@Karika
Prompt: The year is 2020. The first astronauts have landed on Mars. They find a cave with a single human skeleton and four words written on the wall.
If it wasn't for the unfamiliar dome of stars above, Keating may have convinced himself he was still on earth. The red dust beneath him was identical to the simulations. Spoke to how much effort his trainers put into preparing him.
No expense was wasted. He and Roscoe were to be the first men on Mars after all. Well, now they were, and forever will be, the first men on Mars.
Roscoe's voice buzzed over the radio. He sounded far away, even though he was standing by the pod they'd landed on, just a few strides behind Keating.
"I'm going to take the buggy out."
"Roger. See you in an hour."
They'd planned all of this long ago, in a boardroom with all the engineers and miscellaneous scientists. Orfanos monitors them from the rocket orbiting Mars. Roscoe takes the buggy to the last known location of the Spirit rover to retrieve salvageable parts and data. Keating goes for a stroll.
He looked up at the milky way and walked towards the brighter end. He imagined the dust crunching underfoot. What would it sound like. He imagine taking a rock and throwing it. Would he be able to throw it far, in his spacesuit? Past that ledge perhaps, into of the countless craters, all the way to the mouth of the cave.
Cave?
That's a cave, on the other side of that crater. A mutated semi-circle, carelessly coloured in. Caves were formed by erosion of running water. The past existence of running water on Mars was a hypothesis at best. But here there was a cave.
"Mission Control, I've found a cave. I think I can walk there."
Keating could imagine the confusion in the control centre when he said that.
"Keating, go to the cave, but do not enter. Roscoe has been directed to your location."
With calmness that came from nothing but years of extensive mental conditioning Keating carefully made his way into the crater. The cave was unnaturally straight, extending roughly 7 meters deep. Sunlight perfectly bisected the cave from the left edge of the cave mouth to the right edge of the back wall, as if some cosmic power had positioned it intentionally. The back and left walls were desaturated by shadow.
And Keating stood there at the mouth of the cave, a planet away from home, wondering if they'd swapped out his gas tank for drugs.
"Mission Control, there's something written on the back wall of the cave. It might be English."
His disbelieving voice was carried over radio back to the pod, beamed into space, accepted and decoded and digitalised and vocalised into the headsets of the supporting cast of this surreal space adventure.
"Can you read it Keating?"
"Maybe. I need to get closer. Requesting permission to enter the cave."
"Granted."
Somewhere in the universe dozens of stars exploded and dozens more were born but Keating did not reply.
"Keating? This is Mission Control. Report your status."
A galaxy collapsed. An astroid impacted a distant moon.
"Mission Control, I have arrived at Keating's location, but I cannot see him."
A comet flew closer to a sun than it had in the past millennia.
"This is Mission Control, Keating should be near a cave in the crater."
A black hole annihilated another solar system.
"Mission Control I am at the cave. I may also be hallucinating. There's a skeleton in the cave. A human skeleton."
"Roscoe, do not move from your current location. Orfanos has visuals on you. Can you see Keating at all?"
"I don't know. Maybe. There's writing on the wall. The very back wall. I can read it. So maybe."
An astronaut on Mars read out loud for all those who were there to hear. I am Liam Keating.
Surprised how long this got. I hope the story was palatable.
The Spirit rover is an actual mars rover. Orfanos was named after my maths teacher. All other similarities to real figures are accidental.
Edit: Ok I changed a story point, pretty minor
Prompt: The year is 2020. The first astronauts have landed on Mars. They find a cave with a single human skeleton and four words written on the wall.
If it wasn't for the unfamiliar dome of stars above, Keating may have convinced himself he was still on earth. The red dust beneath him was identical to the simulations. Spoke to how much effort his trainers put into preparing him.
No expense was wasted. He and Roscoe were to be the first men on Mars after all. Well, now they were, and forever will be, the first men on Mars.
Roscoe's voice buzzed over the radio. He sounded far away, even though he was standing by the pod they'd landed on, just a few strides behind Keating.
"I'm going to take the buggy out."
"Roger. See you in an hour."
They'd planned all of this long ago, in a boardroom with all the engineers and miscellaneous scientists. Orfanos monitors them from the rocket orbiting Mars. Roscoe takes the buggy to the last known location of the Spirit rover to retrieve salvageable parts and data. Keating goes for a stroll.
He looked up at the milky way and walked towards the brighter end. He imagined the dust crunching underfoot. What would it sound like. He imagine taking a rock and throwing it. Would he be able to throw it far, in his spacesuit? Past that ledge perhaps, into of the countless craters, all the way to the mouth of the cave.
Cave?
That's a cave, on the other side of that crater. A mutated semi-circle, carelessly coloured in. Caves were formed by erosion of running water. The past existence of running water on Mars was a hypothesis at best. But here there was a cave.
"Mission Control, I've found a cave. I think I can walk there."
Keating could imagine the confusion in the control centre when he said that.
"Keating, go to the cave, but do not enter. Roscoe has been directed to your location."
With calmness that came from nothing but years of extensive mental conditioning Keating carefully made his way into the crater. The cave was unnaturally straight, extending roughly 7 meters deep. Sunlight perfectly bisected the cave from the left edge of the cave mouth to the right edge of the back wall, as if some cosmic power had positioned it intentionally. The back and left walls were desaturated by shadow.
And Keating stood there at the mouth of the cave, a planet away from home, wondering if they'd swapped out his gas tank for drugs.
"Mission Control, there's something written on the back wall of the cave. It might be English."
His disbelieving voice was carried over radio back to the pod, beamed into space, accepted and decoded and digitalised and vocalised into the headsets of the supporting cast of this surreal space adventure.
"Can you read it Keating?"
"Maybe. I need to get closer. Requesting permission to enter the cave."
"Granted."
Somewhere in the universe dozens of stars exploded and dozens more were born but Keating did not reply.
"Keating? This is Mission Control. Report your status."
A galaxy collapsed. An astroid impacted a distant moon.
"Mission Control, I have arrived at Keating's location, but I cannot see him."
A comet flew closer to a sun than it had in the past millennia.
"This is Mission Control, Keating should be near a cave in the crater."
A black hole annihilated another solar system.
"Mission Control I am at the cave. I may also be hallucinating. There's a skeleton in the cave. A human skeleton."
"Roscoe, do not move from your current location. Orfanos has visuals on you. Can you see Keating at all?"
"I don't know. Maybe. There's writing on the wall. The very back wall. I can read it. So maybe."
An astronaut on Mars read out loud for all those who were there to hear. I am Liam Keating.
Surprised how long this got. I hope the story was palatable.
The Spirit rover is an actual mars rover. Orfanos was named after my maths teacher. All other similarities to real figures are accidental.
Edit: Ok I changed a story point, pretty minor
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