The Many Worlds of Dean: Book 1 - Mars

The Many Worlds of Dean

Book 1 - Mars

By Eric Hodgkinson

The Many Worlds of Dean

Book 1 – Mars

Copyright © 2015 by Eric Hodgkinson

All rights reserved.

First Electronic Edition

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hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. Names,
characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance
to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons –
living or dead – is entirely coincidental.

This book is dedicated to my wonderful wife.
Without your encouragement, my dream of writing would have gone
unfulfilled. Thank you for showing your faith in me.

I would also like to thank my daughter. You
took the time to edit and criticize my work resulting in a novel I
am proud to show the world. Even as a grown woman, you continue to
make my life richer by simply being who you are.

Fifteen year old Dean Danforth sat at his
desk in his favorite class. AP English was his best subject, in
addition to being the one class in which he was the least likely to
be picked on. Tall for his age and thin as a small tree in winter,
Dean was described as looking slightly insectile. Several of his
friends, and many of his not so friendly classmates, teased him by
comparing him to a praying mantis. Dean didn’t mind though, he
really liked praying mantises.

Dean’s height and low body weight, added to
a distinct lack of coordination, left him completely hopeless when
it came to any form of athletics. Part of the problem was that Dean
didn’t really care for sports or physical recreation. He preferred
to spend his time studying or reading a good sci-fi novel.

In short, Dean Danforth was the
stereotypical nerd. This made him the target of almost constant
teasing and even physical abuse from many of his stronger and, in
Dean’s opinion, much less intelligent classmates. The part that
bothered him the most was that some of those bullies were female.
Being beaten up by a much bigger guy was one thing, but to be
shoved into a locker by a girl was beyond humiliating.

This was the main reason he loved his AP
English class so much. His fellow students in the class were all
above average in intelligence and most had their own stories of
torment. Here, he was free to unleash his intellect and engage with
the other students without the fear of being singled out and
ridiculed.

Dean’s physical shortcomings
notwithstanding, he would have been greatly shocked to discover
that many of the girls in his school found him to be very
attractive. His unruly mop of light colored, slightly curly hair
and deep blue eyes left many of his female classmates daydreaming
about spending some quality time alone with him. Unfortunately, the
stigma attached to his name by his tormentors made those same
daydreaming schoolgirls fearful of becoming associated with Dean.
They didn’t want to become targets themselves.

Right now though, Dean was in his element.
Sitting in his favorite class, finishing the short story he was
writing about aliens attacking Earth, he couldn’t be any happier.
That is, until the classroom door suddenly opened and the school’s
principal walked in.

“I have an announcement to make,” the
slightly overweight man with blinding silver hair said. “I will be
making this announcement to the entire school right after this, but
I wanted to deliver the news to this class in person.”

Mr. Dukes had been the school’s principal
since Dean’s mom had attended the same school. While known to be
stern at times, he was liked by the majority of students. Moving to
stand in front of the teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom,
he continued, “I have been informed that Spacetek has just
announced a competition for all high school students. As most of
you are aware, since Spacetek took over most space related research
when NASA was defunded by congress, they have been pushing to send
a manned mission to Mars. They have now been approved funding and
have scheduled a launch for a little more than two years from now.
What’s more, they have announced a contest in which any high school
student may enter an essay delineating the ramifications of such a
mission and the student with the best essay will be selected to be
part of the crew traveling to Mars. Provided, of course, they pass
the two year training program they will have to attend prior to the
mission.”

Dean was flabbergasted. Staring right
through Mr. Dukes, with his mouth hanging open, Dean’s mind was
running full tilt.
They are going to let a kid go to space, to
Mars even,
his mind screamed. He had been in love with space
for as long as he could remember. As a young kid, when his brother
would turn the television to cartoons, Dean would go to his bedroom
and turn the television there to a documentary on space. He even
had posters, covering the walls of his bedroom, depicting various
space photos taken by the Hubble space telescope.

As Mr. Dukes continued to describe the rules
of the contest, Dean blanked him out as his mind began generating
ideas for an essay. There could be nothing cooler than being one of
the first people to set foot on another planet. He knew there would
be a lot of competition for a prize like this, but Dean also knew
he would write the best essay of his life if it meant he could go
to space.

Always able to process information very
quickly, Dean rapidly settled on a socio-economic approach for his
essay. Money always made important people take notice and
describing how companies and governments could benefit financially
from such an endeavor would make his essay stand out among the
crowd.

With that settled, Dean realized he had
missed most of the rules Mr. Dukes was explaining. He would have to
get them from the Spacetek website once he got home. Competition
essays like this one always had some easily overlooked rules hidden
in the small print. He would be sure to read them very carefully.
He knew skipping some obscure requirement would weed out a majority
of the essays submitted.

Finished with his announcement, Mr. Dukes
looked directly at Dean and said, “Mr. Danforth, I’m quite certain
you will be entering this contest. I expect you to do our school
proud.”

“Yes sir,” Dean replied. “I will do my very
best.”

“Of that, I have no doubt,” the principal
said as he turned and left the room.

For the rest of the school day, Dean moved
from class to class in a haze as his mind churned with thoughts of
traveling in space and setting foot on the red planet.

Dean was experiencing a strong sense of déjà
vu. Three months had passed since the Mars contest had been
announced and Dean had long since submitted his essay. He was
sitting in his English class when Mr. Dukes walked into the room
declaring he had another announcement.

“Mr. Danforth, would you please come to the
front of the class?” the principal asked.

Confused, Dean rose from his desk and made
his way to the front of the room.

Mr. Dukes placed his hand on Dean’s shoulder
and in a voice loud enough for the entire class to hear, he said,
“They won’t be making the official announcement until tomorrow, but
I have been notified that Spacetek has chosen a winner for the
essay contest. It is my great pleasure to announce that our very
own Dean Danforth has been selected as the winner. Congratulations
Dean.”

A thundering applause broke out in the
classroom as Dean struggled to remain standing. He couldn’t believe
he had actually won the contest, and now his legs were feeling
rubbery and were threatening to drop him to the floor. Working
moisture back into his mouth, Dean looked at the exuberant
principal and asked, “Wha…what did they say?”

Smiling wildly, Mr. Dukes waited for the
abrupt applause to die down before replying, “There will be a press
conference held tomorrow, at noon, in front of the school where
they will announce you as the winner. As long as they receive your
parent’s approval, you will begin your training in two weeks.”

“Two weeks?” Dean asked, shocked. “What
about school?”

“Don’t worry about that, you will still be
doing your regular schoolwork during your training. It is my
understanding that the training you will receive will be quite
intense and I have been assured you will earn your diploma prior to
its completion.”

“Wait,” Dean said, suddenly apprehensive,
“the training is only supposed to be two years long. If I get a
diploma by the time it’s finished, that will be a whole year early.
How am I supposed to finish high school a year early and absorb
whatever other lessons they plan to teach me?”

The principal produced a smirk that brought
an evil twinkle to his eyes. “I am reminded of an old saying. Be
careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.”

*****

The next day, Dean was seated in a chair
perched upon a hastily assembled stage set in front of his high
school. He watched as people moved about in haste, finalizing the
setup required for the press conference. He could see people
testing electronics and verifying connections. Others were
performing sound checks over the public address system.

A large crowd had already begun to assemble,
and Dean could see dozens of news cameras being set up on both
sides of the stage. A few were even being placed in the center
aisle separating the two groups of chairs facing the stage. Looking
further ahead, he could see news trucks lining the street,
representing every major news station he had ever heard of. There
were also some he had never heard of, and a few with foreign
writing on the side.

Nervous tension held Dean in its thrall.
Just sitting on this stage during the remaining preparations was
almost too much to stand. He had no idea how he would be able to
stand up and deliver the speech he had spent most of the night
writing and rewriting. But, he knew that there was no way Spacetek
would allow him to go on the mission if he couldn’t even perform a
simple news conference. He assumed there would be many more such
conferences in the future.

He tried to calm himself as he noticed the
Spacetek representatives filing onto the stage. The conference must
be beginning soon. He had met most of them when they showed up at
his house last night. They had carefully explained to him and his
family what his training would consist of, along with details of
the planned mission. They had presented a large stack of legal
paperwork requiring his parent’s signatures. There had been a tense
moment when his mother had appeared as if she were not going to
sign, but in the end, she reluctantly acquiesced and put pen to
paper.

A small part of Dean had actually hoped she
would have stood strong and refused to sign. The Spacetek people
had explained that his training would consist of him completing his
traditional schoolwork, at an advanced pace, in addition to taking
advanced courses in physics, engineering, math, electronics, and
several other topics that had Dean scared to death. The part that
worried him the most though, was when they described the intense
physical training he was expected to complete. He had never been
very athletic and he worried desperately that he would be unable to
fulfill the requirements.

Dean looked up as Mark Dutton, the Chief
Executive Officer of Spacetek, approached the microphone at the
front of the stage. Clearing his throat, the CEO looked out at the
crowd, smiled brightly, and began, “Ladies and gentlemen, members
of the press, and to all of the people of the world, it is my
greatest pleasure to be here today to announce the winner of the
Spacetek essay contest, in which the winner will be among the first
people to travel to the planet Mars and take the next step in our
exploration of the universe. Spacetek received almost a million
entries to the contest and the competition was quite fierce.
However, the winner blew us away with his insights and his ability
to distinguish the many benefits of space exploration.”

As the long winded speech continued, Dean
sat in his seat barely listening. Fumbling nervously with his note
cards, he just kept picturing himself standing on the surface of
Mars. Silently, he vowed to himself, no matter what they decided to
put in front him during his training, he would pass and he would go
to Mars. No matter what!