Spaceception

Last hope

"Wake up, wake up!" "Urgh," Damien groans as he wakes up. "What?" he asks. "Earth just sent us a message for the first time in over a year!" Damien's wife Eve exclaims. Damien's eyes shoot open. "Alright, I'm up," he sits up, puts on his shoes, and is out the door, up towards the mess hall. Less than a minute later, he reaches the mess hall. "Hello", he says to Patrick, who has his arms crossed, and is facing the screen opposite to him. "Hello, how are you? Apparently, the message is regarding the climate back on Earth, and a few other things," Damien is about to reply when the lights dim, and the screens light up.

"Hello, crew," Dr. Jones says. "It's been awhile since we updated you about Earth, and it's bad, the latest models say we'll be thrown into an orbit closer than Venus', and the Moon will collide with Earth. We recently announced this to the world, and suicide rates have shot up dramatically, the UN is now distributing lethal doses of morphine and other drugs, while people are killing themselves, either by shooting themselves, overdosing, etc. One woman injected carbon monoxide inside her home, killing several dozen, including herself. I walk outside, and I see bodies laying every few kilometres. When I look up, I can see the gravitational distortion the black hole makes. Not to mention the civil war Mexico has had for the past 11 months, the world's population has dropped from its peak of 7.2 billion to less than 60 million, with most of those remaining thinking they can wait it out." He laughed bitterly for a few seconds before continuing, "If they think they can survive over 3300°C temperatures, they're crazy to me, they're like those flat Earthers, nonsense, no IQ people who live in the middle ages. When the Moon hits Earth in 8 years, anything still living will be vaporized, period. Oh, and did I mention everything beyond Saturn will become a rogue object, and that the Sun will be flung towards the center of the galaxy? You guys are humanity's last hope, by the time you reach Barnard's Star in 40 years, we'll be long dead. Ad astra to you all and good luck."

The screen goes blank, and everyone goes silent for a good ten minutes before Commander Erin steps up; "Okay, you've all heard Dr. Jones, all life on Earth will die in less than a decade, so it is our mission to ensure humanity doesn't go extinct, we still have 40-odd years until we reach our destination, so let's not kill ourselves between now and then." She gives them a small smile and continued, "Alright everyone, let's eat breakfast, then give our daily reports." Everyone lines up to get breakfast, slightly sweetened oatmeal, and coffee. Some of the crew jokes that the first thing they'll do when they get to New Terra is begin growing coffee beans.

After breakfast, Erin jumps up to the podium, an easy task in .77 g, and calls upon Jackson, the lead propulsion engineer. "How's the sail doing?" She asks,"Will it be good to go in the deceleration phase?" "Yes," Jackson replies, "The sail couldn't be in better condition." He says. "What about the engine?" Erin asks. Jackson replies, "Well, dust hits it very little, but a tiny meteorite, 1 cm wide, struck the engine a few days ago, but we fixed it during an EVA, so it's all good now" Jackson finishes. Erin says, "Alright, Jesse, how's the hull plating doing"? "Great", she says, "Like Jackson said, dust hits it a little, but no meteorites have hit it yet, at least, none we have recorded; the engineers on Earth did a great job in building the hull," she finishes, Erin adds, "Okay, the engine and hull are doing great as Jackson and Jesse have said, but what about the fusion reactors, Sasha?" Sash replies, "The reactors are doing great, no recorded problems as of yet." "Will they hold up during the next 30-odd years?" Sasha replies, "Yes, all the reactors are internal, so they're well protected from dust. I don't expect problems to arise between here and Barnard, but this is humanity's first true interstellar mission, so who knows?" "Alright, so far, so good," Erin said, "Sam, how's life support?" "Well," Sam started, "We're still alive and drinking coffee, right"? Everyone laughs for a few seconds, until Erin quiets them down, then Sam starts again, "Life support is doing great, hydroponics, water purification, oxygen processor, waste management, all doing great," he says. "Alright, it seems everything is still in prime condition, so I guess we can all do our own things now," Erin finished. Most people walk out to their rooms, but some stay to play games, watch T.V. or read on the digital screens. Damien walks out towards the sims so he could practice piloting maneuvers for when they glided down to the surface of New Terra. He stays in the sim for 3 hours until the mandated exercise period.

2 hours later...

Damien walks out of the exercise room, panting, and heads to the shower room to wash up, then goes to his room to read. 4 hours later, he walks towards the mess hall for dinner, stroganoff with rolls. During dinner, he plays blackjack with a few fellow crew members, and continues for a few hours. "Hey," Eve says, "How are you doing?" "Good," Damien replies, "How's the baby?" Damien asks. "Well, Steve said that he'll be due in about a month, but he's kicking, anyway I can't wait 'til he's born. For one thing, I won't have these hunger spells anymore," Eve sighs. "You know, I'm tired, I'm going to head off to bed." Eve smiled, and walks away to their room. About an hour later, Damien calls it a night, and walks to his room. Before he drifts off to sleep, he thinks to himself:

Will humanity survive?