The Winners:
Poetry:
Title: Here There Be Monsters
To every sailor that braved the seven seas
There was a warning amidst in fear.
The storms and waters that is to be
Discovered- Here There Be Monster.
From the dragons of the Greeks,
To the Kraken that seeks,
Astray ships to be engulfed…
Deep down into Davy Jones Locker.
There were tales of Poseidon
His wrath far and wide.
That sucked ships that had went beside
The uncharted waters of his kingdom.
Hurricanes are stirred by each breath,
Fierce storms form by their clashes.
And death was for all who sails
In the wake of their fury.
They dwell in dreams…
In the power of imagination…
In the fear of each sailor…
Uncharted, enchanted, territorial…
They hide, whisper distill
They are there-
In those uncharted territories…
Here There Be Monsters.
By: Billy HuangAge: 13
Tustin Library
Prose:
Title
I jolted awake as Jonathan, our commander and pilot, jammed a helmet on my head. My face, a vivid violet from the lack of oxygen, resumed its normal color as cool, sweet air flowed from my tank into my face with the force of a welcome gale. My suit’s bulkiness was countered by the weightlessness of… wherever we were. Then recognition flooded my brain as I stared out the window. The red rocks, towering cliffs, sinking craters—this was Mars. My fellow astronauts bustled around me, their faces tight with urgent purpose.
"Nathaniel!" Jonathan’s tinny voice blasted through my helmet’s speaker. "Stop groaning—you’re not hurt. Start salvaging whatever you can. If you haven’t noticed, the ship is still burning!"
I sprang up and whirled around. My startled eyes reflected the inferno that engulfed the front of the ship, which melted like a wax candle. Through the gaping holes, the fire tried to escape, but was snuffed out by lack of oxygen.
I noticed a bundle of Martian constellation maps, and hurriedly lobbed them out a fire-warped window. Our connecting giant, the 500-foot long Invincible, true to her name had crashed and was happily burning nearby. I abandoned our tiny control ship, the Indestructible, and bounded across the landscape to help save our colony equipment. Three five gallon water tanks slid out of the titanic supply ship. Yet another two burst open in the blaze, quenching part of the flames. Computerized food containers, glass and solar panels, exotic looking plants, pneumatic doors, bags of soil, pistols, nylon ropes—only a few of each were saved. All the rest went up in flames as the inferno crackled through the entire ship, melting it into a drooping frame. All six of us astronauts stared in disbelief. NASA was always so precise and thorough planning, preparing, and testing for every spacecraft and mission. What had gone wrong? I blinked back tears and tried not to despair. Shutting my eyes from the cold, unforgiving landscape sprawled in front of me, I took a deep breath. Jonathan took control as I struggled to suppress my instincts to run far, far away.
"We will be alright. Our laboratory module is already on Mars and will sustain us for the entire operation. Though we have no way of travelling back, we can contact NASA, and they will surely send help. I’ll do that. Everyone else must set up additional life support."
I took one last look at the endless, barren landscape. It didn’t look like it could sustain us, let alone a colony. Each of my companions had already bound over to a foil covered box, and I hurriedly did the same. After entering a code on a keypad, the boxes, with a whirring, opened and grew into multi-paned domes with black, strong bottoms and legs. These five domes, each a greenhouse, formed a pentagon.
Once open, we rushed inside and placed exotic plants on revolving racks, and planted hundreds of seeds after rich bags of soil were set in containers. These plants, our bio-regenerative life support, would provide food, produce oxygen, and cleanse water and air.
When finished, we moved on to the next task—setting up hydrogen reaction machines. These were foil covered tanks that held compressed hydrogen. By utilizing simple reactions between them and the carbon dioxide rich Martian atmosphere, they would produce methane, water, and oxygen, which were essential to power and survival. These tanks were then pushed by their big wheels and connected to the laboratory module. Once this was done, we would be able to, with the life support systems already landed on Mars, sustain ourselves for at least a couple hundred days. Everything would be fine. Now, we only had to check on how Jonathan was doing.
"Ok." Jonathan’s relieved voice breathed through my speaker. We all bounded over. Jonathan had typed a message on a round metal disk covered in solar panels, and sent it to the satellite orbiting Mars, which beamed it to Mission Control. He had now received their response, and sent it to each of us.
Mission Control is sending a VASIMR rocket immediately, which will contain five tanks of hydrogen, ten tanks of oxygen…I closed my eyes and breathed a slow sigh. Everything was almost back to normal. We were as safe as we could be for the moment.
"NASA decided we are to begin our first assignment, now that we are prepared," Jonathan announced. Oliver and I, the mission specialists, were to investigate the geology and mineralogy of the Olympus Mons region.
"Mars… So unknown. Aren’t you eager to explore the landscape? It awes me just to imagine the sheer size of Olympus Mons," I said as Oliver and I headed for the pressurized rover.
Once the doors sealed, I took off my suit and strapped myself in the pilot’s seat. Oliver, after hanging up his suit, went through our equipment.
"Everything accounted and in working order," he announced from the body of the rover.
He then climbed into the co-pilot’s seat. During the three-hour drive, we both sat tensely in our seats. We didn’t trust anything after the SPIRO accident.
Even from our landing site, we could see Olympus Mons, blurred in the distance. Now it loomed in front of us, though still miles away. Red rocks extended forever in all 360 degrees. Nothing looked like Earth, though Mars was more similar to Earth than any other planet. The landscape was just as diverse—dipping craters and valleys, and rising mountains; but nothing was recognizable. Mars was a new frontier, as the Americas had been in the 1600s. We had hardly any knowledge of the land beyond. We were explorers discovering the unknown.
We had heard Olympus Mons was three times the height of Mount Everest and the size of Arizona, but were not prepared for its immensity. The gentle five degree slope now began, and we craned our necks, trying to see the summit, but of course, it was too far away. The slope of this shield volcano seemed to stretch forever. Olympus Mons was clad in red rock, but below, churning magma and layers of igneous rocks filled its body. We felt like bacteria moving across a giant Petri dish. The volcano, like any other, had thousands of dips and steeper slopes, and progress was slow and jarring. The landscape grew monotonous, and I tried to imagine what kind of geology we would find. This was a volcano composed of basalt. There was nothing different in the place we were going.
Just then, our rover veered sharply to the left and skid down a slope. We slammed into the doors and Oliver stomped on the brakes. This was unexpected. The rover dragged to a stop, throwing up red dust and dirt. When the dust cleared, we looked apprehensively out the window, and found we were at the bottom of a banana-shaped crater. What could be in this empty, barren place? I consulted the map. We had not yet reached our destination; that was still twelve miles ahead. Then our coordinates right now should be… I stared at the map in consternation. Where our coordinates were, the map showed a flat surface. This was not anticipated.
I showed this discovery to my partner. "Oliver, look…
"We’re stuck in the wrong place. The slopes are too steep for the rover. And NASA, nor our base, knows about this crater."
We needed the rover to survive, so the area for our assignments was too far away. After contacting base, we could either wait, or explore. I quickly decided.
"The rover can sustain us for several weeks. We’ll surely find a way out. Besides, we have contact with our base. I think we shouldn’t fret about this and go explore. If we’re correct, then we’ve discovered a new crater!"
Oliver was not one to make rash decisions. He seemed to ponder this for a long time. Finally, he decided.
"I think we’re safe. But we’d better contact our base first. Then we can explore the area."
"Fine. Oliver, you do that. I’ll use radar and map the area."
Oliver put on his suit and clambered out to radio. I used the rover’s radar to check the surrounding area. Yes, we were in a banana shaped crater. I scanned this onto a map. Then I noticed something. At the top of the crater’s far right slope was a cave. A potato-shaped bubble in the cave was colored money-green. Gold deposits! I tumbled out of the rover even as I jammed on my helmet, and taking the map, bound over to Oliver as quick as I could.
"Oliver!" I blasted over the speakers.
"What? No need to shout."
I showed him the map. He stared.
"That is worth exploring," he said.
Once he sent the message for help, we took the rover three miles, keeping our suits on, to the far side of the crater, where our map showed the cave. The crater was long and deep, but very narrow, so the slopes seemed to close in and tower over us. The sun was not yet high enough to shine down into the crater, so the red rocks were shadowed in the dim light. A silhouetted cave soon grew in sight. It was giant, perhaps as large as the Niagara Falls. But it was also high up, and difficult to reach. We would have to use our propulsion systems and nylon ropes, a risky undertaking. Only the adventurous would dare. But I planned to chart that cave and uncover the valuable minerals—no matter what could happen to me.
Once up close, the slope looked a lot more immense. It seemed perilous, if not impossible to get up if it weren’t for Mars’ lesser gravity.
"I’ll go first," I announced, and clambering out, strapped on my propulsion system. Oliver did the same. I grit my teeth, powered up the system, and blasted upward. I looked down anxiously a second later and found Oliver shooting up directly below me.
A minute later, we reached the ledge. I tilted forward and shot straight into the gaping cave before us. Momentum carried me in a long arc, and I shut down my propulsion system while switching on two powerful headlights, my eyes darting as I searched for incoming obstacles. There were none, and gravity brought me down.
"Oliver?" I called through my radio as I hurried towards his sweeping headlights, equipment bouncing on my belt. He grunted a reply.
"I’ll follow you," he whispered when I reached him. I followed his gaze into the vast and forbidding darkness beyond.
Taking ginger steps, I ventured forward. A radar tracker on my belt began to map the area. The cave, which began as drab red and dusty rock, soon filled with sparkling crystals of granite. This looked more promising, and my steps became a cheerful bounce. For two hours we progressed, searching every nook and cranny. Not a glint of gold. We were fully aware that our tanks only contained six hours of air. My limbs grew limp and tired. In the silence, a steady rhythm rang clear as a bell in my head. One, two, one, two… Determination and patience were the keys here. The radar map clearly showed gold in this area—we would find it. All of a sudden, I skid to a stop. Oliver came up behind me.
"What--"
We stared down into a gaping hole that filled the rest of the cave. The cave’s end was visible ahead. But down the hole was more to explore. The bottom was just visible, and looked promising—our lights caught golden glints on jutting rocks. The sides were granite but had no handholds big enough for our giant gloved hands. The operation here had to be precise—or we could be dashed onto the rocks below. Sweat dribbled down my neck, but I steeled myself and volunteered to go first. We would be using our propulsion systems again.
We descended slowly and smoothly, and as we grew closer to the floor, the rocks looked more promising. Though largely hidden by granite, brilliant flashes of gold caught us in the eyes when we glanced down. I couldn’t wait to get down. With a surge of energy and adrenaline, I sped up the system and rocketed downward. A mistake. My perfect parallel with the ground was skewed, and I crashed into a jagged edge of granite, knocking all breath out of me. I sprawled out onto the rocks. Oliver gave a shocked cry and scrambled over once he descended.
"You alright? You were so careful up till now. It isn’t best to ruin an operation by being rash during the last, most dangerous moments."
I breathed a ragged sigh of regret and pushed myself up. When there were risks, I had to always be cautious, no matter what lay ahead.
We were now at the heart of our exciting discovery. It was time to get to work. Ignoring the temptation to touch the precious metal, we investigated the area first. The chamber was quite vast, and twisted off into seemingly endless tunnels and mazes which we had no time to explore. We created radar maps of the entire area, which we could examine later, and began the slow chipping and gentle drilling to get the samples. An hour later, everything was done, and the path ahead, though tread only once, already seemed well-worn and expected. The excitement was now over, and a slight weariness seemed to replace it. All we had left to do was analyze our discoveries in the laboratory module. After that, we did not know. Perhaps help would come, or more days of exploring!
Artist Statement
Uncharted territory is something only the most courageous dare to explore. It often leads to nothing at all except a sense of accomplishment, but only those who take risks can receive the rare treasures it sometimes yields.
By: Tony Zeng
Age: 12
Irvine
Honorable Mention:
Poetry:
Title: The Parthenon Palace
Every morning
I wear a jet black suit and grab the earliest bus to L.A.
Tolerating
Trudging
Tiring
I am my Parthenon’s five dozen pillars
Every morning
I heat up frozen lunches and dust the furniture
Supporting
Straining
Scolding
I am my Parthenon’s statue of Athena
Every morning
I put on mascara and review my iPhone scheduler
Worrying
Whining
Wishing
I am my Parthenon’s fickle fortress
Every morning
I rush through homework and miss the first bell
Regretting
Running
Rushing
I am my Parthenon’s ivory mosque
Every evening
We no longer fear uncharted territory
Laughing
Learning
Loving
For we are one of the strongest monuments in the world: family
Artist StatementFamily is the motivation that helps me navigate my path through uncharted territory. Though we tire throughout the day, family is the safe haven that guides us through mysterious waters. I connected this theme to the Parthenon Palace because it is a vacation spot my family hopes to visit in the future and because my parents enjoy its architecture.
By: Hoyeon Lee
Age: 15
Irvine Heritage Park Library
: : : The Red Planet’s Secrets
