Minimum Paige

The average distance from Jupiter to the Earth is 628.3 million Km. Added to the 1287.4776 Km from Houston to Atlanta, that made 628,301,287.4776 Km Henry had to travel. He had three weeks to go from Callisto, Jupiter’s second largest moon, to Atlanta Georgia, on Earth. 628,301,287.4776 Km. The figure was almost mind boggling to Henry as he disgruntlely boarded the shuttle from Callisto’s surface. He thought about the trip in his head: first, the shuttle from Callisto’s surface to the Jupiter space station, then a ship from Jupiter to Earth, which would stop twice to refuel. Finally, the shuttle would dock with Earth’s space station. Henry would board a shuttle to earth, land in Houston, and take the bullet train to Atlanta.

Henry sat down on the shuttle seat frowning. It really was a terrible situation. His grandmother, Martha Lorten had died just three days ago. Henry remembered the message he had received from his mother, Paige Lorten:

Henry was disgusted about the whole thing. Earth he thought with vendetta. Earth, that backward, boring, hole of a world. He couldn’t believe his mother had the gall to invite him back to that which he loathed so much. He didn’t want to leave at all, but his mother had purposely scheduled the funeral so far in advance to guilt him into coming. He hated that. He almost hated his mother at times.

The shuttle docked with Jupiter’s space station. Henry could see the gleaming jewel of Jupiter outside the port hole. It was majestic. Its’ size, color and brightness were like a dream of Van Gogh. Henry almost smiled for a moment. Then he boarded the silver, bulky spacecraft which hauled its’ way to Earth. It took two and a half weeks to complete the voyage. Henry had brought along his laptop and a copy of Frankenstein to keep him occupied. He seated himself in the large, surprisingly comfortable seat which easily folded into a bed. He sighed angrily.

Henry closed his eyes and tried to remember what Earth was like. He and his mother had moved to Mars after his father died in the Atlantic-Pacific war. He vaguely recalled his mother getting a letter and crying on the kitchen table for hours. That night, she told him they were going to move to one of the new American colonies on Mars. So the next day, Henry and Paige Lorten (she adopted her maiden name after Henry’s father died) boarded a spacecraft to Mars.

The spaceships engines kicked in as it launched from the station. Using Jupiter’s gravity to propel it, the ship slingshoted from Jupiter’s orbit with alarming speed. "Two and a half weeks." Henry thought. "Two and half weeks to Earth."

While living on Mars, Martha worked in a hydroponics farm nearly ten hours a day. Henry attended school and did quite well. His principle told Paige Henry had a very bright future ahead of him, and she should consider sending him to university. Martha began saving every dollar she could for Henry’s college.

The ship had now reached top speed. The force associated with the great acceleration had ceased. Now, the ship glided effortlessly through the dark, empty abyss of space.