The Landing

And now for something completely different, a little short story I wrote, hope you like it:

Matt revised his instructions again. He already knew them inside out, but it felt like one of those tests back in college that you were never sure you'd pass, however much you did study. Check telemeters, check thrusters... his mind was about shut down again. There was no point in reading it again, but his churning stomach didn't really care how finely he had memorized it.
Then again, what he was most afraid was not the landing, but the speech. Crap, did Armstrong have this many doubts before landing on the moon?! Sure, it was just a speech, and he would be remembered anyway even if his words were not exactly literary genius, but at least he had to try and get close to the "one small step for man..." phrase.
Ethan, the capsule "pilot" was focused in his console; his job did not have much else to it, since the capsule pretty much piloted itself. He flipped a couple of switches and gave him an "ok" sign with his hand.

Matt nodded and flipped his own confirmation switch. His index finger caressed his "detach" button, and counted down to three in his communicator. 3... 2... 1...

The capsule creaked as it detached itself from the main module in orbit and moved lazily as two small thrusters fired simultaneously just once, setting them on route to the red planet.

Matt's eyes frantically checked all his controls and status screens, making sure that the acceleration was not in excess and that the route was inside the safety parameters. Good so far. Matt felt the capsule starting to speed towards the Big Red Ghoul, as Mars was sometimes called because of the difficulty of landing something on it without smashing it to pieces.

Their speed was rising steadily as they entered Mars’ thin atmosphere. Matt had gone through this hundreds of times in simulation, but seeing their speed close to Mach 5 in real life and knowing that they wouldn’t be able to slow down until they were just 10 km above ground was simply making his head feel like a pressure cooker.

But that was just the stress related to the situation - plummeting to the ground at such speeds was not exactly something you looked forward too. Matt could swear that his stomach was still somewhere in orbit, and he lost his sight for a second (not that he would tell anyone this anytime soon).

The altimeter raced down and the on-board computer showed the countdown for the deployment of the hypercone. Without the hypercone, this mission would be impossible and if it failed, Ethan and Matt would become two small stains on the surface of Mars, that is if that much of them was left of course. The hypercone should act somehow as a "super parachute”, if that makes any sense; it was like a donut covered with a silk bedsheet - and it should "open" like an inverted parachute, with the "donut" floating above them and the sheet holding it to the capsule.

Again, the countdown... just how many countdowns had they had since the start of the mission? Somebody back at home definitely liked them... three... two... one...

Matt felt as if his head had popped, and even through his thick, specialized spacesuit he could feel the brutal G's that his body was being subjected to... but it was working! They were slowing down drastically... Mach 3... Mach 2... Mach 1...

The capsule started to rumble as the landing thrusters fired up, and Matt could hear Ethan breathing deeply through his communicator.
The landing pad started extending from the capsule with a slow sliding noise and locked into position with a loud "clank".

Now, the only thing left was to touch down on the ground... Matt could feel as if his heart wanted to leap out of his chest, and his stomach was still somewhere higher than it should have been...

They touched down with a short but loud "thump!", and the hydraulic brakes on the capsule legs hissed like a gruelling serpent.

After that, there was a moment of silence. Neither Matt nor Ethan uttered a word, as if waiting for something else to happen... but no, it didn't, they were down, they were safe, they had made it!

They both exploded in a loud and almost tearful cheer of relief and pride that lasted easily for two or three minutes. Finally, when they somehow regained their senses, Ethan talked through his communicator.

- Control, this is Ares 3, we have touched down safely, I repeat, we are down safely!

They waited for what it seemed like ages for the message to reach Earth and the answer to reach them back, when in truth it was only about 6 minutes, and Matt almost became deaf at that very moment, the control room threw at them an even louder and longer cheer, followed by a long series of congratulations, bravados and similar screams of happiness and success that were barely recognizable because of the number of voices and tones of those uttering them.

Finally, the cheering and screaming quietened down and they received an intelligible answer.

- Ares 3, this is Control. Congratulations once again for your safe landing! We are receiving all the automated data generated by your landing module, and it seems that you're at stable ground and you are clear for a Martian walk. Boys, we are about to make history!

Ethan answered in an obviously nervous and cheerful manner.

- Roger Control! We'll go out in 10 to 15 minutes. The cameras are already rolling and transmitting.

Ethan closed his communicator and looked at Matt, smiling slyly.

- You ready to make history?
- Are you?
- Nope.
- Same here... I still have no idea what to say...
- I guess you'll know when you go out.
- I do hope so...

While they talked, they were already checking their spacesuits, following the same routine that had been repeated over and over back on Earth. All seemed fine; their air reserves were still high, they had no problems with sealing and all different sensors and transmitters where in working order.

Matt stopped for a moment after checking everything to put his thoughts in order… and some of the bad ones crept in. He knew, in fact, everyone knew that he was chosen to be the first one out of the capsule. Not because he was the best of the crew, but because he was black and it was politically correct and progressive. Ethan and the others had reminded him again and again that he also was one of the best, if not the best, and it did ease it somehow, but what eased it the most, was the thought that he, and not someone else, was going to be the first man on Mars. Greedy and full of pride, sure, but it tasted great nonetheless.

- You ready? – said Ethan –
- As much as I could be…
- Good enough I guess… open the hatch.

And Matt did so; he pulled the safety handle, and then the double handle that started the depressurization of the capsule and slowly but surely, the door to the outside opened, giving them a breathtaking vision that would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
Red, rocky and silent, the huge expanse of the side of Mount Olympus that they had landed in was waiting for them. The barren lifeless landscape went beyond the horizon, and as shockingly empty it was, it was also incredibly beautiful.

With no more sounds than their own breathing accompanying them, they started walking towards the wasteland. Each step seemed to take hours, and when they had to grab onto the ladder to go down to the ground, Ethan broke the silence and captivating atmosphere for a second informing Earth.

- Control. We’re about to go down, Matt is already on the ladder, keep those cameras rolling.

Matt breathed deeply and went carefully, even though he could have jumped down without worry as Mars’ low gravity made him feel like a feather, but he decided to take it slowly.
He finally touched down, his feet firmly on the red ground, his eyes looking up to the yellow sky and horizon. He closed his eyes for a second and finally spoke.

- It may look like the end of the road for some, but we must not forget, this is just another stop on the journey of discovery that humanity started the very day we became what we are…

Ethan didn’t say a thing, he just stopped close to him and handed him one of the two portable flags they where carrying on the capsule. They poked the ground with them and, finding it harder than it looked, after a second they used all their strength to stab the ground with them, leaving both firmly attached to Mars, marking the place where they started, rather than ended, one long and arduous journey for humankind.

After that, their communicators brought them a round of applauses that started slow and quiet and ended devouring them for minutes. Together, they looked at the horizon and savoured the moment of their lives and the lives of many others with their eyes in the sky that very day.