Rocket to Mars

[Homercidal]

It's been three days since the escape. The city is now a distant memory, more important things fill his mind as he walks toward the complex ahead.
Somehow he had hitched a ride aboard a combine convoy without being seen. That was two days ago.
Yesterday he came across the teleport device the Combine were using to transport supplies and personell. He had to wait a long time before his opportunity came along, but it finally did and he took it. He had by then discovered that there were two different teleporters. One was being used strictly for equipment, the other for personell. They seemed to look and operate the same, and he assumed that they used them that way because it was just more efficient than re-calibrating the machines whenever a different type of object passed through, but he wasn't taking any chances.
A few hours of careful study convinced him he had a good chance of pulling it off. As soon as the Combine left the area, likely for a meal, he ducked behind the control panel and carefully looked it over. The writing was all in a strange language, but he could make out what looked like coordinates on the display. Using his best guess he punched in a location he though twas remote enough to keep him away from the Combine for at least a little while.
The display turned green, apparently indicating that the teleporter had been re-calibrated and was safe to use. As stepped into the portal, he hoped they would not discover the new coordinates and decide to follow after....

The trip was quick, but seemed to stretch for hours. The pulling, twisting sensation had left him sick to his stomach, but at the point where it felt like his body was being torn apart, he stopped remembering what happened. He spent that night and into the next morning nearby, watching for Combine to follow after, but they didnt' show up. By then he was feeling better and could make out what appeared to be a sizeable facility in the distance. Apparently this location wasn't as secluded as he had first thought. He took off in that direction, hoping he wasn't running into more trouble, and praying that the Combine weren't gathering teleporter equipment and coming after him. His was a one-way trip at any rate.

Now he was even closer to the facility and he could tell it was a launch site. His mind told him thqat there was no way the Combine would not have known about this, but his instinct kept him moving. After all, he had no other place to go and he was beginning to feel dehydrated.

Closer now, he saw that it was a UAC facility. AS far as he knew, there were no UAC launch sites in this part of the world. It must be a research lab engaged in performing classified missions for the military. Nothing indicated that the Combine knew of it's existance. A little further and he woudl be there.

He reached the gates and found them open and without guard. Very strange for a classified military operation, but he went in. he could hear sounds of machinery moving and suspected the base was in operation. He reached a building and drew up beside it. It looked like a barracks, or temporary living quarters and he hoped to be able to find something to eat and drink. He wasn't sure he could trust the soldiers living there to help him out. A top-secret installation wasn't usually very understanding.
He peeked in through an open window and looked around the room. He could make out a sign on the wall which said "Marine Relocation". Great. Marines....

Seeing nobody, we went into the barracks. The room was very spare, but he saw a bag on one of the cots and immediately went to it, opening it up, looking for food.
He found a candy bar, standard issue, but he tore it open and began to eat it. A peice of paper caught his eye and he picked it up to look at while he quickly ate his meal. his eyes scanned the page and a few entries caught his eye.

"Mars Mission"
"Special Request"
"Standard Troop Relocation"
"Alien Suppression Research"
"Union Aerospace Corporation"

So, someone at UAC wanted this particular Marine reassigned to Mars, apparently working to find a way to stop the alien invasion. He wondered what kind of project they could be doing on mars to accomplish that, and how they could actually get there without being noticed. No matter, it was apparently not a problem for them. The thought of going to live on Mars suddenly started sounding very appealing. An escape from the madness he has experienced. Sure it would be an isolated existance, but compared to the horror of the alien invasion, and the occupation of the Combine, it would almost be a welcome relief. He thought of how he could steal aboard the ship, but realized it was all but impossible. They would be very careful about who goes to Mars. That kind of location had very stringent life support requirements. Any additional personell would likely put a strain on their supplies. "Lucky Bastard" he thought. This was a special request too. I guess it's all in who you know.

He put the letter back in the bag and turned to leave for some more looking around. At that moment a tall, lean marine walked in with a bag on his shoulder.
"Howdy!", he said. "My name's Tom! You must be riding along with me today. Wow, that is some impressive outfit you got on!", Tom said with just a bit of sarcasm, "Is that some new-fangled spacesuit they issue you here?"
Tom reached out his hand for Gordon to shake. For reasons he didn't know why, Gordon took his hand and jerked him closer, simultaneously cracking him in the jaw with his fist. Tom's eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the floor.
Gordon stood there for a second, wondering what to do, then he realized why he had done what he had done. He quickly grabbed Tom by the arms and dragged him behind the last cot in the barracks and gagged him. He quickly stripped him and tied his hands and feet. Tom was still out cold so Gordon put Tom's outfit on as quickly as he could and then dragged him into the bathroom, leaving him lying on the cold tile of the shower.
Gordon got back to Tom's bag and carried it over to another cot. He opened it up, found another candy bar and tore it open. While eating that he found another slip of paper in the Tom's shirt pocket. It was the same assignment sheet that he had found in the other Marine's bag.
Just then, he saw a shadow cross the liht coming in from the doorway. He looked up and saw another marine standing in the doorway. After a few seconds, the Marine came in and stood in front of Gordon. Without offering a hand, or name, the marine said, "I thought I was riding alone. You here for the same boat?"
Gordon handed the paper to the marine. The marine took it, looked it over and handed it back. "Well, Tom", he said, "you seem to be a man of few words. I'll appreciate that during the trip. You better finish that food and get going. We're boarding in ten minutes."
Without another word, the marine turned, grabbed his bag and started out the door.
Gordon smiled to himself. This might actually work. He took a glance at the bathroom door as he grabbed his own bag and started out the door. At least it will be much quieter on Mars. He hoped he could find a way to blend in once he got there. It might be a bit chaotic for a few days, but once he found another persona to assume, things should settle right down.

 

[Homercidal]

Yeah, it's a bit of a stretch, and I've never written before, so be easy. I'm just bored.

 

[McFace]

A bit of a stretch? It's as stretched as paris hilton's va... Did I go to far?

 

[Dalamari]

I like it, odd, but I really do like this, a mix of the two worlds. CONTINUE!!!

 

[Homercidal]

A bit of a stretch? It's as stretched as paris hilton's va... Did I go to far?

No, but I figured it out after a few seconds! Gives me another idea for a fan fiction.... nah....

 

[Homercidal]

I like it, odd, but I really do like this, a mix of the two worlds. CONTINUE!!!

Wow! Thanks! I actually expected quite a bit of flaming for this one. I'm surprised, really!

When you asked to continue, I thought about it, but since my CPU is dead (New one today!!) I haven't got to play more than a few minutes of Doom and I didn't want to spoil it for myself. Perhaps after I finish doom... Well, then it should be time for HL2....

We'll see. I wrote these during a slow time at work. Things have picked up a bit more right now.

 

[Homercidal]

..."We're boarding in ten minutes."
Without another word, the marine turned, grabbed his bag and started out the door.
Gordon smiled to himself. This might actually work. He took a glance at the bathroom door as he grabbed his own bag and started out the door. At least it will be much quieter on Mars. He hoped he could find a way to blend in once he got there. It might be a bit chaotic for a few days, but once he found another persona to assume, things should settle right down.....

Gordon snatched up his bag and headed in the direction the Marine was going. He had already gained a sizeable lead, but that was alright to Gordon, the less talk the better as far as he was concerned. He never was much of a talker.
The facility still looked deserted. There were a few people about, but for the most part, the place was very quiet. He turned where the Marine had turned and found himself in front of a large hanger. Inside was the strangest-looking contraption he had every seen. It vaugely resembled an automobile, but larger, with short wings at the corners. The door was opened so he stepped in. Noticing the Marine's bag tied into a rack on one wall, he tied his next to it. The Marine had already taken a seat next to the pilot, so Gordon contented himself with sitting in the back. At least there was likely to be fewer questions back here, he thought.

After a minute or two, the pilot started the engines and with a roar, the machine lifted a few feet off the ground and slid out the doorway. It stopped, hovering, just outside the doorway and Gordon could see the pilot taling on the radio as the computer screen on the cockpit flashed a series of flight tests, results and coordinates. A large green indicator lit up and the pilot turned around with a thumbs up. Gordon returned the thumbs up and gave a slight smile. The pilot grinned back and turned toward the cockpit. Suddenly Gordon's seat started tipping back, startling him. He frantically thought of what could be wrong and what might happen if they took off with a broken seat, but then he saw that the other seats were also tipping back. he then realized that the whole ship was tilting upward and was soon at a very sharp angle to the sky. Without warning the ship suddenly took off toward the silent blue, the engines whining as they gained altitude. He was off and on his way to Mars.

The ride to space lasted many minutes, the engine's scream rising the higher they went. Soon, the engines cut completely, only to be replaced with the thunderous boom of rockets taking over. The rockets only burned for a minute, but that was all it took to get them into space. The ship went into a sequence of firing "Retro Jets" as the pilot called them and the sensation of weightlessness took over him as they all unbuckled.

"This little bit of peace and quiet will only last a short while.", said the pilot, "Then we'll be transferring you guys over to the Marsbound." He then busied himself with checking the ship.

Gordon took the opportunity to look outside. The large portside window gave excellent views of Earth. The planet looked beautiful in the sunlight. A large blue ball dotted with masses of green and grey. Partially covered in white cloud cover. Gordon could make out the edge of a land mass appearing over the horizon. He could tell as it neared that it was Europe and Africa. Europe was not as he expected it to be. There was more brown and also some little dots of black scattered throughout.

"Makes you sick, doesn't it." Gordon jumped a bit as the marine interrupted his thoughts. Gordon just kept his eyes out the window. The Marine continued, "They haven't perfected spaceflight. We may win the fight, but until then, it will be safer somewhere else." Gordon turned then, to look at the Marine, who wasn't looking at him at all, and didn't even appear to have been the one talking in the first place. But then he spoke again. "Dont know why they think it will end up better this time. They want to use the same damn thing to try and stop the invasion as what created it in the first place."

Gordon turned back to the window, to keep his face hidden as the realization started sinking in. There was another facility in Japan that was doing similar research as Black Mesa, but they were years behind and he thought their funding had already been cut before the accident. Could they be continuing their research? On Mars?

Governments in Europe and North America had joined together to create Black Mesa and recruited the most brilliant scientists in quantum physics. Perhaps some of the scientists in Asia had survived, to be rounded up and put to task to find a solution to the invasion...

The pilot remained at the back of the ship and Gordon's attention strayed toward him. He was reading from a slip of red paper, punching numbers into a control panel at the back of the ship. He wore a headset plugged into the panel. After entering a series of numbers the pilot pressed one more and spoke: "UAC Mongolia. This is LAST RESORT number 22."
Gordon could hear him plainly, though he was talking in a low voice. With all engines off, the only sound was the tiny hum of the life support system as it circulated air within the ship. After a short pause, the Pilot spoke again:
"Roger, Mongolia. Insertion commencing on schedule. All units show green."
With that he took off the headphones and set them on a shelf, putting his finger on a red bottun on the console. He watched the panel closely, silently counting. As his lips reached one he pressed the button.
A slight shudder could be felt throughout the ship. The Pilot had his eyes closed now and to Gordon it almost seemed as though he were saying a prayer. The pilot waited another long moment withhis eyes closed before picking the headset back up and placing it on his head. He thumbed the comm button again, "Mongolia, this is LAST RESORT 22. Insertion B-92 complete. Commencing to rendezvous. "

One last pause as Gordon imagined him receiving a response. Finally, with a "Out.", the pilot set the headphones down again and he lifted a cover over the panel and entered a sequence of numbers into another panel next to it. Then he latched the panel with a large padlock. At that moment a beeping started from the cockpit area and Gordon sat down as the pilot worked past him back to the front of the ship. He pressed a button and the beeping stopped. "Buckle up boys," he said, "you're just about to your new home."

Gordon could now see a large ship looming in front of theirs. It was so black that he didn't notice it against the black of space. So, they were riding that thing to Mars? At least it wont' be as cramped as this, he though to himself.

Their ship slid into an opening on the side of the larger ship and the hull doors closed behind them.

 

[Dalamari]

Once again, quite good.

 

[Homercidal]

..."

Gordon could now see a large ship looming in front of theirs. It was so black that he didn't notice it against the black of space. So, they were riding that thing to Mars? At least it wont' be as cramped as this, he though to himself.

Their ship slid into an opening on the side of the larger ship and the hull doors closed behind them."

The ship settled down gently in the docking bay, easing itself into a motionless state. The whine of the motors slowly quieted and then even the hum that bad been in the background the entire trip stopped and they were in complete silence. The pilot silently looked over all gauges, finally pressing a button on the control panel and Gordon's security belt detached itself.

"Sorry 'bout that!", the pilot explained. "Forgot to let you guys go."

The Marine said nothing but simply stood up and reached for his bag. Gordon sat back for a moment, letting him do his stuff. no sense in getting in the way.

Gordon and the Marine made their way down the gangplank and through a small door into the ship. For such a large ship, it still felt very confining. The halls were close and monotonous. The first person they met guided them to the debriefing room where they got more orders.

They were informed that new arrivals generally stayed on board the ship before being sent on to Mars, but due to circumstances, they would be leaving in a matter of a couple of hours. Long enough to get a meal or nap if they wanted. They were shown to a room where they could lay down comfortably and containers of sealed food were stored in the cupboards.

Gordon and the marine sat on separate sides of the room. Gordon ate two of the containers of food. One was "Ham" and assorted sides, the other one "Pizza". Neither tasted like their names, but both were edible. A UAC video was playing ont he television monitor. Mostly standard propaganda, but Gordon watched, keeping an eye and ear out for any information that could help him blend in with the rest of the people on Mars.

Suddenly the UAC video was replaced with a man's face. "New Mars arrivals, please report to launch section A. Follow the Lit signs." The UAC video resumed.

Gordon was a bit taken aback. He had assumed that this ship woudl be going to Mars, but obviously that was not the case. He wondered how they were going to get there. Well, not much to do for it. If he didn't show up at the launch section, he would be missed and they would probalby file some kind of charges for insubordination or something. He filed in behind the Marine.

The hallway started just outside the quarters they were in and continued for a long length. They followed th esigns on the wall of the hall, but it simply led to a door on the left which entered into the launch section. The launch section was not nearly as big as Gordon had imagined, but was actually a fairly small room with a shuttle-sized craft sitting near the far wall.

They were greeted by a buy in a uniform, who actually looked like he enjoyed his job. "Greetings!", he said as they entered. "Please place your things in the ship and come back out here for a scanning. Gordon and the Marine di as they were instructed and the guy in uniform wait for them.

"My name is Gary and I will be taking care of you this evening!" To Gordon, he sounded like a waiter. Neither of them answered back. "Great!", Gary said, "I do prefer to work alone! PLease stand over there on the red circle and we'll just make sure you are all healthy and ready for your trip." The two of them stood as instructed and a red light scanned them up and down.

"Lovely!", Gary said as the scanner returned images of the two of them and data scrolled across the monitor. "A couple of very healthy men." Gordon wondered if Gary had been cooped up on the ship for too long.

"I'd ask to do a complete physical, but apprently there is no time today. Well, you two can just make yourselves comfortable in the ship and we'll see you off!", Gary exclaimed. Gordon realized his suspicion was accurate...

Once they were seated and belted in Gary described the launch process. "Before launch, the doors will close on this room, the launch doors will open and the ship will be projected on a standard Mars trajectory. During launch you may feel a little uncomfortable as the inertia dampeners try to compensate for the force of the launch, but don't worry, it only lasts a minute or so and there is rarely any problem."

Gary stepped away from the ship and moved back to the control panel. He pressed a button and the door on the ship closed with a resounding thud. Gordon heard several clicks as the locking mechanism engaged. Shortly after that a large groan coudl be heard and Gordon imagined heavy blast doors closing them in. A loud thud, a shudder and then silence. Gordon knew the ship was now sealed from the room and the air was being recovered as the vaccuum of space replaced it. Another long and loud groan as the airlock door opened. The panel on the ship beeped and the display showed a projected trajectory. A single number on the side was slowly drwaing closer to matching the number next to it. Gordon could tell it was aiming them toward Mars.

As the number got very close the ship called out a countdown. "Prepare for Launch." Gordon nearly laughed when he realized it was Gary's voice. He had recorded his own voice into the ship's computer. "Five.... Four.... Three.... Two....

Gordon tried to relax, but ended up gripping the handrail built into the seat. "well", he thought, "if they didn't want to you use them, they wouldnt' have put them there."

"One...." Suddenly Gordon felt as though the weight of the sip was being dropped on his chest. It was only for a fraciton of a second, then he felt as if he were going to fly out of his seat, only to be pushed back hard in to the seat again. This happened several times, each time less severe until an equalibrium was found.

After several minutes, the belts on their seats disengaged and Gary's voice let them know it was safe to move around. Gordon wondered what kind of moving around he could do in such a small space, but he made it up to the front of the ship to look over the displays.

"What, you gonna fly us there?" The marine's voice was disdainful, but Gordon paid no attention to him. He had found an entry which read, "Review Launch Logs". He pressed the button and on the screen appeared a video of the ship from the moment the ship's doors closed. Next to it was a long list of parameters and their status at that moment.

Gordon watched as the airseal door came down and seal them from the launch control portion of the room. The video stoped, beeped a couple of times and then continued, but the perspective had changed to behind the ship. A glowing white light appeared behind the ship, running across the floor and up the walls, meeting at the ceiling. The Airseal door in front of the ship began to open. As the door reached it's fully open position, several lights on the control panel blinked in unison. All numbers indicating different parameters turned green. Then suddenly, the ship was not there. All numbers had disappeared.

Gordon, found a button for rewinding and a frame by frame, switch. The video started again, but this time from just before the actual launch. It took a long time before the video got to where Gordon wanted to see. The frame rate seemed to be very high. Gordon wondered what the frequency of the display was and how that would affect tearing, but then he realized it was not that kind of diplay.

Gordon saw that the ship had released a gaseous-like substance which almost seemed to ignite and the ship was propelled along a tunnel, the white light following it, apparently igniting the substance as it went. Gordon could not see the end of the tunnel from the video. The ship was out of sight in a matter of a few frames. Then it stopped. At that point, Gordon theorized, the signal form the camera system, was unable to transmit the images to the ship.

Gordon surveyed the rst of the control panel, but didn't see anything else of interest. Then again, he did see a number which looked like a clock counting down. Fourteen hours and counting down. A second clock was next to it. It was labelled "Mars Time". That didnt' do Gordon much good as he wasn't sure what schedule the people on Mars kept. More than likely, it's wa smuch different than back on Earth.

Back on Earth. Suddenly Gordon felt alone. The Marine was no company, he didn't want to talk any more than Gordon did. Gordon sat back down in his own seat and found that he could recline it all the way back to make a makeshift bed. There was no window to see out of, and he needed the rest anyway. Hopefully they wouldn't be hit by an asteroid or comet or meteor en route.

He closed his eyes, but his sleep was fitful, and filled with images of Giant three-legged machines, men in gas masks, and for some reason, blood-red scenes of zombies walked toward him on the desolate landscape of a cold, red planet.