By Mike Muzzy · © 2026 Mike Muzzy. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER THIRTY

THE FINAL MANIFEST

Training centre and Texas launch complex, March–April 1981

The final assessment did not involve a speech.

Each candidate met the medical board, completed a technical review and signed a statement acknowledging the conditions of the mission. There were further interviews about isolation, personal responsibilities and the possibility of remaining on Mars much longer than originally planned.

Nobody could offer a reliable date of return.

One official tried to explain that future transport capacity would depend on funding, launch opportunities and the needs of the settlement.

Burton interrupted.

“So you're saying don't leave anything in the fridge.”

The official stared at him.

“That's one way of putting it.”

The candidates also received their personal baggage allowances. Every item had to be weighed, listed and checked against the cabin and cargo rules.

Serena reviewed her allowance twice, setting aside some of the things she had carried between performances for years. Daniel checked his list against the written regulations, then helped her decide which personal keepsakes mattered most. Neither expected the other to surrender a place or an allowance for the sake of the relationship.

Patryk spent his allowance on practical things. Kumiko brought carefully packed personal belongings and a small collection of reference material. Meera argued successfully for an additional technical notebook. Rafael wanted a measuring instrument that the cargo team insisted was already included in the equipment manifest.

Céleste asked for the final flight procedures and checked them against the cabin layout.

Tobias and Anja worked through their lists at the same table. Both wanted to take drawings and reference material, but the baggage allowance made them choose. Anja protected the technical notes she could not easily replace. Tobias took an old guitar and kept a sketchbook and argued for two architecture books she considered too heavy.

“Six months,” he said.

“You won't read all of them.”

“I might.”

“You won't.”

He removed one book, then asked whether her drawing instruments really needed two cases. She showed him the contents. He conceded the point.

Elsewhere, Layla checked her medical documents, Burton repacked a duffle bag and Ama went through the navigation briefing again. Daniel reviewed the colony's proposed legal and disciplinary arrangements while Serena studied the administrative work she would take on after arrival. They compared their schedules and made plans for the time they would have together.

The training staff inspected every bag.

Hale and Morozov gave the last practical briefing. They showed photographs of Camp One's residential modules, the spaceport, the Mechanical Dome, the agricultural facilities and the routes between them. They explained which doors were still awkward, which procedures had been rewritten and where the colony's official drawings were already out of date.

“You'll be arriving at a place that's still being built,” Hale said. “If something looks unfinished, it probably is.”

Morozov showed them the latest maintenance reports.

“And if you find a better way to do something, tell the people who have to live with the change.”

There were questions about work assignments, private rooms, food, medical care and how often messages could be sent to Earth. Some questions had straightforward answers. Others depended on equipment that had not yet been delivered to Mars.

The instructors did not pretend otherwise.

At the Texas launch complex, technicians checked the passenger cabin against the approved loading plan. Thirteen couches were installed, each with restraints, emergency equipment and a personal storage compartment. Life-support calculations accounted for the complete group and the operating crew.

A technician moved down the cabin checking identification numbers against the manifest.

One restraint fitting required adjustment. Another compartment needed a new latch. The corrections went onto a work sheet and were completed before the final inspection.

The selection board signed its final approvals.

The medical board signed the clearances.

The training staff submitted its report, noting that all thirteen had completed the programme and were qualified for their assigned duties.

The passenger manifest was printed and distributed to the launch teams.

At the training centre, the candidates had one last evening together before the schedule divided them into final briefings, equipment checks and personal farewells.

They had arrived three months earlier as people with separate reasons for leaving Earth. They now knew who was slow to wake, who read instructions twice, who could repair a broken fitting and who could be trusted to say when something was wrong.

In Texas, the cabin inspection was complete.

Thirteen passengers were expected to board.

The remaining work belonged to the launch crews.