the end or
the beginning?
By Arun A
When she stepped out of the capsule, she couldn’t believe her
eyes. She had landed on nothing, or so it seemed to be. She looked
up and the sky was glowing, like an Aurora Borealis on Earth. But
there was something strange about it all. There were wisps of silver
floating in the sky, and on the ground, like little strands of thread
hovering everywhere. And there was complete silence for the first
time in her life, except for the constant beat of her own heart.
She took one step forward. Her feet appeared to land on something as she did not fall through, but she could not feel any surface
beneath her. With every step she took, those silvery wisps of nothing swirled around her shoes. And her feet didn’t make a sound as
she walked forward. The surrealism of it all disconcerted her.
And then she saw it.
Excerpts from a diary:
Dear Claire,
We spotted a new planet today!It was a thrilling experience. After years of
searching and waiting, all the late nights, trying to keep the funds for the project
flowing without losing our sponsors, we finally found a planet that may have life
on it! Oh there has never been a bigger moment in my life when I wished you were
here to share this with me.You didn’t deserve to leave this world so soon. I could
never have done this without you. You’re as much a part of this as I am. We’re
trying to send out signals to see if we can obtain a response, something to tell us
if life exists there or not, but we don’t know how long that will take. But this
is a start, and I cannot wait for the next part, however long it takes. I’ll write to
you again, really soon. Love you, as always.
After a year:
Dear Claire,
Oh my god, you are not going to believe this! This is a huge moment for
the human race. We received a message back from the planet; we’re still trying
to decipher it. It’s unbelievably complex; we don’t know how it’s been encrypted
yet. But now the government is trying to butt in, seeing how we’ve proved them
wrong and well, they just have to poke their stupid faces in anything that shows
any promise. Not when we went to them and proposed our project in the hope of
being funded by them, but now, when we’ve got solid proof that there is life that
exists apart from that on Earth. They’re trying to take over the show, but I’m
not going to let that happen. This is my discovery. No, it’s ours. Extraterrestrial
life! This is a huge moment. There’s so much we can learn now!
A few days later:
Dear Claire,
We deciphered the message. It is mind-boggling. They are much more advanced than us. The code was encrypted in layers and when we cracked it at first,
it made no sense. That was because the message was split and stacked in layers
one on top of the other. But we realized this, and when we finally unfolded it, the
results were astounding. They’ve sent us plans to build a capsule that can take a
single human to their planet. The technology is much more advanced than what
we can comprehend. But we’re trying to get it approved so we can send someone
into space, to see this race that has existed all this time, living in the same universe as us, and yet, they are ahead of us by miles in every way possible! And if
the mission is approved, this means that a human, one of us, will get the chance
to do something that no one has ever done before!
The following day:
Dear Claire,
I have the most wonderful news! The committee chose me to be the one sent
in the capsule! This is going to be so incredible. I was a little nervous at first,
because there were other candidates who had more public appeal, or to put it
simply, who were more religious. But you know me, I believe in science and facts,
logic and truths. Thankfully the committee didn’t let that weigh too much as a
factor in their decision. This is going to be great! To be the one to represent all
of us, it is the biggest day in my life yet! I will write to you again, as soon as
I’m back. Love.
Official transcript of the debriefing session with Astronaut
Amanda (A):
Interrogator: Detective Quentin (Q)
Subject: Mission to Planet X
Q: Could you tell us about the events leading up to Launch
Day?
A: I don’t really understand why I’m here, talking to you folks
again. You guys already know everything that happened, why on
earth am I sitting here?
Q: This is just a debriefing session ma’am. We’ve been talking
to everyone involved in the mission so we don’t get our facts wrong
or miss out on any vital details. Please co-operate with us. Again,
could you tell us about the events leading up to Launch Day, after
you were chosen?
A: All right, I guess there’s no harm in recounting the truth. As
you know, I was the onechosen to be sent in the capsule. Now, designing the capsule was the hardest part. We, as humans, have never
come close to creating or inventing such advanced technology. We
didn’t even know if it would work. But we had to try it, we had
receiv VBF