Alternate Soul

Chapter 1

She couldn't stand it she had to get out of here and go somewhere where she could start all over. That was why she was here at Galaxy Research filling out an application to be one of the people launched into space to go to an unknown planet.
"Ms. Stewart please come with me." The man behind the desk said once he looked over her application.
"Umm. I'm not really prepared for an interview. I didn't bring any of my documentation with me? If that is what we are doing right now." Haley said apologetically.
"Don't worry this is very informal at this point. We are looking for people meeting certain criteria and I think that you are one of those." He said as they walked down the hall. He stopped and opened a heavy wooden office door.  "Here we are. Please have a seat and Mr. Chambers will be with you in a moment.
"Ok thank you." Haley was left in a very expensive looking office with all leather furniture and rich dark wood desk and bookcase filled with books. There were paintings on the walls and a large window behind the desk that looked out over the courtyard.
"Hello, Ms. Stewart." She jumped. " Sorry I didn't mean to startle you." He smiled and shook her hand.
"I have looked over your application and I have a few questions I would like to ask you if you don't mind. They are on the personal side." He watched her closely looking for her reactions.
She had no idea what he was looking for. "Ok" Haley was getting nervous now. Personal questions? What else could they ask? They had asked everything on the application from her shoe size to how long her period was. " I didn't really come prepared to interview I'm sorry. I thought I could just drop off the application and would hear back...."
"Don't worry it's just a few preliminary questions to weed out some of the applicants." He smiled trying to put her at ease. When he saw her relax some he continued. "Why do you think you would be a good choice for this mission?" Again he watched her.
"Well as I stated on the application I want to start over in a new place and ..."
"Yes, I read that." He interrupted. "What I want to know is why do you want to start over. What's happened to you to make you want to make such a drastic change in your life?"
Haley took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She really didn't want to retell and relive this all over again but she had to so she could make him understand why she wanted this. She looked at Mr. Chambers and a tear rolled down her face.
"I don't have anyone left here except one friend and she just recently married and is moving to another country. My husband and son have killed in a car accident two years ago. My parents are also dead and I'm not close and don't really talk to any of the rest of my family so no one will miss me." She took another deep breath and continued. "So, I just want to get out of here and start completely over."
He looked at her full of compassion for a moment. He didn't show her any pity, which she was surprised about, nor did he say the standard sorry.
"You understand that you won't be coming back anytime soon or possibly ever. And that there is a very real possibility that you could die?" He said to her in a completely serious tone.
"Yes," She didn't care about that anymore. She didn't have anything to live for anyway. And if she did make it... Wow, what an adventure!
He just stared at her for the longest time. But finally stood and shook her hand.
"Ms. Stewart, I will be in contact with you in the next 24 hours to let you know if you have indeed been chosen for this mission." He started walking her down the same hall she had come through earlier. "In the meantime, you need to go ahead and think about who is going to get the money you will be paid if chosen. They will get half when you leave and the other half after 10 years if you haven't returned. In the event, you do return you will immediately receive said money. You will have to work out all the details of how to get the first half of the money from that person upon your return. Also, you really need to think long and hard and dig really deep and make sure this is what you really want. The person who went on this exact mission before you 20 years ago hasn't been heard from. We have no way of knowing what happened to her." He looked at her with sad eyes for a split second.
He opened the door to the building for her. It was later than she thought. She was about to ask a question when he said, "Remember to think long and hard. I will let you know within 24 hours. Have a good evening." With that, he closed and locked the door and walked back into the building.