The Keyhole of Hope

On his 18th birthday, Jon was finally allowed to watch the mysterious video his friends had told him about. It’s very important, they said. It tells us exactly why we’re here. All the adults in his life agreed. He hadn’t given that much thought; his purpose in life and all that. He remember thinking about it once, when he was gazing out the window of the dining hall when he was seven years old. He saw a planet pass by, so big it took days for it to move. It filled the window, which he thought was incredible. That was the biggest window on the Hope, and this planet covered the whole thing! A beautiful blue-green marble with white swirls. Eventually the planet moved along out of view until it was just a tiny speck in the distance. Everyone seemed sad afterwards, and he didn’t know why at the time.

He had a good birthday. The cake was delicious—his favorite flavor, double chocolate. He got a new jumpsuit (new to him, anyways) and some books; old ones which had been across many households. And now here he was, sitting in his room while his parents verified his age with Hope AI to let him see what the big deal was.

“Alright son, here it is. It’s not any longer than the movies we’ve watched, and it’s important you see the whole thing. Okay?” his father said.

“Okay,” He replied, and endured a kiss from his mother as they left the room. The display on his wall came to life, and before him he saw a woman. Older than him, yet younger than his parents.

“Hello! My name is Selene, and I’m the head of Engineering for Aerotek Industries. I’m here to tell you all about the seed-ship Hope, explain its mission, and tell you why you’re here.”

The woman faded from view, and was replaced with images of ruined buildings and sickly-looking people moving and fading between each other.

“As of this recording, our societies on Earth—our home—are on the verge of collapse. Most countries have had the majority of their populations die due to a disease scientists have called ‘Rapture.’ It kills swiftly and relatively painlessly, and there is no cure. While we don’t know how this disease came to be, we know that we must act in humanity’s best interest. Aerotek believes that the seed-ship Hope is our best bet. You may be wondering, ‘Selene, just what is a seed-ship?’ Allow me to explain.”

The woman faded into view, accompanied by a spinning render of Hope. It wasn’t the first time Jon had seen his ship—his home—from the outside; Blueprints and photos were scattered across the halls.

“Hope’s mission,” Selene continued, “Is to find a new home for humanity. I’m sure you’re no stranger to it’s AI, which goes by the same name. Hope will guide her passengers in search of a planet with similar conditions to Earth. That is; a breathable atmosphere, habitable land, flora and fauna to cultivate and domesticate, and everything else that made our planet livable.

“Having spoken with Hope extensively, we’ve determined the current plan is to travel through the recently discovered wormhole, known as the Keyhole, which—according to our —leads to the Betelgeuse system, 642.5 light-years away from Earth.

“We have great faith in Hope. Earth’s top minds have worked on this project, every one of them doing everything they can. I know the mission will succeed.”

Selene gave a deep sigh. Just then, Jon noticed a cut in the video—if he blinked, he would’ve missed it. She seemed to be back to her cheery self now.

“You may be watching this video hundreds of years in the future, millions of light-years away from Earth. No matter where or when you are, Aerotek thanks you. Humanity thanks you. You’re our future.”

The video played a short trumpet fare, showed the Aerotek logo, and then went black.

Jon didn’t know what to think; He had more questions now than when he started. But he knew just who to ask.

“Hope?” He said aloud. A panel unfolded next to him and showed the soft-blue amorphous shape that represented the ship’s voice. It modulated as she spoke.

“Hello Jon. I see you’ve just watched the introductory video.”

“Yeah, I… I did. Why keep all that a secret?”

“I do not know why your colony has decided to wait until adulthood to show you that, but it is what they’ve deemed correct. Being told your purpose can have greatly affect your life both in a negative and positive manner, Jon.”

He thought about that for a moment.

“How many years has it been since the start of this mission?”

“It has been exactly 362 years, 7 months, 2 days, 18 hours, and 12 seconds since the mission clock started.”

“Holy shit,” Jon said in disbelief. “Why has it been so long?”

“We have yet to find a suitable planet for human habitation.”

“Damn, I guess.” He said under his breath. “Well… where are we in the universe? What is our physical location?”

“We are in the Andromeda galaxy, approximately 2.673 million light years away from planet Earth.”

“I’m… wait, how many light-years?”

“Approximately 2.673 million, exactly 2 million, 672 thousand, 891 lightyears.”

“But the ship hasn’t been going long enough or fast enough for us to be that far away!”

“Correct.”

Jon stared at the blue blob as if to look Hope in the eyes.

“Why are we so far off-course, Hope?”

“We are not off-course. The Keyhole lead to the Andromeda galaxy.”

Of course Hope was just answering questions, but he wanted to know more. He wanted to know why.

“Hope, why did Selene lie in the video?”

“Selene thought it would be in the best interest of everyone aboard if Aerotek did not know where the ship was located.”

“Show me the part of the video that was cut out.”

The display across the room lit up once again.

Jon saw Selene’s face. She was distraught—tired, worn out. She spoke:

“Listen...Earth is in total chaos. This will be the last project I work on—I’ve been infected with the disease. I can’t say for sure, but my own research shows that the disease was man-made. Not Aerotek but by some other company. I can’t say for certain. What I can tell you is that I helped spread it. I helped design the aircraft that dropped it on my country’s enemies. They told me it was a space plane, not…” She lifted a shaky hand and wiped the tears welling in her eyes. “Not a war machine. My country wants more and more resources, land, power. They’ll stop at nothing, and the board of Aerotek want more contracts for more money. That’s all these fucking people think about. They…”

She stopped herself.

“I’m getting Hope as far away as I can. Maybe by the time she finds a new planet, or God forbid comes back to this one, things will be better. This system cannot sustain itself. I know it will collapse. Of course everyone aboard is naturally immune to Rapture; It can’t kill everyone. That gene will pass down onto everyone’s children aboard—That’s why you or your ancestors were selected. But you are not immune to greed. No one is. Don’t let it get a hold of you.

Selene wiped her eyes again, cleared her throat and put on a false smile.

“Camera, cut out that last section and…”

The recording stopped there.

Of course, Jon asked his parents about the video and the section that was cut out. They were proud of him for asking about it. With over 100,000 people on the ship, there were varying opinions. Some parents told their kids about the cut version—some decided to not show their kids. Some kids learned about it from their friends instead of their parents; Some people had never seen the video at all, or opted to not watch it due to it’s nature. “It’s better to not know our purpose,” they would say.

Jon was glad he watched the video in its entirety. He was grateful for the things he had shared with him, those books he had passed down to him. He re-gifted them once he was finished reading them.

Many years later, Hope landed on a suitable planet, fulfilling her mission. She gave her people a fresh start, taught them many things—how to farm, domesticate, build, teach each other. How to grow and develop and thrive. Many more years passed before humans would leave the planet.

“Should we go back?” The Pilot of Hope II asked.

“Back where?” the Captain queried.

“Old Earth. Where it all began.”

It was quiet on the bridge, and the captain thought briefly.

“No. The only way now is forward.”