin is sad now because her wife told him about that. He breaths and walks to the bathroom. He stops in front of the door:

— Ok. Today, We're gonna have breakfast together, ok?

— Really? – She smiles

— Yeah! Let's have breakfast together and I'll be with the children for some minutes.

— Oh, baby, this is so important to me – She hugs him again and smiles.

— Ok. I'm gonna have a bath. Just a minute.

***

Marttin had his bath for just five minutes. While he was having a bath, he was thinking about what his wife said. He gets dressed and goes to the kitchen to have breakfast with his family.

— Good morning, children!

— Dad! – Uzza and Lann are surprised because they have not had breakfast with his dad for a long time.

— I said you loved this surprise! – Mom smiles

— Dad, why aren't you working yet? – Uzza asks and hugs him a lot.

— So... - He looks at his wife – This is a different day. I miss you and I don't want to talk about the job right now. Let's sit on the chairs and have a great breakfast.

While they are having breakfast, all of them talk a lot with dad. They smile and make plans to the end of this year, because it's Uzza's eighteen's birthday and she wants to go to a different place to celebrate her birthday with her family, especially her dad. Marttin is thinking about this celebration and he is thinking about what kind of gift he can give her or how he can make a surprise to her. He has eight months to think about that.

At the same time, Hanky, the robot, brings Marttin's tablet to him... Yeah, they have a robot at home to help them with the housework. Marttin won Hanky from his mother-in-law, Vilma, because she was worried about some housework at Marttin's house. Marttin has no time to help at home and Hanky can do lots of activities like washing the dishes, sweep the floor, and sometimes he also goes shopping by itself.

Marttin takes his tablet from Hanky's hands and says "news". At this time, his electronic tablet starts to say the newest news around the world.

Marttin is listening to it, but at the beginning of the listening, he hears something spooky.

"If people don't take care of the world, pollution will take over the planet in less than two years."

Marttin stops drinking coffee in his crystal cup and he spits out the coffee.

— Dad, what happened? – said Lann.

— Did you hear that? – he says.

— Dad, we know it is getting harder and harder to breathe on this planet, since you were a kid, and you've said it to us. All newspapers, news reports bring daily news about men's actions in nature.

— But this can't be true. – Marttin said looking at his son.

Marttin knows environmental pollution originates from the time when man began to use agriculture for his survival. Initially, this relationship was balanced. The man was just a collector and a hunter, living in an integrated way with ecosystems. In this way, natural resources were kept intact from the perspective of human intervention, remaining only at the mercy of natural phenomena.

— We can't live here more – says Marttin.

— What are you saying, dad? We don't have another house to go now

— No, no, no – he shouts – I'm not saying about the house. I'm saying about this planet. We need to live outside it.

— What? – says Uzza – Dad, are you ok? We can't live outside this planet. People are studying for years and years about other planets to live but they have no answers. We always read the news and all channels, all reporters, all means of communication say there is no life another this place.

Marttin is too worried about that.

Time goes by and it's three o'clock. Marttin is at home, and he didn't go to the lab in this morning. He is really worried about his family.

— Hey, dears – he shouts – come here, I think I have an idea!

Marttin smiles and laugh because he thought something different to do. Maybe it can be good.

— I know what I can do to save my family and other families around the Earth.

Silence. All his relatives stopped when he said that. They didn't know what he is going to say.

— I was reading some news all this morning and I think we can travel to another place. It's not gonna be easy, but...

— Tell us, dad, what are you thinking about?

Everybody stops looking at him.

— We're gonna live on Mars.

— What?! – They shout.