Unhappy Landings

Min Li was sad to leave Red Rock behind. The last day of their visit, she had woken up groggy, and hungover. She also had company. Li fumbled in the dark for her intercom and regretted tapping the screen. Not only was the light from the little device painfully bright, but it told her she’d slept in. She slipped quietly out of bed and tried to find her clothes in the dark.

“You can turn the light on,” came Tessa’s Australian accented voice from the bed. Li did so, and both women winced at the light, paralyzed in place momentarily while they waited for their eyes adjust.

Clothes and personal items were all over the place, a testament to how passionately they’d been removed. Tessa was laying in the bed, half covered by blankets, with both gorgeous round breasts exposed. She looked as hung over as Li felt.

“Heh, last night was fun,” Li said while hazy memories of their night together bumped around in her sore head. Tessa blushed.

“Yeah, it was,” she said coyly. Li could feel Tessa’s eyes on her naked body. She found herself regretting having slept in. If they had even ten extra minutes, she’d have pulled the blankets of Tessa and gone to town on her again, but unfortunately, duty called, and she was already late.

“I need to go,” Li said, stepping into her jumpsuit and pulling it on. “Late.”

“What a shame,” Tessa said, “wish you could stay longer.” Li leaned over the bed, and kissed Tessa deeply, in spite, of some gnarly hangover breath. Feeling ever so mischievous, she made sure to kiss both of Tessa’s breasts before she stood back up.

“I guess uh, I’ll be seenin’ ya,” Li said awkwardly, and grabbed her bag. She was glad she’d packed the day before, both for the sake of being on time, but also so that she didn’t draw out the awkward moment further. Tessa smiled.

“You too hun,” she said, and with that, Li left her little borrowed bedroom and headed towards the airlock. She didn’t get very far when she saw Tara Dayton leaving her room in a similar rush.

“Hey, how are ya,” Li said softly, not wishing to anger her hangover more than she possibly could.

“Oh hey Li. I’m uh, rough,” Dayton admitted. Before the door closed automatically, Li saw a mostly naked Steve getting dressed in the room, and she smiled. As Li got closer, she noticed the unmistakable scent of sex on Dayton.

“Fun night,” she asked lightly.

“Yeah, you could say that” chuckled Dayton, who looked up to see Tessa leaving Li’s room. “For all of us I think.”

“Yeah, we um, had some fun you could say,” Li admitted.

“Nice. Hey, look we need to get moving, I’m running hella late,” Dayton said. Li nodded in agreement and the ladies walked down the hall to the airlock. Smith and Wagner were waiting for them there with some of the Red Rock people, all chatting amiably.

“Sorry I’m late everyone,” Steve, who had just hurried down the hall behind them, said to the waiting colonists. “Thank you again, Green Mars Corporation, for this opportunity to trade information and ideas. Together, we will make Mars what it should be!”

“Thank you, Steve,” said Dayton, perhaps more groggily than she meant to be, “this has been an amazing opportunity, and I thank you and your crew for such generous hospitality.” Li smiled seeing the significant looks she was giving Steve while she spoke.

“Ever flown a rocket hungover before,” hissed Smith, standing next to Li.

“Oh God,” she winced by way of answering, and Smith chuckled.

With the speeches over the four got dressed in their walking suits and prepared to depart for their habitat. Tessa showed up as Li was getting dressed and gave her a smile. Li was excited to tell Alain about her hookup with Tessa. It had been a fun end to a whirlwind visit.

They left after some final goodbyes and walked to their rocket, fueled up and ready for them. Li conducted pre-flight inspections while her crewmates got settled in. Most of the work she had done the day before, but some was only correct if done the day of. Her due diligence finished, she took one last look at Red Rock, and she wondered if she’d ever be back. Then she climbed up into her rocket and closed the door. She then buckled herself into the cockpit seat and began conducting the final checks.

“Green Base, Green Base, this is The Lifeboat,” she said, using the name the team had unofficially given to the SpaceY rocket, “do you read?”

“Green Base, we read you,” crackled her boyfriend’s voice on the radio.

“This is Lifeboat, I read you. Are we clear to depart for Green Base,” she asked.

“Green Base, roger. See you soon and Godspeed Martians,” Alain radioed back.

“Lifeboat roger, see you soon. Red Rock, Red Rock, this is Lifeboat. All four personnel aboard, checks complete, permission to liftoff.”

“This is Red Rock, permission granted, thanks for the visit. Red Rock, out.”

“Crew prepare for liftoff,” Li said into the crew intercom. She took a glance back to see the other three all buckled in. “Let’s light the candle!”

The rocket shuddered to life as Li engaged the launch sequence. This part of the mission was all automatic, and Li was as much a passenger as anyone as the rocket engines started to roar. Vibrations increased and the rocket was soon airborne, pressing the crew into their seats.

“C-clock is running,” Li gasped, the G-forces pressing down on her chest. “We’re clear of the launch pad.”

A few long moments after the rocket launched, the engines cut out as planned, and the rocket continued silently on its ballistic trajectory. The zero-G was hard on Li’s hangover, and as she looked around the cabin, she noticed she wasn’t alone. Wagner in particular was even more pale than usual.

“I don’t feel ver…. Huuuuuughhh,” she gagged, and then vomited inside her helmet.

“Ewwww,” Smith responded, “so glad I can’t fuckin smell right now.”

“How.. huuugh, how much longer till we descend,” groaned Wagner.

“One-Zero minutes to braking rockets fire,” Li responded professionally. The space-sick Wagner floated her way to the onboard lavatory to get cleaned up.

“She’ll be OK,” Dayton said to no one in particular. Li nodded, her focus fixed on the instrument panel. Soon Wagner was back in her seat getting buckled in, still looking almost as green as her jumpsuit.

“Rockets firing in one minute,” Li announced, and the rest of the crew double checked their seatbelts and helmets. The braking rockets firing felt like a kick in the ass, and everyone on board winced as they engaged. After the first dose of braking rocket was complete, Li noticed a light winking on the instrument panel.

“Base this is Lifeboat, we have a master caution alarm here, standby.”

“Lifeboat this is base, I read your caution,” Alain’s calm voice responded.

“What’s up, Li,” Dayton, asked, concern in her voice.

“Looks like life support is… shit OK Base, we have a life support failure underway here. Number one O2 at 0%, number two at 0%, shit we’re losing three as well,” Li said.

“This is base, roger, are you declaring an emergency at this time,” Alain asked.

“Life… lifeboat, roger,” Li responded, her attention fixed on the diagnostics. “It’s like there’s something wrong with the program,” she said over the intercom to Dayton.

“What do you mean,” she asked.

“Number one and two both auto dumped. The braking rockets even had to compensate for the sudden mass loss,” she said. “I think I stopped number three from dumping but it’s down to… shit it’s at 10%.”

“It… auto… dumped,” Dayton asked, sounding alarmed. Li had no time to answer questions, and she ignored Dayton to focus on the landing. “Can we use suit O2?”

“Negative, stay in your seat,” Li said, “all crew, we only have a few minutes of flight left, prepare for another dose of braking rocket, I can get us in but it’s gonna be rough.” She started adjusting the landing program, reducing the amount of time by increasing the intensity of the braking. It was risky; if she overdid it, they’d either get squashed by the Gs or smash into the landing pad.

“No time for doubts,” Li said to nobody. No sooner had she made the adjustments did the rockets begin to fire. The shock was appalling. She felt like she couldn’t breath and hoped it was the G-**** and not the O2 running out.

Another hammerblow of rockets firing shook the crew violently. Vibrations shook the entire rocket. The entire ship and everything in it was shaking violently beyond anything Li had ever experienced. She felt the cold stab of fear in her chest. Had she just killed herself and the entire crew?

Another, far different and jarring impact shook the rocket and then, as soon as it had started stopped. All was still. The crew, in shock, looked around at each other, not sure if they should feel relief or dread.

“Bail out,” Li yelled, suddenly realizing they had landed. Was there damage? She didn’t know, but she did know the O2 on tank three read 0%. They only had minutes if not seconds to get into breathable atmosphere. The crew made their way fast to the exit ramp, horribly aware of the fate of the original crew of the Lifeboat.

As Li surged down the ramp, she stormed past Carson and Schwartz, who were suited up and waiting for them. Dayton did the same, indicating to her helmet the problem. All four, plus the out-of-the-loop reception committee, were soon in the Green Mars habitat air lock, and frantically cycling the controls. The airlock hissed to life, and no sooner did the green light indicating a safe atmosphere, did all four travelers all but rip off their helmets.

“That… was… too… fucking… close,” Li gasped. Wagner, soaked with sweat and trails of vomit, nodded, gasping. Dayton looked composed but deathly pale, and Smith lay on the floor of the airlock coughing.

A few hours earlier, Li had been so excited to tell her boyfriend about her sexy adventures at Red Rock. But as she looked up, her chest heaving and hands shaking with adrenalin and anxiety, to see him running towards the airlock, she felt such profound relief that she collapsed onto the floor next to Smith.