Welcome To Inception

Prologue

Welcome to Inception

In the year 2223, or as we say on Mars, the year 0, Inception opened when the first Genesis space ship, Aspiration, landed and Captain Hoshiko Ando was not only the first person to walk on Mars, but also opened the door to the first Spaceport on Mars, Inception.

Built by humanoid robots, of which there are only seven surviving models left from the original Inception builders models, all of them here at the Inception Museum, it took an astonishing 101 years for them to build Inception, from start to finish.
Building Inception is considered to be one of the greatest endeavours that humanity has ever undertaken. Sixty robots first of all, cleared and constructed a runway three miles long, which sloped gently down into a large doorway.

Continuing for another mile and fifteen meters down to protect humans from radiation, the runway ended where there were three large space docks and Dock B, where you are standing now, is the one Captain Hoshiko Ando selected to dock with.
Inception is a square cavern ten square miles wide, cut out by the Inception Robots. Inside it was living quarters, labs, and offices for the first ten scientists that landed and lived on Mars.

This impressive building was completely built by Robots who followed instructions from Earth. Other structures constructed by the robots include the well in the centre of the building, which was just sixty meters under the surface of Mars and was estimated to contain 16 million gallons of water. It was the location of this well, along with the fact that it was on the Martian equator that influenced the decision to build Inception at this location.

After the construction of inception and the well, the last major construction project that was considered essential before humanity landed on Mars was the Inception Solar Farm. 500 Solar panels arranged neatly on the surface provided enough electricity for Inception to assume normal operations. This was later replaced when a vein of Deuterium was discovered and a fusion reactor was built.

An astonishing 716 unmanned spacecraft were sent from Earth to Mars, supplying all the robots, building materials, solar panels and other equipment essential for the construction of Inception and provided the first inhabitants with a fighting chance to survive on Mars in those early days.

Since then, Mars has blossomed with a population of over 30 million. We now have over twenty cities and Terraforming has improved the atmosphere to the point that we can walk outside whilst wearing normal clothes and a breathing apparatus.
Inception was declared a national museum on her 500th anniversary and inside here; you can view the sleeping quarters, labs and original equipment used by the first inhabitants and the others who followed them.

The robots standing behind this plaque are the original robots that greeted Captain Hoshiko Ando and her crew and are standing in the exact same location today as they did then. In front of them stand the ten-crew members of the Genesis space ship, Aspiration. That day, which was recorded and can be viewed in the large 6D cinema complex in the Inception Museum, will always remain, the greatest day in the history of humanity on the Planet Mars.

Chapter 1

General Hertz stood in front of the Inception plaque, read and reread its inscription. Tired, he struggled to calculate that as it was now the year 1210 on Mars, this plaque was 710 years old. He lifted his head up and stared at the models of the ten most famous explorers in Martian history and the actual seven robots that greeted them. Majestic they looked, all of them, exactly as the video recordings of the time showed. How he wished he was there at the time.

As he turned and looked around this vast this vast hall, instead of seeing the celebration of history which everyone knew it for, it had become a refugee centre, its artefacts unceremoniously cast, or pushed outside onto that famous runway, all except the meeting place. General Hertz ordered that it be left alone.

The meeting room, as it is now called, was now full of people, the injured lying on that glorious marble floor, now smeared with blood and bodies. Most of remaining causalities had red crosses marked on their forehead to signify that there was nothing that could be done for them, surrounded by friends, family or even strangers, holding their hands to ensure none of them died alone.

What few doctors were left were desperately trying to help others who had a chance of surviving. Resorting to old-fashioned medical procedures due to the lack of modern medical equipment in a museum, they battled death non-stop in an attempt to save as many people as possible but death was strong tonight. Ordinary citizens, most of whom have no medical training did what they could to help.

Young, old, babies who had lost parents, there was no discrimination when it came to wanton slaughter. Anyone it seemed who was human was a target. General Hertz suddenly had a thought and looked around for pets, anything that was not human and saw nothing. ‘Maybe’, he thought, ‘that they are killing everything, not just humans’

With that thought in mind, he noticed two children huddled together, staring down at the body of a woman who he assumed was their mother. He noticed that they were not crying but instead, looked as if they were in shock as no emotions were etched on their sad faces. Tears begin to swell in a man who had not cried in a long time as he wondered if their father was still alive.

General Hertz watched helplessly as tears now ran slowly trickled down his dust covered face. A tall strong man who normally exudes confidence in others, he wasn’t ashamed at the tears as he watched humanity at its best on what was its most devastatingly tragic day. He saw honour and bravery on a scale he could never imagine but today he did. He saw the best of humanity on the worst day of humanity and it humbled him.

He turned to look at the robots and the crew of the Aspiration and remembered his history and the sacrifices that people before him made, the hard work as humanity built a planet that was nothing but a dead rock into a vibrant beautiful jewel.

The dreams of his ancestors weighed heavily upon him and he considered the task before him, he never told anyone that Peter Jacobs, an agriculturist on Aspiration was his own ancestor but he was proud of it. He thought of him now as considered who, or what came during the night and destroyed Mar’s cities. He didn’t know if all of them had been damaged, destroyed or if some so far have survived. The city that Inception was located in, New Yokote, which was the first city on Mars, named after the birthplace of Hoshiko Ando was most definitely hit very hard, how hard he was not sure of. He also didn’t know how many people had survived on the surface, in fact, he had to admit to himself that he knew nothing of what was going on up on the surface, nor how to find out.

In a way, he found it appropriate that he was here at Inception. This was after all, the birthplace of humanity on Mars. It had helped to protect the original explorers and now it was not only helping to protect survivors but he had decided that as all contact had been cut of from Mars Central Command, it was to be the base of the resistance. From here, he was going to fight whoever or whatever had come to rain destruction on his home world and it was from here that humanity on Mars was going to rise again.

Chapter 2

48 hours earlier.

General Hertz woke up with a grunt, remembering last night and the celebrations on his new promotion. Experiencing his usual thumping hangover after a night out with his friends and family, he shook himself awake as he shouted on Clarence, the house service droid to get him some pefzoid, his usual anti-hangover medication, which he reluctantly had to take as he was allergic to hangover free alcohol.

Clarence dutifully entered his room and handed over his medication. 6ft tall and indistinguishable from a human, he looked about 25 years of age, muscular and chiselled face with dark blue eyes. He had the physique of a body builder that his wife had designed. He sometimes wondered if she was trying to tell him something by designing Clarence to look the way he did but then he laughed. No, she just did it because she always wanted to see a stud to her laundry.
Clarence was one of the older models of robots, or droid-bot as he correctly defined himself, by three generations. Over time, General Hertz had grown fond of him and never bothered upgrading him or getting a newer model as he thought their personalities were just too similar to humans, unlike Clarence who could still be a bit emotionally lacking.

‘Good morning Sir’ Clarence said.

‘Not really Clarence.’ He replied.

Clarence stared at him. ‘I recall Sir when you received your briefing after becoming a general, you said you were rearing to go and get things done’

‘Clarence, what I say and what I do are two different things’, you need to learn that’ General Hertz said, looking up at
Clarence, smiling. ‘You need to learn that’

‘I’ll never understand you humans. Last night, you told your brother, Wolfgang that you finally got the position that you have always wanted and he was not happy. Why was he not happy?’

General Hertz lay down on his bed and scratched his chest, considering very carefully, how he should reply to Clarence’s question.

‘Because Clarence, Wolfgang is an arrogant conceited self-centred selfish prick who thinks he’s better than everybody else, and I said it cause he’s worried I’ll check up on him and discover one of his little illicit enterprises that he hopes I don’t know exist’

‘Does Wolfgang have illicit enterprises?’ Clarence asked.

‘Everything he does is illicit Clarence’, General Hertz replied

‘Are you going to check up on him Sir’ Clarence asked.

‘Oh Yes’ General Hertz replied enthusiastically.

Clarence looked nonplussed at what General Hertz said but never the less, started pointing out favourable points about Wolfgang.

'Lady Hertz says he gives to charity sir’ Clarence said.

‘To hide a guilty conscience’ General Hertz replied.

‘He’s liked by politicians’ Clarence offered.

‘Good enough reason to be shot, revived, and then shot again’ General Hertz shouted enthusiastically as he sat up in bed and winked at Clarence.

‘Your medication is starting to work Sir’

‘Yes it is Clarence, and why do you call Sarah Lady Hertz?’

‘Because she commanded me to’ Clarence replied.

‘hmmmm. At least she calls you Clarence and not something else that is stupid’ General Hertz said.

‘Lady hertz only calls me Clarence when you are here Sir. When you are not here, she calls me eye candy’

General Hertz’s mouth opened and stayed like that for a few seconds as he stared at Clarence, who didn’t pick up on

General Hertz’s surprise. He was about to say something then Clarence stood up straight and turned to look at him.

‘Sir. You have a call coming in from Headquarters in Gleneig, want to take it here?’

‘Yes Clarence, set this room to privacy mode please’

‘Privacy mode enabled sir’