March 2016 – Houston, Texas: Mark and Scott Kelly are identical twins, both are captains in the US Navy, and both spent time on the International Space Station. Scott spent nearly a year orbiting the Earth, returning in March 2016. On his return, they compared his DNA to his twin’s. During his flight it modified so much they were no longer considered identical twins. He had changed.
August 2031 – Orbit around Phobos, the innermost moon of Mars.
“Houston, this is Safe Return. We’ve made a successful entry into Mars lunar orbit and are about to deploy the lander modules. All systems are nominal,” Captain Bob “Tick” Timer said, looking into the camera on the comms console. Not waiting for a reply because of the 12.72-minute transmission delay each way, he floated down from the command module to the crew quarters, pulled himself through the hatch and beamed an enormous smile at his crewmates.
“Hey Tick, how’d it feel to be the first disk-jockey to broadcast from Mars?” Alan Schwartz said to him.
“It feeeeels good,” he said.
“Dah dah-dah dah-dah dah,” responded the five crew members in an homage to the James Brown classic.
“Okay, knock it off,” laughed Tick. “we’ve got work to do. Alan, you’re in PL1 with Celestine and Tony. I’ll take PL2 with Christine and Alicia. Y’all ready for this?”
“Aye, captain,” the crew chorused. They headed for the EVA lockers and donned their suits, then one by one, entered the two ventral airlocks.
The landers, PL1 and PL2, were little more than a cabin and a cargo hold perched on top of a giant engine. They got the crew to the surface of Phobos and back safely and efficiently and nothing more. Once landed, the crew were to break out the prefabricated base and assemble it, ready for the second ship, which carried the crew that would construct the Mars lander on the surface of Phobos and take a flight into history. Tick envied them, but he made his own history.
The trip down was uneventful, with PL2 landing just minutes before its twin. As agreed, Tick waited until the automated lander settled on its struts before opening the hatch to look out across Phobos.
“This is PL2,” he said, thumbing his mike through his EVA suit. “Can I have your status? Over.”
He waited a few seconds, but there was nothing but static.
“PL2, do you copy?”
More static. Then the door of the other lander flew from its hinges and a tall, black, glistening figure burst through and spread its giant leathery wings. Tick gasped in horror as the figure bounded away from the lander.
“Let’s get out of here,” he shouted, slamming the hatch.
They left Phobos after they sent the video of the encounter back to Houston. Afterwards, NASA and the NSA put a lid on the entire event. Tick understood, but he knew what he saw, and he knew what he felt. Changes were coming to him, too.
