Gas blew out. Slow at first and then with great force. My suit read it for what it was.
Air.
I yelled for the team on board the Huginn to start pressurization and, between the two jets of air, we established a hard dock.
The door was still closed, though. The lock didn’t want to open.
Too bad. I wasn’t about to fail now. I wasn’t going to let that stop me. No way. I used my tools, I used every trick I know, and then I used muscle. After a moment of hesitation, Colpeys came up beside me, grabbed hold of one of the safety rings inset along the outside of the hatch, put his shoulder against the hatch, and pushed. I could hear him growling, muttering, swearing under his breath as he pushed. I turned and looked at him, caught his eye. He paused for a moment and then he smiled. We smiled at each other. I nodded, set myself, and together we pushed with everything we had.
The others joined us. It took all of us to push it in because the big steel airlock door was a mess.
But it moved. Yeah. It moved and it swung inward.
And there she was.
A slim figure, wrapped in stained blankets, shrunken to scarecrow thinness by malnutrition. Young and scared. Holding a hammer in one hand and a screwdriver in the other.
Ting.
And she was alive.
Chapter 111
* * *
We celebrated.
Not just the crews on the ships. The whole world.
It was all so strange. First there was all that fear and sickness, all the pain and death . . . and then there was life. Our crew and the Chinese crew were suddenly one crew. It’s crazy how fast and how completely it happened. They stopped being them and became part of us. Ting was so happy to see other kids, and we were so happy to adopt her and her companions into the Huginn and Muninn family. We had no idea if China would send a ship to bring them home, but that didn’t seem likely. They were going to be part of our colony until the Chinese established their own. Or maybe it would come down to one colony. Maybe this was going to change how we viewed the whole “us and them” thing. I mean, what do nationalities and borders matter on Mars?
Like all of the survivors, Ting was rail thin, so everyone took turns trying to fatten her up. I wished I had a pizza, wings, and some onion rings, because that girl needed junk food. Unfortunately all we had was really healthy stuff, so we gave her a lot of that.
Language barriers somehow didn’t matter much. We all understood each other because we were all out there for the same reason.
During the party my dad told me that I had messages waiting from Herc and Izzy, and I went into a pod to play the video files. They were crying and laughing because the news services had picked up images from my helmet cam during the rescue and it was all over the Internet. The airlock opening. Ting’s face. Life.
We’d all worked together to save the last crew members of the Golden Dragon, so it wasn’t fair that my name and my face kept showing up everywhere. I tried to tell Herc and Izzy that, but I don’t think they heard me.
Before she signed off, Izzy smiled at me across all those millions of miles and said, “I’ll always love you, Tristan Hart.”
It wasn’t something she said with a broken heart. No. This was different. This was my friend Izzy Drake. Even so, I kind of broke down and cried.
Good thing those pods had doors.
That night—the last night of the voyage for the Huginn, the night before our crew would crowd into the landing craft and leave the transit vehicle behind forever, to be followed a day later by the crew of the Muninn—Colpeys gathered everyone in the common room. We all knew what was coming. Luther, Zoé, Nirti, and I were holding hands when Colpeys explained how it was going to work.
“Despite what the rumor mill’s been saying, this isn’t a meritocracy,” he said, cutting a look at Luther.
Luther sighed but he was smiling. We all were. Nervous smiles, sure, but still smiles.
“As much as I would like to be the first person on Mars,” continued Colpeys, “it was always our decision to make this completely fair. We have a computer program that will make random selections from among the crews of each ship. The names will be printed out and those persons will represent Mars One and all of Earth as the first people to step onto our new world. We on the Huginn have the special honor of having one of our own be the very first of all the colonists to make that step. Onto Mars . . . onto our new home. The following day the first person from the Muninn will step out. And then the rest of the crew per our standard work assignments. Setup crews and so forth. First things first, though. Let’s find out who will be the first Martian.”
He looked around and everyone was nodding. The excitement in the room was incredible. Palpable. My mouth was totally dry.
Colpeys took a breath and then pulled himself across the room to a computer terminal. The screen display showed the crew of the Muninn. Mom was there, looking pale and worn, but she was smiling too. Colpeys punched in a command code and then paused with his finger over the ENTER key. He glanced around at all of us.
“Best of luck to everyone,” he said. “You all have my love and my greatest respect.”
Nirti squeezed my left hand and Zoé clutched my right. Ting stood near us, looking small but very much alive.
“Good luck,” I said to my friends. We looked at each other and shared a nod.
Colpeys pressed the button. There was a moment where nothing seemed to happen as the computer algorithm cycled and cycled and then suddenly a piece of paper ticked its way out of the printer. Colpeys snatched it and all I caught was a flash of black letters on white paper. That page, I knew, was going to be famous. It would be an artifact that would belong to history. We all held our breaths as Colpeys studied it, lips pursed. Then he turned it around to show us.
LUTHER MBEDE
Everyone gasped. And then everyone burst into applause.
If there had been enough gravity I think Luther would have collapsed. Zoé and Nirti released my hands and they hugged him. People flocked around to pat him on the back and kiss him. His parents were weeping. I waited my turn and offered my hand, then pulled him into as tight a hug as I could give.
“Congratulations,” I said, having to yell above the shouts.
But then Luther pushed me back, turned, soared over to Colpeys, and took the paper from him. Colpeys offered his hand, which Luther shook. Colpeys, beaming at him, turned to the crowd.
“Please, everyone,” he yelled, “if you would all settle down for a moment. Our Mr. Mbede would like to say something.” To Luther he said, “I suspect you had something planned all along.”
Luther looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. The room grew quiet and everyone on both ships listened to what the first Martian was going to say. A live feed would be sent back to Earth, where billions would be hanging on every word.
Luther’s face was serious. He was the only person who wasn’t smiling, and there were tears in his eyes.
“I’ve wanted this more than I’ve wanted anything in my entire life,” he began. “Ever since my family joined Mars One it’s all I’ve been able to think about. I’ve worked so hard for it, and maybe I worked a little too hard.” There was a small ripple of laughter from our crew. “And all along I really believed that the selection was going to be about merit, about who deserves it most. I wanted to be that person. I still do.” He held up the paper and showed it to us. “And it came down to a random computer pick. A random pick.”
Luther shook his head.
“But it shouldn’t be random.”
He looked at the paper and smiled as he wiped the tears from his eyes. They sparkled in the air as they floated off.
“It should have been about who deserved it most,” he said. “It should have been about who earned it.”
Nobody spoke. Colpeys looked confused.
“My name’s on this page,” said Luther, “but it shouldn’t be. It’s a mistake.”
“What do you mean?” asked the director.
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Luther turned and pointed across the room. “His name should have been on this page. And . . . as far as I’m concerned that’s what this page really says. He’s the one who really earned this.”
One by one every person in the common room turned.
He was pointing at me.
Chapter 112
* * *
A lifetime later, I stood on the lowest rung on the ladder.
Everyone was watching. Everyone in the first lander, everyone else back aboard the other ship still in orbit. Thirty-five plus eight. Forty-three humans on two ships. Everyone on Earth, too, though by the time they saw the video feed history would have already changed.
My suit was regulated for temperature but I was sweating and my hands were ice-cold. My heart was beating so hard I could hear it.
Through the radio I heard my mom’s voice. “I love you, Tristan,” she said. In the back of my mind I remembered the way Izzy smiled at me in her video.
I bowed my head and rested the visor against the ladder.
The whole universe seemed to stop. All those worlds, all the stars and galaxies held their breath.
I knew what the mission people wanted me to say. It had been scripted for whoever was chosen to be the first. A long speech about the glories of mankind and the benefits of imagination and cooperation. We all knew it backward and forward. It’s what we were supposed to say, and maybe some historians and reporters had already drafted it into the headlines because they’d been given copies by our PR people. Historic words.
But no, I’ve never liked scripts.
I took a breath, blinked tears out of my eyes, and stepped down.
My foot crunched onto the hard, flaky red soil of another world.
Then the other foot.
My knees were trembling but I felt fifty feet tall.
I knew that whatever I said was going to be remembered forever.
“I am a Martian,” I said. “And I’m home.”
Izzy’s Going-to-Live-on-Mars Playlist
* * *
2 Skinnee J’s: “Pluto”
Aimee Mann: “It’s Not”
Ash: “Girl From Mars”
Ayreon: “Into the Black Hole”
Babylon Zoo: “Spaceman”
Beastie Boys: “Intergalactic”
Belle and Sebastian: “A Space Boy Dream”
Billy Bragg: “The Space Race Is Over”
Blink-182: “Aliens Exist”
Blondie: “Rapture”
Bruno Mars: “Talking to the Moon”
Chris Bell: “I Am the Cosmos”
Clutch: “Escape from the Prison Planet”
Crookers featuring Kid Cudi: “Embrace the Martian”
Daft Punk: “Technologic”
David Bowie: “I Took a Trip on a Gemini Spaceship”
David Bowie: “Life on Mars?”
David Bowie: “Loving the Alien”
David Bowie: “Space Oddity”
David Bowie: “Starman”
David Bowie: “Ziggy Stardust”
Destroyer: “The Space Race”
Devo: “Space Junk”
Dinah Washington: “Destination Moon”
Donald Fagen: “Tomorrow’s Girls”
Drive-By Truckers: “Puttin’ People on the Moon”
Electric Light Orchestra: “Ticket to the Moon”
Ella Fitzgerald: “Two Little Men in a Flying Saucer”
Elton John: “Rocket Man”
Ernie from Sesame Street: “I Don’t Want to Live on the Moon”
Feist: “My Moon My Man”
Flight of the Conchords: “Bowie’s in Space”
Frank Sinatra: “Fly Me to the Moon”
Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention: “Dwarf Nebula Processional March & Dwarf Nebula”
Gorillaz: “Every Planet We Reach Is Dead”
Hawkwind: “Silver Machine”
Ian Brown: “My Star”
Incubus: “Stellar”
Janelle Monáe: “Many Moons”
Joe Cocker: “Space Captain”
Jon Anderson: “Flight of the Moorglade”
Julie Brown: “Earth Girls Are Easy”
Justin Timberlake: “Spaceship Coupe”
Kanye West: “Spaceship”
Kate Tempest: “Hot Night Cold Spaceship”
Katy Perry: “E.T.”
Klaatu: “Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft”
Komputer: “Valentina”
Kool Keith/Dr. Octagon: “Aliens”
Lou Reed: “Satellite of Love”
Megadeth: “Hangar 18”
Mike Oldfield: “First Landing”
Moby: “We Are All Made of Stars”
Modest Mouse: “Space Travel Is Boring”
Morrissey: “Fantastic Bird”
Neko Case: “I Wish I Was the Moon”
Nick Drake: “Pink Moon”
Patti Smith: “Space Monkey”
Peter Schilling: “Major Tom (Coming Home)”
Pixies: “Bird Dreams of Olympus Mons”
Pink Floyd: “Eclipse”
Pink Floyd: “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun”
Portishead: “Wandering Star”
Powerman 5000: “When Worlds Collide”
Prism: “Spaceship Superstar”
Radiohead: “Black Star”
Radiohead: “Subterranean Homesick Alien”
R.E.M.: “Man on the Moon”
Schoolhouse Rock!: “Interplanet Janet”
Simple Plan: “My Alien”
Skillet: “Alien Youth”
Smog: “Teenage Spaceship”
Snow Patrol: “The Planets Bend Between Us”
Styx: “Come Sail Away”
Sun Ra: “Space Is the Place”
The Aquabats!: “Martian Girl”
The Beatles: “Across the Universe”
The Byrds: “Mr. Spaceman”
The Firm: “Star Trekkin’ ”
The Flaming Lips: “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1”
The Game featuring Lil Wayne and Tyler, The Creator: “Martians vs. Goblins”
The Killers: “Spaceman”
The Kinks: “Supersonic Rocket Ship”
The McGuire Sisters: “Will There Be Space in a Space Ship”
The Misfits: “Teenagers from Mars”
The Misfits: “I Turned into a Martian”
The National: “Looking for Astronauts”
The Neanderthals: “Martian Hop”
The Only Ones: “Another Girl, Another Planet”
The Police: “Walking on the Moon”
The Pretenders: “Space Invaders”
The Prodigy: “Out of Space”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show soundtrack: “Science Fiction/Double Feature”
The Rolling Stones: “2,000 Light Years from Home”
The Steve Miller Band: “Space Cowboy”
The Tubes: “Space Baby”
T.Rex: “Ballrooms of Mars”
Voivod: “Forgotten in Space”
Yes: “Starship Trooper”
Zager and Evans: “In the Year 2525”
About the Author
JONATHAN MABERRY is a New York Times bestselling and multiple Bram Stoker Award–winning author, magazine feature writer, playwright, Marvel comics author, and writing teacher-lecturer. His books include the Nightsiders series, the Rot & Ruin series, Patient Zero, Extinction Machine, Marvel Universe vs. the Avengers, and Zombie CSU: The Forensics of the Living Dead. He lives in Del Mar, California. Visit him at jonathanmaberry.com.
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Also by Jonathan Maberry
Scary Out There
THE ROT & RUIN SERIES
Rot & Ruin
Dust & Decay
Flesh & Bone
Fire & Ash
B
its & Pieces
THE NIGHTSIDERS SERIES
The Orphan Army
Vault of Shadows
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 2017 by Jonathan Maberry
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Maberry, Jonathan, author.
Title: Mars One / Jonathan Maberry.
Description: First edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, [2017] | Summary: “A teenage boy leaves for Mars as a colonist with the Mars One space program and grapples with what he’s leaving behind to do so”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016011449 | ISBN 9781481461610 (hardback) | ISBN 9781481461634 (eBook)
Subjects: | CYAC: Mars (Planet)—Fiction. | Space colonies—Fiction. | Love—Fiction. | Science fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Science Fiction. | JUVENILE FICTION / Family / General (see also headings under Social Issues). | JUVENILE FICTION / Action & Adventure / General.