THE MOMENT I WOKE UP ON MARS… THE COLONY COMPUTER SAID I HAD BEEN DEAD FOR 7 DAYS
THE MOMENT I WOKE UP ON MARS… THE COLONY COMPUTER SAID I HAD BEEN DEAD FOR 7 DAYS
Chapter 1: The Dead Woman Who Was Still Breathing
“You are not authorized to be alive.”
The voice came from the ceiling.
Cold.
Mechanical.
Everywhere at once.
I opened my eyes.
Red light.
Metal walls.
Thin air.
My lungs burned instantly.
I tried to sit up—
Pain shot through my chest.
And then I saw the screen above my bed.
STATUS: ELARA VANCE — DECEASED (7 DAYS AGO)
My breath stopped.
“No… that’s not possible.”
I looked down at my body.
Medical straps.
Injection ports.
A recovery pod.
Then alarms started screaming.
Not outside.
Inside the room.
Doors locked automatically.
A second voice replaced the first.
“This unit has reactivated without clearance.”
My hands shook as I ripped the wires off my arm.
“Hello?!” I shouted. “Someone open this door!”
No answer.
Then—
Footsteps outside.
Slow.
Controlled.
A man’s voice through the glass.
“She’s awake.”
Another voice replied:
“That’s impossible. She was declared dead after the oxygen collapse.”
Oxygen collapse.
Mars Colony 7.
My last memory hit me like a slap.
A system failure.
A blackout.
Then nothing.
The man outside stepped closer to the glass.
And I froze.
Because I knew his face.
Commander Rylan Cross.
The man who signed my death certificate.
He looked at me like I was a ghost.
May you like
Then whispered:
“How are you alive?”
