Proxima B. Pulvirenti Giorgio
On the return flight to Arizona, Emily could not help thinking about what New NASA Corporate had proposed to her a couple of hours earlier. The fact of leaving her beloved Arizona, the place where she was born and had grown up, made her excited and sad at the same time. She had always been a determined person, but this time she was not even able to make a choice.
Phoenix, Arizona.
When Emily entered the barracks, she began to tidy her own belongings in her cupboard. She should have stayed in Washington one more day, but she had decided to come back to Phoenix one day earlier. So, after emptying her bag, she lay in her bed and thought. After about two minutes, a knock on the dormitory door was heard.
“Miss Parker, Chief Master Sergeant Lucas Douglas is waiting for you in his office!” a soldier informed him before closing the door and going away.
On Lucas Douglas’ office door, two knocks were heard; the Sergeant stopped doing anything and exclaimed, “Please, come in!”
“Sir, did you want to talk with me?” Emily asked him, standing at attention in front of the entrance of the room.
“Yes, I did, Miss Parker. Please, sit down,” he told her. He pointed to a chair in front of him.
“How are you? How was it in Washington?” the Chief Master Sergeant asked her. He seemed to be smiling.
“What did you know about this, Sir? I’m referring to the topic of that lecture…,” asked Emily, who was a bit surprised.
“Just what it must be known… Sincerely, it was me who urged you to be applied for this project, Miss Parker!” the man clarified once more.
“Why me, Sir? Many others are waiting for this thing and are better than me,” Emily said in a trembling voice.
”Emily, listen to me. This thing is not for trained people. Trust me. Nobody can be prepared for such a thing. This is a fact of right people. And you’re the right person. I know that,” Chief Master Sergeant said, staring at Emily’s eyes for a few seconds.
“I can feel you. You feel disoriented. Probably, those who were with you feel disoriented, too. But trust me. One day you’ll understand everything,” he kept on saying.
Emily’s gaze was resolute but it was seemingly resigned when she answered, “Okay, Sir. I’ve made my decision! I’m agreeing to take part in the mission!”
“Well done, soldier! Great choice!” he exclaimed. After that, he burst out laughing. That was something redeeming.
The man finally addressed Emily, who was about to quit her office, by saying, “I was forgetting that today is your day off!“
“Thank you, Sir,” the young Marine answered. Then she closed the door behind her and walked towards her accommodation.
Springfield, Missouri.
Abigail lived in one of those terraced houses in the eastern residential area of Springfield. She and her husband had chosen quite a quiet area to live in. Her family spent its own life almost completely within that district. The University where she taught was in that district; the biochemical engineering laboratory of which she was in charge was in that district as well; the factory where her husband, Sam, worked was a few blocks away from the University; the school attended by their three children was nearby as well. You could say that particular structure was conceived for the whole city of Springfield as well as for many cities in the United States. The districts, or rather the areas, were built in order to meet the citizens’ needs; moreover, it would not be so worth moving over great distances due to the large number of inhabitants and the high volume of traffic.
The plane by which Abigail was traveling had just landed at Branson. It was approximately 2 o’ clock in the afternoon when the woman appeared from the sliding doors of the arrivals hall. She was very happy to see her husband, who had asked for a day off on this occasion, with their children.
“Mom!” her children shouted as soon as they saw her. Then they ran to her and hugged her. Their mother hugged them, too, of course, and then she said hello to his husband.
“Welcome back, my darling,” Sam told her, taking her luggage off her hand. After other fond greetings among the woman and her children, the whole family went out to their car. It was one of the latest models produced by the company where Sam worked at that time. It was an electric car that looked like a mid-sized space gray SUV with all optional equipment.
Once Sam was on his way home, he asked her wife for information about her travel.
“So? What was that travel you were talking about?”
Abigail waited a few seconds before answering.
“Would you mind if we talked later when we would be at home? I’m so tired…”
“All right,” Sam answered. They kept on traveling.
That same afternoon, after getting back home, Robert and Cody, the two eldest children, had gone at a friend’s house for studying while little Gwen had been brought to classic dance classes. Abigail had all the time she needed to relax and unpack her luggage until the front door opened.
“Darling, I’m back!” Sam said with his deep voice. From her bedroom, his wife, who was almost done with the arrangement of clothes in her wardrobe, told him something in response.
Then Sam added, “I’ve ordered some pizzas tonight.”
From the hallway he was getting closer and closer to the bedroom. Abigail locked the empty suitcase and left the bedroom to go to the sitting room while Sam was changing his T-shirt. The woman was in the sitting room in her flat; she was sitting on one of the sofas that were part of the furniture that was designed in a modern style when suddenly her husband joined her.
“So, tell me everything,” he proposed in a rather calm tone. Abigail did not hesitate and went straight to the point as she used to do.
“I’ve been selected to take part in a mission of colonization of a planet that is just beyond the solar system,” she said, looking straight into his husband’s eyes.
“What? A new planet?” he asked in amazement.
“Exactly!” she answered. Then she added, “I’ve been selected to take part in that mission as a chemist together with 1,499 people who are playing their own roles.”
Sam remained impassive at first. He tried to understand whether Abigail had something more to say. Then he began to nod, which made his wife suspicious.
“Sam, it’s a one-way travel, you know…” she added while the man was still silent.
“This is amazing!” Sam exclaimed suddenly. All of a sudden, he, who was sitting in front of the sofa where Abigail was sitting, got up from his sofa.
“Have you already decided to accept?” he kept on saying.
“Of course I haven’t,” she answered in a tone that was almost breezy. Then she added, “I’d like to know what you and our children think of it.”
Sam ran his hands through his hair, which was as black as pitch. Doubts were beginning to assail him.
“Wait…” Abigail said. She meant to break that embarrassing silence that had fallen all around for a few seconds. “We’ve been told that it will be possible for the first colonizers’ families to reach the planet thanks to a second travel that will take place a short time after the first one!” she exclaimed, intending to calm her husband down a bit. Some moments after hearing those words, he sat down again and met Abigail’s gaze again.
“Do you realize what you’re asking me to do?” Sam asked her. He was almost upset.
“I didn’t ask you anything, Sam! If you don’t want me to accept, I won’t do it. But I want you to know that we’re doing this for the future of our children. Do you remember what we talked about at Ben’s party?