The Attempt (The Martian Manifesto Book 1) Read online

  The Attempt

  Book One of

  The Martian Manifesto

  by Bob Lee

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2014 Bob Lee

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Bob Lee

  To all my friends and family who made this book possible.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  CHAPTER 50

  CHAPTER 51

  EPILOGUE

  AFTERWORD

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Mars Colony Cult “The Called”

  Brother Jacobs – Leader of “The Called” and extremely rich ex-movie star

  Jeff Chiswick – 6’3”, aka ‘Platinum One’ (second in command)

  Bonnie Chiswick – Jeff’s wife and a Bronze member of the cult

  Jean Chiswick, Julie Chiswick – Jeff’s and Bonnie’s children ages 13 and 6

  Dog: Lucky (female); Goat: Lotus (female)

  George Biggs – 6’2, aka ‘Platinum Two’

  Celia Biggs – George’s wife, Gold member of the cult

  Old Sue – Bronze member of the cult and Bonnie’s friend

  Harry and Henry Hampton – 10 year old twins

  NASA Astronauts with “The Called”

  Commander Roy “Owl” Olstein

  Pilot Samantha “Sam” Tuttle

  On Earth

  Brick Shinefield – “Flight” at Mission Control

  Terri – Mars Biologist Charles Winston’s fiancée

  Paul Finkelstein – Alien conspiracy theorist

  NASA Mars Base Astronauts

  Commander Grant Stiles

  Charles “Chuck” Winston – Biologist/Geneticist

  Brad Newton – Geologist

  Sergey “Serge” Andreovich – Mission Engineer/Technologist

  Chinese/North Koreans

  Li Julong – Chief Scientist

  General Zhou DeSheng – People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

  Sergeant Wong Sheng - NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) of the PLA

  Chinese notes: Last names usually come first. Li Xiansheng = Mr. Li; Lao Li = Old Li (familiar)

  PROLOGUE

  Probe ‘Spit’ streaked through the thin red atmosphere and spread its braking frills. The iris of its eye had spotted the perfect landing spot on the lifeless planet below—a crater with salty water seeping down its sides in the noonday sun. “Soon,” it thought. “Soon Stage One will be completed.” Although pockmarked after its long voyage, the probe was adequate to its task. It spread its frills further, and ignited its landing fires. The creators had built carefully to ensure Spit’s success. As it streaked through the thin atmosphere, the probe adjusted for the changing air density over the varied terrain below in order to land in the middle of its targeted crater.

  When it had slowed to a subsonic velocity, Spit detached its frills on an extended tether. The whirling frills slowed it further. “Slow, slow,” its programming demanded. “The cargo has to be protected. Nurtured.”

  Upon landing, Spit reeled in the frills and surveyed its location. The pinkish red sand was flat, comforting and familiar. “There must be no evidence,” the programming dictated. The diggers of Spit’s feet spun furiously, and in a moment it had disappeared from sight. Stage Two in the planned destruction of the creatures of the nearby third planet had begun.

  # # #

  “Ladies and gentlemen, please ensure that your harnesses are secure,” Pilot Martinez intoned over the ship’s intercom. “We are about to begin our landing on Mars, your soon-to-be new home.” He flipped the switch to the off position, which disabled the speaker to the rear cabin, and looked at the woman seated on his left. “All systems nominal, Commander. The radar we’ll need for final approach on Mars is successfully deployed, and we have our entry trajectory plotted. We’re ready for the entry burn.”

  Commander Suki Nakamura scanned the gauges in front of her. “Good job, Manny,” she replied. “Here we go.”

  Both astronauts felt the jolt of the main engines igniting as the commander initiated the burn. The cabin started to vibrate, shaking both pilots back and forth.

  “Engines nominal and holding steady,” Martinez announced, his voice shaky from the rattling they were receiving. “Five minutes to engine cut-off.”

  A loud bang suddenly hurled both astronauts forward. If not for their harnesses, they would have slammed into the instruments in front of them. A ‘Main Engines’ light lit up on their display, while simultaneously a female computerized voice resonated throughout the flight deck. “Warning, main engines offline,” it said. “Warning, main engines offline.”

  “Dammit,” Commander Nakamura muttered, and scanned the panel in front of her. “It looks like the fuel gauges are dropping. Manny, turn on the auxiliary pumps.”

  Her copilot quickly reached forward and flipped a switch. “On, Commander.”

  Suki Nakamura tried to restart the main engines. The astronauts felt a brief surge, and then nothing. She tried again. “It’s no good,” she said. “The fuel gauges have dropped to zero.”

  Another red light on the panel turned on with a chime, this one labeled ‘Entry Interface.’

  “Warning,” the computerized female voice interrupted. “Entering atmosphere. Incorrect entry orientation.” Since the ship had been facing backwards to slow down, the computer was now warning the astronauts that they needed to turn the winged ship forward for landing.

  “Manny, use the nose thrusters to turn us around,” Suki ordered.

  Martinez quickly flipped the ship into the proper forward nose-up position. As he did so, he looked worriedly out the window at the long slender wings. “Without a full burn, we’re going to be coming in much too hot,” the copilot noted. “I’m not sure the wings can handle it, even with the carbon nanotube construction.”

  “We don’t have a choice,” Suki replied, pointing at the landing count-down clock. “We’re committed now.”

  The cabin started shaking again as the ship entered the Martian atmosphere. “One G. Two G’s,” Martinez read off the instruments. “The wings are heating up. We’re going much too fast and are close to redlining on the leading edges.”

  “I’
m instructing the computer to initiate S-turns,” Commander Nakamura calmly stated. “We need to bleed off some of this speed.”

  Another bang rattled the flight deck, and the whole ship tilted to the right. The autopilot indicator turned red as a klaxon alarm sounded, and the computer voice calmly stated, “Autopilot failure; assume manual control.”

  “We just lost the outer tip of the right wing!” Martinez shouted as both pilots listed onto their right sides.

  Nakamura grabbed the controls. “It won’t roll back to the left,” she grunted. “I’m going to roll us right three-sixty.”

  The Commander jerked the control column, performing a high-G barrel roll. As the maneuver neared completion to level the ship, Martinez yelled, “Temperature redlining on the other wing!”

  Nakamura thrust the nose of the ship down to relieve the pressure, but it was too late. The whole ship shook with another bang. “There goes the left wing,” Martinez cried out, and both astronauts watched in horror as the nose pointed straight down and flames engulfed the front windscreen as the ship spun out of control.

  Commander Nakamura frantically tried everything she could think of. She popped open the landing gear, hoping the different configuration would level the ship. The gear tore away in an instant, and the ship continued its plummet.

  As the ‘Cabin Temperature’ red light turned on, the astronauts heard “Cabin temperature rising,” from the computerized woman’s voice. “Cooling system alert.”

  “Oh, shut up,” were the last words that Nakamura uttered as the panel in front of her went dark.

  Suddenly the cabin stopped shaking, the windscreen went blank and the cabin lights came on. “Well, you both blew that simulation,” the sim operator came on over the flight deck radio.

  “That wasn’t a fair sim,” Suki replied. “There was no way to land given that scenario.”

  “You got what you deserved,” the operator shot back. “You know it’s impossible to land without a full retro-burn. Martinez forgot the checklist which states that you need to perform a cold start pre-burn of the main engines before going full throttle. Once you forgot to perform that operation, we programmed in a little explosion, which caused a fuel leak, to teach you the consequences of ignoring the checklist. I’m guessing you won’t forget that step from now on!”

  “You’re right,” Martinez replied sheepishly. “I guess I was too wrapped up in getting my voice just right announcing our landing to the passengers.”

  “Alright, let’s reset and do the sim properly this time,” the sim operator stated. “You won’t have us to watch over your every move when you’re at Mars, since communications between us will take half an hour.”

  “Can’t you do something about that annoying computer voice?” Nakamura lamented. “It’s very distracting, and the warning lights are really enough.”

  “We’ve already requested that from the manufacturer, but you have to remember that this is a privately designed ship, so you’ll need to deal with it. Now, get ready to practice another Mars entry profile.”

  The two astronauts went through the simulation again, this time correctly following the proper checklist procedures. Soon, they had finished, and headed down the hallway together.

  “Hurry up, Suki. Doing that extra sim is going to make us late for the going away party if we don’t hustle. This is our last chance to let loose before we launch.”

  “I think you really mean it’s your last chance to ‘chase the ladies,’” Suki laughed. “Those colonists we’re going to ferry are pretty straight laced, so you won’t be getting any action after we leave.”

  As they reached the parking lot outside, Suki said, “You drive, Manny. I could use a nap before the festivities.”

  “Sure Commander, hop in,” the man replied.

  A few seconds later, Manny Martinez was speeding across the base, the commander lying back in the passenger seat with her eyes closed. It was just their bad luck that, at that same moment, one of the base maintenance men driving a tractor experienced a heart attack. As Manny drove speedily around a curve, he saw the tractor swerve directly into his lane. With lightning quick reflexes, he veered away, but his car was clipped in the rear by the approaching machine, sending them rolling into a ditch. Both Manny and Suki groaned as their car lay upside down.

  A worker who was leaving for the day saw the accident and rushed over. He yanked the passenger door open and looked inside. “Are you alright?” he shouted.

  “Ow, my leg,” Suki gasped. “I think it’s broken.” She looked over at her copilot, whose arm was bent at a strange angle. “Damn you, Martinez,” she said. “You’re the only pilot I know whose driving is worse than his flying!”

  CHAPTER 1

  “Mommy, I’m bored. When are we leaving?” Julie whined.

  “Hush, honey. It will only be a few minutes more,” her mother, Bonnie, said. Suddenly she felt a hard smack to the side of her head. She turned and looked at her husband, Jeff.

  “Shut her up, will you?!” Jeff growled, his hand raised to administer additional punishment. “I told you this day is very important for me. I won’t have you messing this up!” At six foot three he stood towering over her. “You should count yourself lucky that I don’t leave you and the kids behind!”

  Bonnie lowered her head, letting her long blond hair fall over her face. “Yes, dear. I know dear, but she’s only six and doesn’t understand.”

  Jeff whacked her across the head again. “Don’t you dare talk back to me. Do better!” Jeff turned his back and stormed to the front of the room where Brother Jacobs stood talking to two other men.

  Bonnie’s twelve year old daughter, Jean, hugged her. “It’s okay, Mom. I’ll take care of Julie. You sit down for a while.”

  Brother Jacobs watched his second in command, Jeff Chiswick, approach. He then turned his piercing grey eyes towards the two Platinums he had been talking to. “Go now, and make sure everyone is prepared for boarding.” He spun, hugged Jeff, and then held him out with both arms. “Jeff, this is the day we have long awaited for. I could not have done it without your help. I hope you are as excited as I am.”

  “Of course, Brother Jacobs. We’ll finally be away from everyone who’s been holding us back and keeping us from reaching the next plane of existence. I’m confident that we’ll be contacted as soon as we’re away from this wretched planet!”

  Brother Jacobs looked up. “I can feel them. They’re calling to us. I dreamt of them again last night. They want us to reach them and help them. We will become as gods.” He wiped a few tears away that had leaked down his cheeks.

  “I hear you. We all hear you. We’re ready to follow you.”

  Behind them, a metal door swung open, and two astronauts in spacesuits emblazoned with the NASA logo strode in.

  “Who are you two?” Brother Jacobs demanded. “Where are Commander Nakamura and Copilot Martinez?”

  The taller of the two astronauts spoke. “I am Commander Roy Olstein, and this is Pilot Samantha Tuttle. Unfortunately, your original pilots were in a car accident and are recuperating in the hospital with broken limbs. We are the backup crew, and fully trained for this mission. If you would please follow us, we need to get everyone boarded now. We have a narrow launch window and there are no second chances to rendezvous with our ride. Please gather your belongings and your children and proceed orderly to the shuttle bus which will take us to our ship.”

  “A moment please, Commander,” Brother Jacobs said. He then raised both of his hands high in front of him and addressed his group. He looked at their shining adoring faces. “Brothers, sisters, children. Our time has come. We are about to embark upon a long and treacherous journey, but let us remember that we are the future of mankind. Like the early settlers of old, we are the blessed and the pure. And, no matter what hazards we may face, we will prevail. I have seen it!”

  “We have seen it,” everyone chanted.

  “Now I live it!” Brother Jacobs shouted.

  “Now w
e live it,” they all replied.

  “I rise and fly!” he screamed.

  “We rise and fly!” they screamed back.

  “We are ready, Commander. Please take us to our ship,” Brother Jacobs said.

  Commander Roy “Owl” Olstein looked over at his Pilot, Sam. They silently exchanged a “What the hell was that?” look, and then the Commander said, “Right. Let’s go, everyone. Time’s a wasting.” He turned around and marched back through the metal door.

  As the group of men and women slowly gathered their small bags and prepared to follow, Bonnie leaned over her girls. “Jean, you take Lucky’s leash and be sure to hold on tight. You know how excited she gets. Julie, you’re in charge of Lotus. She’ll try to eat anything she gets near, and we can’t have that. You realize how special you girls are, don’t you? Since Daddy is Platinum One, you’re the only ones allowed a pet and to be in charge of our sole fresh milk and cheese supply.” As if they almost understood, Lucky yipped and wagged her tail, and Lotus let out a bleat and butted Lucky with her tiny horns.

  Bonnie couldn’t help but laugh and be a tiny bit excited. As she followed the others through the door and into the narrow corridor, she thought back upon how she had arrived at this point in her life. She had met Jeff at a religious convention. He was manning a booth and handing out literature on which were giant bold letters shouting “Rise and Fly!” He was so tall, handsome and earnest, and had asked her to join him and some others for dinner. She was young and scraping by as a waitress, so a free meal with a handsome stranger was enticing. And there at dinner she had met Brother Jacobs. Brother Jacobs was rich, and a movie star. He had a way about him which made you feel like you were a long lost relative coming home. He and Jeff were childhood friends, and together they were a tsunami that hit her hard. She fell in love with Jeff and his devotion to a cause.

  Bonnie had joined the group, which had named themselves ‘The Called.’ She had to give up all of her possessions, meager as they were, but she found the rigid structure of their lives just what she needed. Soon she was Mrs. Bonnie Chiswick, and she quickly bore Jeff a baby girl, Jean. But her new life came with costs she hadn’t anticipated. She had no friends outside the group. Jeff threw things around and sometimes hit her, periodically, when she didn’t do exactly what he wanted. After a while, Bonnie thought another baby might help, and would give her someone else who would love her, and so she bore Julie. She had thought of leaving the group, but had nowhere to go. And now even that option was gone. Who would have thought that Brother Jacobs would use his vast wealth to take them all to a new home, far away from planet Earth? Well, they would be the first. Maybe it wouldn’t be all that bad.