The Stars That Beckon

by Kevin J Simington

  As Wisecroft neared the end of his doomsday speech, Keo said, “That man has a heavy soul.”

  “You got that right, dude,” said Martinez.

  “Heavy as lead,” agreed Kit.

  “Like a black hole,” added Zac.

  Wisecroft concluded his presentation by urging everyone on board to join the Genesis mission, saying, “There is nothing here for us anymore. Our destiny lies on another world; a fresh, new world where we can start again. A place where we can build a safe future for our children, and their children. I hope you will join us. I will now hand over to Captain Lars Christensen, who will explain some of the practicalities of life on board Genesis.”

  Christensen’s white-bearded Nordic face appeared on the screen. “Ladies and gentlemen, I trust you are not in too much distress. This is a very difficult time for all of us.”

  “He has a light soul,” said Keo to the group.

  “Yes, he’s a good man,” answered Zac.

  Christensen continued, “I want to explain the basic layout of Genesis and the living arrangements from this point onwards.”

  A basic schematic appeared on the screen.

  “As you can see, Genesis is shaped like a brick.” This elicited laughs and comments from a number of people around the dining room. “You are, no doubt, familiar with the fanciful science-fiction depictions of spaceships, with wings and streamlined aerodynamic shapes. A starship, however, does not need these things, because it is not designed to fly through an atmosphere. It travels through the vacuum of space, and so it can be any shape at all. For our purposes, building Genesis in this shape was the most practical and cost-efficient. The only time Genesis will ever engage with the atmosphere of a planet will be at our destination, when it will make a vertical landing, tail first, balancing on its propulsion drive.

  “Our vessel has five distinct modules: command, living, life support, hibernation and power. Each module, as you can see, has different levels. Banks of lifts are situated between the modules, providing access to the different levels as well as access from one module to the next. Unless you have authorisation, you will only have access to the living module and the medical level in the command module.”

  “Genni, the most sophisticated, self-aware artificial intelligence that humankind has ever created, takes up the whole of the top level of the command level—although she takes exception to the term ‘artificial intelligence’, preferring to refer to herself as an ‘augmented intelligence’. Genni will be in charge of Genesis for 40 years while we all sleep.” There was an outbreak of chatter at that point, and Christensen let it subside before continuing.

  “I won’t go into detail about every level in every module, but I will pick out a few. The very bottom level of Genesis has a series of loading bays and shuttle bays, five of each on both sides. Most of the loading bays contain a large array of farming and industrial equipment that will be essential for establishing life on a new world. Fore and aft of the shuttle and loading bays are the push field generators, or shields. These are crucial for our journey to the stars. As we accelerate to a significant fraction of light speed, these shields will envelop our vessel in a push field that will protect Genesis from being damaged by high-velocity collision with the particles of dust and debris that permeate the universe.”

  “The power module at the rear contains the fusion reactor, which provides internal power for the entire vessel. It also contains our main propulsion drive, a newly developed antimatter drive. This drive will accelerate us at eight gravities for 35 days, until we reach our cruising speed of approximately half the speed of light. It will then switch off, and we will coast at that speed for nearly 40 years, until we undergo 35 days of deceleration at the other end. The antimatter drive is the most efficient drive ever built, utilising 99 percent of the liberated energy as pure thrust. It can also operate indefinitely, as it creates antimatter from the constant bombardment of dust particles on our vessel’s shields. You will not feel any acceleration or deceleration, due to our very efficient inertial dampeners and artificial gravity generator.” Captain Christensen paused briefly and smiled. “I won’t bore you with any further technical details.”

  “The hibernation zone is where you will sleep in cryogenic stasis for the duration of the journey. Dr. Zangetti has already explained some of that process to you. There are 900 cryogenic pods on the various levels of this zone, as this was the anticipated number of people that we planned to take on the mission.”

  “The life support zone includes our yeast farm and aquaponic farm, which are completely automated and tended by basic robots. While we are awake, these farms will produce all the fresh food that we will need. Genni will deactivate the farms once we are all asleep and will reactivate them one month prior to waking us.”

  “The mission plan is that once all personnel have been transferred to the new world via the shuttles, Genni will execute a vertical landing using the propulsion drive. At the last moment, she will activate thrusters and land Genesis on its side. Genesis will then become our initial city, while we build more appropriate dwellings.”

  “That brings me to the living zone. While we are awake, I encourage you to utilise the recreation deck as much as possible. There is a large amount of gym equipment and a variety of playing courts: tennis, squash, micro-soccer, basketball. It is important that we maintain our fitness and health while on the voyage to our new home. The lounge deck, as well as containing the obvious lounge areas, also includes two cinemas, each of which can seat 200 people. There are thousands of movies in our database. You can schedule a movie using the data screen at the door to each cinema, or also from the data screens in your cabins.”

  “The food dispenser consoles in the dining room are active 24 hours a day, but to encourage interaction and bonding we will ring a meal chime throughout the upper levels at 0700, 1300 and 1800 each day. There are 588 people on board and there are 450 seats in the dining room, so a large percentage of our population can eat at the same time.”

  “The sleeping cabins, on the bottom two levels, each have two beds, but as there are 450 of them, many of you will be able to have a cabin to yourself. To select a cabin, simply scan your biochip twice at the internal scanner and press ‘confirm’ both times. Only you, and your room-mate, if you decide to share, will then be able to access your cabin, ensuring privacy.”

  “Obviously, many of you have arrived on board with only the clothes that you are wearing. There are dry-cleaning laundries and communal bathrooms interspersed throughout the corridors. There are also storerooms next to each laundry, stocked with plain jumpsuits in various sizes. Please only take one suit to begin with.”

  “We will have one more day in lunar orbit, making some transfers to Aldrin Research Facility, then a seven-day journey to Mars. We will be in Mars orbit for approximately three days while we transfer people and supplies to and from the Mars base. In twelve days’ time we will begin our journey to our new home.”

  “There are more detailed explanations of our vessel and our mission plan on the data screens in your cabin. Please also take note of the daily communications that will be posted there. Genni is also available to answer any questions you may have. You can communicate with her directly, simply by addressing her, anywhere on the vessel. She has the ability to converse with everyone on board simultaneously, and once you have scanned your biochip and spoken to her the first time, she will identify your voice each time.”

  Christensen paused for a moment and then concluded by saying, “This is the greatest undertaking ever attempted by humanity. It is also the most important. Each one of you will have a vital role to play. I hope you will stay and be a part of it. Thank you.”

  The screen changed to a view of the pristine blue-green world that would be their new home, and conversation immediately erupted all across the dining room.

  Melody looked across the table. “Are you going, Zac?”

  “You bet! I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said, winking a
t her.

  “I wish my mum and dad could be here with me,” she said, her eyes welling up with tears.

  “I know,” said Jaz, putting her arm around Melody and stroking her head. “I wish they could be here, too. But they would be very happy to know that you are safe, and that there are people who are going to look after you.”

  “Are you going to the new planet, Jaz?” she asked, looking up at her new friend.

  “Of course!”

  “In that case, I’m going too,” she announced, bravely.

  “I hope there’s surf,” said Keo.

  28

  Ten days later, life on board Genesis had settled into a daily routine. Mornings and early afternoons were spent in training sessions, learning skills that would be essential for their survival and development. Each person was expected to learn two skills. The entire morning, divided into two sessions separated by morning tea, was spent learning and practising their primary skill. The early afternoon was spent on their secondary or “elective” skill. Skills ranged from the practical to the highly theoretical: Farming, hunting, animal husbandry, engineering, carpentry, electrical, cooking, sewing, mechanics, mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, astronomy, genetics, medicine, navigation, geology, pilot training, computer coding, and much more. Genni conducted the majority of theoretical classes and even some of the practical ones, due to the shortage of fully qualified people amongst the makeshift crew.

  The ship was alive with classes and workshops occupying every nook and cranny. It was a race against time. The initial mission team of 900 people had been selected because of their considerable skills in at least one of these areas, and they had trained for 18 months in preparation for the mission. Had they come on board at Keppler Station as they were scheduled to, they would have already been fully trained and prepared for the challenges of the new world. The conglomeration of souls currently on-board Genesis represented, on the whole, a much lower average skill level. According to the long-established mission protocol, they had only a couple of weeks available to train before the long hibernation began, and once awake again, they would immediately be thrust into the challenges of having to build a new world on a virgin planet. The science team was currently considering the possibility of delaying hibernation for an additional two weeks, to allow a longer period for training, but this would be the absolute maximum they would allow. Well-documented research had determined that when untrained civilians were confined in a space vessel for more than a month, without the ability to see the distant horizon and sky, a small percentage developed disturbing psychological symptoms, including a form of psychosis colloquially known as ‘space wobbles’.

  Zac had selected pilot training as his primary skill and medicine as his secondary. Martinez had chosen pilot training and hunting. In fact, she was an instructor for the afternoon hunting class. Some of the key instructors spent all three daily sessions teaching their skill, the two morning sessions teaching those who had selected it as their primary skill, and the afternoon session instructing those for whom it would be their secondary skill. The only skill that wasn’t run in the afternoons as a secondary skill was pilot training, as the morning session had more than enough participants for their requirements.

  Some of the scientists aboard Genesis were now having to wear more than one hat. One of the glaring gaps in expertise among the science team was in the area of agriculture, which was to have been headed up by Dr. Rudolf Stein, a professor of biology and agriculture at the University of Otago. He had been training a team of agriculturalists and farmers in New Zealand for the past 18 months, and they had been scheduled to join Genesis at Kepler Station immediately prior to Earth departure. Of course, they never made it. The closest person Genesis now had to an agricultural expert was Regina Boyle.

  “But my degree is in biology, with a doctorate in cryogenics!” she had responded when approached by Wisecroft. “I haven’t studied botany since I was in high school!”

  “Yes, I know,” he replied, “but you’re the closest thing we’ve got to a botanist and agriculturalist. There are a few colonists with some basic experience in farming, but no one with the requisite knowledge to oversee the establishment of agriculture on a new world. We need someone in charge who can analyse the basic chemistry and biology of new plant species and food crops and ensure that we don’t poison ourselves or die of malnutrition.”

  Consequently, Regina found herself furiously devouring literature from Genesis’s extensive electronic library as she attempted to prepare herself and her team of budding farmers for the vital role they would play in the new colony. She also spent many hours in discussion with several colonists who had lived or grown up on farms, and together they examined some of the state-of-the-art farming equipment in the storage holds, to familiarise themselves with the technology.

  There were only 38 children on board, all of whom had arrived via the emergency shuttle evacuations. Those of school age spent the two morning sessions in ‘school,’ in a corner of the lounge area, with Genni as their teacher and a couple of adults with teaching experience helping with supervision. Each child had a tablet and headphones, and Genni tailored their individual lessons according to their abilities. The first morning’s lessons had identified Melody as a mathematical prodigy. Her mother had deliberately kept it quiet, wanting to keep her out of the limelight, but Melody had been receiving private tuition since the age of 4, to foster the incredible gift that she had been born with. She devoured books on mathematics and was already studying advanced formulae at doctoral level.

  Melody had found a soulmate in Jaz, who had taken her under her wing, and was her cabin mate. The young girl still occasionally cried at night for the mother and father she had lost, but Jaz had made it her mission to love this little girl and, as much as possible, to fill her days with joy and laughter. In the afternoons, Melody and Jaz were inseparable. Melody became Jaz’s unofficial “assistant” in the medical bay, and very quickly became known as ‘the little angel’. She especially looked forward to each afternoon, because she also got to spend time with Zac, who came down to the med bay for training each day.

  Zac, himself, had undergone a transformation. The deep hurt of his loss and the sense of betrayal that had threatened to overwhelm him had gone. Somehow the cathartic expression of grief that he had shared with Melody had purged the grief from his soul and had allowed him to move forward. Maybe Keo was right; maybe a soul could be light or heavy, depending on what it was you chose to hold onto. Zac still experienced sadness at his loss, but it no longer dominated or defined him. The challenges of each day, and of the mission itself, gave him a purpose to live for, and the joy and laughter of new friendships sustained him.

  Moreover, he found himself thinking of Jaz often. His afternoons in the med bay were the highlight of his day, and he couldn’t deny that she was the main reason he had chosen that elective. He found Jaz utterly enchanting; her classic red-haired beauty, her warm, caring heart and her fun-loving nature all combined to overwhelm his defences. And he could tell that the chemistry was mutual. Several times in recent days they had held each other’s eyes in a lingering look, and she had brushed up against him more than once, maintaining contact while supposedly carrying out some menial task, causing his heart to race and his mind to whirl.

  Today, the afternoon medical training session was on the topic of fractures. Dr Francis Leibman, the chief medical officer, gave a 30-minute lecture to a group of about 40 people, explaining various first-aid procedures for the different types of fractures. The group then split into two for practising splints and bandaging, with young Dr Ben Miller taking one group and Jaz taking the other. In Jaz’s group, Melody grabbed Zac as her bandage buddy, and a great deal of laughter ensued as Melody bandaged not only his arm but his head and torso, too.

  “Hey, you two!” said Jaz. “You’re going to use up all my bandages. This is supposed to be serious.”

  “This is serious!” replied Melody. “Somebody seriously needs t
o cover up his ugly head for the sake of humanity.”

  “Hey! I resemble that!” said Zac, with a twinkle in his eye. “Just for that, you need math punishment.”

  “Oh no! I’m really scared!” Melody said sarcastically. She turned to Jaz in a pretend whisper, “He thinks he’s asking me hard questions.”

  “OK, smarty pants,” said Zac. “What’s the cube root of 658,500?”

  “It doesn’t have a whole integer cube root, silly! The nearest whole integer cube root is 87, which is the cube root of 658,503.”

  “Oh,” said Zac, somewhat crestfallen. “OK, try this. If an orange farmer had 1,245 trees, each producing exactly 215 pieces of fruit each year, but one third of the trees died after three years, how many apples would he have produced after five years?”

  Melody’s lips moved quickly as she internalised her calculations, and then she proudly announced, “1,159,925!”

  “Ha, ha!” said Zac. “Wrong! The answer is none! Because he’s an orange farmer not an apple farmer!” Zac started waving his bandaged arms in the air, saying, “I win! I win! I’m the champion of the math world!”

  Jaz shook her head in mock disapproval, and said, “I take back what I said about wasting bandages, Mel. You have my permission to bandage over his mouth.”

  Later, when the class was over and everyone had left, Melody and Zac stayed behind to pack up. Once the last of the bandages were rolled and packed into the utility trolley, Melody asked if she could wheel the trolley back down the corridor to the storage room. Jaz suspected that her version of ‘wheeling’ it actually involved using it as a manned roller-sled.

  “OK,” said Jaz. “And then you need to sit at the terminal in the nurses’ station and do your math homework. I’ll be another half-hour finishing up here.”