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January 12, 2059 – 11 months, 19 days to launch
George W. Bush Junior High School, New Los Angeles, California, United States of America
“It’s falling apart,” I said.
That startled the teacher. “What’s falling apart, Andrew?” she asked me.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes – she did work for the U.S. military, after all, and I’d seen kids suspended for much less. Instead, I took a deep breath. “America, ma’am. Civilization. Earth itself. Why don’t you take your pick? It’s all falling apart.”
She still didn’t seem to get it.
So I decided to try again. “For the last century, things have been steadily getting worse. Morally speaking, that is. I mean, in the last seventy-five years, gang activity and violent crime have risen astronomically. I mean, school shootings of the late twentieth century were only the beginning. Back then, it was big news. These days, it’s nothing special.” I shook my head. “With all due respect, even the United States military – the most powerful in human history – has been unable to stop it, try as it might. It’s like trying to fight off Entropy itself.
“Also,” I continued, pausing only a moment to catch my breath, “the United States is the only former superpower to remain whole after the large-scale civil wars of the last sixty years. We’re talking worldwide Balkanization. Even Canada has divided into three separate countries – Canada, for heaven’s sake!”
“Things have stabilized,” she said, weakly at best.
“Not really, ma’am. With all due respect. Just look around. Every classroom in the country, including this one, has to have armed soldiers right outside the door to make sure that nothing happens. It’s the government’s way of making sure that our country doesn’t break into warring factions just like Russia did after its economy broke down for the third time in a hundred years. And they’re watching kids mainly because they know we can be volatile under certain circumstances. After all, look at those kids who shot up Columbine High School in 1999. We’re talking major paranoia here. I mean, I’ve seen kids get detention or worse for looking at a teacher the wrong way, and that’s only the beginning.”
I saw the other kids around me moving around a little bit, whispering to each other.
There was no move to stop them. Sergeant Kim was pretty lenient by 2050s standards. Her class was one of the few classes in the whole school where kids could just be themselves anymore.
One of the few places in all of New Los Angeles, in fact.
“Andrew McKenna,” she said to me, “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“You mean you don’t know what you can tell me, ma’am.”
“You’re a very perceptive kid.”
“We’re being watched… right now there are security cameras recording every word I say. Believe me, I’ve checked all around the classrooms before.” I shook my head again. “I just don’t understand it. This is America, for crying out loud.” I laughed bitterly. “I’d hate to see what it’s like in China or Iraq.”
“We’re still the freest nation on Earth.”
I smiled sadly. “Thank you for proving my point. That’s precisely what scares me.”
The other kids were really starting to murmur now. I would have to cut myself short or someone would come in to investigate.
Sergeant Kim noticed first. “Andrew, could we talk about this after class?”
I nodded.
It was History class – one of my favorites. Maybe it’s because I miss those days when things were simpler. You know – simpler for the country, hell, simpler for the entire world.
Ever since Congress passed all those censorship laws, things have gotten worse. I mean, every new album, book, or even video game that gets released anywhere in the country is put under the microscope for at least a month, maybe more. Half of it doesn’t see the light of day, except for the underground and the black market. Even the older stuff – all the way back to Elvis and the Beatles, for crying out loud – is heavily monitored.
‘Freedom of speech’ – along with ‘freedom of the press’ – is pretty much a thing of the past, just a nice idea.
We’re just over halfway through the twenty-first century, and civilization is at an all-time low.
Earth in the year 2059 is a lot like Orwell’s ‘1984.’
Not that I’ve ever read it – that book has been banned since 2055. So has the movie, in fact – both the old version and the newer version released in 2012.
I was still thinking about all this when I heard the bell ring. Class was over for the day.
I shut down my computer console, and got my things packed up. I would have to get to the bus soon. After school was when all the drug dealers and such came out. It was never safe outside after school, and after sunset… forget about it!
Every kid in N.L.A. has a curfew, but it’s not their parents’ doing. The whole city has been under martial law for nearly a decade.
Martial law in the year 2059 is brutal. I’ve seen kids who weren’t home on time shot in the streets. The shot was usually in the leg or the arm, just as a warning. I’ve seen repeat offenders killed.
Sure, most of the kids who got shot were older teenagers – kids my age were usually sent for other types of correction, which was in many ways equally brutal.
Of course, I’ve never been late before, so I only have second-hand knowledge – but needless to say, I was in a hurry.
I was the last one ready to leave, as always. I was just about to leave when I remembered that Sgt. Kim wanted to talk to me after class. I just hoped that I could get home in time.
“Andrew?”
I turned to see her standing in front of the door. “Yea- I mean, yes, ma’am?” I remembered what to say just in time. She was military, after all, so you had to show the proper respect.
“Why did you say all that today?”
I wondered if that was a loaded question. You can never be too sure, especially when you’re dealing with the military. “What do you mean, why did I say it? You’ve had me all last year, you know me. I always say what’s on my mind.”
She nodded. “I understand. I like that about you – you’re brutally honest. You’re a good student – one of my best – and I’m glad that I have you in my class. You’re right – any other teacher would have tried to turn you into… well…”
“Just another kid? The kind of person who, when a person like you said ‘Jump,’ he said, ‘How high’?”
She sighed. “Like I said, brutally honest.”
I looked straight into her eyes. “So, what is all this really about? I know you didn’t keep me after class to comment on my personality, or to give a critique of my little rant.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Like I said, you’re very perceptive. I kept you after class because I wanted to ask you a few questions.”
“So…”
The smile widened, but it was sadder now. “I won’t beat around the bush, Andrew. Everything you said today is right on the money. The world is falling apart, but my superiors are just not willing to admit defeat.”
“Typical military – no offense, ma’am.”
“None taken. Anyway, I… well…”
She seemed pretty nervous, I noticed. Obviously she had something very important to say. “Go on,” I urged her. “Ma’am,” I added a second later.
She smiled. “You don’t have to be so formal with me. I turned the cameras off. Besides, I’m off duty now.”
I nodded. “So what were you going to tell me? It sounded important.”
“Oh, it is. It’s very important. You should probably sit down for this one.”
I did so, still at my desk.
“So,” she said, “what have you heard about the new project that the UN is working on?”
I shrugged. “Not much. They didn’t say much about it – the news is censored, you know – but I heard it had something to do with the space program, I think. Russia and the European Union are supposed to be involved too. Something to do with the World Space Station.”
“Well, it has a little to do with that.”
“Why would the UN be involved with NASA, or any of those other agencies?”
She took a deep breath. “What I am going to tell you is very important. It involves your family. I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you–”
“Tell me what?”
She nodded, obviously trying to calm herself down. “Did you hear about what NASA found a few years back? That new planet?”
I remembered. The news had mentioned something about a new planet a few years back, when I was still in grade school. It was supposed to be near Alpha Centauri.
I nodded. “The new planet in the Alpha Centauri system. It’s a binary star, right?”
“A triple-star system, actually, but Alpha Centauri C – you might know it as Proxima Centauri – is pretty far from the other two. There’s a mission going there. A colonization mission.”
I was shocked. Why all the secrecy? The people would want to know about this.
A colony ship – now that made sense. Earth was getting kind of crowded – even with the population restriction laws, and several large-scale wars twenty-five years into the century (many of them lasting more than a decade), the population of Earth had long since passed nine billion. According to certain scientists back at the beginning of the century, the Earth could only support twelve billion at the most. The human race needed some room to breathe, to grow. Mars was only marginally inhabitable, colonization and terraforming would take a really long time…
“That’s good. Earth is getting a little crowded.”
She closed her eyes, looking even sadder. “It’s different. It’s – it’s not so much a colonization effort as…”
“As what?”
She hesitated. “Now remember, what I say goes no further than you. Well, I suppose you can tell your mother, but my orders are that it stops with your immediate family. This is ears only, got it?”
“Yes ma’am.”
I will remember what she said next for the rest of my life.
“Andrew… the mission, it’s… it’s a last-ditch effort… to save the human race from itself. The ship… they’re calling it the Unity… it’s not so much a colony ship as an interstellar Noah’s Ark… a lifeboat containing Earth’s best and brightest, as well as a genetic catalog containing the DNA of every animal on this planet. Eighty thousand humans, ready to carve out a new civilization on an alien world. It is a great risk, at best, but it is our last hope to save the human race.”
George W. Bush Junior High School, New Los Angeles, California, United States of America
“It’s falling apart,” I said.
That startled the teacher. “What’s falling apart, Andrew?” she asked me.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes – she did work for the U.S. military, after all, and I’d seen kids suspended for much less. Instead, I took a deep breath. “America, ma’am. Civilization. Earth itself. Why don’t you take your pick? It’s all falling apart.”
She still didn’t seem to get it.
So I decided to try again. “For the last century, things have been steadily getting worse. Morally speaking, that is. I mean, in the last seventy-five years, gang activity and violent crime have risen astronomically. I mean, school shootings of the late twentieth century were only the beginning. Back then, it was big news. These days, it’s nothing special.” I shook my head. “With all due respect, even the United States military – the most powerful in human history – has been unable to stop it, try as it might. It’s like trying to fight off Entropy itself.
“Also,” I continued, pausing only a moment to catch my breath, “the United States is the only former superpower to remain whole after the large-scale civil wars of the last sixty years. We’re talking worldwide Balkanization. Even Canada has divided into three separate countries – Canada, for heaven’s sake!”
“Things have stabilized,” she said, weakly at best.
“Not really, ma’am. With all due respect. Just look around. Every classroom in the country, including this one, has to have armed soldiers right outside the door to make sure that nothing happens. It’s the government’s way of making sure that our country doesn’t break into warring factions just like Russia did after its economy broke down for the third time in a hundred years. And they’re watching kids mainly because they know we can be volatile under certain circumstances. After all, look at those kids who shot up Columbine High School in 1999. We’re talking major paranoia here. I mean, I’ve seen kids get detention or worse for looking at a teacher the wrong way, and that’s only the beginning.”
I saw the other kids around me moving around a little bit, whispering to each other.
There was no move to stop them. Sergeant Kim was pretty lenient by 2050s standards. Her class was one of the few classes in the whole school where kids could just be themselves anymore.
One of the few places in all of New Los Angeles, in fact.
“Andrew McKenna,” she said to me, “I don’t know what to tell you.”
“You mean you don’t know what you can tell me, ma’am.”
“You’re a very perceptive kid.”
“We’re being watched… right now there are security cameras recording every word I say. Believe me, I’ve checked all around the classrooms before.” I shook my head again. “I just don’t understand it. This is America, for crying out loud.” I laughed bitterly. “I’d hate to see what it’s like in China or Iraq.”
“We’re still the freest nation on Earth.”
I smiled sadly. “Thank you for proving my point. That’s precisely what scares me.”
The other kids were really starting to murmur now. I would have to cut myself short or someone would come in to investigate.
Sergeant Kim noticed first. “Andrew, could we talk about this after class?”
I nodded.
It was History class – one of my favorites. Maybe it’s because I miss those days when things were simpler. You know – simpler for the country, hell, simpler for the entire world.
Ever since Congress passed all those censorship laws, things have gotten worse. I mean, every new album, book, or even video game that gets released anywhere in the country is put under the microscope for at least a month, maybe more. Half of it doesn’t see the light of day, except for the underground and the black market. Even the older stuff – all the way back to Elvis and the Beatles, for crying out loud – is heavily monitored.
‘Freedom of speech’ – along with ‘freedom of the press’ – is pretty much a thing of the past, just a nice idea.
We’re just over halfway through the twenty-first century, and civilization is at an all-time low.
Earth in the year 2059 is a lot like Orwell’s ‘1984.’
Not that I’ve ever read it – that book has been banned since 2055. So has the movie, in fact – both the old version and the newer version released in 2012.
I was still thinking about all this when I heard the bell ring. Class was over for the day.
I shut down my computer console, and got my things packed up. I would have to get to the bus soon. After school was when all the drug dealers and such came out. It was never safe outside after school, and after sunset… forget about it!
Every kid in N.L.A. has a curfew, but it’s not their parents’ doing. The whole city has been under martial law for nearly a decade.
Martial law in the year 2059 is brutal. I’ve seen kids who weren’t home on time shot in the streets. The shot was usually in the leg or the arm, just as a warning. I’ve seen repeat offenders killed.
Sure, most of the kids who got shot were older teenagers – kids my age were usually sent for other types of correction, which was in many ways equally brutal.
Of course, I’ve never been late before, so I only have second-hand knowledge – but needless to say, I was in a hurry.
I was the last one ready to leave, as always. I was just about to leave when I remembered that Sgt. Kim wanted to talk to me after class. I just hoped that I could get home in time.
“Andrew?”
I turned to see her standing in front of the door. “Yea- I mean, yes, ma’am?” I remembered what to say just in time. She was military, after all, so you had to show the proper respect.
“Why did you say all that today?”
I wondered if that was a loaded question. You can never be too sure, especially when you’re dealing with the military. “What do you mean, why did I say it? You’ve had me all last year, you know me. I always say what’s on my mind.”
She nodded. “I understand. I like that about you – you’re brutally honest. You’re a good student – one of my best – and I’m glad that I have you in my class. You’re right – any other teacher would have tried to turn you into… well…”
“Just another kid? The kind of person who, when a person like you said ‘Jump,’ he said, ‘How high’?”
She sighed. “Like I said, brutally honest.”
I looked straight into her eyes. “So, what is all this really about? I know you didn’t keep me after class to comment on my personality, or to give a critique of my little rant.”
A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. “Like I said, you’re very perceptive. I kept you after class because I wanted to ask you a few questions.”
“So…”
The smile widened, but it was sadder now. “I won’t beat around the bush, Andrew. Everything you said today is right on the money. The world is falling apart, but my superiors are just not willing to admit defeat.”
“Typical military – no offense, ma’am.”
“None taken. Anyway, I… well…”
She seemed pretty nervous, I noticed. Obviously she had something very important to say. “Go on,” I urged her. “Ma’am,” I added a second later.
She smiled. “You don’t have to be so formal with me. I turned the cameras off. Besides, I’m off duty now.”
I nodded. “So what were you going to tell me? It sounded important.”
“Oh, it is. It’s very important. You should probably sit down for this one.”
I did so, still at my desk.
“So,” she said, “what have you heard about the new project that the UN is working on?”
I shrugged. “Not much. They didn’t say much about it – the news is censored, you know – but I heard it had something to do with the space program, I think. Russia and the European Union are supposed to be involved too. Something to do with the World Space Station.”
“Well, it has a little to do with that.”
“Why would the UN be involved with NASA, or any of those other agencies?”
She took a deep breath. “What I am going to tell you is very important. It involves your family. I’ve been waiting for the right time to tell you–”
“Tell me what?”
She nodded, obviously trying to calm herself down. “Did you hear about what NASA found a few years back? That new planet?”
I remembered. The news had mentioned something about a new planet a few years back, when I was still in grade school. It was supposed to be near Alpha Centauri.
I nodded. “The new planet in the Alpha Centauri system. It’s a binary star, right?”
“A triple-star system, actually, but Alpha Centauri C – you might know it as Proxima Centauri – is pretty far from the other two. There’s a mission going there. A colonization mission.”
I was shocked. Why all the secrecy? The people would want to know about this.
A colony ship – now that made sense. Earth was getting kind of crowded – even with the population restriction laws, and several large-scale wars twenty-five years into the century (many of them lasting more than a decade), the population of Earth had long since passed nine billion. According to certain scientists back at the beginning of the century, the Earth could only support twelve billion at the most. The human race needed some room to breathe, to grow. Mars was only marginally inhabitable, colonization and terraforming would take a really long time…
“That’s good. Earth is getting a little crowded.”
She closed her eyes, looking even sadder. “It’s different. It’s – it’s not so much a colonization effort as…”
“As what?”
She hesitated. “Now remember, what I say goes no further than you. Well, I suppose you can tell your mother, but my orders are that it stops with your immediate family. This is ears only, got it?”
“Yes ma’am.”
I will remember what she said next for the rest of my life.
“Andrew… the mission, it’s… it’s a last-ditch effort… to save the human race from itself. The ship… they’re calling it the Unity… it’s not so much a colony ship as an interstellar Noah’s Ark… a lifeboat containing Earth’s best and brightest, as well as a genetic catalog containing the DNA of every animal on this planet. Eighty thousand humans, ready to carve out a new civilization on an alien world. It is a great risk, at best, but it is our last hope to save the human race.”