Children's Control

10-6-2030

When I wake up, Alice quickly comes to me and pulls me right out of my sleeping position. She takes me right to the control centre, and forces me to help the children navigate in space,which is very hard to do, as there are now three dimensions, and I'm used to navigating in two dimensions. However, there are several screens that show where I am on a map and where the FTL tracks are, and even what solar system is on the other end. It still confuses me a little bit, as there are so many colours of lines. Alice gives me a small guide, which tells me a red line goes to a different galaxy, and the green ones go to a different solar system in the same galaxy.

The children do still really find me helpful, and thus give me several candies. I did never get any breakfast today, however. I thus can't concentrate very well. Alice also occasionally takes me out of the spaceship, so I can repair the engines and artificial gravity system, as Alice did notice that it works intermittently, as in, the system flashes on and off very quickly. This leads to the gravity forces becoming very low. But after I repair the systems and engines, everything feels very Earth-like. Then, the spacecraft can also fully gets back to 3C speeds.

That is, until I see the spacecraft approaching a green line on the screen. It apparently attracts our spacecraft, and then I notice the speed actually going down to zero. This means the FTL track is already in use by another spacecraft. Alice tells me it's literally impossible to pass any spacecraft going faster than light, and it is for that reason an FTL track is blocked out when another spacecraft travels over it. Just a couple of minutes later, the FTL track opens up, and Alice presses a special button. This causes the spacecraft to accelerate very rapidly. It takes just minutes to accelerate to 30C.

I hear a beeping sound, meaning I have to go right back to my sleeping position. Once there, I really feel the G-forces from the high speed. In addition, I feel everything going back and forth, left and right. I almost feel like being thrown out, even though I'm restrained in my sleeping position. I have to stay like this for several hours, as the artificial gravity adjusts itself to counter the G-forces. After that, Alice pulls me right out of my sleeping position and into the control centre, where I have to lookout for anything in the way of the FTL track. Thanks to all the screens around me, I can see so much coming, that everything stays intact.

Afterwards, Alice takes me to a large storage bay, and forces me to give several boxes to her. The boxes aren't very heavy, but they are very tightly packed together. Thus, sometimes it takes a lot of pushing and pulling to get to the right box. In addition, there is very little light, and sometimes I can't see the content labels printed on the boxes, and have to ask Alice which box is which. When I get the wrong box, Alice always yells at me or even gives me a slap on my cheek, after which she forces me to place the box back where it came from, and then get another box.

Eventually, Alice takes me right into a small machine room, where I have to check the status of the engine and artificial gravity system. If anything goes wrong, I have to call Ben, but I'm a little hesitant to do that, as I sort-of know what happens anyway. I almost become afraid. Ben frequently comes in, as he hasn't heard anything from me about the main control system. He has a good look, and there really are no problems at all. He almost never seems to leave me alone, and the room also is very large, which doesn't allow me to move around very much, only rotate around.

I just have to sit on my chair for hours, just doing absolutely nothing, with nothing given to me, and only Ben going in every hour. However, he eventually takes me out and into the classroom, where I have to attend another lesson about the destination, where everyone is going to. Meanwhile, the spaceship slows down as it leaves the FTL track. I quickly see the speedometer going down to around 3C, which is three times the speed of light. After that, I'm told the fuel tank is about to run dry. I think the spacecraft will make it to the new planet, and I also finally know how it's called.

Eventually, I end up in a completely new galaxy, one that was never seen by any other adults on Earth. Just a couple of minutes later, I see several planets going past the spaceship. It passes through several times and makes several circles across the galaxy, and then passes to another FTL track. It does that several times in several solar systems, until it finally stops going faster than light. Just one hour later, it arrives on one of the planets.

The spaceship makes several circles around the planet, until it finally lands in a large, deserted area. Once there, all adults are let out for a very short amount of time, and I notice that besides a couple of cactuses, there really is nothing to see. That is, until the spacecraft takes back off into the air and ends upon a launch pad. Once there, everyone Alice takes everyone out and takes us into a waiting room. Eventually, we end up in what seems like a visitor centre. Once there, I'm taken into a very small chamber. It ends up in a large room, where I quickly fall asleep.