Of Duty. No, I'm neither stating that I am a CoD fiend or that I am joining the armed forces (if either of those come to be true, please hit me with a shovel- I deserve it).
I've come to ask a question. Imagine that the year is 2050, and you're a young man only a few years out of college. You're married with a newborn and kid #2 on the way. Life is good, you earn a six-figure paycheck and drive Ferrari.
You've studied physics, engineering and biology in college, and have the body of a Greek god. You are the heir-apparent to the CEO of a major medical firm, which will give you another figure to your salary by age thirty. However, on TV you see an ad by Uncle Sam.
It reads: I want YOU for the Mars mission! You have all the credentials needed to become an astronaut, and the background to make you a shoe-in. The call has gone out for volunteers, will you answer it?
The mission details:
- It's a one-way ticket, and your family can't come along
- You will live out the rest of your life on Mars, and your ashes will be thrown to the sandstorms
- Your odds of surviving the trip are 50:50
- The trip is twelve months locked in a 500 cubic meter craft with three others
I'd do it. I don't care how dangerous it is, I want to make something of myself. I don't want to die out there, but if dying's what it's gotta be- I'll face the void with courage; the cosmos isn't free.
-Penguin
EDIT: I corrected an error which was downright freaky, and clarified the mission parameters
