Hope: A space adventure
SUMMARY:
500 kilometers above the surface of the planet, a disaster has two survivors in bitter disagreement. As we peek into the past to understand their present, we learn that their decision determines our future and all we can do is hope.
An enormous explosion had torn through the loading chamber and the ensuing firestorm consumed not only parts of the ship but also most of the crew. Those that survived were able to activate their graphite shields in time for the inferno to burn right through them. She gapes at the scorched portions of the ship, shaking her head and covering her ears in an attempt to drown out the shrieks still reverberating in her head.
“Everything all right Captain Mira?”, an external muffled voice questions. “Yes”, she lies.
“What are we to do now?”, asks the burly man floating towards her.
“Qualia, what’s the status of the trashed propulsion system?”, Mira questions out loud.
“The nanobots continue to work on it. Hyperdrive launch should commence within a few hours”, a digital faceless voice announces.
“Why aren’t we abandoning ship and taking the space elevator back home?”, the man inquires, his eyebrows crawling closer to each other.
“Why would we? An unknown future beckons us and while we might tremble hearing its terrifying call, we must answer it. It is in the unknown that we find the answers to ourselves.”
Let’s rewind to the year 2020. Humanity has always been the sole cause of its salvation and damnation. Our creativity and ingenuity allow us to soar the heavens while our baser impulses claw us down to hell. In 2020, humanity faced an unprecedented threat, a novel deadly virus. The world shut down, life stood perfectly still.
As we suffered and struggled as a species, we finally realized that we are all different and yet all the same. For the first time, we burnt, not each other but our differences and banded together as one global consciousness. Electric cars flooded the roads, nuclear- fusion-powered the world and quantum computers marched towards singularity. We
became more than the sum of our parts and there was a renewed sense of optimism and exuberance unlike ever before.
You cannot outrun the ghosts of your past. Retrospective repentance of a few decades was never going to reverse the heedless damage of centuries. Eventually, we had to face the music and soon, we faced a grand orchestra. Hailstorms, heatwaves, torrential downpours, and blizzards. Extreme and unpredictable weather became the norm. Food and water supply chains decayed and crumbled. The jubilation and optimism began to fade in line with the dwindling populations of the most susceptible and poor countries.
Ironically, the word humanity means to show benevolence. Borders cropped up like wild weeds as countries attempted to save ‘their’ people. Trade and aid came to a grinding halt. All economic focus shifted to food and water as nations finally realized that people cannot eat money and drink oil. Eventually, humanity resorted to what it knows best: violence. Not being able to save itself, humanity decided to annihilate itself. Implosion wasn’t everyone’s last resort though.
The Earth had spoken, humans were a sickness. The planet developed a raging fever to get rid of the virus that infected its terra. So, a plan was set in motion. It was time for humanity to leave its nest and soar starry skies. Space, once considered a frivolous science experiment, was now humanity’s only chance at survival. Our only chance at finding a home away from home.
“Everyone believed a cataclysmic event would spiral into the end of the world. Even our doomsday expectations are pompous and grandiose.” The man chuckles. “When it did happen it was all so… bathetic and slow.”
“We believe our lives are shaped by dramatic and monumental events. People keep waiting for grand events to change their life, missing out on the smaller ones that do. Few lives are assembled out of exceptional moments, most are molded out of average ones. It’s not about the moments but what you choose to do with them.”
“Sebastian”, she pushes herself closer, “Here is a moment; will you mold the moment or be molded by it?” He pulls away.
“The first ship cannot fail; not right here. We might not make it to the Red Planet but we must try. We owe it to every human down there. If we fail here, then all hope is lost. If we fail out there, in the vast abyss, then hope might linger on.
And hope is all we’ve had as a species. Hope is what gets a person out of bed in the morning, makes them believe in tomorrow. It gave us monkeys the courage to step out of Africa, to risk navigating the treacherous seas and the audacity to launch ourselves into the infinite heavens. Hope gives us the belief and the courage to step into the darkness. To not search for light but to become light itself.”
Sebastian locks eyes with the captain. They quiver but never blink. With one powerful push, he floats forward, towards the launch console.
