Learning to Love Time Loops Without Going Insane

“And blastoff!” Cal heard the message inside his helmet as the entire ship began to rapidly accelerate. He felt himself forcefully pushed back into his seat. It turned out the simulator was not enough to prepare him for the reality of a spaceship launch. Thinking was becoming difficult and the ability to control his stomach was nearly beyond his grasp. The ship exited Earth’s atmosphere and slowed its rate of acceleration. Cal regained control of his facilities just in time.

“Everyone okay?” Tim’s voice came through the intercoms in their helmets.

“Holy fucking shit, can we never do that again?” Cal saw Stan’s helmet and realized he hadn’t been as lucky as Cal.

“No, we need to do it when we head home, but we have years before then. It should be safe to leave your seats now though. Stan, I suggest you take your break early.” Tim pulled his helmet off and took a deep breath after he finished speaking.

Stan disappeared into the back of the shuttle, keeping his helmet on until he was in an area to safely contain the mess. Jen followed after him. Andy hopped out of his chair and removed his helmet. Cal joined him. The remaining three astronauts, Melissa, John and Robert soon followed suit.

“I cannot wait until we get to Mars. I’m still so glad we decided to make our base camp directly next to the caves.” John had been brought on for his caving and survival skills. In the early initial loops he had been a favored teacher of Stan and Cal, not that John knew that of course, but Cal still enjoyed having him around again.

Melissa has been hired on due to her extensive engineering knowledge of autonomous vehicles, which would make their exploration plans much easier. John was a building engineer, stolen directly from NASA itself. He had been involved in the design and construction of the International Space Station, but because of his age had never been cleared for space duty. Marshall Technologies was willing to give him a shot anyway. Cal considered him the second most qualified member of the crew and was glad he agreed to join the mission.

“Looks like all systems are checking out fine.” Andy had gone to work immediately.

“Nerd.” Cal looked at his friend as he spoke.

“Hey, we have to pass the time somehow. It’s going to be months before we get there.” Andy countered.

“I know, that's why I made sure we had dice roller programs, it’s time for D&D in space!”

*

Months later, and an entire campaign done they were ready to make landfall on Mars. Everyone was strapped back in their seats as the shuttle slowly decelerated and landed near all their supply drops.

“Well crew, it’s been a long trip, but we did it. We are about to be the first humans to walk on Mars. So please join me my fellow Martians after we verify shuttle integrity in the airlock. Oh and if someone thought of a great speech, it’s about to be time for some oration, because I sure as hell did not.” Tim undid his seatbelt and started checking the nearest consoles.

“Everything is checking on my end. Also landings are much easier than take offs.” Stan had taken a few weeks to get over his space sickness, but once he had he was back to the usual jovial father figure Cal loved.

“Same here.” Andy said, and was soon echoed by the rest of the crew.

“Beautiful.” Tim led the crew single file towards the airlock. “Try to get used to the gravity before we go outside. I’d rather no one bounce away before we’ve built a habitat.”

“It’s a little over one third of Earth’s gravity, so just learn to walk before you run people.” Andy added.

Tim sealed the airlock once everyone was inside, he pressed more buttons on the console and Cal felt a rushing feeling as the air was sucked out of the room in preparation for opening the doors.

“All clear, open the hatch.” Tim instructed Andy.

“Check.” Andy pressed several more buttons and pulled a lever. The hatch unlatched and Tim pushed it the rest of the way open.

He hopped out onto the Martian soil and looked around. “Well my fellow Martians, get your asses out here. We’ve got equipment to check.”

Cal watched as the rest of the crew exited the shuttle. He had been designated last, it was his job to close the hatch behind him and then make his way to landing site B, and he did just that. The exterior mechanisms worked perfectly, he heard the door latch shut again. Finally he turned and scanned the landscape and once again was overwhelmed by where his life had taken him. He was one of the first people on Mars setting up a habitat so they could explore the Martian caves.

He tried walking and realized it was much easier than what he used to. He looked to the others and saw most of them were moving in something closer to a kangaroo’s hops, so he tried that. He fell on his face, and then he bounced back up, only to fall on his face again.

Laughter came through the comms in his helmet. “Don’t feel too bad son, someone had to be the first to faceplant, and frankly I’m glad it’s not me.”

“I could have done without the second bounce though.” The laughter continued as Cal got to his feet and started a more gentle pace to his inspection site. John had beaten him there and already had two containers open.

“So far everything looks good Cal. Your dad is going to be a giant name in the history books at this rate. If you want to get started on hooking up those components we might be able to get the central dome setup today and not have to sleep in the cramped shuttle.” Robert worked as he spoke. He pointed Cal to several floor panels that needed to be secured into the ground before they began the process of unfolding the panels that made up the dome.

The building was constructed in rings of panels that could be folded down together for shipping and then easily expanded and locked into place on arrival. Each ring’s diameter was smaller than the ring below it, allowing for an easily assembled dome. Panels could then be removed to add in door frames that could be linked to other rooms as they were assembled.

There were more drop ships of supplies scheduled each year for their mission, with more personnel expected to arrive in five years. Cal planned to end the loop before they had to deal with more people, perhaps next loop if they needed further exploration they could get this together faster, but for now he was happy with the smaller crew. That was something to worry about later he pushed it aside as he started pounding in the ground stakes.

*

It took them two weeks in total to construct the base. Cal had joined the crew for their first full dinner in the dining room. They were all sitting around a large table, without space suits and enjoying a giant meal, the first of many to come in this room.

“I just want you all to know how grateful I am that you all agreed to join me on this mission, it means more than you know.” Stan thanked the crew with a smile on his face.

“Glad to be here, I can’t wait to start launching the drones and satellites tomorrow. Getting the Martian GPS up and running will make it much safer for our exploration plans. Oh and I sent two of the drones into the caves before dinner started. We should get some good readings from those after dinner.” Melissa had taken a giant bite out of a chicken leg in between words, but managed to wait until she finished speaking to dig into her mashed potatoes.

Cal was impressed at how much she ate, it was on his dad’s level, but she also never stopped working so he understood it. He had no idea when she managed to sleep at her output levels. In the world of mechanics and robotics she put both Andy and Andrew to shame still. He knew that wouldn’t be true forever though. Andy was sticking close to her trying to learn as much as he could.

“Hey John, I bet you can’t wait to get into those caves, any expectations?” Jen asked the cave guide.

“I’m just hoping I get to name some new cave features. I need a good present for my wife since I won’t see her for years.” He replied.

A loud beeping sound started coming from a tablet in front of Melissa.

“What’s that?!” Tim asked, looking worried as he did so.

“Uh, this can’t be right.” Melissa answered.

“What can’t be right?!” Andy, Stan and Tim all shouted at once.

“Oh sorry, the drones are picking up an oxygen rich environment inside of one of the caverns.”