The Feeling

"The Feeling" by Roger D. Aycock is a science fiction story that follows a team of astronauts on their way to Mars as they grapple with a mysterious and overwhelming sense of homesickness and loneliness, which they simply call "the Feeling." As Captain Maxon, Lieutenant Walraven, Lieutenant Vaughn, and Lieutenant Ragan travel further from Earth they try to write off this experience as an issue with their ship, but soon must accept a profound emotional weight threatening to uproot their mission. They learn that the human heart is a complex thing by realizing the "Feeling" stems from their lost connections to Earth and a fundamental human need to belong. The crew confronts isolation, identity, and what it truly means to be human, as they try to find ways to cope amidst the stars.