Sunlight shone through the partially open screens on board S.S. Lawrence. It was bright and I entered the hospital room to assist the doctor with the procedure. She turned to me, her eyes widened and quickly, I realized, it was my father I saw before me; his skin was aged and splayed.
I felt the love I had for him and my stomach turned. He looked worn and old, and I realized my dream would never come true; most likely, he would die today. His frail hand gripped my wrist tightly.
Dear son, he said, please promise me you will take care of your brother. He's a good man, respect him, he said in his slow way and I agreed.
Though he knew I would comply with his request, he said, "Promise me, son. Do the right thing.
With that, the doctor gave him a shot that killed him instantly. I was speechless and I went to the nearest window and stared at the skull Island that separated the mainland from it. There's no way I won't do it.
My name is in- William Hamilton. I'm a brilliant physicist and my team is constantly watching the Gochihr comet. It's the last-minute discovery that costs my father's life ten years after discovering it.
We named it Gochihr, after the Zoroastrian prophet who discovered the positions of the planets. The 14th century Zoroastrian had the vision that the world would end. Since that day, we of the Global Space Agency (GSA) a non-profit agency, have been observing it and we have calculated that it is coming to an end. Everyone has seen the yellow-white light blinking at the 'top' of the comet and its tumbling motion.
Today, it's going to hit the Earth, we tracked its trajectory with our advanced Gochihr detector. My father and I, more like him and I, we discovered its sparking brilliance. But he recently died and now I am alone.
I'm a brilliant physicist; my team was more than thrilled when I took up the lead scientist position. We discovered that a month ago, the Gochihr comet was two months out of orbit, meaning we have a scant 12 weeks to go before it collides with Earth.
That's when I realized that the dream he had been alive for so long bothered him. That his age, his vision dimming, and the excruciating pain he constantly suffered...all of this led up to one major event.
I would imagine him, dying one day.
Today it was his time.
Slowly walking down the corridor on board S.S. Lawerence, I realized how lonely I felt without my father. It had only been six months since I lost my father, who talked me into joining the GSA.
The GSA, a non-profit organization that studies celestial bodies in the universe are slowly but surely annihilating all of Earth's natural resources. In a way, this scientific breakthrough has paved the way for an industrial revolution. With my team's help, we discovered that these stars, they're not ordinary stars. They possess superior energy sources and if properly mined and harnessed could provide endless sources of energy.
At first the GSA announced that these stars that we call, sources are located ten light years away from Earth. At our current velocity, it will take us about 326 years to reach them. But this discovery hasn't been enough to convince states to yield their economic interests. With the recession gripping the world, they don't have the funds to risk expedition.
The GSA, however, took our side, urging them to join in. But it still didn't work. So after years of planning, I and my team's discoveries, we have come up with the idea of returning to the stars together. We now have 12 weeks to travel the furthest distance at the greatest speed that our rocket system is able to travel.
Yesterday we discovered that the comet has split in two, one going to the right and the other going to the left. We're heading to the comet to determine which one is closer to us. They both travel at the same speed and they are 12 weeks away from Earth. In a strange predicament, we've chosen a training guide, a man of the stars; the captain of a ship, the S.S. Lawrence.
The Lawrence, a famous vessel for its exploration of strange bodies in the universe. The ship was honor and fame in various settings. Over the last years, the ship has returned with many tales and discoveries about strange bodies in the universe. Some of them are called Kuiper's, Oort's, and Sedna's.
The stories are all different, every body is different. Most of them are very bizarre and mysterious. The GSA has all sorts of reports translated by my team, my father included. And I have observed my father's last words.
Before he would die, he would say, I had a vision of my life and it came true, but how did I do that? It's unknown, but these bodies, the stars, everything keeps the universe alive, the universe is the only motive force that holds the DNA of the universe together. The GSA doesn't take this serious enough. Even now, they will only invest in paper, plastic and metal. And they're counting us spacefarers and loony splitters. We must prove them wrong.
The Lawrence was a good ship, I was told. It was small, only twenty five men strong and its captain was Alfred, a very good captain and a very collected man. He made me feel at ease, that I was in safe hands. I and my team, that is of course, some of them, have signed up to teach and trained the crew-manned to go to Selin, the planet closest to our theoretical homes and other Kuiper's or Sedna's.
We were currently on board the ship, while others are already in the distant comet. They're studying the comet, doing some tests and exploring the stars. The team that is on the comet is expected to arrive in a week, just a week, we have a week before the Earth is swallowed by the Gochihr comet. I was to be in the expedition and explore Selin, however I was left on board for some odd reason.
We have only a week to go before we're to travel. The alarm bell rang. I left out, the crew is waiting for my arrival.
Outside Captain Alfred, who was waiting for me, had a lot of research and scientific equipment. What a sight, twenty five people waiting for us, me to teach them and make them better.
I approached Captain Alfred, who then went and spoke to the team about my arrival
"Professor Trian of the GSA is here, and since he's so old his job is to carry stuff from here to there. Now let's get ready men, Alfred said. Alfred was a very friendly and good captain. He was confident and strong. I was just taken aback with how good the team worked together. My father always used to tell me how humanity should be like this. How we should slowly get along with one another.
"This is the comet. There's some sort of trail here and there, over the whole surface is a pearly, blackish grey colour. The whole surface looks like, a prison. I don't know why but it does look like it to me. But enough of me, let's set up the equipment and we'll be on our way, Commander Alfred said.
As my team went out of the ship and walked to the surface, the other twenty four men followed. I couldn't help, but stand there and watch. They were so near to the surface. I knew they were near, but seeing them near made me nervous. What if they get burned.