better world

Originally uploaded by eyetwist

The sky was a dull charcoal gray and the streets were littered with leaves as if it were a fall day. This, unfortunately; was a mid summer day. The city of New York lay lifeless with no traffic to be seen. A few military convoys were making their way away from the city towards the airport on the Long Island Expressway; the city’s main artery for transportation was mysteriously empty. In fact the only other proof of life was in the John F. Kennedy airport, hundreds of people were waiting for numerous flights. All sitting in the last transit center open in the country seeing as the rest of the nation was nearly evacuated.

“Attention…flight 783 to the American Orbital Habitat is boarding. All passengers please have your transport permit, immunization card, and social security number with you.” The captain of this flight turned away from the counter of the Starbucks to look through the window. He stared at the massive space shuttle that once led research missions for NASA, now it had been retrofitted for passengers and was a passenger shuttle for the biggest evacuation known to man. He still had the gas mask around his neck from when he was riding the AirTrain exiting Jamaica. The air had never been this bad, but he knew it would only get worse and was glad that this was his last flight. It had been 49 months of trips back and forth along with 300 other space shuttles and countless others from different nations of this evacuation.

He turned around to get some sugar for his coffee when he realized that the Starbucks had closed and the employees were making their way to the gate. Taking a deep breath he began his brisk walk to the gate himself, there were three last flights scheduled before the North American evacuation was complete he walked passed a large group of people that weren’t scheduled to leave for another 15 hours. He smiled at a toddler who had been waving at him from one of the benches. Grabbing his ID he told the flight attendant to stay safe as she closed the door behind him.

“Attention passengers this is flight 783 from JFK to the American Orbital Habitat Transit Complex. Our flight time will be approximately 17 hours and we should arrive there sometime in the afternoon, I’d tell you the weather but I know at this point anything is better than this stuff” laughter filled the cabin of the 364 nervous refugees. A flight attendant took over and began the safety instructions. He was alone in the cockpit. His co-pilot had refused to go back to earth so this was a solo flight.

He yawned as he received military clearance for space-transit. The engines roared as he hit switches and dialed numbers. The aircraft pulled away from earth as a normal plane would and the passengers held onto their armrests as the force was unlike anything they’ve felt before. The aircraft lifted above the city, he was sad that he couldn’t see the skyline for the last time but the pollution had gotten so bad that everything in the sky was grey. As he made his way through the endless wall of pollution he saw that he was over Chicago where he once resided. The AOH Times had stated that hundreds of people were killed last week when there was a canceled flight and a riot broke out in Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Darkness began to fill the cabin as the grey slowly dissipated. He was now in outer space, as with every flight he could hear the gasps of the passengers as they looked back at earth. He felt sad every time he glanced at it, but now it was the last time he would ever see it. The green and blue sphere he would see on television and in pictures was no longer there. The sphere no longer held any beauty, it looked as if it were a dark mars. Only one color of darkness, no landmarks could be seen. He was amazed at the damage we did to our own home.

The auto-pilot was now in control. He was allowed to sleep for the next few hours as there was no communication it this distance. He was now flying in a black zone. Only American space crafts were allowed here, but with nothing else scheduled to return he was the only thing flying. He looked at the Starbucks anxiously waiting for the next ten hours to pass so he could get some more. He then drifted off to sleep.

Screeching alarms woke him up and the cabin was lit red. There was a comet cluster nearby and he was required to take the controls from the computer. The only problem was that he had woken up late and was now dangerously close to the cluster. Hitting the “seat belt” button he grabbed the controls and swerved the ship out of the way of the group of rocks, swerving the ship left and right. One by one the alarms began to shut off and he began checking all of the screens to make sure nothing was damaged. After a reassuring announcement to the frazzled passengers he sat back down in his seat and took a sip of his coffee that was now half empty and fifteen hours old. He looked out of the window and saw all five of the Orbital Habitats. American, South American, Asian Pacific, Middle East/Africa, and European Orbital Habitats all sat in the middle of space like something out of a science fiction novel.

He loved staring at them, Often times forgetting to make contact with the American Transit Control Tower. But today he remembered because he wanted to get home to his family in District Albany. He had a week’s vacation before he started work again, making shuttle flights between the America and Europe colonies. He was excited because the five hour trip was a lot better than the seventeen hour trek he was used to.

He was now twenty minutes away from the dock and had made the announcement. He was in dire need of a coffee but couldn’t take another sip of that Starbucks. The skyline of the destination began to show, the hundreds of modern towers made the new home look daunting and cold. He knew it was, everything felt sterile even his home. It was as if he were living in a world described in 1984 except he had the right to complain. He began to drift off, not noticing the beeping sound and the one flashing red light. He then heard screaming over the radio, another space shuttle from Asia had lost power and was now floating dangerously close at a high speed. He remembered that since he was landing there wasn’t any way to take over the Auto-Land system. He stared at the vehicle as it grew closer and close his face filled with horror as the reflection in his eyes showed Asian characters from the side of the ship. Screams came from the cabin as the passengers realized what was happening. A woman clutched to her two kids sitting beside her, and old couple hugged as they sobbed. A baby left alone as her mother went to the bathroom was violently screaming because of all the noise. A business man dialed his satellite phone to call his wife but it was too late.

The explosion lit up the sky, residents from all five Orbits reported seeing the flash. It was so close to the Transit Hub that it tore large holes into the habitat. Destroying the Transit Hub and the surrounding community as air escaped killing a few hundred thousand new residents. Others back on earth were trapped because they didn’t have the security clearance for any other orbit. His body was incinerated as were the rest of the passengers in the two ships. Chaos soon followed as pieces of debris began to crash into other sections, killing an un-estimated amount of citizens of the “better world”.