Marshall: A Short Story

by Jamie Fade

Chapter 7

  The guard led him down a flight of stairs; Marshall didn’t understand why he was being taken out of his holding cell. His trial would be in two days’ time and he wanted to be left alone. The guard led him down a set of stairs and then a hallway, Marshall got curious looks from the other criminals in holding, he hadn’t exactly built himself a fierce reputation but he was the kind of guy that people naturally respected. “Think he’s getting out?” Someone whispered. “Not a chance I heard he killed someone.” Another person answered. “Quiet down.” The guard warned. After descending down another flight of stairs the guard pointed Marshall to a room. Inside the room there was a big round wooden table, two men sat at the end and motioned towards an open seat. One man was tall, he had a plain triangular nose and his cheeks sulked inward, the other was short with eyebrows so bushy they must’ve accounted for ten percent of his total weight. Marshall sat down grumpily; he hadn’t been in his best mood as of the late. There was a large cup filled with a cool beverage before him. The men were dressed in expensive suits, “Have a drink.” The shorter man offered. “No thank you, I just had my second meal of the day a few moments ago.” Marshall declined. “Second meal of the day, what a charmer.” The man laughed, he introduced himself as Dr. Harris. The taller man introduced himself as Dr. Mac. “This place is so gloomy don’t you think?” asked Dr. Harris. “Well I think it’s supposed to be designed that way.” Dr. Mac answered. “True, we can’t have delighted delinquents now can we?” Dr. Harris laughed. “What the hell am I here for?” Marshall demanded. Both men stopped talking and looked at Marshall as if they were just now fully noticing his presence. “Yes I suppose it would be in everyone’s best interest to address the issue at hand.” Dr. Mac decided. “When you and your unidentified friend robbed that gas station I assume you were aware of where that money was coming from?” Dr. Mac questioned. “Don’t worry, anything said here is off the books and won’t be used against you in any way.” Dr. Harris chirped in. Marshall sighed; it wouldn’t have mattered if it could be used against him because at this point he didn’t even care. “Yes I was aware that it was coming from some Mars space program.” Marshall answered. “Not some Mars space program, the Mars space program. It’s the first space program to send the first human colony to Mars.” Dr. Mac corrected. “Technically that money was in ownership of Oilco, right? Unless some idiotic government scheme says otherwise.” Marshall taunted. “Never mind that,” Dr. Harris disregarded nervously “The point is you robbed the MCSP which is the Mars colonization space program.” Marshall slid the cup from side to side so the liquid would move around inside it, he would rather focus on something as simplistic as moving liquid as opposed to the two men that sat before him “So I robbed, or rather attempted to rob the MCSP. I don’t know if you realize this but that information has already been established.” Marshall stated. Dr. Harris paid no attention to Marshall’s comment “Our boss, the head of the MCSP, Mr. Astren, was there to review all of the evidence. He’s a rather eccentric fellow and he thinks that the fact that you were honest about all the events that happened that night and the fact that you refused to expose your partner, although very unhelpful, shows loyalty and good merit,” Dr. Harris laughed “Can you believe that? Good merit.” Dr. Mac cleared his throat to try and bring Dr. Harris back on track “He was also there for some parts of your interrogation, he said something about how your stare reminded him of his grandfather…anyway the point is he’s taken a liking to you.” Dr. Mac explained. Mr. Astren must’ve been the person that caught Marshall’s stare through the one way mirror, now they had his attention. “Now if it was just this that then we wouldn’t be here right now, it also just so happens that a few days ago an exploration scout that was scheduled to be on the first MCSP trip acquired the influenza virus. Because this is the first colony we cannot risk other people getting sick which means he cannot go.” Marshall’s eyebrows scrunched up “Wait a minute are you…are you suggesting that I go to Mars?” Both men looked at each other and then as if they had no other choice they nodded. “We’re not suggesting, a suggestion would mean that we recommend you go to Mars on the most ground-breaking and televised space trip in history. Personally I think Mr. Astren wanting you to go is a huge mistake but you didn’t hear that from me, it’s more of an offer than anything else.” Mr. Mac said. “The thing is you’re being charged for your criminal offenses by Oilco, because of the MCSP’s partnership with the company we could persuade Oilco to drop the charges. Furthermore Mr. Astren was granted access to your profile and you fit all the physical requirements to be an exploration scout.” Mr. Mac smiled “The choice is yours either stay here and go to jail or become part of the biggest astronomical achievement in the twenty-first century. I am required to mention that because of the scale of this project there is no guarantee of you returning, in other words it probably won’t be a round trip and if you choose to go you will most likely stay on Mars for the rest of your life.” Marshall sat wide-eyed, of all the things that could’ve happened he didn’t plan on this. “We understand that this is a lot to take in and we wish we could give more time but given the immediacy of your trial you will only have twenty-four hours to make a decision.” Dr. Harris got up and handed Marshall an informational book that supposedly had everything he would need to know about the trip and inside it. Then the guard who was waiting patiently by the door escorted Marshall back to his cell.

  Chapter 8

  Marshall studied the individual cracks etched in the ceiling as he lay on the hard bed inside his cell. He was thinking, those people were crazy, offering him a trip on a one-way space voyage? They had to be insane. How could he just leave everything behind and leave, but then Marshall thought, what did he have left to lose? Sarah and Emily were long gone by now, Sarah had been right about Marshall being able to guess where she was going. Sarah always talked about wanting to have a large family in a small town in Massachusetts, she went on and on about running an exotic restaurant in Hawaii someday, but Marshall guessed that if she had to go somewhere it would most likely be to her father in North Dakota. It didn’t matter though; she made it clear that she didn’t want him to follow and he had to at least respect that. Marshall had been talking to some of the people in the jail, most of them told Marshall that he should expect to get around ten years if he was found guilty. His lawyer said the same thing. Ten years was a long time, enough time for Sarah to find someone new. Women like her didn’t go single for long. He had ruined her life in his self-destructive quest for money, maybe it was best if he left and started a new life. Thoughts of regret and uncertainty swirled in Marshall’s head as he drifted off to sleep. The next day came all too soon and Marshall once again found himself being led into the room. This time only Dr. Mac was present at the other end of the table. “What happened to the other guy?” Marshall asked. “We’ll this won’t take very long at all so there was no need for us both to be here, Dr. Harris has a lot of things to look over anyway” Dr. Mac explained, “I trust you read the book I gave to you?” Dr. Mac asked. “Not a word.” Marshall lied, he actually did skim over the book but he wasn’t prepared to give the man the satisfaction. Dr. Mac laughed, “Don’t push it Mr. Thompson, you’re very fortunate to be given this opportunity, so what’ll it be?” Marshall’s heart raced, this was it. Would he stay, serve his time and then go about trying to fix his mistakes or leave, start fresh and live free to make new ones? Marshall gave Dr. Mac an answer to which Dr. Mac replied “I think that choice is for the best.”