Missing Mars

By Cassandra Morphy

In the year 2024, four astronauts depart on a one way journey to Mars. Due to various malfunctions, the crew miss the planet entirely, doomed to continue onward into the void of space until their limited resources expire. Instead of meeting that fate, they were surprised to find themselves on a mysterious alien planet where they are the subject of the local religion. Now they must make friends with the locals, fight the evil dictatorship, and sneak in and out of military bases in order to find each other again and figure out a way home.

Doctor Tray Finsglad stumbles on a conspiracy targeting the first Martian colonists. Now he has to find a way to save the doomed crew, a task that spans generations. This journey leads a space crew to find a primitive alien race and, inadvertently, alter the course of their development forever.

This stand alone book takes place in the Crowbarland Chronicles universe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cassandra Morphy
• Release date: Aug 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005687359

Cassandra Morphy

Cassandra Morphy is a Business Data Analyst, working with numbers by day, but words by night. She grew up escaping the world, into the other realities of books, TV shows, and movies, and now she writes about those same worlds. Her only hope in life is to reach one person with her work, the way so many others had reached her. As a TV addict and avid movie goer, her entire life is just one big research project, focused on generating innovative ideas for worlds that don’t exist anywhere other than in her sick, twisted mind.

Book preview

Book One

Missing Mars

Part One

Cassie

Chapter One

Missed it by That Much

I couldn't believe my luck when I was selected. A trip to Mars had been my dream since I first heard the idea of colonizing it. I didn't even mind that the trip would be one way.

Our group was by far the best of the bunch. There was Jack, our unofficial team leader and our mechanical engineer. He was our tallest member, topping out at 6’2, just barely making the height restrictions. He was a bit on the gangly side though. Mike was our overly quiet geologist, and built like the rocks he studies. Sarah was our botanist, quieter than I am and by far the shortest of the group. Then there was me, Cassie, tall for a girl at 5’9, the computer scientist. When it came to choosing which group would go first, it wasn't even a question.

Everything was going great. No problems from the moment we left orbit. No problems, that is, until we got within view of Mars.

There's Mars. Jack said

Not just a dot anymore. Sarah remarked

Should it be that far off? I asked.

Well, we're still a month out.

Guys, the voice from mission control came over the radio from two minutes ago, just getting to us now due to the time delay, we have a problem. It looks like your trajectory is off.

Told ya I said.

The instruments that were detecting your velocity weren't calibrated properly. Now that you're close enough to Mars, we can plainly see on the telescopes that you're a week ahead of schedule, which means you'll miss Mars by a mile, even if you used all the fuel you have on board. I'm sorry.

Great, so now what? Jack asked.

With a smile I reply I say we aim for the second star to the right, and head straight on till morning.

With a chuckle, Mike straps in behind the helm, adjusts our trajectory to the right a bit, and puts the computers to sleep.

Those last few months were probably the most amazing in my life. We knew we were going to die when we ran out of food, oxygen, water, or power; we just weren't sure which would go first. With Mars in our rear view, we just kept on trucking. We almost made it to the asteroid belt before the solar panels stopped collecting enough energy and the backup power went out.

Freeze to death it is then, Mike said.

Personally, I would have voted for the oxygen. They say slow asphyxiation is like going to sleep. I responded.

The four of us huddled together for warmth in the small space of the lander, knowing full well it was only delaying the inevitable. We lasted another three days like that, before, one by one, we nodded off into the big sleep.

#

As the ship approached the planet, the computers kicked back on. The solar panels had been picking up lots of juice since the ship got within range of a decent star again. The landing programs fired off, as if the ship were approaching Mars, and detached the lander. As it entered the atmosphere, it passed through a dark storm cloud. The lander got bashed around by turbulence before getting hit by lightning. The damage was minor and the parachutes opened without a problem. The landing rockets weren't working hard enough for the higher than expected gravity, but the high pressure atmosphere let the parachutes do their jobs better. The lander crashed down with some rather major structural damage, but not enough for the whole thing to collapse.

Trandal saw the whole thing from the point the lander got below the clouds. He had been lying on the grass at his farm, after a hard day’s work, hoping to see some stars. The rain hadn't started and the clouds hadn't rolled in until after dusk.

He didn't know what to make of the weird metal thing that just crashed in the middle of his field, approaching it cautiously, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice. He apprehensively approached the large crack in the side of the lander. That's when he saw her. He stared at her for a minute before hearing something off in the distance. It sounded like a bunch of trucks, maybe jeeps. Looking off in the direction of the sound, he saw them. By the headlights, it looked to be about 5 vehicles heading toward him rather quickly.

Not really thinking, he picked her up and ran into his house. By the time the jeeps had arrived, he had her safely in his bed. He went back out to greet the soldiers, to feign ignorance of their business here.

Chapter Two

Waking Up is Hard to Do

After the shock and first bout of euphoria had passed, the trip suddenly got a lot more morose. Mike was still at the helm, after making the purely ceremonial maneuver. He was the first to feel the oncoming doom that should have hit us right when the announcement came.

Serious, what are we going to do? he asked the group.

What can we do? I asked. Like they said, we don’t have enough fuel to get us to Mars.

Why didn’t they see this sooner? Maybe we could have done something to correct our trajectory. I just find it hard to believe that they hadn’t picked up our speed while we were still within range of the satellites. Even the time delay should have told them something sooner than this.

Maybe they did know, and it was already too late.

#

Coming back to consciousness after expecting you were going to die is weird. One would think it would be a relief, but I wasn't even sure I was really awake. I imagine it's a whole lot worse when waking up in an alien bedroom... with the alien staring at you.

After opening my eyes, I bolted up with a start. I tried to throw myself back against the wall and ended up falling on the floor. Looking around, I noticed the bed was oddly shaped, more like a circle than a rectangle. The owner of the bed stood up, almost as if to help me, but hesitated. I gradually managed to sort myself out, pinned as I was between the odd bed and the wall, and stood up.

Ok, where am I?

The creature continued to look at me, his features not moving an inch. He looked more or less humanoid, taller than the average human but not too outside the range; he looked to be about 6'6 but I was never really a good judge of these things. Two arms, two legs, two hands, two feet. It was too dark to count fingers and toes. His skin was a bit on the green side, about to the same amount that we humans are white, black, or brown. Despite the similarities, the overall shape of his head was all wrong, almost concave across what would have been his forehead, and held up by an extremely thin but long neck. His arms and legs were also very thin, though his chest was humungous. I found it hard to understand how the thin legs would be able to hold up the torso, but he didn’t seem to have any problems standing.

After getting my bearings a bit, I walked apprehensively over to the window. Looking out carefully, I saw what appeared to be a military presence around what remained of our lander. Several creatures were fencing off the area around the crash site. These were large compared to the one in the room with me, but of the same general shape. They were carrying long metal objects I took to be guns.

Looking over, I asked the individual Did you see any others in the lander? Do you know if they're alive? Again, I get no response. Approaching him cautiously, I reach out two fingers, hoping he'll mimic me. After a few moments, getting nothing from him, I put my two fingers to my neck, feeling my pulse. Yup, I'm alive.

I stick my fingers out again, this time he does as well. I reach out cautiously, taking his hand, and putting his fingers to my neck. After a few seconds I point out the window to my lander, trying to pantomime my question. He took his fingers back and just stood there.

It was an odd feeling, looking at someone, not even knowing if they are intelligent enough to grasp the concept I was trying to get at, let alone knowing if he did. I decided to take a different tact.

My name is Cassie I said, placing my hand to my chest. Cassie, I repeat, tapping my chest, then waving my hand out at him. I repeat the process a couple times before he responded.

Si yanda d Trandal he said. He pats his chest a couple times repeating Trandal.

Trandal. Nice to meet you, Trandal. My name is Cassie, your name is Trandal. I say, trying to illicit a confirmation of mutual understanding, and get a bit more of his vocabulary. I may not be that good at learning a new language, but it was as good a point as any to start.

Si yanda d Trandal. Sau yanda d Cassie, he replied. Hearing my name in the jumble of alien words confirmed that his name was indeed Trandal, and that our languages were compatible enough to learn.

Suddenly, he walks over to what looks like a shelf and grabs a circular object. As he thumbs through it, I realize it's a book. He comes to the page he was looking for and shows me a picture on it. The picture depicts 3 figures that were unmistakably angels rising up into a beam of light. My jaw fell towards the floor. These weren't some kind of alien angel. They were straight out human angels. The middle one even almost looked like me. It was obvious to me that he saw the similarity as well. Trandal saved me from the crash.... because he thought I was an angel.

After letting that sink in a bit, I went back to the window to see if there was any sign that anyone else made it out of the lander. As I looked out, two more jeeps arrived, with another dozen or so soldiers. These people were about as cautious about aliens as humans would be. Off in the distance, the clouds were parting and I could see a few stars. I just barely saw a constellation that I could have sworn looked like the big dipper when, with a loud clap, lights turned on in the area around the crash.

I fell back and covered my eyes, as they adjusted to the sudden brightness. I wondered briefly why they were shining lights on the site that they would probably be trying to keep secret when I noticed that the area I took to be someone’s back yard was in fact a rather large field. Farmland, of course, the closest neighbor would probably be miles away, and it's not like the occupants of this house would miss the space ship in the morning.

With the added light, I didn't dare look back out the window. As my eyes adjusted back to the darkness of the room, I saw that Trandal was sitting on the bed, patting it a couple times, then pointing toward me. I guessed he was trying to indicate that I should take the bed, while he slept on the floor. Very gentlemanly of him.

I nodded and approached the bed. I wasn't sure which action he understood, but seemed satisfied that I agreed with him. He grabbed one of the pillows (also circular) and found the least uncomfortable place on the floor, curled up, and promptly fell asleep. I always hate when people can do that, it usually takes me almost an hour to fall asleep.

I was crawling into the bed, trying to follow suit, when I heard heavy footsteps from outside the room. Quickly, I threw myself back into the gap between the bed and the wall as someone bashed on the door. As I ducked out of sight, the door swung open and someone stormed into the room.

The new arrival was larger than Trandal, but didn't seem to be as large as the soldiers outside. Grak d trad e rinoda? a higher pitched voice than Trandal’s yelled.

From the lump that was Trandal, I heard an utterance that I couldn't quite catch. I wasn't sure if this person intimidated Trandal or if he was still half asleep. With a huff, the person turned around, swinging the door closed, and stomped down what I took to be a hallway beyond the door. Trandal looked over at me briefly before going back to sleep. Figuring it wasn't likely for the other occupant of the house to return, I climbed back up on the bed and tried to relax. As I drifted off, I kept thinking about my shipmates and wondering if any of them were still alive.

Chapter Three

Wakeup Call

I still don’t see why they kept it from us for so long, Mike said grumpily.

Yea, Sarah agreed. Didn’t they think we could handle it?

Maybe it wasn’t us they were trying to keep it from, I suggested. We’ve been communicating with people on Earth this whole time. What do you think would have happened if they had had more time with us right here, within easy talking distance, knowing full well there was nothing they could do?

Are we so sure there wasn’t anything they could do? Mike demanded.

If there had been, and they really did know about it sooner, what makes you think they wouldn’t have done it?

#

I woke up the next morning to the sound of metal on metal. I sat up with a start and rushed toward the window. Peeking out apprehensively, I saw they had already loaded the lander into what appeared to be a flatbed truck. As I watched from the window, the truck, and the last of the military jeeps, started driving off.

Without putting much thought into it, I rushed out of the room. Looking around at the house for the first time, I was a little surprised to see what was obviously a kitchen and a door right next to a window. From the bedroom window it was obvious we were on the second floor, but from in here it looked more like the ground floor.

Shrugging off the brief disorientation, I ran for the door, threw it open, and rushed out... right off the balcony of the outside staircase. Fortunately, I fell into some soft brush that broke my fall. Dusting myself off, I tried to get my bearings.

In the distance, I could see the dust clouds of the departing caravan. I quickly rushed after it, not stopping to think that there was no way for me to keep up with it. All I could think was that if I lost sight of the lander, I'd never see my friends again.

After running for a few minutes, I started to hear footsteps behind me. Putting on more speed, thinking it was a soldier that was left behind, I was startled to see Trandal when he jumped in front of me. The guy was fast. He put out his hand to stop me and I came to a halt before running into him.

I point off into the distance were the dust from the caravan was settling. He looked off to where I was pointing, then pointing towards it himself. He then pointed to himself, patted his chest, then out in the distance. He repeated the gesture a few times before pushing me back towards the house. I went hesitantly, hoping he was trying to tell me that he had a better plan for finding my friends... or that it was no longer worth trying.

As we walked back into the house, there was an odd sound from the kitchen. I looked over to see the other alien from last night. Grak d ps?

I pointed to myself and said human

Ps d Cassie Trandal said.

Rather flippantly I say she asked what I was, not who I was. I mean, seriously, what else does someone ask when an alien comes into their house.

I quickly lose track of the conversation as she starts screaming at Trandal, probably about how dangerous it is to hide an alien from the military, blah blah blah. I walked over to the counter, where I noticed a bowl of what looked to be apples. I picked one up and said, Excuse me. Once I had their attention, I point to the apple, then to myself, then to my mouth. After watching me do that process a couple times without indicating whether or not I could eat it, I gradually move the fruit to my mouth. The two went back to their heated discussion as I took a bite. It wasn't an apple. Not even close. It wasn't exactly disgusting, but it at least appeared to be eatable.

After taking a bite, I put the fruit down on the counter. At this, the other alien stopped yelling at Trandal and looked at me with her mouth open. I picked up the fruit again and pantomimed eating it, then rubbed my stomach, then my brow, and shrugged. She seemed to understand enough to know I was going to eat more of the fruit later. I wasn't sure if she understood enough to know that I had no idea how my body would react to the food, and wanted to minimize my exposure should I have an adverse reaction.

This was the first time I really managed to get a good look at either of them. Trandal seemed like he was about half a foot shorter than the other one, and a lot less girthy. They had only four fingers on each hand, counting the thumbs. Each finger had four segments, instead of only three, with their thumbs having four as well. They were both wearing tightly fitted clothing, looking a bit like military overalls similar to what we wore on the ship, though tailored more appropriately for their frame.

I watching the two argue for what I guessed to be about ten minutes. I had spotted a piece of paper and a sphere of something that looked, and worked, like graphite so I decided to take some notes on the few words I had been able to figure out so far. During that time, I hadn’t felt any effects from eating the fruit. With my stomach growling the entire time, my hunger overcame my caution and I ate the rest of the fruit. It wasn't any better after sitting on the counter all that time, but it didn't taste any worse either. After finishing the fruit, I looked around for somewhere to put the core. By this time, Trandal seemed to be winning the argument and the other alien started looking at me with what I took to be pity.

After a couple moments, with no luck finding the trash, she walked over and took the core from me, throwing it out the window. The action looked to be well practiced, so I took this as being their typical approach to trash, or at least biodegradable trash. She turned toward me, placed her hand on her chest and said Contessa. She then points at me and says Cassie.

Cassie, I say pointing towards myself, Trandal I pointed at Trandal, Contessa, I pointed to Contessa. At this, I swear she smiled, or at least close to it. I'm not sure if that was a normal facial expression or something she had already picked up from me.

My stomach growled very loudly. The apple wasn't enough, especially considering that I haven't eaten since I died. Even assuming this planet was relatively close to Earth, it must have been several thousand years since I last ate, at the speed we had been going. The mystery of how we survived at all was something to consider some other day. I start to look in the direction of the fruit bowl when Contessa moves towards the pantry, waving her hands and saying Lonan tras, di c si Trandal. I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but I figured she was starting to make breakfast.

It took me a while to eat all the food I was given, with me testing each item on the plate Contessa set in front of me before really eating. The two seemed to have taken my caution to heart, giving me more of what I already tested to hold me over while I gave the next item some time. The eggs actually tasted like eggs. The bacon also tasted like eggs. The hash browns tasted like heaven. It wasn't until I got the melon that I had any problem. Once I took a bite of it, it almost took my whole breakfast up with it. I quickly ran to the window and spit it out. Yup, no 'melon' for me, thanks. The melon was gone from my plate by the time I got back to my chair.

By the time Contessa stopped trying to feed me their entire pantry, I was completely stuffed. I would have tried to stop sooner, but everything tasted so great and I didn't know when I'd next eat after leaving the farm; and I had no intention of staying here much longer, not without knowing what happened to my crew.

So, what's this great idea you have of getting my friends back? I asked Trandal.

He looked at me with an expression I took as confusion for a bit. Then the expression faded as he nodded and got up. He turned to Contessa and said So tradua pli pog i ciro pog ropa Jonut.

Noca, t b pac. I iaa pso sa tria pog w d b ropa sap i graka. Sa ayana rou grak kla w pog sa, pu o ps.

Trandal motioned that I should follow and walked out the door. Outside, he walked toward a small structure near the road that looked like a garage. It was round like the house, but the front of it had a round, metal door that was bent outward in the middle that took up most of the front half of the building. We walked to a much smaller round door to the side of the bigger one. This door swung open on a middle pivot, like the two inside the house. I was surprised when I noticed the lack of a method to secure the door, no lock or even a latch to hold it closed.

Inside was a pick-up truck that looked a lot like the flat bed I saw earlier. The cab was almost triangular, taking up a wedge of the circle that was the whole truck. Instead of four wheels, there was a rather large sphere in the center. It looked like someone had taken a large bolder and smoothed it out. Around the side of the truck was a belt that must spin when the truck was in motion, providing a gyroscopic effect to keep the truck upright and on the ball.

Trandal opened the door to the cab and motioned that I should get in first. As I climbed in, he went to open the main door. The door moved up, similar to the garage doors on Earth, but spinning like a cog as it went. Inside the cab, it was a bit snug with the two of us in there. The vehicle looked to be designed for only one occupant, but we managed to get the both of us in there just fine. There was a large bench instead of individual seats and no seat belts. Trandal backed out of the garage carefully. Once out, he got back out of the truck to close the main door. No automatic door controls; it was completely manual.

Once back in, he quickly turned the truck onto the road, the road that would hopefully lead to my friends.

Chapter Four

Might As Well Be Fort Knox

Hello Earth, Jack waved into the camera. This is the doomed ship we have since renamed Titanic. It seemed appropriate given our circumstances. For those of you who don’t already know, we are heading into the void, never to return. Seems like someone forgot to convert to metric or something.

No, I corrected. Someone forgot to calibrate the gauges entirely. You’re not going to blame this one on us Americans being the only ones in the world to never convert to the metric system.

You guys, Mike called from the lander. Will you switch off that stupid camera? You’re wasting electricity.

We’re still close enough to the sun that it’s not really draining the reserves much, Jack argued. Besides, this is for prosperity.

You’re right, I agreed. It’s for prosperity, so, be honest.

#

The drive took what felt like hours. It was hard to tell without a watch or clock or anything. It didn't help that neither of us tried to have a conversation; not that we would have understood each other anyway.

Surprisingly, there weren't any other cars on the road during that time. We passed what looked to be other farms every few minutes. We were obviously in a very rural area; the whole closest neighbor is a mile away thing was rather literal here.

I was about to ask how much further it was when Trandal pulled off to the side of the road. I could just see the hint of a fence line in the distance. Trandal got out and held the door, seeming to indicate I should get out as well.

We walked over to the fence line and Trandal crouched down. I decided to sit instead. Around the fence was a nice wooded area and there was a rather large root sticking up that made a nice seat. Off in the distance, on the other side of the fence, I saw hundreds of soldiers; some patrolling the perimeter, some simply standing in formation, and several standing around the main building on guard. I quietly hummed the Imperial March from Star Wars. Trandal, of course, didn’t get the reference, but he was more intent on what was happening on the base.

Spread throughout the area were small bunkers with about 10 soldiers each; all of them were heavily armed with large guns and even larger guns mounted in the bunkers. The fence itself wasn't much better. The top had large spikes pointing every which way, their version of barbed wire I figured, and there was a rather audible buzzing sound indicating that it was electrified. Given the level of defense of the base, I was rather surprised we got to the fence at all.

After a few minutes of looking at the huge obstacle between me and my friends, Trandal pointed off in the distance. Following his finger, I noticed one of the soldiers was now out of uniform and heading towards what appeared to be the main gate. The gate looked to be about as well guarded as the fence line, meaning not much. It looked like the soldiers all but posted signs saying surrender hope all ye who enter here, focusing all their attention to the actual base itself. This is the exact opposite of how we humans do it, which is to focus all our attentions on preventing people from getting on the base in the first place then have lax or no security on the base itself.

Once the soldier left the base, he turned in our direction and started heading towards us. Trandal stood up and walked over to him. I stayed on my root seat, which was behind a few bushes so the soldier wouldn’t be able to see me without know where to look. I wasn’t sure what to do. The soldier was a few inches taller than Trandal, but of a similar build. He was wearing a green outfit a few shades off his skin tone. The military outfits of the soldiers, at least from what I could see from far off, were actually not that different in design to what I had taken for their everyday wear. The main difference seemed to be fewer choices in color. All the soldiers were in black or some really dark color that was hard to tell apart from black at a distance.

After Trandal and the soldier talked for a bit, the two of them came back to me. Once the soldier saw me, he stopped in his tracks and stared at me.

Are you insane? I yelled. What did you go and bring him here for? He's just going to try to turn me in. Boy, when I learn your language, you are going to get a stern talking to... or have you already? Did your mom know about this? Was that part of what you two were arguing about? Or was that one of the reasons why you won that argument? Did she agree with your decision to turn me in? The two of them just stared at me as I continued to babble on, neither of them understanding a word I was saying, but it at least helped me feel a little better, and maybe a little less powerless.

Once I ran out of steam, Trandal turned to the newcomer, pointed toward me and said Cassie then turned to me, pointed to the newcomer and said Jonut. Recognizing the name from earlier, I figured this was the person we were here to see.

All Jonut managed to say was angel.

Oh, not this again. Do you see a halo? I pointed to my head. Turning around and pointing at my back, I said Do you see wings? I admit, though, the fact that you actually use the same word 'angel' is rather eerie. If I wasn't an atheist, I'd think God was playing a joke on you guys. Like maybe he was trying to see if you'd strive to be more like us. Or at least the ‘us’ he decided to depict, ‘cause, trust me, as a people, we aren't much to strive for.

Trandal shook his head (again, I wonder if this is something he picked up from me or a similarity that already existed; I really wonder how archeologists manage to garner anything from visiting tribes without contaminating them) and motions for us to get back into the truck. Trandal and I were in the cab with Jonut in the bed. I tried to duck down a little as we passed the base. There may not have been