Starship 9

"We interrupt this program to deliver breaking news." The TV announced. My mom, who was humming while cleaning the kitchen, had her eyes glued on the screen. She was breathless at the images broadcasted. My dad, who was watching his game, went from frustration to...

"Are you seeing this?" he turned to me. I looked at him with my mouth agape. I could see it in his eyes. Out of all the things that could've happened on a regular day, this was the last thing he expected. The news reporter continued sharing the event. I called my sister. She picked up the phone.

"Are you seeing this, dude?" I took my hand to my forehead and brush my hair back. "It's visible?" I said and without thinking twice I made my way to the door.

"Jonathan, where are you going?" Mom tried to stop me.

"What do you mean where I'm going? I want to see it with my own eyes." I swung the door open and ran into the streets. I saw my neighbors coming out of their houses like ants out of their colonies. They were all looking to one specific point into the sky. I saw my dad running towards me, glancing over his shoulder now and again then to the floor to not trip over anything.

"Where is it at, son?" He asked me, but I myself couldn't see it yet. I made a cap out of my hand to cast a shadow on my eyes. I squinted. It took a second for my brain to process the whole picture, but I finally saw it.

It was monumental. Colossal. Imponent. Prominent. Beautiful. My dad placed his hand over my shoulder. "Luisa, come." He called for my mom. Mom looked out on the street, left and right like a kid about to cross a road, then timidly stepped out of the house and into the sidewalk. "Is it here?" she asked as she capped her eyes with her hand. She dropped the rag she had been using to clean. She turned to my dad and then to me. I've never seen her so surprised and happy in her life.

"I told you they were going to succeed," Dad said as mom found herself wrapped around his strong arms.

"You did." Mom said without anything else to add. She was speechless and so was everyone in the neighborhood.

"Hey, Pedro, is that the Starship crew?" Mr. Brown said as he slowly strolled towards my dad.

"Yup," My dad said with a gentle smirk drawn on his face. I had never seen him look so childlike. His eyes were sparkling, his chest rising and falling, his hand had never felt that warm.

"You know what this means right?" My dad asked Mr. Brown without taking his eyes away from the massive space station slowly positioning itself in orbit.

"That they're going to raise our taxes?" Mr. Brown joked and made my father laugh.

"Well besides that, it also means that Earth could finally be united as one." My father said, tightened his grip on my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. I didn't know what he meant then.

It's been ten years ever since that day, twenty years since the Starship crew went out into space to look for another planet to inhabit. It's been five years since Mars' complete terraformation, and it's been one hour since my first day on the Starship 9 mission to Alpha Centauri. There are so many things coming to my head.

I remember the day Elon Musk and Joseph Rocha announced that the crew on Mars had terraformed it to a point in which was possible to grow food and plant trees, which made it easier for survival, which made it more comfortable to build a civilization on it. With the merging of Virgin, Space X, and Xelestia, things moved a lot faster than they had anticipated.

"Today," Elon said while he revealed the new design for the Starship models, "We take a step further in the history of our civilization."

You would think that this story was a smooth ride, but far from it. Never had Elon Musk and his associates faced as much opposition as they did when they offered free internet. Thousands of corporations went bankrupt and millions were laid off. There were a lot of global protests, there were a lot of bloodsheds, and there were a lot of organizations blaming Elon and Joseph for the economy.

What did they do? They offered a solution that would change the world forever. Joseph stood in front of the capitol and with the very same energy MLKJ once changed the world, so did he.

"I have a Vision." He started. "That humanity will come together as a whole. That our kids will one day cross the imaginary lines we call borders without being deported, without being treated as less, or discriminated for their beliefs or color of their skins...." Yeah, I love the speech, but I zoned out, you know. There was another part that caught my attention and that I still remember to this day. "I envision a united people. I envision a united Earth. I envision that the citizens of Earth will come together as one and we, as one, will conquer the solar system and beyond."

Now I'm here, staring out the window of Starship 9. The view of our planet can't be enhanced by whatever means technology has. This, this is as amazing as it gets. The little blue and green planet gets further away as our station keeps quickly drifting through the vacuum of space.

"What are you doing, handsome?" I hear the rough voice of my friend.

"Staring back home," I reply.

"You're homesick, already?" He scuffs, "we just left. I don't think you're going to survive. You can't be heard in space, you know."

"Shut up." I snarl. He laughs. His laughter dies down with an exhale. He looks outside the big pannel.

"You know what, Jonny,"

"huh,"

"I hate to admit it, but you're right. Earth looks so beautiful from here." He takes a deep relaxing breath.

"It does."

"And to think that only two men were needed to create that damn ripple." He says almost lamenting.

"Yeah," I say. "Can you picture a life without interstellar traveling?"

"Shit, I can't even picture a life without Netflix." He chuckles. "Can you believe people used to pay this thing called cable and in that cable thing you couldn't skip adds?"

"What?" I frown. "Preposterous."

"I swear," He shows me the picture of a thing called a receptor and another thing called a dish. He went on and on, so I quickly zoned out and couldn't avoid thinking of a divided Earth. Not as an ideal, but as what it was, a horrible historical reality. How was that?