The Long Journey

           It was the beginning of the twenty-fourth century and much of the world had been destroyed. Nuclear devastation combined with inconsideration for global resources had sent the population into a downward spiral.

           A small, privately-owned research facility located somewhere beneath the Arizona desert had been anticipating such a worldwide catastrophe and started on the design of a long-range passenger aircraft capable of housing up to 5,000 passengers at a time. It was given the name of, “The Ark”.

           The Ark was almost completely and efficiently run by computers and robotics while the rest of the crew and passengers rested in a state of stasis along their twenty-five-year journey in search of a suitable planet with sustainable resources and a breathable atmosphere.

           During the stasis phase, the normal aging process would be slowed down by nearly eighty percent, so a person who was twenty-years-old when they boarded the ship would still look to be twenty-five when they arrived at their destination.

           It was said that the dreams of those in stasis would be suppressed and replaced with subliminal data with all of the knowledge of the world. Each individual would have the necessary information needed to create a new Earth and avoid future destruction.

           Each passenger and crew member was carefully selected by The Ark’s creator, Dr. Phineas Hoverton. There was a representative of all that was good in the world as well as the most brilliant minds known to man. That is, those who had survived the nuclear holocaust.

           One year and twenty-two days into our journey, the crew was awakened for a routine check on the equipment and the course heading. I was one of those crew members. My name is Dan Johnson, Science Officer, First-Class.

           It was my duty to confirm that all of the sleep chambers were in working order and that the computer navigation system was correct. All is well. After inspection, the crew returned to stasis.

           It was year ten and the crew was once again awakened. During the routine inspection, I noticed an abnormality in the sleep chambers on B-Deck. The passengers seemed to be aging faster than they should be. An adjustment to the regulators was needed. No sleep chambers other than those on B-Deck seemed to be affected. I had programmed the computer to monitor this abnormality and make adjustments as needed automatically.

           It was year eighteen when I am awakened to the sound of alarms. The other crew members are still in stasis. According to the ship’s computer, there is a malfunction in the stasis units on B-Deck through F-Deck. Upon arrival on B-Deck, I am met with a horrific sight. The passengers in the sleep chambers showed signs of advanced aging. No signs of life were visible. The computer shows no signs of abnormalities in the functions of the stasis units.

           After checking decks “C” through “F”, I realized that there had been a computer malfunction. I did a complete diagnostic of the system and found that a virus had been manually inputted into the mainframe during our last awakening. Someone on the crew must have done it, but who?

           I managed to remove the virus and made the stasis units operational once more. Unfortunately for 500 of the passengers, it was too late. Another 2,000 had also aged approximately ten years. Before returning to stasis, I checked the status of the crew member's sleep chambers just to be sure. All appeared to be in proper working order.

           Something wasn’t right. My sleep chamber wasn’t working. I was still awake and the unit would not open. Fortunately, I could override it. Unfortunately, I did not have any tools with me. I searched through my pockets and found an old dime from the twenty-first century that I held onto as a good luck charm. It was just wide enough to turn the screws on the access panel to the control circuit.

           It was a tight fit, but with a lot of patience and a little time, I gained access to the control circuit. Using the same dime, I created a parallel circuit and the glass door opened up. It looked as if I had some work to do before I could go back into stasis.

           Three weeks had passed since my stasis unit malfunctioned. Regardless of my efforts, it looks like the sleep chamber is beyond repair. I was going to have to sleep the old fashioned way for the rest of the trip.

           The first thing I needed to do, was to search the files of the other fifty crew members to see which of them had the skills to cause havoc with the computer system and stasis units. Only two others had the knowhow to pull something like that off. First, was Petty Officer, Tony Draco. He was a computer science student before all hell broke loose on Earth. He also trained as a computer analyst in the army.

           Second, would be none other than Captain Harold Winfield. He practically helped build the computer that runs The Ark. His knowledge of Artificial Intelligence and integrated computer technology surpassed my own. He acted as a consultant on the construction of the ship and was the first choice to lead the voyage.

           A few more weeks have passed and I have been waiting for the crew to be awakened for the next scheduled maintenance check, but they are already four days past due. Whoever disrupted the control circuits for the passenger sleep chambers and also to my own, must have altered my computer commands as well.

           I was entering my fifth year in the wakened state and still no crew. The loneliness was starting to get to me. I caught myself having full conversations with nobody at all. I tried keeping in shape by jogging around the ship. This also kept my mind more focused. I just hope that I can make it through another two years without going insane.

           The ship’s navigation computer said that it located a habitable planet that should be in range within the next 300 days. Finally, I have something to be hopeful about.

           I decided that when it gets close to the arrival date of the planet, I will attempt to manually awaken key crew members to assist me. I didn’t want to risk it too soon, however, because I wasn’t sure that I could return them to stasis again.

           It had been twenty-six years, nine-months, and seventeen-days since we first left Earth’s atmosphere. The planet will be in range in thirty-days. It is time to re-awaken some of the crew members. First and foremost will be the Captain. Second, will be Lieutenant Lisa Sharpe, second in command. I will need our Chief Engineer to ensure the engines are ready for the descent. The medical team needs to be on hand as well in case of emergencies.

           Now that the crew is revived, I need to bring them up to speed, so I asked the Captain to arrange a debriefing before we start anything else.

           The debriefing went better than expected. Privately, I told the Captain my suspicions about one of the crew members trying to sabotage the mission and that I had suspected Petty Officer Tony Draco. The Captain thought that it was wise that we keep him in stasis until we arrived on the planet to ensure our safe arrival.

           The crew got to work studying the planet’s geology and atmosphere. It was very similar to earth. There seemed to be something living on the planet as well. It was undetermined if the readings showed animal or humanoid life though.

           The planet seemed to be flourishing with water and plant life as well and had two suns, one a bright yellow sun not unlike Earth’s and the other was more of a crimson color.

           It was the day of the landing. All of the crew except for Petty Officer Draco were revived from their slumber and given time to get used to walking around again. The Captain announced to the crew that they would be landing soon, and once their safety was determined, they would awaken the passengers.

           A scouting team left the ship wearing protective gear until a proper reading of the air could be made. A security team accompanied them as well in case they came across some of the more unfriendly lifeforms.

           It was determined that the air was quite breathable. It was even better quality than Earth’s had been for centuries. Setting up a base camp was the first priority. Construction material that they had brought with them was unloaded from the ship’s cargo hold and the crew got to work building living quarters for the Captain.

           When all was in place, two security officers were told to stand watch over Petty Officer Draco while they revived him. They were then ordered to take him into custody until his part in the attempted sabotage was investigated further.

           Passengers were then awakened one deck at a time and instructed as to where they could set up their homesteads. A service for the dead was performed later in the week when a proper burial could be done.

           Strangely, no other lifeforms had been seen by crew or passengers since our arrival. Perhaps the readings from space were incorrect.

           While removing personal belongings from the cargo hold, a security officer made a discovery that sent myself and the Captain running back into the ship. An elderly man was located hiding behind the luggage compartment. He looked to be in his nineties. His long, gray hair was dirty and disheveled. His clothes were torn and filthy. The smell that came from him was horrendous. He was taken into custody and cleaned up before the Captain interrogated him. I was asked to sit in as well.

           After several attempts, the old man finally gave in and admitted that he had been the one that installed the virus into the computer. When asked why he did it, he told us that he was turned down during the selection process despite his high IQ and computer skills, so he decided to stow away and make everyone regret that they turned him away.

           The old man probably would have gotten away with it too if I wasn’t able to release myself from the sleep chamber.

           Petty Officer Draco was released from the holding cell and received a former apology from me and the Captain.

           One night, about twelve weeks into our new life on this planet, the ground began to rumble. We assumed that it was a quake caused by shifting plates beneath the surface of the planet, but what we faced that night was much worse.

           From out of the ground came massive worm-like creatures approximately forty-feet in length with several sets of razor-sharp teeth. Security personel opened fire on the four creatures that appeared just outside of the town’s boundary, but bullets did not affect them. They then brought out flame-throwers which seem to deter them from coming closer but it wasn’t killing them. Fires were set surrounding the town. The town remained quiet for several days following.

           On the sixth day, the creatures outsmarted us and burrowed below the surface where the flames were, then came up from directly underneath one of the homes, swallowing it and it’s residents in two bites.

           The town began to panic and the order was given to destroy these creatures by any means necessary. One of the engineers suggested using the lasers from the ship to fire upon them. The Captain boarded the ship and lifted off until it was hovering just above the town. Lasers were readied and the helmsmen waited for the order to fire. Just then, one of the creatures appeared from the ground just under the ship and launched itself up into the air like a missile.

           “FIRE!”, Captain Winfield shouted. The laser shot straight down the throat of the giant worm shredding it into several pieces before it hit the ground. The crew aimed at the remaining creatures and fired upon them, killing them all. The Captain landed the ship and ordered his engineering crew to remove one of the lasers from the ship and retrofit it to be used on the ground.

           Pooling our combined skills and knowledge, our town was given an upgrade with defensive measures put in place. Over time, we were able to create a peaceful and beautiful new home for our new civilization. Families began to grow as new babies began to be born. It was a new start for us all. Hopefully, we have learned from the mistakes of the past and we can now leave the past behind us.

           This is Science Officer, First-Class, Dan Johnson signing off.