The Chaos Theory
Act I
In the beginning, no one could believe it, Earth was dying. What was once a planet of prosper and joy was now a war torn, desolate wasteland. Our fossil fuel consumption was beyond belief the Earth just couldn’t support as many of us as there were. So the government came up with an idea: Send our most brilliant and promising scientific and intellectual minds into deep space in order to find a new home for humanity. Those few of us, the ones selected, had one mission, find a new home.
My name is Alexander Eaton, but everyone calls me Alex, I was one of those lucky few selected to join the Migrant Fleet. We’ve been traveling a little over 3 Earth years, still no progress. I never had like the idea of leaving, all of the we left back one Earth, and all they could do was hope, hope that we would prevail in finding a hospitable environment capable of supporting human life. From the murmurs aboard the ship, people were beginning to give up hope, even though that’s what we were supposed to be. “Hope” the ones to save humanity from extinction. That’s what we were faced with: Extinction or Survival, there was no in between we would either die out or prosper. Quite frankly I wasn’t to set on dying, but so far every planet that we’ve taken a sample of can’t support us.
“Roll call!” came over the PA. Ah, yes my favorite part of the day.
“3468D” called Amy, our Level Keeper.
“Here” I heard,
“3918C”
“Here” I replied. That was one thing I hated on this god-forsaken ship. You had no name, just an identification number. I don’t think half the people even had names. We lived without names, without purpose, and we were close to having no hope. What would we be without hope? We wouldn’t be anything more than a mere animal doing everything based upon instinct. Perhaps that’s what humanity had been reduced to, nothing more than our very basic instinct of survival. Perhaps that's what we were now, just animals, going through the motions, no personality, just humans.
Act II
I still remember it like it was yesterday, Earth, my true home, where everyone had a name. I grew up in New York, we weren’t poor but we weren’t rich either. I was pretty smart I guess, school was pretty easy, I was fairly athletic too, I had played football for Central High School. Well I “played,” I sat on the bench most of time, but I was still there for my team. My dad had left when I was little, my mom said that he had come and gone just like the wind, that was all she had really ever said about him; I never had the courage to ask her anything about him, I didn’t even know his name.
I had been doing my homework with my sister Tara, she was a few years younger than I was and was always in my business, we had been arguing about who was smarter, next thing I know my mom’s taking me to the doctor for no reason. He gave me a full physical and made a few phone calls, glancing back at me several times during the calls. I had asked my mom what was going on and she had said my future was in good hands. I knew I didn’t like the sound of that when I heard it I would’ve done something had I known what was to come next. That was the last time I would see her or Tara, or anything Earthlike for that matter. I had awoken aboard this ship, in a small room that looked much like mine had on Earth, with a gray jumpsuit on that read “3918C.” I wasn’t alone in the room though; there was another boy around my age, a boy I who would become my best friend. The room was dull, gray walls, gray floor, the place looked like something out of this old movie my mother had showed me called “Silence of the Lambs,” it was alright I suppose. From the observation area of the ship you could see the whole galaxy displayed. Like the universe was at your fingertips putting on a show for your own amusement. The stars and constellations seemed to dance, like a mesmerizing ballet dancer twirling inside your head. Spinning and unraveling everything there ever was or ever will be.
Act III
I had retreated after roll call to my room, otherwise known as “my cell.” It wasn’t much more than a couple of beds, a bookshelf, and a small bathroom. My roommate Marshall had his nose buried in a book as usual. He was always reading and trying to teach me something new every day. I never got sick of it though without him I wouldn’t have anyone to keep my company in this hollow prison of a ship. Although I couldn’t really say much, if it hadn’t been for this ship I could be dead back on Earth. Well that’s merely speculation; hopefully everything back there is fine. It wasn’t up until a couple of months ago that we had stopped receiving transmissions from our headquarters. They normally kept us up to date on what was happening back home. I glanced at Marshall as he began to lick his finger and flip the page.
“What’s the topic today Marsh?”
“UFOs” he replied.
“Huh” I nearly laughed at the mere mention of the word,
“You know flying saucers, crop circles the whole bit.”
I remember my grandpa once talked about my grandma being abducted. The man drove himself insane trying to prove it. I believed him though; anyone that devoted has to be telling the truth. Anytime anyone came across the topic he would tell them about how they’d snatched her from him. They had been camping in the Utah Salt Flats, out in the middle of nowhere. A pale green light punctured the tent and gripped my grandmother. The last thing that my grandfather said he remembered was seeing my grandmother ascending into the heavens.
“Well we better get some rest Alex,” Marshall interrupted my thought process.
“Yeah” I replied “I guess you’re right” Marshall and I had laundry duty tomorrow and today had been exercise day.
