Background

Maj. Tom Doran

Tom Doran was a major in the US Air Force, who was selected for an experimental NASA mission out to the farthest reaches of known space. He was chosen above all the other candidates for his stamina, intelligence, and dogged determination to be the best in his field.

Standing there alone, the ship is waiting All systems are go, are you sure? Control is not convinced, but the computer Has the evidence, no need to abort The countdown starts

Ground Control to Major Tom Commencing countdown, engines on Check ignition, and may God's love be with you

The mission was hugely advertised in the press. On launch day, Major Tom kissed his wife goodbye, donned his spacesuit and helmet, and boarded the craft, waving to the cameras and the gathered crowd before he turned and closed the hatch behind him.

The rocket was launched exactly as planned. The scientists in Mission Control monitored their readouts, of the rocket's integrity, Major Tom's vitals, the plotted course trajectory. All seemed to be on course. Major Tom's travel lasted weeks, but finally he made it to his destination, an unmanned probe floating at the edge of the solar system. The probe had gone unresponsive, for reasons NASA scientists could not determine. This was the purpose of the mission: To diagnose and repair whatever had happened to the probe.

With Mission Control's go-ahead, Major Tom began his spacewalk.

This is Major Tom to Ground Control I'm stepping through the door And I'm floating in a most peculiar way And the stars look very different today

Back at ground control, there is a problem Go to rockets full, not responding Hello Major Tom, are you receiving? Turn the thrusters on, we're standing by There's no reply

In Houston, Major Tom's comms went suddenly dead— whatever had disabled the probe was doing the same thing to the technology keeping Major Tom connected to Mission Control back on Earth.

What NASA didn't know, is that Major Tom was witnessing something incredible. Something that human minds were not meant to comprehend. A wave of extrasolar energy was pulsing through space, hitting the probe, the rocket, and Major Tom in waves. His mind was opened up to the vastness of the universe, and he would never be the same again.

Ground Control to Major Tom Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Across the stratosphere a final message Give my wife my love, then nothing more

A message of love is the last that anyone on Earth hears from Major Tom, as the ethereal light from outside our galaxy fills his body and mind, and he sets his course away from home, forever.

Far beneath the ship, the world is mourning They don't realize he's alive No one understands, but Major Tom sees Now the light commands, this is my home I'm coming home

Major Tom is a DWRP OC based on the songs Space Oddity by David Bowie and Major Tom by Peter Schilling, as performed by the Tufts Beelzebubs.

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