Last Words

It was August 17th, 2088 when I boarded Chandra; a luxury orbital cruise ship. My wife Sarah and I were to celebrate our honeymoon on our first trip into space. We launched from earth in a space plane named Gagarin V. It was a smooth and extraordinary experience; to look out the plane window and see the bright blue sky fade into a blackness scattered with diamonds. Then the passengers ooed and awed at the sight of the two spoke-wheel shaped cruise ships spinning in perfect harmony. It was The Royal Emerald and Chandra; named after Chandra O'Brien, the first person to set foot on Mars. The only jolting moment was the docking between Gagarin V and Chandra. Our ears popped and suddenly a fresh-cool air breathed into the passenger cabin. We didn't even need to collect our baggage. We were immediately shown to our suite where we were directed to wait for our luggage to arrive along with further instructions and rules for our experience.

The ship was magnificent and beautiful. It was littered with giant windows, giving view to a britght-blue Earth slowly rotating and circling upside down to right side up from your perspective. There were great restaurants, fun dance clubs, exercise rooms, pools, gamerooms (and weightless gamerooms), casinos, bars and private weightless rooms. The private weightless rooms were stationed at the center of the giant spoked wheel. Sarah and I had a great night in one of the private rooms. The walls were padded with black leather and dark blue carpet. It had an amazing sound system with an infinite selection of music. There were a total of twelve one-way octagon windows on three sides of the twenty-foot triangular room. Sarah and I discovered one of the fantasies people on Earth have dreamt about since the first rocket carried a man into space. The phrase "exploration in space" has never been the same. Needless to say, our experience on Chandra was more amazing than I could have ever imagined.

On our scheduled final night of orbit, Sarah and I were at an oldies-party in one of the dance clubs. They blasted music from the mid-1900's and everyone danced and drank late into the night. There was a song playing where the lyrics repeated; dream-dream-dream-dream-dreeeeeam, when suddenly it seemed no one was dancing anymore. Everyone's attention was to the giant window facing Earth. It was on the night side and was submerged in darkness. Only now there was light. Small speckles of piercing yellows and oranges lit up light stars all over the globe. Everyone knew, it was the global war that everybody feared for the last five years. It was happening now. The song continued as the DJ himself was transfixed to the horrifying scene. Nobody said a word, but many women cried and screamed. I kept waiting for the fireworks to subside, but they would not. I held Sarah, and could sense her crying. I couldn't say anything that would make her feel better, for my heart's pounding was enough to communicate a fearful mutual feeling.

We held hands as people started leaving the club. The walking turned into running and shouting among the passengers. Soon all music was off and all emergency lights were on. A voice came over the intercom system and reminded people to remain calm. But they would not remain calm, their Earth as they knew it would never be the same, and they may never be able to set foot on Earth again.

Days later the panic slowly turned into a depressed fearful state.