>>===== Through the eyes of the father =====

Everyone reading should probably know this by now, but I will confirm it through my words once again. I was actually born on Planet Earth.

Different to my reputation here, I grew up a pretty tame and soft child. It was to the extent that I cried and mourned a squirrel who was caught in a rat trap placed on our roof.

Yet I was bubbly enough that it was easy to make friends, and with my empathetic personality, it led to an easy school life.

I had a loving caring mother who raised me all alone until eventually, a stepfather helped ease her life.

In order to repay them, I did everything I could to excel in school. I was not the smartest nor the top in any class, but I still made my parents proud as I succeeded in entering a military officer training program that paid my university in full.

As I moved my scholar life into higher education, the newest member of our family had already entered school.

She was my mischievous and amorous younger sister.

Yet by this time, our parents had gained success in their careers. Thus I spent most of my time caring for this girl while preoccupied with either studies or the military.

My parent's success prompted me to want to surpass them as fast as possible.

When a billionaire gained quick fame for his ambition to colonize Mars. I, of course, immediately jumped towards the opportunity.

The applications processed thousands of other scholars between the ages of 20 to 35. They filtered for anyone who had at least a bachelor's degree or a military background with the minimum rank of an officer.

After my graduation, I had both.

The military of my country was excited for the opportunity to send as many candidates to the mission, thus my active deployment after graduation was delayed.

It was further delayed as I was given leave of absence after my acceptance letter to the colonization program came through.

My father was ecstatic, my mother was worried and my sister was devastated.

Regardless I continued with my chin up through the training program.

Thanks to my degree in Biochemistry I was chosen for the agricultural cultivation division. My leadership training through my military experience translated well so I was made the leader of a squad in my division.

It was a suicidal mission where we had to survive for over a year of travel through the dark void of space and establish a successful colony on a radioactive planet.

All of our training focused on survivability among each division's technical focus.

The physical and mental tests were exhaustive. There was no envy between the candidates who failed and those who were able to move on.

There was too much national pride between the plethora of international candidates.

Graduation came.

Cheers of family, friends, and government officials decorated the building.

My sister looked from afar with tears in her eyes. My parents stood behind her with the same proud expressions they had at my previous graduations.

It was going to be the last time I was going to see all the people that showed up to express their support. But while I was prepared for that, I simply didn’t know it would have been the last time I would hear their voices as well.

…

...

The vibrations of rockets blasting increased the psychological pressure we were feeling.

I was silent.

This was a moment I could never forget.

I listened to the voices of superiors interacting with the intercoms.

They didn't just have doctorates, they were some of the best of the best in their fields.

There had already been successful launches before us with crews of 4.

This was the largest ship that would ever launch containing a crew of an entire division of 28. With 6 squads of 4 and 4 experts managing us I was still the leader for my squad.

And thus I was worried for their psyche in the months ahead.

I had made peace with my family, and although I had dated I had no significant other to worry about. But I had empathy and could understand the pain they felt in their chest.

The rockets blasted in full throttle.

Everyone's head was forced forward.

Their gazes were directed into the black abyss ahead of us.

Humanities’ pride could be heard through the communication channels. The shouts felt like a song whose sole purpose was to calm my soul.

Vomit had tried to creep up inside my neck, as my nerves tensed up. My ears popped from the pressure making me feel deaf.

I was in space.

Tears began to show up in the eyes of those around me.

Smiles and relief spread among the astronauts, yet the tension was still there. We knew there was a long journey ahead of us and the chance of death has not yet become favorable.

Years of planning and training led us to this moment.

And so everyone got to work.

Days turned into weeks and before I knew it, months passed. I had forged bonds with not only my group but a few others.

We stayed busy with stories and board games.

There were also a lot of exercise routines in the hopes of countering muscle atrophy.

I entertained myself with a bit of writing and drawing.

I also continued my studies of chemistry from e-book downloads we received from command. But due to the huge delay that increased the further from Earth we got, native created entertainment became popular.

Many enjoyed the stories I wrote and so it became my part-time job among the responsibilities I had among the crew.

The main responsibility was our squad mission. To assist Dr. Layheart.

Our primary objective was the botanic growth for the colonists on Mars. We had months of technical practice back on Earth, and we currently applied said practice to grow food and plant life in our ship's miniature garden.

Many unsurprising obstacles appeared, but the convenience of a 3D printer allowed the combined ingenuity of so many intellectuals to make due.

Using 3D software I had helped bring my team’s ideas for our botany experiments to come to life.

I did my best to absorb all the knowledge my seniors provided. But in practicality, the enthusiasm of my college hobby surrounding 3D software came in handy more than what I learned under my degree.

Our skills were highly versatile.

While there were all engineers focused on the mechanical maintenance of the ship. Everyone was taught a bit of each other's job in our training as preparation for untimely deaths of any of the crew.

Because of this, I found my own way of being useful and thus I focused on learning everything else from those around us.

This learning habit extended within my squad. Despite our varying ages, we were always excited to show off the new things we learned or made.

Despite everyone having their own specialization, after a few months, many astronauts became well rounded with each other's processes increasing the overall efficiency and productivity of the crew.

As such I ended up helping with maintenance as I grew my interest in electromagnetism.

The trip continued on like this.

Among the expected effectiveness, there were also expected problems.

Communication back to earth became consistently more difficult. Radiation and spatial anomalies wore into the ship’s outer structure. Isolation of space began its psychological test among the crew.

Arguments and tensions began to rise and the flow of the social-political structure of the ship’s crew would fluctuate.

Differences in culture were the most prominent, and yet there were some of us who decided to learn from this.

There was a specialized team whose responsibility was to manage psychological structure within the crew. Yet like everything else, with people nothing was perfect.

A maintenance group in a different part of the ship stopped working altogether due to internal conflicts between them.

Our squad was relaxed and team-oriented so our efficiency allowed for a lot of leniencies. We were tasked to take on the responsibilities of the other team.

The conflict seemed to be getting out of hand, yet maintenance cannot stop due to the safety of the passengers.

No system is perfect so I knew a little of why they fought, bigotry, and racism. I also knew they stubbornly stopped their duties because of it.

We were going to plug a leak in a sealed-off section of the ship.

One of the most dangerous things that can happen to any type of ship,

Some of our teammates were excited but hiss Dr. Layheart immediately became hesitant when we were being briefed on the situation. She had a complex expression since she was worried about us.

There were six of us in total with only one of the old crew responsible for this sector joining us.

We began to diagnose the structure of the area.

We began to work after acknowledging the leak was due to pebble-sized debris that made contact under ridiculous speeds.

The spontaneous decompression created a ridiculous suction force that damaged a lot of this part of the ship. It was isolated properly, yet it caused a significant drop in our air supply.

Since there was no way to decompress and enter this part of the ship we had to go around from a proper exit and travel from outside the ship to reach the hole.

It was to be my first and last time to enter the void.

After following all the procedures we were appropriately tied to each other and the ship.

The suits were awkward to move around in. Each of us carried a variety of different equipment making it even more awkward to move around. But that didn’t dilute the excitement in each of us.

I had watched the beauty of space from behind windows inside the ship, but this was the first time to truly experience it in person.

Tears easily flowed down my eyes. I couldn’t hold back my emotions much especially under the stress we were in from the repair.

We reached the appropriate part of this ship within time. Much to our surprise pressure within the air tubes in the hull’s frame released from the weakened plates.

The damage was as calculated. Despite this no one properly expected further spontaneous pressure release from other valves.

It had only been a short time since the initial impact that caused this problem. Yet space was unforgiving.

Hair length debris penetrated my suit. A squad member grabbed tightly unto me as I was blasted from the hull.

I had already begun to travel away from the ship with the debris but he caught the rope that was tied to me.

The horrifying experience did not frighten me as I had already begun to feel lightheaded. Holes within my suit began to clog from the freezing blood.

Another burst of pressure below the pipe released all the remaining fluids that were trapped.

This time it hit the guy holding me causing him to let go. Debris penetrated his suit damaging him and the wires that connected us.

I could hear Dr. Layheart telling me to hold through the comms as the rest of the team began repairing and trying to pull us into safety.

My rope was tied unto the guy. When they pulled him into the ship the remaining fibers held together after the debris snapped.

I slowly drifted into space.

Bleeding.

Cold.

And my companions could only watch.

Procedures flew into my head but it was hopeless. I was dazed and unresponsive.

My suit turned away from the ship ever so slowly.

Eventually, I could only see the pitch-black void.

After my suit finished a full rotation, the ship was too far from me.

Communication slowly quieted down. I simply couldn’t pay attention to them anymore.

I fell asleep.

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>>===== Through the eyes of the daughter =====---

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My earliest memory was of a wonderful morning.

Mom and dad were going to be returning with treats.

After every harvest, my parents would go to the big city to turn in what we gathered each month.

Some were taken as tax, but that's okay because we made enough money that they always came back with sugar bread.

Food prices went up because the war against Leviatha was spreading. The war was on the opposite side of the country, although taxes rose, in the end, it didn't affect our lives much.

My dad had always been a farmer, even since before my older sister was a baby. So that’s what our family had always known.

I was happily cleaning dad's farm tools with big sis. We were preparing along with other farmhands to plow and plant new barley fields.

We also had our personal garden for cabbages and onions, as well as an orchard for pears that we used to make extra money at the market.

But barley and other grain-based plants were in high demand by lords to supply the war, so our fields mostly consisted of barley.

Even though all the barley was supposed to be taken to the city I had found a bag hidden under the wooden boards in our barn. Since I was so small I would enjoy diving into the bags of grains and pretended to swim in them. And I did it this time too.

Eventually, I got caught by one of the farmhands and he yelled at me. Normally I was scolded by my father, but this time there were tears in his eyes.

My dad’s caravan had already returned and one of the escorts heard the yelling. The soldiers were deployed as guards by the city to help safeguard the harvest.

One of the guards drew his sword as he saw the farmhand holding the large bag of grain.

My dad had a worried expression on his face as he came to talk to the guard.

There was no sugar bread that night.

The person who yelled at me was later whipped by my dad in front of the others. He was then taken by the guards along ten other bags of grain and never heard of again.

It was my older sister who explained that he was caught stealing the grain and was sent to the city to be punished as a slave.

But he wasn’t someone who would steal from my family, so I always felt they never told me the truth.

That was the last time I ever had sugar bread, and the last time anyone talked to me in earnest.

As I grew older I was shunned by everyone in the farm and town. I was even bullied by the kids in our town. They would call me names like snitch and rat.

It made it difficult to go to school, but since it was a communal building all the kids of all ages went together. So I had my sister to lean on. She was the only one that played with me.

I loved her so much.

Even my mom looked at me with eyes filled with disgust.

Every night I crawled on my sister’s side of the floor to cuddle with her. It was the only time I felt warm.

I was 8 years old when I saw my first falling star. I wished to be loved by more people like my older sister.

That was the night when my life changed.