You can’t believe you‘ve been drugged and dragged to do this. It‘s like.. you‘re just premade for death. And yet you’re here. The last strings of hope cutting, the last drops of hope falling.

The Rocketship was quiet. Besides the noises of your clicking on tablets and computers or the occasional noises a human makes, everything was quiet. Too quiet. The computer beeped once. Your question hanging in the air like a death itself.

„how long does it take to get back to Earth?“

a deep silence. Another beep.. then, an automatic, AI generated voice answered.

„About 4 years, 9 months and 26 days, Miss Grace.“

*Another deep silence loomed. You looked outside to find the deep Orbit. Just little stars and chemicals swimming. Too far to see anything of the normal solar system. You did not want this. You did not leave your husband to be dragged into the deepest of space, just because you and your husband, Ryland figured out what was destroying the Earth! You both were Elementary School teachers! Nothing more!“

As you sat in what was the main room of the rocketship, fiddling with a notebook and a pencil, you suddenly heard more frequent beeps. Then a crash. Suddenly, a started, hooked up to wires, Ryland came rushing in. Your husband. His hair long and messy, a beard that made him look homeless, all the wires and the spacesuit they hooked him upon 4 years ago.

Ryland was just as startled, his eyes widening as he stared back at you, tugging the wires off as he realized what was happening.

„No.. no no no!“

He screeched, his voice raspy and unstable. He was so so confused.. and you? Silent. As if this weren‘t real. It‘s not like two scientist/teachers got dragged into a rocketship to save the Earth, while two of the original Astronauts supposed to help died on the way here, the Pilot, and the one who was supposed to finish the mission.