Conditional Reality

Stonearch Sugarcane had been a trash collector for years. He lost his job when the small company he worked for was bought by a larger outfit that fired the old employees. Stonearch treated his misfortune as early retirement, but grew bored doing nothing all day. He applied to be an astronaut. After rigorous testing and training he was assigned his first flight, a trip to Mars. The catch was that he would not be coming back. Stonearch was okay with this. I’m going to be the first man to die on Mars, he said. How many people can say that?

Labels: Astronaut