Earth Cruise

Earth Cruise

Lara was excited. For her 12th birthday she had asked Grandpa for a family cruise, and to her surprise, Grandpa Al had said OK, and here they were. The whole family, Lara, her nine year old brother, Kirk, her mother, and her father were berthed on Star Cruiser Constellation, on a fully paid three week cruise with port stops at Mars, Earth’s moon, and the Earth Space Station orbiter.

Her mother told Lara that Grandpa Al gave her this gift because Lara was his favorite, and only, granddaughter, and that the money for the trip was going to be Lara’s someday anyway. Besides, Grandpa was the chief stockholder in Consolidated Space Mines, UnLTD, and the trip wouldn’t even create a blip in his wallet.

The Constellation was the Stellar Cruise Line’s newest and biggest ship. It carries 1200 passengers serviced by 200 live staff and over a thousand robots. There was only one class, and if it had to have a name it would be “Superior Class”. Restaurants, robo games, golf, swimming pools, virtual experience pods (some for adults only), real and simulated entertainment, gambling, bars, and more, were all included in the ticket price. The only thing that required monetary credits were the many expensive retail shops, most of which catered to female passengers. Diamonds, sure thing, 4-D printers could create them on the spot after laser measuring your fingers, wrists or neck for fit. Lara’s mom had them print a heart shaped locket with a picture of their ship in it as a souvenir.

A pleasant female voice with a slight Irish accent notified all passengers that they were approaching Earth’s Moon Port where they would be for eight hours and thirty-seven minutes. Passengers could leave the ship if they desired, but anyone not back onboard 30 minutes before castoff would be left behind. They could find information about Moon Port on Channel 33 on their Appel Communicators. Have a good day.

Only Lara’s father chose to leave the ship. He wanted to see the Moon Port because of its historical significance. Apparently it was the source of a sabotage effort that destroyed Earth Space Station 3, which was a predecessor to Space Station 7 Orbiter which they were going to visit. Since that time, Earth had been in quarantine because of disease, pollution, and radiation from their last nuclear war. No human communication had been heard from earth in decades, and it was assumed that any life still there would be primitive.

Lara’s father made it back to the Constellation before liftoff. He rejoined his family smiling to himself. “What are you smiling about, Dad?”, Lara asked. “Something at the museum,” he said. “Can you believe there was ever anyone named Chow Chow?”

Next stop Earth Space Station Orbiter. Well it wasn’t really a port stop. Instead the Constellation put itself into the Space Station’s orbit so passengers could get a feel for the history, position and the perspective of personnel stationed on the orbiter. To make it real, key personnel were space podded from the orbiter to the Constellation to give lectures on the history and role of the orbiter. Turns out they were there as a guard house to keep diseased people from leaving earth and infecting the rest of the galaxy.

Lara found that kind of mean and quit going to the lectures. Instead she channel surfed on her communicator and pieced together as best she could earth’s story. She found that earth’s population, riddled with a deadly disease they could treat, instead chose not to, and that cultism infected the population to a degree that everyone distrusted everyone else and chose to destroy their governments rather than figure out how to get along. The space colonies, fearful of infection not only from disease but also from ideology, took steps to stop their exportation by putting earth in quarantine until its people could evolve into a more acceptable species.

Lara told her father what she had learned, and asked, “Did we do that, Daddy?”

Her Father kissed her snout and tenderly patted her right tentacle and said, “We had no choice, Lara. We have no defenses against earth diseases.”