Project Redsky

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Warlock

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Iskra held the paper in her hand as her eyes widened in disbelief. Upon it was her personal information - her name, birthdate, gender, age, weight, citizenship confirmation, educational experience, physical fitness results, and everything else that they had looked at upon evaluation. Her picture was in a box in the upper left hand corner and stamped over that in bright green letters was a single word. Принято. “Accepted.” She had just been accepted into the most elite space program to date. She had just been accepted to be one of the first human beings to land on Mars and with one other person, she would be the one to witness history. It was all so unreal.

It was so unreal and yet, she held the proof in her hand.

Zapped from her shock, the young astronaut heard an announcement overhead. “All members of Project Redsky report to the briefing room. I repeat: all members of Project Redsky report to the briefing room. Thank you.”

Project Redsky was the the name of the whole endeavor and it was a joint country operation. All the major countries in the modern world were contributing in some form or another - Chinese, European, Iranian, Israeli, Korean, Indian, Ukrainian, Russian… the US had been mentioned a few times throughout the process, but their withdrawal from all major alliances within the world had made extending an invite to them an unethical decision. They were isolated in their own endeavors so if they wanted to get to Mars, the world had decided to let them do that on their own. All intelligence said they were nowhere close; some even claimed that they weren’t even trying, actually. It wasn’t of importance, though, because Project Redsky was more diverse and it was the project that history would remember.

And Project Redsky was now something that Iskra could claim to be a part of. She would be one of the explorers, the travelers, the fliers in the sky and it was a beautiful thought.

“Iskra, are you coming?”

For the second time in the span of about a minute, a voice snapped her from her internal excitement. Dark hair cascaded and flurried over her shoulders as her head turned to look at the source of the voice this time and that was when she noticed Yulian in his pristine white lab coat. Nodding, she replied, “Yes.” And it was a yes of delight that led her to scurry after him, much like a child who had missed the first call for dinner.

The briefing room was massive, too. All the other times that Iskra had seen it, she had been one of thousands of people and now she was one among less than one hundred. They were the elite, the ones most certain to get the job done, the chosen. Test upon test they had passed and now the true trials would come because now there was no turning back. Beyond the number of people, the room was massive in other things too. It was intimidating in that all the walls were steel, shining and smooth. It was confinement at its finest because those chosen had to be able to withstand that confinement. They would have to survive in that environment for the months that it would actually take them to arrive at their destination and so it was something that the state of the art facility surrounded them with everywhere they went.

Joining in the line of people who were awaiting the briefing for… whatever this was, Iskra and Yulian seemed to be the last two individuals to arrive. That only goes to show how important it was to be prompt.

“Welcome,” a voice called out over them all. “I’m glad to announce to all of you that all of your hard work is paying off. Among you we have cultivated and collected some of the brightest minds of the age under one banner and that banner is not of one country or even of one nation; instead, it is of one mission, a mission of exploration. Some of you probably never thought this was possible. Some minds in the world doubted us. They scorned us for our hope. But we will prevail where they have not. We will do so because we all have one common dream. We all seek to know everything that the world has to offer and to do that, our first boundary lies ahead. The red planet.”

Even as he spoke, excitement was growing in the room because everyone believed in everything he said. Iskra believed it too. She believed it so fiercely that nothing was going to contain the growing grin on her face or the fact that she rose onto the tips of her toes, well exercised calves supporting her weight effortlessly because they had been trained to do so. Her whole body had prepared for this, almost more than she had ever trained her mind.

“You are gathered because starting today, you will be divided into teams for various phases of this mission. By now, all of you here should have your acceptance letter and you will notice that there is a number in the top right corner. Those numbers go from one to thirty and they signify your team. Team one is designated the landing team for the final launch. Team thirty will never leave the ground. That ought to provide a general overview.”

Realizing that she still held the paper in her hand, Iskra glanced at her number. She was a one. She would be one of the first to walk the surface. Her eyes could only focus on the paper for a moment, though, before her attention was stolen by the fact that the room was changing. Panels on the walls were spinning and numbers appeared beneath different points.

“You will all break into your teams and a project manager will be meeting with you individually in order to discuss the steps that will take place over the next few days, weeks and months. Prepare yourselves now because within a year, Project Redsky will have accomplished the first step of our long-term quest. We will have put humans on Mars.” As he finished his spiel, the room erupted in applause and it was within that applause that Iskra noticed one more significant detail. There were cameras everywhere and this was no doubt being broadcast everywhere. The rest of her life would be.

Although it took time, cheering died down and Iskra made her way over to number one with a bounce in her step.

Then she nearly froze when she saw him.

It had been eight years. It had been eight long years. She hadn’t seen him in that long and she hadn’t expected she would ever see him again, either, because they had taken him away.

‘He’s just a distraction, Iskra.’

‘He’s not worth your talent when you could do so much more for your country.’

‘You have enough talent to put your whole country in the history books, and you’re going to skip sessions for him?’

Their voices echoed in her head as she remembered her own sorrows from going through such a loss. Ultimately, Iskra had agreed with them. He wasn’t worth it… at least, he hadn’t been back then. Iskra hadn’t anticipated that he would come back at all so she hadn’t bothered to think through whether or not he would ever be worth it. Now was he?

All of that ran through her head in about the length of a heartbeat and all she could do was blink and stare at him. He saw it, too, and that was what made it a problem. Domenik could see her frozen state, her lack of response or greeting, and there was little doubt that he would see her respirations increase because they were both there for the same thing. The two of them made up the crew that would actually walk on Mars and the two of them were both chosen although they had been together ages ago when no one had wanted to let them. Now they were being put back together and Iskra wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to handle that.

“Team one?”

It was the third time that day that a voice had interrupted Iskra’s thoughts and it took her longer than it should have for her to respond. However, Domenik was faster and he nodded in the direction of the project manager. “Yes, we’re both here and I believe this is all there is for the team. Only two are actually walking the surface, correct?” He knew the plan already.

‘How does he already know that?’

“Yes, you are correct. You must be Domenik Isher and then she is Iskra Liash.”

“Yes, that is correct,” Iskra interjected, finally snapping out of her stupor and turning to face the project leader while she finished closing the distance between herself and Domenik.

“Very good. My name is Ivan and I’m going to be assessing the team first and foremost. You two have both practiced in the water tank and today, my job is to make sure you two are able to work together to prepare for a walk. Teamwork will be an important aspect and this team is subject to change should you fail.” His gaze drifted over the both of them, brown eyes meeting her blue ones first and then Domenik’s green. Iskra could feel the warning in his eyes and to her, it was very much a threat. If she couldn’t work with Domenik, she knew she might not be one of the ones to walk on Mars.

Inhalation is the process of expanding one’s lungs in order to decrease pressure. Then the air pressure outside of the body drives air into the lungs because oxygen moves from an area of high pressure to low pressure. Iskra knew the science of it, but in that moment she found that her body didn’t actually comply with her wishes unless she defined it over and over again. Exhalation is then the process of compressing lung tissue, increasing the pressure so that the same pressure gradient pushes air back out of the lungs and expels carbon dioxide from the body. Again, Iskra knew what it was, but she had to actively think about it in order to force her body to do it.

“Everything is ready. If you two will follow me,” Ivan continued and then he started leading the way.

Following was robotic. Iskra did it because she wanted this more than she had ever wanted anything else in the world. She had grown up wanting to walk on planets that weren’t earth. She had grown up wanting to touch stars and wanting to feel the sensation of being literally weightless. And the very fine movements of the air around her own body conveyed to her that Domenik was walking right alongside her. He hadn’t said anything to her. She hadn’t said anything to him. Iskra wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but that was the way that it was.

In order to save money because the venture was one of high expense, the halls were plain and all the same. There was nothing to look at. There was just a person to follow.

The pool room was a different story, though. Each time Iskra had walked into it, it had been different because each exercise was different and each drill required different equipment as well. It made sense. This time, though, it was quite honestly a shock to see. It looked as though they had taken an entire model of the shuttle “Red” and submerged it completely with only a single way in that she presumed would be how they would enter their exercise. The rest was as it had been before. All the equipment that they would likely take with them laid where it was supposed to be and Iskra drew comfort from that familiarity at the very least.

Finally their journey stopped and Ivan turned to face them. “Your task is simple compared to some other drills you’ve both scored highly on. You will both be positioned within the craft and your job is to suit up for a surface walk. Quite uncomplicated, actually. Note that we will be paying particular attention to teamwork. Good luck. Whenever you’re ready, we will begin.”

Ivan turned and walked back to an observation room where they would be watching through cameras placed within the shuttle “Red.” It was not intended to be as simple as he had made it seem. In fact, it was a simulation that would put them both through more than they likely would ever need to trial up in space.

When they were alone, Iskra had to say something. She sighed and then turned to face him. “Domenik, I know we have a h…”

His hand rose up and pressed to her lips, silencing any words that she had been about to say because he didn’t want to hear it. “Iskra. Let’s try this, see what happens, and then we can talk. Deal?” There was something else in his head and he wasn’t quite giving voice to it yet. “I promise that I’m not trying to ruin your chances and I think you and I can do this despite everything else. Try. Try for me, ok?” They both remembered it. She had been the one to get anxious about the little things and he had always been the one who insisted things weren’t as bad as they might have seemed. They complimented each other like that and it was continuing.

“Alright.” Arguing would only make things worse and Iskra knew that.

They both grabbed their gear and slipped into all the pieces they would need to have on at the start. They checked each other over to make sure neither one of them had forgotten anything, and then the two of them jumped into the pool and slowly worked their way into the water.

All of it would be nearly exact. The only notable difference was that they each had an oxygen mask on even while in the shuttle because the water wasn’t easy to breathe in whereas the shuttle, when it flew, would have it’s own supply that eliminated that need. Everything else was pristinely accurate. They strapped into their seats and all the screens came online. Unlike some of the first space shuttles, there were no buttons in this one. It was all touch screen generated and the technology had even been adapted to work in the water for simulations like this one.

“Strapped in and ready.” Domenik announced. It was for the sake of those observing rather than for their own sake.

“Initiating landing protocol,” Iskra continued as she started up the systems. Normally - were they in space - everything would already be up and running. This was simulation, though. Everything came online just as she expected it would and Iskra hit the landing button. Readings came up. Oxygen concentration was at 18% which was low and she saw that right away. “Domenik?” she asked him, trying to get a second opinion.

“It should be manageable,” he replied. Both of them had trained in levels less than that.

“Gotcha.” Reaching out, Iskra hit confirm, verifying all the readings as acceptable and then she watched as new data came up. Stability readings this time. Domenik reached out and took the manual controls, holding the ship as stable as he could and Iskra watched him as she realized things already weren’t going well. She knew they hadn’t done anything wrong, though. The shuttle was just acting up.

“What’s the fuel at?” Domenik inquired as he realized that the shuttle was hard to stabilize.

“Fifty-eight percent,” Iskra replied. It was a decent number… if they could land normally. They would need extra fuel in order to take off so ending with more than fifty percent was ideal. Because she knew him, Iskra could see some of his expression become unsettled. She could sense that he was nervous and it made sense for him to be because they were supposed to treat this as a real situation.

“You’re going to have to give it some fuel now. We’re not going to stay upright without it.” Domenik was certain in that need, but he also knew it wouldn’t help them in the long run.

Iskra didn’t verify the request like she should have. Instead, she simply input the manual ejection, giving the shuttle just enough extra power to stabilize itself and they could both feel the result.

“Extending landing gear,” Iskra announced.

“Holding steady,” Domenik detailed.

The shuttle actually rumbled as it would have when they landed. “And we’re down.” Glancing at the fuel gauge, though, Iskra was concerned. Forty-nine percent.

His eyes saw it too, but he didn’t worry about it then. Their job was to get their feet onto the surface. That was what she wanted, that was what the mission wanted and that was what would put their names into history. More to the point, touching the surface was the point of the simulation - he wasn’t supposed to think about the simulation as a simulation, but it was a very real aspect in his mind. He tossed a grin her way and then said, “Let’s suit up then. The surface awaits.”

A desire to smile back flooded her. She couldn’t do it, though, because that smile contained all the emotions she used to feel for him and she couldn’t let those interfere with the mission. Actually holding them back hurt on an almost physical level, but Iskra managed to nod and reply, “Yes. Yes it does.” Both of them unbuckled from their seats and they headed into the back of the shuttle where more extensive gear would await them. Full body suits in the classic white astronaut appearance and more extensive oxygen equipment were waiting for them; it was gear actually built for space. Domenik started to suit up and Iskra held him steady so that he could manage it without floating off.

It was a long process, but he knew what he was doing.

Then it was her turn.

Domenik reached out to hold her steady and he was careful how he did it. Somehow, he knew the inner turmoil that was flooding her. He simply held her shoulder because touching anywhere else would be too much and he knew it. She knew what she was doing just as well as he did. In fact, if anyone were to question it, Iskra knew more than he did because she knew all the shortcuts and quick routes to get things done and she showed it, too. The last thing to do was sling the oxygen tank over her back and hook things up in that regard. Then she would be ready.

This wasn’t meant to be easy, though. As she unhooked it from the shuttle itself, the oxygen spat out the end and she was sent flying backwards. It wasn’t something that was supposed to happen; failsafes were in place to prevent it and somehow they had failed. Iskra had never had such a thing happen to her before, but apparently now was a time for everything to fail. What she had to deal with immediately, though, was the force with which she hit the wall. It was quite excessive and in all her gear, it was definitely painful. A groan escaped her and Domenik kicked off the wall to get over to her. “Are you alright?” he asked.

Iskra blinked and slowly she nodded. Her body just ached, but she knew that it wouldn’t be anything major. Her eyes looked over to where the oxygen tank had been connected and then her face filled with concern. “We have a bigger problem than that,” she said to him, her hand gesturing to the point that her eyes had found, to the point where oxygen was still leaking out of the wall and into the interior of the shuttle.

His body turned in a scurry, clearly shocked that such a thing could break and then he did something Iskra couldn’t understand. Kicking back towards the leak, he unhooked the third oxygen tank and luckily the same thing didn’t happen. It very well could have and he had been expecting it. Turning to face her, he held it out as though he expected her to take it.

“What are you thinking?” Iskra asked in a rather horrified outburst. “We have to worry about getting that fixed up or we’ll never get back!” She was thinking ahead and she was still taking things as though the were very real as she should have been.

Shaking his head, Domenik corrected her. “Our mission, the one we signed up for, was to walk on Mars. It’s still our mission. We are not required to make it back.”

That hit her hard. It was like a brick hit her head and knocked her back into the wall hard enough to push her straight through it. If that happened, they’d both be dead were this real. He was right and she knew it, but she didn’t want to accept any piece of it at all. She would never have signed up for a mission with the thought that she might not come back and perhaps that was what the simulation was trying to get at. It was preparing them for a very likely possibility and together, they had to come to accept it. He already had. He had from the moment he learned that he was going to be traveling with Iskra.

Reading the disbelief in her eyes, he had to add more. “This is what you’ve always wanted. I know it’s what you wanted. I know it’s why I had to leave. You needed the focus and you found it, Iskra. You found it and I’m going to make sure your goal comes true.”

“It’s not… this isn’t…” she stuttered. She hadn’t wanted it like this.

“I’ll be with you. We’ll touch the red planet together.”

That was all she needed to hear. Iskra pushed back and made it over to him, discarding her broken tank and taking the one that worked. After hooking it up and taking the first oxygenated breath, Iskra started leading the way off of the ship and into the pool that would have been Mars if their simulation had been real. And swimming into the water behind her, Domenik knew that she would touch the planet first because she was the one who wanted it. He just wanted her and he already had her.

The simulation was about accepting that they might not come back, but it taught them more than that. It taught them that they wanted to be together just as much as they wanted to succeed and perhaps that was why they were a perfect team.

“Congratulations team one,” was what they heard when they broke the surface. There was only one way to go from here.

Up.