November 6, 2008

John saluted the president. Thankfully, the interminable ceremony was almost over. He was tired of saying goodbye, tired of being put on display and tired of wondering if he had made the correct choice in accepting this assignment.  His farewell to Tania had seemed oddly sterile – devoid of passion or even rhetoric.  Yet passion and rhetoric  was what had forged their relationship in the first place as they worked endlessly for the Next Step movement in its effort to gain public recognition that clones were sentient beings  - just as human as their donors and thus entitled to basic human rights.  Tania had intense green eyes that flashed when she was angry. She had been angry a lot. So had he.  Their anger towards the scientists and the government had drawn them together into intense physical encounters that could hardly be described as making love.  It was more like making anger.  However, they did love each other – or so John thought, or wanted to think.  It was just that one day Tania left. There were no shouted words, no recriminations, and no explanations. Just a packed suitcase.  He only saw her once after that.  Three years had passed. He arrived at her apartment in his New Hope captain’s uniform to say goodbye for the last time as he could never return to Earth.  He remembered feeling nervous as he stood at the door and wondered if she would embrace him or cry or beg him to stay.  She did none of those things.  Her green eyes no longer flashed.  She stared at him for a moment then invited him in and introduced him to Guy who was a musician who made money bartending – “You know, John, one of those old fashioned restaurants where they have real people mixing the drinks. It’s quite the rage.”  John explained that he had been awarded captaincy of one of the New Hope Project’s ships – the Aurora and would be leaving Earth shortly forever.  Tania looked at him thoughtfully.  “We really made a mess of this, didn’t we John”.  John nodded and left.  For his entire life, he would never know exactly what she meant.  That she and John had made a mess of their relationship?   Or, was it that humanity had made a mess of the Earth?  

It was time to move on.  There was really nothing left for him on Earth. 

 

11/12/08

It was time to shake everyone’s hand.  The faces were a blur, and it didn’t matter because these were people that John would never see again.  After John, the settlers made  two minute speeches in which they invariably thanked their respective governments for allowing them to take part in this wonderful adventure and how they would always honor their countries and their cultures in the new world. It was hardly surprising that all speeches sounded the identical. Terrified of international incident, the settlers had been given a “speech sheet” from which they could select pre-approved phrases. The sheet was designed to resemble a prix fix restaurant menu with choices listed under   each category. Deviation from the approved speech could mean expulsion from the group.  Of course, as captain, John had the freedom to design his own farewell speech. However, he since he had no idea of what to say, his speech was bland and politically correct.   “I am truly honored to be leading this New Hope expedition to a new world – a fresh start for humanity. Someday, far in the future, when space travel is more feasible and communication possible, we will greet our planet Earth neighbor and welcome in an age of prosperity and inter-stellar communication.”

But what new world where?  The ship was programmed for Alpha Centuari  B which supposedly had at least one Earth like planet in its orbit. However, no one had actually explored the planet.  Despite reams of science fiction on the subject in which spacecraft could jump instantaneously into new galaxies, the highest speed that could be attained was still only fifty-two hundred thousand six miles per second – less than half the speed of light, and that only occurred for short distances under extremely controlled situation which used small objects.  The Aurora, partially due to its vast size and configuration could only travel a maximum of  twenty four  hundred miles per second, or about one eighth of the speed of light.  Acceleration to that speed also took time as did deceleration.  Therefore, while the Alpha Centauri system was only 4.37 light years away, the journey would take the Aurora twenty years to complete with no return trip possible.  While some resources could and probably would be devoted to terraforming, the basics of water, some atmosphere, habitable climate, and soil elements would need to be present.  If necessary, Aurora could devote a century to rendering the planet habitable. However, this still required the basic building blocks. The final colony could not live forever under domes. Orbiting the planet for extended periods of time caused its own set of problems. The ship was not designed to provide permanent living arrangements for the number of passengers it carried. Since of course the ship relied on the standard FDE, more formally referred to as fusion derived energy, power for an extended trip would not be an issue. Nevertheless,   no one particularly liked the idea of a multi-generational voyage into deep space with no known destination.  Hopefully the scientists were correct in their assumption that the Alpha Centauri system would prove suitable.

John saluted the president. Thankfully, the interminable ceremony was almost over. He was tired of saying goodbye, tired of being put on display and tired of wondering if he had made the correct choice in accepting this assignment.  His farewell to Tania had seemed oddly sterile – devoid of passion or even rhetoric.  Yet passion and rhetoric  was what had forged their relationship in the first place as they worked endlessly for the Next Step movement in its effort to gain public recognition that clones were sentient beings  - just as human as their donors and thus entitled to basic human rights.  Tania had intense green eyes that flashed when she was angry. She had been angry a lot. So had he.  Their anger towards the scientists and the government had drawn them together into intense physical encounters that could hardly be described as making love.  It was more like making anger.  However, they did love each other – or so John thought, or wanted to think.  It was just that one day Tania left. There were no shouted words, no recriminations, and no explanations. Just a packed suitcase.  He only saw her once after that.  Three years had passed. He arrived at her apartment in his New Hope captain’s uniform to say goodbye for the last time as he could never return to Earth.  He remembered feeling nervous as he stood at the door and wondered if she would embrace him or cry or beg him to stay.  She did none of those things.  Her green eyes no longer flashed.  She stared at him for a moment then invited him in and introduced him to Guy, a musician who made money bartending – “You know, John, one of those old fashioned restaurants where they have real people mixing the drinks. It’s quite the rage.”  John explained that he had been awarded captaincy of one of the New Hope Project’s ships – the Aurora - and would be leaving Earth forever.  Tania looked at him thoughtfully.  “We really made a mess of this, didn’t we John”.  John nodded and left.  For his entire life, he would never know exactly what she meant.  That she and John had made a mess of their relationship?   Or, was it that humanity had made a mess of the Earth?  

It was time to move on.  There was really nothing left for him on Earth. 

Yet when the Aurora lifted ponderously up through the Earth’s atmosphere and John saw the continents and oceans shrinking with increasing speed, he felt a desperate pang of longing. He would never see Earth again or his parents or his friends or Tania – Tania, the way she was, when her eyes flashed with passion and her voice was strong with conviction.  His children, if he had them, would never know Earth. For them, another planet would be home. He would become an old man spinning tales of a world that would seem a fairy tale to be told at bed time or to pass the time on a rainy afternoon.  There would never be a life shared with Tania; the cause they had fought so hard for, risked everything for, had failed. Clones still languished in harsh facilities, void of all human comfort all because they were not and now would never be, considered human. No doubt experimentation would continue.  Common cattle led a better life than clones. They at least saw sunshine and moved about in the open air of the ranching regions before slaughter. There would be no clones on the new world, he vowed to himself.  The new home world would be a new start – not just for humanity, but for John Forrester. This had to be his chance to redeem himself, to make up for all that had gone wrong. How was it possible to experience so much pain at leaving a place?  That’s all Earth was, really, a point in space. To which I can never return, he thought bitterly. He desperately missed all the might have beens: Tania, his father, a healthy Earth – her oceans filled with life, her skies free of synthezone, and humanity living at peace.

The ship accelerated.  John could feel his body crushed relentlessly into the deep padding of his control pod. He took a slow deep breath and adjusted his oxygen flow.   

“Captain Forrester, we are monitoring a slight to moderate elevation in blood pressure for you and your passengers.”

“Roger that, control. We are in lift-off mode.  Please alert ship’s medical if pressure levels exceed normal parameters.”  How idiotic,  thought John to himself. We are saying goodbye to all that we know while we are being subjected to lift-off g-force, and I’m discussing blood pressure levels.

“And God speed, Captain,” added the disembodied voice of the control agent – sounding for a moment, sincere. “We will stay in contact with you as long as possible before switching you over to the Mars station.”

 

11/14/08

John grinned in spite of himself. Mars.  Just two hundred years ago, Mars was supposed to save humanity. After manned scientific voyages of the previous century had evolved into mining colonies the mining colonies became romanticized as the new frontier reminiscent of the early American west . Settlers rushed to the red planet with high hopes of terraforming it into a new Eden only to be beaten down by the dust, winds, temperature extremes, and lack of atmosphere. Life under domes was crowded and grim.  Most of the settlers returned within ten years and Mars remained red and dry – its water still frozen and inaccessible. However, red and dry was ideal for mining. Scientific missions continued to be successful – perhaps because of the very lack of settlers and green plants.  Several new elements had already been discovered as well as new crystalline structures that continued to baffle the scientific community. Of course, the attractive thing about Mars was that one could return home.  It was rather like the lunar medical facility and spa – a safe step into space, with the guarantee of a return voyage.

 

11/17/08

The all-clear bell chimed discretely and the safety pod’s auto-release system unsnapped. As John righted himself, he watched the line of his first officers following suit. “That wasn’t so bad,” remarked First Officer Flanagan.  He ruffled his hair and grinned. “Well, Captain?”

“Easy take-off, Flanagan,” replied John.  The two had been at the academy together and had the special bond of having survived the much dreaded parametal navigation requirement.  “Now, team,” John continued.  “We’re still in contact with Earth. In four days, we’ll be passed on to Mars. Yes, I know we’re off to a slow start, but remember, we have that payload of spent fuel rods to deal with. Mr. Flanagan, check the status of the payload please.  Ms. Moray, keep a close watch on space clutter – we’re still very close to Earth. Ms. Scalia, please coordinate with engineering. Mr. Dobbs, please check with support personnel re our passengers. I need to know that everyone managed to climb out of their safety pods. We do have a few children on board. Mr. Ogilvy, you are my liason with the science crew. Please check on them and send me their assessment of the hydroponics and labs as soon as possible. And that’s all for now.”

The bridge crew laughed and groaned good naturedly. John knew full well that everyone resented the slow speed at which they were traveling. However, under the best of circumstances, space clutter enforced a slower speed. Furthermore, the cargo of spent  nuclear fuel rods complicated the exit from the solar system.  Part of the deal that the New Hope project had made with the government was that each New Hope ship would have a large cargo of nuclear waste contained in a lead lined self-propelled vessel. This unit was attached outside the ship to avoid contamination of the passengers within. Once safely outside the solar system, the Aurora would gently release the nuclear waste vessel and activate its onboard engine.  The engine was designed to propel the vessel by short timed bursts into deep space.  Travelling at a very slow speed, the nuclear waste would slowly decay in the immense void between the stars.  One of Earth’s contamination problems was the huge accumulation of the previous centuries of nuclear waste. For as oil and fossil fuel reserves dwindled, the easiest most cost effective means to provide energy was by “going noocular”, a word coined by an unpopular political figure of the early two thousands. Unfortunately, the dangerous accumulation of nuclear waste was not taken into account. Now, with containment facilities literally over-flowing with radioactive material which would take thousands of years to decay, the only alternative was to send the mess deep into space at a slow speed where it could do no damage to the Earth’s solar system.

 

11/25/08

With all six hundred and thirty settlers plus nine children ranging in ages from four to eleven, twenty five scientists and the ship’s crew of thirty five, the Aurora was very crowded and would be for two at least two months until she cleared the solar system and the hybe schedule could begin.  Sleeping arrangements were dormitory style and privacy of any kind was impossible. The ship, while large, had certain logistical requirements.  Hydroponics, which would provide food for the twenty year voyage to the skeleton crew manning the ship was crucial – not only for the voyage, but also for the development of crops should the new planet require terraforming. The life storage banks – more frequently referred to as LSB’s contained thousands of human eggs, sperm, as well as zygotes representing Earth’s diversity of race and culture. Also contained in the LSB’s were zygotes of farm animals including horses and seeds for a variety of crops. Living animals were also housed in the ship including four goats (1 male and 3 females), one  bull and two cows, a flock of chickens, several rabbits – two of whom were already heavy with unborn kits. As with hydroponics, these would serve the food needs for the crew. All crew members had had extensive training in animal care as well as their field specialty. In addition, all officers had been required to receive extensive training in psychology and psychiatry to better handle the anticipated emotional needs of the settlers. 

Each settler and crew member had been selected from hundreds of thousands of applications from all Earth nations. The testing and interviewing had been exhaustive and thorough. The requirement not only served to select the best possible candidates for resettlement, it also created a common bond of experience that cut across race and culture.  Right from the start, the settlers were comfortable conversing with one another as to their experiences with the system and their places of origin. This feeling of camaraderie helped alleviate the temporary over-crowding. In fact, the only group aboard the Aurora  who had been exempted from the extensive vetting process  were the scientists. They had been chosen by either the government of the New Hope Project based on credentials that even the captain was not privy to.  From the start, the scientists were separated from both crew and settlers. They had their own quarters and of course their own laboratories. However, their role was vital to the mission. They controlled the life storage banks as well as hydroponics. If the new world required terraforming, they were equipped with the knowledge and the tools.  It was the scientists who would take charge of the ultimate diversity of the target planet – deciding which zygote animal or human would be brought to term and which egg would be fertilized with which sperm.  The colonization of an entire planet could not rely solely on the reproductive ability of six hundred and thirty settlers without suffering the serious genetic complications of inbreeding.