One

By Jasim M. Almardi

Mars has been colonised for decades. Earth was never the final destination for humanity. Major settlements, known as PODS, have been built throughout the red planet, each serving a unique purpose. Mr. Idramla, a scientist, wakes up to a world he no longer remembers, his memories somehow erased after an explosion in PODS-6. The world he lives in becomes filled with too many unfamiliar familiar things. He would have to journey through Mars within a vessel he built, a RAPTOR, in hopes of replenishing his supplies. All the while, getting to befriend the voice of his artificial intelligence driven assistant, Neo. This is the beginning of Mr. Idramla’s story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jasim M. Almardi
• Release date: Mar 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370405671

Jasim M. Almardi

I was born to a bilingual family, an Arabic father and a Chinese mother and as a child, I remember growing up listening to the stories mother used to read to my sister and I. But the older we grew, the less time mother had for us and somehow, storytelling ceased to exist. Instead, during weekends, mother forced us to copy whole articles from English and Arabic newspapers. It was tedious work to write, write and write during weekends just to get the reward of playing with your Lego or PlayStation for a couple of hours. I hated writing back then, but little did I know that writing back then would have a gigantic impact in my life right now. I read a couple short books over the following years and watched a lot of movies to satisfy my appetite for stories. It was only until my early teens when I picked up my first novel, accidentally, that I completely fell in love once again with story books, especially those written by David Gemmell. I was captivated by the breadth and depth of his imagination and that's the time when I started thinking about being an author myself. Distractions of the world prevented me from pursuing this dream, until recently. I guess only growing up, being an adult, feeling stuck at your job and knowing that you have got much more to offer to the world will make you realise that pursuing your childhood dreams is the best thing you could do for yourself. So, I guess, now it's my time.

Book preview

One

(Book 1 of the Mars Chronicles)

by Jasim M. Almardi

Distributed by Smashwords

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination.

© 2017 by Jasim M. Almardi. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying form without written permission from the author, Jasim M. Almardi.

For more information, visit:

www.jasimmalmardi.com

Books by Jasim M. Almardi

Mars Chronicles Series:

One

Two

CONTENTS

Chapter I

Chapter II

Chapter III

Chapter IV

Chapter V

Chapter VI

Chapter VII

Chapter VIII

About the Author

For ma, ba, Fatoom and Lei Wing Yan. Thank you for everything.

Chapter I – Rise and Shine

Argh. It's cold, dry and there’s nothing to see but sand covering every single spot of land till the horizon, wait, what's this? A control room? A cockpit? Why am I wearing seatbelts?

RAPTOR initiating... said a female robotic voice.

Huh, what?

N-Cell 40%... it continued.

What's that? 

Good afternoon Mr. Idramla

Mr. Who?

RAPTOR flight mode cannot be initiated...

What’s that supposed to mean?

...3 N-Cells are down, RAPTOR unable to take off...

Ah, forget it.

This is more of a flight deck, but there seems to be a sitting room behind me, a nice couch, a mini gym with exercise cables, oh and there's a tiny bathroom with a mini shower in it! And a kitchenette! This feels like a studio apartment in an airplane? Or submarine?

Where's the bedroom?

Ah, there's a staircase leading down. Aha, a bed! I can barely stand up in this room down here. It seems like it's just for sleeping. Why don't I remember seeing any of this before?

Am I Mr. Idramla? Or does this thing belong to him? How did I get in?

Let me ask the voice.

Helloooo, what is this? Where am I?

Sir, you are on board RAPTOR-6. And you are currently 3545 kilometres away from the nearest POD, PODS-7.

Who are you? How should I call you?

"Sir, I am the