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A green-eyed Korat sat alone in a waiting room, reading over a bunch of stapled documents.
The Korat was wearing an orange space suit, but he didn't have his helmet on. The uniform had
three patches, one on his chest that read Commander Michael Scott, another on the shoulder
that said Thanatos, and, finally one that said NASC. The Thanatos patch was decorated with a
gold outline and an image showing Pluto with a bald eagle landing on it. The NASC patch
looked just like the NASA logo, but the A at the end had been replaced by a C.
The papers that Mike was reading were the mission outline for Thanatos. Thanatos was the
name for the first crewed mission to Pluto. The ship designed to take him and his crew to Pluto
was so massive it was essentially a moving space station. In addition to this, it was powered by
a brand new Antimatter engine. The spaceship was so heavy that it had to be launched from the
moon instead of Earth.
As for Mike, he was reading the packet with a blank, emotionless expression on his face.
Mike sighed and ceased reading the mission document. He had already read it front to back five
times, no need to read more. The grey cat then turned his head towards the circle window.
Outside the window, Mike saw the grey and rocky lunar surface. On the ground was a large
launchpad and tower, and on that launchpad was the biggest rocket ever constructed. This
same rocket was the one that Mike was going to board in a few hours.
Mike should have been happy and proud he had been selected to lead this important mission,
but he only felt empty as he stared blankly at the Thanatos rocket.
Suddenly, the door in front of Mike opened, and Thanatos co-commander and co-pilot, a black
cat with gold hair called Goldie, walked out. The two simply acknowledged each other by
nodding before Goldie left the waiting room.
A few moments later, a robotic voice called out, "Commander Michael Jay Scott, you may now
enter."
Mike got up from the chair in the room and walked into the room, its door closing behind him.
The Korat sat on the only chair in the room and faced a camera that looked like HAL 9000 from
2001: A Space Odyssey.
As soon as Mike sat down, the camera said in a robotic voice, "Hello Michael."
"Hi, PAM," Mike replied.
"Are you ready to begin your psychological examination?" PAM asked.
"Yep."
"Excellent," PAM replied.
"Do you feel good?"
"Yeah, I feel good," Michael replied, his voice devoid of emotion.
"Any audiovisual hallucinations?"
"No," Mike replied. This was only half true as Mike had hallucinated his former best friend
floating in Space alongside him a few months ago, but nothing had happened since then, so
Mike assumed it was a one-time thing.
"As you know, even with the Antimatter engine, this mission will last approximately six years. Do
you think the long duration will have any affect on you?"
"No," Mike replied honestly.
"You got divorced recently will this have any effect on the mission?"
As soon as those words were said, Mike felt himself thrown back in time.
Mike found himself sitting at a metal and glass table.
He was now waiting for the papers as everything else was done. Porsche had been informed,
he had found an apartment to stay at, and he had packed his stuff up.
His soon-to-be ex-wife, a Turkish Angora called Sandra or Sandy for short, strolled up to him
and dumped the documents that were going to terminate their marriage on the table.
Mike sorted through them and, before signing, asked, "I assume you are taking Porsche, right?"
Sandy nodded and said, "Yes, you can visit her whenever you want."
Mike sighed and signed the paper.
"I should have known better," Mike thought. He often wondered what life would be like if he
hadn't stayed with Sandy. If he hadn't rejected Lucy if he hadn't called her a parasite, if he hadn't
broken her heart under that tree. Mike had long concluded it wouldn't make much of a
difference, he wasn't meant to be in love anyway.
"Michael," A robotic voice said.
"No it won't have any affect on the mission," Mike replied quickly.
"You have a daughter, is she okay with this?"
"Please don't go, daddy!"
"Yeah, she understands," Mike lied.
"Your younger brother Chris will be on this mission. How do you feel about it? Will it affect the
mission in any way?"
Mike sighed and replied, "Chris is a competent astronaut, and I think he is perfect for this
mission. While I am fond of him, I don't think it will affect the mission in any way."
"You think?"
"It won't," Mike replied, shaking his head.
"Everything seems good Michael, thank you for your time."
"You too," Mike muttered in reply as he got up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few hours later, Mike and the rest of the Thanatos crew had boarded the ship. Mike was
sitting on the pilot seat in the command module, Goldie to his side, and the flight engineer, an
Abyssinian-Tabby mix called Jack, in the back. They were all wearing their orange space suits
with their helmets attached.
"Alright, final checks are done, all systems appear operational," Jack said.
"Roger that Jack," Mike replied.
The Korat then contacted Mission Control over the radio and said, "Mission Control, this is
Thanatos Commander, all systems are operational and ready to go."
"Roger that Thanatos Commander, commencing the final countdown, T-5 minutes to launch."
"Roger that Mission Control, Thanatos Commander out."
"Ready Mike?" Goldie asked.
Mike just nodded in response.
Jack noticed this and said, "You don't talk much, do you Mike?"
"Don't have much to say," Mike replied in a deadpan tone.
"Clearly," Mike heard Jack mutter under his breath.
A few more minutes passed in silence before, over the radio, Mike heard, "Thanatos
Commander, this is Mission Control T-2 Minutes to launch, start the Antimatter reactor."
Mike quickly pressed a red button on the control panel that said Antimatter reactor before
replying, "Roger that, Antimatter reactor is online."
As soon as he pressed the button everyone in the ship began to hear a strange spinning sound
coming from the back of the ship.
Two more minutes passed in silence, well except for Jack whistling, "It's the final countdown."
Finally, over the radio, Mike heard "T-10 seconds to launch."
"T-9 seconds to launch."
"T-8 seconds to launch."
"T-7 seconds to launch."
"T-6 seconds to launch."
"T-5 seconds to launch."
Mike put his hand on the throttle.
"T-4 seconds to launch."
"T-3 seconds to launch."
"Here it comes!" Jack exclaimed.
"T-2 seconds to launch."
"T-1 seconds to launch."
"Launch!"
Mike threw the throttle to 100%, and instantly, the engines came to life with a monstrous roar.
The rocket lifted up from the launchpad quickly gaining speed and altitude. The crew felt immense gravity on them as the ship roared up into space. As all this was happening Mikes heartbeat remained steady.