Apocalypse: A New World

Chapter XIII: Apollo And Phoenix

Apollo Drakos

Meanwhile on Mars, I had just woken up. I am known to faint a lot, and the fact that I was in another universe sounded a lot more real after I told George that we were, in fact, in another universe.

But the shock still hadn't worn off.

I looked around. I was not on my wheelchair. It was kept next to me. I was on a seat in a spaceship. Not the futuristic kind. It was more like the kind we used to travel from the Earth to the Moon so long ago. I looked outside the window and saw that I was still on Mars, next to the Polar River on the icy side. The other side was reddish-brown. We were near the North or South Pole of Mars.

I was still wearing the spacesuit, which had to mean that the ship was turned on or whoever got me here, most likely George or the old man or both had left something open in the ship. George was not the brightest person anyways. Sorry, George.

I tried my best to get on my wheelchair. After several failed attempts, I managed to get on at last. Then I wheeled around the ship and found that one door was indeed open. There was a ladder leading down to the ice on the surface of the red planet.

But I could not use the ladder, and I never really needed it. I realised that when Melissa, Phoenix and I had landed on the Moon, there had to be a ladder there for Phoenix and Melissa there.

Then again, I was so painfully reminded of them, that I tried to shut my mind. I took my wheelchair which flew down to the surface. I took some ice in hand and examined it. It looked just like ice way back at home.

"George?" I called out.

I heard a faint voice calling back from somewhere on the opposite direction of the spaceship. I flew towards it.

"George?" I called again.

"Here!" he called back.

I flew towards the voice and saw that he was right on the other side of the ship with the old man and George were working. A landing leg had been damaged. The old man was very quick, strong and agile for such tedious work.

"Where did this ship come from?" I asked.

"'Twas right here since before we landed," said the old man. "Marvellous chair, as I was saying to your friend."

"Thank you," I said, and tried not to think of Ajax. But there was nothing else that could distract me as I thought of Phoenix, Melissa, Ajax and so many other friends I had made on that ship.

"Hey George," I said.

He looked at me.

"How're you holding up?" I said.

He did not respond. He began to concentrate on repairing the landing leg. I took off high in the air, and settled by a nearby crater.

Except the crater was not ordinary. There were random marks here and there, which made it look like humans had done it. Where on Mars had we landed? How did I get so lucky? How did the chain of events occur in such a manner that I lived and landed near a human-visited area? Could we send a signal to Earth?

But a part of me didn't want to find out. I had lost everything I loved. I could remember Phoenix's smile, jokes, him taking a bite out of his sandwiches, etc. And as for Melissa, it was just something I cannot explain. True, I loved her, but there was a reason I had never really figured out what I really did like about her. Yet I did, and that pain, with losing Phoenix as well, was unbearable. Before I knew it, I was crying.

It was not long before I heard a roaring sound. It was distant, but it was getting louder and louder. I looked up at the source of the noise and there was something coming down. On further inspection, I noticed it was a spaceship.