By Raonall, age 13, Dublin
6am. MMT.*
He awoke wondering “why me”? He was always alone, never with anyone else.
Leaving the shelter again, he began to wander the rocky Martian surface. The landscape was always the same; blood orange rocks, ice capped mountains.
Heavy-hearted, he meandered as he reflected. As a child, there were lots of people like him. He reminisced about his old life on earth before ‘the incident’. That was what they called it before they all died. It hardly mattered now, he had been stuck on Mars these last ten years until he could figure out how to get back to earth. He headed south toward Promethei Terra, hopeful, as ever, in a new terrain search, to find someone, anyone there.
This was the only region he hadn’t completely scoured yet. He’d put it off because he had a feeling he’d find something there, but whether for worst or best, he was unsure.
His thoughts strayed to life before Mars. His family, friends, life and most importantly his wife. That was the past, now was the time for action and doing something instead of feeling sorry for himself. It would soon be the ‘bad’ season, the harshest weather, and he would need to prepare. There remained just a few hours to search for another thing, another being, his wife…
1pm. MMT.
The search proving utterly fruitless, he despondently returned to base to rest for a short while, pondering his next move…
2pm. MMT.
He must have drifted off. Waking suddenly, he was scared. He’d heard a voice crying out…
No one here knew his real name – apart from his wife. Except she must have died when they crashed so It could not be her, could it? It must all be a dream or just a sick prank his mind was playing on him….
He had to get out and do something, be active, so he decided to explore just one last time, knowing he could not go on searching forever. Soon there’d be hardly any light left and even less chance of him finding anything, let alone anyone.
4pm. MMT.
On venturing further into the wilderness, he heard the voice again, this time louder and closer, so he kept walking in the direction he thought he’d heard the sound come from – still wary. As if all the lonely, difficult years on the harsh planet had somehow instantly caught up with him, he felt he was going insane.
5pm. MMT.
Then he knew he must, because he thought he saw a figure in the far distance!?
Continuing forward, cautiously, hardly daring to hope, he reached the brow of the hill. He saw a weird, blue lit shimmer that looked like a type of portal with a cave beyond! Venturing closer to inspect it, he heard the voice again. He saw his wife Molly, who spoke his name kindly, saying “come to the other side Leo. Come home”
6pm. MMT.
He stepped through…
* MMT: Martian Mean Time