The rocket thundered through the atmosphere.
“Where’s our promised Gravity Lift,” thought Scott. He and his family were strapped in, gravitational forces pushing down on them, making breathing difficult. The training they had gone through helped, but nothing prepared them for the real thing.
The forces slowly eased and, once he could, he turned to look at his son. It was for him they were taking this trip – relocating to a colony. Give him a start in the new world.
His son looked back, a big grin on his face. “Are we there yet, daddy?”
Scot laughed. “No, Brandon, not yet. Look, that’s Earth, there. We have to go to the moon first. And then we have a long journey.”
Brandon scrambled to the window to look at the receding planet.
Scott turned to smile at his wife. She was sleeping. She did all through basic training. He was amazed how relaxed she was.
The safety harnesses rose as the ship stabilized.
“Dad? Are we there yet?”
“Nono, Brandon. We have to get our ship at the moon.”
“The Moon?”
The Moon was the first hub of Interstellar Transport. Massive passenger carriers, like the one Scott was on, brought people there. Most picked up transports, some their own ships, others transfered out to Mars.
Scott was picking up his colony ship for his journey. These were built for people moving to colony planets. Colony ships stored enough supplies to last the long journey to the colonists new home, but could be converted to a home on arrival. Scott, well it was really, Darla, his wife, chose the Colony Vanguard. Large enough for the family, comfortably supporting two adults and two children – giving them an extra room to play with. All the mod-cons one would expect in a colony ship. Scott liked to call it his Space Winnebago.
The Carrier started to slow for its descent onto Moon-Stat Central.
Brandon squealed excitedly as the harnesses dropped back into place. “Now, Daddy? Now are are there?”
Scott laughed. “Almost,” he chuckled. “You little scamp.”
After they had spent an age clearing customs, quarantine and security Scott hoisted Brandon up and carried him to a view port.
“Look at that, sport. That’s where you used to live. That’s your planet. When I was your age I never thought I’d see this. They say that when you do – everything changes. There’s no countries, or kingdoms. It’s just a beautiful blue, green world where people should just get on.”
Brandon looked out. “But it’s brown, daddy. There’s not much green there.”
Scott held his son up for a little while longer, mainly so he could stare at the planet below. His wife came and put her head on his shoulder, slipping her arm round him.
“It’s still beautiful, Scott.” He turned to kiss her and she saw he had tears in his eyes.
“Oh, Scott. You’re a big softy. Come on, let’s get cleared for an orbit her on our way out.”
Darla held her husbands face and kissed him. “One more look, husband of mine.” She took Brandon and walked into the crowd.
Scott took one final look. “The moon. The mother fucking moon.” He laughed. “God – they were always right,” he muttered to himself, and wandered off to join his wife.
It would take about 8 months to reach the outer rim. There they would rendezvous with a transport that would take them as far as their new system. A lot of that would be in stasis, but there were the regulatory wake up periods.
Then, once in system, they would fly in, another 8 months, to their new home. Planet Lohan.
Scott couldn’t believe it was named that. He almost chose Planet Diana just because of the name, but the news from there seemed a little too interesting for his liking.
Brandon came up to the cockpit as they passed the Martian Hub. “Oh, oh Daddy! Are we there now?”
“Not yet Brandon. We’re going to be here for another eight months.”
“Eight months! That’s forever!” He flopped down into a chair. “I have to go for a pee-pee.”
“You can use the toilet on board, Brandon.”
He ran off. Scott listened for the flush, the door open. “Wash your hands, Brandon.”
The taps ran. Then Brandon did, back to his dad and leapt on his lap.
“Hey there, son.”
“Hey.” Brandon looked out into the starred sky. “Daddy,” he started. “Are we there now?”
It was going to be a long journey.
