Children's Control

09-06-2030

When I wake up, Alice takes me into a very small dining room. She only gives me a small, dried carrot. Meanwhile, I hear a loud beep, as the spacecraft is taken to the launching pad. I can't look outside, but I'm sure, as today the spacecraft takes off, and there is only one launchpad close to the laboratory. Alice tells me if I hear that beep, I have to go back to my sleeping position as soon as possible. Just after that, the spacecraft takes off and floats in the air for hours. It feels like there is quite a bit of extra weight to everything, but I don't notice it that much.

After hours of flying in air, the spacecraft goes into a second stage, which pushes it even further into space. Once there, I feel no weight at all for a very short amount of time, after which the artificial gravity starts to kick in. Everything falls right to the ground, and I feel a small amount of pressure as the artificial gravity kicks in. After that, everything feels very normal, just like a normal air-plane. However, I can now also open up a small window, and when I look out of it, I see the spacecraft has left Earth's orbit.

I don't know where it will land, as in, on which planet. In fact, I don't even know if the planet is in the same solar system as Earth. I just assume it's going to be far away from Earth, and I'm actually right. Alice comes to tell me it will take two days to arrive at the newly discovered planet. But I don't know if that's because of the Faster-than-Light propulsion system, or just because the planet is very close. Alice still doesn't even tell me if there's any form of life on the new planet.

Alice also takes me right out of my sleeping position, and forces me to prepare several meals for the children. This seems exactly like it was at home, with the added problem of having to save as much fuel as possible. The reason this is very important, is that it takes a lot of energy to reach the speed of light, let alone exceed it. Thus, I cannot use any machinery onboard, except for a hydrator, which uses much less energy than a normal oven. In fact, all meals are pre-made in such a way, that they only need to be hydrated and heated before they are edible. The hydration process is so important, because the meals are dried before they're put on board.

Eventually, Alice takes me to what seems to be the only classroom onboard. Ben comes in to teach the adults about where they're really going to, and about life on the planet. This is because the planet is in a completely different solar system, and while it does have an Earth-like atmosphere, there are completely different lifeforms on the planet. But the name is never revealed during the lesson. Meanwhile, the spaceship already starts to accelerate to extremely high speeds. A small panel pops open, revealing a speedometer. It shows the speed increasing almost impossibly fast, until it reaches three times the speed of light(3C). It is locked at that speed, as no FTL Tracks* are in reach.

Then, Alice takes me out and into a dining room. There, she gives me a small plate of mac and cheese. When I walk away to have a look, I come across Izzy. I have a conversation with her,but Ben notices that and gives me several spanks on my back. I fall right to the ground, and he takes me back in the dining room. Alice then gives me a small cupcake, but I don't know what I did to earn that, or perhaps if that amount of food is so important in space. She then takes me right to my room, where I talk to Ellen about where we'll be going to. She also doesn't know much, but she does have a bit of a clue.

Alice comes all of a sudden and pulls me right out of my room, into the onboard factory. There, I have to operate a machine, which packs in several types of objects. It works almost automatically, but I do have to enter some exact details of every project, and some of them are very hard to measure. I quickly become so confused, mistake after mistake comes in. Lots of them. I eventually don't bother measuring at all, and just try to enter random numbers. Some packages were thus too small, or too large. In those cases, they are often set to a recycling plant. Alice then also gives me some slaps on my face, and I have to try again.

I hear that same beep as before, meaning I have to go back to my room as quickly as I can. However, the spaceship itself seems like one big maze. Alice cuffs me as soon as I see her, and she takes me back to my room. Once there, I'm put in my sleeping position, as the spacecraft is about to break down. I notice everything becomes weightless for a couple of minutes. Then, all of a sudden, everything falls back to the ground. Alice comes in and tells me that's because the take-off installation is turned off, and power has to be interrupted for that to happen. I try to get out, but the sleeping position is still locked in for a few minutes, after which I quickly fall asleep.

*These are like highways in space, where spacecraft can travel at up to thirty times the speed of light.