THE NEW LIFE, THE NEW ME - an Apple Loving Individual Thriller

Chapter 32 - Preparing to Leave for Mars

Chapter 32 – Preparing to Leave for Mars

Monday, July 9, 2046

8:31 PM

Perkins Residence

Pearland, TX

Yeah, just as you'd imagine, we spent the last forty-eight hours planning this all. So, now was the night we'd leave. It was me, Jake, Reagan, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Sandra. We were gonna hit NASA in the middle of the night, board an eagle and fly to Mars. For a planet which is about seventy million miles away this time of the year, I'm sure they've made quite a lot of development there, since the first people landed on its surface, some twenty years ago.

"So, I hope we planned this thoroughly?" I inquired with Uncle Kevin. "You and Aunt Sandra will sneak us into the facility and be back home safe?"

"Yeah, don't worry about us!" said Aunt Sandra. "We'll be fine. But you need to stay on your guard."

"So, Jake?" said Uncle Kevin. "Since you've been in the army before as a commissioned officer, surely you had access to military grade firewalls and apps?"

"Hoo-ah!" said Jake. "Should've been born five years earlier, would've been a lieutenant colonel and still had my job."

"No problem!" said Dad. "I'm glad you're in my daughter's life now. She's been much happier with you."

"I see that, myself!" confirmed Jake. "I'm happy she's my girlfriend. Anyways, if you two say ready, we must leave. S.A.L.M.A and I can keep us from being detected, but the rest is up to us."

So, we left and got into the SUV parked outside. It was a 2043 Honda CR-V driven by Jake. The car activated its defenses and we were headed to the NASA base. The twilight had just disappeared, and the car switched off its headlights. The SUV went through the underground high-speed tunnel, travelling at 300 mph. These tunnels were built over the last fifteen years to allow higher speed vehicles to travel underground. It was easier and more subtle to reach NASA.

So, we finally made it to the airfield and had the car hidden. Jake then signaled Aunt Sandra and Uncle Kevin to go home. Guess this was the right step to take currently. Jake then made me, Reagan and himself wear some gear. He then gestured us to crouch. We did and our skins turned almost invisible.

"What the hell?" said Reagan. "What's this?"

"It's an optical camo suit." Jake responded.

"Reactive camouflage?" said me. "Since when?"

"Standard issue since 2021. The man who jumped from Wells Fargo Plaza back in 2023, wore the same thing." Jake then told us to go. "There are guards all over the base."

We then headed towards the base.

"We must get the space shuttle's flight codes from the main office vault." Reagan said.

"You do realize the second we start the ship to fly out into space, then shit's gonna hit the fan!" said Jake.

"But we're inside a space shuttle that travels at 70,000,000 mph. That'd be worth millions. They won't shoot such an expensive ship?" said Reagan.

"Anyone else wanna take odds on that bet?" said Jake. "Didn't think so!"

"That'd be insane!" said Reagan.

"Insane would be to let us go!" I added "They'd rather get rid of any potential threats to them, than to risk us saving the world!"

"I'll make sure to distort their heat and motion sensors." S.A.L.M.A said. "You keep going, I'll flirt with the system, pretending to show interest."

"See that, Reagan?" I asked my brother. "Wonders of technology, they can program AI to love other AI, nowadays."

We then snuck into the airbase, splitting up, carrying nothing but dart guns. S.A.L.M.A made sure the airborne security drones didn't detect us. Also, she'd make it look like the guards were still working as we'd take them out, one by one. This was it, we had to enter the spaceship and fly to Mars to meet Ajay Malhotra, who was stationed somewhere on the Korolev Crater.