MORE FROM THE PAGES OF 'REACH FOR MARS:

Even sooner than expected, the day came—or maybe it was night; there really is no difference in space—when I sensed and then felt changes in the flight characteristics of our ship. I was awakened out of a deep sleep by my pilot’s subconscious, which had detected those changes. I pulled on my jeans and entered the bridge as I zipped up my fly. It was then that I realized the ship had been slowing down, and I started checking the monitors. We had indeed been slowing down, and I checked what I was pretty sure was the long-range radar screen, which showed a large planetary body and a moon ahead of us on the outer circle of the radar’s sweep. I looked at another monitor, which I was pretty sure told me that we were only 1.6 million kilometers from our target. The ship continued to slow as I stared out of the bridge windows trying to see the Earth and the moon.

I could see the moon out there in the distance, but I couldn’t see anything that resembled the Earth, which was a bit disturbing. From this distance I should have been able to see it quite clearly. On close scrutiny of the area around the Moon, I thought I could see a larger spherical shadow, which may have been blocking the stars behind it, but at this distance I was not sure. I sensed movement close to me and turned to find Melissa standing beside me.

“What’s going on?”

“The ship is slowing down as we are approaching Earth. We are approximately 1.6 million kilometers from it at the moment, I think.”

“Why can’t I see it?”

“I’m not sure. We should be able to see it by now. Can you see our old moon to the right side of the windows?”

“Yes, I can recognize it. So where is the Earth?”

I suddenly had a revelation. I grabbed a set of headphones, put them on, and told the ship to extinguish the bridge lights. Then I told Mel to close her eyes and count to thirty before opening them again as I did the same. When I opened my eyes I was shocked, not only because of the difference it made, but also because of what was revealed by it. I heard Mel’s sudden intake of breath and the heartrending sob that expelled it, put my arm around her shoulders, and hugged her tight.

Our eyes were now acclimatized to the starlight outside as we stood in the darkness of the bridge. We could now clearly see the Earth ahead of us, a blackened and burned spherical lump of charcoal suspended in space. I realized that we couldn’t see it before because it now absorbed sunlight instead of reflecting it. Our Earth—once green, blue, and brown with wispy, white clouds as viewed from space—was now a black, lifeless grave. I opened the R/T channel to the ISS.

“This is Drew Hunt from the T2 calling the International Space Station; are you out there? Over.”

I received a reply almost immediately. “Hi, Drew, Vladimir here. Over.”

“Just a courtesy call to let you know that we are approaching you and should be in LEO with you in thirteen to fourteen hours, give or take a minute or two. Over.”

“We weren’t expecting you for another two days, but we are ready to go. The crew will be suited up and ready for you in the docking bay when you arrive. Over.”

“No worries. Don’t be alarmed when you see us coming toward you from the stars. We are in an alien spacecraft, but I am driving it, so we are relatively friendly. I don’t suppose you would have ever seen a TV series called The Thunderbirds in Russia. Over.”

“Yes, I did, actually. I used to find it quite amusing and entertaining. Why do you ask, Drew? Over.”

“Our ship looks very much like Thunderbird Two, but it’s white and much larger and sleeker. Oh, and we don’t wear wooden expressions with weirdly spinning eyes…well, most of us don’t. We’re quite normal, usually. Over.”

“Thanks for the heads up; I am still looking forward to meeting you. Over.”

“Good; we’ll be coming up on you soon. Over and Out.”

I then decided to go back to bed and grab a few more hours of sleep before we arrived at the space station. I was back on the bridge six hours later with my empty coffee mug in hand. After checking all of the monitors and noting that there were no flashing red symbols showing on any of them, I dropped down to the cafeteria and got myself a coffee before returning to the bridge.