Hello all. My name is Ian Gabrowski. Until recently, I thought that we were the only organisms in the universe. On Mars.

            About a week ago, a giant plume of dust erupted right next to our village. A group of specialists, all of whom are highly trained Searchers like I am training to be, went to go see what was up with the ground. But the giant plume of dust wasn't some random eruption of an underground volcano. It was a giant metal probe sticking out of the ground. It had unfolded to reveal a shiny piece of machinery, with SPIRIT engraved into its side. 

            The giant piece of machinery was alive, according to the Searchers. They claimed that it had walked away casually, looking around.

            We still have no idea where it came from. We think it came from the giant green, blue, and white planet, also known as the Marble.

            I mean, I'm only fourteen. How am I supposed to know anything? I don’t read the news if I don't have to…

            Maybe I should start reading the news. Be right back.

            Okay so I found more about Spirit. It came from Marble, the green, white, and blue ball in the sky. The Searchers took the probe to the Scientists to research where it came from, and they concluded that it came from Earth(scientists being all “oh its scientific name is Earth). Spirit went off somewhere into the distance, and we have no idea where it went. It is probably exploring Mars, being commanded by some… thing on Marble. We need to kill it.

Before I get any further, I should probably explain the system around here. We have one all-powerful Prime Minister. He commands his Officials to do work, and tell others what to do. Then there are the Scientists, Accountants, Builders, and Searchers. The Scientists collect samples and use it to learn more about the world. Accountants deal with our money. They run the stores and banks. Builders build everything, from computers to robots to homes. And then there are the Searchers, which is what I am training to become. It is the most dangerous job of all. Searchers live a laid back life until they are called up to go on missions. How often they get called up for missions depends on their skill level. They get paid lots for missions, but on the flip side, if they do not go on missions, they do not get paid. On missions, they often wear full body armor and an oxygen mask to keep alive. We live in a bubble of air, made by the generators throughout the city. We need oxygen to live. Searchers go beyond the bubble to explore the outside world. They collect samples and bring them back to the Scientists to study. Many Searchers have been lost in the dangerous terrain of Mars throughout the years.

So, they came out with this new thing called memory logs, which you can look at on a screen and read it later. I couldn’t find a function for dates or titles, so maybe they haven’t come out with them. That’s what I am doing now. It gives the impression that you’re daydreaming.    

I believe that we are the only organisms to walk on Mars. Or at least that’s what they said in class. I’m not very interested in that kind of stuff, though. I only know that we have a head, two arms and two legs, with 5 fingers on each of our arms and 5 toes on each of our legs that look like big fleshy hairs I guess. I’ve heard something about another organism looking like us, but it sounds more like a myth to me.

            I want to be a Searcher because my father is one. I have seen him and groups of searchers from my apartment, walking around, doing who knows what.

I looked around the city, and I saw metal everywhere. There are no houses, since they are giant apartments. We have to climb stairs or use the elevator to get to the floor we want to. The stairs are a bit dangerous, as there is no handrail and it is on the outside of the building. The metal gives the departments a gray, dull, modern look.

At the center of the town there is one giant building, called the Apex. It is where everybody works. It is about an acre big. It has millions of laboratories, classrooms, stores, Searcher stations, building materials, workshops, and offices. In the very center is a tower for the head office of the Prime Minister, which has a hyper speed tunnel for the elevator to go up and down. It takes about five seconds to go either way, as I have learned in many textbooks. It’s pretty-

“IAN, STOP DAYDREAMING AND PAY ATTENTION!”

Oops. 

Sorry, I was in class, I should’ve paid attention. I am home now.

Every week or so, my father leaves and doesn’t come back until very early in the morning, waking the entire apartment room up. Being a Searcher calls for that.   

My father is only about 40, and so is my mother. His name is Franklin Gabrowski, and my mother’s name is Jane Gabrowski. I also have a little sister, who is nine years old. Her name is Jacqueline Gabrowski, but we all just call her Jack.

Our father always tells the best stories. He is always very funny, and makes my mother and sister laugh. Me too. Unfortunately, since he is a very good Searcher, he always gets called up to go on missions. The only weeks we get to see him full time are holiday weeks.

Our mother is an Accountant, and she works in a pharmacy. She is constantly on her computer trying to sort things out, because many orders for medicine go through her pharmacy. She always comes home with a headache and sleeps for a long time.

I talked to my sister yesterday. She was having trouble with her work, and I helped her with it. Afterword we played some games. Something called digital games, that we can play on a little screen that’s animated. She was surprisingly good at a lot of them, and kept beating me at the games. But that’s fine, because it was fun either way.

            Our apartment is very near the Apex. It was not very cheap to purchase, but since dad always goes on missions, we were able to buy it. Some of my friends are not as lucky, as they live on the outskirts near the border, and the hover cars take about half an hour to get to work. Yep, we have hover cars.

            We have a giant wall surrounding our city. It is the border, and it is heavily guarded 24/7 by Searchers. My father sometimes has to be on guard duty there. Only Searchers are allowed to go through the border, and they must have permission from an Official. Any hover cars attempting to cross the border will be shot with a gravity gun and brought down. The person will be asked to turn back and receive a warning. Three warnings and you get arrested.

It is easy to see out from the border. People can see it from their apartments, and people with lower level apartment rooms can go to the public viewing platforms (basically skyscrapers) around the city. 

            Also, they have decided to pick a fourteen-year-old to go out into the terrain of Mars as a Searcher. Why? I’m not completely sure, to be honest. Who? I still have no idea. I hope it is me, but the chances are almost zero.

            It’s time for school now. I better go.

            Well, I just got home pretty late, but my mom’s telling me to go to bed now, so I better go I guess.

            Good morning! Dad came back home today. He told us of the giant metal probe in the ground. Apparently, it has many different sensors for the landing of the probe and the ejection of the rover. He also made a joke about Marblings being too scared to come here themselves. Unfortunately, the aliens on Earth decided to turn off the landing station until the rover returns, so we can’t really do much.

            So… yeah. Apparently there are aliens on Earth who are trying to find out about Mars. Or maybe they are here to kill us. We shall see.        

            So, I just got home. Apparently they are about to announce the person who is going on the expedition. It’s probably not me. I’ll go listen anyways.

            “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, please welcome: Ian Grabrowski! Our newest SEARCHER!”
            Oh gosh. It’s me. That’s slightly frightening.

            I’m happy. Kinda. A bit nervous to be honest. I’d rather not die. But it’s gonna be great. I know it will.

            So, I’m in Searcher class right now. But, I’m daydreaming again. I’m starting to get really excited. Tomorrow, I will start my week long training on using the equipment, although I’ve already studied it inside and out. It is just to make sure I don’t mess up when we do it for real. Wish me luck.

            “OW! WHY IS THIS SO HARD?”

            Well. That was fun. I got angry at my suit for not working, and the person helping me was laughing the entire time. I finally got it at like 22:00 though, and I finally got to go home.
Tomorrow, I will be learning how to walk in the suit. Guess I’ll be raging at suits by the time this is over.

            DANG IT! I FRICKING HATE SUITS!

            The week is finally over. I’m finally done with my training. Peace at last. Except we leave tomorrow soooooooooo…

            Good morning! Yes, it’s 3 AM and my dad’s taking me to the Searcher station. I’m so nervous that I’m shaking right now.

            We finally made it to the Apex station. Traffic was bad for 3 AM in the morning. I mean I guess it only took us about 5 minutes, but… Anyways, time to get suited up. I still hate my suit. It’s so clunky and it pinches you in many places if you don’t know how to use the suit. It’s all white and has many armored plates, to protect you from flying debris I believe. It prevents you from moving your head very far, and it is almost impossible to move your fingers. It takes about half an hour to put on, which is also annoying.

            In my group, there are 9 other Searchers, including my father, my father’s 2 friends Samuel and Gorski, the guy who helped me learn my suit, called Johnson, and 5 others whose names I didn’t remember.

            We were briefed on what we were doing for the mission. Today, we were not doing anything hard, since I am new. We were just going to grab a few materials or samples from the probe, and bring them back to the lab for the Scientists to test.

            The vast barren desert of red dirt was breathtaking.

“Move along, kid,” someone grunted behind me.

I walked as fast as the suit allowed me to, which was pretty slow. The Searchers rolled their eyes as I was pushed along by the person behind me, who I think was my father.

We walked for many miles, and finally got to the probe, which was still there. The rover itself was still nowhere to be found.

As I was cutting the few metal pieces, or “samples”, and putting them in a bag, Johnson started screaming. There was a giant, dark shadow that was coming over us. I dropped everything, and sprinted as fast as I could. I could barely feel the little areas of my suit pinching me, because I did not care. It was either that or death.

            I tripped and crashed into the ground, hard.

            The fog finally cleared. I saw my dad over me, trying to wake me up. Seeing that my eyes had opened, he sat down in relief. Samuel and 3 others, whom I still did not the names of, were stuck under a box that had fallen from the sky. Samuel and 2 others were dead, and the fourth guy was still alive. Johnson, Gorski, and the others were trying to get him out.

I found out his name later in the files of the Searchers who went with me. His name was Felix. He was a 35-year-old Searcher, who had been doing it for 10 years. But, this would be his last trip.

My father and I went to push the giant box out of the way with the others. Nothing was working.

I sprinted around the box. There was a huge button on the other side.

“THERE’S A HUGE BUTTON OVER HERE!” I hollered. “SHOULD I SMASH IT?”

“YEAH,” said my father in a strained voice. It made a click sound. And I ran.

The sides of the box started coming off and flying towards us. I sprinted, kicking a dust storm behind me. I managed to just dodge it. On the other side, I heard screaming and grinding of flesh and bone.

Johnson and the 2 others got out alive, but Gorski and my father were not as lucky. Gorski was instantly smashed, and my father was caught underneath the box’s wall with only his head and shoulders sticking out. The weight was crushing him.

Felix was most likely dead by now.

Inside the box looked to be a bunch of tools, and bags for getting samples. The box had been folded out and laid down like a piece of paper. But I ignored it.

I ran to my father. He was gasping for air. He looked at me, and his eyes were red with pain.

“Tell… Tell your mother… that I love her.”

And then his eyes blanked and I knew he was gone. Water dripped from my eyes to his face. I laid there, and looked in the sky.

Marble was going to pay for this.

Johnson lead us back to the base. I think all our minds were elsewhere, since nobody spoke. It all felt like a bad dream.

I was glad to finally be back inside the walls.

When I woke up the next morning. I went straight to Searcher class. I was not going to mess around anymore. I was going to learn everything and kill those marblings. People say that revenge drives us when we are mad, and they are not wrong. I was going to kill them all.

I learned everything. I learned about flying the spacecraft, both for transportation and dogfights. I trained for hours on training simulators. I studied math and physics so that I could drop bombs directly on earth where I wanted. I studied chemistry to learn how bombs were named. I took advanced Searcher classes on hand to hand combat. Never know when it may come in handy.

Maybe I am still young, but I have been training hard, in hopes they would accept me. Maybe I could fill the role of my father. I don’t know. But we will see. I will beg Johnson to take me if that happens.

I looked at the news today and saw the front headline in which we had declared war on Marble. Interesting.

Searchers will probably convert to learning more war strategies than learning about how to navigate Mars without dying. They knew basic combat, in case they ran into the outcasts that were sent out after being convicted, but not much. About a quarter of them have had dogfight training for situations like these. But they weren’t really equipped for fighting a war

            Except there was a group who no one knew about.

            The Berserkers were a group that have been training for war since they became around my age. You had to know about it, and you had to volunteer to go through all the training and train for years, knowing you may never fight in a war. The training is intense, and about half of their members can barely stand it. A quarter are kicked out. Barely anybody knew they existed, which is why there were so few members. But now everybody knows. Because of the war.

            They came out of the caves, fully armored. No one could see their faces. Nobody knew who each person was. But they held a fierce power that hushed the entire crowd, to where you could hear a pin drop in the square a mile from here.

            A month later, the Berserkers and the Searchers finally shot off into space, heading towards Earth. Maybe I can volunteer. I mean, I am 15 now.

I walked over to the Apex searcher station after school. I was going to see if I could try and get recruited. Unfortunately, they said I couldn’t. They were starting to run low though, as the Marblings had retaliated with a lot of force, so they told me to come back about a week later and they might need me.

So, I did, and they recruited me. I’m happy. But I might die. Oh well, I will take as many Marblings with me as I can. I’m not as scared as I should be. But now I have to train on the simulators. Here we go.

I’ve spent about 2 weeks on the simulators, and I think I’m pretty good. I’m ready now. My unit consists of the people who were in my unit, Johnson and the 2 others, one named Karl and the other named Jacob. We also got another guy named Larry, since we needed 5 people to operate the spacecraft ship thing. I forgot what they were called. Oh yeah, the Markstorm.

The Markstorm were small battleships that were launched out of the mothership, or the SS GRANT. Well, ours was called the SS GRANT.

The motherships had no specific name for that type of ship, since we all just call it by the huge letters engraved in the side. They had many hangars and places for ships to exit. It was also where the Searchers/Berserkers stayed as we got closer to wherever we were fighting, as Markstorms didn’t have that much fuel. Oh, motherships also had refueling stations.

Markstroms were operated by a 5-man crew. Everybody was able to take different positions, but they usually were trained extensively on one specific position. The first one, the pilot, flew the ship (obviously). The second person was the spotter, and looked for incoming enemy ships through a headset that allowed him to look in every direction around the ship. The third person manned the front and side guns. The fourth person manned the shields. The fifth person, which was me manned the rear guns.

The Markstrom basically had 2 levels. The pilot sat in the upper level with a clear view of everything around him. Then was the bottom level, where the rest of the crew was, had multiple panels, with buttons, joysticks, and switches. We had to know what each one did. It also had many windows that allowed us to look outside. The one who manned the front and side guns sat facing the front and side (pretty self-explanatory). The shields guy sat right behind him in a little desk thing. Then the spotter sat in the middle with his suit attached to the harness and wearing his headset. And the rear gunner faced the back.

Johnson was the pilot. Larry was not as experienced, and he was the spotter. Karl was the front and side gunner, and Jacob was the shields. I spent a bunch of time in the pilot simulator, as it was where I wanted to be. But guns were pretty fun too. Well, not “fun” but… more of like a large adrenaline rush, probably an unhealthy amount.

I loved the prospect of flying through zero gravity in a ship ever since I was a child. I mean, some could say I am still a child, but I am in the war now, so... yeah. Beat that.

Here I am, getting ready to fight.

The only reason I had gotten the job of back gunner instead of spotter was because, for some reason, I was incredibly good at it. I could shoot down about 5 of whatever the Marblings ships were called in under 30 seconds

The SS Grant was massive, as I saw through my window. Our Markstorm, which we named the I Hate Spirit (yes, that’s what we named it) slowly approached the landing bay of the SS Grant. Well, it had many landing bays. Our specific one was number 11.

Johnson, who was also new to flying/using Markstorms, almost crashed. Luckily, it was only a scratch, and we were fine.

We spent the next several days just sitting around, talking, eating food, and playing games, occasionally training on the simulators. We were waiting to be close enough to Marble.

When we finally reached the Marble, the destruction was breathtaking. It was insane how much fighting could happen in about 3 months. Marble no longer looked like a marble, as half of it had turned to black. Well it still did, but it looked like it was going to the dark side. I could see red highlights as fire spread throughout it. The water had even turned black, absorbing all the smog and smoke that was in the air.

Here we go. It’s time to launch the Markstorms.

            Our crew took our positions in the I Hate Spirit and we got ready to fly over to the battle.

            “Everybody ready?” asked Johnson. All of us gave a little grunt of acknowledgement.

            “Alright, hang on tight.”
            We flew out into space and shot towards the battle. Johnson got on the radio and was talking to the other pilots, but we could not hear what the other pilots were saying, so it was slightly confusing for us. We were all armed and ready.

            And we met our first Marbling ship, which I found out was called a “spaceplane”. Interesting name. It completely flew past us even as Jacob raised the shields. Oh well.

            Suddenly, it turned around and started tailing us. Interesting strategy, I thought. I shot it down pretty quickly.

            “That was weird,” I said.

            “Oh, I was reading about Marbling craft, and it said that they do not have guns facing backwards as they used to. Their planes are faster now, so they believed that they did not need them anymore. They must have underestimated us in that we have a back gunner. I don’t believe what the Berserkers and Searchers were flying beforehand have the guns facing backwards,” said Larry.

            So that’s why Larry wasn’t that good, but was still in our crew. He was the encyclopedia.

            “We got a target right above us!” shouted Larry.

            “I’m on it!” shouted Johnson back.

            Johnson maneuvered us to face directly at the spaceplane, and Karl blew it to smithereens.

            “LET’S FREAKING GO!” screamed Karl, who was amped for some reason.

“IAN GET BACK ON GUNS THERE IS ONE RIGHT BEHIND US!” screamed Larry
            I had been watching Karl and Johnson. Oops. I shot the guy down pretty quickly.

Johnson randomly shot straight down and my head rocked forward and hit the chair very hard. I looked up and realized why. There was a spaceplane that flew by us, barely clipping our tail. The turbulence spun us into a tumblespin, and Johnson lost control. Oh yeah, also there was a spaceplane flying towards us.

“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!” screamed Larry.

Jacob brought up all the shields to about 16%, covering us from all sides, as the spaceplane started to shoot. “Little late, Larry.”
            I put on my helmet that I had taken off, and turned on my oxygen, in case we did get attacked.

I span towards the spaceplane and got a glimpse of the wide eyed pilot. He was trying to turn the spaceplane, but I think his controls locked up. I pulled the ejection handle from my seat, and I immediately shot straight upward. I looked down and saw our spaceship being turned into dust. The explosion propelled me even faster upward, and it took forever until my thrusters facing upward finally slowed me to a stop.

I looked around. Johnson and Jacob were both flying above me. Karl probably hadn’t pulled the ejection handle fast enough. And, well, the bad thing about the spotter is that there was no way to be ejected.

So long, I Hate Spirit, Karl, and Larry. See you guys in the next life.

This was the most death I had witnessed in my entire life. I was shocked and numbed. I shut my mind off to the suffering and death, and focused on myself.

Our seats had some gas in them, allowing us to slowly rocket propel ourselves towards the mothership. There were searcher craft (although not always operated by Searchers) that were meant to pick up people like us who had to eject and were stranded in space.

After about an hour of the three of us slowly going towards our mothership, we finally ran into a Searcher plane. They picked us up and we flew back into the mothership.

We got a new ship, and called it the Never Forget, as a reminder of I Hate Spirit, Karl, and Larry. We got two guys to replace them, Quinn and Elias. They were from the reserves, who were there in case something happened like someone’s Markstorm blew up and people died. They were trained for everything, but did not just focus on one specific thing. Elias was going to be the gunner, and Quinn the spotter.

            We slept the night and left the next day. When we shot out into space, it was even crazier than the last day. There were so many more spaceplanes. Johnson immediately had to spiral out of the way, as a spaceplane was headed straight for us. It did not have time to shoot, luckily. We flew past it and I shot it in the back.

            Oh, I forgot to mention, why I have been doing so well is that if the shields are up, we cannot shoot out of that direction. The shields rarely need to be up in the back, though, and I was able to shoot freely when I wanted.

            “I think the Earthlings have changed their strategy,” said Quinn. (who calls them Earthlings, I thought) “They are using… um… I’m not sure what they call it, but they are basically crashing themselves into us, just to blow us up. Meaning that they are down to their last resort.”

            Elias shot a random spaceplane to our left, who was engaged in fighting another ship. I don’t know how he made the shot, because it was really, really far away. It blew up in a giant explosion. Probably because it was filled with bombs.

            Oh gosh.

            Johnson flew downward as a spaceplane tried to smash into us. Then another one. Then another one. I shot my gun like crazy, in all directions. There were way too many planes. Johnson swerved around again, and I was thrown around in my seat. I immediately flipped down my helmet, because I my instincts told me that we were going to crash.

            And guess what happened?

            As Johnson did a left roll, a spaceplane clipped the nose of our Markstorm and completely ripped it off. I thought it was fine, but I felt my seat being dragged towards the opening. All the air was rushing out. And our plane suddenly stopped flying. I shot at the plane that clipped our nose, but missed, and it flew away. I turned around. My crew was dead, because none of them had their helmets on. Besides Elias, who must have had the same idea as I did. Except Elias had shot out of the ship through the nose. He did not have a seat jetpack, as he did not eject. He was trying to swim back to the ship, but that didn’t work. His arms swiped uselessly in the air.

            I waited as the oxygen finally stopped rushing out and it reached “equilibrium” or something, I forgot what it was from science class. I climbed up to the cockpit, and found Johnson dead in my seat. The guy who had been through everything with me ever since I started Searcher training, and who I knew the longest. I pulled him out of the seat and let him float down. I then climbed back down and pushed the rest of the bodies out of the ship. Because I knew what I was going to do next.

            I climbed back in the cockpit and restarted the engine, just in case. I then buckled in. I flew the Markstorm towards Marble.

            I watched carefully as spaceplanes shot out of Marble, and I dodged their attempts to shoot me down. Unfortunately, nobody was on guns, so I could not shoot back. After a while I finally noticed where all the spaceplanes were located. I then climbed back down to the bottom layer. I got on the guns, and I shot one of the spaceplanes, careful not to hit the storage bay. I then ejected the seat and flew towards the spaceplane.

            The guy sat in his seat, dead. His head had been blown off by my shot. Sorry, man.

            First time I had seen a Marbling. Not very pleasant.

            I went down into the storage bay and grabbed the bombs, as many as I could carry. I then took them and flew back to Never Forget. I shoved the bombs around the ship, and I sealed the hole with some extra tape I found. I then climbed back into the cockpit.

            Spaceplanes had ignored me as they thought my ship was abandoned. Luckily, that part of the plan worked.

            I was also guessing that there would be much fuel and bombs for the spaceplanes, so hopefully this would work.

            I shot towards the place where I believed the center of control was, and where the spaceplanes were being sent out. I had learned in science that Marble has something called gravity, which Markstorms are not able to handle. So, I centered Never Forget directly on the place and plummeted.

            My predictions were right, and I had been able to locate the center accurately.

            As the ground got closer, I said, “This is for my father.”

            An explosion rocked the entire ship. I felt as my body started to fly upward. Then I blacked out.

I woke up a few hours later, on my back. I sat up and looked around, using my right arm as support. The entire center had been decimated, and I saw no life. There was only blackness everywhere, with occasional red and orange of flames. I somehow miraculously survived, but barely. Most likely because I was rocketed upward before the worst of the explosion happened. I could tell I was going to die within the next few seconds. Pain was all over my body. I looked down, and both my legs were gone along with my left arm. I looked up at the orange star that was my home. I saluted with my one remaining limb. Then I closed my eyes forever.