Chapter 11

Swati slurped on his coffee. The blazing hot coffee was ice cold to him, compared to the things he had to go through that day, a little burn from a beverage was nothing.

“How, but how?”

Cheng kept mumbling to himself, he had completely broken down. He was a man who prided himself in working for the people. In his view what they were doing at the UN, the work they were involved in wasn’t just for them but for the fate of the whole world.

The preservation of the entire human race, without them the human race would surely know doom. He loved this part of his job, it was the reason why he came to work each morning, the reason why he loved working there even though his coworkers gave him a hard time sometimes.

But it was also why he hated the reapers so much, in his opinion they were like an infection leaching off of civilization slowly corruption it and sooner or later they would cause its demise, ‘why couldn’t they understand? why couldn’t they understand their selfish needs couldn’t compare to the general wellbeing of the entire race?, it's so simple yet they still don’t understand’

Cheng often thought about this, he loathed the reapers with everything he had. Little did he know the organization he loved so much and that he hated so much were one and the same, like two sides of a coin, just how was he supposed to react, behave? Or maybe this was all a dream and he would wake up from this nightmare soon enough.

**Slap**

Cheng gave himself a jolting slap, he was hoping all of these had just been a dream, an illusion even and he would soon wake up to the reality he’d resigned to, the reality he loved soon enough. Heck he even hopped this was just a concussion after getting knocked out by the director, his fits of rage were bad, he wouldn’t put it past him.

Anything would do, anything other than what he was hearing.

“This isn't a dream Cheng, this is real”

Swati finally spoke, he was halfway through with his coffee, he gestured to the cup of coffee resting on the table near him, he wanted Cheng to join him.

Cheng slowly got off the floor and sat next to the director. He took the cup of coffee and took a large sip.

**Ppptuiii**

“Holy shit that’s hot!”

Cheng yelled fanning his tongue. The sudden pain had broken him out of his pathetic trance.

“Listen Cheng, there is still a lot you don’t know about, things far worse than what you just heard, it's still too early to be reacting like this.”

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“Anyway, this is as good a time as any so let's talk”

Swati seemed conflicted, you could tell he was having a hard time speaking, there seemed to be an internal strife whether or not he should keep talking. Cheng noticed this and with firm dedication in his eyes he said to the director.

“It's okay sir, everything we talk about will be between you and I unless you order otherwise”

Swati smiled at this, he felt a little reassured, he continued...

“Cheng are you familiar with Project Aurora’

“Who isn’t? it was deemed as the second savior of the human race after the bleak project”

Cheng answered enthusiastically, these sorts of topics always got him pumped.

“From what I recall, project aurora was launched 50 years ago in Jan. 3000, it was an ambitious mission that comprised of a thousand people and was aimed at space exploration and mining, the project was supposed to mine the necessary raw materials needed to ensure humanity's survival and thrive”

Swati looked at Cheng, he found Cheng’s enthusiasm calming.

“Well …”

Swati commented

“No, no, no don’t tell me...”

Cheng finally realized it, that question wasn't casual either, and nothing would be during this entire chat. Every truth he’d known up until that point was about to be challenged, he struggled with accepting this, he struggled with feeling like an impostor in his own life. This was going to shutter him, he was sure of it, the question was would he manage to pull himself together after.

“Well Cheng, you're half right, project aurora was aimed towards humanity’s survival and thrive and it was indeed a space exploration mission but it wasn’t a mining expedition, it was a colonization project”

“What?!!!”

Cheng yelled, there were no shortages of shocking revelations today, just how far did this whole thing go, he felt himself breakdown. The aurora project was one of the most famous projects, the whole human race waited eagerly for their return, heck they banked on their return for their survival with the minerals they would bring back.

Aurora would bring back the resources needed to cater to the whole race, there wouldn’t be a need for cryo sleep, and families would once again be reunited or that’s what they were told.

“I know how you feel Cheng and I understand, we lied to everyone, gave them false hope but if we hadn't the whole human race as we know it would have perished, things aren't always as they seem on the surface”

Swati looked at the monitors once again, he had a heavy heart, the emotional baggage of this whole conversation was taking a toll on him

“Listen Cheng, I know you feel conflicted about this, but please trust me for now, the secrecy and conspiracy behind aurora was for a good reason, it was indeed a project that was aimed at the survival of the human race. The true goal of the project was a planetary system 20 lights years from earth, our Kepler telescope had confirmed a 90% chance of it being habitable.

This was a goldmine for us, if this planet was indeed habitable it would be a turning point for humanity. So, under the pretense of a mining expedition the aurora project was launched but only a select few knew its true purpose, the purpose of colonizing a planet on the golden belt of this planetary system, a project aimed towards the salvation of the human race, the real project behind the aurora mission; the Project Gliese”