Cadet Carson E. Daniel woke to the sound of his alarm. His favorite AC/DC song blared through the pod.
The window shields retracted and the sun illuminated his cozy steel cot and sleeping facility.
Carson stumbled to the windowsill, where he kept his not-so humble collection of plants perched. He began watering them with an eyedropper, same as every morning. Each one required a different amount of H2O to survive, but sometimes when one was budding, he would spoil it with a few extra drops.
He looked out his window. The view was exquisite.
There wasn't enough atmosphere on Mars to form any blue skies up above, it was all just black during the day. But on the horizon, that was a different story. Because of his angle of view, there was always enough atmospheric diffraction so that a thin lining of hazy, light blue blanketed the horizon of the featureless red landscape.
It didn't beat the stars, but it was the one time of day that one could almost imagine what his home planet's sky would have looked like. The blue sheen glowed with vibrance in the distance on the horizon, and Carson was lost in his thoughts for a moment.
"Wake up crew! Your needed in sick bay for immediate assessment prior to mission briefing--"
The speakers blared to life of their own accord, a gruff man belted orders from the other end.
That's right... Carson thought. Today was the big day. today was the day he embarked on his journey home. To a foreign, hostile world he had never before set foot on.
He looked upwards into the dark sky, and could see it shining like a faint blue star.
YOU ARE READING
EarthFall
Science FictionIt's been 300 years since humanity has fled from the Ai that destroyed Earth with nuclear weapons. Most of the humans that remain live underground, in the caverns of Mars. A small band of specially chosen soldiers are given a mission to reclaim Eart...
