Foreign Stars
by Alan Sheng | Grade 8 | Scholastic 2023 | Sci-Fi & Fantasy | Gold Key
Crowds rush against lines of caution tape. Police officers wave batons and tasers at them, yelling and grunting. Clouds of dust and charred dirt sweep through the waves of people and they fall back, retching and coughing. A majestic spacecraft towers over them, dark stripes reaching up its throttle like the vines on a great mechanical oak. Off to the side of the spaceship, a man and woman stand with a young boy.
The man places a small humanlike robot in front of the child. The robot has a spherical head with a smiling mouth and closed eyes. Soft foam padding covers its extendable metal arms and legs. It goes up to the boy’s waist–just under two feet tall. It is called Merek, the father says to his son. He will record your words and talk to you when you are lonely. The boy waddles over to his father’s legs and wraps his arms around them, burying his face into the man’s pants. The father turns away as sobs tumble out. He rasps as he breathes, eyes red from smoke and tears. The woman pulls out a picture from her bag. Autumn leaves and seashells line the edges of their faces, smiling out from the wooden frame. She presses it into the boy’s hand and kisses his forehead. The boy hurriedly places the items in his little backpack and dons his astronaut helmet that envelops his shoulders. The mother offers him one final word of wisdom before the boy leaves: When you are unsure, watch the stars. Watch them, and they will guide you to the way.
The boy skips towards the launching pad. His parents hold hands and watch him go. With wide eyes, the boy looks up at the enormous spaceship. He coughs a little, and turns to see the gray and black trees behind the crowds. He tries to inhale but it only sends him into another fit of coughing. The boy does not like the launch zone. The air is toxic — much more toxic than it already is. He knows it is tragic, and he knows this is why he must leave. And yet he does not want to leave his family behind. He stumbles inside the open doorway and does not look back.
Entry #1 from the Lost Blue:
Hi Merek! I finally figured out how to turn you on. There are so many buttons here! Daddy must have been pretty smart to make this all by himself. I was feeling bad when I sat on my big weird bed, but you did that duck voice that Mommy would always do to cheer me up! And then you went and made me some orange juice with a bunch of foam at the top just how Daddy does at home for me.
Since you’ve been stuck on this bed all day, let me tell you about the spaceship. It’s kind of cool and kind of scary. At the very front, there’s this older girl who’s been sitting in a big turning chair all day. She’s reading a bunch of the big paper books and touching all the levers and buttons and dots and switches and all sorts of stuff. In front of her is a big window with black behind it. She must be smart. There’s a library, and a kitchen, and some game rooms. In the back, there’s a room that spews out a lot of gas and makes weird cranky noises. Finally, there’s the cabins. Everyone has one. It’s a little smaller than my normal bedroom, but it’s okay. I have some drawers, a bed, and a little foldable desk. Mommy said to make sure not to go to sleep too late, so I’ll do that now. I wish she was here to tuck me in. It’s creepy in the dark. At least I can see the twinkling stars in the sky, but they are different from the ones I’ve seen before.
I miss Mommy and Daddy but they said I have to do this alone. They said the fate of the world is in my hands. The world is so big, a lot bigger than me.
Entry #21 from the Lost Blue:
Hello again, Merek. It has already been many months. I have learned a little more about this place. There are in total, fourteen of us. Anyway, I met some of the people. There’s Alehando, I mean, Apegando, gah, I can’t say his name. He was the only one who said happy birthday to me when I turned thirteen. He’s a pretty cool guy, but he’s very quiet and stays by himself. Most of the people here are like that. It’s so boring here. Pretty much the only thing keeping me alive here is the reminders you always give me: telling me to brush my teeth, comb my hair, and wash myself every day. It reminds me of Mom and Dad.
The aptitude test was wrong. I’m not qualified to do this. They could have picked any other children to do the job. After all, the scientists just needed people who would live to the end of the journey. I wish I stayed with my parents on Earth. Even if I was choking on the polluted air. Even if most of the animals were gone from climate change. Even if I caught the malicious diseases that were spreading around.
We are heading towards a time warp in space. It should, theoretically, take us way farther in time to a point where the Earth has healed from the destruction mankind has done to it. However, a trillion other terrible possibilities include: shriveling up and being smushed by gravity, being stretched and stretched until I turn into a plate of spaghetti, being thrown a million years back to when dinosaurs lived. The list goes on and on.
Everyone’s counting on me and my crewmates to save the humans, but I’m just a wimp.
I don’t have a giant brain like Einstein. I can’t invent a lightbulb like Edison. I’m not a leader like Eisenhower.
All I can do is watch the stars with you Merek, like I did with Mom back home, except they feel so far away, oblivious to my cries.
Entry #243 from the Lost Blue:
I am almost forty now. It was not supposed to take this long, but this ship went off course and it took us a long time — too long — to fix it. Finally, we have entered the Sargavon Galaxy and are hurtling towards the Meinstale Warpgate. How long my crewmates and I have endured in the timeless expanse of this shadowy ocean. The time warp is like a rising sun, a flying phoenix, a warming campfire. It is the hope, the dream, and the salvation of humankind.
I know not how this will end for you, Merek, but I hope it concludes well. You are my family now: I know by heart the hundreds of messages you have been programmed with, just like how I knew my mother and father’s touch. We may very well age and rot like dead coral as we pass through this time warp. Or, we might, by some miracle, survive. Whatever the circumstance, I hope to see you and all my companions on the other side.
Stars, be with me as I descend into the uncertain ravines of hope.
Entry #244 from the Lost Blue:
We survived the time warp against all odds.
Thirty-six years it has been since I left on this voyage as a ten-year old boy; back then I was fresh as a bud and ignorant as a newborn puppy. Thirty-six years since I left an Earth full of pollution, war, and famine, an Earth ravaged by Nosimmorte, the end of the world. Thirty-six years since I set foot on the Lost Blue, my home and my prison.
Ashelyn, our pilot, has sighted Earth through the araxscope. Apejandro, my friend, tells me we have succeeded and I finally believe him. The blue colors only serve to strengthen my hope. The Lost Blue hurtles towards Earth at about half the speed of light. This craft is like the European ships of old, sailing into the same, yet unknown part of a familiar world. Whatever Earth holds, I must trust the song of the stars that give me strength at night to push forward.
Entry #249 from the Lost Blue:
We survived the time warp against all odds.
But we failed the mission. We failed humanity.
I was lucky. I was one of the ones to stay on the ship and therefore did not contract any of the disease. The lungs of those who went outside quickly became choked up in the sickness and began to fail. The pugnaer suits were not strong enough to filter the deadly mors spei virus.
It would not have mattered anyway. Ten thousand years and the leaves are still as dry as a desert sandstorm. Ten thousand years of vermilion sunsets without any clouds in sight. Ten thousand years of dried-up lakes that haven’t touched a drop in forever. The blue was supposed to be water. It was a deadly toxin. The green was supposed to be grass. It was a collection of vicious anaerobes that live in oxygen-less places. Earth was supposed to be the light, the salvation, the Messiah. After half the crew had become infected with the illness, I made the decision to shut the door and save the rest of us. Apejandro and Ashelyn were among the sick and fallen. Sharyn married Apejandro, and will not forgive me for forsaking our crewmates. The guilt is killing me. Nevertheless, we have all reached a final decision.
A man sits in a seat by the pilot chair of the Lost Blue. Three other men and women rest beside him. Suddenly, the man gets up. He ambles to his cabin and picks up a small robot. Next, he walks to the window, and quickly looks around before pushing open the latch. Holding his breath, the man releases the metal creation into the air, then clamps the window shut. He peers out the window and salutes the little robot tumbling to the earth. Then, he returns to the rest of his crewmates. Soon, the ship powers on and lifts away from the ground, leaving dust in its wake. As it zooms away, a green and blue planet becomes smaller and smaller, until almost completely out of sight. And standing on that planet Earth, a small little robot waits. Watching a lone shuttle zoom away toward foreign stars, a distance unknown.
