FIVE

EVIE

"Dad," I said. "You were so swoon-worthy, the way Mom described you. "Thomas was Dad," I sighed. "And Old Earth… the people there must have been so desperate to leave their planet to go off to space without knowing what would happen out there."

JANA

There was a collective sigh of relief as the officers and crew on deck unbuckled themselves and began moving around. Dr. Herbert came towards me and Thomas. "Sir, that was a perfect launch, if anything," he said to Thomas. "I've been on all the test launches, and none had gone as smoothly as this."

"Thank you, Dr. Herbert," Thomas said, breaking out into a grin. "Well, let's just say it's beginner's luck."

Dr. Herbert's eyebrows shot up in exclamation.

Thomas patted Dr. Herbert's shoulders and said, "Nah, I had one test flight beforehand. Now, can you show Jana her room and then the Engineer's department? I understand you worked with her predecessor?"

"Yes, of course," Dr. Herbert said, taking my suitcase to help lead the way.

"No, that's okay," I said, reaching for the handle of my rolling suitcase. "I can take my own luggage." I was after all, raised to respect the elder, and Dr. Herbert was a good thirty years older than me. He was old enough to be my father.

"Nonsense," Dr. Herbert said. "I may look older but I'm as strong as an ox."

I looked him over. He did walk as sprightly as a man half his age.

"Before I signed up for this team," Dr. Herbert said, "I had a physical, and it showed that I'm in great shape." He did a jump in the air, showing he was flexible and still coordinated. I laughed.

"You could give Michael Jordan, the famous basketball player, a run," I said.

"Speaking of basketball," Dr. Herbert said, "We have a nice gym with a basketball court. Every crew member and officer is required to join a team."

"Why?" I asked.

"To keep in shape, to provide entertainment for the passengers," Dr. Herbert said. "To keep up morale. It's important to build community. And for team-building amongst us."

I nodded. "I understand. After all, we're going to get to know each other pretty well on this ship for the next three years and after when we end up building the first colonies in the new world."

"Exactly," Dr. Herbert said. He walked through a few more hallways and then to a quiet corridor that resembled a modern hip hotel's hallway. "And this," he said, "Is our quarters. The Officers' Quarters."

He stopped in front of a door with the number Seven on it. Taking out a card from his pocket, he swiped across the door. "I hope you like purple," he said.

I groaned. "Really? Purple?"

He opened the door and said, "Welcome to Jana's Castle!"

I looked inside and grinned. "This isn't so bad." The purple Dr. Herbert was talking about was an interchangeable light color scheme that I could switch out to another room color easily. I stepped inside and was immediately transported into a resort oasis on a beach with sparkling blue water, white sand, and palm trees. "Not bad at all," I said.

"So that's where you'd like to be," Dr. Herbert said. "The room has a mood and setting mind reader device that instantly adjusts to the setting you'd like to be."

"Cool," I said. "A smart room."

"That it is," Dr. Herbert said.

I walked outside of the bungalow-type house to the white sand of the beach. The sand was fine like dust underneath my boots. "This feels so real," I said.

"The room is very smart," Dr. Herbert said. "It adjusts to the very minute details that makes your setting appear real. So real, even your mind might get fool to think you really have visited Bora Bora or someplace you've dreamt of going."

"Wow," I said. "How many settings does this room have?"

"All the rooms on board Red Genesis have almost a million settings," Dr. Herbert said. "And, my dear Jana," he smiled, reaching into his pocket to pull out a pendant. "In here, there is a database of the settings and more." He handed the pendant to me. "You're now in charge of this database. Along with the ones you will find in the next room I will show you. As the Engineer of Red Genesis, you will be in charge of maintaining the database no matter what happens."

"Sure," I said. "I know all the systems and protocols."

"Then you will be able to build the right environment to house the database when we get to New Earth," Dr. Herbert said. "You're an architect as well."

"Yes," I said. "I know how to build a structure that would protect the database as best I can."

"Good," Dr. Herbert said. He looked around at the beach, the palm trees, the blue sparkling water." He sighed, "I miss Earth already. I'm glad you have this picturesque setting of Earth in your memory. Someday it may be the only setting linking us back to Earth."

The more I gaze at the waves and calmness of the beach setting, the more I could see the pixels and fabric of the fa?ade against the walls of my room.

New Earth was known to be barren, dry like a desert with no beaches, palm trees, and gentle breezes.

The atmosphere on New Earth was harsh and almost inhabitable thus my job as the Engineer would be to help create an underground colony for our human population to live.

"I'm going to miss Earth, too," I said. "But it's better than having the entire human race face extinction."