riors
Spaceboy Mars
Book one
By Mikey Robert Simpson
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Other novels by this author:
New Age Man
Gangstertopia
Copyright 2013 Mikey Robert Simpson
Spaceboy Mars
For the past three months, Space Station Maverick had endured a sparse inhabitation of a skeleton crew. The station still under construction had only three sections assembled until the final sphere arrived a week ago. This fourth gigantic shining ball had been transported through space to become the living, residential and office zones to the facility. The space station was under the control of Commander Celestial, who had the responsibility of securing the whole facility at this new outpost in space. Soon this mass of metal, an example of the human endurance and Ingenuity to find life in nearby solar systems, would become crowded with the arrival of new personnel. They were being transported from stations in the E25 Solar System, which were hundreds of lightyears away from Earth.
The team onboard Maverick had little time left before the first Astro-Technicians would arrive, but before the new arrivals could inhabit this artificial world, many shops, restaurants and support services would need to be set up to make their new home in space fully operational. Although Commander Celestial had been involved in the completion of other older space stations, this had been his big opportunity to gain promotion and for the first time, he was in an ultimate position of authority and he did not want to let the organisation down.
Two of the Commander’s project team a Senior Engineer and Microbiologist had helped manage the build of the terminal and labs. With their crews working around the clock, life support and the communication systems had been a priority to get online. Commander Celestial found himself under an incredible amount of pressure to complete the construction on time.
Now after all the demands on his leadership, the sweat, frustration and exhaustion of his never ending long working days. Commander Celestial had achieved his goal of bringing life to the station. It was time to check out all their hard work, he thought as he walked towards the changing rooms in the newly fitted space terminal. He had been looking forward to the first flight from the new space station. It was his last remaining task to ensure the flight navigation equipment functioned correctly, and to ensure the flight terminal could be declared open to accept traffic. He felt a great deal of satisfaction; soon he would start the test by taking a craft to a planet in the nearby Solar System.
As he walked into the changing rooms, he rubbed his left thigh in an attempt to relieve his aching limb. The spasms sometimes made his muscular and compact body walk with a limp, a limp that only rest would cure. But time was precious today, he would rest tomorrow, he thought as he moved towards a mirror and smiled. He had worked hard to push the boundaries of exploration during his years in the service but unfortunately; his age was now catching up with him. An old injury from an accident some years ago on a rescue mission to Saturn, had resulted ina bad injury to his right leg, Now he realised that exploring was for younger officers and this would be his last mission before handing in his wings. So he was determined to make the mission a good one.
Taking his space suit out of its issue bag the Commander looked into the mirror and watched his reflection. Physically he was now the shadow of his picture on the id badge. He looked himself in the eyes, as he injected pain relief into his neck to spread around the rest of his body. Only then did he progress to take off his station uniform. His eyes looked down on his ageing body, at a scar on his left hand around his knuckles, at his right thigh where his leg had been broken. So this is the price you pay for the life you live, he talked to himself – But he didn’t regret a moment of it!
Keeping his balance he stepped into the legs of the space suit before pulling it up to his chest. He slid his arms into the sleeves of his suit and rolled his shoulders to make the fit more comfortable. Then he sat down on a bench near to his locker to put on his magnetic boots and space helmet. Only after double-checking the suit, did he walk into the space lock to depressurise.
Moments later he was inside a new shuttle looking back toward the control tower. All around him the latest most up to date shuttle software illuminated on digital displays. Quickly Celestial made all customary checks to his spacecraft by assessing an assortment of instruments, before requesting permission to disembark. Through his helmets visor, he could see the terminal bay in brilliant light. Beyond it was an endless open space of the universe. A few moments later he received confirmation of orders from Inter Galactic Exploration (IGE), to proceed to planet four of a nearby planet cluster, an expedition to plot a flight to the planet’s surface for other crafts to follow.
Commander Celestial placed both his hands upon the controls and maneuvered his ship out of the docking bay; setting coordinates for the planet’s surface. Being so far from the nearest sun this world had a surface temperature of around -10 degrees centigrade. In the warmer part of the day, it reached 5 degrees. Thank goodness for the thermal suit the commander thought as he concentrated on his textbook space flight.
He looked out of the window to see the haze of space changing colour from black and blue to deep purple, as the ship descended closer to the planet’s bony stark surface. All was going to plan until suddenly an alarm sounded and a digital display showed an alert on the ships radar. It was a distress signal from the approaching planet’s surface.
This was the last place Celestial would have imagined a distress signal could be received from, according to the records there had only ever been one satellite exploration, and there certainly shouldn’t be any settlers. The commander reacted instinctively. He had no option but to investigate, so he quickly altered the ships angle of descent to find the source of the signal. Adjusting the crafts flight controls and lights to maximum output, he scoured the surface by eye and instinctively guided the craft towards a new destination.
Half an hour later he eased back on the controls and banked the craft around in an inward decreasing circle. Beeps from the dispaly became more frequent until there was one piercing single tone. The Commander disabled the alarm and peered down to see an illuminated wreckage of a streamlined metallic space ship. The damaged craft lay on its side half buried in the planet’s gloomy frozen surface, as an electrical fire sparked in its cabin with no sign of any occupants.
A few minutes after touching down, the Commander gathered some equipment together; he was keen to get into the alien craft to see if there were any survivors. He made a quick spacewalk to the craft and placed explosive charges along the door of the wreckage before walking a short distance away to detonate the charges with a flick of his wrist. Within seconds, he had laboured to kick at the crafts metal door and forced his way deep inside the dark interior. Once smoke in the craft started to clear, he could see to his surprise, a boy lay motionless in a heap on the floor. Celestial reacted like a man half his age to save the boys life, pulling out an emergency air sack from his suit. It would only give five the boy minutes of oxygen, but just enough time to bundle the child onboard the undamaged craft and into a stable environment.
Minutes later in a blur of motion and exurtion Celestial found his way back onboard his ship with the rescued boy. The lad who seemed no more than eight years of age slipped in and out of consciousness as Celestial transported him back to Spacestation Maverick. The Commander could see that with the injuries sustained time was against them. The gash above the boy’s right eye was still bleeding badly, and his chest and arms were bruised, there could be more hidden injuries.
The Commander had made a quick call to the hospital to advise the med
ical team of the situation. He had advised them to stand by ETA 30 minutes, as the planet’s surface rapidly disappeared below them.
Moments later the Commander applied full speed. The craft blazed on at maximum velocity until finally the space station came into sight, they would arrive ahead of schedule. As they touched down inside the space terminal, the outer space door was already closing and making the bay airtight. Celestial powered down the craft, then unlocked his seat restraints before attended to his patient.
Quickly the Commander hit out at the crafts door release button. It seemed an eternity, but it was only a matter of seconds before the door whooshed open, enabling Celestial to pick up the boy and run for the infirmary.
It wasn’t long before Celestial started to struggle with his aching limb. He only made it half way across the terminal floor, before Dr Palantine intercepted them. In typical medical fashion, she had arrived to save the day. She reached out to Celestial to take hold of the boy. She instantly laid him on the floor then listened to his weak breathing and examined his wounds. ‘I have made the necessary arrangements to have a body scanner and cocoon available for the boy on our arrival to the ward, he is in need of