Chapter Text
“… is led by the well-known xenobiologist, Professor Sebastian Vettel. The purpose of the expedition is to fly the ship and its crew get to planet MX-456, the most possible habitation of the ice dragon, and to make records of this incredibly rare species. The professor will get the needed assistance for this from Lewis Hamilton, the renowned dragon tamer, whose name is linked to the creation of hundreds of dragon wildlife reserves across the galaxy. The journey won’t be easy, the team not only have to contend with the great interstellar distance, but also the possibility of failure.
‘Thousands of years ago, the existence of dragons was just a legend, just like the ice dragon now. But I’m not only speculating, I have all the needed data. If the ice dragon really exists, it’s on this planet. And I will find it.’ said Professor Vettel, who devoted his life to alien species.
The exploration will keep the antiquated spaceship occupied for months, which…
… continuing on page 3”
Max crumpled the pages of today’s Morning Glory.
“Antiquated my ass” he murmured to himself. “Earthen bitch.”
The captain turned off the automatic pilot and set his baby to manual control, which was absolutely not an antiquity. It might have been built based on a one and a half millennia old movie, and he may have given it a name like in said movie, but the Millennium Falcon has exceeded any modern machine.
They had hardly started their trip yet, but he already had his opinion on Charles – ‘just call me Charlie!’ - Leclerc, the journalist, who was there to write daily reports about the progress of the expedition, like people were actually interested in it. The Glory was a useless tabloid, so Max wasn't quite sure what Charlie was doing on his ship.
But if he wanted to be honest, he didn't care at all. Professor Vettel found him through someone who recommended Max, and asked him - of course, in exchange for money - to take him to this planet and to help his tour with the necessary equipment. At first, Max didn’t really like the idea, but after he heard how much money Vettel was willing to pay for him, he changed his mind.
The ship and the crew were already there; he was traveling with the same three people he always had – Daniel, IT and technology, Lando, engineering, and Michael, the hay doctor. This perfectly balanced little group was broken by the Professor, his assistant, who looked like he was only qualified enough to use the coffee machine, Charles – and obviously not Charlie – who was constantly in his heels, making sure he didn't miss something very exciting, and Lewis Hamilton, whom Max last saw when they got on the ship.
It wasn’t that much, only eight people, but still more than Max normally liked.
They barely left the tanker, and he already hated the whole thing.
***
In 1970, the launch of the first settler ship to Mars had been a forced solution.
The Earth and the Moon was overpopulated, so people were forced to go on. ‘To infinity and beyond!” proclaimed all the recruitment propaganda posters. At that time, no one noticed that the quote came from a cartoon. There was only one thing that mattered, those beautifully designed domed buildings in the red sand, with the sunshine and the picture-perfect family standing next to them with a broad smile. Father, mother, and the children had been trying to convince everyone that the Mars was worthy to travel. Even those who had had financial stability on the home planet had decided to leave. Applicants had to meet one criterion: They had to promise to terminate all contact with Earth after their journey.
The fact is, the commercials never showed the truth. Like, ever.
The average temperature of the red planet was between -130 and -30 ° degrees Celsius – it could reach even 13 degrees Celsius in the summer!
To simply say, it wasn’t made for Earth people. The nano-suit had not allowed the harsh temperature to pass, but the walls of the dome could not be covered with nanomaterials. The tiny ice crystals left flower like patterns on the glasses and the redness of the sand made a sharp contrast to them.
In the cold, the movement was difficult, and not just because the planet’s gravity was half of the Earth’s, and therefore, on their first outward journey, most people were floating in the great void, but because the pressure was too high for their lungs to endure.
But if a man risked all of these things, the landscape was magnificent. As the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos chased each other around the planet gave an unforgettable experience for the viewer.
Since all their connection had stopped with the home planet, settlers had to start all over again. That would have been how the caveman felt when he had to invent fire for survival: they had doctors with medication that couldn’t follow the changed environment, teachers, who had to rewrite history books, field farmers, whose plants were destroyed.
When they ran out of the supplies they brought and couldn't send a message to any nearby inhabited planet because of radiation from space, they realized that they were actually alone: they couldn't count on Earth.
By 2058, by the time the fourth-generation Martian inhabitants grew up, they were able to normalize the circumstances. In a shorter time, they have made greater progress than the Earth ever made. Their first journey with their own-built ships was aimed at their moons and successfully colonized them. The average temperature of 25 degrees Celsius in Phobos was enough to produce some of the native plants on the ground, and on Deimos they had found frozen seas that provided water. After a while merchants ships flew daily to the moons and back.
The next time the Earth heard about the Martian colonists was in 2084, when they sent them a radio message that the blue planet was blocking their way to reach Venus without a tanker, and they declared war to Earth...
***
“The first Earth-Mars war?” Daniel opened the door to the navigating room. He looked over Max’ shoulder and looked at the screen, and on the page in the Intranet system. His hand was on the other’s shoulder. “That was in 2085.”
“From '85 to' 92, exactly. You didn't go to school?”
“We were taught history in a different way than you did.” the man laughed. They didn’t talk about the war too often, or about Daniel's earthly origin, or the Martian nature of Max, even if the differences in their appearance were clear. Max was a good head taller than the other, who was almost ten years older. His broad-shouldered form was due to the reduced gravity, and his huge grey eyes were always looked alert because of the lack of surface solar radiation.
“Did you win in your version?” he asked mockingly.
“No, according to our version, we made peace, worked together, and we have discovered the universe together.”
“You didn't even speak the language we did!”
The introduction of the stark, or the common English language, became necessary when Martians contacted Earth. During the hundreds of years, they had developed their own language, so the two of them couldn’t really find common ground. Joaquin Stark, a linguist, had laid down the grammatical bases used to this day, in 3142, across the galaxy.
“Semantics.” Daniel said, shrugging his shoulders. “I thought you’re stalking our guests.”
“As surprising as it might sound to you, I'm not as kinky as you are.”
“Don't deny that it crossed your mind.”
If he had denied it, Daniel still would have known he was lying. Of course, it crossed Max’ mind, but of course only because the Falcon was his ship after all, and him, as the Captain, he should have known everything that happened there.
“I hate that they're here.” he said finally.
“You hate everyone Maxy. But yes, you're right, I shouldn't have forced you to accept the offer, even if they offered you millions of dollars.”
“You're such a money-hungry bitch.”
“Oh, please, if my boss doesn't pay me well...”
“Shut up, or I'll sit on your mouth.”
“Can’t wait!” the man laughed.
Max shook his head with a smile, and his fingers were running through the keyboard in front of him. He wrote a name in the system, and the central administrator began to read the data he had received in a calm, nice voice.
Professor Sebastian Vettel
Born in 3108, on Saturn’s moon Titan, according to the Earth chronology, 36 years old, graduated in 3131, and finished his doctorate in ’35 in xenobiology
“What the fuck is xenobiology?” asked Daniel, before the system could move on.
Xenobiology
Interdisciplinary science, which covers the fields of astronomy, biology and geology, examining the origin, possibilities, and evolution of life outside the earth, and the possible extraterrestrial origin of life on earth. The name is coming from the Greek...
“The Intranet is getting more and more like the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.” he said, making Max laugh. They were both fans of old, very old movies and books, so a few years ago, when he was recruiting a crew to his baby, there was no question that Dan had to be on the Falcon. “That’s all about him?”
“It says it's classified. I wonder why a simple biologist’s data sheet is classified...”
“If you want, I can break the system for you.” he snapped his fingers to show easy it would be.
Max only gave him a disapproving grown.
“I was just asking.”
“I don't want to give them any reasons to be upset. We will settle for the public information... And maybe with a little peeping.” Max’s fingers were back on the keyboard.
One of the surveillance cameras showed the inside of the professor’s room.
There was no difference in appearance. As an earthling, Daniel had never had to adapt to the changed circumstances of another planet, and Max could not have imagined the world any other way as a general Martian.
However, the first settler ship sent to Titan in 2001, was surprised to find that the moon had its own form of life. Because it was the only planet in the solar system that resembled the earth most in its surface and atmosphere, the natives could appear to be almost like the mainlanders.
Almost.
Beside the small figure due to reduced gravity, huge, light-colored eyes due to the methane content of the atmosphere, or pale skin due to the constant sun-blocking of nitrogen clouds. Apart from all of this, Professor Vettel was an extremely attractive person if someone was into that silent type. Max had only spoken to him twice before: when they agreed on the salary he offered for the travel, and now, when he moved into his cabin. He thought he and the assistant were going to ask for a shared room, but it seemed the man preferred to travel alone.
“Boring.” Dan said, as he watched the prof going through his notes.
“What did you expect him, to dance around the room?”
“He looks like he would.”
“Please. He’s a scientist.” Max' hand jumped on the buttons and they found themselves in the journalist's room.
“Hey! I thought we'd look at the assistant! He looks good!”
“Horndog.”
“But…Maxyy!”
“Sometimes I’m so tired of your bullshit.” he said, moving the cameras to Charles. He crouched on the bed he got, and dripped into a small laptop.
“That’s the newest Arduino model.” Daniel said, his breathing started to get heavy. “Fucking expensive, but the best on the market.”
“Why should he have such a machine for writing articles for a shitty tabloid?” the Captain observed the development of the IT world, just so that as soon as something new and useful came to the market, he could get it for his baby. Arduino war the current market-leading company throughout the galaxy, and the most expensive one. A regular journalist couldn't have gotten to a machine like that, which meant that not only the professor had secrets. Max switched cameras, so they found another angle. The reverse camera angle hit the Arduino’s monitor.
“He's hacking the system.” Daniel said “he's doing exactly what you just didn't let me do. I'm in love.” he moaned, accompanied by a dreamy sob. He didn't look bad, Max had to admit, at least not for an earthling. He was small, because of the gravity, Caucasian features, and the lenses of his thick-rimmed glasses made his big eyes look even bigger.
“Change to camera three.” he said out loud, giving the instructions to the Intranet.
“Change to camera three.” the system repeated, and a blank room appeared on the monitors at once.
But Max knew exactly who he was supposed to live there.
“Looks like our dragon expert is out of position... search for Lewis Hamilton!”
“Search… search finished.”
Camera six switched to the bathroom of the man’s cabin, where Hamilton was standing under the rays of the steaming hot water.
“Oh, my God, Boss, my eyes!” Daniel stepped back from the monitor so he wouldn't accidentally see more of the man, but Max couldn't take his eyes off of Hamilton's back.
The man’s dark skin started to turn red because of the boiling water, but he seemed like he couldn’t care less.
Venus, as the second nearest planet to the sun, was warmer than the water on the ship, with an average temperature of 464 degrees Celsius. The Venusian settlers developed life in underground tunnels, but still, many of the first settlers didn’t survive the heat.
He looked at the other under the water for a long time: his long, braided dark brown hair was dripping with water. Max had never been on Venus, but he knew about that because of the surface heat, all the water had evaporated, and the inhabitants had to keep themselves to the water limit that they had. They had a daily quota, which probably wasn’t enough for hour long showers.
Fortunately, the Falcon's stocks were properly filled.
“Could you please shut it down?”
“Are you jealous, Daniel?”
“Pff, yeah, sure.”
Actually, he had no reason to be jealous. He was earthly, Caucasian, just like the journalist. His brown eyes were like chocolate, and even thought Max had never eaten chocolate, he knew enough about earthen culture to know that it must have been like Daniel’s eyes. And if he could believe Mike’s words…
“Hey guys.” The door of the navigating room opened, and Michael walked in with a fluttering sigh. “It’s so fucking hot in here!”
Dan reached for his waist, and pulled him in a kiss.
Pluto was always in a difficult position because of the great distance from the Sun, but when it lost its planet status in 2006, the rest of the solar system abandoned it. Trade relations had ceased, and the people of Neptune had been increasingly sympathetic to the idea that Pluto might have been their moon, their territory, and, of course, under their control. Life on the last planet of the star system was not easy, by the way, the absence of natural light, the low gravity, and the frozen nitrogen surface caused by constant cold temperatures took out the colony of the first settlers.
Michael’s parents left Pluto when it started a war with Neptune, and they moved to Earth, where the little boy at that time couldn't really fit in.
“It's really hot compared to Pluto.” Max agreed. They never missed an opportunity to tease him about it. “What about our residents?”
“None of them has motion sickness.”
“Because my ship does not waver. I’m sure you’re not used to any actual movement growing up in a dwarf planet.” the Captain emphasized the current status of Pluto. “284 Earth years of revolving time...!”
“I wasn’t even born in Earthen years when you two started to fly around in the galaxy.”
“Let's not talk about it.” groaned Daniel. While they all knew Michael supposed to be older than Daniel in Earthen years, in Pluto he was still very young. “I don’t want to go to prison for underage…”
“I heard that Proxima Centauri prisons are very nice.” Lando's head appeared in one of the drawbacks of the ceiling. They all got used to the young guy appearing from the most unexpected places.
“Have you been eavesdropping Lando?” asked Max. The boy caught his hands in front of him like he was defending himself from the cruel words, but he fell through the edge of the vent. The thick ropes tangled around his waist prevented him from falling to the ground.
“No, of course not. I would never disturb your private stalking Boss!”
Lando was the youngest of all of them, Max thought he couldn’t be more than 20, but he was very good at his job. Although he had only been traveling with them for a year, he was an important member of their team. The Captain didn't know anything about his past, but he didn't care much. Lando was the best mechanic, and his baby deserved the best.
“How's the plane?”
“Boss, the Falcon is ready to go to MX-456!” saluted Lando, which looked quite surreal upside down. “Can you take me down? I'm getting dizzy.”
“You said you’re from Uranus, I thought it rotates on its side.”
“Daniel, don’t be an idiot!”
The elder turned away laughing, his arm still on Michael.
“Night Boss, we go to our cabin!”
“Dan! Oh come on! Boss? Maxy, please, could you…?”
“Sorry Lando, the autopilot is already on.” he said, rising from his chair.
“You're not funny at all! I hate all of you!” Lando shouted, but none of the others were still there to hear him. After some moments he reached for one of the pockets of his cargo pants and pulled out the pinchers to begin to decipher the tangled cables.