PROLOGUE:
A lone explorer, on a mission to reveal the grandeur of Saturn, its rings and moons. After 20 years in space, NASA's Cassini spacecraft is running out of fuel. And so, to protect the moons of Saturn, that could have condition suitable for life, a spectacular end had been planned for this long-lived traveler from Earth..... Or..... Unexpectedly, not an end....but a new beginning....
(~)
My name is Cassini, I'm not a living being, I'm a robotic probe sent by humans from a planet called Earth. And this is my end. Well, not until that happened...
Before I could say anything else, let me introduce myself:
(Cassini's POV)
I was launched from Earth to planet Saturn on October 15, 1997. Man, Huygens is soooo annoying.
"OHHHHHHH!!! I"M SOOOO EXCITED!!!" he screamed, "Years of preparing! Finally! I'm getting my booster butt out of that lab shit! God it's soooo boring in the lab... That human nerd just kept talking and talking and talking and---"
"Bro, get to the topic!" I had enough. My little brother was so freaking annoying. Ever since he's built he kept talking.
"Sheesh, chill, I'm getting into it!" he then screamed in my sound wave sensor, "I'M BUILT FOR THIS!!!!"
"And my sensor's dead, great job." I said sarcastically.
"Wait what?" Huygens started to panic, "Yo you better not be joking, that sensor take like three weeks to build! If you're staying that means I'll be staying too! Fuck that shit. I'm NOT getting into that shitty lab again."
"Kidding! Jeez stop yelling." I sighed in defeat, and there's my brother. By the way, if you guys thinks he cussed too much, well not my fault. I ain't built for cussing. Shame on that guy who kept cussing whenever he gets mad.
Suddenly, the rocket begin to shake.
"Eeeeeep! It's happening!" Huygens screeched.
"T-minus 20 seconds." A male voice announced from outside. "Hydraulic external power to on."
Man, I've never thought of getting so far before; I mean, my friends Voyager 1 and 2 did went beyond Neptune, but one of them used the planetary gravitational sling-shot.
I'm not that lucky.
That planetary thing only comes every hundred years. And humans won't have patience to wait that long.
"Hey bro," Huygens suddenly asked, "you nervous?"
"Why not?" I sighed. "I mean, won't you be homesick? This is a single trip; once we're out then... we're not coming back."
"T-minus 16 seconds." It was the voice again. "Activate launch pad sound suppression system"
"Welp, be ready for anything." Huygens said, "No pressure, we're built for this."
I was silence for a minute, Huygens was too. It was awkward for a moment.
"Hey, little brother." I suddenly said, "Whatever happens to you on Titian, remember that I'm watching over you. From above."
"Whoa, that was... a bit emotional. But thanks." Huygens replied.
"T-minus ten seconds." The counter said, "Activate main engine hydrogen burnoff system"
For the last ten seconds on Earth, we both remained silence, not sad. I want to enjoy the last moment on Earth before we go... I'm pretty sure Huygens has the same idea.
"Nine...Eight...Seven...Six..." It was the final countdown, "Five...Four....Three...Main engine start..."
The rocket's booster an engine began to roar, releasing flames and smokes. I think I heard people cheering. Maybe it just my imagination.
"Two...One...."
"HERE WE GOOOOO!!!" Huygens suddenly yelled, giving me a core attack.
"Solid rocket booster ignition and...... liftoff!"
The entire rocket began to tremble. I can feel the forces begin to push me down. Fortunately, rockets are built for that. With the protection of the nose cone, these G-force problems are nah-uh.
I can feel the rocket moving faster and faster. About 4 seconds later, I felt a small shook as the rocket continued to advance towards the outer space. It broke the sound barrier. Now we're traveling at a speed of 4.9 mile per second, mostly all spacecraft have to reach this speed to escape through Earth's gravity.
About 8 and a half minutes later, I can no longer feel Earth's gravity pulling me down. Instead, I came a bit lose. Without a second thought I knew I was in space. Zero Gravity is awesome.
Suddenly, the nose cone flew off. I shut my visual sensor for a moment to adjust the brightness from the sun. When I opened them again. I was in total shock.
Space.
Deep, black, cold outer space.
Though I've seen many photos that Mr.Hubble had taken from the orbit, none of them can compare to the sight I saw with my own visual sensor.
"It's...It's beautiful..." I muttered. To be honest, I was surprised that Huygens isn't saying anything. I looked at him and he was speechless.
With a shook, the third stage rocket was separated. We're on our own.
I stretched out my long radiation sensor and my UV sensor. Huygens was doing a test run in his systems, while I tested mine too. Good, nothing's wrong.
I looked into the distant; the direction of Saturn.
Hey big guy, I thought. Watch your six, cuz I'm coming!
(~)
20 YEARS LATER... NEAR SATURN.
(Third Person's POV)
Cassini was finishing his final orbit around Saturn. His antenna pointed towards Earth, sending messages about the gas giant's rings to his creators.
He's lonely, but yet, not sad. Instead, Cassini's a bit excited about his final mission; Orbit Saturn for one last time, observe the rings and Saturn itself. Before he dive into the gas-giant.
Ever since his brother Huygens send his last message from Titian, Cassini felt like something is missing; well of course he did missed his annoying yet funny brother. But there's something more; he's proud of him.
But this missing feeling is not towards loneliness. It's like...something in his life haven't finished yet.
He cleared his mind and focused on the rings, but he couldn't hold onto this loneliness in his core.
30 minutes before his last mission ends. Cassini can already feel Saturn calling ti him, asking him to come down and talk. The gravitational pull from the giant planet is getting stronger and stronger. Miles and miles, closer and closer...
He looked at the gas giant, hoping to find more small details he haven't noticed at first.
Suddenly, a bright blue light flashed across Saturn, disappearing within a second.
Cassini winced, What was that? He thought, maybe just some electronic storm going o on this big guy. Man he's sure grumpy.
Cassini didn't put too much thought into that blue flash of light, he turned and continued to do his scientific stuff and sending them back to Earth.
Unnoticed by the space probe, the blue light flashed again, but this time, it stopped and stayed there for a few second before disappearing again.
(~)
30 MINUTES LATER... CASSINI'S GRAND FINALE
He dived into the atmosphere of Saturn. The force and wind begin to drag him down, but the probe fought them as he pointed his antenna towards Earth. Good bye, Earth. He translated his final words into signals and send them towards his birth planet.
He felt his sensors and antenna burning, and himself is getting hotter and hotter per second. He closed his eyes, waiting for his end. Suddenly, he heard a humming noise next to him. Wait what? He opened his visual sensors and looked around, Space has no air! How can I hear stuff? He thought.
His gaze locked the bright blue light he saw before. Shit. He cussed the only time in his entire life, An alien is going to kill me... hold on, is that.... a horse?! With horns and wings?! "What the..." The blue light came straight towards him. Cassini shut his senses to avoid the incoming impact.
No impact felt.
Instead, he felt himself being lifted. No burning were felt. He heard wind whooshing by, but he cannot open his sensors. Suddenly, his system shut down.
He was unconscious.
Author's Note
This is my first science-fiction story. Cassini I mentioned in the story is actually a real spacecraft that was sent to study Saturn and its moons by NASA in 1997. Three years ago on September 15, Cassini finished its last mission and went int Saturn. Destroyed on purpose so it won't ram into the other moons.
It was a great finish.
