[ WP ] You and your family wake up in a base on Mars . You have no memory of why or how you are there . There is a computer that can contact NASA but they never respond . You find other bases like yours but they are abandoned .

“ Should we give up? ” My brother ’ s usually brash voice felt distant, broken. I stood hunched over the metallic control board, my fingers twitching from button to button, somehow causing the static on the screen to amplify. The screen displayed a shuddering image of NASA ’ s logo, which failed to do more than dance back and forth across the screen. I was beginning to think my brother had a point. 
 
 “ Geoff…We can ’ t, ” I mumbled as my right hand shot up towards a green button in the middle of the board, pressing on it gently. No change. 
 
 “ Sooner you ’ re gon na find the self-destruct switch. ” I heard clanking as my brother stood up, his heavy boots hitting loudly against the metal floor as he crossed over to where I stood. He set his hand gently on my shoulder and breathed heavily. “ Look, sis, you haven ’ t moved in an hour. It ’ s broken. ” He reached down with his free hand and picked up one of the buttons- one of many that I ’ d found to be dislodged while trying to get the machine to work. 
 
 I stepped away and stretched wearily, feeling my back crack as I did. Straightening up did actually hurt, and I wasn ’ t sure if I ’ d taken a full breath the entire time I ’ d set my mind to the control board. Maybe it was time for a break. From the computer at least. 
 
 I looked around the domed room: our new home, really. We ’ d been here for just over a week now, and we scarcely left the room. There wasn ’ t much that felt safe here, but this was where we awoke, so this was where we claimed. It was maybe fifty feet in diameter, and the roof was well more than twice my height at the tallest point. The space itself was split off into several sections, separated by crisp curtains, something like you would see in a hospital. There was a space dedicated to bunks, a storage space, two labs, both appearing to specialize in different research, a kitchen area, a bathroom, a door which led outside, and two entrances to passageways that we had not dared to venture to. The center of all of it was the control board, a monster of a computer which must have been capable of anything when it still worked. 
 
 Oh, and there were windows. Windows which beheld the exterior of our prison. At first we thought we ’ d been stranded in some strange lab in the middle of the desert. All that we can see outside is sand, though the red coloring probably should have clued us off. The sky was the real giveaway. The Sun is so small here, leaving our days hazy and dim. We have two moons, one of which is so close that we ’ re pretty sure it ’ ll fall onto of us one of these days. And it whips around three times a day. 
 
 “ Maybe we ’ ll get used to Mars. ” I tried to insert hopefulness into my voice. “ I mean, if NASA ever comes to get us, that ’ d be nice, but we should try and make the most of it. ” 
 
 “ We ’ re not dead… ” Geoff ran his hand through his thick, black hair, scratching absently at the back of his neck. 
 
 “ See, positives already! ” I gazed out the window, trying to look for something I hadn ’ t seen before in my previous seven days of searching. 
 
 “ We ’ re just crazed amnesiacs living on Mars. ” I spun around and glared at him, biting at my lip as I tried to come up with a response. He wasn ’ t exactly wrong… We couldn ’ t remember anything from before. Our days were going just as normal, and suddenly, here we are! 
 
 I sighed. He reclined against the control board, pressing several buttons on the tower as he did so. I swung to the side just in time to see the display not give any response. As always. He was looking at me expectantly. “ So… ” I started, looking around our dome, until my eyes locked on one of the two passageways. “ We find out why. ” 
 
 He frowned, his blue eyes flashing over to the passageway nearest him. A grin spread across his face as a strange glint entered his eyes. “ You know what, Leslie? Be my guest. Why the heck not. I ’ d much rather get killed by the vacuum of space than by being bored to death in a weird lab-thing. ” 
 
 “ You ’ re hilarious. ” I strode over to the passageway on the right side of the dome, bordering the bathroom and the storage space. “ It ’ s a walkway. Not outside. No vacuum! ” I grabbed the circular lock on the door and began to tug. It was a like a ship ’ s wheel, screwed into place tightly on the door. 
 
 “ No telling if it ’ s just as broken as that control tower, you know. ” 
 
 “ At this point, I just want to find something out. It ’ s a risk, okay? ” 
 
 He rest his hand on the prong that I was trying to pull down to unlock the door. “ Well, let ’ s find out then… ” He shoved downward with all his weight, and I did as well. A moment or two passed as the lock stayed firmly in place, and then it gave with a loud click. We unscrewed until the lock came loose, hissing as it slid backward from its frame, revealing a dark tunnel beyond…and breathable air. 
 
 I took a cautious step forward, my hand reaching out for the guard rail which lined the tunnel from its start to as far as I could see. It was a wide tunnel, probably large enough to fit five people walking side by side, so we entered easily. Slowly, we began our progress down the passage. 
 
 We were only a few steps in when Geoff froze suddenly, his eyes laser focused on something deep in the tunnel. 
 
 “ Huh? ” I prodded him, my voice echoing off the walls. 
 
 “ Shh, ” he whispered, still motionless. “ Listen. ” 
 
 I closed my eyes and focused, clearing my mind to process the silence. I waited for several long seconds, straining to hear whatever it- and there it was. A gurgling noise, like a gentle stream flowing ceaselessly down a slope. 
 
 “ Is that…water? ” 
 
 
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 Thanks for the prompt! This was a lot of fun to write < 3
