Solide's Martian Misadventure

"A blasted banana?" I asked.

"That's what my superior said," replied the officer, "You'll find it in the valley of the dead."

I couldn't help but snort. It had been a long time since there was a valley that wasn't called that by someone. In all my years of service, I have never seen it. Its only been a joke to everyone and everyone knows it. The general scowled at me and said, "Well, go on then."

It was a typical day in Mars when I left the base. There wasn't much to do besides patrol around the city and make sure no one did anything wrong. I've seen most punishments before so I didn't think mine would be that bad until the general had finished talking. It turned out that I was correct about the punishment though because my mission was to go find this blasted banana or die trying. I picked up my rifle and made my way towards the hangar where the ships were kept.

There are many reasons why people go to Mars. Most of them are just here for vacation and they want to see some of our beautiful deserts or maybe get involved in any of our research projects. Some people come here to make money, like some sort of space cowboy who wants to explore our old mines or even start their own business but there are also those who try to rebel against us, which is why we have bases here. A lot of people die in these rebellions and most times we don't know why but those that do are usually killed for other things like for not following orders or refusing to train certain officers during training. My mission was given out by an officer with a large scar across his face so he had more than likely rebelled against us once before.

The hangar was full of ships pretty much all being used by our soldiers for missions outside the city but there was one ship that wasn't being used at this moment and it just happened to be the best one we had available; it's called Dragonfly because of its wings which give it greater speed through flying and you guessed it...it can fly! However, due to how fast it travels, it is difficult to land which is why they are very few of them on Mars as pilots are scarce on Mars so there aren't many accidents either which is great because if you screw up with this ship then you won't be living long enough to regret not bringing your death suit with you!

I got into the Dragonfly and quickly loaded everything needed for this mission onto the ship's cargo hold... except for my death suit which doesn't matter anyway because if I crash then I won't need one anyway! As soon as everything was set, I started up the engines and took off from the base towards whatever valley this officer wanted me to search for. The flight there wasn't too bad as I flew over some of our colonies with the occasional stop at one for supplies along with a couple stops at some spare parts shops where I bought new engines and wings because well...you know...these ones aren't going to last forever! But after all these stops and adding on gas costs, fuel costs, spare parts costs, repair costs (because yes...the Dragonfly does break down!) and maintenance costs plus not sleeping for days on end, you can imagine just how broke I am when I finally reach my destination! Then again...I'm probably always broke!

As soon as Dragonfly landed in what looked like some ordinary desert with sand dunes here...and there...I noticed something unusual in front of me; there appeared to be what looked like footprints but they were different from ours so I started following them hoping whoever made them would lead me toward whatever valley this officer wanted me to search (which they did). Who knew that today would end up being such an eventful day? In fact...what even IS today?

After walking around for what felt like hours, stumbling upon various caves along the way (some empty...others not), I finally reached a bridge which led into what seemed like another desert full of cacti but wait! There appears to be something ahead...a building maybe? But wait again! There appears to be someone standing outside watching me which means that building must belong to them! So naturally, I approached him with my rifle ready but as soon as we got closer together, he must have heard me because he turned around slowly while putting his hands up in surrender!

"Don't shoot!" he cried out before turning around completely so now he could see me better. He was wearing a blue jacket with orange pants underneath along with a pair gloves covering his hands except for three fingers on each hand instead of four which explained his slightly skinnier fingers compared to ours along with his larger eyes compared to ours plus his black hair sticking out from underneath his hat which looked oddly familiar....like someone else I knew back home! In fact...he reminded me so much of someone back home that he screamed in a voice similar too....that person's voice only higher pitched! "Brother!" shouted this strange man despite having no resemblance whatsoever towards anyone from Earth back home. "SOLIDE!"