Launch: Epilogue

  10…

  

  The next day, Markus was sitting on the floor of his cabin meditating.  He didn’t find any merit to the spiritual aspects some associated with the practice, but there were nonetheless some viscerally positive psychologically effects which could not be denied.

  

  9…

  

  He found it a useful to practice to quiet his mind.  His psychology training had allowed him to understand that by quieting his higher brain processing, he could allow the less overtly conscious parts of his mind to operate much more freely, unbound by the critical and rational eye of his subjective self.

   

  8…

  

  He had come to peace with his decision.  All of the people who meant anything to him had in their own ways come to understand his decision, and had somehow managed to find a way to be okay with losing him forever.  He had said his goodbyes with them and they had all wished him well.

   

  7…

  

  Now he had a new challenge to confront, both alone and with others.  He had a new community to integrate into, and new relationships to form.  Under his watchful eye, a new generation of children would be born on the ship who would live out their entire lives in deep space, who could know the Earth no better than Markus could have known…

  

  6…

  

  …no, he couldn’t even consider an adequate analogy to convey how alien the Earth itself and the idea of growing up on a planet would seem to them.  They would never set foot on any planetary body, they would never know… wind nor sunshine, neither summer nor winter.  The more he thought about it, the crueler it seemed.  Oh well, he though, it was far too late now.

   

  5…

   

  Markus was sitting on the window in his cabin.  He took one last look at the planet he would never know intimately again, and at the last planet he would ever set foot on for the rest of his life.  He then got up, walked into his living room and started moving containers of paint into his bedroom.

  

  4…

  

  Earlier that day, he had taken it upon himself to paint his entire suite entirely matte black.   As comfortingly ‘not-yellow’ as the bare metal of his suite bulkhead had been before he started, it still seemed dull and cold to Markus, now far too much like the rest of the ship.  It didn’t feel like a problem out in the halls and the rest of the ship, but he felt that this place had no… personality to it, no… Markus.

  

  3…

  

  He picked up the first paint container and hesitated for a moment, then violently splashed its neon pink contents all over the walls.  He paused to admire his handiwork with great satisfaction, and then went about the whole suite with a paint brush, splattering the pink paint at random across all of the previously pristine black walls.

   

  2…

   

  Satisfied with the amount of pink, he then picked up the container of electric green and gave it the same treatment while letting out a satisfying yell which was part rage, part agony, part triumph, part release, and part deliverance.  He then picked up the container of yellow; a bright, horribly offensive yellow that was so beautiful it almost blinded the eye.  Then came blue and magenta.  When he was all finished, he for some reason decided that the yellow was his favorite colour on the walls.  It was so defiant of the dull yellows he’d become used to on Earth.

   

  1…

   

  The ship began to vibrate, subtly and barely perceptible at first.  The mighty ion engines had been activated and were beginning the slow process of their departure from Earth orbit.  Gradually over time they would boost their orbit around Earth until they were effectively free of its gravitational field, at which point they ship would have close encounters with all of the outer gas giants to gain some extra speed on their way out of the system.  Then they were on their way, a one way trip out of the Solar System and into deep space.  The only question was, would their humanity be their salvation, or their undoing…

  

  Launch…

  
Humans had built a utopia on Earth, but it was not their utopia.   Now they had set out to build one of their own.

  

  ---   ---   ---

  

  Standing on the bridge, surrounded by monitors, In-Su and Sadhika proudly stood on either side of Captain Tynes as he barked the commands which got them underway.  The three of them watched on the monitors as their distance from Earth gradually increased.  They stood in silence for a time, savouring their moment of triumph.

  “We’ve done it In-Su.  We’ve really done it.  We’re finally on our way,” Sadhika declared to the emotional Korean man.

  “Now comes the hard part…” In-Su reflected.

  “He’d be really proud of you two, I hope you both know that,” Wiremu offered.

  “No,” In-Su declared, “no he would be proud of all of us Wii, the entire crew.   I really miss him…”

  “I know,” Sadhika consoled him, “we all do.”

  

  The three stood there, watching on the wall monitor as the entire Earth came into view on their large primary view screen.  “You are cleared for L T flight New Horizon; Godspeed.  Good luck and safe journey to the New Horizon and her intrepid crew from all of the people of Earth.  Our thoughts will be with you, always.  Over.” a disembodied voice announced over the bridge loud speaker.  It was a gracious message, one the Orbital One Operations people must have planned out ahead of time.  The three felt it a thoughtful and worthy send off.

  Wiremu opened the channel and responded, “Clearance and message acknowledged Orbital One, thank you.   Good luck to you and to the Earth as well.  You all take care of that planet for us alright?  Over.”

  “Roger that New Horizons.   Over.”  At that, Wiremu closed the channel.

  “Now what?” Sadhika asked.

  “Now we wait,” Wiremu answered with a chuckle.

  “And then?” she asked.

  “We’ll think of something…” In-Su answered.