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     Jackson woke up, his mind racing. What he saw in his 

dream was terrifying, but he had to forget about it. He was 

Jackson Feller, the straight A student from New York, he 

would be expected to handle this kind of pressure. Besides, 

he thought, everything will be fine. He was part of group four 

in the MarsOne project, which sends four people to Mars 

every two years. Their leader, Charlotte, scheduled a 

meeting that he was already late for.

     Immediately when he arrived, Charlotte began,   "We will 

arrive in about one hour, so I want you all to prepare your 

belongings and get ready. Jackson, there is no time to be 

late. Understood?"

      "Yes Ma'am," He replied. Jenny, one of the crew members, looked to 

him and smiled. Jenny said something, but he couldn't quite make out 

the words. Jackson liked Jenny and thought that perhaps she should 

have been the leader, especially because nobody really liked Charlotte. 

It didn't really matter though, they were about to arrive, and he had 

things to do. 

     After the excitement of landing, things had calmed down a fair 

amount. Their settlement was located in the Valles Marineris system, 

which is one of the few areas that is good for civilization. The 

temperature drops to -153 Celsius, so they had to be near the equator 

at all times. It was about a five minute walk from where they landed, 

but he could see the three large wind turbines that power the small 

village that would be his home. As they approached, Jackson saw the 

colony leader, Edwin, who waved them over to enter the main 

headquarters. Edwin was a part of the original four that were sent to 

Mars every two years. He was a Dutch scientist, and was known for 

being very unlikeable.

        There was plenty to talk about in the meeting, but 

Jackson was only interested in his part. He was a geologist, 

and he would be joining Christine in helping collect rock 

samples. This meant that part of his job was also generating 

oxygen and water. He reminded himself of the method briefly. 

Oxide rich rocks, which cover Mars, are loaded into an 

electrochemical cell, powered by a small nuclear reactor. 450 

amps pass through the rocks, melting them, and releasing the 

oxygen. To get water, they would need compressed carbon 

dioxide gas, which covers Mars, to dissolve some of the water 

locked up in the minerals found on Mars, which releases water. 

Tomorrow would be his first day, and his job was just to 

collect these minerals.

      Jackson awoke the next day from the sound of his alarm. 

He was in the midst of getting ready when Christine entered 

his room. She asked him, "Are you nervous?".

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