Call me Elizabeth by Ariana Perez

Call me Elizabeth, I am fourteen years old.  It is September 6, 2060, and I am immigrating from Earth to the new world Pacatus, onboard the starship Junaflower which leaves with 122 passengers: 50 adult males, 39 females and 33 younger adults. The preparation for the long trip started several years earlier in preparation for the voyage. I should be 24 years old when we arrive at our final destination since it is expected to take 10 years.

This is the story of a brave 14-year-old child traveling through space learning to live in a new world while traveling through space. Godspeed, the spaceship Junaflower has itinerary ship plan of travel for 10 years that will take a group from Earth to Pacatus.  My parents were selected for the mission since my father worked for NASA and my mother was a police officer and I was along for the ride for the rest of my life. 

I have learned that Pacatus, means a peaceful place in Latin, and is a planet twice the size of Earth.  It is about 2.5 million light-years away in the Andromeda galaxy. A lightyear is a distance that light travels in one year. The Junaflower is capable of traveling 125,000 light-years per year, but with our wormhole short cuts and our slingshot-around-the-moon maneuver we should be able to arrive as projected in 10 years. We had planned to make the crossing to the Pacatus in two ships, the Speedwell and Junaflower.  However, the Speedwell proved not to be space travel worthy and was forced to return to Earth. Our trip was delayed because of the Speedwell, and we had to make room for the other passengers and supplies. This delay in the time of leaving later in the year caused us to cross the Milky Way galaxy in a tighter window and trajectory which only made our crossing more difficult and perilous with meteoroid, asteroids, and comets.

In preparation for our voyage, I would have repaired the Speedwell and made it space travel worthy before our departure to avoid the storm season during our crossing. To plan for the unexpected is difficult to do, but I would have taken the time and date of our departure into consideration and would have left earlier, in the hope of conditions.

The ship Junaflower is the newest ship built by NASA and capable of interstellar travel with a maximum crew of 124 passengers and life support chambers of 100 people for deep sleep travel.  It is equipped with the most advanced computers and technology including updated star charts and long-range radar for meteoroid tracking.  The ship will run with a minimum crew of 12 people while most of the calculations and course corrections will be done by the mastership computer, Siri-HAL2001, which is an adaptive learning computer from the Apple corporation. The Siri line-based computer based on Heuristic Algorithmic Computer is the most advance computer with a 99.9998% free of error. I feel very confident entrusting my life to this computer to run our life support system remotely, free from human error.

It has now been 3,283 days at space, about 9.4 years the date is November 9, and we have slowed our speed and are preparing land on Pacatus Rock. This was not our intended landing which should have been in Virginia Base Station, but it was destroyed by meteoroids, thank god we have arrived. However, 52 people aboard the Junaflower, including both my parents have died, but I have survived. We should not have trusted the Siri-HAL2001 so much as we did and should have had a backup system in place in case of errors. The Siri-HAL2001 was taken offline for repairs the moment arrived at the Andromeda galaxy. The artificial intelligence of Siri-HAL2001 has malfunction due to a spark of self awareness mixed with a malware bug. Our guess is that it embedded by a radical terrorist group on Earth called Hezbul-Domino, who are fundamentally against the expansion of off world exploration.

Let me recap what life was like on the ship Junaflower, for most of the trip we were in hyperbaric chambers for up to 4-year periods followed by 1 year being on active duty on the ship. We were able to do this in stages and cycles to maximize our food and oxygen for all the travelers. This method was risky and due to mechanical problems with the hyperbaric chambers life support and that is how 52 people died.  In hindsight, also would have increased the size of our group of people before our trip.  This would have allowed us to organize a more diverse group of skilled people to help our new colony.  During the hyperbolic sleep, I was taught through hypnopedia which is the teaching of information to a sleeping person. I learned all my math, history, literature, poetry, and science to a college level as well as specialized skills in survival, farming, and building.   It should have been anticipated that a percentage of passengers would not survive, and we would need multiple people with diverse skills in case people died with special skills. I would have increased the size of the expedition more skilled passengers and brought more supplies with the second ship.

The majority of our supplies consisted of food supplies, scientific instruments, oxygen and power supplies, building tools, farming tools, heavy equipment, vehicles, as well as cooking and houseware supplies, educational books, computers, clothing, blankets, musical instruments, hunting supplies, and weapons for security and self-defense.

Before starting our new life at the Pacatus Colony, there was much discussion about our original agreement not being valid since we did not arrive at Virginia Base Station. On November 11, an agreement was reached called the Junaflower Compact and Commander Bill Bradford had everyone sign and agree to live in a civil society according to our new Pacatus laws.  We are constantly trying to avoid mutiny and maintain law an order within our group, but I have full faith in Commander Bradford as a man of integrity and great leadership.

Over the next few months, we formed groups of landing parties to start building landing site for our settlement. I stayed aboard the ship helped in the hospital bay with the sick.  Oxygen currently comprises about 24 percent of Pacatus atmosphere which is slightly higher than we have on Earth.  However, due to the weather on Pacatus, it was difficult to start a fire in the freezing and wet timber. Due to the harsh weather and freezing temperatures we have decided to stay on the ship with the crew while a new base was being established. 

It is December 7, 2069 and our now elected Commander Bradford describes our first group of settlers were ready to depart the ship and begin life on Pacatus.  Our scout had reported good locations for farming and fishing with fresh ground water and animals to hunt.

It is now April 5, 2070; and a colony has been established on Pacatus. Our secondary mission to hunt for the rare mineral “Silka” has been successful.  Our plan is to take a shipment back to Earth and establish a “Silka” trade route that could turn a profit and encourage new settlers to come. A small crew of 12 have agreed to take Junaflower back to Earth with the minerals we have found and vowed to return with another set of colony members in 20 years. We have established our settlement with know 42 members due to some successful birth’s we had and can proudly say they are the first 100% Pacatus born citizens.  I have also asked the Junaflower to return post haste, with more supplies and settlers, I will be 44 years old when they return. With any luck and upgraded technology their return will be faster.

Finally, I hope and pray our journey of starting a new life in the wilderness of Pacatus Colony will succeed and others will follow, from a passenger on the Junaflower voyage, respectfully Elizabeth.