Faith in the Auburn Dust
Prologue
Growing at an exponential rate, the population of Earth was becoming too large for the land area in which people could live.  Buildings were stacked hundreds of stories high, there was little outdoor space, people were crammed while walking on the streets in nearly every city, and the quality of life for an ordinary civilian was poorer.  The government had been seeking a solution to the problem for decades by limiting birth numbers, decreasing the amount of land people could own, etc., but the population kept expanding and more people were complaining.  Eventually, the desperate government sought out help from the Academy of Astrological studies to design an experiment, the Establishing Life on Mars Operation-- ELOMO, to see if life on Mars was at all possible.  In the past, nobody had ever attempted to survive on Mars without transporting in essential supplies from Earth for survival.  The assignment consisted of five qualified individuals.  They would endeavor to initiate life on Mars with complete isolation from earth. Only in a dire, death emergency, the participants would have access to contact outside sources.

Faith in the Auburn Dust
She had just one day. One day to gather everything she needed and arrange it in an organized, systematic fashion.  Bailey was a perfectionist, so everything she did needed to be done with a precise method.  After graduating from the Academy of Astrological Studies at seventeen years old, Bailey was accepted, along with four others, to set out for the ELOMO the following day.
While trying to sleep that night,  millions of hypothetical scenarios played through her head. Chaos seized her mind and body as she laid in bed, leaving her tossing and turning through the night.  After eventually dozing off, Bailey awoke the following morning to the sun’s rays glimpsing over the horizon, peaking through her window, and the loud, repeating pulse of her digital alarm clock.
After preparing for the day, Bailey arrived at the station, and the group of highly qualified individuals gathered in the lobby. As each second passed, the amount of time awaiting her departure diminished, causing her anxiety.  Bailey’s nerves resulted in her pacing through the lobby.
  “Hey, calm down. It’s not like we're going to another planet or anything,” Apollo said sarcastically in attempt to help ease Bailey’s nerves.
Bailey laughed back and replied, “Thanks haha, but we actually are, and we leave in like…” she glaced at the clock, “...32 minutes. Are you nervous at all?”
“I’m not nervous.  I mean, I am, but I’m not as nervous as you appear to be.  Honestly, I’m pretty excited.  I love adventure,” Apollo answered.  Apollo was a boy in Bailey’s class whose dad was high up in the Academy, so it was no surprise to her that he would be a member of the expedition. After going to school with him for several years, Bailey had no interest in him. She perceived he was snobbish and ungrateful.
Optimistically, Bailey was glad that her best friend, Celeste, was also joining them on the task.  As Bailey was wondering where Celeste was, Celeste approached Bailey from behind, tapped her on the back, covered her eyes, and with her peppy voice exclaimed, “Guess who!?”
Bailey’s heart skipped a beat, “Celeste!” she screamed .  Bailey turned around to hug Celeste’s open arms, and immediately asked, “Do you want to go to the bathroom with me quick before we leave?”  Whenever Bailey asked this it was code for: I need to talk to you in private as soon as possible.
Celeste nodded and they made their way to the restroom to talk alone.  Celeste asked, “What’s up? How are you feeling?”
Scattering in every direction, Bailey’s feelings and emotions were uncontrollable.  Within the past 24 hours she experienced anxiety, thrill, nervousness, fear, excitement, etc., so she rambled her concerns to Celeste, “I don’t even know how I’m feeling, it’s bittersweet. One second I’m excited to set out for the mission, and the next I’m scared I’ll be home... or I guess Earth, sick. This is all so much to comprehend.  It hasn’t hit me that we are actually leaving really soon. What if we don’t succeed and we can’t sustain life on Mars? What if we all don’t get along? There is so much that could go wrong!”
Celeste replied, “If sustaining human life is not actually physically possible on Mars, we cannot do anything about it.  They chose us because we have the most potential to make life on Mars thrive. Just ease up Bailey, and let the chips fall where they may.  I’m sure it will be fine and we will all get along.”
Letting out a sigh of relief, Bailey said, “Thanks. That made me feel better, but I’m not sure if all of our personalities mix.  You and I get along  perfectly, and the other two boys, Kuiper and Zeus, are pretty good friends. But, Apollo is known at the Academy for being one of the kids who constantly parties and breaks rules, and probably won’t mix with the other boys.”
Celeste pursed her lips in deep thought, and eventually said, “True, you bring up a good point, but Bailey it will be fine don’t stress it.  You’re always paranoid about everything and overthink it, just relax”
The girls left the bathroom and returned back to the lobby with only 13 minutes remaining before they’re departure.
Bailey decided she should go officially introduce herself to the other members of their team before they left, so she walked up to Kuiper and Zeus who were in the middle of a deep intellectual conversation. After they noticed her presence and made eye contact with her, they’re voices faded away, left speechless by her beauty. 
To break the silence Bailey said, “Hi guys, I’m Bailey.  I know you probably know who I am, but I just wanted to formally introduce myself.”
Zeus, the fifteen year old academic prodigy, replied, “I remember you from my Biochemistry class, first semester three years ago.  Nice to meet you, I’m Zeus.”
“He is not stalking you by the way,” Kuiper chuckled, “He just remembers everything.  I’m Kuiper by the way.  I’m the environmental expert on the mission.”
Bailey laughed and smiled back, “It’s nice to meet you guys.” 
The coordinator of the project, Apollo’s father, silenced all conversation and announced “If you all have been acquainted with each other, you should board the ship. After you land on Mars, the pilot will drop you off and will return to earth. However, you will not be alone, once you arrive, there will be a group of directors there to give you further instructions.  Good luck.” 
Bailey was incredibly attentive to detail and observant, so as she stepped on the rocket, she noticed the new, fresh scent of the ship.  The passenger chairs were square shaped and covered in an immaculate white leather with steel armrests on the sides.
Celeste called, “I get window seat!” Sighing, Bailey succumbed to sit the outside row.  Kuiper and Zeus paired up and sat by eachother in the back row, leaving Apollo with nobody to sit by. 
Bailey was wondered where he would sit. Her initial thought was that she did not want him to sit by her, yet as she began to think about it, deep inside of her, she did.  Bailey turned to whisper to Celeste, “I wonder where he’ll sit.” When she turned back around, sitting on the outside seat, across the aisle from her was Apollo.
The roaring of the rocket from beneath the ship gave her body thrills as they began to accelerate up into the atmosphere.  Looking out the window, she could get a blurry image of the blue sky they were passing through.  Eventually, the blue sky of earth faded into the black emptiness of space. 
Celeste was incredibly tired, Bailey assumed from a party Celeste had gone to the preceding night, so Celeste’s eyes slowly came to a close not long after they took off. Because Celeste had fallen asleep, Bailey’s only company was Apollo. 
They sat in quiet for a few minutes until Apollo made conversation asking Bailey, “Why haven’t we crossed paths earlier than this?”
Caught off guard by the question, Bailey replied stuttering, “I- I- I, I’m not sure. I guess we just don’t have the same interests, and we never had classes together.”
“Well what are you interested in then?” Apollo asked, “But, by the way you were in my math class last year.  I remember I sat two rows behind you. Everyday I admired you playing with your long blonde beautiful hair,”  he complimented.
“Well, I’m interested in school and my friends and stuff.  I take school very seriously,” she shortly responded.
Apollo defended himself, “Actually, I love school too.  Most people don’t know that I genuinely care about it and but, learning about the parts of the world and how they fit together is sensational.  Take for example your eye.  You can see me from the image that is received into your bright green eyes.  The different muscles of your eyes each carry out a different, specific function, and without a part, you would not be able to see me. Within each of those eye muscles, there are millions of cells.  Within cells there are millions of molecules.  Within molecules there are atoms, etc.  If it weren’t for each of the cells, molecules and atoms, you would not be able to see me either.  Your eyes are only one part of it however because the rest of humanity was crafted with intricate detail as well.  Because everything in the world was created the specific, perfect way it is, it all fits together.  I like learning about all the little individual pieces that comprise the puzzle of the world.” 
After letting Apollo’s words reside in her mind, Bailey responded, “Everything in the entire universe comes from only about one-hundred basic elements.  We may be all different and unique, but we are all made of the same substance and come from the same foundation.  We are each made complexly and meticulously, but it is all broken down really simply.”
“Yeah,” Apollo agreed, “Everything fits together, so I think that everything happens for a reason.  That’s why I don’t stress too much because I know there is a greater purpose behind everything.  It may seem like I don’t care, but I do.” 
Bailey nodded, and turned back to facing forward, ending their conversation.  She closed her eyes, reminiscing their conversation and his replaying his smooth voice talking to her in her head. Realizing how poorly she misjudged him, Bailey felt bad that she avoided him in the past, regretting her conceited and stereotypical personality toward him. Since Bailey’s eyes were closed, her fatigue grew, her mind went blank, and she fell into a deep sleep. 
Soon, everything around her became fuzzy, nothing was clear, and the ship decelerated, landing on the surface of Mars. Bailey stepped off the ship and took a breath of the crisp, Mars air.  Scientist had modified the Mars atmosphere by adding oxygen to it to make it breathable. 
Apollo was standing beside her and grabbed her hand, holding it tightly as they took their first steps onto the auburn dust of Mars. “Everything will be alright, I promise,” he assured her.
Time lapsed, and she was with Kuiper and Zeus.  They had an advanced agricultural arrangement including a large diversity of crops to plant.  One by one, they planted the crops in rows.  One row of strawberries, a row of potatoes, one of tomatoes, one of wheat, a row celery, etc. She sprinkled them in water, and immediately, right before her eyes, the crops began to grow at an astonishing, majestic rate. 
Suddenly, Bailey was hiking with Celeste uphill a rocky volcano.   Flowing smoothly, lava emerged from the crater of the volcano giving off warm heat.  The lava helped insulate their buildings and was a source of thermal energy, so it was incredibly valuable. Bailey then began scooping the lava, and collecting it in jars, her hands immune to the extreme temperature of it.   
Scenes flipped again, and she was with Apollo, lying outside, beside a fire, watching the stars.  They located the constellations. 
Apollo said, “I’m naming this star Bailey because it’s the most radiant, beautiful star in the sky.”  Soon, Apollo began telling Bailey about how his mom had passed when he was young. “My  childhood wasn’t as easy as everyone perceived it was.  I don’t tell many people about this stuff, and tend to try and forget it,” he added. 
Bailey’s gut dropped when he told her this, but she said nothing back, for she was left speechless. She just stood up and left, and she made her way to the living quarters.  Everything seemed vague, and unreal. She opened the doors and entered her room which was decorated in her favorite periwinkle shade, and she went to her bed and fell asleep.
“We are making our way  through a meteorite shower, so you may experience slight turbulence and shaking,” the pilot announced through the radio. 
Bailey’s eyes opened wide to the loud voice. She replayed all of the scenes of her dream in her mind, but then realized that it was simply that, just a dream.  However, through her optimistic dream, she had an epiphany that she needed faith in the mission and faith in herself.  Apollo was right, everything did happen for a reason.  For once in her life, she would let the chips fall as they were may.  She would let back, have fun and undertake the adventure without being stressed.  As she turned toward Celeste, she noticed that Celeste was still sleeping which was no surprise to her.  Then, she turned to Apollo who was already looking at her. 
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi, Bailey.” He replied.