Monday, November 26, 2018 (Johnday, Aries 28, 0031)<\/p>\n
From: Jackie Miller
\nSubject: What are you talking about?
\nDate: Aries 28, 0031 05:30
\nTo: Chen Kaiying<\/p>\n
(CLT): 8 min 6.39 sec<\/p>\n
Where is Michael and what are you planning to do to him? What the hell is going on and why the hell are you doing this to us? Screw the damn code.<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ ><\/p>\n
After striking the send key, Jackie began pacing unevenly around the tiny stateroom, waiting in agony for the reply. At this distance from Earth, it would take just over sixteen minutes before the reply is received, at the earliest. After what seemed like hours, the reply came in and she began reading. The significance of the message slammed her in the chest like a boulder, and she slumped to the deck.<\/p>\n
From: Chen Kaiying
\nSubject: Michael
\nDate: November 26, 2018 5:55 a.m.
\nTo: Jackie Miller<\/p>\n
(CLT): 8 min 6.45 sec<\/p>\n
Michael is safe for the time being. We are holding him hostage in your home and he is secured to prevent escape. Your husband will be killed though, if you fail to help us complete our assignment. It is no coincidence that you are on this particular mission. This undertaking has been in the planning for over two years. It was arranged for you to replace Commander Cody. That particular car accident worked out to our advantage, as no one discovered what had been planned.<\/p>\n
It is essential that your spacecraft does not land on Mars. How you prevent that is of no concern to us. No one needs to die on the ship. It will be sufficient to abort the landing and force a return to Earth. You will be compensated ten times what you would otherwise receive, plus Michael will live. Think very carefully about your decision and the penalty if you do not comply. Whether Michael lives or dies is in your hands.<\/p>\n
Chen Kaiying<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ >
\n<\/p>\n
Jackie was dumbfounded. She quickly fired off a message to Mike.<\/p>\n
From: Jackie Miller
\nSubject: Your status
\nDate: Aries 28, 0031 06:15
\nTo: Michael Miller<\/p>\n
(CLT): 8 min 6.47 sec<\/p>\n
Michael,<\/p>\n
My darling, please let me know if you are all right. What is happening there? I just got a very strange and disturbing email from an old gymnastics teammate from China. I am very worried about you and your safety. I need to hear from you immediately.<\/p>\n
Love, Jackie<\/p>\n
< ≡ ♂ ≡ ><\/p>\n
Jackie’s mind was in a dither as she dispatched the email. Bolo One had been in Mars orbit for nearly two and a half weeks, waiting for the dust storm to subside. They were all becoming impatient, itching to get down to the planet’s surface and begin their work. How could she justify any compelling reason for turning back to Earth now that they were so close to landing? But, without a good rationale, how could she ’cause’ the mission to abort. ‘That’s called sabotage,’ she deliberated. What would that process involve? Was there a way she could actually ’cause an accident’, so that it would appear genuine and not look like sabotage? On the other hand, Kaiying said they would pay her ten times the wealth she would otherwise receive for completing the mission. Jackie shook her head from side to side, in denial. This was all senseless. How could she believe a word Kaiying had written? Plus, even if she did co-operate, there were thugs at her house and what would prevent them from murdering Mike if and when they no longer needed him?<\/p>\n
Jackie took a quick look at the clock. Now, after sending the message, it would be another sixteen plus minutes before she could expect a reply. She had been in her quarters on scheduled slumber time for nearly an hour and a half. She should be asleep, but with this latest crisis, how could she even think of closing her eyes? Still fully dressed, Jackie stumbled across the common area and into the galley for a cup of herbal tea, longing instead for a good stiff drink. Valerie was there, sipping a cup of tea and inquired, “Are you still up and about? Anything wrong?”<\/p>\n
“Oh, just a little antsy, I guess,” Jackie replied. “Bad news from home.” Instantly, she wished she hadn’t said that. Now she might have to explain.<\/p>\n
“What’s happening at home? Is everything OK?” Valerie asked, with concern in her voice.<\/p>\n
“Well, I can’t say, just yet. I’m waiting for an email in about twenty minutes, before I’ll know anything for sure.” Jackie was being as evasive as she could while trying not to appear rude. If it became necessary to sabotage the ship, she was afraid she might have already said too much.<\/p>\n
But Valerie was sharp and very intuitive. With her educational background and clinical training, she recognized her friend was carrying a very heavy burden on her soul. Not much ever got past Valerie.<\/p>\n
“So, is there anything you need help with or want to talk about? I have plenty of time,” Valerie shrugged with a grin. The waiting to land was almost becoming a joke.<\/p>\n
“Not just yet,” Jackie replied. “I’ll let you know.” After preparing her tea, she picked up the cup, and headed back to the stateroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Monday, November 26, 2018 (Johnday, Aries 28, 0031) From: Jackie Miller Subject: What are you talking about? Date: Aries 28, 0031 05:30 To: Chen Kaiying (CLT): 8 min 6.39 sec Where is Michael and what are you planning to do to him? What the hell is going on and why the hell are you doing this to us? Screw the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chapter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":302,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emailfrommars.com\/outbound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}