“Hello everyone! My name is John Lihn.” The video played by my history teacher boomed. He quickly turned down the volume, “Today I’m going to talk about the Exodus program.” I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of the Exodus program. Shuttles that embark into space to collect solar energy undisturbed by Earth’s atmosphere. It’s quite literally a powerhouse of a business. “The Exodus Program was initiated in 2072 by NITE Corporations, commanded by myself. These impossible feats of engineering use lenses to focus sunlight into an ultra-high powered solar panel within the shuttle. The Mach 1 Exodus was too fragile for its work, and was recalled later that year.” The video showed a picture of a slim white object no larger than twenty feet long. The exodus was a masterpiece in size and performance. “The Exodus Mach 2, released in 2074, seemed to fix all issues created by the Mach 1. It was faster, more versatile, and was strong enough to withstand the intense heat caused from the harvesting. The Mach 2’s success was also measured when private militaries across the earth and Mars alike began using militarized variants of the Mach 2, featuring a second lens and a smaller solar panel, the Exodus Mach 2C was perfect for space combat. The Mach 2C focused the suns energy, collecting only enough to power the shuttle, into a lethal beam that could be targeted into an enemy shuttle.” He finished explaining the main goal of the Exodus program in not only clean electricity but also in combat roles. After he moved to what today was truly about, the Exodus X. “The Exodus X uses our own previous technology to control Earth’s environment. Using the largest solar panel ever seen before, we collect the Sun’s energy and relay it to Earth. We can change the time of day to make the world’s clocks the same. We can eliminate most natural disasters from ever hitting again. We can control temperatures and stop global warming right in it’s tracks. But now for what you all want to hear, NITE Corporations invites ten lucky students a chance to work aboard the Exodus X. When on board, these students will be subject to various tests of skill, wit, and leadership potential to decide who will be the big winner.” The next few days were composed of little importance. Empty shells of filler time in this story is all they truly are, as most days are anyway. The drawing came later, with ten names from across the country. My name was selected. Hugs, high fives, and tears later, I ran home to deliver the news. My parents always have been, and still are, very supportive of my interests. The trip was free, but I’d be gone for a month at least. And when I returned, if I won, I would be gone much longer. I strapped myself into the shuttle. The take off screen displayed a woman who explained safety procedures and instructed everyone to stay in their seat for the duration of the trip. “Welcome to NITE!” John Boomed. He’s NITE’s Head of Design, the scientist in charge of the Exodus Program. He’s actually a clone of the man who created NITE, John Castellanos, who would go missing just a few weeks later. “My name is John Lihn, you are currently on board the Cypher 74 Rocket, a passenger rocket designed to carry Exodus teams from Earth to NITE’s privately owned sector.” The 42nd amendment to the Earth’s Directory of Diplomacy allowed for privately owned sectors of space. Since then companies all over have been battling for the highly profitable areas. NITE owned seven out of every ten sectors on the market, naming it the largest owning body from both Earth and Mars alike. The areas surrounding Earth were all NITE owned. The areas around Mars, however, were not. They were owned in a mixed market of single investors and small groups. Some groups joined together and started calling themselves Whisper Technical. The rocket took us to a humongous station with prongs that enveloped Earth. This beast was known as the Exodus X. The mounted solar panel was a behemoth, big enough to block out the sun. I chuckled to myself. That was exactly what it was for. It blocked the sun, bringing the Earth into blackness. I prayed that it would work. The scientists on board the Exodus X were all kept quiet about any questions we had. Only the guides were allowed to answer, and even they couldn’t answer all of our questions. They were restricted into what could and couldn’t be said. “Is there another Exodus X somewhere?” “Classified.” “Is the Exodus tested for safety?” “Yes.” “How?” “Classified.” It seemed everything was under close watch. No secrets were allowed to escape. We were put through three tests. The first was knowledge. We were assigned to a wing of the Exodus X where all computer technicians worked. They gave us tests and several hours to take them. The tests mostly consisted of various technical fixes to problems an Exodus would face. After the test (which was quite simple really) we were move to the next challenge. We were each assigned a partner. One partner would be the Exodus operator while the other was the pilot. I was the operator. My job was to harvest the Sun’s energy into the Exodus. Of course we were put into a simulator, which used number algorithms to create random events for every team. My team faced a solar flare that disturbed the lens. We had to return to our shuttle and replace the lens. By the time the second test was over, only three of us remained. The third test determined who stayed and was sent home. By now we all had known each other. Myself, James Reynolds, and Alicia Hill were the remaining students. James was a bigger guy, we wasn’t the smartest though. In this place “not the smartest” only meant you are not so high above average, he wasn’t stupid. Alicia was the nerd, she never stopped talking about the inner workings of clocks or some other object of no use to us at the time. I was just me. “Attention! All nonessential personnel to your quarters please!” A woman called over the announcer. We returned to our bunks, a large room where ten people had once slept. It slept only the few of us. An alarm rang over everything as the door to our bunk sealed shut. We were supposed to feel safe; we felt trapped. Men barking orders and the alarms were the only sounds for the longest time. Before long, the men stopped barking orders. The alarm kicked into a higher gear. It featured a second noise we all knew, the evacuation bell. Alicia and James grabbed what they could and rushed toward the door. It was still sealed shut. Our brains went into panic mode. We were in a room with a locked door. “What now?!” Alicia squeaked out. “We will be fine.” James’ voice was reassuring, though he too had no idea what to do. I stayed silent. Even if I had spoken, they wouldn’t hear me. From the security room I could not speak to them. I could only do that from the announcer’s station on the bridge. I turned the camera to show both of their faces, and they saw it move. “You!” Alicia called, “Can you let us out?” I did as she asked. I didn’t want to kill them. They had been my friends. The door opened and I followed them to the nearest escape shuttle. “Aren’t you coming with us?” Alicia asked. “No, I’m not.” I answered, knowing they couldn’t hear me. I launched the shuttle. Taking my view off of the camera before me, I practically leaped off of the chair. I looked behind me at the mess that was made. People had gotten in my way so I had to move them. I don’t regret my actions. The Exodus X would’ve taken sunlight for ransom. The wrong hands could’ve caused everyone below to die. I had to destroy it before it destroyed the world. I walked through the bloodied corridors to the bridge. Once in control of the Exodus X, I piloted it off into space. It’s technology won’t be lost forever, but it will delay the extinction mankind will bring to itself. Today marks 935 days on board the Exodus X. Rations on board we’re enough to last a few years abroad for it’s three thousand man crew. So it’s enough to last me a lifetime. Sometimes I feel that the Exodus X may have not caused man’s destruction. I tell myself that I was crazy. I couldn’t have left it alone and let man have his feat until he destroyed it himself. Oh well, I built the Exodus Program, now I can lay it to rest. As I’ve said before, Exodus has always been my dream. They reported me missing when they returned to Earth. But I am right here. Wandering forever Aboard the biggest space station ever built The Exodus X.

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