Awhile later, they were all gathered in the control room with all necessary

  data on their hands.

  Alex began the conversation. “Now that you have all read the problem, we

  need to check what that means.”

  “Well,” said Steve, “we are currently going at about three million meters per

  second, so that means that our trip will be extended by another thousand years if

  they don’t repair them fast.”

  Alex coldly replied, “We can consider them all offline in one month. There will

  be no repairs.”

  “Is there something we don’t know?” asked Juuda.

  “Now you know. There will be no repairs, so we are looking at an extra

  thousand years of travel,” said Alex.

  Trying to calm everyone down, Gakuto said with a more neutral temper,

  “There is no appointment we need to get to. If the energy is enough, then I can

  probably cook up a way to extend our food supply by a hundred years. Steve, will we

  be on with energy reserves?”

  “We will fold our sail back, which means no more repairs on it. Also if we limit

  our awake time a bit more, then we should be fine in terms of energy for the trip.”

  Alex stood up. “Then let’s not make things sound more tragic than they are.

  Our trip will take longer. Juuda, please update everyone’s notifications with the new

  data. Everyone should reschedule their awake time accordingly.”

  3016

  Hera

  Jain was walking toward the nursery to see the children. Her shift was ending, and

  she was eager to see her own child before going back to her capsule to sleep. She

  began playing with the children when Dimitri interrupted her bliss.

  “Jain, you need to see this.”

  “What happened?” said Jain, surprised.

  “We have lost all communications with Earth.”

  “How can that be? We have backup systems,” said Jain with a questioning

  frown.

  “I have been working on it for a while. I think it was purposely done.”

  “Wake Alex and Margaret up, please.”

  After Alex and Margaret were brought up to speed, Margaret left to run

  diagnostics. She returned and said, “They really did shut us out. The systems

  stopped working purposely.”

  Alex’s second awakening to bad news began to frustrate him. “First the

  boosters, now the communications. We know that Earth had its problems, but this got

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  out of hand. What are our options?”

  Margaret calmly replied, “There is not much we can do. There are no ground

  receivers on Earth now, and the satellites seem to have been destroyed. I will run

  occasional checks, and I will be broadcasting toward Earth frequently, so once they

  wish to hear from us, our voices will be there. If they begin broadcasting again toward

  us, we will also be hearing from them. There is not much else we can do for now.”

  Alex’s frustration did not subside. “What will it mean if we do not reestablish

  communications?”

  Dimitri made a sad face and with a bit of thought said, “Well, we mainly lose

  contact with our people there. They actually lose more than us. They will not hear of

  our findings. Solis is forty light years away; our news would be with a delay of forty

  years, but it would still be better than no news.”

  Margaret frowned and said, “No, Dimitri, losing contact with friends is the

  least of our losses. New technologies from Earth would be shared with us even with

  delay; new developments here would be shared with Earth. We did not lose contacts,

  we lost technologies.” Margaret seemed very upset. “We can’t compare the

  advancements we will make with a few thousand people on Solis against the

  developments of millions.”

  “So, we are finally completely cut off from Earth,” said Alex skeptically.

  “Margaret, you are right; we lost very much, but there is also nothing we can do.

  Inform everyone that if they have any private messages in their boxes, which shed

  light as to why this happened, they have to share it with me.”

  As Alex walked toward a terminal, he saw an urgent message from Semreh,

  his close friend and superintendent of Abuja.

  Hello Alex.

  I hope you will see this message soon and you will not be sleeping for the

  next 300 years. It has been a while since I began regretting not joining you into the

  stars. Now I don’t even have time for regrets. The situation here is starting to get out

  of hand. The cities are falling apart. Despite our best efforts, we will need more

  hands if we are to repair everything in time for Earth’s recovery. Apostasis is still

  affecting a large amount of population. Mainly the ancient ones. The people like you

  and me. Every city has made a separate council of elders who have their own way of

  dealing with the situation, and growth has halted. Many projects for speeding the

  recovery of the planet have ended, and an increasing amount of people are filled with

  a constant rage. Basically, if you are not affected by apostasies, you are affected by

  rage. We are now trying to convince everyone that the best cause of action is you.

  Although you are very far, you are 1,000 ancients who are unaffected by apostasis

  and can clearly see things from far away. The proposal is that you will be the

  counseling party of the planet and try from afar to lead us until Earth becomes

  habitable again. Although you are three years away, decisions take this long to be

  made, so it will be like you are here. Many of the ancients are in opposition and even

  claim that you abandoned Earth. I hope you see this soon and contact me so we can

  discuss things further. I am attaching some information for you which will not bring

  you joy, but I hope it will help you take the necessary decisions.

  Godspeed my friend.

  The message was received just two years before the end of communications.

  3487

  Hera

  With multiple kids on board the ship, many crewmembers had taken the role of

  teachers. The holoclasses were fun and interactive, but the energy needs were too

  great for them to be used extensively. The team going to Solis was already

  composed of people who had never been to Earth.

  6403

  Hera

  The Hera entered the Solis system and began its dancing maneuvers to reduce its

  speed. While the ship was calculating trajectories, it was simultaneously gathering

  information about the planets and the interior of the solar system.

  Are we invading? ... Are we … good? … Is there really a choice?