Colony 1

"Control, we're getting some strange signals up here".

Colonel Richardson had his co-pilot double check the radar on his side of the craft, and sure enough he obtained the same result. The Colony Six was on its final approach to the Martian surface, its fourth journey in the past three months.

The Colony program had truly been a great success for the International Space Federation, though it had had its faults. The first iteration of their shuttle craft fleet, the Colony One, had been lost during space transit about four and a half years ago. Colonel Richardson's best friend and previous co-pilot, Mike Johnson, had been chosen by the ISF President upon the program's inception. Richardson was truly proud of his friend, who he'd known since they were little boys. His fondest memories as a child were of him and Mike playing with rocket ships in grade school, where they promised each other that they'd be astronauts together when they grew up. And did they ever. But now, it was all becoming a collection of distant memories.

"Colonel, can you transmit the approximate origin of the signal from your craft's systems please," buzzed an all-too-familiar voice from the Martian soil. Since the program's inception significant innovations had been made on the Colony fleet, which allowed for the ISF to construct an advanced landing-zone that served as the main base-camp for the Martian research ground. The voice belonged to Richardson's younger brother, Lieutenant Rory Richardson. He'd always aspired to follow in his older brother's footsteps, though he couldn't quite hit the aptitude marks to get a pilot position back on Earth. Nevertheless, he took his position as the head of Martian Control with stride, maintaining the highest levels of professionalism and effectiveness for shuttle departures and landings.

"Sure thing, Lieutenant," replied Colonel Richardson. He was truly proud of his brother for getting to where he was in the organization. He had mentored him through his studies as much as possible, but because he was a busy man himself he could not spare time too often. Luckily, between trips on the Six he could spend at least a few weeks with him. After all, flying between planets limited his visits with any family, and his parents had died in the drought of 2056. The whole reason that they were doing the Colony program was because of overpopulation on Earth. Entire cities and regions had been wiped out as the agriculture industry failed, sending prices of wheat, corn and other foods skyrocketing. Not many were surprised however, as the UN reported that global population levels hit 12 billion just a year before. Now, that level was closer to 8 billion.

Richardson sent the coordinates over to Martian control, and waited for the results. It was odd to get a signal so close to the surface, as all satellites that were around were tagged and listed on their system with individual identities. Richardson figured it was probably a decommissioned satellite that was launched before the new identification system was implemented. However, he knew that it was something different judging by the silence from Martian Control.

"Lieutenant, what is it?" he inquired. "Is it hostile?" A few more seconds of silence, and then a response.

"No, Colonel. Upon sending a transmission to the unknown object, we received a faint response." As the Lieutenant finished his transmission, Richardson had him repeat it five times. He must be wrong. It can't be.

It was Colony One. And the voice was Mike's.

Based on http://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/2ncqt4/wp_the_colony_one_spacecraft_mysteriously/

Hi!

Hi! This is where I'm going to be posting anything I write. Most of the time, I just whip something up during a quick moment of inspiration, so I don't usually write things longer than five pages. If I do, I'll still be sure to post it here.

Thanks! :)
Mitch

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you want to be when you grow up? It’s a question we’ve all heard since we were kids, and have had to deal with ever since. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a pizza man or a police man. As my life went on, I began to realize that being a pizza man wouldn’t exactly pan out, and being a police man didn’t interest me. Through my years of elementary school, I struggled with that question multiple times, unsure of where I wanted to “go” in the future. Entering high school, like many I was still confused with what path I wanted to take, trying out a few different things to see if I’d like them. For some reason, I had the idea in my head that I HAD to choose one path, and one path only to make a future for myself. By the time I graduated high school, I had to pick the one path I would continue on to, which has led to where I am today. I followed all the steps, made decisions and came to a solution that I’ve followed through on in order to make my future successful. So why am I not fully happy?

From a young age, we’ve often heard that we will need to make a hard decision – we need to figure out what we “want to be” when we grow up. Now that I’m at the part of my life that “what I want to be” should start to happen, I’ve come to realize that working towards being some clear cut person, with a clear cut view of the future is an extremely boxed-in view of life. When I was a kid, I could choose from endless possibilities of what I wanted to be when I grew up. There were thousands upon thousands of different paths to look at. As life went on, I began to slowly close off paths that seemed impossible or unrealistic, until I was left with a few in front of me that didn’t really fulfill my dreams and aspirations.

One does not have to pick one set path to follow for their future. Sure, if we are planning on going to college or university we need to pick a major or specialization, but that doesn’t mean that we only need to focus on that when considering our future. Right now, I’m halfway through my degree in business, and while I love it, I’ve come to realize that there are a lot of other things I want to do and should be doing with my life - for starters, I love video games, and while I didn’t pick that for university, I definitely want to have a future in entertainment and making myself and others happy. I also really, REALLY love the wilderness and nature, and if I had the chance I would go camping in the woods for months at a time. While that isn’t necessarily realistic, one day I’d want to open up my own summer camp for kids and adults alike, where they can learn to enjoy the camp lifestyle and also have a great time forging long-lasting friendships.

Whenever someone asks me what I wanted be when I grow up, I tell them I wanted to be a police man and a pizza man. Usually they laugh and ask how that worked out for me. Of course I say that it didn’t, but it’s helped me gain a true appreciation for how I should live my life: to be free, optimistic and to keep my options open. I don’t want to end up in a dead-end job that I stopped caring about because it’s all I did. I want to have a lifestyle I love, with a career that I’m proud of and an enthusiastic, loving and caring attitude that I bestow upon everyone around me.

If you’ve read this far, take a moment to think about how you answered that one question when you were little. Chances are, you said something really unrealistic and hilarious, and you’re probably laughing right now. When we were kids, the world was an amazing, beautiful place where you could achieve anything. It was a place where you could laugh at the smallest things and do the things that you loved, a place where you could dream of rocket ships, flying airplanes and being a famous singer. It was a place where you hadn’t a care in the world. Nowadays, you have more responsibilities and things to do. There’s an expectation for you to go to school, get a job and advance your career. Even so, in today’s world you can still achieve anything – you can still dream big. Take a moment to think of your dream job, or your dream house, or what you want to be doing for the rest of your life. Remember that the premise of having one specific life path in front of you doesn’t matter, and make your dreams into reality. 

New Entry

Hello,

This is my first piece in a while. I completely forgot how nice it is to write - I feel so relaxed and cleansed after finishing this, even if it's short. I hope you like it. :)

Some nights, I wish I could just go somewhere far away, where I can escape the troubles of the present. It would be a place where I can let my mind be at ease – a cool forest on a cloudless night, or an endless field on a mid-summer’s day. These troubles leave my head, as if being melted away by the burning sun, or being whisked away by the cool night’s wind. Lying down on the ground and closing my eyes, I sense a feeling of pure serenity washing over my body and soul. A breeze carries the soft sounds of crickets and creatures through the air, overshadowing the light trickle of a small stream close by. The soft breeze brushes my cheek and softly ruffles my hair, sending a chill down my spine in sweet sensation. In this place, I am truly at peace.

Update (sort of..)

Hi. It's been a while since my last post. Holidays were great, but I was busy with work and spending time with family. School's up again and this semester is the busiest yet - I'm barely keeping afloat. I'll be sure to post again soon.

Mitch. :)