Home Again copyright © 2000 by Chris Bertram
"You kids were probably too much of youngsters to remember this, but we once lived on a planet of great life. Everywhere you went, there were animals. Animals that you could touch, and could watch them roam for hours. The smell of the air in the mountains, were as fresh, and cool as the water you got from the mountains. The water tasted cool, and sweet as it rushed down your throat like eagles that dive toward the earth with tremendous speed. Life was simpler then, now it's just a thing everybody does." These were the words of an old man who survived is the last person alive who lived on Earth. He knows everything from about 100 years before we left Earth, till now. "But why did we leave such a beautiful, and wonderful place, what happened?" Said Casey. The old man replied, "we left because, the world was no longer habitable for humans. The sun gave us everything, but when it came to the sun using up all its fuel, it turned." "How did the sun use up all it's fuel and why?" "The sun used hydrogen for fuel, and after it used it, helium was left over, when it used all it's fuel, all that was left was helium, which expands as you know." "But what was so life threatening, that it made us leave?" "The Day of the Red Sun, was the worst of all possible days. Not only did the sun expand, it evaporated all the water on earth. It destroyed virtually all life. And when it expanded, it sucked the earth, into the center of it, and destroyed the planet, as well, all the rest of the planets in the system."
Casey had heard these words of the old man for most of his life. Every day, he would ask the old man for more information, and to tell him again why they are there on the third planet of Tau Ceti.
Casey was not born on earth, nor was he born on Tau Ceti 3. He was part of a group that was born in space on the frigates that they used to travel to Tau Ceti 3. The kids of the planet discriminated against all of those born in space. They were called "space-trash." But Casey didn't care. He was too busy spending time day dreaming, thinking about the stories the old man had told him, or was in the stories in the books that writers of Earth had written before they came to Tau Ceti 3.
Casey was always a dreamer. For all of his life, he wanted more in life than just
what it had become, he wanted to run free, to be wild. He wanted to be free of rules and restrictions. The rules and restrictions were imposed on the people until the scientists were done. Which had so far taken decades to complete just the research. And to not be able to live as he wanted killed Casey. He hated his life of just going to school, and not being able to go out into the air and fields he sees around him.
The scientists of Earth finally wised up, and this time, they are conserving, reusing everything that the planet has to offer, which is basically another Earth. The wanted to know everything about the planet to make sure that what happened to Earth doesn't happen again. They had invented giant bubbles that held everyone inside, while they observed and studied the planet. They didn't want to contaminate anything of the planet, they wanted it to be as close to uninhabitable as they could. So that their research could be accurate.
Earth was basically a distant memory for everyone on the planet, kept alive only in the minds of people like Casey. People accepted life as it was now, they knew that Earth was worse off than it is now, because of all the terrorist activities, gangs, hate groups, global warming and other problems of the planet that everyone saw. Life on Tau Ceti 3 was peaceful. For once, people forgot their differences and lived with each other in peace.
Casey's friends were, Julia, his girlfriend, TC, and Diana. Diana's dad, Dave, was a diplomat. He was in charge of the exploration of space. This included the star maps, of which he was in charge of.
Casey talked to Dave a lot, trying to persuade him to let him go back to Earth. Dave tried to show encouragement, but would decline.
Casey talked to his parents a lot about going back. That the scientists might be mistaken, that Earth wasn't destroyed. His parents tried everything to get him to stop all this "nonsense" and to become an adult. But time and time again, they failed.
Casey got into a heated argument with his parents one day. They had signed him up for military school. Casey hated the military, and was of course righteously pissed. He slammed the door when he left so hard, that it shattered the window nearby.
Casey went to his girlfriends house to let off some steam. He talked it out with her, but he could detect something was wrong. After he calmed down, he asked her what was wrong, she told him that her parents did the same thing. Casey checked with his friends, and sure enough, their parents had done the same.
Casey was confused, but he knew who to talk to, Dave. He went to Diana's house, and found her dad in the basement staring at the ceiling, with a bottle of liquor in his hands. Casey asked Dave about the situation, and Dave handed him a note which everyone had received a few days ago, it read:
PARENTS OF TAU CETI 3,
DO YOU HAVE KIDS WHO DAY DREAM A LOT? WHO ARE BUSY SPENDING MORE TIME IN THE CLOUDS THAN ON THE GROUND? IF SO, SEND THEM TO MILITARY SCHOOL. OUR MILITARY SCHOOL WILL TEACH THEM THAT THE OLD WAYS ARE GONE, AND THAT IT'S TIME TO STOP SPENDING SO MUCH TIME IN THE CLOUDS. IF YOU HAVE ANY CHILDEREN OF THIS SORT, SEND THEM TO MILITARY SCHOOL.
WE'LL MAKE MEN AND WOMEN OUT OF THEM!
Casey was surprised at the note, and asked Dave why this had happened. Dave began: "The government has always wanted to rule all of the planets in Tau Ceti. The ships from Earth didn't all land on the third moon, but most did. The other moons have started their own governments, and has declared war on Tau Ceti 3, trying to stop the government they hated so much. The government has decided that they need a new army, and dreamers are the best kind of soldiers you can get. Dreamers constantly want to make themselves better, and if they were soldiers, they would want to make themselves better as soldiers, as well their determination is astounding. So the dreamers could be a great asset to the government, if trained in the area of fighting. That is why the note was sent out, to try and control all the planets in Tau Ceti." He took a swig of liquor and then continued. "That is why you guys are going back to Earth." Casey was confused. He had always been told that Earth had been destroyed. He inquired about it. Dave said that the government had been hiding the secret that Earth wasn't destroyed for a long time. Their thought was to destroy the rebellion, and then to go back to Earth for resources and as a place to for weapons manufacturing. Then to go to all the other planets in the galaxy and to fight and conquer them and to rule the galaxy. They thought their values were best and that everyone else should accept them. Which is why he was going to help all the kids get back to Earth and start a new life and a new government.
Dave had known about this for several months, and had devised a way for the kids to escape and to return to the land that they love so much. The day they were to get on ships to go to the planets with the military schools on them, the kids would insert a virus in the computer, making the computer do whatever the kids wanted it to. But they would have to work quickly because if the ships took off, they wouldn't be able to control the computer for it would be flown by remote control, by a person in a control station. They could then set a course for Earth, and get in cryogenics tubes, and hyper sleep for thousands of years, and awake back home.
Casey and his friends prepared themselves and helped other kids prepare for the trip, so that survival would be easy to do once they were on the planet.
Dave gave them the star maps, and the exact location of where earth used to be. He wanted them to have the best possible start, and he knew that they could build a government that was not corrupt, that was generous to all the citizens of the planet. One that was equal with the rest, and didn't want power or money. He knew they could do it so.
The ships arrived right on schedule the next month. The kids got on board and began the connection with the computer to download the virus. The minutes counted down as kids came on board, and the lines got smaller and smaller. Time was running short, and the kids couldn't do anything to make the virus work faster, after all, the ship was a complex computer that was very had to infect with a virus. The ship counted down 10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1… LIFTOFF!!! The kids had failed. The computer lifted off in the control of someone millions of miles away. Casey was discouraged and angry, he was so mad that he kicked the CPU and automatically, like that that was the on/off switch, the ship's boosters shut down and the ship floated in space.
There was much rejoicing and praise for Casey. He had stopped the mother ship, which in turn shut down all of the corresponding ships carrying kids.
Using the star maps, Casey set a course for Earth and all of the kids got into cryo-tubes, an sleep for the whole journey back to Earth. Casey was relieved and excited that he was finally going to live his life-long dream, to be on Earth. Casey was the last one to go into cryo-stasis and was glad because he needed time to privately thank Dave for all he had done through a com-link. Dave was glad they could go do what they wanted without oppression. Dave said his good-byes, and turned off the link. Casey said thank you, and got into his tube for a nice, long sleep, filled with lots of good dreams.
Back in the control tower, the general in charge of the mission and his men were trying to figure out what happened. They tried tons of commands to get the computer to stop, and finally after a while, the computer flashed this message:
SIRS,
HOPE YOU DON'T MIND, WE TOOK YOUR SHIP FOR A RIDE, AND IF YOU THINK WE'RE DONE, LOOK OUT FOR THE REBELLION. THEY'RE OUT TO GET ALL OF YOU FOR CONTROLLING THEIR LIVES, AND IF YOU LISTEN CLOSELY, YOU CAN HEAR THEM OUTSIDE!
THE DREAMERS
Just then, the door to the control room blew up, and the whole room filled with smoke and when the smoke cleared, everyone had a gun pointed at them. Everyone slowly raised their hands and yelled at once "IT WASN'T ME!"
The kids traveled on in cryostasis for thousands of years. Finally when the computer saw the ship had reached its destination, it brought the kids out of cryostasis. The stench of the ship was really bad. Since they were all in cryo-stasis, the air does tend to get foul after several thousand years of no air circulation. The kids were tired from their sleep, and were afraid of what they might find. However, the kids looked in awe as they saw that Earth had regenerated, and the Sun had as well. How it did this, no one knows, but Casey said it well when he said "We're Home Again."
You are at Fruita Monument High School's Teenfinity project, an in-class science fiction magazine produced for educational purposes. Copyright © 2000