Unification

Iteration 1: Incarnadine Twilight

"I didn't even get my peanuts," grumbled the other man in the cabin, "least you can do is offer up one more movie before we have to get serious again, Jonas."

"Now, now, it's not like it was my decision. The final hours are the most vital in any mission, we'll need all the cushion time we can get, David."

"Yeah, yeah. Still, I think I could have squeezed in another session of Event Horizon or The Thing."

"But you'd still not understand a damn thing about it," Sarah quipped. This caused both David and Jonas to smile. The friendly banter between the three had been a blessing. Many missions, shorter than this one, had been canceled due to the fact that many people just could not get along in such a restrictive environment, let alone for the duration of an entire space flight. And yet despite all of their cooperation, only one of them had been this far out from Earth and none of them had ever set foot upon the desolate Martian surface.

"So tell me, Sarah, what's Mars like?" David asked out of the blue as the trio continued their pre-orbit checks.

"Dead, desolate, and haunted," the biologist replied in an eerie tone. "To be honest, I didn't get to see much of the surface up close. I remained in the orbiter as the supplied were dropped off below. Automation and all that. It's a kind of blessing and curse, not having stepped foot on another world."

"What makes you say that, doctor?"

"Mars is intriguing and mysterious for many reasons, just like any other planet. Had I set foot, I probably would have never left, which would have caused a lot of problems." Sarah paused for a moment and looked out the observation screen of the ship. In the distance, marked by holographic overlays and digital information lay the red planet, gradually growing, gradually gaining on them, as if it was coming to their ship like a stalking predator. "When I was younger, I used to have this dream that I would not die on Earth, but on some other planet, whether by accident or just spending the rest of my life there. It was a kind of destiny or fate. When I became part of the Ares Project, a part of me was excited and scared, not because of any of the inherent risks or dangers we could encounter, but that my childhood dream was slowly coming true, but which one, I was never sure."

Jonas and David stopped what they were doing briefly and glanced at their female companion, before both looking back at their work stations. The cold silence of space seemed to seep into the bridge, leaving behind only the muted beeps of the computer and ship's instruments.

"Sounds like the start of a great space novel, if you ask me," spoke David with a small laugh, finally breaking the silence.

"Maybe someday I'll write down my life experiences and turn them into some kind of novel."

"Why not? If famous people who are only famous for being famous can have ten different autobiographies, I don't see why someone intelligent and beautiful couldn't have one novel."

"If you say so, Dave."

The crew continued on with their checks for a couple of hours, going over the ship itself and making sure everything was in place and secured. Final preparations were made as the ship's computer alerted everyone on board that they would be arriving in thirty minutes' time.

"Hey commander, do you think we'd be able to send a shortwave signal to the base and see if they can respond?" David suggested.

"Don't see why not. It would be worth a shot. We're definitely close enough to get a strong signal in. Ani, you there?" Jonas replied curtly. His screen opened a black holographic window in front of his station, upon which the silhouette of a woman with cybernetic features and a light purple hue appeared.