Return to Earth: An Adventure to Recolonize

Chapter Four: The Laboratory

Note:  I will post a new chapter every Friday evening EST.

I would appreciate your vote and your constructive criticism. Thanks for stopping by for a read.

Due to the limited formatting options available on WattPad, I added square brackets and dashes to show the start and stop of PID messages... like this [- ... -] to differentiate them from inner thoughts. I am sorry for the bad presentation of these important elements to the story.

PID = Personal Information Display, presented in Chapter Three.

I posted a Glossary, see the pull-down menu, to help with technical terms and concepts.

                                                                 * * *

                                                        Chapter Four

                                                      The Laboratory

An hour after we finished eating, my family’s PIDs flashed an incoming message.

               [- Urgent! Krylon Rhae and family boarding time advanced. Proceed immediately to the Laboratory for final preparation. -]

We stared at one another with apprehension, as we will soon begin our adventure into the unknown compounded by fears of the dreaded laboratory, and excitement since we’d reached the end of our long journey. Tania and I had dreamed of this moment. We loved the stories of our ancestral heritage and longed to see the birthplace of man’s origins – this earth. Fortunately, our kids grew up with the same infectious love affair and were all too eager to join.

Alex asked, “Dad, why did they move us ahead in the queue?”

“Not sure, lucky I guess.” My PID synchronized with the inbound message and displayed the fastest possible route to our destination. The lab docking station towered one hundred thirty decks above us inside the Central Control Hub. We apparently had a long walk and wild ride ahead of us.

We exited the dining hall and hastened along the broad sweeping corridor. Excited, Alex asked, “Dad, can we pick our colony?”

“Not sure. Which one would you choose?"

“Dallas, I want to go to Dallas. Imagine reliving the tales of the Wild West and the Native American Indians. I can’t wait.”

I smiled and remembered the books assigned by the Tellus Space Authority, or TSA. History of the Americas became our regular reading material. I hoped we could put our studies to use.

“Me too, I want to go to Dallas.” Karla jumped around, about to explode. “I want a pony.”

“A pony?” The request surprised me.

“The same as the story.”

“Which story?”

“My Friend Flicka; all the kids had their own ponies back then. Please. Come on, please.”

What a little manipulator. Keenly aware we considered her cute, she flaunted her devious charms to get whatever she wanted. We may never hear the end of this. Last year she coined her own word to describe her ‘cute-isms.’ We all laughed back then, but time had proven her 'cute-isms' to be a tempest.

Tania shrugged her shoulders and said, “Don’t ask me where she came up with the idea.”

I could have explained we had enhanced means of transportation, but deemed it pointless. “We can’t be sure horses or ponies survived. We have to wait, Sweetheart.” I had to admit, though, the idea of riding a horse appealed to me.