An Unprecedented Arrival

I finally got my lazy butt around to finishing one of my short stories. I found the pace to be a little quicker than I wanted, and there isn’t any real character development as the setting and environment is what I wanted to focus on. I am always open to constructive criticism. Without further ado:

Joshua McAnley was the top of his class. He graduated with a Master’s degree in mechanical engineering while simultaneously acquiring his pilot’s license. He was always very sharp and knew what do as a pilot with recognizing what parts weren’t working or were causing issues in his plane, and what repairs were required after any issues happened on the planes he did pilot. He made no mistakes or had any accidents during the next 10 or so years that he flew. After flying for many years in various airplanes and private jets though, he longed for something greater. He applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for an opening as an astronaut. The prospects of working for NASA and being an astronaut intrigued him as flying was his passion and he wanted to take it to the next level.

NASA was in need of a few new astronauts to aid in a project that it received a large grant for from a private donor. This project entailed building a new structure in space, and NASA planned to have astronauts in space on shifts, so there would always be a team in space for a couple months working on this new structure. Each team would come with new supplies and tools and relieve the previous team who would then fly back to Earth. The new team would then live and work on the structure before being relieved a couple months later with a new team. NASA didn’t want to raise too much speculation, so they created a couple job postings for astronauts to repair satellites, although there was actually going to be a few dozen new astronauts working on something else entirely.

Joshua applied to this position and was later accepted. He was ecstatic, although very nervous. He knew what it was like to be at the mercy of the machine that you were in, many miles above the surface of the Earth. If something was to go wrong, then the plane could crash and he and his charges could perish. Flying in space was going to be a totally different experience. One critical mistake and not only could the spaceship depressurize, all of the air would escape, rendering them without any breathable air, among the many other disasters that could happen.

Joshua started training at NASA’s training facilities for life in space. Countless hours and days went by as he trained in simulated zero gravity environments, isolation chambers, and all of the other training he had to go through. A long and arduous process, but it was all worth it in the end as Joshua would be going to space. He, and the other trainees, were taken aside as they were nearing the end of their training and informed of the real reason for why they were all brought on as Astronauts, and what they would actually be doing in space.

NASA had received a grant to work on a technology that would allow ships to travel nearly at the speed of light. With the investor’s initial blueprints and schematics, and the additional grant money, NASA had managed to create the new drive that would allow humanity to travel at incredible speeds across the galaxy. The investor had additionally funded an Ark ship, which would take a select crew to another planet that had been identified as habitable in another system. This planet was about 300 light years away, meaning that the crew would require about 350 years to reach there. The new astronauts’ job would be to go into space with supplies and work on building the Ark. They would remain in space for a couple months before being relieved with a new crew who would bring up new supplies for the ship.

After preparation and waiting for their turn to work on the Ark, Joshua and his crew were called upon to prepare for launch. They assembled what they needed and then went to the launch port. Sweat beaded on Joshua’s face as he sat in the pilot’s seat of an actual spaceship, a dream come true. The ship took off and Joshua was launched into space.

Joshua was surprised when he got into geosynchronous orbit with his crew and they got their first look of the Ark. It was actually very boring looking, and much smaller than he anticipated. The Ark’s structure resembled an egg, which would be more efficient at maximizing internal volume with minimal resources and smaller surface area. Water would be stored within walls, and there was only enough fuel necessary to get them up to speed, and to slow them down again once the Ark got to the destination. The crew would be in a cryosleep for the majority of the time as well, so there wasn’t much food or water necessary. It was a one way trip, and the crew of the Ark would need to successfully make a new colony at their destination planet and start cultivating food there.

Joshua docked with the construction, which seemed to be about 40% done at this point. They would continue to live on the facilities that were finished within the Ark while working on the Ark itself, installing more plates, wiring, and other components. Joshua’s crew met with the previous crew, who debriefed them of the current progress, and where to pick up the previous work. After a few days, the previous crew left and Joshua and his crew were left alone to continue construction of the Ark. They worked diligently without any serious mishaps for the next couple months. The team was eventually relieved of duty, and another team took over, much like when they first got there. Joshua would go back up another 3 times over the next couple years, every time surprised by the rapid progress the Ark made. After about 3 years of production, the Ark was finished and publicly announced by NASA.

The public was amazed. NASA was going to send a select few dozen people to another planet in another system and hopefully start a second colony of humans. The greatest experiment yet performed, some would dreamily claim. The question of who those few dozen people would be was a burning question the public wanted to know.

One of Joshua’s superiors approached him with a once in a lifetime opportunity. After seeing how well Joshua had performed on the missions while building the Ark, and with his general leadership and technical experience, NASA wanted him to be the lead engineer, in case of any issues, and also with development on the new colony. The public started calling the planet “Aphrodite” in hopes that the new planet would be fertile and give birth to a new planet of humans.

It was hard for Joshua to agree and to say bye to his family and friends, but the allure of leading something so great was something he couldn’t pass it up. He joined the team, along with 38 other astronauts that had been working on the Ark that had performed well. They all parted with their loved ones in hopes of achieving one of the most important exploratory missions that mankind had gone on to date.

The Ark’s crew were all launched into space and they boarded the Ark. It was a hugely publicized event and the whole world was watching the preparations and launch. Joshua entered with the others and got to their places. The moment finally came and the flight path was configured, the engines were ready, and the Ark began its slow process to achieving near-light speeds. The crew lived on board the Ark for the next few weeks as the ship got up to speed. The crew was to be conscious in case any issues happened, but other than the discomforts of constantly accelerating and feeling the 2G force, the beginning of the journey went smoothly.

After the Ark was flying at speeds that rivaled that of light, the crew had a congratulatory party before retiring to the cryochamber. Emily, the lead medical officer, ensured that everyone was properly in their croypods before being flash frozen, to preserve their lives over the next few hundred years. The last thing Joshua remembered before being frozen was how much his eyes and nose hurt from the cold before he was completely frozen in time. Everyone else was frozen as well, and Emily then set the automatic process to freeze her, and they would all awaken a few months before reaching their destination to ensure all systems were in order before starting the process of slowing the ship down before reaching Aphrodite. The Ark then went into a low-power mode, only keeping the cryosystem active as the Ark hurled through space.

But while the Ark, a time capsule of frozen people, was traveling through space, technology was advancing further on Earth while the crew of the Ark were sleeping.

***

Joshua awakened to the same uncomfortable feeling in his nose and eyes as he came out of cryosleep. The entire crew had awoken with no difficulties. The multiple safeguard installed had ensured the whole process, from the ship traveling itself, to the cryogenic process of freezing the crew, had worked flawlessly. What had not been expected was to not be the pioneers to Aphrodite, but mere visitors.

It took some time for the crew to adjust after being awoken, but Emily had been trained in that regards and knew what sort of program everyone needed to engage in. Their senses fully came back as they worked to ensure that their vitals were all clear. Joshua then took over ensuring the Ark’s propulsion systems were still operational. Some minor work was needed, but they had anticipated on some parts deteriorating over time or being hit with space dust, and the necessary repairs were made. After a month or so of flying at near-light speeds, it was time to slow down as the system with Aphrodite was rapidly getting closer. The ships reverse-thrusters engaged, slowing down the ship from the rapid pace they were flying at. A high G-force environment resumed for a few weeks as the Ark was slowed down to manageable speeds. The crew was overjoyed as they finally got a visual sight of Aphrodite. The operation was a success, and although they had been frozen for hundreds of years as their loved ones perished on Earth, they were still alive and would be the first humans to colonize another habitable planet. Aphrodite was still far away, barely a ping pong ball sized ball in the distance, but it would only take another week or so to reach it. What surprised the crew though was that upon viewing Aphrodite with long range cameras, the dark side of the planet was oddly luminous, as if there was large clusters of lights on the planet. What was even more confusing was the group of dull glowing objects that were rapidly approaching the Ark from Aphrodite.

The crew didn’t really know what to do. Were they comets coming at them? Meteors shouldn’t have trails of fire unless they were ignited in an atmosphere. They would have tried to move the Ark out of the way from whatever it was coming at them, but there wasn’t enough time as the objects were simply traveling too fast.

After just a few minutes of travel it was revealed that a group of 6 spaceships had reached the Ark in order to intercept it. The squadron of ships looked like a military force, with what looked like some sort of turret on the ships, pointing at them. The molted black paint of the ships had a single thing written on them: “NH”, which they would later find out stood for New Horizon.

The Ark’s pilot decided that the best course of action would be to slow the ship down to a stop. The Ark was equipped with radio communications, so they started scanning different frequencies in hopes of communicating with the other ships that were now surrounding them. A connection was established and they were able to converse with one of the crew members from the other ships. They mostly spoke in English, although there were a few other words thrown in there that they were unfamiliar with. After a few hundred years, it could be expected that the English language would evolve a bit. After some discussion though, it was determined that the Ark’s arrival was expected, and other humans had inhabited their destination planet for quite some time now.

The Ark was escorted to a space ladder that was attached to Aphrodite, which was now called New Horizon Prime by the people on the planet. Joshua and the rest of the confused crew boarded a shuttle and docked with the space ladder. A small entourage greeted the Ark’s crew on the space elevator. The crew was given time to rest before being summoned to dinner, where all their questions would be answered.

After a short and confusing refresher, the crew from the Ark went to a banquet hall where a meal was prepared for them. Joshua and the others sat themselves down while a representative from New Horizon explained what had happened since they were in cryosleep for the past 350 years.

About 200 years after the Ark had departed, a small space tourism company called New Horizon was doing extensive testing on trying to find a method of traveling faster than light. It so happened that they had accomplished the impossible. He didn’t go into details about how the engine worked, but he stressed that what was important was that this allowed New Horizon to travel faster than anyone else. New Horizon patented the technology, which allowed them to monopolize deep space tourism. They then decided to start bringing stuff from other moons and planets back to Earth and selling them as momentos and souvenirs from outer space. It turns out that there are a lot of materials outside Earth and New Horizon developed into an extraction company that sold mined and collected materials from outer space to companies on Earth. New Horizon knew that the planet they were currently sitting above in the space elevator was the nearest habitable planet from Earth, so they decided to expand there first and make a permanent colony which could house a working population which would collect resources and then ship them to Earth. Things proceeded like that for the next hundred years or so as New Horizon expanded to more locations in the galaxy. They knew that the Ark would arrive one day since it was such a historic event at the time, which brought them to this point.

Joshua and the others needed a few minutes to digest the new information. It was incredible that the technology proceeded to the point that ships could now travel faster than light and they were thrilled for that, but it also rendered their mission futile as the entire goal had been previously accomplished by another organization, and a company with economic intentions, and not altruistic, scientific ones, at that. The crew of the Ark numbly finished their meals before retiring to their rooms. They would go down the elevator to New Horizon Prime the next morning and be celebrated as heroes of a lost age in a parade.

Joshua didn’t know what to make of the whole situation, but he figured it would be best to just go along with it as their wasn’t much of an alternative. He went to sleep and woke up the next morning with the others. They got into their dress uniforms and went to the lift that would take them down to the planet’s surface.

The Ark’s crew arrived at the surface, along with an escort of several people from New Horizon. The air was different. It tasted salty, it was thinner than they were used to, and the gravity was stronger than like it was on Earth. The entourage was whisked away in a plane to New Horizon’s main headquarters on New Horizon Prime. There, the crew met with the CEO of New Horizon along with several other high ranking members of the company who congratulated them on their achievement, even though someone else had the pleasure of beating them to the planet. Regardless, Joshua and the others were highly regarded as heroes of human persistence and will, and they were to have a parade to celebrate their accomplishment.

After the parade, Joshua and the other had the opportunity to attend a press conference where they answered questions from reporters and other interested people. While the Ark crew were interesting, their 15 minutes of fame came and went. After the hype around their arrival died down, Joshua and the others were informed that they would be sent to various planets and stations in order to work on extraction colonies.

That did not bode well with Joshua, nor the others. They were outraged that they weren’t even given some form of choice of employment, or maybe allowed to go back to Earth. They got together and demanded an audience with the CEO and board of directors, but they were met by a group of other representatives, who happened to be accompanied by several people that were obviously security with some sort of batons.

It was explained to them, much more curtly this time, that they had no valuable skills. There had been too much development in the past few hundred years with regards to education, and the Ark’s crew was severely behind everyone else. There wasn’t much they would be able to do, but New Horizon still wanted to treat them “well” and would send them to do menial tasks on other colonies that could be manned by them with their lack of modern skills and knowledge. Joshua and the others proceeded to argue against them, but they were told that this was what would happen. Since they were on New Horizon Prime, they were essentially property of the company now, and the company would do as it saw fit. The representatives from New Horizon tried to stress that they were all being sent to perfectly safe jobs, and it was a more-than-fair treatment. Regardless, Joshua was fuming that he and the others would just get shuttled around like cattle by some company when they used to be heroes when they left Earth. But there wasn’t any other choice. New Horizon’s true face was starting to show, and they were going to have to go along with it or face repercussions that there weren’t sure if they should be facing at that time.

Joshua, Emily, and a few others were sent off to a mining colony on a moon around a nearby planet while the others were sent off to other smaller colonies. After they got to the new mining colony they were brought onboard and showed where they would live, where they would be working and all of the other necessities. To the previous explorers, it felt more like slave labor. While they did get money to spend on consumer goods, they were stuck living in a certain apartment with one job prospect. There was no freedom to do as they wanted, but it didn’t seem to strike the other residents and workers as odd as things had been like that their entire lives.

Joshua started working at his new job and started talking with other people that he worked with. He wanted to find out what had happened, and why things were so much different now, why things were almost dystopian. After reading into the history of the past few hundred years and talking to his new coworkers, he started to piece things together at a deeper level than the nice story the New Horizon representatives spun to them.

After New Horizon started expanding across the galaxy, selling materials to Earth, it quickly became one of the richest and most powerful organizations in all of history. A trade empire was formed and Earth just became one of the many planets and moons that were colonized by humans, all under New Horizon. New Horizon’s patent on their engine allowed them to lock out any other potential competitor for several decades. Their power allowed them to lobby for special rights and permissions, and New Horizon ended up effectively buying out all politicians, who changed laws to New Horizon’s benefit. The patent laws were changed and New Horizon was allowed to keep their patent forever, securing their position as controller of interplanetary trade and travel, and by extension, all of humanity. People are forced into certain roles after school and training, and you are expected to live like that for your whole life, buying other consumer goods that are made by companies that are owned by none other than New Horizon, which has bought almost all corporations by now ensuring that they have a monopoly on almost every good one could buy. People were resistant to the new order at first, but New Horizon managed to buy off all legal and political opposition, and this became the new norm for almost every human alive. The CEO and other high ranking officials in New Horizon lived a lavish life on New Horizon Prime and on Earth, reaping the benefits of controlling all trade and travel in the known galaxy. It was perceived by most to be just an unfortunate way that the galaxy was, but Joshua was not as content with a status quo as others.

Joshua met up with the other few previous Ark members that were on his colony and talked about trying to start some sort of a revolution, a rebellion. It was wrong how they were being treated and how one company could effectively control everything the way it did. They all agreed and tried to convince others to join their cause and see if they could start a grassroots rebellion against the order on their mining colony. Word was getting around, and some of the more disgruntled people immediately expressed interest in learning more about trying to fight back against the system that they were part of. It seemed like the movement was quickly picking up speed with lots of people talking in private about how they should be able to move and travel without restrictions and work where they want and all of the other freedoms that Joshua and the others spoke of. Unfortunately though, someone loyal to New Horizon eventually heard about the movement that Joshua seemed to be the leader of.

Joshua wanted to work in space as an astronaut. He wanted to be a pioneer of human exploration and be part of the team that colonized the first planet other than Earth. He then just wanted to have his freedom and fight against the dystopian world that he had been thrust into.

It was late at night when Joshua was going home from one of his private rallies where they discussed the next plan of actions. He entered his apartment and was immediately assaulted by 4 men in suits as soon as he closed the door behind him.

Joshua was never heard from again after that last rally, and nobody knew what happened to him, although they had their suspicions. It was obvious that anyone who spoke out against New Horizon would be silenced and the resistance that was slowly gathering on this lonely mining colony died out as New Horizon continued ruling the galaxy with their complete control over travel, trade, politics and all forms of life.