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The ultimate challenge.
The airlocks close behind me, but I can't hear them. My ears register nothing but the radio and my breathing. White noise, the rhythmic acceptance and expulsion of recycled air, and my own inner dialogue keep me company as I take my first step. The ground compresses beneath my foot, but my protective gear mutes the full experience.
I was selected for this mission not because I'm the oldest or youngest, weakest or strongest, smartest or dimmest, but because I'm expendable. When you're a dead-end vehicle in an evolutionary war, your job is to die first. I've been awarded this step because I'm sterile.
Sterile not only describes me, but also the environment that I've survived in. I won't say, 'lived in', although the others seem hopeful enough to equate survival with living. I don't. Up until now, I've been surviving. However, with each step taking me farther from the enclave into the real world, I feel more alive.
And I'm not alone. Out here, the world is teeming with life. Some teams collaborate, some hold ground in extended battle and others triumph. The skeletal remains splintering beneath my feet, serving as coral-like scaffolding for microbial masters, remind me that when one team triumphs, another fails. I might be advancing, but my team is losing.
Many teams have lost, but I suppose the majority have survived. It's just my...