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Alex Gonzalez was terrified. Everything was happening so fast. Only twelve hours ago he was on the high school practice field getting ready for the weekend’s cross-town rival soccer match. Now he was getting strapped into a spaceship seat. Why were his parents sending him away?
He overheard an attendant tell another passenger who was seated on the opposite side of the ship up a few rows to his left to relax. The passenger looked exceptionally big and strong, which helped him feel a little better since he wasn’t the only one nervous here and he was considerably smaller than that man. He continued to look around at the other passengers, marveling at the diversity of the group. There seemed to be people from all over the world. He couldn’t help but think he was in way over his head. As he looked back to the assistant helping him, he couldn’t resist asking.
“Where are we going?”
The attendant looked at him with a puzzled look and answered, “To Omnis Space Station, of course. How do you not know that?” She snickered and went back to securing his harness.
As the attendant finished and moved on to the next passenger, his thoughts drifted back to yesterday when he was driving home as fast as he could to avoid being late for dinner twice in one week. His father was a lenient man, but he had one rule that had to be followed and that was for the family to be on time for dinner. Being late a second time in a week would surely give him cause to ground him for a month this time. When he finally made it home, he would never forget the awkward silence that filled the dining room where his parents, brother, and sister were waiting patiently for him at the table.
His father looked up when he walked into the dining room and asked him to sit down at the table. They then all held hands to give thanks. He looked around the table while everyone’s heads were bowed and noticed his mother and sister were crying. Getting really nervous that he was in serious trouble, he blurted out, “I’m really sorry I’m late again, but there was traffic and…”
“That’s okay, son,” his father interrupted in a surprisingly calm tone. “I’m not mad at you for being late.”
He stared at his father in disbelief. Something was amiss and it couldn’t be good.
“Why is mother crying?” he asked, taken back from the sadness in his father’s voice.
“This is very hard for your mother and me to say this to you, Alex, but you’ve been given a great opportunity and by this time tomorrow, you will be in a much safer place.”
He continued to stare at his father; he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What do you mean…safer place?” He looked around the table.
His younger sister Sara, who was sitting across from him, refused to look up. Erik, his older brother, quickly looked away when he turned to look at him. “Why aren’t we all going to this safe place? Why do we have to go anywhere? What’s going on?”
A large jolt snapped him back to the present and he noticed that the cabin was now full, the attendants strapped into their seats. He had never before been on an airplane, let alone a spaceship, and his nervousness was now causing him to sweat profusely. He heard an incredibly loud hum and knew something terrible was about to happen. He closed his eyes. What happened next was the scariest moment of his very short life.
All he could think about as the spaceship hurtled upwards was how much it hurt to be pushed into his seat. He had never experienced anything like this before. When what seemed like an eternity had passed, he opened his eyes to see that most of the other passengers weren’t faring too well either. In fact, as he kept his eyes opened and continued to look around, he started feeling much better.
With a renewed sense of confidence, he dared to look outside. But just then, he heard and felt a second explosion and was pushed further back into his seat. This time, he kept his eyes open and the acceleration didn’t last long. He looked out the window and noticed that everything was black. Well, almost everything. He could make out stars everywhere. Soon the ship began to rotate and he slowly saw the cloud-covered earth come into view. He was mesmerized by the sheer beauty of it. He wished his family was here with him to enjoy the view. His thoughts again drifted back to last night.
“We’re not allowed to tell you anything more than that son. We haven’t even told the rest of the family. Our job has always been secret to all of you and there’s a good reason,” his father told him. “All I can say is that thanks to where your mom and I work and who we work for, we were very lucky to be given this opportunity. But they were very specific that it had to be you and only you. They wouldn’t tell me why.”
He touched the small cross on his necklace that his mother had given to him when she said goodbye to him at the launch pad. He knew his father would never have put him in harm’s way, but he just wished he understood what was going on. He looked down at the picture he had been holding in his hand since he was strapped into his seat. It was a family picture Sara had taken of them last night after dinner. He fought the urge to cry.
As the ship continued to drift in space, towards the space station he assumed, he couldn’t help but think that all of this must have something to do with those news stories he heard on TV about the environment. How the planet was in danger and that if it wasn’t fixed quickly, Earth could die. Of course, he didn’t believe that nonsense. As a high school teenager, he didn’t really stay up on current events, but his parents always said that everything would be all right and he believed them.
He did know about the complete cloud coverage of the planet, which supposedly was the cause of the rising temperatures the planet had been experiencing, but seeing it in person was a completely different thing. He was amazed at how different the Earth looked compared to the pictures that he remembered seeing in his history textbooks.
His father had given him a sealed envelope as he was leaving to go in the shuttle and told him not to open it. He was to give it to the Omnis Space Station customs agent when he arrived. It had the HOPE seal on it, which even he knew meant Human Organization for Planet Earth. He resisted the temptation to rip it open. He didn’t know how long he could wait to find out why he was sent up here.
And as almost on cue, the shuttle rocked and came to a stop. The attendants began removing their harnesses and got out of their seats. He became excited as he figured they had made it to the station at last. He also began releasing his seat harness.
One attendant was checking the door for something and there was a loud hiss. A light over the door turned green and the attendant opened the door. Alex quickly got in line as passengers filed into the aisle, anxious to get off the ship. The line moved slowly as some passengers couldn’t get a handle of the gravity boots. As he finally reached the exit, he quietly thanked the attendant who had helped him before.
The inside of the Omnis Space Station seemed much larger compared to the ship he was just on. People were everywhere and most of them looked like they didn’t know where to go. Fortunately for him, he knew he was supposed to see the custom’s agent. He looked around and saw a counter with several people in line. The sign above the counter said customs, so he quickly walked over to try and beat anyone else who wanted to get in line.
Finally, it was his turn. He sheepishly handed over the envelope his father had given him and watched in growing anticipation as the agent opened it up. The man behind the counter kept looking up at him while reading the document. The agent finally took out his stamp, pressed it on the document, and filed it away. The agent gave him an ID card that had his picture on it, surprising Alex since he didn’t realize they had taken a picture of him.
“Always wear that ID badge. Follow that boy.” The agent pointed to another teenager waiting nearby. “Welcome to Omnis. Next!”
The other teenager waved him over and excitedly held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Mark. What’s your name?”
“Alex…Alex Gonzalez. Where are we going?”
“You don’t know? You and I have been assigned to the galley. We’re going to be cooks!”
He was very confused at what was happening and why Mark was so excited. Why was his father so secretive about him becoming a space station cook? And how was this a great opportunity? He didn’t exactly have his future planned out, but he was pretty sure it didn’t involve becoming a chef. He smiled back at Mark, “Fine. Lead the way.” As he followed Mark down the corridor, he promised himself he would get to the bottom of all this sooner or later.
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