Survivors

by Alex Isaacs

  TIMELINE: Space

  Alex Isaacs

  Prologue

  As I look out from the control room of our space vehicle, I see the vast expanse of space along with two of our main vehicles that I follow from the fleet. The fleet consists of the two main CSV’s for carrying people, the FSV, which finds and produces all our fuel and the PSV’s, which we use to gather materials and transport materials to the planets. We have spent 48 hours filling fuel tanks on each vehicle before leaving the asteroid belt in our solar system. Joe, one of our scientists, request us to find several small asteroids that will fit in the vehicle landing bays in case we need to refuel in flight between asteroid belts or nebula.

  Simon, along with the scientists, has plotted our course across the universe. We will need to make sure that the flight takes us close to a nebula or another asteroid belt so we can manufacture the fuel for our fleet. Without fuel, we will go nowhere in the universe.

  Maggie, my co-pilot, is looking at the direction we are heading. She, and all the other pilots that are taking the astronomy course, wonder where we are heading. We begin to exit our galaxy; it is like a speck of dust in a larger galaxy in this part of the universe.

  I think back in time, did I make the correct decision to take this second scholarship for my computer programming course. I know my decisions have always been sound; my parents have taught me well.

  I know more of what is happening on Earth as we leave it behind. I am happy for my other friends; they might have a fighting chance with what is going on to survive. I know they have made it to the valley where this journey began for me. They have protection, more than what they had before this mess started. If I come back this way, I will look to see how they are doing.

  I wonder if they will survive? I wonder if we will survive? Do they have a better chance than we do right now? Heading out into the unknown universe, we have to find fuel, water, and a new place to live so we can survive. How long will it take us to find a safe place? Will there be a safe place for us to call home?

  My name is Alex; I should go back to the beginning of my story so you can see how I got to this

  one point in time.

  Chapter 1: The Beginning

  It all began as I was about to graduate high school; I was looking to go to some university for the computer programming course that I was interested in doing. I was at a party at my friend’s house, playing a game on my phone when an app came up for finding out what your IQ was. I would give it a try, and after finishing it after a couple of minutes, it asked if I wanted to know my IQ. I pushed the yes button, and it asked me for my email, and after putting it in, it asked for my credit card information to pay to see the results. I laughed and switched it off; it looked like another one of those scams. I went back to playing my game and then decided to party some more with my friends.

  As I got ready for my final exams, I received an email from this woman named Janet, she said she was recruiting for this university in California, and asked if I was interested in receiving a scholarship. I could email her back with my phone number and state what course I was interested in taking, and they would pay my way there and back home to see the university and talk with them. At first, I thought it was kind of funny that they would contact me. I had not applied to any universities in California; it was on the west coast. If I wanted to get into a university in the States, I would apply nearer to my home in Ontario. I thought it did not cost me anything to go and see if I could get a scholarship, and I could see part of California. This scholarship might be better than the ones that I was looking at now. I sent Janet my home phone number and that I was interested in taking a computer programming course. It did not take long for me to get a reply, I could get a full scholarship, and they wished to talk with my parents and me on the phone if that was alright and what time could they call. I emailed Janet back and said yes, they could call us on the phone right now, and everyone was at home. As I went to tell my parents about it, the phone rang. Janet introduced herself to my mother and then asked to speak to me. Janet asked me if I wanted to come out to see the university, they would pay for my round-trip and my accommodations for the week as she had stated earlier.

  I asked Janet to hold on as I told my parents what was going on. My mom was hesitant, but my dad said yes, go and see the university, they are paying for everything, it will give you a nice graduation present for yourself. My mother shook her head in agreement, and I got back on the phone with Janet and told her yes, I would like to come and see the university. Janet asked if I had the proper identification. I needed to show it to them when I arrived. Janet then asked me what date I would be available to come to California. I looked at the calendar and said I was done my exams on the last Monday in June. Janet asked if I did not mind if she put me on hold, and when I said yes, she was gone. After a couple of minutes, Janet came back on the line and told me that they had booked me on a flight on a Tuesday, the day after my exams. Janet then said she was sending me a copy of my ticket in another email, and if I had any other questions, to email her back, I said okay, and she said goodbye.

  As I got off the phone, I checked my email and saw that she had just sent me my ticket. I had to print them off, and I was ready to go on the flight. I went and quickly printed them off and showed my parents the tickets, they were first-class tickets, and I could check in ahead of time and have my seat selected for me. I was now excited to be able to go to see the university and the courses, my mother told me to settle down, I still had my final exams to do first, and I had better keep my grades high, or they may reject me. I handed the tickets to my mom to hold on for me; that way, they would not be lost, and I could concentrate on my school work. I tried my best to study, but my mind was on going to university now. I was lucky my first exam was in mathematics. I did not have to study for it; it was my top class in school, which I excelled. As I began to settle down after my first exam, I knew I had to put the trip out of my mind, geography, and history were my next big tests, and I was only in the high eighties for those classes. I do not know why I worried; my teacher told me that if I missed the exams, I had already passed the courses, the exams made up only ten more percent of my final mark in each class. My last exam was in the computer class, and the teacher loved to throw fake questions in on the tests, he did not like giving out high marks to anyone.

  As I finished the computer classes exam, I walked out and felt pretty good about myself. I ran into a couple of my friends at the store outside the school; they were buying a lottery ticket that had a prize that was over fifty million dollars. I would buy one just like them today, and they saw me buying the ticket and asked me if I wanted to come to a party tonight. I said I had better check to see what time I was leaving in the morning, and I told them I am going on a flight to go and see a university in California, I could be getting a full scholarship. They just looked at me and said that I did not want to party with them. I told them I would call them when I got home, and I needed to find out the time first.

  When I got home, my mom was waiting at the door as I came up the driveway. She did not even have to ask how I did on my exam; she could see that I felt good about it. She went and got the tickets out for me and told me she had put a suitcase out in my bedroom, along with some clothes for me to take. I looked at the clothes and brought out some shorts and t-shirts. I was not going to walk around in my suit and dress clothes all week. I came back into the kitchen and asked my mom if I could go out with the guys for some fun; my plane did not leave until ten in the morning. My mom said we still have to drive to the airport, which is a couple of hours away. My mom said I could stay out until ten-thirty, and I needed to get my sleep. We needed to be there a couple of hours before the flight to check-in, so we had to leave just after five in the morning. I looked
at the ticket and saw how long the flight was, if I was tired, I could sleep on the plane. I called the guys and said I would be at the party with them for a couple of hours. I handed my mom the lottery ticket, she told me to sign it, and when I handed it back to her, she put it onto the fridge. My dad drove me in, saying he knew I might have a couple of drinks with the guys, being the last day of high school. He gave me some money for me to have some fun and told me not to tell my mother, and I was not to get drunk.

  At ten, my mom called me on my cell phone and asked where I was; my dad was coming in to pick me up. I told my mom we were at Billy’s house, and I would come out when he got there. I had another beer and sat near the front window. I kept looking out the window for him. I was getting excited about going to university. My dad finally showed up, and I said I would see them in a week when I got back. I left the party, and we headed home.

  In the morning, I woke up early and had a shower and went down for breakfast. I said goodbye to my mother and my two younger brothers, and I left for the airport with my dad. It was busy when we got there, my dad gave me some more money and told me to behave myself, but to have some fun as well. My dad told me that if it did not work out, they would help me to look at another college or university. I grabbed my bag and ticket and headed off into the terminal to find my flight. It was the first time for me being in an airport, and I did not know where I was going. I stopped by a security guard and showed him my ticket and asked where I was to go. He pointed towards the gate, telling me it was over there, and he said I was early; I could have a seat where the other people were sitting until they called my flight for boarding. I got there and kept checking my ticket to make sure I knew what the flight number was, so when they called it out, and I knew to get up and go to check-in.

  Finally, they announced my flight number, I got up and looked to make sure of it, and I went up to the desk. The lady looked at my ticket and took my bag and pointed to where I was to go through and said to have a good flight. I walked fast as I headed into the back towards the gate. I showed the next lady my ticket, and I have led right onto the plane ahead of the others, I guess this was because my seat was in the first-class section. It was a nice plane, the first one I had been on, and as I sat and waited for the others to get on it, I got bored. I brought out my phone and put in my earplugs to play some music, but I was stopped and told not to use my phone until we were in the air, the stewardess handed me a magazine to read until we were ready to take off. I decided to try and get some sleep instead, but I was woken up by the stewardess as we were pulling out to the terminal. They went through some safety things and where the exits were and some other stuff, I got bored and looked out the window to watch us take off.

  The stewardess asked me if I wanted a drink and some breakfast, I politely said no, I had already eaten at home, they then asked me if I wanted anything else, I did not know what else I could have, so I said no thank you, I was fine. I was left alone until we were approaching our destination. I got instructed to put my seat up and my seatbelt on, we were about to land. As we landed, the stewardesses informed us all to make sure we had all our belongings and to get ready to exit the plane, the section I was in would be the first to leave the plane. As the plane finally stopped, I waited and watched the stewardess to motion for us to get up and leave. When she did, I got up and followed the people in front of me, keeping right with them as I did not know where to go. I was lucky, the people I was following moved very fast, but when we got to where our luggage was to come out, we had to wait a few minutes for it to come out. I stood a few feet behind them and watched them as they retrieved their luggage, and I was glad I stayed close, the people began to shove to get in front of the others to get their bags and leave. I saw my bag coming, and as I tried to reach for it, I got pushed to the side, and it went by me. I moved down the line and was able to grab it as there were fewer people here. I looked up, and I started to follow the line of people going to exit the terminal.

  I had to show my papers and answer a couple of questions before I was allowed to leave, and as I got out, I saw some people holding up signs with names on them. I looked around and saw this guy holding up a sign with my name on it, beside him was a young woman, who I hoped was Janet. As I approached them, she put out her hand, introducing herself; it was Janet, she asked if I was Alex, I said yes. She was very nice looking, and as I stared at her, she turned and said that this was Scott, he is the guy I would be staying with at the university. We waited for one more person that was coming in on the next flight. Janet went off to check on a couple of things, leaving Scott with me. Scott began asking me questions about some different television shows; I told him what I thought of them, then he asked me if I had a chance to prepare for the worse would I be interested in a group that would do this. I said I might be interested in doing something like that, but I have not heard of anyone wanting to do that.

  We met the next fellow coming in; then, we headed to the dorms. Scott showed us to the room, telling us he would be back shortly. We had some meetings, did some tests, and talked with some other people. The questions were interesting; we were to give our input for everything. Later we went for dinner, then to bed. I got an email from my parents; there was another phone call just after they got home from dropping me off, it was another university offering me a chance at a scholarship. I left the room to be alone to call the number given. It was for the same course here that I was applying for; they wanted to know if I would come down to talk with them, they would pay my way. I told them I would call them back after talking with my parents about coming down to see them. They said to call on this same number; they were impressed with my IQ scores. I asked them how they got my scores? They said I did a test a few days ago online, a lot of the universities use the same tests and share the information.

  I went back to the room to work on the questions for tomorrow; I hope I would find out about the scholarship at this university. I liked the area. The next morning, I met Scott, he took us all to breakfast and the next set of meetings. In the afternoon, I found out I would get the scholarship after talking with some members in another committee. I met with the committee, talking about what they had plans for, the scholarship was not with the university. We talked about raising money, Scott said he has a friend that could help get the money using a gadget on slot machines. I suggested that we go to look at the machines to see how things look to see if this idea will work.

  Scott, Janet, and I drove to a casino that was not that far away. We looked around at the machines. I decided to try my luck with one of the big machines. All of a sudden, the lights and bells went off on the machine I was playing. I saw the total on the machine; it was over a million dollars. I looked around for Scott and Janet, but they disappeared from view. I did the paperwork, had my picture taken for the local paper. I would get the rest of the money put into my account after the paperwork went through. I found the two outside the casino waiting for me, Janet was shaking her head. We got back to the university, where I found out that I would no longer be getting the scholarship, the group wanted to be low-key, my winning the money took my chance away at that. Scott said he would get my ticket ready for me to return home. I told him to hold on while I packed my bag. I made a call to the other university; they said they would be looking for me when I sent them the flight information.

  I got Scott to get my flight to the next university; I could catch a plane in thirty minutes. I called the other university back, letting them know my flight information and the possible time of arrival. Scott asked if we could still be friends; he thought a lot of my ideas are great for the group's idea. I told him yes, as long as he did not get into trouble from the other members. I caught the flight out, heading to the next meeting for a chance at another scholarship.

  It was late when my flight got in; I landed in Florida and was met by a young guy who took me to sleep in a dorm for the night. I woke up in the morning, and I messaged my parents to let them know where I was. They thanked me for le
tting them know, and they were sorry the first university did not work out. I then read the letter from my package; then, I rushed to eat so I could get to the meeting. I got into the meeting; there were a lot of people standing listening to hear their names. I heard them call out Ann B. Urbina. I watched as she moved down to show her paperwork to a gentleman, then get directed out of the room. About two minutes later, I heard Alex M. Isaacs. I stood up, moving quickly to the gentleman that directed the people. He checked my paperwork, then gave me directions to a room; it was for the computer programmers.

  I got into the room; there had to be fifteen people in here to get the scholarship. I looked around, seeing an open seat, it was beside Ann, the girl I saw earlier. I asked if I could sit down here, she looked at me funny, saying yes, then asked where I was from because of my accent. I said I do not have an accent, she smiled, saying I do down here. After twenty minutes went by, the door closed for us to begin. They called out our names once more to make sure that everyone was here. They now began the meeting. I found out that these five scholarships were not the universities, Simon Hawthorne, the billionaire, is looking for five people for his program. I looked at Ann; she smiled, saying she should get one, her parents work with him already.

  They gave us another IQ test to do; they want to make sure of our score from before. We moved apart to do the test; it was almost the same as the one I did online. I worked my way through it, looking at Ann as I finished doing my test. She was sitting there smiling; she finished her test. The papers were collected, then we could go for coffee. They told us to be back in an hour. I stood up, looking around, some people were in groups, I assume they knew each other. I followed along behind them all to the cafeteria. I grabbed a bottle of water, then found a table to sit down. I noticed that Ann took her drink, then left the cafeteria.