The Many Worlds of Dean
Book 1 - Mars
By Eric Hodgkinson
The Many Worlds of Dean
Book 1 – Mars
Copyright © 2015 by Eric Hodgkinson
All rights reserved.
First Electronic Edition
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons – living or dead – is entirely coincidental.
Dedication
This book is dedicated to my wonderful wife. Without your encouragement, my dream of writing would have gone unfulfilled. Thank you for showing your faith in me.
I would also like to thank my daughter. You took the time to edit and criticize my work resulting in a novel I am proud to show the world. Even as a grown woman, you continue to make my life richer by simply being who you are.
Chapter 1
Fifteen year old Dean Danforth sat at his desk in his favorite class. AP English was his best subject, in addition to being the one class in which he was the least likely to be picked on. Tall for his age and thin as a small tree in winter, Dean was described as looking slightly insectile. Several of his friends, and many of his not so friendly classmates, teased him by comparing him to a praying mantis. Dean didn’t mind though, he really liked praying mantises.
Dean’s height and low body weight, added to a distinct lack of coordination, left him completely hopeless when it came to any form of athletics. Part of the problem was that Dean didn’t really care for sports or physical recreation. He preferred to spend his time studying or reading a good sci-fi novel.
In short, Dean Danforth was the stereotypical nerd. This made him the target of almost constant teasing and even physical abuse from many of his stronger and, in Dean’s opinion, much less intelligent classmates. The part that bothered him the most was that some of those bullies were female. Being beaten up by a much bigger guy was one thing, but to be shoved into a locker by a girl was beyond humiliating.
This was the main reason he loved his AP English class so much. His fellow students in the class were all above average in intelligence and most had their own stories of torment. Here, he was free to unleash his intellect and engage with the other students without the fear of being singled out and ridiculed.
Dean’s physical shortcomings notwithstanding, he would have been greatly shocked to discover that many of the girls in his school found him to be very attractive. His unruly mop of light colored, slightly curly hair and deep blue eyes left many of his female classmates daydreaming about spending some quality time alone with him. Unfortunately, the stigma attached to his name by his tormentors made those same daydreaming schoolgirls fearful of becoming associated with Dean. They didn’t want to become targets themselves.
Right now though, Dean was in his element. Sitting in his favorite class, finishing the short story he was writing about aliens attacking Earth, he couldn’t be any happier. That is, until the classroom door suddenly opened and the school’s principal walked in.
“I have an announcement to make,” the slightly overweight man with blinding silver hair said. “I will be making this announcement to the entire school right after this, but I wanted to deliver the news to this class in person.”
Mr. Dukes had been the school’s principal since Dean’s mom had attended the same school. While known to be stern at times, he was liked by the majority of students. Moving to stand in front of the teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom, he continued, “I have been informed that Spacetek has just announced a competition for all high school students. As most of you are aware, since Spacetek took over most space related research when NASA was defunded by congress, they have been pushing to send a manned mission to Mars. They have now been approved funding and have scheduled a launch for a little more than two years from now. What’s more, they have announced a contest in which any high school student may enter an essay delineating the ramifications of such a mission and the student with the best essay will be selected to be part of the crew traveling to Mars. Provided, of course, they pass the two year training program they will have to attend prior to the mission.”
Dean was flabbergasted. Staring right through Mr. Dukes, with his mouth hanging open, Dean’s mind was running full tilt. They are going to let a kid go to space, to Mars even, his mind screamed. He had been in love with space for as long as he could remember. As a young kid, when his brother would turn the television to cartoons, Dean would go to his bedroom and turn the television there to a documentary on space. He even had posters, covering the walls of his bedroom, depicting various space photos taken by the Hubble space telescope.
As Mr. Dukes continued to describe the rules of the contest, Dean blanked him out as his mind began generating ideas for an essay. There could be nothing cooler than being one of the first people to set foot on another planet. He knew there would be a lot of competition for a prize like this, but Dean also knew he would write the best essay of his life if it meant he could go to space.
Always able to process information very quickly, Dean rapidly settled on a socio-economic approach for his essay. Money always made important people take notice and describing how companies and governments could benefit financially from such an endeavor would make his essay stand out among the crowd.
With that settled, Dean realized he had missed most of the rules Mr. Dukes was explaining. He would have to get them from the Spacetek website once he got home. Competition essays like this one always had some easily overlooked rules hidden in the small print. He would be sure to read them very carefully. He knew skipping some obscure requirement would weed out a majority of the essays submitted.
Finished with his announcement, Mr. Dukes looked directly at Dean and said, “Mr. Danforth, I’m quite certain you will be entering this contest. I expect you to do our school proud.”
“Yes sir,” Dean replied. “I will do my very best.”
“Of that, I have no doubt,” the principal said as he turned and left the room.
For the rest of the school day, Dean moved from class to class in a haze as his mind churned with thoughts of traveling in space and setting foot on the red planet.
Chapter 2
Dean was experiencing a strong sense of déjà vu. Three months had passed since the Mars contest had been announced and Dean had long since submitted his essay. He was sitting in his English class when Mr. Dukes walked into the room declaring he had another announcement.
“Mr. Danforth, would you please come to the front of the class?” the principal asked.
Confused, Dean rose from his desk and made his way to the front of the room.
Mr. Dukes placed his hand on Dean’s shoulder and in a voice loud enough for the entire class to hear, he said, “They won’t be making the official announcement until tomorrow, but I have been notified that Spacetek has chosen a winner for the essay contest. It is my great pleasure to announce that our very own Dean Danforth has been selected as the winner. Congratulations Dean.”
A thundering applause broke out in the classroom as Dean struggled to remain standing. He couldn’t believe he had actual
ly won the contest, and now his legs were feeling rubbery and were threatening to drop him to the floor. Working moisture back into his mouth, Dean looked at the exuberant principal and asked, “Wha…what did they say?”
Smiling wildly, Mr. Dukes waited for the abrupt applause to die down before replying, “There will be a press conference held tomorrow, at noon, in front of the school where they will announce you as the winner. As long as they receive your parent’s approval, you will begin your training in two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” Dean asked, shocked. “What about school?”
“Don’t worry about that, you will still be doing your regular schoolwork during your training. It is my understanding that the training you will receive will be quite intense and I have been assured you will earn your diploma prior to its completion.”
“Wait,” Dean said, suddenly apprehensive, “the training is only supposed to be two years long. If I get a diploma by the time it’s finished, that will be a whole year early. How am I supposed to finish high school a year early and absorb whatever other lessons they plan to teach me?”
The principal produced a smirk that brought an evil twinkle to his eyes. “I am reminded of an old saying. Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.”
*****
The next day, Dean was seated in a chair perched upon a hastily assembled stage set in front of his high school. He watched as people moved about in haste, finalizing the setup required for the press conference. He could see people testing electronics and verifying connections. Others were performing sound checks over the public address system.
A large crowd had already begun to assemble, and Dean could see dozens of news cameras being set up on both sides of the stage. A few were even being placed in the center aisle separating the two groups of chairs facing the stage. Looking further ahead, he could see news trucks lining the street, representing every major news station he had ever heard of. There were also some he had never heard of, and a few with foreign writing on the side.
Nervous tension held Dean in its thrall. Just sitting on this stage during the remaining preparations was almost too much to stand. He had no idea how he would be able to stand up and deliver the speech he had spent most of the night writing and rewriting. But, he knew that there was no way Spacetek would allow him to go on the mission if he couldn’t even perform a simple news conference. He assumed there would be many more such conferences in the future.
He tried to calm himself as he noticed the Spacetek representatives filing onto the stage. The conference must be beginning soon. He had met most of them when they showed up at his house last night. They had carefully explained to him and his family what his training would consist of, along with details of the planned mission. They had presented a large stack of legal paperwork requiring his parent’s signatures. There had been a tense moment when his mother had appeared as if she were not going to sign, but in the end, she reluctantly acquiesced and put pen to paper.
A small part of Dean had actually hoped she would have stood strong and refused to sign. The Spacetek people had explained that his training would consist of him completing his traditional schoolwork, at an advanced pace, in addition to taking advanced courses in physics, engineering, math, electronics, and several other topics that had Dean scared to death. The part that worried him the most though, was when they described the intense physical training he was expected to complete. He had never been very athletic and he worried desperately that he would be unable to fulfill the requirements.
Dean looked up as Mark Dutton, the Chief Executive Officer of Spacetek, approached the microphone at the front of the stage. Clearing his throat, the CEO looked out at the crowd, smiled brightly, and began, “Ladies and gentlemen, members of the press, and to all of the people of the world, it is my greatest pleasure to be here today to announce the winner of the Spacetek essay contest, in which the winner will be among the first people to travel to the planet Mars and take the next step in our exploration of the universe. Spacetek received almost a million entries to the contest and the competition was quite fierce. However, the winner blew us away with his insights and his ability to distinguish the many benefits of space exploration.”
As the long winded speech continued, Dean sat in his seat barely listening. Fumbling nervously with his note cards, he just kept picturing himself standing on the surface of Mars. Silently, he vowed to himself, no matter what they decided to put in front him during his training, he would pass and he would go to Mars. No matter what!
Chapter 3
When Dean had been chosen as the contest winner, the executives at SpaceTek were overjoyed to see the scrawny, stereotypical young bookworm that showed up for training. Standing barely one point seven meters and weighing in at a whopping fifty-four kilograms, Dean was exactly what they had been hoping for.
Almost halfway through the two year program, they began to worry. At first, Dean was completely hopeless when it came to physical training. He couldn’t run more than half a kilometer. He couldn’t perform a single pushup. No amount of effort could pry a pull up out of him. But he never quit. Dean pushed himself beyond what anyone would have believed possible. Many of his trainers had served as special operations soldiers in various militaries and were uniformly impressed with the sheer force of his will. Once they knew that Dean would not give up, no matter what they made him do, they secretly vowed to help him any way they could.
They had been instructed to break Dean; to provide physical goals which would be impossible to accomplish. When he continued to reach those goals regardless, the instructors were given new goals for him that were certain to result in failure. Realizing that they themselves would be unable to perform what was now being demanded of Dean, the trainers collectively ignored orders and worked with Dean after hours and during classroom breaks to help increase his stamina and strength.
The executives at SpaceTek then found that the scrawny, underweight fifteen year old had become a well-muscled, highly athletic sixteen year old, now standing right at one point eight meters. They couldn’t allow this to stand, so they continued to increase the physical requirements and they added more and more to the educational requirements he was expected to meet. None of which did them any good whatsoever. By the time the two year program was over, Dean had completed the equivalent studies of a master’s degree and had the physical stamina of a typical Olympic athlete.
Still unable to discern the incredible asset they had created, SpaceTek continued to search for an excuse to disqualify Dean from the program. One of his instructors however, refused to see Dean cheated in such a way after all he had overcome. The instructor quietly contacted the media and leaked a few unauthorized videos of Dean’s performance. The instructor was discovered and fired, but the damage was done. With tremendous public support behind him, SpaceTek could not prevent Dean from being part of the mission.
So, an announcement was made with great fanfare. Dean had passed his training and would become the fifth member of the crew. Dean immediately became an international celebrity. The media played the leaked videos of his training over and over. With his light blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and well-muscled frame, teenage girls all over the world adorned their walls with posters depicting him in various athletic poses.
Now, seventeen year old Dean Danforth, teenage heartthrob and certified astronaut, sat in a rocket ready to ascend to the heavens, both fearful and excited at achieving what he had worked so hard to accomplish.
Chapter 4
Dean Danforth was lucky; the entire world said so. When he won the contest and was chosen to do something no other human had ever done, he was touted as the luckiest human alive. Of course, luck could sometimes carry a double edge. There were times when the seemingly insurmountable mounds of schoolwork and the grueling physical training had made luck a foreign concept to his mind.
Now though, perched atop a Neptune four, heavy lift rocket, just minutes away from initiating a controlled explos
ion beneath him, the perception of being lucky had come back to him fully, regardless of the trepidation he was also experiencing. In mere minutes, thousands of liters of liquid rocket fuel would ignite, sending Dean skyward at incredible velocities. Any one of a million things could go wrong, turning Dean into a giant firework in the night sky. He couldn’t keep the smile off his face.
Topping out at one hundred and twenty-six meters above the beautiful Hawaiian landscape, Dean was aware that the monstrous rocket he was in would make a spectacular explosion if something went wrong. Not only was it carrying enough fuel to escape Earth’s atmosphere and carry the crew to its next waypoint, it was also carrying a massive amount of additional fuel to be delivered to the interplanetary craft that sat awaiting them in low Earth orbit. The original plan had the crew being delivered with water as the primary payload, however, some low level staffer had screwed up when instituting the schedule and the crew had been forced to accompany the last fuel delivery instead of water. Not that it really mattered; eventually it was determined that twice the fuel would not make the crew twice as dead if the rocket malfunctioned.
SpaceTek, an American corporation that had completely taken over all space travel within the United States as well as a good portion of that conducted in the rest of the world, was responsible for this launch. While most of the financing required for space exploration still came from governments, SpaceTek had remarkably reduced the costs by selling just about anything they could bring back, to the highest bidder. Chunks of moon rock, pieces of asteroid, and frozen blocks of comet fetched ridiculous sums of money from private collectors. While a certain percentage of whatever was collected on this next trip was set aside for governments and institutes of higher learning, SpaceTek was banking on the remaining material being highly profitable.
Dean looked around as much as he was able. He was strapped tightly to his seat in a horizontal position. By looking straight ahead, he could see the front viewports shaped exactly like a vehicle windshield. If it had been daytime, he would be staring at blue sky and fluffy clouds. Being night, all he saw was black as he tried to peer out.