Ananke 5

by Spectral Observer

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Human
Length: 2191

"Well, I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore!" This is the first sentence in the book astronaut Bastian Bernd took to Mars to write in. But the thing is, this book was found AFTER his disappearance.

Entry 1:
Local Time: Unknown,
Mars Time: Sol 13,
Well, I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore! If I had known this was how my trip
to Mars would end, I definitely wouldn't have come. Being pushed through a
mysterious portal isn't a very fitting end to such an exciting trip. But I should
start from the beginning. My name is Bastian Bernd, and I am either dead or
inside of some pre-death hallucination.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2015-07-13 00:30:11 UTC

Entry 1: Sol 13

Entry 1:

                Local Time: Unknown

                Mars Time: Sol 13,

                                                Well I'm definitely not in Kansas anymore! If I had known this was how my trip to Mars would end, I definitely wouldn't have come. Being pushed through a mysterious portal isn't a very fitting end to such an exciting trip. But I should start from the beginning. My name is Bastian Bernd, and I am either dead or inside of some pre-death hallucination. But, besides that, how did i get here? It all started when I was 11, and I was first introduced to the concept of spaceflight, it was love at first sight. Since then I was fascinated by it, some would say I was addicted to it, consuming everything having to do with it as fast as I could. So no one that knew me was the least bit surprised when I came out with my first book. It was named Sol 13, and detailed the chronicles of an astronaut that goes to mars and meets aliens. The concept wasn't anything special, but it did marginally well, and made enough to let me pay rent and buy food without getting a second job. My next book was about astronauts landing on Pluto and finding alien technology. It did pretty well, though it's sequel did better. I won't bore you with anymore stories about my books, suffice to say they did well enough to keep me alive. But my big break came with 'Project Stargazer' a book about the building, and subsequent destruction of the first ever commercial space station. It was a best seller, and what earned me a place on the Ananke 5 mission.  The Ananke program was NASA's attempt at landing humans on Mars. Ananke 1 successfully landed on Mars, that crew got the parades and fame. Ananke 2 did the same in a different location, they got a firm handshake and the admiration of only the science minded and space nerds. Ananke 3 and 4 did much the same as 2 with much the same results. When it came time for Ananke 5 the politicians and laymen began making a ruckus about how much money these missions were costing. They even tried to cancel the Ananke program, but a 2 month demonstration by scientists, space nerds, and celebrities stopped that. I had no time to participate in this demonstration because I was busy training for the mission, though I would have if I could. Ananke 5 was my mission, well not my mission, Commander Clark was in charge I would never be in charge even if I was the last person left on Mars because I was technically a civilian. My role was to drum up positive PR, to get the laymen on our side, and prevent the politicians from sending Ananke the way of Apollo.

When it was time to head to Mars we got in the Ananke capsule which took us to the Artemis, a larger ship, which would propel us to Mars using Ion engines. It wasn't a very fast method, but it was efficient. I don't know all the technical aspects of this as I had made my living as an author, NOT as an astrophysicist. But we made it to Mars safely, after a LONG trip, though I couldn't tell you just how long because I lost track. Once we were finally there we went into an orbit using a secondary liquid fuel engine. We then took the Ananke Capsule, which doubled as a lander, down to the surface. Once there we spent 13 days doing experiments and exploration. We stayed in the Habitation Module, which had been put there in advance. It was a largish circular building, built to house the 8 man crew for the 30 day mission. Though It only house ME for 13.

On the morning of the 13th day, me and Anna Archer who is a geologist, were supposed to do an EVA to take additional surface samples and analyze them for water and potential life. I wasn't much help, so I decided to climb to the top of the nearest hill, It wasn't much taller than me but it was hard work in a spacesuit and despite 38% gravity so I had my head down, focusing on making climbing. When I lifted my head I saw what looked like a fissure in rock, except it was in the air. It had purple sides with a green outline and blackness in the middle. Like the calm level headed person I am, I let out a "What the fuck?!" before freaking out. After Anna climbed up to see what I was freaking out about and saw It, the rest of the crew donned EVA suits and joined us. We informed NASA of the "Anomaly" and waited the 6 minutes for them to respond. They advised us to stay away from it, but.... my dumb ass got curious, so I disobeyed orders from NASA and Clark and approached it. I was a respectable half a meter away when I heard a chorus of "LOOK OUT!"s. I turned around in time to get hit in the face... er helmet, by a black figure. I just say 'Black Figure' because I didn't have time to make out any details before I fell into the portal. I spanned the distance easily thanks to the 38% gravity and fell into it. I was left laying on my back in a forest. Panicking, I stood up and waddled toward the portal, waddling because moving in a space suit is hard, especially in earth gravity. Just as I got close, I was knocked over by the same 'Black Figure', lets call it Anomaly 2, moving at what seemed like the speed of sound. I hit the ground hard, and the glass on my helmet shattered, thankfully I was able to close my eyes and mouth before the glass got into either. I raised my head and saw that the rift had disappeared. I began to panic, and started to run around in circles while letting out insane sounding panic noises. I'm sure I would have laughed my ass off if I had seen myself, but I was too busy trying not to cry. I didn't sign up for this!

I finally managed to calm myself by saying that I wasn't necessarily anywhere other than earth. After all this could have all been a bad acid trip, not that I had or would have done acid marijuana was the farthest I went. But enough about drugs. I calmed and took off my EVA suit which was useless with the helmet broken. I then made my way In what I assumed was north, I really just located which direction the sun was In and followed. I eventually reached the edge of the forest, I found a large field with a giant mountain in the distance. On the side of the mountain was a city which looked to be defying the laws of physics. From this I gained two things. One: I likely wasn't on earth anymore, and Two: I should probably head in the direction of what I dubbed Anomaly 3. Even if I couldn't find a way to scale the mountain, there was likely a town or village at the base. So I set off on the journey there.

I eventually stopped for the night In the field, I foraged for berries and other food and drank from a nearby stream, which was probably infected with something but was better than dying of thirst. I laid down on a particularly soft piece of grass and started writing this. I will continue my journey in the morning. Goodnight.

Entry 2: Sol 14

Entry 2:

             Local Time: Unknown

             Mars Time: Sol 14

                                            I had the strangest dream last night, I was back In the HAB but everyone was sitting around me crying. No one seemed to notice me standing and moving around. Even when I touched them and talked to them. Suddenly the door opened and a blue horse with a horn walked through. They didn't seem to notice it either and the horse looked just as surprised as me, It started to open it's mouth as if it was about to speak. Then I woke Up. After sitting for a little wondering about what the fuck I just dreamed, I started what I hope WON'T become my daily routine, I foraged for food and drank from the river. Then I collected my stuff and continued on my trek towards the mountain. I'm now at the base. I see two things, one that makes me happy and one that makes me sad. The Anomaly 3 wasn't breaking the laws of physics, as much as previously thought, yay. But there wasn't any villages at the base of the mountain, boo. I have decided to take a quick nap before attempting to scale the mountain. Wish me luck.

Later

So my quick nap went a bit longer than expected. It's night. I assume it's before midnight based on where the moon is. I attempted to scale the mountain and found it was relatively easy. I even made it to the city. I found something that made me freak out a little. I was perched on the roof of one of the buildings, don't ask me how I got there, and because it was night there wasn't anybody on the streets. So I decided to sit there and wait, when suddenly a door opened. And a purple horse with a purple and white mane stepped out, turned around, and locked the door. But it didn't just lock it. It held the key aloft without touching it. The key was enveloped in a blueish glow, along with it's horn. From this I have determined that: 1. I am not on earth, 2. I am probably hallucinating, 3. If I'm not hallucinating magic is real. Anyway, after a mild but quiet freak out, I decided to spend the night there and decide what to do after. So this is where I am at. On top of a house, in a giant anomaly, after being pushed through a portal from Mars. I should write a book about this. OH WAIT! I AM!

Entry 3: Sol 15

Entry 3:

             Local Time: July 13, 1595

             Mars Time: Sol 15

                                             So You may be wondering how I know what the local time is. Well it is simple really, I just asked one of them. But I am getting ahead of myself. I woke up today Hungry and Thirsty, I decided that I needed food. But I would not lower myself to stealing. So that left me one option. Ask someone for food. So I spent the better part of the day psyching myself up. Finally after one particular painful rumble of my stomach. I climbed down to the street and went up to the nearest vendor that was selling apples and asked for one. She rightfully so, saw me, went slack jawed, and screamed. That lead to everyone else looking in our direction, and I had barely time to sheepishly wave before everyone else lost their shit, and now I was in the middle of a massive cluster fuck. Why did this always happen to me! In annoyance and realization that I wasn't going to be getting any food in this situation, I took an apple and started eating it. I lent back on a nearby pole and watched as the street slowly but surely cleared out until I was the only one left. This wasn't A good first contact. Feeling slightly annoyed and very much a smart ass, I said...

"was it something I said?"

And made my way to the largest building I could see ,which happened to be a large castle that looked straight out of a fairy tale. But the entire concept of a world populated by horses is straight out of a kids show, so the circle was complete. By this point I was sure of the fact of me being either dead or hallucinating, shit like this had never happened before and it most certainly didn't happen to me. I was roused from my thoughts by the sound of hooves on cobblestone. I look up to see 8 white horses clad in golden armor with spears running... er... galloping, toward me. I won't recount what happened next due to me being a jackass and having my ass handed to me. Suffice to say I ended up in a jail cell. I'm now waiting for some "Princess Celestia" to come talk to me. Now I'm in the position of being in Horse, sorry PONY they got offended when I called them horses, waiting for a pony princess to chew me out for being a smart ass. This would be weird for a fever dream crossed with a bad acid trip. Don't do drugs kids. I hope they have some good grub here, cause I'm starving. I'm gonna update you on that tomorrow. Thank god they let me keep this thing.