New Genesis

With my eyes closed and my teeth clenched, I held on to the armrest for dear life.

“Dad! Dad!” my son called. “It’s okay. We’re in the air already.”

Takeoff was not that bad. I expected a whole lot worse. I am not one who likes to fly. I have only flown twice before. The first was a rough takeoff, and the second was a crash landing. So, many were surprised when I accepted this opportunity to fly in the brand-new Aurora 2300.

It’s the largest passenger aircraft ever built. Instead of seats, it has rooms—500 of them, to be exact. We fly in the comfort of a five-star hotel or maybe a cruise ship.

We are traveling to a new home, a new job, a new life.

Nothing like anything we’ve ever known before.

Although I was more relaxed now than I was at first, I dared not look out the window. That was for my son and daughter to enjoy. Therefore, I did not notice the moment we left Earth’s atmosphere.

“Mom! Dad! Y’all need to come see this.”

“You know your dad can’t handle this,” said Becky.

“I’m fine. I think I can take it now.”

As I got out of my chair and walked toward the window, the sight of Earth was awe-inspiring. It was the kind of sight that takes your breath away.

While I was enjoying the breathtaking view, an announcement came over the intercom.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached orbit. We will make 100 orbits around Earth as we pick up speed to reach our final destination. This will take about three days.”

We were headed to New Genesis, a planet 14,000 light-years away. Traveling at 1,000 LPD—light-years per day—it would take us about 14 days to reach New Genesis after leaving Earth’s orbit, including the time needed to reduce our speed for landing.

Just five years earlier, a group of scientists had traveled there to terraform the planet.

Now, a new home awaited us.

“New Genesis is twice the size of Earth, and its years are twice as long, but its days are 24 hours, just like Earth’s. The sky is a very deep blue around noon; otherwise, it’s red. Very beautiful. The temperature across most of the planet is equal to that of the tropics on Earth.”

The three-day orbit went by quite fast. When it was time to slingshot into the far reaches of space, once again, I was holding on to the armrest of my chair.

JJ—Jerry Jr., my son—was laughing at me.

“JJ,” said Bonnie, “leave Dad alone. He can’t help it if he’s a scaredy-cat.”

They both started laughing.

Anyway, our adventure had started.

Day 1: Good-bye

We were on our way.

We were not just leaving town, moving to a different state, or even to a different country. We were saying good-bye to the planet that had been home to the human race for over 6,000 years.

Never again would we see the sun rise over the Pacific or the moon shine on the Atlantic.

Many of us were saying good-bye to friends and family. Those we grew up with. Never would we see them again.

That realization hit some hard.

But it was too late to turn around now.

In just two weeks, we would see our permanent new home.

That day, I video-chatted with my brother and sister. My cousins wished me well. My children spoke to their cousins, their friends, and their classmates.

My wife said that she was trying to get away from her family.

She was happy to be leaving them.

It wasn’t that big of a loss. There would be another chance for others to join us. The next ship would be leaving in about two years.

Maybe we would see them again.

Maybe two moons reflecting on the ocean would be twice as beautiful as one.

Day 2: Walkabout

Have you ever taken a cruise on one of those large cruise ships? The ones with five different swimming pools, movie theaters, basketball courts, five-star dining rooms, and more?

This ship had it all.

I started the day with a run around the track. Breakfast was sausage, eggs, and a biscuit. I also had all the bacon I could eat.

Next, I went to the gym and played a game of basketball with the neighbors.

My wife went to the spa. She said she had never felt better in her life.

I said she had never looked better.

The kids spent most of the day playing video games. At about 5:00 PM, we all met at the movies and ate a lobster dinner at 7:00.

It was an enjoyable day.

This would be our life for the next 12 days. A beautiful vacation before starting our new life.

There was enough to do so we wouldn’t be doing the same thing every day. Swimming. Playing ball. TV-style game shows. Every day, something different.

In addition to movies, they had live stage shows, plays, concerts, dances—the works.

At the very least, we shouldn’t get bored.

Day 5: Life Gives You Lemons

It didn’t take long to miss the comforts of home.

The best vacation ever can’t replace the people you care about. We all missed the people back on Earth. We hoped to see them again, but there was no guarantee.

On top of that, no pets were allowed on this trip. We had to leave Mike and Ike, our dogs, at home. We left them in the care of our next-door neighbor.

To make matters worse, we were starting to lose our connection with Earth. Video chats were failing. Text messages were still working, but they were slow.

After seeing JJ and Bonnie mope around, I had a great idea.

There were things that families could do together.

At least, that’s what I told the kids.

As it turned out, many of the kids from their school were on the ship. They were not the kids that mine would normally hang around with, but they knew each other. They didn’t dislike each other.

They enjoyed being with people they knew.

My wife and I met up with people from our companies. Not those we dealt with on a daily basis, but we did know these people. We enjoyed their company.

Also, I found out that in a day or two, we’d be close enough to a long-distance communication satellite to reach Earth. At least we’d be able to communicate for a little while.

It would still be a few years before a more permanent communication system could be established.

Anyway, we became determined not to let anything get us down.

Whatever lemons life decided to throw at us, we knew we would make the best of it.

It was too late to turn around.

We were already 5,000 light-years from Earth.

Turning back was not an option.

So, whenever life gave us lemons, we made lemonade.

Day 10: Danger

We were awakened at about 6:00 in the morning by the ship violently shaking.

An announcement came over the intercom suggesting that we stay in our rooms until further notice.

“There is nothing to worry about. Just a little snag that will be fixed in a few minutes.”

The shaking continued.

After a few hours, people began to ignore the “stay in your room” order. We were demanding to know what the problem was.

As it turned out, two of the ship’s ten engines had failed.

We were promised that we’d still make it to New Genesis on time, if not ahead of schedule.

But the ship continued to shake.

As the hours rolled by, it got worse.

Soon, we started to have power failures.

Our wonderful vacation was turning into a nightmare.

We still had another four days of this.

To tell you the truth, the kids were handling the situation much better than I was.

“Whose idea was it to take an airplane to another planet? What the heck was I thinking?”

“Honey!” Becky said. “Calm down. We’ll be starting a new life in just a few days. It will be okay! Look at the kids.”

The kids were having fun.

They had their flashlights. They made games out of the ongoing power failures. They played hide-and-seek. They played Marco Polo. All kinds of glow-in-the-dark stuff.

To them, it was fun.

I pretended to be having a good time, but I don’t know how believable it was.

Day 14: Lost

Finally, it was the last day.

I got out of bed with our bags packed the night before, ready to get off this dump.

I was happier than I had been this entire trip.

Imagine my shock and surprise when we looked out the window and saw nothing there.

“Attention, guests. Due to the engine trouble we had a few days ago, we are just a little bit behind schedule. Nothing to worry about. We will reach New Genesis very shortly.”

That’s the lie they told us.

They didn’t want us to know that we were completely off course.

I had done the homework.

Even if we were only a little behind schedule, we would still see our new home. If nothing else, we would see the star the planet orbited.

But we saw nothing.

The truth was that they didn’t know where we were.

Day 28: Food Shortage

There is a problem when a 14-day trip starts to go longer than 14 days.

The supplies begin to run out.

By Day 28, the food was rationed to just two meals a day. No more “all you can eat” anything.

Portions were small.

Tempers were high.

Fights began to break out over the last slice of bacon.

Nobody was happy.

Nobody was having a good time.

The gym was closed. The spa was closed. No movies were being shown.

Rumors started that emergency food was stored in different locations around the ship. Raids were made all around. A few locations were found with enough food to feed a few hundred people.

This was meant for extended voyages.

But if this wasn’t extended, then I don’t know what was.

It was good to have some real food in our bellies. I was happy that our next-door neighbors decided to share some with us.

The rule was that they would only share with those who helped out. But since our children had made such good friends with theirs, they helped us out.

Still, we didn’t know how much longer we would have to deal with this.

Day 32: Abandon Ship

After fighting for food for four days, an alarm sounded.

We all knew well what this alarm meant.

We all feared this alarm more than any other.

We had been told about it before takeoff.

Abandon ship.

Everybody was ordered to return to their rooms. In the event of an extreme emergency, our rooms would serve as escape pods.

As it turned out, the ship was completely out of control and headed straight toward an asteroid.

The crash would mean total destruction.

Separation would mean that we would orbit, or land on, the asteroid until the unlikely event that somebody came to rescue us.

I was tempted to hide somewhere on the ship and die right along with it.

That had to be better than starving to death.

Actually, we’d die from thirst long before starvation. The human body can go weeks without food but only days without water.

At least staying on board would mean that I’d control how I died.

But I had to put up a good front for the kids.

Although I didn’t believe it myself, I convinced them that everything would be all right.

To my surprise, as soon as our room separated from the ship, a panel opened in the floor with enough food and water to last three months.

It did make me a little bit happier.

But not completely.

We were still stuck.

The food and water would still run out.

We were still sitting and waiting to die.

It would just take longer.

I still fought hard to put on a strong face for the kids.

But now, I had nowhere to go to cry my heart out.

Day 42: Rescue

When things seemed completely hopeless, the intercom turned on.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may we have your full attention? Very soon, we will be on our way. New Genesis is still ahead.”

At that point, I completely lost control.

“Ha! The ship is destroyed. Nobody knows where we are. We can’t contact anyone. We are all going to die. That is all we have to look forward to. A long, torturous death. ‘New Genesis is still ahead.’ What a bunch of idiots! Can’t they see a hopeless situation when it’s right in front of them? Our best bet is to see what we can do with this asteroid, which I can tell you right now is nothing. ‘New Genesis is still ahead!’”

“Mom!” one of the kids called out.

To tell the truth, I was too out of it to realize which one it was. I was still ranting while they had their conversation.

“Is Dad going to be okay?”

“Yes, dear. He just needs a little rest.”

“Are we going to die?”

“No, dear. If they say all will be fine, then it will.”

“Honey!” she said to me.

She repeated it about five times before I responded.

“WHAT?” I said with an attitude.

“We need to be strong. If they say it, they must know something.”

She was eventually able to calm me down.

It was right on time.

The next announcement was a lot better.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we do have great news. The Grace has come to our rescue.”

The Grace was a shuttle designed on New Genesis for the sole purpose of search and rescue.

The moment the Aurora 2300 went off course, they were sent to find us.

As we boarded the new ship, I smiled.

I was really looking forward to putting my feet on the ground.

Day 52: New Genesis

Finally, it was the last day.

I got out of bed with our bags packed the night before, ready to get off this dump.

I was happier than I had been this entire trip.

This time, it was for real.

I looked out the window and saw a beautiful red-and-blue ball below us.

It was our new home.

Our new beginning.

Our New Genesis.