The Descent

Chapter 18 - The Arrival

Denton woke up with a gasp and sat straight up in his bed. Sweat ran down his face, and the back of his shirt clung to his back. His breath was rapid, and he felt as if his heart was about to beat a hole in his chest. He looked around his cabin and then crawled off of the bed and carefully stood up on shaky legs, bracing against the wall. 

He took a couple of deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. The accident, it was only a dream. He ran his fingers through his hair, sat back down on his bed and let himself fall backward as his mind wandered. It had been years since reminders about the accident had come up so frequently in his daily life. There seemed to be reminders everywhere. Why was this happening now? Did he need a reminder of what had happened, for some mysterious reason? Was it time for him to once again suffer through the agonizing details of the loss of his family? Was it time to grieve, again?

He sat up. No. The time to grieve had passed. Denton wasn't sure why the past kept coming up, but he knew that he couldn't let it affect what he was doing. What had happened in the past was done. There was no undoing or turning back time. His family was dead, and that was that. 

Determined, he stood back up and walked into the bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face and found another set of clothes in his suitcase to change into. He glanced out into space through the window in his cabin as he buttoned up his shirt and noted that the stars in the sky looked different before. Had they jumped already? Did he sleep through the whole trip? It was time to check in with Tanner.

"Where are we?"

"Awake, I see," Tanner responded immediately.

"I am now, yes. Where are we?"

"We just arrived in the Sol planetary system a few minutes ago. If you look outside, you will notice that the constellations visible with the human eye are different than on Proxima b."

"Yes, so I noticed. So we're there, we've arrived on Earth?"

"We are currently approaching the customs and immigration facilities on Mars. Earth is located closer to the Sun itself."

"Immigration?"

"We are not residents of the Sol system, much less Earth, and are therefore expected to follow the procedures travelers from outside these areas would."

"I thought we had the blessings of the Terrans?"

"Unfortunately, a blessing does not equate a permission slip, merely a sign of goodwill and cooperation from their side. For the purposes of immigration, I expect us to be treated like everyone else. All the information about this process can be found in the arrival packed handed to you when you boarded."

"Right, that one. I admit I may have fallen asleep as soon as I got into my cabin. Can you give me the highlights?"

"Of course. It's actually not that complicated. The important thing to remember..."

Tanner was interrupted by the intercom system announcing that the ship would be arriving at the Mars portal station within twenty minutes and that all passengers should collect their belongings and report to their respective exit lobby.

"Tanner, hold that thought. I'll get back to you."

Denton quickly gathered together the few items he had extracted from his luggage. Fortunately, his sleep had prevented him from spreading anything else around so packing everything back up was quick. Moments later, he left the cabin behind and walked towards the lobby he had entered the ship through. A small crowd had already gathered, patiently waiting to disembark. Most were chatting amongst themselves, excited about the arrival at a new world or about almost being home again. Denton waiting in a corner by himself.