Mars, Mass, & Magic (Commission) 1 (Patreon)

I opened my eyes to a strange sight—a dimly lit room with sterile white walls and a faint hum echoing in the background. The air felt different, lighter somehow, and I struggled to recall where I was or how I had ended up here. Confusion clouded my thoughts as I attempted to piece together the fragments of memory. But nothing came.

As my eyes adjusted to the subdued lighting, I noticed a large glass window in front of me. Standing up from the bed I woke up on, I stumbled over to the window, my center of balance all fucked up, and blearily stared out it. Since when was the Pennsylvania countryside rust red? And since when was the sky the color of butterscotch? Wait a second…

Digging the heel of my palms into my eyes to try to wake myself up, I took another look out the window. Staring out, there was only one thing I could say, “Toto, I don’t think I’m on Earth anymore.”

Either that or someone had slipped me one hell of a mickey. Because maybe I was dreaming, but it looked like I was on Mars. I turned away from the window and noticed a table placed on the opposite side of the room. It had a small vase with a flower in it, and next to it lay a piece of paper. Making my way over, I picked up the paper and read the words scrawled across it.

“Welcome to the Mars Colony. We hope you find your stay comfortable. Please make yourself at home, and someone will be with you shortly to answer any questions you may have.”

My heart raced as I read the note. Had I really been transported to Mars? I shook my head, trying to clear the fog from my mind, but it only made me feel dizzy. I sat down in the chair next to the table, trying to steady myself. Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and a tall figure hopped inside. He was dressed in a white lab coat and had a clipboard in his hand.

“Let’s see, you are Mr. Jameson, correct?” the man in the lab coat asked.

“…sure?” I asked more than answered. I was honestly trying to figure out just what the fuck was going on, what manner of weird fucked up dream I’d found myself in.

“Excellent, your file says you have been selected to participate in our Mars colonization program. You'll be living and working here for the next two years,” the man explained.

I stared at him in disbelief. Two years on Mars? How was that even possible? But as I looked around the room, everything suddenly clicked into place. The sterile walls, the air filtration system, the strange hum in the background—it all made sense now.

I took a deep breath and collected myself. If I was really going to be living on Mars for the next two years, I needed to get my shit together. I looked back at the man in the lab coat and squared my shoulders.

“Alright, let’s do this,” I said, determination in my voice.

The man smiled and led me out of the room, down a long hallway, and into a large common area filled with other colonists. As I looked around at the people bustling about, I felt a sense of excitement and adventure wash over me. I may not have known how I ended up on Mars, but I was damn sure going to make the most of it.

That determined feeling got knocked for a loop when I got back to what was apparently my room after the first day of Orientation (which mostly consisted of time in the gym to adapt to the weaker gravity). Because now that I was going through my luggage, there were a crap ton of things that didn’t fit with the “Martian Colony” thing going on here.

Specifically, it was a suitcase that not only was a hell of a lot bigger on the inside, but it was filled with books that had a very medieval fantasy vibe to them along with titles such as “Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1”. On top of the simple bed was a length of carved and polished wood with a tag tied to it. Picking up the obvious wand, I held up the tag so I could read the writing on it.

[quote]Natural - Warm Brown; Sequoia; Twelve Inches; Unbending; Dragon Heartstring.[/quote]

So! I was a Martian colonist, after somehow missing out on roughly a hundred twenty three years, with a suitcase filled to the brim with books from an urban fantasy kid-lit series and a Harry Potter wand. Sure, why the fuck not?

As I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the wand in my hand, a million questions raced through my mind. How the hell did I end up with a wand in a Mars colony? Was I losing my mind? Was this some kind of elaborate prank?

But as I looked around the small room, I realized that the reality of my situation was far stranger than any prank. I was on Mars, with a wand and a suitcase full of magical books. It was like I had stumbled into some kind of alternate universe.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to embrace the weirdness of my situation. Who knows, maybe this wand and these books would come in handy. After all, I was in uncharted territory, and anything could happen.

I stood up and slipped the wand into my pocket, feeling its weight and warmth against my leg. Then, I picked up one of the books and flipped through its pages, marveling at the intricate descriptions of spells and magical creatures.

Over the next week, what time I didn’t spend doing work around the colony, because like the early American colonies layabouts were not tolerated, was spent in my room with my books and wand trying to get the magic to work. I wasn’t exactly having much in the way of success, but I could tell that there was something there. Given how it took nearly two months for First Years to learn the basic Levitation Charm, I tried not to let it frustrate me.

One day, about two weeks after I woke up on Mars, as I was practicing a particularly difficult charm, there was a knock on my door. I quickly shoved the book under my pillow and went to answer it. It was a woman who refused to go by anything but Jessie, who’d been doing workouts alongside me during our mandatory gym time. That was another thing: the colony had mandatory time in the gym, to counterbalance the effects of Mars’s lower gravity.

“Hey, Jessie, what’s up?” I asked as the short, brunette woman did her best not to shuffle in place. She’d explained that it was a nervous habit of hers, but in the lower gravity it would turn from shuffling into bouncing.

“Well, I was wondering…” she began, rubbing a hand against the back of her neck. “That is… I… was hoping…”

“Jessie,” I said, gently putting my hands on her shoulders. “Take a deep breath, relax.”

Her eyes closed as she took a few rapid paced, deep breaths, her face turning a bright red in the process, “Slow it down, you’ll hyperventilate at that rate.”

She did so, her face turning back to a closer approximation of a normal color as she calmed down. Taking one last deep breath in, she let it out before opening her eyes and looking up to meet my gaze. She was still a bit red, but it was a lot better than she’d been looking a moment ago.

That done, I asked, “Now, what was it you wanted to ask?”

Jessie took a deep breath and asked, “Do you want to… hang out? Sometime?”

I hesitated for a moment, not sure what to make of the sudden invitation. But I’d basically been isolating myself for the last two weeks outside of work, the cafeteria, and the gym. With that in mind…

“Sure,” I said, giving her a small smile. “Did you have anything in mind?”

She brightened up, her posture straightening with enough energy to make her lift off the ground slightly. She flushed in embarrassment, before grabbing my hand and dragging me out of my room. Five minutes later, I was sitting at a table around five other people, Jessie included, pleasantly surprised at the activity Jessie had in mind.

It had been years since I’d gotten a chance to sit around a table, roll some dice, and play a tabletop game. Dungeons and Dragons had apparently died a few years after I’d gotten yeeted from 2020, and there was a positive deluge of indie RPGs that took its place. Paizo and Pathfinder were still going strong, though they weren’t the biggest name in the market, that honor went to a game called Daggerheart, and the various -heart games that branched off of it for different genres.

What the group was playing was a combination of the core Daggerheart and Starheart, basically the sci-fi counterpart to the parent game’s high fantasy. Space fantasy, basically. The Gamemaster was a guy named Jared, the other three players were a woman named Holly and two guys named Keith and Lance. Jared had a wicked sense of humor and a talent for world-building, and apparently GMed the first time when he was seven.

As we played, I found myself getting lost in the story, forgetting for a moment that I was on Mars with a wand and a suitcase full of magical books. I found myself getting lost in the game and forgetting about the strangeness of my situation. I laughed with the others as we battled space dragons and explored alien planets, feeling like I had found a group of kindred spirits in this strange new world.

After the game ended, Jessie grabbed my hand and pulled me aside. “That was really fun,” she said, smiling up at me.

“Yeah, it was,” I agreed, feeling a warmth spread through me at her touch. “Thanks for inviting me.”

“Anytime,” she said, her smile turning into a smirk. “But next time, I’m going to make sure you bring snacks.”

I chuckled, feeling a sense of ease and familiarity with her that I hadn’t felt with anyone in a long time. As we walked back to our rooms, I couldn’t help but feel like maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay.

[hr][/hr]

“Wingardium Leviosa,” I muttered, pointing the end of my wand at the book in front of me. It wasn’t a feather, but there weren’t exactly many in the colony. I didn’t think there were any to be honest.

A grin stretched across my face as the book began to rise up into the air, first successful spell: cast! It took a month and a half, but I had a hunch that things were going to progress much faster from here on out. I didn’t have any ingredients or tools for potions, so I was limited to charms, mostly. I could do transfiguration, in theory, but I didn’t want to risk messing around with the physical makeup of things when on an alien planet, in a habitat. I like my air where it is, thank you very much.

I let the book float back to the bed, my grin firmly stuck to my face. Most likely I’d be riding the high of successfully casting a spell for the rest of the day, and to top it off, there was a session tonight. I was so glad that Jessie invited me that evening. I'd thought I’d be devoting all of my time that I wasn’t working focused on magic, but really, the mind needs a break, it needs a chance to unwind and decompress. Tabletop gaming, even if it took the dice longer to fall and they bounced a lot more, was just the thing to do that.

From what I’d heard around the cafeteria, there was talk among the science teams about planning an expedition to the Desdeado Crater. But nothing would probably happen for another few years. For some reason, the name of the crater itched in the back of my head, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. Something about it was ringing a bell, but after thinking about it for a bit, I decided that if it was really important, I’d remember eventually. If I didn’t remember, then clearly it wasn’t that important.