The stars will not be our death. They will be our Salvation. We will leave this planet eventually, and when we do, we wil find ourselves in a new age of exploration. We've taken a single step into the vast, infinite ocean of the Cosmos. This is the story of a remarkable woman, who dared to take another.
Morgana Brown was a space explorer. She was more than qualified. She held two doctorates in Astrophysics and Astronomy, one masters in Planetary Xenobiology, and had an IQ of just under 200. She was the perfect ambassador to any civilizations we'd yet to meet.
She captained the UNS Sagan. Despite the danger, thousands of brave and eager souls had signed up to join the crew. The small shuttle could only carry twenty. Morgana had insisted on reviewing every application personally. It was her crew, and she would decide who was on it. After over a week of toiling over application upon application, she had made her choices. Ten men and nine women, of many diverse races and creeds.
Morgana slowly began training her crew with half day, then full day sessions in orbit, testing them on every aspect of space travel. Eventually, they had bonded; grown closer than family. They set out on their journey on January 9, 2105. That day would come to be known as Explorer's Day.
The starcraft was sleek, and adorned in the flags of every country on Earth. Each had contributed to the funding of the project, on the grounds that they be represented. It stopped on it's journey every so often, or upon reaching a waypoint. The explorers relished these times. All their lives, they had dreamed of watching the beauty of the Cosmos up close. Now, they had their chance.
After one year they had seen everything the human eye was capable of seeing. they had been bombarded by space rock, seen hundreds of planets, visited thirteen, and discovered four that could be habitated. The most exciting thing they found, however, was life.
They were a young speices of aquatic humanoids just entering their Industrial Revolution. The Kaliac were small beings, only about four feet at their tallest. They had shimmering blue and green scales, and, despite being aquatic, had hands much like ours.
The language they spoke was smooth and flowed like the tides they navigated. It was beautiful, and Morgana prided herself in knowing much of it, for staying only a month. The syllables were fluid, and ebbed ad flowed in ways barely understood. She had promised to return.
After one year, they had turned back. Humanity had finally made it to the stars. And Morgana Brown had joined the legends that had given us so much. Not only because of her merit, though there was no shortage of that. But because she braved the stars. She had the courage to challenge the unknown, and came home triumphant.
"The stars will not be our death. They will be our Salvation."
