Earthside

by Josh Jamieson

The orange sun hung low over the San Bernardino horizon. Donny watched it make flickering shadows on the floor of the Lincoln navigator as the large vehicle snaked its way through the forest of skyscrapers. Donny reached up to run his fingers through his closely cropped hair. His forehead was moist with sweat. He couldn’t tell if he was excited or terrified or both.

“Nervous?” asked the long legged woman sitting next to him. She was smiling and her beautiful dark eyes twinkled as she spoke. Donny smiled back.

“Was I that obvious?” said Donny. The woman giggled, flicking her long dark hair out of her striking face.

“Don’t worry, everyone’s nervous before their first jump. Once we break atmosphere and you take a look at the earth you’ll feel fine.’

Donny chuckled sheepishly, still gazing at the attractive woman next to him.

“I’m Donny.”

The woman giggled again.

“I know, honey. They sent me your profile before I left to pick you up from the airport.” She said. “But it’s very nice to meet you in person, Mr. Fillipovic. I’m Rachel James”

“Nice to meet you Rachel. Are you…” Donny was interrupted by Rachel’s ringing cell phone.

“Sorry Donny, I have to take this,” Said Rachel. Donny nodded and glanced out the window as Rachel answered the call.

The SUV had already boarded the freeway and was quickly leaving the city behind it. Ahead of them lay the large arid desert of the Yucca Valley, where the largest spacecraft launce facility in the world sat. Donny’s heart still pounded through his chest at the thought of it. For years he had helped design spacecrafts. He and his team had helped to extend man’s reach beyond the solar system with their revolutionary design of wormhole jumping engines. Donny had loved his job. He was barely 28 years old, working with the top aeronautics engineers in the country.

But he’d never expected to actually have to venture into outer space. His years of experience in dealing with the final frontier had taught him that the void could kill in thousands of ways. The vacuum of space could invade even the heartiest of vessels through the smallest crack in the hull and boil the blood of its crew in seconds. And cracks in the hull were almost inevitable as vessels traveled towards mars and neared the asteroid belt. Then if you somehow managed to survive your journey, the low gravity could take its extreme toll on your body. Donny had seen astronauts return to earth with muscles so atrophied that their legs bones snapped like twigs under their weight.

Donny shuddered at the memories. He cursed his youth for making him a candidate for the mission. The General had said he needed some one familiar with the wormhole engine to accompany the jump to the Mars Station. Since he was the youngest, fittest member of his small team, he was automatically volunteered to go.

It all began when the US military took over the NASA colonization project. NASA had strict rules about only using specially trained personnel for off world missions. When General Thurman and his Air Force cronies took over, all the protocol went out the window. The first thing they did was to build the largest research and launch facility and outfit it with defenses that rivaled the US embassy in Afghanistan

After that it all went to hell. Thurman began launching mission after mission with complete disregard for NASA’s safety precautions. Two vessels and their crews were lost due to hasty, unregulated launches. And quite a few technicians lost their lives because in slapdash constructions of the Satellites and interplanetary weigh stations that the General needed to run his operation.

Donny didn’t have to be an expert to realize that the General’s goals were far from humanitarian or scientific. Donny was sure that under the cover of the Mars colony operation, General Thurman was trying to turn the solar system into a giant US military base. Unfortunately for Donny, The General needed Donny’s team’s invention to do it.

Wormhole travel could cut the nine-month journey to the sun down to three weeks. It could get a vessel to mars in two, depending on planetary alignment.

Donny was jerked away from his regretful thoughts as the SUV turned sharply off of the empty highway and onto a long two-lane road that wound its way through the desert. The sun was right at the horizon giving the arid landscape a pale orange glow.

Donny’s nervousness intensified. They had gotten of the freeway. That meant they were getting close. He reached a clammy hand into the front of his shirt and pulled out the tiny gold cross hanging from his neck. His mother had given it to him the week before he left. He smiled as he thought of her and hoped that she and his little brother Nikolai were not as worried as he was.

“How are you feeling Donny?” asked Rachel. “Were nearly there”

“Great, I can hardly wait,” Donny lied, hoping his fake smile didn’t look too much like a grimace

“ We’re slightly behind schedule”. Said Rachel, looking at her watch. “So it’ll be a bit of a rush to get you prepped and boarded with the rest of the crew.”

Outstanding, thought Donny. Not only was he terrified out of his wits, but he also had to worry about actually making it onto the shuttle before if took off. Not that the prospect of missing the launch didn’t appeal to him, it definitely did, but he was sure that a painful death in outer space was preferable to the unyielding wrath of General Thurman. Donny gave an involuntary shudder at the thought.

After passing through a seemingly unending number of military checkpoints, the Lincoln crested a hill and the enormous dome-shaped launch facility came into view. Donny’s heart pounded in his ears. A full two miles in diameter, the facility’s thousands of lights lit up the night sky.

Rachel tapped the car’s driver on the shoulder.

“Take us to launch bay number four,” she said. The driver nodded and turned left onto the vast area of tarmac surrounding the base. The place was crawling with military personnel, even during the night. Soldiers walked and jogged in groups and Humvees zipped around narrowly avoiding them. The car stopped outside a bunker like entrance to the underground launch bay, and the driver quickly hopped out and opened Rachel’s door. Donny could barely get himself out of the car. His heart was pounding so hard it shook his whole body. He reached into his shirt and grabbed the cross of his neck. He clutched it tightly as he was ushered through the huge steel doors and into the launch bay.

The next part was all a blur. Donny felt like he was dreaming as unseen hands pushed him through the metal hallways. He glided though the throngs of soldiers and white-coated scientists and into a small room. Several new pairs of hands undressed him and zipped him into a one-piece flight suit. The hands guided him outside back into the crowded hallway, through another set of doors, and into the launch tube. There in front of him sat the shuttle. The big, midnight black beast rumbled, steaming and rocking slightly, as if it were a stallion chomping at the bit, itching to be free.

Donny was given one final push up the stairs and onto the ship. He collapsed into the first seat he could find. Another pair of hands fastened up his harness style seatbelt and patted him comfortingly on the arm.

The rumbling grew louder. Donny leaned his head toward the window; he caught a glimpse of the night sky though the open tube doors. The stars twinkled.

A crackling voice came up on the intercom.

“Lift off in Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”