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

Chapter 34 - Arriving on the Red Planet

Chapter 34 – Arriving on the Red Planet

Tuesday, July 10, 2046
7:11 AM
Kanzen Colony
Korolev Crater, Mars

I woke up in a strange bed. It was of nanocarbon material and fabric for comforters. I saw what seemed to be my space suit hanging on the wall of the room I was in. My boots were next to it. I removed the comforter and saw myself in my own clothes, which I was wearing under my space suit. Looked at my toenails painted black with nail polish. I saw Jake who was sitting reading a holographic magazine.

"You slept good?" said Jake. "You were dead tired, we brought you inside."

"Where are we?" I had to ask. "What is this place?"

"Kanzen Colony," said Reagan. "Funded by Mikail Kanzen and Zane Galnac, this was founded on Mars in 2036, as one of the first human colonies, five years after having astronauts land on the Red Planet. Also, the foundation of Kanzen City, which may take another few decades to finish!"

"This is amazing, don't you think?" I said. "This is like home on another planet!"

"What a time to be alive?" said S.A.L.M.A.

"For sure, yes!" I had to agree.

"Is she okay?" said a voice.

We all turned to see who it was. Ajay Malhotra! It was none other than him, except he was wearing his former US Army uniform with an insignia of one star!

"Ajay Malhotra?" said Jake. "It's you!"

"Correction! Brigadier General Ajay Malhotra – United States Army Secret Service Cyber Ops!" said Ajay. "I never quite left the army. I stayed on, working undercover in the secret service division of the military. Recently was promoted to brigadier general. Now, if you got the information from the Internet that I retired from the army, technically, I retired from regular field work, but since being an O-5, I started doing undercover covert ops work."

"What have you been doing here?" said Jake. "Why did you leave Earth?"

"I've been suspicious of Galnac VR and realized what was going on, as soon as they started abducting employees left and right." Ajay went on to elaborate. "I knew my family and I wouldn't be safe, so I brought them with me so they can be safe from the evils of what was going on down there!"

"We still need to get to the bottom of this!" said yours truly. "I know me, and my family aren't safe either, or my friends."

"We can't do this alone, Kimberly. We'll need tons of help, even me and my team up here aren't enough!" replied Ajay. "They also are using software and drones that won't let us infiltrate the company without a proper plan."

"I know people who can help!" Reagan spoke up. "But we need to fill them in on this, and I can contact them via Facebook™ Messenger!"

"Reagan's right!" said Jake. "We must do this together but include our friends in this too!"

Ajay then pointed to the hall outside.

"Follow me outside, we need to discuss more on this there." He instructed us.

We obliged and followed him to the other room. In the process, I looked around me and saw the facility. It was a beautiful interior, modern, futuristic, space-like, but more appropriate for our time. Robots kept the place clean and electrical power was generated carbon free!