The Empty and the Unknown

3 - Lift Off

Wrapping up their conversation, Gage and Titus sat down in their seats in the upper level, Gage on the left, Titus on the right. Titus' seat was comically small compared to him, but he didn't seem to mind. A recording of the Head Administrator at the FSS, Lilliana Banks, automatically projected onto each of the holoscreens after we had seated.

"Hello students," she began, "or rather, astronauts. In T-minus 5 minutes, you will take off into the great unknown of space. Before you leave the station, I wanted to formally thank you for all you have contributed to our society here on the FSS. I understand how difficult it was to get noticed out of all the colonies in our solar system, but know that you are all here for a reason. When you are gone, we will be missing a piece of our family. Thank you again for all you have done. Now, on to the travel itself."

"Your mission, as you know, will bring you to light-speed. Once you reach that speed, you will head to a planet that seems suitable for life to continue as it did on Earth. As you may know, the journey to any habitable planet will take many years, even at that, so you will be put into cryogenic sleep through most of it. Once you are within a quarter of a lightyear, you will be awoken to prepare for your arrival. We can't guarantee what you may find on these foreign planets, but I assure you that we have prepared you for whatever comes your way. That is all. Flight begins in T-minus 2 minutes. Lilliana Banks, signing off." The holoscreens shut off at this point, and I eagerly waited for the countdown.

After what seemed like years later, the holoscreens powered back up. A voice came over the intercom systems within the ship, "10," it counted, reading out what appeared on the holoscreens. "9,8,7,6,5," the four ionic thrusters on the wings began firing, the noise amplifying over time, as did my excitement. I could see the light from the sun pouring in when the top of the hangar opened up. "4,3,2,1," I clutched the edges of my seats, the Falcon rising vertically out of the hangar. The sudden acceleration forced me down into the seat.

A bright light flooded in as we launched out of the station, the carbon glass tinting immediately to shield us from the direct sunlight. The ship rotated 45 degrees left of the station, then the thrusters turned to their horizontal position and we sped off away from the station. In the distance, I could see the station's rings rotating around its center axis. The crew and I all stared in open-mouthed amazement, the actual experience being unbelievably incredible compared to the simulations we had practiced on could have possibly been. It decreased in size until we could see all of Jupiter, which the station currently orbited around.

We had flown thousands of miles away before the light-engine began to hum loudly. The ionic thrusters shut off, yet the ship continued to accelerate faster and faster until it seemed like space itself was warping around the ship. The stars turned into streaks, then nothing at all. An impossibly bright, disk-like orb could be seen out the front window, whilst to the sides of the ship, everything went black. "Lightspeed achieved. Congratulations, astronauts." Read a mechanical voice from the intercoms. The engine stopped accelerating and the ship maintained its impossible speeds, seatbelts becoming undone. I cheered loudly, getting up out of my seat. Titus and Gage joined me in my exhilaration, whilst Aurora remained seated, more stone-faced than ever.

"I think this calls for a round of drinks," I suggested, the boys nodding in agreement. They rushed to the kitchen, just through a door on the right of the main chamber of the ship

"You coming?" I called to Aurora when I noticed she hadn't gotten out of her seat.

"I'm alright, thank you though." She replied quietly, turning back to the holoscreen.

On such a momentous occasion, I figured it impossible not to celebrate, but Aurora managed to make it happen. I brushed it aside and went to the kitchen, where Gage and Titus had already begun requesting drinks from the fabricator. Yet another piece of technology exclusive to this ship, the Fabricator. It was a small machine that just clung to the side of the ship. It functioned exactly like a 3D printer, but worked with food, and could fabricate them in the blink of an eye. Feeding off the supply of organic matter held in the cargo bay of the Falcon, we could request a vast variety of foods.

Whiskey was poured for Titus and me, Gage opting for a rum and coke. We hung out in the kitchen, laughing hysterically as Titus shared unlikely stories of his feats while he was on Mars, his home colony. He told us how he battled a T-rex with the strength of a hundred man, how he scaled forty meter tall buildings to save babies and other tales. At this point, Gage and I were fairly certain it was just the alcohol talking, no matter how many times he swore it true. "Actually, T-rexes weren't brought to Mars when they were revived. It was too hot for them." Gage argued, attempting in vain to correct the tall tales Titus wove, though Titus remained adamant about the "truthfulness" of his stories.

"All right, let's prepare for cryopreservation," I said, after polishing off the last of the whiskey and dumping our glasses into the recyclable material chute, which ground them into dust and returned them to the cargo bay. Gage and Titus headed to the cryo-lab to get ready, while I walked to the cabin where Aurora had stayed.

"Knock knock." Aurora jumped when I said this, quickly closing out of her holoscreen before swiveling towards me. 

"Yes?" She answered, getting out of her chair. 

"It's time to go to sleep, Gage and Titus are already getting prepped." I eyed her suspiciously, curious as to what she was working on.

"Oh, of course." She said, brushing past me. She wouldn't even make eye contact with me, but I just wrote it off as another one of her peculiarities. I followed her to the cryo-lab, where Gage was injecting Titus' thigh with a syringe full of a strange jet-black liquid.

"What is that?" I questioned.

"Oh," Gage finished injecting him and picked up a small collection of syringes off the counter the circled the wall, all filled with a similar looking liquid. "These are just nanobots that will protect our cells before we enter the chambers. Were they not protected, they'd eventually dehydrate and explode, which would end in our certain deaths. Simply put, it's the human-equivalent of antifreeze." He chuckled to himself. "But everyone needs to do it, so I'll take care of you all, then do myself." 

Gage took turns injecting each crew member with the nanobots. After Titus, it was Aurora, then me. I usually didn't like needles, but I was too interested in the cryopods to even notice the sting the needle left. The liquid felt cool as it entered my veins, and I shivered a bit. Gage injected himself last. I took a second to look at the four cryopods that were spaced out evenly apart in the room. They were long cylindrical tubes that laid on the ground. They had metal bottom halves, and a clear glass top half, attached with a couple hinges. They were all the same size, except for one, which was a bit larger than the rest. I assumed it was Titus'.

"Alright, it's now time for cryopreservation," I announced. The cryopods automatically lifted their hatches. "Climb in. When we awake, it'll be a few months 'til landing." The crew filed into their pods. I stepped into mine, then laid down. The hatch closed with a hiss, clicking as it locked into place. 

My nerves buzzed with excitement, the prospect of the exploration to come keeping me awake. After some struggle, I eventually fell into a deep sleep.