Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Science Fiction

      Today started off like any other day, despite the fact that three of us might never see Earth again. I shake my head, trying to stay awake after a long night listening to my roommate snore, as the commander rambles on about deep space safety and navigation. He clears his throat, "I know that the majority of you are nervous, but this is what you've been training to do for five years," he pauses to clear his throat, again, and to pick up a sheet of paper, "today three of you will go out in search of a new planet that's suitable for human life, as you know, Earth's climate is becoming unstable..." I tune out the rest of his speech as I look around the room at the three sections of students, divided by our fields of study. "...on that note, it's time to announce the brave team of adventurers, the pilot will be Lea Walker, engineer is Lilith Clark, and communication specialist is Ethan Gibson." My eyes widen in surprise as I stand up, looking over at the other two, Lea with his shoulder length black hair tied into a short ponytail, and Lilith, whose light brown hair is thrown into a lazily styled bun. She smiles over at me, obviously overjoyed to be chosen for the mission, I smile back, curious about the two people I'll be spending the next three years with, that is if the mission actually goes well, if not, we'll probably spend the rest of our lives together adrift in space. "Once the three of you are ready, we'll meet in the command room and I'll give you more detailed instructions there, as for the rest of you, you'll be on small-scale missions, the team's are posted in the mess hall," the commander barks before turning and leaving the room. 
      About an hour later I'm standing in the command room, sweating in the heavy spacesuit and holding my helmet under my arm. Glacing around I see Lilith enter the room, she smiles and walks other, "you're Ethan, right? I'm Lilith, but just call me Lilly," she says, offering a hand. I take it, "yea, nice to meet you, any idea where the commander is? I though he'd already be here," I ask and she sighs, "you don't have to be so formal, we're going to be together for a long time and I saw the commander earlier, he was with Lea and he didn't look too happy," she shrugs. I arch an eyebrow, "what were they talking about?" I ask, curious, "I dunno, I wasn't close enough to hear, but Lea wasn't wearing a uniform or suit and he was carrying a duffle bag," she says quietly. I try to think of something to say to change the subject when a door opens and both Lea and the commander enter the room, neither looking happy. The commander stands in front of us as Lea stands next to me, looking at the floor angrily, "the three of you have already been assigned to the position that you're best suited for," he says, "however, in order for this mission to be a success, you need to work as a team," he clears his throat, "Once you lunch and get past the atmosphere, fly to the edge of the solar system, from there you'll enter in the coordinates given to you and enter into a wormhole. By the time you come out, its unknown how much time may have passed here on Earth, but we won't be able to directly contact you. The data you collect will be sent back here, and we'll analyze it, when you find a suitable planet with an atmosphere simular to Earth's with some sort of food and water supply, plant one of the sensors located on the left side of your ship," he explains, "now go get strapped in." I nod and turn to follow Lilly out of the room. 
Once inside the ship I sit down in the seat at the back of the ship, next to the monitors and radio system, Lilly finishes strapping herself in next to the engine hatch and Lea sighs as he untwists some of the strapped before buckling them, "everyone finished?" He asks without turning around. " Yea, I'll send command the all clear," I say and pick up the radio mic, "this is mission one-two-eight, we are ready for launch," I say. "You are clear," a voice comes over the radio and a count down starts on the main monitor with a robotic voice reading off the numbers. By the time it gets down to one the sounds of the main engine to loud enough to drown out the voice. Lea visibly tenses as we launch, and I arch an eyebrow, a pilot should be used to the feeling of launching and know that it's not really enough to even warrant needing to be strapped down. "Lea, are you alright?" Lilly asks loud enough to be heard over the roar of the engine, sounding concerned, he nods, "I'll be find, just go ahead and put on your helmets," he says, putting his on. Pulling mine on and snapping the clasps down I watch him, wondering why he might of been trying to run away earlier and if it has anything to do with how he's acting now. "We've just left Earth's atmosphere, so it'll be smooth sailing for awhile," Lilly says excitedly when the noise finally dies down. Bitting my lip I think of my family and why I decided to agree with training for something like this in the first place. "How long until we get to the edge of the solar system?" I ask and Lea looks back at me, "I'd say about three or four days, give or take, it depends on what the limit is on this thing," he shrugs, "I'm guessing it's a bit faster than anything other mission's had to work with." Lilly nods, opening the engine hatch, "looks close to what the last mission had to work with, but with a few modifications, so you're on the right track, last mission took 'bout five days for them to reach it." I smile to myself, "well, what do you think they stocked for us to eat?" I ask jokingly. "Hopefully something better than what the cafeteria served," Lea answers, taking hold of the controls and steering us in the right direction. 

CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 2