The feel of hot air enveloped my body. Where was I? How long had it been? At that instant, I fell to the ground and vomited. Piercing white lights stung my eyes and a woman was standing in a door way directly in front of me. Now illuminated, I scanned the room, it was white, solid white. There was no furniture inhabiting the room, just a few seams where white met white. I looked back, what I did fall out of? Almost knowing what I was thinking, the woman said “You have just been awoken from hyper-sleep, nausea and vomiting are common. Please get dressed and then advance towards crew galley three.” She quickly handed me a grey jumpsuit and exited my room.
After getting dressed, I exited the room into an expansive hallway witch was solid white like my room. To my left the hall stretched for another hundred feet, and to my right it only went about twenty. At the end was large black sign, starkly contrasting with its surroundings. The sign read:
Crew Galleys 1-3 to the Right
Crew Galleys 4-7 to the Left


Heading right, the hall contained three separate doors, each about thirty feet apart. Going to the furthest door from me, I passed crew galleys one and two, arriving at the foot of crew galley three’s door. When I walked near it, the door slid silently open with as much force as a horse taking off down the track. The door revealed a large white cavernous room that could have easily contained a football stadium. The moment I walked in, the noise of the small talk of hundreds of crew members hit me like a train. The pungent aroma of ham and garlic wafted of from the left side of the room, I turned to find a large buffet with a seemingly endless amount of food flowing from the kitchen.

“You just wake up?" A deep, raspy voice asked me. Turning towards the voice, a man with salted hair, and a medium build stood beside me. He was much older than me, most likely in his forties. "It’s me, Dale, you remember? Will just get some food in ya. It helps with remembering. You should remember everything by tonight." In a trance-like state, I wandered over to the buffet with Dale at my side. He seemed like someone I could trust.


After eating I was feeling more awake, more alive. As I surveyed the large room, it seemed like a meal-time destination and hangout spot. Large screens were positioned evenly, high up on the walls. A single balcony was the tallest thing in the room, directly above the door from witch I had entered. The buffet took up a fourth of the left wall; enough tables dominated the floor space to make me wonder how many people were actually on this ship. I am on a ship? Yes, I am on a ship, the largest spacefaring vessel ever created! I could remember!


Earth, nothing worth staying there for, only child, no wife, no relationships, my father had just died before the ship launchd, my mother had passed a few years before that. I forged a friendship with Dale as we were boarding and preparing for hyper-sleep. It had seemed useful to create a friendship or two.
A voice boomed from all directions " Gentlemen, you are aboard vessel A-380, a mining ship designed to reach the precious metal: plexiocideione. A super strong, naturally occurring, metal compound found three miles under Mars’s surface. You will be stationed there for five years. At the end of service you can choose to stay for another two years, or be transported home. We are three days from arriving to our final destination."


“It’s crazy, our bodies are seven years older after this trip, yet they remain the same as the day we left Earth." Dale spoke, holding his hand up and staring intently at the palm.

The sound of metal doors snapping shut pierced the air. It seemed louder and with even more purpose than when regular crew members would pass through. Whining red lights were illuminated from behind the white walls, and a female voice came over the intercom, sounding uneasily anxious. “Attention all crew member aboard, the hull has been breached! Lockdown protocol has been issued by the captain. Remain at ease, this is a minor setback and poses no harm to any crew members." A blood curdling scream radiated through the air. Turning towards the source of the scream, Dale and I looked towards the rear of the mess hall. A gaping hole had been ripped thought the clean white wall, and in it, stood three figures. Clearly not human.

A deep, crackling voice boomed over the crowd, not from the intercom." Your mining expedition is enraging elders of my society. Be forewarned: not all species that inhabit 'Mars' are as friendly as my companions and I! Your species has over stayed its welcome and will be dealt with if you do not abandon your outposts at 'Mars'. If you choose to stay on course, you will not make it to your comrades on 'Mars'." Three doors hidden in the walls opened spontaneously, heavily armed men filed toward the three figures. Without a moment of hesitation lasers sprung from the end of each man's gun, crumpling the three aliens to the floor within seconds. Studying the figures, I moved forward towards the large crowd surrounding their corpses. The body on the left seemed to be reptilian in nature, with a greenish under hue to its body. Slippery scales formed an outer layer on its back. The creature seemed to be ten feet long from its head to a stubby tail. The creatures had walked into the room on six legs that each skimmed the ground yet never seemed to touch one another. The alien to the right of the speaker was similar in size and scale to the one on the far right, it had the same reptilian qualities and color. The alien that had delivered the chilling warning, however, was quite different. Large bulbous head and eyes that could have been the size of softballs were integrated into the beings sleek face. The creature’s skin was grey and purplish with veins of green streaking across its skin. Matching the size of its head, the creature’s body was enormously proportioned. Crumpled to the ground it easily laid longer then the two reptile like beings. When it was standing, it had to be more than fourteen feet tall, and two gangly arms and legs sprouted from its torso. It almost looked human, except for obvious size and color differences.

Immediately, the corpses were taken way and a cleaning perimeter was established. Voices called over the crowd things like: “Remain calm!” and “Disregard statements made by the intruders.” Hours after the break-in, cleaning stalls were set up along the far wall. A large line was formed, and one by one people were selected from the front, scanned and then entered a cleaning stall. Among the controlled chaos, Dale and I were inching toward the front of the large serpentine line. A few people to go, now three, Dale was next.

Dale was brought forward to stall five by a woman draped in a hazmat suit. The woman stopped Dale in front of the stall and produced a scanning device. Flicking the switch on, the woman jumped back as the scanner emitted a loud screeching sound and flashed green lights. Instantaneously, Dale was brought to the ground by bulky men in hazmat suits. Dale let out a muffled cry proclaiming that he hadn’t done anything, but was soon dragged into a door guarded by an armed woman. I was next, while being escorted to the same stall Dale had just left, a wave of crippling fear and anxiety washed over me, accompanied by begging questions. Dale was with me the whole time, could I have what he did? Why had he been taken? Where!? Just realizing my surroundings, I noticed a man scanning me! I had made it past scanning.

After vigorous scrubbings with not-so-soft brushes in the decontamination chamber that awaited me after scanning, I was moved on to a white room filled with chairs and waiting people. I estimated that the room could hold around fifty people, though there were about twelve occupying it at that time. Just as I sat down, a soft young female voice called gracefully, “Jasmine Morsot, please advance forward.” A bulky woman got up towards the back of the room, and a door sprung open from the wall near her. After ten minutes of waiting and three people entering the room, another name was called. “George Lante, please advance.” Instinctively I searched the room, but everyone remained seated. Then I realized, it was my name that had just been called. Strolling casually to where the last woman had exited, the same door popped open and I entered. The room was small and rectangular, and at the far end a petite blond woman sat at a desk waiting. Sitting in the single chair in front of the desk, I asked for her name.
“I’m Janette, you will be stationed as a miner, more specifically, an engineer for the mine. You will be fixing broken equipment, getting out the “bugs” in the machinery and various things of that nature. For the rest of the voyage you will be staying in cabin G-432, you will find all you belongings there and that the door only opens to you fingerprint. Report to crew galley three for meals at any time, and to converse with fellow miners.”
“Where do I go! This place I huge, I don’t know anyone, and the one person that I actually talked was taken away! Besides I don’t even know where I am on this ship.”
“Sir! Calm yourself. Here is a map for your troubles, and when you reach hall G-3, place you thumb on the scanning pad and your room door will open. Also, talk to people, make friends, make enemies, just talk to people. Don’t forget, you will be working with those people for the next five years.”
“Sorry for raising my voice, thank you for the advice, and I hope to see you around.” Then I stood up, and reached for the map she handed me and left her room and turned onto a white, long hallway. Walking forward, I studied the map, it seemed to only be for the fourth wing of the ship, referred to on the map as the housing wing. The wing seemed to be made up of four expansive hallways running parallel to each other. Each hall seemed to have two hundred individual rooms, she said I was in room G-432, so according to the map I was in hall G-3. Straight ahead I could see a person walking down a long hall, ten feet in front of me was an intersection. At the intersection I could see a couple people milling around, to my right a sign read housing hall G-four, to my left was housing hall G-one through G-two. So the one in front of me had to be G-three. Wondering into the opening of the hall, I spotted two small black pads on either side of me. These must be the thumb scanners, placing my thumb on the black surface a door slid open about twenty feet from me. Walking toward the door, the hall seemed very familiar. Reaching the door, I peered into the room. Nothing fancy, a small bed, a sink and a toilet along another wall opposite of the bed wall. A skinny dresser was standing along the wall the door was facing.
Lying on the bed I assessed the map, a hall at the end of housing hall G-four lead to the crew galleys, and a hall leading out of housing hall led to “command,” whatever that was. I decided to go to my crew galley, I was developing a craving for some sea food, I hoped the buffet had some. A day passed and nothing major had happened, Dale was still no where to be seen. I had decided to make some ties with crew on board, Janette had a good point, I would be working with them the next five years. While I was leaving my room to get some lunch I almost ran into a man walking right in front of my room. After apologizing, I learned that he was heading towards crew galley three as well. He was a little taller than me, about six three, and very muscular with light brown hair and a buzz cut. Despite first appearances, he was very friendly and introduced himself as John Lance.
After getting our plates filled with various assortments of food, John said he wanted me to meet some of the fellow miners. Sitting down at a table, John introduced me to Jordyn, Seth, and Josh. Jordyn was shorter than me and had a solid build, she was in her mid-twenties and explained that she had worked in salt mines. She wanted to do something that gave her a bigger rush so she signed up to mine on Mars. Apparently the fiasco a day ago was making her have second thoughts about coming. Seth was a character, taller than me and John, yet very twig like. Brown hair fell down his head and stopped just before his eyes. I wondered what his job was, certainly not a mine worker. Josh was very quiet, and didn’t speak unless spoken to directly spoken to and then he would barely participate in the conversation. He was of similar build to Seth and looked very much like him, and was for sure the youngest of the group. Could he have been Seth’s brother? No, they would have mentioned it. After eating, the ship’s daily announcements came on, discussing how we were twenty eight hours from arriving at the Mars docking station, and telling all crew members if they had any questions to ask, to report to a crew supervisor of the galley. Announcements didn’t mention anything about the intrusion.

What was that bright light? I tossed over in my bed, and opened my droopy eyes, the whole room was filled with flashing red light! Then the door shot open and dale rushed in.
“Dale!” I exclaimed, “What’s happening? Where did you go? How are you in here?”
“We need to leave, get to the escape pod dock! The ship has been attacked, and it seems that not everyone will be escaping with their lives.” Standing up, I shot towards the dresser to put my jumpsuit on, I should have taken the alien’s warning more seriously.
“Dale where did you go?” I asked cautiously as if finished putting on my jumpsuit. I had just realized that he had been taken away, and I hadn’t seen him in the crew galley a few hours ago.
“I touched one of the aliens when we went to get a closer look, they administered several test, and gave me two bio-washes. I was released three hours ago, I went to the crew galley, but you were not there. I had just woken up before the alarm went off, and came to get you to escape.” He explained. “Now we need to leave, I do not know how many aliens are aboard and how many of the ships defenses they have penetrated.”
“Let’s go then!” He led me out into the hall, it was very dark, it seemed the normal lights were not on. Instead they were replaced by small flashing red lights that lined the halls. Several people were running, shouting and pounding on doors, telling people to leave their cabins and head towards their assigned crew galley. “Dale, why aren’t we going to the crew galley?”
“Everyone important is getting of the hunk of metal, the rest of these people are going to be locked down, air tight, until rescue crews can reach them. We need to get out now, I know for certain that they can get through the hull. Let’s go!” And with that he took off down the hall, we were running very fast, taking turns and heading through doors at a rapid pace. I hoped he knew where he was heading, because I didn’t. The last person I had seen was a couple doors back, and was running the opposite way. Dale slowed pace, and now we were fast walking down a small tunnel, lit only by small flashing red lights. An uneasy feeling washed over me, I stopped moving and Dale looked back at me.
“Why have you stopped? We need to get going, the aliens have for sure beached the hull further, they could be around any of these corners.”
“Not until I have some answers, how do you know all this?” I needed to know more before I could go any further. Questions were piling up, and I need the answers.
“George, you’ve made good friend choices, I am not a miner, I will soon be running the mine. I am the director of mine operations. For years I studied Mars. For years I’ve dug deeper into its history, and I’ve uncovered things that have made me very valuable to the mining company. I needed someone who I felt I could trust to accompany me to the mine, you are him. I will teach you everything, in some ways I will be your mentor. I will answer more later, for now we need to move.” He sped off down the hall and I followed him. His answers seemed satisfactory for now. Turning a corner, we came across a gruesome. Two people we slain their bodies had been ripped apart, and now covered the floor. It was a horrible sight, but it backed what Dale was saying, they were here.
Putting distance between us and the gruesome encounter, Dale picked up seep to a full out sprint. For a guy in his forties, he could move startlingly fast. I could barely keep up, but the adrenaline off the situation kept me going. Soon we entered a door that opened to a large room with windows forming the far wall. It was the control cabin. Control panels and computers lined the walls and a large captain’s seat with a console was stationed in front of the window. Where was the captain? Where was anyone? Surly they would need to be operating the ship? Dale ran over to a panel along the far left wall, while I just walked up to the windows and just stared. They gave me an expansive view of space. Mars was positioned directly in front of us, the dusty red/ orange color of Arizona rock. It was truly a sight.
“I’ve done what I can, we need to leave now and make it to the escape pods.” Leaving the room I stared back at the windows, I would never forget that moment. Rushing through corridor after corridor, I glimpsed two figures that gave me chills. Each was just standing in an adjacent hall that branched off from the one Dale and I were running through. The first one I only spotted for a quick second before it turned down an unseen passage way or door. But the second one caught my eye, and I caught it’s. Time seemed to slow when I ran by its hall. The green, slimy figure just stood there and studied me, while I did studied it. It was small compared to the three figures that had broken into crew galley three. It was about five feet tall, and it’s skinned seemed spikey and hard. The most unnerving aspect was how the being just stood there, watching, almost revering us.
We arrived at the escape pod dock with no further incidents. Not a soul was insight, the large dock space was completely empty. Five of the twenty escape pods were launchd. Dale ran into the nearest escape pod. As I walked in, Dale explained how he had set the landing coordinates to the Mars mining base. He seemed over joyed, giddied and excited. He told me the strap in and then did the same. Then he smacked the launch button. Was a jolt, the pod was ejected from the mother ship. Bright white lights came on in the pod, and stung my eyes. “George, did you see any of the aliens we passed?”
“Yes, they just seemed to run away or stare at us.”
“It was because they were in the presence of their king. Normally all of Mar’s aliens would attack in a heartbeat. You see George, your first lesson with me as your mentor, is to never trust anyone.” He said that sentence with a twinkle in his eye and a very mischievous smile perched on his face. “See George, the humans will inevitable try to encroach on my domain again. That is where you come in, out of all the miners on that doomed ship you were the one I chose to save. You are the one that was the best choice, you will be Mar’s spokesperson to the human race. You are what will decide the fate of the human race. You see, in the many cycles to come, wars will inevitable be waged. At which point my people will send you to Earth, and you will meet with Earth’s leaders and talk them down from war.”
At that moment the pod jolted and the sound of metal on metal on metal shook the ship. I turned to face the window. We were inside of another ship, I could see aliens everywhere. Then the words of what Dale was saying actually hit me. I bust out shouting in disbelief. “I trusted you! And now I am damned to rot doing your work! I won’t accept! You cannot force me!”
“You will, or the consequences will be worse than death.” At that moment Dale unstrapped, stood up from his seat and walked towards the door. it slid open and a hysterical applause burst from an awaiting crow that surrounded the pod. As soon as Dale stepped out of the pod his skin started to ripple, his head bulged and grew rapidly. His body was also enlarging at a rapid pace, soon bursting from the jumpsuit. He let out a victorious roar that made the pod shudder, it seemed deeper and more solid than any human could ever produce. His body was changing color and soon growing so large and tall that I could not see him from the pod, I heard strange, loud noises being emitted from over the pod. A speech was being given? During the speech a small green slimy man, similar to the one I had seen in the hall entered the pod and ripped the straps that held me to the chair. He struck me over the head and the last thing I could remember thinking was that I had been deceived, now I had to start preparing to save the human race.