ONE OR TWO OF THE LAST FEW PAGES THAT WILL BE BLOGGED HERE :-

Back on Mars… with Nick:

I was unloading supplies from one of the remotes on the plain when I saw a bright flash of light followed by a loud boom and looked up into the sky toward the source. As I watched, I saw an incandescent red cloud rapidly growing and expanding in all directions from that area of the sky. I jumped when the starship suddenly burst out of the cloud at phenomenal speed and looked like it was heading straight for me. The ship decelerated rapidly as it descended, with a loud humming and howling emanating from it. The nose of the ship rose to face me as the ship suddenly stopped and hovered three hundred meters above the ground at the edge of the plain. It hung there silently facing me for a short time before emitting a low-pitched hum as it turned and floated across the plain toward the hangar doors.

At that angle, I couldn’t see into the bridge windows, but I had absolutely no doubt that Drew was in there flipping me the bird. Only Drew could fly like that…or would. As the ship sailed away across the plain, I raced to the buggy and grabbed the mike off the dashboard.

“Sammy, are you there?” I waited impatiently for a reply.

After ten seconds I was about to call again when she responded,

“Yes, dear. I’m here.”

“They’re back! The crew has returned! Better break out the bubbly and the horses douvers, or whatever they’re called. I’ll grab a bottle of Drew’s rum, because I found where he’s stashed it and we don’t have any bubbly. I’ll see you in a minute!”

I hung the mike back on its mount as I jumped into the buggy, spun it around in a cloud of red dust, and headed toward the tunnel into the city. As I raced across the plain, I glanced to my left just in time to see the starship’s tail disappear behind the mountain. After I parked in the airlock and the outer door had closed, I switched off the combustion engine and switched over to the electric motors while I waited impatiently for the airlock to stabilize the air pressure. As the internal doors finally slid open, I raced forward into the city and headed for the hangar at the top speed of the electric motors. I parked outside the cafeteria with a slight screech of tires, jumped out of the buggy, and then casually walked into the room. I was shocked by the sight of the crowd I found inside that room, and my pace slowed to almost a standstill. I hadn’t seen more than five people gathered together in one place since I had left Earth all those months ago. When I saw Drew and Mel in the crowd, I accelerated to my original pace to intercept them.