No one believed it when they said the world was ending. We had data to suggest we needed to change our ways, or that the Soviet's abuse of oil and gas drove us over the edge. There was always hope in the air, though. Always something to suggest that there was just a little more time to figure something out, for humanity to pull another rabbit out of the hat before the lights went out. The worst of humanity, it seems, is thinking we are special.
I was 25 at the time, starting my first year in Space and Discovery. I had interned for two years prior, its the only reason I had any know how about what was going on. The end of my internship meant I could move into government housing, finally away from my parents. That was the one bummer about returning from the East, but at least I had my freedom once again. I'm sure if my Mother had heard it, she'd claim it was false. I'm sure my dad would agree, or blame 'The Reds'. But most of the world heard it from a friend, or a friend of a friend, or some kind of pipeline that lead to the very ministry I was making my mark at.
The Middle East got it the worst, the first governments to fully collapse in the absence of 'The Big Red Brother'. A bunch of my former friends from my time in the military were still stationed at the embassy in Iran, many more signing on for the one year humanitarian campaign. Turns out, the UNA had finally responded, making a deal with a many of the broken nations. Renounce the USSR, their leaders, and their ideals. In return, the UNA would offer embassies, remote hospitals, and regular resource shipments to the nation. Essentially, bribing desperate people to join their empire.
Oh, there I go again, starting to sound like my Father.
"If you have children in the room, perhaps consider moving them to another room until our current broadcast has ended." UNA State TV shot out the emergency broadcast to every TV and radio in the nation.
"We have just received breaking news from the UNA office, and it's-" Even the reporters voice was breaking up.
"A direct broadcast from The World House"
The broadcast switched to a feed of the then president. He tried to speak slowly, calmly. His voice always seemed to suggest that he wanted to be much more gruff.
"My fellow Americans, from North to South. I come to you today with a solemn heart, and a call to action, if you would be so brave." He paused for a moment, static shooting up from the mic. "Our Mother, our green Earth, has finally set its final date. Though, there may be some room in this estimate, our top scientists at the Space and Discovery Ministry have confirmed that the atmosphere of Earth will become unsuitable for life sometime around 2012. This is not to harm you, my friends, nor to frighten. Rather, I hope, through the departure of such a brilliant Mother, that we may come together. Together to preserve the existence of our species. Together, to hold on to hope. Together, to-"
>--[=====]
"Woo-hoo!" The sound of Bazi's yelling snapped me out of my trance. We were finally strapped in to the drop pod. With us were two other's, an engineer named Riley, and another officer named Matti. I turned to Bazi, screaming out in joy. "You ready, boys and girls?" We all awkwardly nodded our heads. Riley, the more timid one, just stood wide-eyed through her thick visor. Bazi shouted out one more time, before reaching his hand above and behind him to a small keypad. Even without looking, he entered a code and pressed enter. The pod shook as we detached, and began to accelerate.
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Riley, despite being an engineer, seemed more uncomfortable as the pod sped up. She had an unusually smaller frame for her field, and where solid colors filled our suits, she seemed to draw doodles on hers, particularly on her arms. Matti was stoic, he hardly moved as we reached terminal. His black suit matched Bazi, though notably much cleaner. I had spent almost three years with him, and it seemed like every time I went to use the onboard laundry, he was there, polishing his suit. Riley was always the one found in the botanical room, though she never signed up for watery duty. She just liked looking at them, I could swear sometimes she was talking to them.
The pod began shaking more violently with every second. We had been at terminal velocity for a little while, and the temperature gauge on the panel behind Bazi shot to light, blinking rapidly.
Riley adjusted her grip on her seatbelt, looking like see was trying to curl up on her seat.
"10 seconds to hatch." Matti shouted, though monotone. Bazi shook his head excitedly, banging his fist on the wall behind them. It was amazing that he could even lift his hands up at this speed. I tried to breath through it, my heart teetering on the edge of panic. I know, I'm in Space and Discovery, but I haven't been on a drop pod that many time. When we took the shuttle up to the ship, I was haunted by the idea of coming back down. I passed out on my first trip back from the UNA Relay Station.
"Hatch!" Matti yelled out. Bazi threw his hand back, hitting a large yellow button next to the panel behind him. The entire craft shook violently, as we were thrown left and right, our visors reaching out in an attempt to crush our faces. But the panic ended, and we realigned, falling much slower than before. Bazi laughed a bit, sighing of relief. He flung his arm over to Riley, patting her leg. "See? That wasn't so hard!" He kept laughing, we all were half-thinking he might have gone delerious.
"How's your oxygen?" Matti asked.
"Huh?" Bazi shouted back.
"Nevermind."
Matti reached down to a handle in the middle of the floor. He pulled it up to reveal a chunky gray terminal coming out of the ground. He pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, and the blast shutters for the window above us crawled open. We had been falling into the planet upside down, the parachute hatch beneath us. We all looked up, we were set to land in a prefect little valley, one of the only discernable divots on our charted course. Despite being a moon, Europa was almost entirely clean of large craters, which would have typically been the ideal landing zone.
"Is it to late to turn back and go to Ganymede instead?" Riley nervously laughed.
"Same story, I'm afraid." Matti yelled out, as the heat died out, and out the rustling of small rocks hitting the window could be heard.
"It's got a magnetic field, right?" Bazi brought the volume back down.
"Yes, but no atmosphere. Europa has an atmosphere, though tenuous." Matti unbuckled his secondary seatbelt on his waist, though keeping the main large latch strapped across his chest. He leaned forward, hitting the pad a few times. "Brace!" He suddenly pulled back into his seat. I grabbed on to my seatbelt latches running over my shoulder. It was over quickly, but the short impact felt like it knocked my brain out of place for a moment. The entire craft tipped as we flipped to right-standing position, a second impact hurling our stomachs down.
Bazi was the first to exit the pod. The window above us also acted as an entrance, automatically depressurizing as his hand touched the center. Even with our suits on, the sudden and extreme temperatures drop as the cold space flooded the cab gave us all shivers. The gravity, at least, was enough to jump out of the pod in one go. We had landed on the bright side of the moon, with only a hint of Jupiter to the horizon behind us. Up above us was the glimmer of our station ship, the outside rings rotating along.
"Haha!" Bazi shouted. "First try! First try!" He jumped up into the zero gravity, doing a few backflips and shooting his hand up in the area.
I slip down the sloped chassis of the pod, looking at the goofy man. Matti and Riley sat at the top of the pod. We all looked up to the station, as Bazi continued to practice his aerobatics.
"Yes! Yes! How do you like that Clyde!? Thought I'd be too undertrained for the mission, you son of a-"
I can't remember how long the moment lasted.
There was orange and blue. Shimmering white shooting off in every direction.
The Station was gone.