INTO THE UNKNOWN: AN EXPLORERS DIARY

My Dragonfly

Earth, our little blue planet. My home that I miss a lot. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss seeing the sun rise. I miss seeing the sun set. I miss seeing the stars in the night sky. I miss it all.

This opportunity I was given to explore to go into space. I couldn't pass it up. What we are doing is going to change humanity in ways I can't imagine.

Me and 500 other explorers are the first humans to journey into space. We are heading into the unknown. No human has ever gone this far. I'm excited and scared.

I'm on board the Independence class ship called The Allegiance. We are roughly a year and a half to almost two years into our journey.

The Allegiance has passed regions of space no human has ever been too. We only see these regions of space on our probes. I saw amazing things like stars and galaxies and things I can't explain. What am I going to see next?

My Dragonfly

The nature of our exploration is a bit hard to say. It was even harder for me to understand when I first heard about it. Yes, it's very dangerous. Many things can go wrong.

I was assured that every safety measure has been taken. My job is to manage the health of everyone on board The Allegiance. I love what I do. I'm happy to be here.

So back to why humans are venturing into space. Me and the 500 others on board each with different backgrounds and occupations are going to an unknown location, an untouched location.

From what I heard from my friend McKenna who is an astronomer, the region of space is uncharted. We are the first humans to go. I can't imagine what we will find when we get there.

I read so many stories about so many different explorers like Columbus and Lewis and Clark who went and explored new lands.

Columbus and Lewis and Clark were just among the many explorers who explored new lands and found amazing things. Here I am doing the same thing.

My Dragonfly

The only difference between me and these explorers is that didn't leave planet earth and they didn't ride in a space ship.

We were probably similar in a lot of ways. One we didn't know what we will find and two we were the first to explore uncharted locations.

I'm sacred of finding things we are not ready for. Sure, McKenna said where we are going is an uncharted location. No one has ever been there. But what if she is wrong?

McKenna is a smart, brilliant astronomer. She is hardly ever wrong. I have to trust her instincts. As I look out into the unknown, I reminded of the first time I looked up at the night sky.

I was with McKenna. She had a huge passion for the stars. She shared it with me. I immediately loved it. But my passion was for helping people.

So, I took my love for astronomy and my love for helping people and meshed into one. I'm a medical doctor for NASA.

My Dragonfly

A couple weeks ago. The Allegiance left the safety of our solar system. It was scaring leaving our safety net. I knew we were in good hands. But as I look out of my window I can tell something is not right.

The universe is huge. I didn't how huge it really is. I feel like the universe is angry at us for enriching in their space. That feeling I was having about something going wrong is intensifying.

The ride is extremely bumpy. The Allegiance is hitting small asteroids. We avoided the bigs one. Thank God for that. The Allegiance wasn't badly damaged. The engineers fixed what was damages.

To me the asteroids didn't look like asteroids. They looked like something else. I can't place my finger on what it was.

The Allegiance moved through space at a slow pace. I guess the captain wants to play it safe. How far can you play it safe in space?

My Dragonfly

The Allegiance passed through many asteroids and comets or what seemed like asteroids and comets. I Saw stars that are imploding. We almost came across a black hole.

Danger is everywhere. There are so many dangerous things out here in the universe. What else are we going to find?

Many of us are getting eager of what we will find next. The Allegiance continues to move at a slow pace. I can tell you one thing the universe is beautiful but scary.

I still can't stop thinking of what I saw. I've seen pictures of asteroids and comets and what I saw was not an asteroid or a comet. It seemed like something exploded.

Today work was a bit stressful. Many of the passengers were getting headaches. That's to be expected. I'm getting a headache at this very moment.

My Dragonfly

My headache, thankfully went away. Rest is all I needed. I've been working so hard over the last couple of weeks. Today I took the day off.

I went to the sky deck to relax. Looking out into the vastness of space, I kept on seeing the debris field. I looked closely at one piece and it wasn't an asteroid or a comet. Nobody was seeing what I was seeing.

I saw McKenna. I didn't tell her what I saw. We had a drink together. She finally told me where we are going, Proxima Centaur.

I read about Proxima Centaur. Planet B is potentially a habitable planet. McKenna told me we are looking for humanity's second home.

This is truly unbelievable. I asked McKenna How are we getting to Proxima Centaur at the speed we are going? McKenna told me we Will be using the new FTL drive very soon.

My Dragonfly

Something happened to Th Allegiance while trying to use the new FTL drive. Something hit us. I felt it. McKenna felt it. We all felt it We believed we were clear of any danger.

I went up to the sky deck. A lot of the passengers were there. I asked one of the passengers. What hit us? The passenger didn't know.

I saw smoke coming from the back of The Allegiance. I heard people talking. Rumors started to flow throughout The Allegiance. The rumors are we are not alone. I guess the passengers did see what I saw.

The universe is too big for us to be alone. I always believed that. But I never thought I would get to see it.

My Dragonfly

We got hit again. This time it was bigger than before. The lower part of The Allegiance was hit and damaged. We've been stuck in the same spot for hours.

Medical was overworked. Many Passengers were injured. Not seriously. I'm tired and sleepy. I can't stop thinking about what is happening. I'm about to fall asleep.

I'm at work. Not too busy today. My Dragonfly is the only thing keeping me sane. Red Alert is flashing. What is going on? I stop writing and leave medical.

My Dragonfly

You won't believe what happened. I saw it. We believed we were the only ones on the universe. We believed we were at a location no one has ever been too. Turns out we were wrong.

The ship hit us two more times. The thing is whoever was in the ship wasn't trying to kill us. It was a warning for us to turn around and go back home.

You know what I think, the debris field we pass was a destroyed ship that didn't listen. They try to pass the ship and when they did the ship fired on the other ship and blew it up.

The captain tried to talk to whoever was in the ship. He got no answer. The ship blocked our way. We couldn't use the FTL drive.

We were at a standstill. From the sky deck we could see everything. The ship was huge. But beyond the ship there was something bigger.

McKenna didn't know what it was. She suspected the object has been there for generations. I wonder what the ship was trying to protect.

My Dragonfly

It has been hours and we still can't use the FTL drive. The ship is still blocking us. We didn't know what we were going to do.

We have a mission to complete. Right, now we can't do it. My eyes and every one's eyes are glued to the ship. I'm afraid something bad is going to happen.

Nothing bad did happen. As of right now The Allegiance is going nowhere. I have to keep the faith that the captain is going to do what is best for us and The Allegiance.

I wonder if whoever is on the ship will show themselves to us. Only time will tell. We are not alone anymore. Until next time.