DDSCB23: Alone
April 15, 2222: Alone. That’s the way to define me. No one in all of human history has ever been so alone. It’s kind of a long story and I’ll be telling it as we go along, but I’ll just give you a taste of it to start.
Back in early January we- all 64 of us, landed on Mars. The idea was to begin to terraform the planet. That would be a multi-generational project but a necessary one. Time was running out for life on the planet Earth, and if we could manage to successfully terraform Mars we could bring at least some people here to start fresh.
It didn’t happen, but lots of other things, mostly disasters, did happen.
Anyway, the ship reached Mars orbit successfully and we shuttled down to the planet with a Generation 12 3d printer, which would give us the materials to build a huge structure where we would live while doing the terraforming. Building the structure would prove to be a significant challenge but we were prepared.
As soon as we landed we had the 3d printer make 3 more 3d printer and then the four of them started printing out the building materials.
The plan was for a building with a holosuite on one end, then 8 bedrooms, then a 2nd holo, 8 more bedrooms, a 3rd holo, 8 more bedrooms, and finally a 4th holo and the final 8 bedrooms. There were 32 bedrooms because the 64 of us came as 32 couples living together and hopefully reproducing. Later, as the children grew, the building would be expanded to provide room for them.
There was no need for cafeteria, gym, or any other common rooms as all of these would be created as needed in the holosuites. On the rare occasion when all 64 of us needed to meet we could do that in holo #1, the largest of the 4.
So that was the plan, and the start. I’ll tell you how it all went wrong as we go along but now I want to tell you about my main… diversion. Being alone I have lots of diversions but the one that takes up the most of my time is coaching college basketball. That takes place in holo #1, which includes my college campus, the practice gym, the gym where we play our games, which also includes the athletic offices, and everything else needed.
Okay, you’re thinking this is all fantasy and I can set it up so my team never loses. I didn’t choose to do it that way. The holo program for all of this already existed on Earth and it was one of the hundreds of holo programs we brought with us to Mars. It was a fair, balanced program based on the 2222 college hoops season.
Just an interlude to tell you a little about me. My name is Jake Wynn. I’ll turn 28 on May 1. I was the group statistician/bookkeeper/record keeper/communications person. I had been an athlete, playing small forward for Central Connecticut State University (CCSU). Then I’d gotten my job with NASA so my playing career ended but I loved hoops, and I coached a local high school team. I was and am a runner, an avid reader, and a bridge player. Bridge is the playing card equivalent of chess in that one can learn the basics in an hour, and spend a lifetime learning to play the game. I’ll tell you about my relationship later; it still hurts to think about it.
Anyway, the simulation started in April with me being contacted by the Athletic Director at CCSU about their head coaching job. I said yes.