Prologue: The journey begins
Earth, She was so beautiful from up here. A blue shining orb of life in the darkness of nothingness.
I was floating above her, exchanging the solar panels of a satellite. This was my last training session before I was to embark on my mission with the other chosen astronauts. The solar panel was in place and so I accessed the satellite to start a test run. The device booted up and started to emit a sum.
"Satellite repaired," I mentioned as I closed the access to the control panel.
"Good Job Martin, now come back to the shuttle to end EVA," the commander answered over comms.
Using the control nozzle system of my space suit I carefully navigated back to the shuttle. It was about 3,000 meters distance so I had time and fell into thoughts about my upcoming mission.
Though so beautiful from space, Mother Earth was injured badly by us, probably even dying. There was no green to be seen on her. All animals except the most resilient were extinct. The oceans were full of trash and chemicals, bathing in them would kill in mere minutes. Earth has become a place where future generations couldn't live and prosper any longer.
And so the earth government had given a go for a dozen missions to prepare potential worlds for Human Colonization. I still can't believe, I'm one of the few chosen to leave our mother behind in search of a new one, whom shall nourish us. We'll take selfishly and destroy, leaving nothing but burnt earth in our path, surely killing our new mother as well.
Sometimes I wish God would end it all, the pointless destruction and greed that we Humans seem to thrive upon.
I chuckled at that thought, because I didn't believe in God. Snapped out of my thoughts, I have covered the 3 kilometers and reached the airlock. I took a last glance at the docks in orbit above Earth, building our hopes and dreams, the dreams of Humanity.
"Martin reporting in at airlock 3," I grabbed the handle on the door, "asking for permission to enter."
"Permission granted," the clicking signaling the unlocked door to the commanders response.
I carefully pulled on the door and floated inside, spinning around to secure the door. The hissing of the oxygen streaming into the room and the security light changing its color from red to green assured me the correct execution of boarding procedures.
I opened the door leading into the shuttle interior and proceeded to remove my EVA suit. Afterward floating to the cockpit to prepare reentry. Arriving there, I noticed that all other crew members had already taken seats and were waiting for the straggler just entering.
I waved my hand across the room to silently say hello to everybody, while floating to my seat behind the commander.
"Everyone go for reentry?" the commander looked up from her control panel and over her shoulder.
Swiftly buckling up my safety belt as the others all answered go, I was the last one to say, "go."
After the commander was given permission from control to start reentry on planned vector, we were swiftly approaching Earth on a shallow trajectory. Dipping into the outer atmosphere, the nose of our shuttle was slightly shifted upwards to let the heat shield absorb the increasing temperature. Plasma started to form around our ship, letting us see flames, more liquid than fire. First in white, changing to green and blue as we further descended. Our shuttle started swaying back and forth and I was beginning to feel the G-Force of our reentry.
The next part I always hated on reentry. The massive G's as we hit the thick part of our lower atmosphere, but we soon were slowed down enough and were gliding this brick of a ship to our destination.
Minutes later I could see the land way coming into sight. Relief could be heard in the entire cockpit as we touched down safely and the drag shoots were launched. Slowly coming to halt, we'd made a perfect landing, bringing our mission to a satisfactory conclusion.
4 Weeks later
We, twelve of us, were sitting in the briefing room, waiting for our final briefing, before we would leave. Leave for a long journey, never to return. This was also the reason, they chose men and women without families.
I didn't have a wife, neither a serious girlfriend in the last five years. I was just too busy preparing for the New Horizon missions. My parents were already dead. My mother died at my birth and my father died in the last great war for drinkable water about ten years ago. Now being 25, there was really nothing holding me here.
The mission supervisor entered the room, turning the lights off and proceeding to the front of the room. The beamer starting up, we all waited, anticipating the upcoming briefing.
The supervisor started his briefing. "We've finished the twelve ships in orbit. Horizon 1 to 12. Each of you will be boarding one of these ships with experimental shield, propulsion and terraforming technology. These ships have all the equipment you will need to set up base on your planet and start terraforming if necessary.
"When you've established base, you're goal is to monitor the planet and it's possibilities. If your planet achieves enough points on the colonization index, you set up communication and prepare terraforming as well as expanding base. The main part of your ship will be able to provide you all the resources and infrastructure you need for this. Keep in mind, your ship is not meant for returning into orbit. If your scouted planet is not suitable, well get your hammock out and enjoy the rest of your life. It wasn't possible to pack enough resources for a return and you knew what you signed up for.
"If you encounter life, study and report on it. Should you even discover intelligent life, that you can interact with, well, let's put it this way: the mission objective is top priority.
"You will be using a new warp drive technology, that will achieve greater speeds than light, though even with this propulsion, your journey will take years. As excessively trained, you'll be sleeping in your cryo capsules.
"Each of you will have a virtual intelligence accompany you embedded into the ship. It, or if you prefer him or her, will control the ship and aid you wherever possible. This concludes the brief summary of your mission and training. We'll be in touch over the whole mission, but keep in mind, communication will take years at your destination."
The lights were switched back on, a sign that the briefing was coming to an end. Questions were answered and we were ready to embark on our journey the next day after final testing.
The next day after Launch
I was in my one man craft as I approached Horizon 1. Tears in my eyes. Even though I didn't leave much behind, it was still gripping my feelings, that I've left Earth. No one was saying good bye to me, nor did I have one to say farewell to. I was already feeling lonely.
Well, there was actually someone saying goodbye. The whole of Humanity. The publicity that this mission made, was mind boggling. There wasn't a person on the planet, that didn't know about it. We were already heroes, though we haven't even started our mission. The launch didn't pose any problems, it was a magnificent sight. There were millions of people who had come to give us their hopes and dreams for our journey.
My space craft reached Horizon 1 and was switching to the autopilot for boarding procedures.
The Horizon ships were massive. As big as a multiple skyscrapers together. They have a large ring spinning around the ship to simulate gravity. This will be where I work and live most of the time. Most of the space was taken for the terraforming equipment and resource storage. Everything that I would need to set up a self sustainable camp.
My jumper was slowly approaching the hangar of the ship. Two giant doors were opening up so that I could land. The hangar wasn't pressurized, it would have just been too wasteful. I let the autopilot land the jumper and exited in my space suit. Floating over to the airlock leading to the mono rail system, I couldn't help but wonder over all the vehicles that were in the hangar. Most of them for ground operations. Rovers and excavators as well as military vehicles. Even a Tank.
Who knows what that was meant for, but apparently we should be prepared for everything.
I could finally take of my helmet as I took a seat in the mono rail. It was as short ride to the command bridge. The lights turned on as I entered, being greeted by a robotic voice not resembling male or female.
"Welcome, Martin, I'm Gonny, your virtual AI. I'll be your partner on this journey."
"Hello, Gonny," I greeted a little bit uneasy. "Gonny, please activate female profile."
"Very well, is this better?" replied a feminine and very gentle voice.
I gave Goony a thumbs up without saying a word, she registered it through her censors. I wasn't the type for a lot of words, so I was thankful that Gonny kept shut, even though now impersonating a woman. After all, she was programmed to understand and process my feelings as well as react accordingly. She would keep me some company, if I would come to need it.
Well, here I was, sitting in the commander seat, waiting for the mission to start, for the go from mission control. Our ships would launch one by one, since Horizon one was the first ship to start, I opened comms with mission control.
"Horizon 1, reporting in. System check positive, ready for start."
"Horizon 1, you're go. May the hopes and dreams of Humanity be with you." Mission control then went silent.
The initial start out of dock was accomplished with solid fuel boosters. They weren't up to our standards anymore, but hey, they were dirt cheap and did the job of getting clear of docks for activation of warp engines.
I gave Gonny a nod and she started the engines. It took a couple of seconds for them to start up, accompanied with a roaring and a trembling of the ship. I was pushed back into my seat, closing my eyes and thinking final thoughts about my home, Earth.
...
It's been a day since departure, the solid boosters have long been ejected and I was floating through space with the original start momentum. It was about time to prepare for the sleep in those dreaded cryo capsules.
I've gotten acquainted with the ship and Gonny. Learned where everything was and had a couple of chats with her.
She had a personality that combined well with mine. I didn't care much about others, or interacting with them. I even had trouble finding a girlfriend or friends back in my days as kid. Well, that actually didn't change much. I was always in thoughts about something. I really didn't need much company to not feel lonely. Working with my colleagues was enough filling for my tastes. Oh, and I loved peace and silence. If things got to loud or irritating, I would get aggressive.
Gonny's personality was programmed to mine and therefore appealed to me. She would cheer me up when I was in need and left me be when I was in thought.
I stepped into the cryo lab and undressed until I had nothing left on me.
"I like what I see," said Gonny
"Oh be quiet," I commented irritated, but still cracking a smirk at her joke.
I walked up to the capsule and remembered our training. I shuddered at what was to come, but I had to get this over with. I got into the capsule and pushed a button to close it. A transparent lid slid over the opening and sealed the capsule air tight.
I told Gonny good night and she wished me sweet dreams. I then started the freezing procedure, as I would call it, after I took one last deep breath and braced myself.
The machine roughly and swiftly injected four large needles with hoses attached to them into my body. I yelped in surprise and pain, but was swiftly getting drowsy as I could feel cold gripping me and chilling every last inch of my body. I was being cooled down with blue fluid entering my blood system. I started to tremble, my body in pain, it seemed like an eternity until I finally fell into darkness.
5 Years have passed
Celestia was sitting on her throne, awaiting the arrival of the diplomat from Yakyakistan. Suddenly she sensed something she could not pinpoint. A feeling of a stranger, but it was so weak, she really wasn't sure if she was not mistaken. In fact, the feeling disappeared entirely as the royal guard interrupted her thoughts as they announced the arrival of the diplomat.
Author's Note
These notes will be removed as the story progresses.
Please tell me your thoughts and suggestions in the comments.
This being my first shot at writing in general and not being a native speaker, every help will be appreciated.
A Roadmap for this story hasn't been worked out yet. Ratings and content tags may change.
Cheers
