you are strapped to a tight chair in a small room. no, not a room. a shuttle. a space shuttle. the blasters jet it skyward and you go up, and up, and up, and up.
you think about everything you are leaving behind to this new world. Mars. The Red Planet. INASA captured and sent you and six others on an Ares mission. Now, you hope to live another day. You probably won't.
This is INASA's seventh attempt. By the third, mankind realized Ares missions are ways the higher-ups of the Government™ amuse themselves.
"It is isn't anything you did," the people in black who forced you into this Hades machine had told you, "You're just unlucky." You stare at the camera trained directly on you face with contempt.
If you somehow survive this, you will be free of the Government's™ grasp forever. You think about how much you will enjoy that...when you're in the afterlife. You feel the shuttle
plummeting at high speeds, looks like you've reached Mars' atmosphere. Space shuttles aren't supposed to go this fast, but the Government™ pricks are highly impatient people.
"Impact in T-minus four," the system declares, "three, two, one."
You close your eyes. "Impa—"