When the foundation came knocking at my door, I didn’t really have any suspicions. People come to my house all the time, and this visit would be no different.
That’s at least what I thought.
The foundation told me I had been handpicked by them to do some work at a facility of theirs, and that I was not in a position to argue.
Seeing as I was recently unemployed due to my unethical research strategies, I took them up on the offer. The foundation was well aware of this, mind you, but the agent didn’t seem bothered about it. He extended his hand toward me, and I took it.
He told me firmly, while looking into my eyes: “You can begin working with us tomorrow. Pack your most valuable belongings, we will handle the transport.”
I shook his hand.
The job came with an office and even my own bedroom. What the agent didn’t tell me about, however, was that the office in question wasn’t on this planet.
That became apparent the day after.
First, a crew of 6 men arrived at my door, asking me to leave the premises.
Outside there was a black Humvee with tinted glass and a big trailer. The 6 men all began loading “my most valuable belongings” into the trailer as a man in a suit exited the Humvee.
“Bacon, right? It’s an honor. I’ll be your driver today.”
I shook the man’s hand and was escorted into the Humvee as the crew continued packing my stuff into the trailer.
“I don’t know how much the agent told you yesterday,” the man said while driving the car. “But you’ll have level 3 clearance.” He produced what looked like a keycard from his pocket before handing it to me.
“You’ll be pleased to meet the other participants in the project, I'm sure.”
Sometime later the agent pulled into a parking lot outside what looked like a spacecraft hangar. I was a little confused, but again, I was in no position to argue so I went along with it.
The driver pointed toward a large, armored van that was parked at one of the cargo bays of the hangar. “That right there is our SCP-939 transport. You’ll have plenty of time to figure out what that number means while on the flight.”
I continued to remain silent as a door opened for me. “Good luck.”
The door slammed shut behind me, and I was met with a pitch-black room.
A moment later the lights flickered on, and I could see the hangar from the inside. A lot of crewmen were moving supplies and whatnot around everywhere, and perhaps most impressive of all was the huge rocket standing in the middle of the whole thing.
“Ah, you must be Bacon. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
A voice spoke up from somewhere to my left, and I turned to face them. It was a woman dressed in a lab coat, she wore glasses and had long brown hair.
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I took her hand. “It’s a pleasure...?”
She gave me a small smile. “Call me jade.”
I sighed deeply. “So, do you have any clue what’s going on here?”
Jade let out a little chuckle. “So, you’re new here. Well, first off, we’re going to mars.”
My eyes widened. “Oh, hot damn.”
Jade let out a chuckle. “Yep. The spaceship isn’t just for looks.” She pointed toward one of the cages being trucked up the loading ramp. “That right there is a SCP-939 anomaly. I’m guessing it’s your first time seeing an SCP, go take a look!”
One of my eyebrows rose in intrigue and I meandered closer to the green cage. Inside was a strange red reptilian creature, seemingly asleep.
“Well, aren’t you just adorable.”
I spotted a man in a lab coat waving me toward him. He was sitting in a lounge chair on the other side of the hangar.
I moved away from the cage and began making my way over to the lounge area he was sitting in.
“Hello Bacon, you’re new right?”
The man stretched out his hand, holding a mojito in the other.
I took his hand and shook it. “Hello. Yes, I am new.”
The man leant back into the lounge chair and twirled the drink around in its glass. “Pleasure. I’ll be your boss from now on, you can call me Sebastian, or Seb for short.”
I nodded. “So, what’s with the spaceship?”
Sebastian let out a little chuckle. “I thought jade told you. We’re going to mars.”
“Right.”
I looked around at the luxurious lounge. “This doesn’t really seem like a spaceflight-ready facility.”
Sebastian shook his head softly. “Not everything is in plain sight when you’re dealing with the foundation, my friend. Do you see that odd black coloring in the corner right there? That’s one-way glass, and flight command is on standby right behind.”
I let out an impressed hum and returned my attention to the rocket.
It didn’t take long for boarding to begin. All staff were instructed to wear spacesuits, which were a hassle in and of itself to get into.
After we all got dressed, Sebastian directed us to our respective seats. They were all lying with the backrest downward, if that makes any sense. You basically sat on the wall.
After buckling myself in, the windows were blocked by a sheet of metal.
“The metal acts as heat shielding, so the glass doesn’t crack when we pass through the atmosphere.”
The lights dimmed, and a countdown made itself known on the speaker systems.
“T-minus 5. 4. 3. 2. 1.”
As the engines ignited, I felt myself get pushed into the seat. The force of the acceleration kept me firmly in place, and I would probably not be able to move even if I didn’t have safety belts attached.
No more than a minute later, the shaking had stopped.
It appears we were now beyond earth’s atmosphere, and the metal shielding lowered giving us a clear view of the vast space outside the rocket.
Earth was barely in view at the rear of the mirror. It was still quite large, but the angle of the ship made it hard to make out much more than just a sliver of the celestial body.
While I was busy looking down at earth, there was suddenly a beep as artificial gravity was enabled. The gravity pulled me downward into a regular sitting position.
“We’re in space!”
One of the other passengers exclaimed in joy, and not long after the entire shuttle erupted into chatter. Everyone were talking about how excited they were to go to mars, and their past experiences on earth.
I unlocked my seatbelt and got up from my seat. All the other passengers seemed content with just sitting around for now, so I was the only one stood upright in the shuttle.
I decided to go check out the cargo bay to see if the weird lizard thing was still there. I opened a sliding door leading to the cargo bay and closed it behind me.
Looking around inside the cargo bay, I noticed several cages all stacked up against each other. All of them seemed fine, except for one of the cages.
The green cage had its bars bent.
As if the creature inside had escaped.