episode 1 - Until the Heaven do Us part

“-I was chosen.”

He didn’t get home today in his usual way, taking off his shoes with a tired smile and asking her how her day was. He simply stood there, and left his coat undressed, repeating: "-I was chosen."

The echo of his words were lost in the din of the boiling pot, the water pouring from the tap and the blade of the knife beating dryly on the cooking board. He repeats, once more: "-I was chosen."

She doesn’t move, she continues to trim the green beans. "- Please speak. Say anything.", he begs.

She keeps still. She is unable to say anything. Swallow dry and calmly lay the knife on the sink. "-When?"

"In June of next year, we leave."

"-Ok."

"-Ok?"

"-Yes. Ok."

"-I will not come back. It's a trip without return. This means..."

"-This means..."; she interrupts. «-That is the opportunity of a lifetime. A milestone in history. If it was me, I would not even think twice either. "

“-You wouldn’t?”

“-I wouldn’t!”

“-I will not come back, Ana”; he repeats almost in a whisper.

"-I know."

"-I don’t know if I wanna go."

“-You do.”

“-I don’t want to lose you!”

"-Of course you do," she says almost automatically, but her voice fled to an almost scream.

“-I don’t want to live without a "us ".

"-I know!"; she yells beating with thin and wet hands against the bench stone.

She pulls a nervous strand of hair behind her ear. The eyes are already watery and the voice feels trapped on her throat. "-We spoke about it, there is nothing left to explain." she forces a smile. That smile bitten to hold a cry that barely holds. «-You go. And you're going to make history. There is nothing more to decide or discuss! It's decided."

"-I do not want to and I want to ..." He rubs his hand over his forehead as his nose reaches down to his boots.

"-Dinner is almost ready." she saids turning her back on him and fills her shaking hands with the strips of green beans prepared. She drops them into the boiling water.

"-I do not want you to be alone. I do not want to be alone!"; he does not know what he says or how to say it.

She turns abruptly, her face red with water running down her chin and from the kitchen ran off to the bathroom. He knocks on the door and silence falls heavy on his shoulders. Following at a slow pace toward the door. The door closes: "-Ana ..."

He hears the vomit falling to the toilet between sniffing and crying: "-Ana ..."

Ana says nothing, she cries. He opens the door slowly. She is bending over with the

face buried in her hands on the toilet seat.

"-Ana..."

"-Stop!"

He steps closer to her and sat behind her, hugging her.

"-Marry me."

"-Why?"

«Because I ... I love you.»

At 3.45 in the morning, Lisbon time, the spaceship left the Earth atmosphere forever. With no return in the agenda. A new chapter in the history of humankind is written on this day. 48 men and 18 women selected from all fields, scientific and engineering, they would begin the journey of the Mars colonization  to never return home. Today, by the new law approved by the European Union, the moment he leaves the planet for a mission of a lifetime, her marriage status will automatically change, in the registry of the Portuguese Tax and Customs as a widow. As she watches the ship tearing through the dark sky, she hears the cheers and the claps of an anonymous crowd, Ana begins to laugh nervously taking forever the ring debuted a few days ago.