“Control Centre to Launchpad. Do you copy?” “Yes. CC. All systems go. Ready to fire main engines” In T-10 seconds.. 9 seconds.. Solid Rocket Boosters go..7 seconds.. Start the main Engines..5 seconds.. Throttle up.. In 3..2…1… It’s a lift off!! And the last batch of humanity launched itself to Mars. What’s left behind is a ball of fire.

It’s year 2121, Planet Earth, our mother, has been affected in plethora of ways. Water is Costly and almost vanished. Waterways have dried. Food?? No crops left rather no-one to farm those lands of barren outlook. NASA has been looking for answers. How to manage the inhabitants of earth while the Sun is about to lose its power source, Moon is long gone from earth which makes the day and night almost equal, Andromeda galaxy almost close enough to bombard Earth, We needed to find a home away from home. Thanks to the Mars mission which launched in year 2020, which helped us to stabilise the environment for us and send the first humans to colonize on 2025. Mars being 25 million light-years away, it takes around 300 days to reach Mars. But thanks to the technology which we have harnessed, we now can touch down mars in about 25 days.

Hovering with the orbital velocity, the last space ship crossed the Earth’s gravitational field. Anya could see the ball of fire once home to her. Memories ran all the way rolling down to tears and dropping at the cold metallic surface of the SpaceX. SpaceX, one of its kind, the visions of Elon Musk has been made into a spaceship which finally lifted off the Earth’s Surface. In between Earth and Mars, it was silence. Deep silence. Black silence. Stars could be seen everywhere but no noise. Anya moved away from the titanium made window and sang her favourite lullaby to her small princess who was just 4 months old. Her husband long gone, she was capable of feeding her child and take care of her while working for the SpaceX itself. She was more than happy when she was leaving earth. She had some disturbing memories linked to the vanishing ball of fire which will only work as a source of light for the new planet. “Life is where Humanity dwells” The Commander of SpaceX quoted. It was the speakers who conveyed his message. Lt. John was the first choice of NASA when it came to commandeer the last spaceship from earth. His wife and kids already in the Martian planet waiting for him to join. Anya slept in the noiseless night thinking about how life would resume on Mars. Distance is a number in space. You cannot measure as you don’t have light. Everything is a slave of light-years. Thought ran down Anya’s head, as she tried to sleep with her baby.

It’s almost 280 days since we left Earth. We are about to enter Mars’s orbit. Everywhere there is happiness to touchdown Mars. The Red Planet is almost as big as Earth and looking bright red. “We are preparing for the final descend” Lt. John instructed. Anya packed her things in a habituated complete silence and for Earth, it’s long gone. Atmospheric entry to Mars was jolting because of the gases which provide massive air resistance. The SpaceX had done well to get through and finally we saw the red planet. Anya looked at her smiling child affirming that they had finally arrived. “Alert !! Alert!!” the speakers glared. “Incoming missile of unknown origin. Be advised. Everyone crouch down.” The instructions zoomed like a bullet everywhere. And before Anya could move.. ”Booooom” SpaceX hit with something very hard. Everything blackened. She lost stability and fell. Her baby wrapped in her arms, she cried for help. She fainted.

After few hours, she stood up trying to understand what has happened with her. She looked through the pale glass. She saw destruction all over the horizon. No civilization can be seen. Only fire and debris floating everywhere. No humans were found in the vicinity of Mars. Everyone dead in the spaceship. She looked back at earth which was a faint dot in the sky for her.

Indeed. Home!! it was.