Schneider Mission Futura

On behalf of the IMB
1. Auflage 2024
ISBN: 978-1-64268-615-9
Verlag: novum publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 130 Seiten

The year is 2077. Lukka, twelve years old, lives with her parents on Mars. Born on the Red Planet, she only knows her habitat and the nearby spaceport. Together with Jen and Loran, the only other teenagers who were born on Mars like her, she forms an inseparable unit. But when two new inhabitants arrive, their previously quiet life changes dramatically. Lukka discovers that her world is much larger and more mysterious than she ever imagined. Together with her friends, she sets out to solve the riddles and secrets surrounding her community. Suddenly, the children find themselves on an adventure that takes them to the limits of their imagination and beyond.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Schneider, Angie

Leseproben

Something is finally happening

Two days later.

The atmosphere is tense in Habitat 2. A cargo from Earth is about to arrive at the spaceport, not far from the settlement.

Landing in the thin Martian atmosphere is always a tricky business.

Most of the time it works, but there are also accidents. This is why the landing site with its container buildings and fuel tanks is so far away from H2.

Linda is busy in the control room and leaves the three teenagers, Lukka, Jen and Loran, alone in the dome. There they have a wonderful view all the way to the spaceport. It's the best place to watch a landing, she says.

There are often shuttle flights to a nearby asteroid, but cargo ships from Earth only arrive every two years and are something special.

Unfortunately, the sandstorm has still not completely subsided and the red dust swirls across the dry ground like little devils chasing each other.

They search the sky curiously; the freighter should be visible at any moment now.

There are also new settlers on board. A pilot, a biologist and four other technicians are ready to live on Mars. These workers are to help build the new H4 station. Two rocket shuttles were supposed to arrive at the same time, but there were launch problems and so the second load will not arrive until much later. They were unable to send them off in time and now it will be another year before Earth and Mars are in a favorable position.

"There!" Loran nudges Lukka and points to a tiny dot in the reddish clouds. "There is something!"

The three of them press their noses against the dense, radiation-proof dome to get a better view. And indeed, the dot seems to be moving, slowly getting bigger.

Lukka is spellbound, watching the spaceship move in. She is very excited, it is the first time she has been allowed to watch a rocket from Earth land on Mars.

"Linda, look!" she calls down to the control room.

"Yes, yes, I have him on my radar," she says casually.

The long cargo ship now stands out clearly against the dark red sky. It seems to be heading straight for them. Now it lifts its nose and continues to fall horizontally, like a pencil hitting the ground.

"It's getting closer very fast," whispers Jen, "I hope everything is well."

"It'll work out," hisses Lukka nervously.

"Look, there are wings coming out!" Loran would love to climb through the dome, fidgeting excitedly.

And indeed, wings are extended along the entire length of the sides to slow the freighter's fall and allow it to descend more slowly. But it is still approaching at great speed. Though now you can already see that it is coming down over the landing site.

Linda is talking to the control tower at the spaceport. She sounds very calm, everything seems to be going normally.

Now the spaceship turns vertically again, this time with the engine pointing downwards, and ignites the braking rockets. The spacecraft shakes and trembles towards the ground, huge amounts of dust are whirled up until you can no longer see anything, just red clouds of fine, dry Martian soil.

The three spectators hold their breath. No crash, no explosion, nothing shakes the spaceport.

Only dust rises around them and only slowly disperses in all directions.

"Wonderful!" Linda shouts loudly. "Then get the earthlings out of there now."

She laughs and looks up at the three young Martians in the dome. "They've landed."

Linda has witnessed many launches and landings, but she is always happy when things go well, as there have been several terrible crash landings and even a few false starts. This happened frequently in the early years of the Mars mission, but technology has developed a lot since then and space travel has become safer.

She jumps up from her armchair and looks in the kids' direction.

"Well, today it's too dusty outside. But tomorrow we'll go for a walk around the block."

She laughs with audible relief after the stress. "Go into the garden for a while and tell your mothers what you've seen today."

Lukka is a little disappointed, she would have loved to talk to Linda about the landing, she already has a thousand questions piling up in her head. But she also understands that Linda would rather talk to the adults now.

Jen and Loran are already chattering away excitedly, but Lukka has suddenly got hungry again and makes a small detour via the kitchen, she needs something to eat first.

Karen has been listening to the radio calls in the common room and is on her way to the garden when Lukka comes out of the living area, a bowl of snack balls in her hand.

Chewing and chatting, she follows her mother to the green oasis.

It is now quite loud in the otherwise quiet garden, everyone has gathered there and they are talking excitedly. As everyone speaks several languages, it sounds like a bubbling soup of English, Russian, German and French.

Lukka turns her ears to all sides like radar dishes, capturing information.

The freighter has transported many different goods, technical material for the research unit and construction elements for the new Habitat 4. This will be the vacation resort for the first tourists who want to visit Mars soon. They also talk about new spacesuits for Habitat 2.

And there is this special food from the Home Planet, delicacies that are otherwise not available here, cocoa powder, milk powder and even coffee. This only lasts for a few weeks, then everyone is waiting for the next batch again, which can take a long time.

But there are also six new settlers on board, including a botanist. She is to take over Beatrice's work in the greenhouse.

Lukka realizes that she hasn't seen Beatrice there for a long time.

She sneaks inconspicuously around the people and catches information everywhere until Jen grabs her by the arm and drags her to the side.

"Did you hear that? The pilot, I think his name is Rick, he even brought an airplane! So it's more like a helicopter that he can use to get people to another station more swiftly."

Lukka's heart beats faster. "Then I can visit my dad when he's away for so long!"

"Yes, our lives will change. I can hardly wait to see the other habitats."

"And a little more than always the same landscape that we've known since we were born here."

"Come on, let's find Loran and tell him!" The boy tugs on Lukka's arm again to pull her behind him.

The groups in the garden slowly disperse and everyone goes back to their work.

The three teenagers are also asked back into the sports room to work on their muscles for another hour.

The day doesn't seem to move at all, everything is different today, nothing goes its usual course. Lukka prefers the peace and quiet of a normal daily routine.

Even at dinner, everyone is still very excited and talking loudly to each other. She tries to remember whether it was the same at the last landing almost two years ago; she certainly didn't notice it that way back then.

She hardly remembered the shuttle's return flight a year ago either; it seemed normal to her. What was different this time?

She listens in on her mother's conversation with Linda. The two of them are talking about how to accommodate the new members of the community.

Rick and Pragya are a couple and are to be housed in Beatrice's quarters, as she will be staying in Habitat 1 with Dr. Tann. So she won't be coming back.

Jen's voice draws their attention to the other side of the long table. He is interested in the construction of the new habitat. Lukka knows that the settlers have mixed opinions about the new facility. Some are happy about the advanced facilities and the swimming pool that will be built there, as well as the change in interaction with strangers who will not be part of the community. But this is exactly the idea that others are not so comfortable with. Tourists usually want luxury and entertainment, which Mars can't offer. And the next direct return flight is in a year's time or with stopovers on the asteroid and the moon.

Lost in thought, she sees Loran absently playing with his peas and decides to think of something exciting. They're finally going to go outside, Linda said.

She accepts her mother's dessert with a smile and quietly enjoys the extra portion of fruit jelly.

The three children meet early for lessons in the common room. This is where they receive their teaching program every morning, which prepares them for further studies. They wear VR glasses that are connected to a computer, a kind of artificial intelligence that reacts to any learning difficulties the children may have and then adapts the training.

In the early years, they learned to read and write, Latin script and Cyrillic, while learning English and Russian and optimizing their native languages. They are also learning math and science and will soon begin their technical training. To do this, they have to work as trainees with the adult settlers at the station.

Lukka is watching a program about wild animals on Earth and answers the questions she is asked. She wonders why she has to learn this, as there are no animals on Mars and never will be.

"No knowledge is free," Karen always says. "Maybe you'll need it again after all."

The girl shakes her head at this thought and concentrates on the strange...