It’s been nearly two years since we landed. The engines gave out as we approached, but the pilot, David Carlyle, was able to even us out and come in fairly soft.
We had already spent the last ten years getting to know each other in close confinement. There were just four of us. David used to be a physician, Jennie who came from an Indian university after just graduating with a master in computer science, and Raphael who was an incredibly charming psychologist.
During the first year after the landing we set up camp, it took us forever. I can’t figure out why they didn’t send a construction worker up the first time. Since then we’ve been maintaining the space stay, and building some new hallways. I’ve started the garden in the kitchen with the help of Raphael; Jennie and David have started pumping for water in three spots a few miles in each direction while also collecting soil specimens and doing some shallow drilling for research.
After we arrived we played all kinds of Earth games out in the limited gravity, my favorite was when Jennie and I build a propellant and attached it to our brooms – Quidditch in Space! Sounds like a bad sci-fi spin off. Meanwhile, we’ve just been hanging out. We get to read, go on the internet (although every click takes nearly 45 minutes! You can’t be too quick with the fingers because the back button has become an enemy), and watch television (although we get everything three minutes later and have to request the shows we want to watch). My preference is just watching an old TV series from the first episode – no requesting needed. We have to update our journals and talk to people from Earth in these little cameras that are all over the house, which is bizarre and makes me feel like I’m always being watched – which I guess technically I am. A few months ago I requested some security camera footage from people on Earth – just in stores or parking lots – so that I can watch them back. I must say, between you and me, sometimes I am skeptical that I’m even here. What if this was just an elaborate prank for a reality show? But then I walk outside in my space suit, the air isn’t breathable and I can’t keep myself on the ground. How could they possibly establish something that momentous? This can’t be The Truman Show. Could it be Ender’s Game?
Either way, we’re expecting our first batch of new arrivals to our new city in a month. One of them used to do visual effects for movies and apparently James Cameron wants to send him a few shots here so he can say a part of his movie was created on Mars.
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