The Project

Chapter 7

The Project Chapter 7

June couldn't arrive fast enough for Alex and Kelly, it was warming up nicely, the tourists would be arriving shortly, and so would Arna. One Friday evening Alex rode his bike down to the old ball park, only to find Kelly standing there.

Any day now," he said, "Actually I thought she'd be here by now."

"You don't think anything's happened to her do you?" Asked Kelly.

"No, I doubt it," he replied, I'm sure "s**t happens" as much out in space as much as it does here."

"Well are you all ready to go?" she asked,

"Yes, and no," replied Alex, "This is going to really upset my folks, I've already written the note, it's damn near five pages long, how about you?"

Kelly chuckled,

"I'm just leaving her a note saying,

"Thanks for f*****g up my life mom; I'm going where I can get a fresh start, so long and goodbye."

"Wow, that's rather sharp don't you think?"

"Listen!" Snapped Kelly, you don't know a thing about my f*****g life OK, just let it go."

"Sorry, excuse me for living." Kelly then dropped the tough girl attitude,

"I'm sorry for jumping in your s**t Alex, I really didn't mean it, I'm just scared and nervous."

"Alex put his arm around her shoulder and replied,

"You can't be any more scared than I am, you've got nothing to loose, I do."

As fate would have it, Arna showed up the night before graduation, Alex called Kelly and told her,

"Arna's here, want to grab everything you're bringing and get down to the little league field"

"Mom's at work and has the car I can't carry all my s**t down there on my back."

"Where do you live, I come over in my dad's truck, I've already got my stuff packed." Kelly told him where she lived, and Alex found himself heading for an older part of town filled with two story homes that had been built in the twenties and thirties, most in poor repair. Kelly was waiting for him and threw two large duffle type bags in the back. As they headed for the ball park, Kelly said,

"I sent all that stuff off to doctor Frick yesterday; he should be getting it tomorrow or the next day."

"That's great," replied Alex, just one last thing to do then we're out of here."

They found that Arna had already landed and was waiting for them.

"Good thing not many people come around here anymore Arna or someone might have seen you."

"Not really," she replied, that scanner picks up every life form in a five rank area, I saw you two approach."

"So how re you Arna?" Asked Kelly, Arna gave her a weak smile,

"I'm fine, sorry I'm late, but there were…Complications." Alex didn't like that reply at all,

"Are you in any trouble Arna? Seriously, are we getting into something we can't get out of?" Shaking her head, she quickly replied,

"No, no, I will explain everything once we leave for the last time." Alex and Kelly grudgingly accepted her explanation, and proceed to load their gear. Along with all the clothing, Alex brought several cases of MRE's and freeze dried food, his AR, and a Mossberg 500 shotgun, along with a large quantity of ammunition. He also brought a large pack containing every kind of bandage and medication he could lay his hands on. He was leaving his phone at home with the pictures of he and Kelly, along with Gideon and Arna, as well as the Karla-Ann.

"I've spent weeks going over everything I could think of that we might need, I even stole a check out of my mom's checkbook and wrote a big check for all that ammo, food and med supplies, sure can't turn back now!" "My folks are throwing a party for me, I can't get out of it," he explained to Arna and Kelly, "Kelly, why don't you get over here first and wait for me, I probably won't be able to get away until around nine thirty or so, then we can haul ass out of here."

Alex couldn't sleep a wink that night; he was just too wound up, the next day was worse, his parents noticed as well, and called him on it.

"I'm just nervous mom, I don't know why, I'll be OK." During the graduation ceremony, he found himself constantly thinking,

"C'mon, C'mon! Let's get moving here, I've got places to be." It didn't help when Wyatt came up to him and said,

"Sorry for being such an asshole Alex, say, how 'bout we go camping up at that old ghost town one more time?"

"Uh I'm gonna be busy for awhile Wyatt, maybe later." Even Palmer gave it one last shot.

"I won't be leaving for school until August Alex, how about we go someplace?"

"Look Palmer," replied Alex, "I've got a lot going on, right now, how about getting together another time?" Palmer gave him an evil look,

"You mean after you get done screwing that little w***e I hear you've been running around with?"

"Jeezist!" Thought Alex, "How the f**k did she find out about that, after all the precautions we took." He just gave her a smirk, and replied,

"No comment Palmer, "You can't always believe what you see, or in this case hear."

It was announced that everyone would be getting their real diplomas in the mail as the ones being handed out were fake,

"Oh well," he thought, "Guess I won't be around to get it after all."

If the ceremony wasn't bad enough, the party was a real trial. Alex changed back into his jeans and tee-shirt, the one that got him into all that hot water, placed his phone on the nightstand next to his bed, with his "goodbye" note under it and headed downstairs. Feigning an errand that needed to be attended to outside, he went up to his dad, and smiled,

"Dad! I'm sorry,"

"Sorry about what son?" Alex shrugged, I'm just sorry, that's all."

He did the same with his mother nearly bringing him to tears; giving her a quick hug,

"What's that for Alex?"

"Um, just for being my mom."

Slipping outside, he jumped on his bike and quickly headed for the old ball park

Kelly and Arna were waiting for him. Kelly was looking very different this time, she still had her bright red hair, but now it was very short and spiky. The heavy Goth make-up and some of her body jewelry was gone as well.

"Let's get out of here before I change my mind Arna." For the longest time, he remained glued to the seat, his mind numbed with regrets; Kelly came up next to him,

"I feel for you Alex, but sometimes you just have to say goodbye to the things you know, and hello to the things you don't" He had Arna set a course for mars as it had been in the news lately and he figured it was as good a place as any to begin their future.

"I think I like the "new" Kelly," commented Alex, as the Karla-Ann raced towards the red planet. Kelly shrugged, and matter-of-factly said,

"I did it to split from my old life; I saw a sci-fi flick once that had a chick with the same kinda hair, so I thought what the hell!" She then added,

"You know Alex, I'm kinda curious about something?"

"Shoot!"

"How come you've never tried to f**k me?"

"Well if you think that's all any guy ever thinks about you've got a problem, in case you weren't aware of it, we've got bigger concerns going on here."

"Well I was just askin'…That's all."

"Look Kelly, I asked you along because I thought you might be able to contribute to our little team here, and I'm not talking about s*x. Honestly Kelly I'm really glad you came, we may be opposites in interests, but something tells me you've got what it takes for what's ahead." Kelly just looked at him for a long moment, then said,

"Thanks."

"Oh, one more thing, for what it's worth, as it turns out, everyone knew about us after all."

"What?"

"Go figure."

Traveling at hyper light speed, put them over Mars in very short order, Alex then said,

"Before we head out, I wanted to make a stop here, Arna, is there a spacesuit aboard, and if we landed, would it be possible to go outside?"

"There is one in that locker back there," she replied,

"Yes it's possible, that small chamber in the back seals off, you have to climb down a ladder, why?"

"Call it childish, but I've been thinking about something that will shake 'em up back home. NASA has a robot vehicle wandering somewhere around on this planet, do you think we could find it?"

"We can probably do that, do you have an idea of where it is?"

"Supposedly it's rolling around Gale crater, I downloaded a map to my computer, see, look, it's over here, there are several other older rovers in that area as well."

Arna set their terrain scanner to high, and headed for the region of mars Alex indicated. After some searching, the scanner picked it up.

"Just land a little ways in front of it, I've got a sign I want to make up, and I'm going to need help getting this suit on." Arna landed about a hundred feet in front of the rover, which appeared to be just sitting there.

"Does that thing still work?" asked Kelly

"As far as I know," replied Alex, "I haven't read anything to the contrary." He then took a piece of cardboard he'd brought along, just for this reason, and wrote;

"Hello mom and dad

Told you I was coming here and that I'd be the first man on mars

This place sucks, it's too cold, nothing's open, and there's no one here

Doctor Frick…

Now you know all that data we sent you is legit

NASA…Listen to this guy he doesn't lie"

With the help of Arna, Alex managed to get Gideon's space suit on, it looked very different than the NASA one, being all black for one thing. He then started having second thoughts worrying about the suit leaking, or something being wrong, but he soldiered on, entering the small airlock, and climbing down the ladder, actually standing on the surface of mars. Arna showed him how to adjust his oxygen, and heat, which Alex had to turn up as the intense cold came right through the suit.

"Damn it's cold!" He thought, as he began to make hi way over to the rover.

"Feels like I'm standing outside in December in just a light jacket." Slowly the inside temperature made things more tolerable, as he kept moving, which was easier than he expected. Standing in front of the rover, he waved and held up the sign at what he thought was the proper distance. He stood there for close to ten minutes, then waved again before returning to the ship.

"All that for some crazy stunt," chided Kelly.

After undressing, Alex said,

"I read that the rover's camera only takes photo's at certain intervals but I've forgotten what those were, ten minutes should have covered it. Now before we do anything else, I think we all need to talk. First of all, Arna…I can tell that something has been bothering you, please, tell us what's on your mind." Arna clearly looked uneasy, even for an android.

"there is a planet called Xindus, it…It is where I find peace, that's why I was late, I just couldn't leave. When Gideon and I were coming to your planet, we stayed there for a very long time; Gideon was so thoughtful and cared for me very much. Leaving there was so very hard."

"What is so special about this place?" Asked Kelly

"It is a world of my own kind,"

"A world of androids?" Asked Alex.

"Yes I have many friends there."

"Imagine that," added Alex, "A whole planet of nothing but androids, any robots there as well?"

"Yes, I was told that a very very long time ago, humanoids used the planet for manufacturing."

"Would you like to go there right now Arna?" She began to squirm, and bowed her head.

"Oh yes, very much, but you cannot."

"Why?" persisted Alex,

"Humanoids are not welcome, there are too many bad memories, the creators of the Xindusians mistreated them terribly, they have not forgotten."

"Would they kill Kelly and I?"

"Perhaps if I spoke to my friends and explained that you are not one of the creators, they would not harm you."

Alex looked at Kelly, and shrugged,

"What the f**k! We've got to start somewhere, might as well be this Xindus. OK, Arna, we are going to Xindus, but first, let's get those uniforms on."

Note found on Alex's nightstand

Dear Mom and Dad;

I'm very sorry I've run out on you like this, but sometimes opportunity lands on your doorstep at the most inopportune times. By the time you read this, Arna, Kelly and I should be half-way to mars (watch the news) please find my extended explanation and copies of Gideon's collected data. Also check my phone for pics. Please do not worry, I have not been kidnapped, or taken against my will, I am of sound mind and free will. Arna is an incredible android, and the Karla-Ann an incredible ship. Kelly Parkinson is also traveling on her own free will as well. Again this is something I must do, maybe, I will return sometime in the future

All my love to you and dad…Alex

End Of Part One The Project