I've sat in this cell for hours. Waiting. Shallow breaths. My eyes were bloodshot, my fingers were numb. I was numb. I waited for the man with the ax to come and chop me to bits, but he wasn't coming. No, a man with a coat made of fancy materials came, barreling towards my cell with wide eyes behind his black-rimmed glasses. Two guards stood next to him. Their eyes were stern as they seemed ever vigilant to strike a killer in their home. But the man in the white coat wasn't. He talked. And talked. He talked until his breath of mint took the air by its throat, and two words in particular caught everyone's attention.
Project Attas.
I had spoke. "You're asking me to join the project that is to migrate humans to Planet Attas?"
"Yes." His voice was clear with that, and he explained. "There are specific parameters that the people I've recruited must meet, and you've met them. You've met all of them. I'm asking you to join me and change humanity's fate."
"The chances of dying by genetic mutation is high, Mr. Nolam. You're asking me, a convicted criminal, to take the chance to migrate humans to this almost-exactly-the-same-Earth. I have to ask why."
"You deserve a better ending, as does everyone!" A glow was vibrant in his eyes. "Listen, Tayas. What happened to you wasn't your fault. Arizona may see it differently, but I don't. You can either die here as a villain, or come with me and become a hero."
The words resonated. I suddenly remembered my son, the victim to the true crime I committed. If he could make it to Attas because of me, the world would be much brighter, I thought.
And I closed my eyes. "Then I suppose I'd rather be a hero than a villain."
YOU ARE READING
After Earth
Science FictionThe year is 2067. Earth's life is falling to pieces due to the waging of war across all countries. The only solution? Find a way off of it. Tayas has just been sentenced to death for killing his wife and her lover, and he sits in a cell in wait to d...
