Starbound

1 - Destiny

Copyright to this book belongs to TheBookWizzes. All ideas in this book are original and no part of this book is to be used without the permission of the author(s).

Charlotte

Getting through the day was almost too much to bear. I wanted so desperately to be one of the Pairs and today was my only chance to be chosen, to change my destiny. It wasn't that I disliked computer engineering, it was just that I didn't wish to be stuck with it my entire life. At least if I was chosen for one of the Pairs, I would get a chance at excitement and adventure before being locked away in a computer lab for the rest of my life. And I would take the chance at adventure even if it meant I may never return, at least I would've done something with my life unlike those around me who had only ever known the four walls of their workplace, whether it be an office, a lab, a warehouse or a greenhouse, perhaps even a dark tunnel beneath the Earth's surface.

I have always liked to believe that my time at the Academy has a purpose, that I'm not just training for some mission I will never go on like so many of the others who attend it. For not everyone turning eighteen can go out into space searching for a new home for the human race. If we did, there would be no one left to continue on Earth and our race would die out sooner than we expect it to. We cannot deny that planet Earth is dying, her resources almost spent. More than half of the planet surface has been uninhabitable for decades due to a lack of clean oxygen and large masses of land drying out, turning into deserts with unbearable heat. One step into areas that hot would turn a human to ash in seconds. Instead our leaders, the Leaders of Earth or the LOE, have chosen to train all children to survive in space, fly spaceships while also teaching them skills for a career they would be most promising in. In an attempt to save our race, the LOE also introduced the Pairing. On the first day of every year, a list of all people turning eighteen that year is created and one hundred names are selected at random. The people chosen are assigned a Pair out of the others who were picked and sent into space.

So far, the Pairs from previous years have never returned but that doesn't deter me. Especially not as I settle on the floor of my parents' apartment in front of the news-screen mounted on the wall. I am tired from my day at the Academy but there is no time to rest now, not when the Pairs are about to be announced. I wait, legs crossed and hands in lap, staring up at the black screen. News-screens are almost always black, only turning on if an important event has occurred or news needs to be shared. Today, it will turn on to announce this year's Pairs at exactly 17:00. Glancing down at the black band around my wrist which tells me my daily schedule, I look at the blue numbers across the top telling me the time. It's 16:59, the news-screen will turn on any second now.

Looking back up, I wait. My parents will be home in four minutes from their day in the greenhouse, farming the fruit trees. My older brother will be home exactly three minutes after them, exhausted from his day in the tunnels, digging a new one probably in search of the last remaining diamonds or something ridiculous. Sometimes I wonder if the LOE is being wasteful, sending the tunnel workers to look for precious stones when they could be helping build a new spacecraft. I'm not given much more time to think about it for the light in the bottom right corner of the news-screen flashes blue, indicating that it is about to turn on. I sit up straighter, excitement building up inside of me. The screen turns on at last, a picture of the earth appearing against a white background, the symbol of the LOE. After two seconds it changes, the white remaining the same but blue text blinking onto it.

NOW ANNOUNCING THIS YEAR'S PAIRS.

I lean forward, still waiting. Here it is, the moment of truth at last. I cross my fingers, silently begging the screen to show my name on the list. The writing on the screen disappears for a millisecond before being replaced with a long list of names. I quickly scan through them, searching for mine.