Traversing across a mountain range, blissful as the radiant blue sky, each peak is seldom akin to the outreaches of all nature.  Each ravine and each eddy sings a chorus altogether unfathomable from the backdrop behind.  They sing songs of love, of beauty, and of the innate will to succeed.  They are neither restless nor fatigued, neither insolent nor tiresome, but raise the wonder of the sky into the invisible planets ayonder.  

 

They circle in and torment this life with the craft of a vulture, whose smooth eddy is like a harpy adorning a harbour of yachts.  Pleasantries, tokens and jewels serenade their hearths as they whisper new merriments into our scene.  So take them… young Cum Claus, and embellish your beautiful zone with a branching out into didactic solitude, congregation and beauty!  

 

And circling just above the required heart beat for life, bemused in a soporific dream, as his feet rested up above the table of the office, Chuck was in the middle of a dream that both threatened and pervaded his mind.  He was consumed by a dream of himself within a forest, opaque seeming to his eyes as the rising trunks precluded light from guiding him onwards.  He felt himself causally clamber up one of the pine trees, while trying to envisage his destitute route ahead.  From above a branch his grasp nestled against a higher branch.  How far ahead would he have to endure this torment, he thought to himself.  Would Orion’s oracle sully him in this prison until bereavement came? Yet momentarily his hand slipped from the branch and felt himself fall downwards before waking up abruptly.

 

From across the doorway Evango strolled casually into the room wearing a dressing gown.  He pulled out a lightning bolt from the fridge and turned around and glanced at his dazed colleague as he attempted to flick on the hologram TV.  Chuck stretched forward with an ache and muttered some bemused words.  “Where are we?”  He stammered at last wretchedly.  

 

Evango took a light-hearted smirk to himself as he gazed at the Hologram TV in front of them.  “That would be the legendary Station B… that is both world famous and disgracefully lowdown in Mars’ rankings.”  He turned on his favourite channel on the Hologram TV and and pulled up a chair on the right side of the office table.  “And do you know why it’s world famous?”  He continued fervently.  “Well that would be because of the two trillion illegal drugs that have been smuggled into the bar.”  He took a puff of a bliss and glanced back again.  “It’s like a scene out of that film, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”… the one where all the kids get round up by the police… only its different because all the drugs get round up and brought here and no one gives a fuck!”  

 

“I wish I was still back in the rainbow centre on Earth!”  Stumbled Chuck. “I can barely stand the smell of dust any longer!”    

 

Evango chucked a can of lightning bolt over in his direction. “This Station has a strict policy on people developing mental conditions,” he said solemnly.  “You ought to get back working through the media releases rather than sleeping.”  He puffed upwards towards the ceiling.  “Or else Mars Matrix will be straight here paying us a visit!”  

 

“As if I give a shit about Mars Matrix!”  Bellowed Chuck in reply.  “I’ve given them 10 long years of my time.  The least they can do is cut me some slack once in a while!”  

 

Evango carried on staring at the Hologram TV in front of them both.  Swiftly a few adverts appeared on the screen before one came forward abruptly advertising Stealth X hologram laptops.  Evango inhaled a big puff of smoke before exhaling it into a cloud above him.  “Here, Chuck,” he chuckled liberally.  “Maybe you could get a job working for Stealth industries!”  He said.  He then laughed like a riotous athlete.  “There’s more chance of that than my dead Aunt waking up from the dead!”

 

“Well at least I try!” Mumbled Chuck despondently.  He tossed his jacket onto the floor and picked up his hologram mobile phone.  He stared whimsically at the hologram screen scanning through his emails as Evango continue to badger him.  

 

“I’ve just started my career in Celsius Industries!”  He could hear Evango mumbling in the backdrop.  “It’s headquarters find themselves in this most luxurious of offices in Mars Sky!”

 

Chuck’s emails seemed like a long and worn-out headache, the majority appropriately belonging in the dustbins of the Netherland.  In fact, the presiding mass of an enormous number of event invitations sank his dwindling aspirations even further.  Nonetheless, through some ethereal strength, he perked up and seemed ready to grapple against Evango’s intrigues.  “It seems half of these job adverts out there just want to see a man fall on their knees!”  He cried adamantly.  

 

From across the table, Evango chuckled emphatically.  He took a puff of bliss, blowing up into the air, before glancing across at his long-standing friend.  “Well that’s something we can both agree on!”  He chuckled at last.  

 

 

 

*********

 

 

Two hours later Chuck and Evango found themselves in Orion Bar two flights above at the top of Station B.  There were about 30 revellers sat across the chairs and loungers lifting their minds into infinity.  Chuck had a glass of Excelsus, Evango had a glass of Excelsus, and on this occasion they were joined by their friends Tamy and Hephera, who were both drinking a glass of Supreme, which was a kind of fruit-flavoured cocktail.  The drowning spiritualisation of the vapes was met by the ecstatic beverages serenading the wonder of the sweet occasion.  

 

Idling reclining on the loungers, Hephera handed around a futuristic Shisha pipe that allowed each of them on each’s turn to breath in a couple of seconds of true bliss before collapsing back on the lounger in euphoria.  Amidst this louche dependence, the conversation varied between pleasantries about each of their studies and wishes for the night unfolding in front of them.  After a couple of minutes, Chuck intruded into the conversation with an adamant intrigue that had plagued his self-centred life.  

 

“As you all know,”  he muttered solemnly.  “My contract at Mars Matrix is coming to an end… and it is,” he smiled jocosely.  “Unlikely that it will be renewed.”  He took a sip of Excelsus and exhaled heavily.  “I, at last, will be free as an Earthian wolf!”      

 

Hephera shot forward with a dark scowl.  “Well there’s only a space for you in Station B if you have the appropriate paperwork for your employment.”  She cried with a shudder.   “Applications come in for Station B left, right and centre!  And without an occupation,” she continued fervently.  “You will be swept under the carpet and soon be discharged from this station like there is no tomorrow!”  

 

“Who are you to say!”  Cried Chuck dejectedly in reply.  

 

Seeing Chuck seem despondent across the lounger, Tammy immediately sat up straight and tried to reassure the insolent vagabond.  “I’m sure there are many enterprises that would take you on board,” she cried at last.  She took a moment to reason with herself before perking up as she gazed across at the fruitful flousy.  “What kind of occupation would you like to work as?”  

 

Chuck seemed despondent and disorientated and stumbled a few words.  “Media, I suppose,” he mumbled.  “Something to do with media!” 

 

“Well the options are quite broad!”  Jabbered Evango on the far right side.  

 

“As if you’re famous for keeping a job, Evango”.  Shot Hephera from across the table.  “Wasn’t it last time that you got ejected for gross misconduct.” 

 

“The birds are only in the garden while you’re asleep, eh,” bludgeoned Evango fiercely.  He grabbed the Shisha pipe and took a euphoric puff.  “Anyway,” he blurted loudly.  “I never witnessed more of a waste than discussing job applications.”  He stood up and looked at them like a liberated gladiator.  “Who’s gonna join me on the dancefloor???  It’s about time I got my shenanigans set free for you all of you to marvel at!”  

 

 

 

 

*********   

 

 

Two weeks later the quartet of Evango, Chuck, Hephera and Tammy had ventured towards centre of Mars Sky.  Chuck, piloting the space wagon, had whizzed the group of them there like a verifiable space hawk. The dusty red environment beneath them mused over the land like a solemn dustbowl, ostentatiously appearing like a retrograde volcano.  As the engine roared in the back, the four of them stared at the solemn and wearied no man’s land beneath them.  

 

Eventually, they made it to one of the official docking stations, disembarking before scanning their passports at the gate.  They were due to meet a collection of five friends at their flat near the suburbs of Mars Sky.  Tammy had a form of disorientating synesthesia, who became strangely induced by the twilight location and emotional spirits. The subway journey to their friends’ flat felt like a dangerous kaleidoscope, to both Tammy and Hephera, and they swept away like Jane Austen across a dancehall those billions of years ago.   

 

Would the night out turn out alright?  Would surreptitious fraternisation with the young gentlemen lead into pastures new?  Would the intriguing seductions of young fellas beguile them like a wolf atop a mountainside?  Hephera felt like a feather-plumed pheasant as the monorail whizzed across the cityscape, kaleidoscoping away in a chamber of secrets.  For Tammy, although ripe and riotous in her social wisdom, she cajoled the withered conversation with Chuck further.  “You said a few of the old Zenith crew are hosting a house party in their flat in Baltude?”  She continued solemnly.  “Jack was always such as loose canon!”  She smirked and gestured to the side.  “Once the Excelsus gets handed out, the night only goes in one direction!”  

 

“You best head towards the fridge, then,” chuckled Chuck whimsically.  “Before it gets emptied out by those vagabonds!  And,” he continued.  “For that matter the Shisha pipes as well!”   

 

The monorail whizzed further along over the cityscape of Mars Sky as the group of them gazed out at the glimmering lights of the city.  Before long, the speaker bellowed out an announcement of “This train will shortly be arriving at Baltude” and the four of them alighted off the monorail.  Chuck and Evango were both dressed in ornate trousers and polo shirts, while Tammy and Hephera both sported a multi-coloured sequin dress that gave them both the appearance of an emboldened Phoenix.  

 

Unfortunately, in this age of civilisation on Mars, many inebriating substances had infiltrated and become popularised amongst Martian society at large.  Although the bulk of beverages, such as Excelsus were harmless, and, in fact beneficial for the brain, the seducing delights of the futuristic Shisha pipes unfortunately left the brain a bit muddled.  

Yet, their soothing relaxation was seldom found among many other substances, and therefore they were, as such, highly popular.  

 

An hour later, after having traversed under an enormous domed parapet, along one of the many back streets that made up Mars Sky, the futile retinue that they were… futile in the sense of their enormous lacklustre cravings to catapult and journey their brains elsewhere, eventually made their way to the strikingly hi-tech front door of their friends’ flat.  A short journey up the lift and they found themselves congregating in the open planned living room, which was easily the biggest room in the complex.   

 

One of the flatmates, Daniel by name, immediately cracked open a bottle of Diamanté, and handed around a glass to all who sat across the sofas.  Evango lit up a cigarette of bliss and slouched across the thin cushion like an enormous mammoth resting across a cliff.  Hephera herself perked up and puffed a cloud of smoke into the foray in front of them.  She rested backwards and stared wondrously at the ceiling above her that circled around as if a vortex.  “I suppose you’ve been joining in with the football pub team at the corner of the road, haven’t you Chris?”  She then reached forward and poured herself another glass of Diamanté.  “Or haven’t I forgot that you’re a fat motherfuck who can’t do fuck all!”  She elegantly took another puff of Bliss and smirked to herself again as if a cackle.  “Hey… Daniel!”  She stared at him viciously.  “I bet there’s more dead-end videos in this flat than any hope of anyone inviting a girl back!” 

 

“Well sorry if I’m spending too much time playing video games!”  Decried Daniel in refutation.  “There’s like an infinite nebula of gamers all out there!”   

 

“Certainly not the attractive ones!”  Denounced Hephera viciously.  She took a puff of Bliss and glanced aside them.  “Hey, Chuck,” she cried.  “You’re just the type of attractive male who do sexy things like purchasing new brands of aftershave, aren’t you!  She puffed again on the Bliss cigarette.  “Why I can smell you now… and let me tell you it’s a whiff of paradise!”  

 

“Suit yourself!”  Denounced Daniel irritably.  He lunged forward and picked up the Shisha pipe.   “Who is it that always says that we have to bow down to women?”  

 

“Well that would be if you’d prefer to live in a wallowed cess-pit full of spunk and degradation!”  Snatched Hephera as if on the offensive.  “And incapable of running a society in any way decent, beautiful of worthwhile!”  She took a long slurp of Diamanté and looked across viciously.  “The heart and soul of the society comes down to us… the clubs, the bars and all that look to the beauty in the world!”  

 

Daniel stretched forward dejectedly.  “Well screw you!”  He cried at last.  “All I need is this Shisha pipe I have in front of me!”  He perked up and smirked to himself.  “Hey,” he continued.  “Why don’t you take a puff, Hephera, if you’re so fancy!”  

 

Yet, immediately, Tammy lunged forward across the table.  “No… don’t!” She interjected viciously.  “That Shisha pipe is bad news to anyone!  And… besides,” she continued. “We need our wits about us to navigate this night ahead of us safely and sound!”   

 

 

 

 

*********

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​

That very night the ornate arrangement of about ten of them, ventured to the cavernous nightlcubs deep in the promiscuous and sultry catalogues of Mars Sky.  Occluded and obsidian like the occult merchants that seethed across these dark backdrops, they spanned across the streets energetically scanning for drinks deals with which to entice them inwards.  Jack was puffing viciously on a cigarette of Bliss, muttering obscenities as the crowd ventured onwards.    

 

Eventually, they arrived together at a nightclub labelled “Emporium”.  Tammy, appearing at the front of the group, grabbed a flyer from the representative at the front of the door, and ushered over to the rest of the group behind her.   “So much of Supreme for one person to drink!”  She extolled eagerly.  “Hey, fellas,” she shouted back towards Daniel at the back of the group.  “Get your money and get ready to down a few shots!”  

 

And they danced and cavorted amongst the mysterious club for the following few hours.  A moment here, when Hephera and Tammy anointed their eye lashes with mascara and lunged viciously over the bar collecting shots of Adrion, and a moment there when the crowd threw aside all their inhibitions and cut into shapes in a sandstorm of ecstasy and passion.  Hephera was on right side of the dance floor, and momentarily Chuck appeared in front of her sensitised like a fire dragon.  They drew near ready to smooch, rushing bloodily in their senses, before they appeared within each other’s midst and stretched gently into kiss.  

 

They were there, making out on the dancefloor, for several minutes as the world seemed to stand still around them.  Their love was a riotous and boisterous trophy who knew no mountain it could not assail.  Caressing each other in their arms they ventured out to the smoking area.  There they huddled together as in love, as varied guests came and drew near here and there muttering various things that they found hard to remember.  An hour later, Chuck and Hephera left the club and returned to Jack’s flat, where sensuously they made love and fell asleep.

​

Hephera and Chuck had seduced each other like no tomorrow.  They reclined in the bed of Chuck’s room back in Station B, muttering frivolous concerns as they joined each other in love-making.  They had similar views, similar affection and similar empathy.  They passed what seemed like a lifetime, idly caressing each other in bed.  On many occasions, they would recline on the sofa watching the Hologram TV, while they caressed each other in body and soul.   

 

A few weeks later they decided to embark on a short weekend away at one of the famous Martian hotels that they had read so much of in the newspapers.  You see newspapers to them were a form of didactic monolith that appeared like a memoir of a State, energised into the future with all the gizmos of the hologram screens, but essentially like being a dainty broadsheet to offset that Christmas traditionalist feel.  

 

But Hephera had been entranced through reading about the hotel in one of the daily newspapers and now felt as eager as an excited pack of puppies.  The hotel was, in fact, called  Extrenton, and was a mountain getaway noted for attracting the rich and famous. Chuck agreed to go… and before long they were driving in space wagon across the Martian moors towards the legendary destination.  

 

Five hours later, after checking in and unpacking their possessions in their luxurious bedroom, they found themselves sipping through glasses of Supreme out in the domed garden of the hotel.  Hephera immediately stretched forward to pick up a glass of Supreme while Chuck stared in awe of the flashing, digital holographic spectacle that was the rapid sensuous decorations, all pleasantly domesticated under the large parapet.   

 

Seeing Chuck almost dumbstruck by the detailed and complex images, Hephera shoved a glass of Supreme in his direction and reclined to take a long and replenishing puff of Bliss.  “It’s almost as if the artworks are liberating you and leading you ayonder!”  She cried at last.  

 

Chuck took his own puff of Bliss, almost chewing on the vape, and sweating profusely across his forehead, as he desperately tried to enliven his wretched soul. “Screw that kind of worthless shit!”  He denounced frivolously.  “It’s gonna make ain’t all difference to anyone or anything anywhere in this god damn parapet!”   He desperately took another toke of Bliss.  “Stuck up pretentious bellends… the lot of them!”  He muttered again aggressively.  

 

“But don’t you see the beauty they bring to the soul!”  Denounced Hephera forcefully.  “They neither entrap nor weaken… but rather lead you to a better tomorrow!”       

 

“A better tomorrow would be getting through the bottles of Diamanté in the mini bar upstairs!”  Refuted Chuck adamantly.  “Or… have you,” he gesticulated.  “As I suspected forgotten how to enjoy yourself!”  He extolled proudly.  “Now how’s about we make a brief journey to the bedroom upstairs!”   

​

The two of them transgressed over towards the stairway and they began, gliding up the stone stairs, to further their disagreements about the rapid sensuous decorations. Hephera was ahead while Chuck chased fervently from several steps behind like Zeus chasing the young boy, Kephalos.  “But don’t you think they hold the gaze ethereally and transport the psyche into chasms of wonder and joy???”  She gasped defiantly.  “It is like an embellishment of reason in the cataclyding forms.”  

 

“No… not in any way!”  Denounced Chuck viciously.  “It is a lost plinth of nothingness!  They breath no words nor affect my emotions in any way!”  

 

“You’re being puerile!”  Decried Hephera as she advanced further up the staircase.  She turned and looked downwards as if spitting her words.    

 

“Well I guess I have a stronger sentiment that the likes of you!”  He spat defiantly.  “But… here,” he cried sensuously.  “Such petty disagreements such as these belong in the caverns of Station B… and not, as much, when we’ve pleasured ourselves with such a beautiful hotel.  The couple of them arrived at the hotel door and Chuck reached forward to offer the key card.  “Now here…” he muttered sensuously.  “All there is to change our emotions is the prettiness in each other’s form!”  Chuck paced closer to Hephera who wrapped her arms across the back of his neck.  Passionately, they reached forward to kiss before making love for the remainder of the night.  

​

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*********

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​

Two years later, Chuck and Hephera, by some unfathomable twist of fate, were nonchalantly still together. They found comfort in each other, humour in their conversations, and love in their ethereal dependency. Chuck, who had fleusied around, scrounging jobs and occupations from Hephera, who worked for Zencore publishing, spent endless afternoons smooching with Hephera in the library of Station B, and endless nights in the Orion bar dining and seducing each other intoxicated into the late of night.

 

It was, one morning, that Chuck and Hephera sat down in the cafeteria of Station B and stared across at their wretched and twisted selves. The pair of them had secluded themselves from the community of Station B, and were like two blackbirds ready to fly off and leave the nest.

 

Hephera pulled her hologram laptop out of her bag, and bludgeoned on the hologram screen as it glared in both of their faces. She flicked the globe casually before switching over to an employment site. “Have you seen this, Chuck?” She murmured professionally. “The Moonbases are looking to recruit new agents on board the space crafts!”

 

“Well I be damned!” Extolled Chuck in reply. “That kind of job is usually locked up among the army! But nay.” He sat up straight from behind the table. “That level of professionalism is mighty fine like a whirlwind across our shores!”

 

“Well let’s do it!” Cried Hephera pleasantly. “I’ll send the application for both of us this afternoon!”

​

And indeed Hephera submitted an application for both of them later that afternoon. Bemused and eager for the following week, at last Hephera received an email inviting both of Hephera and Chuck for an interview together in a couple of days’ time.  The astute and competitive interview was due to be held in the legendary “Space Control” headquarters that rose into the sky like a modular monolith.   Security was very tight in a place like this and they were ardently required to dock in one of the official landing bays before taking a monorail journey to the entrance of the site.  There, at the entranceway of “Space Control”, the complex was strictly guarded by space troopers and they were forced to show their documentations, and wait astutely in the reception area.  

​

So a week later Chuck and Hephera found themselves at the reception of Space Control. They sat nervously on the ornate slim-line metal chairs, toking on a light vape because all the supersized ones were strictly banned on occasions such as these.

​

Eventually a serious looking women approached them from the doorway, and ushered them to come over to a meeting room at what seemed to be in a room a level higher up and gazing out at the embers of the Martian atmosphere.   

​

She sat them down and began to ask a few questions. “So what is,” she muttered astutely. “That you consider to be your greatest attributes?” Her gaze shot across viciously at both of them, but not before Hephera could perk up and offer a few words. “I guess that would be our social skills.” She gazed across at Chuck lovingly. “And our people skills that we create with memories and moments shared with others!”

 

The woman’s gaze glanced across at the window momentarily, before looking down over her notepad. “I see,” she said at last. “I suppose we all have little memories that boost our friendships with others.” She stretched forward eagerly. “How was it… that you came to meet each other?” She murmured gently.

 

Hephera shot forward again. “We’ve both been at Station B for the past 20 years.” She looked across at Chuck lovingly again. “And we’ve fallen for each other over these past two years!”

 

“That’s all very good… and you should know that we like partners joining the moon stations… purely because of the length of time you are required to stay there!”

 

Hephera dived further into the conversation. “We just want to let you know that we are both hardworking and enthusiastic professionals who would relish joining the moon stations like no tomorrow!”

 

“Well,” interjected the woman astutely. “This is all looking very promising!” She smiled across at the pair of them. “Give me a week to decide and I will call you up with the news either way we decide.” And with that Hephera and Chuck both shook the hand of the woman vigorously and departed out of the building, reflecting on what they perceived a very promising interview all round.

​

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*********

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Two weeks later, Chuck strolled solemnly into the bedroom of Hephera in Station B. Hephera was furiously tossing things from side to side wretchedly trying to decide which of her possessions to pack with her on the voyage.

 

Chuck brushed up aside her side and gave her a brief cuddle. “This is all we’ve dreamt of doing,” he murmured sensuously. “Once we get on board the moon base they’ll be no stopping us!” Hephera turned around and reached up to kiss him as he stood there. Chuck groped her buttocks and looked down at her dreamily. “I’ll love you all the way there and back!” He murmured adoringly.

 

Indeed, the pair of them had been told that they’d been accepted on board on the moon base and, to all intents and purposes, got the job. They were due to present themselves at the moon station docking centre in two weeks time ready to report for duty!

​

These Moonbases were an enormous moon sized space ship that operated with an artificial gravity machine, and to be honest with you many are actually square, in fact all of them square.  The gravity runs in a sort of ravine water supply controlling each floor on each level.  There are actually very like the front cover image of this story.  Each floor has its own gravity machine, which is operated via far away principles such as lead, yes, highly zapped lead creating the downward pressure.  Different sides have different functions… yes, yes, such as orbit and dealing with the universe, along with 29 million others, on the other side.  

 

The vagabond apprentices, Hephera and Chuck, made their way across the space void gliding in their space wagon towards the almighty docking bay of the modular monolith.

The electric gravity shield zoomed and buzzed like a neon paradise and they felt the ornate wonder of the oasis stealthily shudder in their minds.  They were there at the entranceway of the apocalysope, the door into heaven and the centre of hell.  The bright neon, lights zapped around them and they were allowed momentarily to pass through the gravity shield.  Chuck and Hephera turned and gave each other an ecstatic grin, as they traversed into Mount Olympus! 

 

And this is how it works.  There are two types of people, two types of mole, and one heading in your direction if you climb higher and sun-bathe tomorrow.  Now… peace out! And with that, Chuck hovered the machine down onto the enormous flat airspace that was similar to Stansted Airport yet ten times bigger considering it was arrival of hub of the moonbase.  Formalities at this point had a specific army-tinge to the normalities, and both Hephera and Chuck scanned their passports and headed off to report themselves to the army officials, who possessed all the paperwork and dealings of their arrival.  

​

The liaising and paperwork involved revolve around each soldier knowing astutely their role and duties.  They were like a team of ants, who filled the entire moonbase amounting to roughly a total work force of 9 million.  There were communal cafeterias, large, ornate forums like shopping malls and tall ceilings encapsulating the most important of all tasks and that was the command base, Earth recon, recon of the universe and their location, and far taller ceilings, which contained the atomic fuel of the decaying moonbase and other mechanical systems.  Yes… that is perfectly right.  

 

They patently have a list of all staff on board, and each was required to report to their seniors, reaching the heights of the four army generals who altogether were top of command.  Yet within this hierarchy, there were thousands of enormously intelligent tall humans, who ran things like mechanics, Universe recon and the transgression of the human Higgs Bosoi into their space craft.  Yes… the most important of all was the guarding of the electromagnetic and gravitational waves being sent, which were sent in accordance with their computer systems that combined with other moonbases to reach their destination.  The whole corner was off limits to all but around 10,000 soldiers who were primarily stationed to ensure its success and prevent disturbance.  There was a time long ago that all this was devised and they must, under all circumstances, oblige by the ancestral plans.  

​

Chuck and Hephera met with their commanding officer a couple of days later.  Both of them were dutifully enlisted to help with the Spaceship’s media centre, producing items like the weekly newspaper, which does actually exist in a scathing and enlivening form, and the awards board used to highlight the most effective of staff members - Earthian sure… but not too bad an idea if it doesn’t infringe and stifle in any manifestation.  And it was, in one of the smoothly decorated office rooms, that they all sat down with a hologram laptop and discussed their roles and responsibilities.  They were both required to turn up in the media suite every day, ready to check their emails listing the events of the previous few days and then comprise the information into an awe-inspiring and captivating weekly online newspaper. 

 

Sat strictly behind her desk, their commanding officer, Chenudra, from the head of what was a light but turgid metallic desk, began to utter a few words as both Hephera and Chuck rested still behind their awe-inspiring hologram laptops.  “As you know,” she uttered professionally.  “You are recruited amongst an an enormous community of over 9 million agents who all work on board this vessel.”  She sat up straight and glared at them like a Russian army secretary.  “We are all one group… furthering the safety of billions across the whole universe.”  Seeing both Hephera and Chuck both stare at her intriguingly, she continued to assert the seriousness of their occupations upon both of them.  “Be responsible, work hard and be an effective team!”  

 

And thereupon, Hephera and Chuck were left to proverbially get down to work.  They shared a twin room, that was amongst the accommodation segment, that felt like a tall and foreboding skyscraper.  They would wake up each morning, venture to their segment’s cafeteria, with roughly 100 of the like existing across the whole spacecraft.  After replenishing themselves with a delightfully presented breakfast, they made their way to the media section that again felt like a tall skyscraper with the luxuries of their gravity technology.  Settling down to work, they were joined by about 200 colleagues controlling the media of the whole moonbase.  

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*********

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Written off long ago was the strife of a vagabond such as these who presented themselves like this as such.  He was a mountaineer, who strove off adrenaline, survived off success and knew the cosmos like the billions of others of them.  A bow and arrow were his utensils and he murmured the treacherous beauty deep within their chests.  Strength, skill and class knew the boundaries of his soul, like the pretty young females ejaculating in their beds.  In awe of his guise, enflamed by their desires and wiping away the bloodshed from their sweating brows, they left a trail that none would let pass or prosper.  So we have here, Cum Claus, a duel off in this barren land, to show us all the victor between us like the ancestral call to arms in the conception of us all.  

 

And hereupon we find with ourselves the couple that was Hephera and Chuck.  They had been on the space craft for two months now and had got to grips with the media centre, having released a perky amount of 10 whole newsletters to their name, and prickling what had been an idle news media centre into a burgeoning powerhouse.   

 

Yet what is science to us all?  What cost of individualism serves a nation?  What rule of a few dictates the psyche of others?  Very much used to the nebula of Mars, Hephera and particularly Chuck were quickly becoming disenchanted by their roles in the Moonbase and, for that matter, the whole Monnbase in its entirety.

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One evening they found themselves in the cafeteria of their quarter of the Moonbase, eating a buffet dinner.  Chuck had reckless glimmer across his face, Hephera had a discomforted and sinister growl about her, and they both felt the rain of treachery falling steeply above them like a hail-storm.  

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Ambition, freedom and dereliction brewed deeply within Chuck’s mind. He wasn’t like these people he thought to himself, he didn’t belong as a soldier, he was captain aboard his own ship. Arms, head, nose and tail, he was almighty! He shone in the caverns of the bloodily world of their ancestors! He was a true bastion igniting a trillion beacons of wonder for all of them to marvel at!

 

And he was gonna show them who he was! He was gonna appear at the cockpit, alive and restitute to know no rejection!

 

A dark gloom pervaded the hall of the cafeteria room. A shrouded, nefarious spirit crowded the room. What new senses, what new emotions need not traverse into the bed of sin. The 300 at Thermopylae… the last stand of Boudicca… all enrapture the plight of nothingness he saw before him… and he was ready to ignite it into flames!

 

Towering like an elephant, his gaze shot across at Hephera fiercely.  “Do you ever think this place is sick and rife with people asserting their will on others?  He murmured quietly.  He glanced behind him and all around the room.  “The way I see things there’s no freedom to do anything.  People wake up, come to the cafeteria and then to the offices not because they want to - because they have to.  It’s like they control you!”

 

“To hell with them!” Uttered Hephera in reply. “I’m actually,” she continued.  “Close to resigning myself.”  She rested her arms across the table.  “This place doesn’t have the same easy-goingnes as the Martian skies!” 

 

“I want more than that!”  Denounced Chuck adamantly in reply.  He stared across at Hephera fiercely.  “I want to affect a revolution!”  

 

“Weatherbrook! Calm yourself!” Uttered Hephera jokingly.

 

“No, Hephera, I’ve had enough!”  Chuck continued.  “I’m this close to ensuring everyone on this space ship has an enactment of booze 3,000!”  His gazed shot across at her like a wolf amongst a forest.  “I won’t be stopped!  We will affect change across the whole of this universe!”

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And so Chuck continued his detrimental plan to cause a mutiny to unfold. He strayed away from his relationship with Hephera, who feared adamantly any trouble of any kind, and knuckled down to his consuming drive to create a rebellion.

 

The way you want to do this is to pass around secret messages rather like a Cold War era piece of subterfuge, gradually enlisting surreptitiously more and more towards your ideals. Infiltrate selectively those in different positions in different areas until you have a whole network of undercover agents. You then want press activate and secure the coup!

 

Elements of this was found in Chuck’s cack-handed plans to start the mutiny. That I said, by which I mean, he had spoken to and persuaded around a couple of dozen strong-looking men and crafty women, low down the hierarchy admittedly, but men and women sure enough considering no one was on the vessel who didn’t have a stringent list of qualifications.

 

The young man that Chuck was badgered and disturbed this retinue of folks ardently and passionately until one day he announced that he was gonna host a crowd husting in one of the conference rooms.  This he had surreptitiously rented out and the date for the occasion was set for the following Friday.

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There, on the date of the husting, Chuck strolled out across a raised platform as about thirty of his followers stood within the room, sipping idly on mild and tranquil beverages. He glided up a couple of steps and picked up the microphone in the centre of the stage. Seeing them all gleam at him like an up-and-coming saviour, he proudly and absolutely began to utter his sermon.  “Now I would like you all to first take a look at yourselves!”  He cried forcefully.  “Each one of you has a station in the moonbase… each has a purpose.” He paced from side to side on the stage.  “I want you to ask yourselves whether that is all you want to be!”  He reach out his arm pointing to each of them.  “Do you want to be a 9 to 5 cog that never reaches above his station!”  He began to spit his words.  “What if you could be free… someone who lived a life unto himself… a lone rider fighting only for himself!”  

 

The crowd immediately cheered in front of him.  But not before he could finish his speech.  “Well ladies and gentlemen,” he uttered bravely.  “The time to act is now!”  He paced from side to side across the stage again.  “We will look no further than ourselves, device new drugs for our enjoyment and liberate those Earthians before any of this started!”

 

The crowd cheered again rapturously.  “Now who’s with me?!”  Bellowed Chuck fiercely.  “We will manifest our disagreements strongly and proudly.  Now is the time to start the rebellion.  It is the time to act… nay the time to fight.”  He paused and smiled resplendently to himself.  “Take the fight to all across the Moonbase and together we will win!”

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With a group of cack-handed and rebellious mutineers, Chuck, who had now become the leader of the movement congregated together and devised their method of attack.  Principally, they planned to make their way to the Atomic fuel core and set off a monumental atomic explosion decimating the Moonbase in its entirety.  However, to do so, they would have to traverse through many highly guarded and secure doors, and somehow infiltrate without anyone noticing.  

 

From across the room, Hephera lunged across at Chuck and pleaded with him not to go ahead with the plans.  She was a pretty and subdued young lady at the precipice moment that was now before them, and, aghast, despite offering the only light of wisdom, could do little to prevent the desperate criminals.  “Chuck…!” She cried fiercely.  “If you start this rebellion, you will be slaughtered like a pig!”  She turned and stared at the retinue defiantly.  “How can a bunch of thirty idiots possibly bring down the Moonbase!”  

 

“Not just thirty idiots,” cried Chuck in response.  “Thirty crew members with a plan!”  

 

And, indeed, the thirty militants departed from the conference and headed onwards, eagerly, they hoped, so as to give the army little time to discover them.

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Meanwhile, within the command headquarters, various secretaries and office assistants rifled in information concerning the entire Moonbase, daily tasks completed, and the entire running of all the systems.  They were a hardy group to be reckoned with… a sincere battalion that was juggernauting everything sweetly and soundly in unison.  They were the proverbial geniuses, years experienced, and guarded over the crew like a flock of sheep.  

 

And, indeed, within this all-encompassing spiders web, the somewhat amateur rebellion of Chuck fluttered across the abyss… and for that matter their computer screens… like a deprecating King David, aloped from the throne.  One of the more experienced of the crew, flicked over to the surveillance camera and began to utter some words. “Ahh… I see,” he bellowed out to the command centre.  “It seems we have a disturbance in section M of the space craft.”  

 

One of the crew interjected immediately.  “They appear to be going to the Fuel Centre!” He pronounced professionally.  

 

The General looked across at the crew member austerely.  “Well send a task force to intercept them and get it over and done with ASAP”   

 

The rebels, themselves, were currently engaged in an enthralling and vicious mob as they broke through regions of the space craft.  A moment here when one rebel threw a chair across a table, and a moment there when another smashed down the security camera as they passed along a hallway.  

 

How infinite strife can subvent the tricolours of their establishment! Waging in the depths of hell, heaven and purgatory, they blemished the very air they breathed with soot… filth that bludgeoned its very vengeance in front, aside or behind them.  Rising further was their vengeance, snatching onto a breath like a bona fide serpent.  The battalions were in place and the banquet was there’s, nay their twisted inner thoughts had risen, risen out through their bodies and now lay open to putrify all around them. 

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Chuck looked behind him at his men as they passed along through a hallway.  “We need to get to the lift and drop down 8 levels to get to the centre of the atomic core.”  He announced swiftly. “We should keep them outnumbered if we remain together.”  They crept treacherously along a large hallway towards a metallic staircase in what seemed to be the communal central hub of the eastern side.  Briskly they sauntered, bravely they waged their assault, bitter was their hatred of the Moonbase’s customs, but not before they could scan the presence of security forces across the forum in front of them.  

 

Chuck immediately picked up his assault rifle and his team darted behind the stone statues in the middle of the room.  The security forces instantly sent out a wave of bullets as Chuck’s forces hid themselves behind the marble statues desperately.  A brief moment of respite brought a shattering clamour of pistols from Chuck’s side, before further strikes came from the security forces.  The forum that they found themselves in was quickly becoming a shattering bomb site, with marble flailing to the sides and the loud shatter of gun fire pervading the room.  Men and women were being lost too, struck in the head and the chest by these vicious bullets.  Eventually, one of the security forces threw over a hand grenade, that fell just to the side of Chuck as he hid himself behind the marble.

 

BANG!!!! - the grenade exploded.  Chuck went flying in the air to the left of the marble statues. Both his leg and arm seemed wounded, and, without respite quickly, it was likely he would be shot by the security forces very soon.  One of Chuck’s men, Richard, darted forward as one of the rebels gave him cover with a few bursts of gunfire.  Richard desperately pulled Chuck along the ground further behind the marble statues from where they had come. There they brought him to a halt next Hephera who had rushed along from behind to see the madness.

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Hephera knelt down and caressed Chuck in her arms. “Stay with me,” she uttered solemnly.  “We’ll get you out of this!"  She cried.  “It’ll all be alright!  We’ll get you out of this!”  

 

Chuck coughed up blood which trickled down his chin and neck.  “I’m dying, Hephera.” He mumbled forlornly.  “There is nothing you can do to help me.  It’s all over!”  

 

“Stay with me, Chuck!”  Screamed Hephera emphatically.  

 

Chuck simply smiled towards her as his withered self dwindled closer to the abyss. “Bring down the - “ he stumbled wretchedly.  “Bring down…” he said again.  

 

Hephera began to weep at the sad sight of him.  “I don’t understand,” she cried wretchedly. “What are you saying?”  Yet, alas, the sad soul of Chuck disappeared from the world as he passed away.  It began onwards on its journey ayonder, which is in fact in the same space ship.  

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An incensed Hephera was left to huddle behind the battleground in front of her. Engulfed with rage and seeking vengeance for her lost partner, she was lit up boldly into action like a wild ferret.  She picked up Richard’s assault rifle and headed onwards towards the gun battle.  Instantaneously, she charged from behind one of the marble statues, spraying bullets wildly and randomly.  Like the plight of a stag, she had unfortunately given her chances of survival away and she was promptly mowed down by the bullets of the security team.  She fell to the floor and lay there still, as blood trickled out of her body.  

 

And, indeed, that was the end of the rebellion.  Without Chuck, the remaining rebels surrendered and promptly faced an astute court martial.  Most were convicted and faced long prison sentences back on Mars.  Before long, the damaged space ship had been repaired and everything was back to its normal self, pristine and functional as it had been before.  That is the end of the tale!  Goodbye!

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THE END