Homecoming II

Lieutenant Andrew Parker lives on board the USS Chronos. The largest interstellar spacecraft ever built by mankind. Him and his fiancée Dr. Alexandra Weyland were born on the city-sized ship which is currently on its way back to earth after a forty year long journey. The mission's aim was to travel forward in time by flying away from and then back to earth at a great velocity near the speed of light. Our story begins with Andrew waking up to a message from his supervisor and close friend Admiral Curtis Lowe, whom he subsequently meets on the Chronos' main bridge which presents a stunning vista of the entire upper outside of the ship as well as planet earth all the way in the distance. Their journey across the galaxy is coming to an end, as they man the first scouting and landing vessels. The first team of scientists, accompanied by military personnel is about to touch ground on the blue planet that hasn't seen human life in over 150,000 years – or at least that's what they believe. Among the group are Andrew and Alex, Grace Lee who is a fellow Lieutenant and Sergeant Jacob Kaufmann, who is a military physician.

The closer we came to the ground, the more nervous everyone became. Even Grace, one of the most poised and confident individuals I ever knew – maybe close second to Curt – was visibly excited. Her dark, almond shaped eyes glinted as she stared out through one of the small windows, analysing the shapes and colours of the trees and hills in the distance. We had all seen pictures of mountains, lakes and beaches before, but none of us have ever witnessed these phenomena first hand. Sure, we had countless sorts of plants and animals on board the Chronos, but watching, what seemed like an infinite ocean and the clear blue sky coming closer and closer was something else. No one had spoken a single word since the first details of our new home world had been visible. Alex had grasped my hand as soon as she could make out the actual contour of earth's geography which, alongside its flora and fauna, she had been studying for most of her life. She squeezed tighter ever so slightly, until her grip started to properly hurt me, but I didn't say anything. At first because I myself was so stunned by the view, I barely noticed, and by the time I actually started to feel the pressure, I didn't want to interrupt her marvelling.

Minutes later, the lander came to a rest in the middle of a clearing in an otherwise dense forest and Phoebe's courteous voice echoed through the small vessel: 'Welcome Home! We have just arrived and are located seven miles west of Lake Michigan. It is early summer and the temperature outside is a pleasant 72 degrees Fahrenheit. I have already taken the liberty to scan the atmosphere and the surrounding area. It is safe for you to leave the ship without protective suits.'

Roughly a hundred pairs of feet started shuffling and tapping since every last one of the passengers was keen on stepping outside into the sunshine. The doors opened simultaneously and almost immediately the air was filled with earthy and flowery scents, as the cabin was flushed with a fresh breeze. I recognised the smell of damp tree bark and leaves, grass and flowers, all of which I had experienced in our greenhouses before. Other aromas were entirely foreign to me. One of them later turned out to be the enormous amounts of water, stored in Lake Michigan, Phoebe mentioned earlier. Up until then, I never realised water had a scent of its own. As I stepped out of the door and slowly started walking down the stairs, I felt the sunshine heat up my face right away. It was one of the most pleasant things I had ever sensed.

'What do you think?' I asked Alex after a while. She turned and looked at me. 'It's so beautiful, I don't even know what to say.' She was about to tear up and must have noticed, because as soon as she finished her sentence, she hugged me and pressed her face against my chest. I stroked her black hair and was relieved that she did. If she had started to cry, I probably would have too and Grace and John would have seen me do so. And those two would have teased me for days, if not weeks.

It took a couple of hours until most of us were calm enough to get to work and start assembling a makeshift base to prepare for the mothership to arrive on the surface of our new home. It took us no more than three days to set up most of the essential prefabricated buildings. We had to sleep in tents in groups of four for the time being, but that was alright. This was what I imagined camping was like. We had basic laboratories, communication towers and an infirmary going by day two and started to prepare the designated landing site for the Chronos in the early morning of the third day. Jacob was keeping his eyes on everyone's health. For the most part he monitored how people reacted to the new environment. But apart from a biologist who turned out to have developed a mild allergy towards some kind of pollen and a builder breaking his leg falling off a com-tower, we didn't run into any issues health wise. Alex and the other scientists were busy collecting all sorts of data concerning plants, wildlife and developments in the North American continent's geography. Grace and myself along with three other Lieutenants were in charge of keeping everyone safe, but there were no real threats apart from a nest of wasps right next to one of the tents, so we mostly scouted the area or helped with the clearing of the landing site.

On the sixth day, as the sun was starting to seemingly set fire to the sky before setting itself to rest – a spectacle I thought I would never grow tired of – Jacob contacted me on my radio. 'Yo L.T. you hear me?' Grace rolled her eyes. Yo was not exactly what she considered proper military addressing. 'Loud and clear.' I said. The radio blared its usual white noise before transmitting the Sergeant's voice again. 'Can you head over to the com-hub? I don't know man, but you might wanna hear this shit for yourself.' Grace snagged the radio out of my hand before I could react. 'Language Sergeant.' A brief moment of silence. 'Shit man. You could have told me that Lieutenant Grinch was with you.' She looked at me as if Jacob's behaviour was somehow my fault, downright smacked the radio into my chest and furiously trudged off. 'I'll kill him. One day, I'll actually murder that man.' She shouted, looking back at me over her shoulder.

'Too much?' the tall, bearded doctor asked me as I walked through the door of Communications Hub 1. 'She's wicked pissed.' I said. 'Damn. I'll go talk to her in a bit. But first, have a look at this.' He turned towards the console that made up most of the room. 'So I was checking back with the Chronos. Keeping them up to date on what's going on down here and how everyone is doing. And then some kind of static noise interrupts the call and this is being transmitted instead.' He pressed a button on the computer that looked like a medium sized dining table with a lot of dials and screens. The static he described echoed through the area followed by a man's voice. 'Mayday. This is Captain Morrow of the USS Osiris, we've had a fire and our power units failed. All of them. We've crash-landed and can't set up without power. We've had military and civilian casualties. In the hundreds, maybe thousands. If there's anyone out there, we need your help.' Jacob and I looked at each other as the message started to repeat itself. 'What the hell?' I whispered. 'There were others?' Jacob stopped the recording and turned to me, visibly shaking with nervous excitement. 'I ran a few analyses and Phoebe says, Captain Morrow recorded this more than twenty years ago.'

Constantin Fuchs