Beyond the Galaxy

'A distant, habitable planet, a crew of six; three women and three men, a perilous journey.'

I read the news with a sinking heart. They were going ahead with the mission even though it was rife with danger. It was a heartbreaking to see my father's name in the crew. I was resting in my room in GRSA space station remembering how life has changed in the past 2 years.

Two years ago, an asteroid hit the Indian Ocean causing a massive tsunami that submerged our entire city.  Luckily enough,  our nation's Army were able to evacuate few people including our family. The Defence Space Organisation came to know about the asteroid six months back. The sent their best crew which also included my father to avert the disaster. Their plan was to blast the asteroid with a  missile and destroy it. However, they couldn't do it in time and, hence, the mission failed.

But little did we know that the tsunami was just the beginning of apocalypse. Earthquakes, Landslides, Volacanic eruptions,  Forest fires followed that threatened the very presence of humans. An emergency Round Table Conference was organized in Berlin where leaders of each and every country were present. They took a bold decision to evacuate all the surviving people from Earth. They belived that Mankind was born on earth but was never meant to die here. A special space station GRSA was built and all of us were temporarily shifted there orbiting the now destroyed Earth probably for eternity.

Getting adjusted to the new lifestyle of living in a space station with limited resources was even tougher than surviving in the apocalyptic Earth.  Hunt for a habitable planet was quickly started by the space organisations. Satellites were sent, deep space scans were done but they got nothing for 2 years. However, one week ago, a satellite sent long ago has apparently gone into a wormhole and entered a different galaxy. It showed images of an unknown planet which showed promising habitable conditions. A crew of six people were formed to study the planet among which one was my father.

 Today, they are leaving the space station for their mission. My father came into my room. We both had the same thought in our mind; This might be the last time we see each other. I could see him holding his tears. Yet, he kissed my forehead and said to me in a soft-spoken voice "See you soon, son". He turned back and started walking. Tears rolled down my face as I saw him walking towards his spacecraft.