Galactiquest

The Virgo landed on Mars after a two-month long trek. It decked on the Olympus Mons Base stationed in its namesake mountain. Actually, it was a volcano, which kind of worried Jun, but it hadn’t erupted in the decade or so of its existence. It felt good to finally be back on land. The Martian landscape proved to be a beautiful, yet alien sight, even if Jun didn’t get to see much of it from inside the base.

This also marked the first time Jun saw any other women since the Moon. Wives and daughters of the Interstellar Forces’ Martian personnel made their presence known in ways Jun wouldn’t have expected. Of course, there were many working in the kitchens, doing cleaning jobs, or employed in secretarial work, but there were also many working alongside their husbands or fathers who were engineers, geologists, biologists, and doctors. The dark-haired ranger found it impressive.

A thought occurred to Jun. If she were to be found out, this would be the safest place. She hadn’t gotten a text back from Stephanie in weeks, not even counting the lag between sending messages. However, Jun’s goal, and Stephanie’s too, was far too close to stop now. Past Mars were the so-called radiation waves that would supposedly destroy any woman who passed through them. Proving Mason Connery wrong stood just around the corner. Besides, she didn’t want to go back to being a woman so soon. It felt unnatural. More unnatural than pretending to be a man, somehow, which still felt a little strange, all things considered. Maybe Jun was just being weird.

So, the dark-haired ranger went about life as normal, at least as normal as it could be under the circumstances. She spent her days fixing cameras across the Martian Base, and before she knew it, it was time to board the ship again. Or so she thought.

As each star ranger donned their helmet, a role call for the Virgo began, each corporal taking account for their unit. One person from Jun’s unit was noticeably absent.

“Ranger Kim!” called Corporal Hampton.

“Present!” answered Jun.

“I know that! But where in Phobos and/or Deimos is Ranger Kelly??”

“I don’t know…” After saying it, the ranger realized that answer wouldn’t work. “But I will find out, sir!”

“You have one hour, or we’re leavin’ both of ya on Mars!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Jun saluted.

Luckily, Jun knew just where to go to find answers. The security room monitored every camera in the base. If Aiden was still in the base, one of the security staff members could tell her where.

Jun stumbled into the room before quickly becoming aware of how unnecessary that was. “Uhhhh, have you guys seen this really tall blond dude with a scar and big hair?”

Various no’s and negative responses followed, but one ranger spoke up.

“I think I saw him put on his helmet, so he might be outside, I think?” he said. “You should check with the observation panelists. They’re near the geoprocessing plant.”

Jun gave a quick “thanks” before heading to her next destination.

Near the geoprocessing plant, Jun could hear two observation panelists discussing something in hushed voices.

“Should we have let that guy through?”

“If you care so much, ask him yourself. I wouldn’t argue with that guy!”

“Hey, excuse me.” Jun interrupted. “I’m looking for a friend. You guys wouldn’t have happened to see a tall blond guy recently would you?”

“With a scar?” asked the first one.

“Yeah, that’s the guy!” Jun confirmed. “I need to like, get him back on our ship. Do you know where he went?”

“He went out on the surface.” the second one pointed toward the door.

With permission, Jun exited the base onto the surface of Olympus Mons. Winds stirred up the dust, reminding her of the very real threat of wind storms. She tuned her helmet to seek out local signals and began walking.

“Ranger Kim to Ranger Kelly?” Jun got no response. “I repeat, Ranger Kim to Ranger Kelly?” Still no response. “Our ship’s scheduled to leave in like 35 minutes, so we need to be back on the ship before they leave us on Mars!”

“You don’t hafta shout, we’re on headsets!” Finally, he responded.

“What the heck are you doing out here? Where even are you?”

“Hold on.”

A small rock bounced past Jun, coming from the right. Aiden sat on a small boulder a couple feet away.

“Check out this cool rock.” He pointed to it.

“That is a very cool rock you’re sitting on,” admitted the dark-haired ranger, “but we’re not even supposed to be outside the base.”

Aiden kicked his legs. “It’ll only take a few minutes to get back. Anyway, I wanted to show you this cool rock I found a few days ago.”

“A few days ago?” Jun walked toward him. “You’ve been out here more than once?”

“It was either this or be a guinea pig for the staff majors. They’re weird. Good for drama, though. I heard about this one guy who tried blackmailing his whole team. It was wild! Couldn’t work for him. I would've started a riot.” He shook his head. “You can sit up here if you want.” He made space.

“...Okay, but why are you out here so late? We gotta go, man.”

Aiden leaned back. “What’s the use of goin’ to Mars if we can’t even look at it?”

“I dunno.” Jun answered. “Not getting caught in a dust storm and dying probably.”

“Party pooper.” Aiden jumped off the rock. “I figured they’d send you to come find me, so I wanted to show you something actually worth looking at.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I really do appreciate this rock formation you showed me. It’s super cool! I’d just rather not spend an eternity sitting on it.”

They begin to walk back.

“Even if we did get stuck here, we could always live on base.” the blond ranger argued.

“I don’t think the Martian scientists would appreciate that.”

“Heh. Martians… It feels so weird to say that. Jun, look!” He pointed at Phobos and Deimos. “There’s two moons here…”

“Yeah…” Jun briefly stopped walking to admire them, as well as the Martian landscape. Sunset on Mars turned the sky blue instead of orange. It felt bizarre, just like Aiden’s happiness. “You seem a lot more giddy than usual. You okay?”

“We’re on Mars…” Aiden shook his head. “I can’t believe we’re on Mars.”

“Me neither…” agreed Jun. “I’m gonna miss this place, even if I didn’t get to see much of it.”

“You got to see more than most people, thanks to me.” Aiden pointed at himself.

“I guess so…” Jun tried not to give him too much credit, since he almost got them stranded here.

“They didn’t even send a rescue party or nothin’?”

“Nope. Just me.”

“Hmph.” Aiden toed some dust on the ground. “I’m glad. You’re… weird, but in a cool way.”

Jun laughed. “Thanks man, you’re weird and cool too!”

They walked back to the base and continued on to the Virgo, where they made it back just in time. After boarding the ship, it took off.

Later on, Jun found Aiden lingering in E-18, the hallway with a long window. He almost looked sad that they were leaving Mars. This gave the black-haired ranger an idea.

“Hey Aiden. Why don’t we take a picture in front of Mars?”

“Huh?”

Jun took out her phone. “It’s a little far away, but we can still catch it in the photo if we take it now.” She held the phone in one hand and made a shaka sign with the other. “Come on, get in the picture.”

Aiden stood beside Jun, holding his hand up in the least enthusiastic wave possible, but Jun snapped the photo anyway. This marked their graduation from probable acquaintances to definite friends.