The twentyfirst vehicle

it was supposed to be their first manned flight

instead it became the first exodus from planet earth

their launch vehicle was several magnitudes larger than expected

after 24 hours it did not reenter earths atmosphere

instead, it blasted off for Mars...

and where one went, more followed

technically, it was not their first manned flight until flight number 21

but that is a later story

two weeks after the first vehicle, another one blasted off

first to orbit, then onwards

eavesdropping showed that the both vehicles were unmanned

machines, on an unknown mission

but some were already beginning to guess, to know even

the next vehicle was only ten days behind the second

then there was only a week between launches, then five days, then four

of course, not all vehicles made it

once in a while, villagers were treated a majestic fireworks

if they lived to see it, that is

until one day, the now so expected launch did not happen

one week passed, then another and another

finally, after three months, when almost everyone had thought it was all over

it happened. the largest ever manbuilt vehicle blasted off

this time, communications were vivid and clear

the vehicle was manned

not only manned, populated even

analysis of their communications pointed to a crew of over 200 individuals

men and women

18 months later

we were all told the 20 first vehicles carried nuclear plants

mining robots

materials processing plants

terraforming equipment

life support modules, animals, plants

they all targeted the same area

nuclear plants by themselves

as soon as power was available, they all came alive

digging, processing, extracting, converting, building

they all had a schedule to keep

for the twentyfirst landing