I'll be in deep
sleep any second now, I think.
I have been lying
here thinking about my family and my life growing up on the plains of
Carafen, the gray and red dust between my toes. The giant dredger my
father drove that would pick up the dirt and sand and inject
bacteria, germs, nitrogen and necessary microbes to make it possible
that it would bear life.
My parents spent 15
years in a frozen state to come here and make a miracle happen
Worms were the next
step up for the project. I remember when my class visited the worm
farms and we all had to learn to feed the worms and prepare them for
the soil of Carafen. Some of the girls didn't like getting their
hands dirty or messing with icky worms. Their reactions were funny.
Then I remember
graduating from the small colonial school, most of us were the kids
of scientists and engineers. My first job was to inspect the
grassland plains to make sure there were plenty of bugs and other
insects to make it sustainable. I remember being there with the class
when colonies of the bugs and insects were released, we had cheered.
Making a “clean”
world like Carafen into a life-sustaining green world had taken a
generation. It took much longer on worlds that were hostile. Carafen
was like Earth except it had no life at all. It had been just a muddy
little planet before our parents showed up. Now it was green and on
its way toward having a healthy eco-system.
That is why I am on
a ship to a new world, chosen for terra-forming, it's 11 light-years
away. Farther into the interior of the Milky Way. Something is wrong
though. I shouldn't be able to keep thinking about my memories. They
should have activated the cryo-freeze by now. Was there some problem?
I can't open my eyes, of course, what is going on?
Hello? We have a
problem? Isn't anyone out there to help? Somebody please help!
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