November 27, 2052
Today ends my long, tedious journey across the stars to a planet 8.5 light years away from Earth, a planet that has been theorized to contain all the necessary resources to sustain human life, water, oxygen, plant and animal life, and more. Today, I will finally set foot on solid ground after, well I can't seem to remember how long it has been. Note, the cryo sleep seems to have affected my memory to some degree as I have trouble recalling my last moments on Earth. If my memory serves me correctly, I left Earth sometime in 2018, which means my trip took approximately 34 years to complete. This seems accurate, as the ship's propulsion drives move the ship at about 1/4th light speed. So then, I haven't touched solid ground in 34 years. Well, there's one mystery solved. I am currently looking out one of the windows on the starboard side of the ship, looking onto the planet I will soon be walking on. This day is one to be marked in the history books, as it is today, for the first time in history, man as set foot on a planet outside their own star system. The computers are currently running a diagnostic of the atmosphere to confirm it's makeup, and also to ensure the water is drinkable. No matter what, I will be going down onto that planet within a couple hours. Earth didn't spend 2 trillion dollars and 15 years of secrecy to develop this ship just so I could go up next to a planet after all. Funny, 2 trillion dollars for a ship, yet the camera they gave me to take pictures with was only worth about 750 dollars 34 years ago. I wonder what kind of camera someone could get for 750 dollars now? I do remember this camera a little bit, though. I was told to take it home and practice with it on my family and friends, get used to it's feel and it's features. I turned it on, and it slowly whirred to life after 34 years of dormancy. I started checking everything, and even taking a few test pictures to ensure it still works, which it does. I then went to the slideshow portion of the camera, and I looked back at all the fond memories I had with my friends. Yeah, I remember this photo. A couple weeks before leaving for my journey, me and some friends went down to a bar and they got wasted. They tried to hook me up with some drunk woman at the bar, who I don't even think was 21. I politely refused, and they called me a pussy whipped little bitch for not fucking every last woman I met. They seem to forget, or at least not want to acknowledge, the fact that I am, or was, happily married. Yup, those are my friends...were my friends. Speaking of happily married, I came across a picture of me and my wife, Leslie. I remember we were walking through a rose garden near where we live, and we had someone take a picture of us as we kissed under a wooden arch that was covered in roses. It was so romantic, and it was on that day that I fell in love with her all over again. I put my hand over the picture, as her image just brings back too many painful memories. I had to continue past her, and I did. I stopped on a picture of my little boy, Jack. He was wearing all of his Boston Red Sox gear, along with a catchers mit while holding a baseball. He wanted so badly to become a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, I wonder if he had realized his dream? He always wore Red Sox gear, the hat, the jersey, everything. We would always play catch in the yard, and it was there that I took this picture. He was only 10 when I took it, which means by now, he must be 44 years old. He probably has his own children in High School by now. I had to laugh a little. Because of the cryo sleep, I haven't aged a day since I left. I am biologically still 32 years old. My son is actually older than I am. My laughter turned quickly to sorrow as I realized that by the time I get back, he will probably be 78 years old, but I will still be 32. I will almost certainly have to watch my son die. I quickly turned off the camera to avoid thinking about it, and instead, turned my attention to preparation for landing on the planet surface. I know that back on Earth, this planet is called Alpha-Simon 23776-98, but that doesn't sound like a proper planet name. I remember the day I left for NASA, just about a week before the launch of this space craft, my boy came up to me and asked me what planet I was going to visit. I told him the name, and he didn't like it either. He told me he had a better name for it, so I asked him what it should be called. When he told me, I knew right away that it was the perfect name for this planet.
Datur.
I began final preparation within the ship for the planet surface. I checked the Extraterrestrial Mobility Vehicle, essentially a go-kart for other planets, and I performed a diagnostic of my environmental suit. I am not sure if or what kinds of diseases are on this planet, so I can't yet risk taking off my suit in the atmosphere until I know what's down there. The E.M.V. is equipped with an air quality monitor and will send data about the environment back to the ship so the data can be transferred back to Earth. As I was performing my diagnostics, I looked out the window to see a large object, about half the size of Datur, hovering dangerously close to the planet, maybe only 200,000 miles away. It caught me by surprise because no one observed anything hovering around this planet before, and I didn't see it earlier. Is it another planet that is about to crash into Datur, thus destroying it? I stood in anticipation, as I saw the massive object swing around the planet, and come within what must have been 100,000 miles of the planet. But, it then quickly started moving away from Datur, and I realized this must be a natural satellite that orbits the planet, much like our moon orbits Earth. This is Datur's moon. Once I realized this object poses no risk to the planet, I actually stood in amazement at it's majesty. It was grace and majesty beyond words to look at one world circling another, two spheres of life dancing an endless dance in the heavens so far from my home. No, there's no time for that, I must land soon. I got into the pod that will be taking me down. I performed all my safety checks, made sure that I was fastened into my seat, checked all life support, and soon after, it launched me towards the planet. The craft started to burn as it entered the atmosphere, but all gauges read normal, so I wasn't too worried. I fell for a couple minutes, and before long, the parachute opened, and I drifted slowly down to the planet surface. A few minutes later, I felt the thud that meant I had landed on an alien world. All gauges still read normal, so the ship was ready for takeoff when my journey to this planet is complete. I unbuckled myself and I put on my environmental suit. I don't have access to the E.M.V. from in here, so I have to go outside to unpack it. Outside, onto the first planet mankind has ever visited outside his own solar system. I thought back to when I was a kid and I watched an old news cast of when Neil Armstrong first landed on the moon, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." he told the world as he set foot on the surface of the moon. Not since that fateful day back in July of 1969 has such a historical event taken place. Well, I had heard there were plans to put someone on Mars, but I don't know if that has actually happened yet. I guess if they can send a man to another star system, they can send someone to Mars, heh. I suddenly became distracted by a beeping sound from one of the gauges in front of me. It was the air quality gauge, indicating that the air outside was good enough for me to breathe, 19.5% oxygen, 80% Nitrogen, .5% other gases. A little less oxygen than on Earth, but as long as I take deep breaths and don't over strain myself, I should be fine. I'm also thankful that I won't have to take my huge air tank around with me, and instead I can just rely on my filter to filter out any strange diseases or poisons that might exist on this planet. I unbuckled my seat belt and walked over to the window to take my first look of the planet of Datur. I could feel the excitement bubbling and boiling inside me as I pressed my face against the glass. My eyes widened as I looked out onto the awe inspiring landscape that was before me. I had landed on a mountain and set before me was a mountain range of unsurpassing beauty. Behind the mountains, the planet from earlier was setting in the distance quite rapidly. I must take a picture of this beauty and preserve it for the future of mankind. I quickly put on my environmental suit, picked up my camera, and pressurized the cabin before opening the door for the fist time onto this new and alien world. I grabbed the latch, gave it one mighty pull, and with a few clicks and bangs, the cabin door unlocked, slowly creaking and groaning, letting it's over 30 years of age be known to all who would hear it. I took a deep breath, this is it, the first time man has established a presence on a world outside his own solar system. On this day, Wednesday November 27th, 2052 A.D., mankind has become intergalactic travelers. With my camera in hand, I pushed against the door, and with much strain and force, the door opened onto this new, alien world. I looked out over the mountains and at that moment, a tear fell from my eye. "I wish you could see this, Jack." I whispered to myself as I stepped off the landing pod and made first contact with the alien world. The sun was setting quickly, so I quickly turned my camera back on, moved the setting to nature mode and took the first ever picture of an alien world. I watched as the image came to life on the screen of my camera. The image was as perfect as any image could be, yet it still didn't capture the full reality and beauty that this evening had to offer. I wish I could continue on, but, since I cannot explore at night, I must get some rest and wait for morning. I will document my finding, and in one week, I will upload them so they can be sent back to Earth. With that, I must sign out for the week, tomorrow, I start my journey of the planet Datur, and into the pages of history.
Good night, and God bless.
Commander Richard Gilman
 |
| Friends, Family, Colleagues, all of mankind. I write this as a testament to the strength of human will, and the endurance of the human spirit, for on this day, November 27th, 2052 A.D. I, Commander Richard Gilman have officially set foot on the alien world Alpha-Simon 23776-98, a world that I now affectionately call Datur. |
No comments:
Post a Comment