atimetotraverse

[atimetotraverse]

Arrival

The colonial ark which carried 966 people over 70 lightyears had arrived at its destination. Outside the observation windows, colonists could finally view a site other than the endless blue tunnel of warp space. Suspended in conventional space was the planet they were to call home for the rest of their lives. The atmosphere of the planet in which they would establish a self-sufficient society where their progeny would live generation after generation was covered in sand-coloured clouds.

[source: https://astronomy.com/news/2021/02/life-in-the-clouds-of-venus-maybe-not]

I stood there in awe; I couldn’t believe the journey was over. The ship entered a geosynchronous orbit and began assessing the best place to land a colony.

Back in my quarters, I was talking with the ghosts of my mum and brother. Their real selves were now across an impossible expanse of space and time. “This is your new home Henry,” my mum’s ghost said. “You don’t know how lucky you are man, I would give anything to be in your shoes,” cried my younger brother, Quinn. “Thank you guys for supporting me on my journey,” I said. I was grateful to these ghosts for helping me stay sane these past seven months.

We were able to build our colony on a site that was on top of the highest mountain on the planet. It was above the clouds and wasn’t affected by the immense atmospheric pressure found on the surface.

I boarded the landing craft bound for our chosen colony site. I was in the third wave of settlers to go down. There were 18 of us, mostly engineers and botanists for building the colony’s first eco-dome. Going down, I locked eyes with a young botanist who smiled back at me. She was beautiful. I knew then and there that I would eventually ask her to marry me.

Eight months had gone by and I and Sasha, my fellow botanist and now wife, settled into a housing unit complete with all amenities required to keep us comfortable and happy. This certainly looked and felt like home. We had built a massive colony here and new waves of settlers were arriving by the day.

[source: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6aR4x0]

I began to reflect on the meaning of home. It had been a great concern of mine from the beginning because I was leaving behind all that I had known. My mother, my brother, my memories. Home is where the heart is? Maybe it is cliché, but it certainly has its wisdom. Home is where we find ourselves often when we are lost. Home can be with your family, but it is so much more than that. Home is the place where we find refuge, comfort and healing, wherever that may be. It’s not a location like, say, the place where you grew up. The location of home will change over the many courses that the journeys of life take you, whether it be on Earth or some far-off planet.

[atimetotraverse]

The Crossing

Three months into the ‘crossing,’ as colonial vernacular termed it, a cloud of homesickness had overtaken me. We were nearing the halfway point, and somehow only now did it truly dawn on me that I could never go back. I was feeling the deepest sorrow of my life as I sat alone in my quarters. Even conversing with the ghosts of my mum and brother had ceased to have a comforting effect. Those projections weren’t their real selves, and when I would realize that I would feel the deepest loneliness I had ever experienced. I decided to venture out of my quarters and seek something, some connection. This was per Dr. Han’s advice. She informed me that to deal with the psychological stresses of intense loneliness I would have to find new connections.

I made my way to the common area of the ship. There were games, a bar, and plenty of places to relax and socialize.A group of colonists I recognized gestured at me to come and join them at their table.

[Source: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/572872015103287749/]

I found a seat. “This planet we’re going to, they say it’s really dangerous,” an older man named Sam said. “How so? It is within the habitable zone of its solar system and liquid water is present,” I asked. Another man, Donavon, answered: “We didn’t have much data on the planet before we left, other than what we could observe from Earth. New data from probes we dispatched to the planet’s surface months ago has made its way to our ship. Apparently, our new colony is to be built on a planet that is hostile to organic life. The surface is covered in a thick layer of greenhouse gasses and atmospheric pressure is seemingly insurmountable. There are rumours that the senior staff are considering forfeiting the mission.” I could feel the hopelessness in the room as the news went around. “But don’t worry,” Donavon said, “I believe in our crew and mission.”

Even in this seemingly hopeless situation, I began to feel somewhat at home. Our common gripes among the crew were a force that bonded us together. I felt my relationships strengthening as a result of our shared dismay. Maybe this was just my feeling. I could see some other colonists begin to panic, but that didn’t happen to me. I tried to take it one day at a time.

Over the next few months, I bonded with more of the crew. We had no idea what lay ahead of us, but we knew that we would face it together. “We’ll tame that wild planet,” Donavon would say. “We’ll take it and make it ours.” Somehow, after months onboard this interstellar ship, I began to feel like it was my new home, and the crew, my new family.

[atimetotraverse]

All I've Known

“Home is where the heart is,” so the saying goes. Whoever first articulated that old worn-out platitude probably wasn’t referring to our ventricles pumping blood to our appendages, but right now that is where my mind is. I’m currently undergoing the final pre-transit physical aptitude examination, and the fleet’s chief medical officer, Doctor Han, is surveying a blown up, holocardiogram of my heart, emitting from her office’s central console. “You, like the rest of the crew, are in peak physical condition. The selection process has born us excellent fruits for our new Eden. You’re free to go and make final preparations for Thursday’s departure.”

I made my way to the quarters which housed the items I had brought for the 70-lightyear voyage. We weren’t allowed to take more than thirty kilograms of personal effects. We were encouraged by the colonial administration to bring objects which reminded us of our homes, as they had an apparent positive psychological effect on humans while transiting vast gulfs of empty space. I brought a holodrive full of data on my mother and brother, my last two surviving family members. Playing back the drive would almost be like having them in the same room as me. Their projections would be utterly life-like; fully opaque, interactive apparitions that mimicked their personalities based on AI scans of every moment of their lives. These days, nothing we did was private. Every action of every individual, online and off, was recorded and available for consumption via holographic pseudo-personalities. Many had taken to calling these disembodied reflections of people “ghosts.” I liked the name.

[Source: https://andriibakulin.artstation.com/projects/4bvzv1]

On the eve of departure, I had dinner with my mum and brother in my childhood home. Outside were the willow trees my father had planted decades ago, which lined the fence behind our backyard. The windows were open, and we could feel the gentle, warm summer breeze drifting in, sweet with the smell of the plants in my mum’s garden.

[Source: https://tenor.com/search/breeze-nature-gifs]

[Source: https://ayearinredwood.com/2012/08/20/dining-at-home/]

“We’re proud of you Henry. Your father and I never thought our son would grow up to become a star pioneer.” My mother’s voice on this night was the greatest comfort I had felt since beginning the selection process. “We know you will do our species proud.” That night I slept in my childhood bed. Laying there I reminisced about all the comforts of home. I knew that I would have to let these feelings go, that I would never be able to return here. I knew that beginning tomorrow, my home would have to be someplace new.

Boarding the ship, the colonists made their way to the rooms which would be their home for the next seven months. Even with faster-than-light gravitic-warp drives, people were still beholden to long travel times. I sat on my bed, it was firm and cold. I opened my holodrive and projected the ghost of my mother into the room. “I will always support you, Henry. No matter what you do or where you go.”

We departed.

[Source: https://wallpaperaccess.com/sci-fi-space]