Chapter One

I suppose I should start from the beginning. 

Very well. 

I don't remember much, but I do remember a voice. 

"Good morning, Kelsey," it said. 

The voice, I remembered, wasn't necessarily male or female, it was simply... there.

"Where am I?" I asked, groggily.

I opened my eyes, but what I saw didn't make sense. I was in a cavernous room, and I was reminded of the gym or auditorium at my high school. I turned my head to the left and saw row upon row of pods. I then turned my head to the right and saw the same thing. 

I groaned. 

"It's natural to feel slightly nauseous. That's to be expected," the voice said.

That's supposed to be comforting?

"What's going on?" I asked. I struggled to sit up.

"No need," the voice said, and the cushion I was lying on raised itself up a little bit. I looked around but I only saw silver-colored walls. 

A few seconds later I realized the pod I was in was moving entirely of its own volition. 

"Where, exactly, are we going?" I asked.

I got the answer a few seconds later as the pod rolled into another room and stopped in front of a video screen. A glance to the left revealed that there were three more sets of rails- three pods like mine, I thought- but with no other pods.

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen," the voice said.

What ladies? 

...Or gentlemen, for that matter- there's just one person in the room.

"You no doubt have some questions about what's going on," the voice continued.

Well, yeah.

"We are approximately one year away from landing on Lambda Delta Omega Prime 768, known to NASA and other world space organizations as Second Earth".

Oh, yeah. This I remembered. Dad worked at NASA and, as a result, myself and the rest of my family had been one of a hundred or so selected to be the first colonizers of this new planet.

"It's exactly like Earth, but just very far away," Dad had said at dinner one night, some months before departure. 

"How far away?" asked Millie, my twelve-year-old sister. 

"Hundreds of years by spaceship," dad replied.

"Won't we be- you know...," Millie gestured with her hands. "Very old?" 

"We'll be put into cryosleep for the journey," dad responded. "So we'll be the same age upon arrival as we are now". 

"What about Peyton?" Millie asked. "Is she going?" 

Dad shook his head.

"I'm guessing Emily isn't, either," I said. It wasn't phrased as a question- I already knew the answer. I guess I wanted Millie to recognize that I was in her position, too- my best friend in the world would not only be staying behind but would most likely be dead before I got to Lambda Delta Omega Prime 768. 

It's a big sister thing. 

"You've been asleep for four hundred ninety-nine years," the voice continued. 

I remember what I'd dreamt about- the last day before departure. I'd invited my friend Emily and Millie had invited her friend Peyton, and the four of us hung out in the park near our house. We didn't find much of anything to talk about, which would've been difficult- what do you say in that situation? 

Four hundred ninety-nine years, I thought. So if I was seventeen when I left Earth, I'm now five hundred and sixteen years old. 

"The pilots have taken the ship out of autopilot, and the crew have already been awakened and are ready to attend to any of your needs", the voice continued. "This ship has enough recreational activities to keep all of you entertained until arrival in three hundred sixty-five days".

I glanced over at the three empty rails to my left. I couldn't put a finger on why, but something about not seeing three other pods really bothered me.

The screen went black and dissolved into the wall behind it, which split open into another hallway. 

"We will now go to your family suite," said the voice. "You will be able to access every recreational activity from there". 

The fog from the exceptionally long nap dissipated at that point and I recognized who the voice sounded like. My family loved watching the original Star Trek episodes, and the voice sounded just like Leonard Nimoy's Spock character. 

"Is it okay if I call you Spock?" I asked.

"I see no problem with that," the voice responded.

The silvery hallway transitioned into clear windows and I could see down into a cavern-sized room with arcade games, a swimming pool, a climbing wall and various other odds and ends. 

"Spock, what time is it?" I asked.

"Since we launched from Florida, we keep our time aligned with Eastern standard time," was the reply. "Right now, it's just after ten in the morning".

"So, breakfast time," I said.

"If you wish it," Spock replied. 

A few minutes more and my pod rolled into what appeared to be a living area. I glanced to my left and saw the same three empty rails. 

"This is your suite," Spock said. 

I climbed out of the pod and began exploring. There was a kitchen, living room, bathroom, four beds... everything you'd expect in a house, in other words.

Four beds?

I realized the other three were for Millie and my parents. However, I was afraid to ask the obvious question of where they were- I didn't want that question answered. Just yet, at least. 

After exploring the game room, I stopped in front of an unmarked door. 

"That's the pool," came Spock's voice.

"What- where are you?" I asked, turning around.

"Everywhere," Spock said. 

I opened the door and Spock was right- it was a pool. It looked to remain at three feet throughout, but what caught my attention wasn't the pool, it was the view. Floor-to-ceiling windows offered an unparalleled view of space.  

"Wow," I said. I crossed the bridge and cautiously brushed my fingers against the glass.

After an hour or so in the pool and a leisurely lunch thanks to the fully stocked fridge, I decided to explore the game room lobby. When I closed the door to my suite, I noticed a keypad on the door.

"Spock, what's this keypad for?" I asked.

"Consider it a key," Spock said. Your code is 9695".

Seems fairly easy to remember, I thought. I had an incredibly good memory- perhaps there was a reason Spock was my favorite Star Trek character. 

The game room was loaded with every imaginable arcade game, but it also had a climbing wall, waterslide and indoor ski slope. And, of course, the view from the floor-to-ceiling windows was unparalleled. I'd been skiing with my family years (and years) ago in some fairly scenic locations, but I figured even the Rockies would pale in comparison to skiing down a fresh-powder slope with the never-ending horizon of deep space to keep you company. 

I walked over to the base of the slope and noticed that it was on what appeared to be a conveyor belt. 

"What's that for?" I asked no one, but Spock answered.

"It's an eternity slope" the Vulcan AI replied. "You can ski for hours on end, if you wish it".

Impressive.

Something about the lack of other passengers anywhere in the lobby bothered me, but I kept from panicking by remembering that they were probably still in their rooms. I thought back to my time in the pool and how I didn't do much swimming because I was trying to clear away the fog that had undoubtedly accumulated during the long nap. I played two or three (all right, maybe half a dozen or so) games on the Deal or No Deal game- not that I was a fan of the show, but my dad loves it. I took my roll of tickets to the prize counter and saw... no one. 

"Hello?" I asked.

Silence.

"I have tickets," I said, slightly louder.

No response. 

I got an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. 

The crew have already been awakened and are ready to attend to any of your needs. 

But was that true? What if they weren't?

After walking through the corridors for a while and encountering no one, I noticed a sign on a larger-than-usual door that said PLANETARIUM.

Awesome, I thought. Being the daughter of a NASA employee, I'd spent my fair share of time in planetariums- not that I minded. I walked in.

"Whoa," was the only word that came to mind.

The domed ceiling was completely open and the view was even more impressive that from my suite. 

"Spock, show me Second Earth," I said.

The ceiling became a run-of-the-mill planetarium domed ceiling and a sphere appeared. 

"How big is it, Spock?" I asked.

"Surface area is two hundred million square miles," Spock replied.

Okay. This was in keeping with what dad had said. He'd mentioned that Second Earth was slightly bigger than Earth and so could house the current population more comfortably. However, the hundred passengers would all go to the same base area, which bothered me- I really didn't fancy living out Elbow Room from Schoolhouse Rock. 

After a quick catnap, and hearing no one else enter the planetarium, another thought worked its way to the front of my brain: the we are approximately one year away from landing bit. 

Maybe that's not true, I thought, then immediately regretted it. 

Against my better judgment, I went down that path.

"Spock, show me this ship," I said. 

A hologram of the ship appeared on the ceiling. 

"Where are we relative to Second Earth?" I asked hesitantly. 

The hologram zoomed out to show the ship about halfway between the two planets.

Wait.

I slowly stood up, stunned, and looked at the hologram. We were only halfway? That didn't seem right. 

"Spock, what's the current year flight time?" I asked.

Spock's calm voice came through the speakers.

"We've been traveling for two hundred forty-nine years. The current year is 2268". 

It was March of 2019 when we left. 

"And what's the year of arrival?" I asked, not wanting the answer. 

"We will arrive at Lambda Delta Omega Prime 768 in two hundred fifty-one years on March 19th, 2519".

I sat down, stunned.

"R-repeat the date of arrival, please," I stammered.

"We will arrive at Lambda Delta Omega Prime 768 on March 19th, 2519. We have two hundred fifty-one years left in the journey". 

Looking back on it, I'm not quite sure how I found my way back to the suite or how I remembered the keypad code. I was woken up too early, I thought. I locked the door, wandered into one of the bedrooms, and fell on the bed. 

Why was I woken up too early?