This is a spin-off to my “Lost” and “AIOA” series. Reading those isn’t necessary to understand this new series, but especially “AIOA” can provide some background knowledge.
Cold. It’s so incredibly cold. I shiver and open my eyes. Through the glass that’s only a few centimeters in front of my eyes, I can see my mother’s face. She woke up before me, like every time. She notices that I’m awake and opens the chamber. Warm air touches my skin.
”Hannah? Are you alright?” My mother asks, like every time.
”Just a bit cold”, I answer. Like every time. How long has it been now? I think we’ve done this whole procedure about 12 or 13 times now. If the schedule didn’t change, the heating process happened every 2 weeks. Half a year. We’ve been in space half a year. We should arrive soon.
”Do you want something to eat, darling?”
”Give me a bit, I’m feeling a bit nauseous”, I say and climb out of the cryo-chamber. After being fed through a tube for two weeks, my body has some issues adapting to solid food, I learned that the hard way. I spent my first heat break retching over the toilet bowl.
Breathing very controlled and slowly, I start stretching. To my horror, I can feel how weak I’ve become. Only moving for two days every two weeks isn’t enough to keep a significant amount of muscle. And the low gravity doesn’t help.
I remember reading that the astronauts on the ISS used to work out up to six days a week and still experienced muscle loss. Sure, the programs we use now are a bit more advanced than they were back then but even that doesn’t suffice. How could it? We didn’t have enough time to perfect the research, not with the earth dying. Not with all those wars that were about to start. We had to leave.
There is a different problem which I don’t feel yet, but I know it’s happening. Together with my muscles, my bone mass is reducing too. And that at an alarming rate. I will probably suffer from a bad case of osteoporosis later in life, especially because I’m female. We had issues with that even while we were still back on earth.
I let out a deep sigh and follow my mom, who left for the spaceship’s kitchen. Even if I can’t eat yet, I really want a glass of water. On my way, I greet the crew members who shuffle around, consumed by their work. It must be exhausting to be awake for the whole journey. I pity and admire them at the same time.
Knowing me, my mom had already filled up a glass for me and put it on the table. Grateful, I take it and empty it with a few gulps.
”This feels way too good. Am I really supposed to love water this much?” I wonder. My mom laughs.
”I hated it as a kid. We always had those sweet drinks and water was just so incredibly bland.”
I grimace at the thought.
”How you could actually drink this stuff on a regular basis, I’ll never understand.”
”No surprise there. You grew up with drinks that had an extremely artificial taste. Water has been scarce all your life. It’s always the thing that you can’t have which tastes the best.”
”All my life.” I laugh. ”That makes it sound like I’m already soooo old.”
”Well, you are. In a way. Many kids don’t reach your age. They often just … die.”
The smile is wiped from my face and I look down to the floor. She’s right. Back on earth, many children had died very early. That is one of the reasons we are on our way to Mars: Earth is just so polluted that life there is barely possible.
”I wonder what will happen to those we left behind”, I say quietly. My mom walks over to me and wraps her arms around me, to pull me into a hug.
”Don’t worry about them. It wasn’t possible to save everyone. Those who were left on earth either stayed voluntarily or would have just caused trouble. There is no logical reason to take criminals with us to our new home. We’d just continue right where we started.”
*”I know, you’re right”’, I say, although it’s the actual opposite of how I feel. But my mom wouldn’t understand. She already told me once that I’m too idealistic, always believing that there is something good in everyone.
”Don’t pull such a face”, my mom says. ”Come with me, I have something to show you.”
I look up and raise one eyebrow.
”What is it?”
”I won’t tell, you have to follow me!”
That piques my curiosity and I follow her into a different room. She prompts me to open the door. The room is dark when I enter it.
Suddenly, the light turns on and my two best friends appear out of the dark, both grinning with small party hats on their heads.
”What are you doing here?”, I ask confused. ”Your sleep cycles aren’t synched with ours! You should be asleep!”
”And miss your 15th birthday?” Victoria laughs. ”Not a chance.”
References:
Sleeper spaceship could carry first humans to Mars in hibernation state
Torpor Inducing Transfer Habitat For Human Stasis To Mars
Effect of Prolonged Space Flight on Human Skeletal Muscle (Biopsy)
Preventing Bone Loss in Space Flight with Prophylactic Use of Bisphosphonate
Musculo-skeletal system : Bone and Muscle loss
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