Last Flight from Earth

By Shahzad Rizvi

Jemima is one of the last people evacuated from Earth before its final ecological catastrophe. As she attempts to adapt to life in a refugee colony on Mars, and finds herself falling for a Martian, she faces hard questions. How can she remain faithful to her past, while embracing the challenges and opportunities of her new life in a different world? How to manage an intercultural, interstellar romance? A classic immigrant's tale, with a fresh interplanetary twist.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shahzad Rizvi
• Release date: Apr 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476420325

Shahzad Rizvi

Shahzad Rizvi was born and raised in a princely state in India. He now lives and works in the Washington area with his family. He enjoys travel, reading, and learning languages, but his greatest passion is storytelling.

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LAST FLIGHT FROM EARTH

A novella by

Shahzad A. Rizvi

Published by Shahzad Rizvi at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 by Shahzad Rizvi

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

For Becky—

anywhere, everywhere, always

Last Flight from Earth

Unlike the crafts of previous eras, that spewed huge flames like ferocious dragons upon takeoff, this vehicle took off silently, with great ease. Gravitational forces were so controlled and modulated within the craft that Jemima did not feel even a tiny tug towards the Earth. What Earth? It was all water, as far as the eye could see from space.

The Commander was already calling for the passengers to prepare for the nine-month hibernation customary during the long voyage. Jemima had conflicting feelings about hibernating during the trip. On the one hand, she wanted to be put to the long sleep to escape months of misery and ennui, but on the other, she wanted to stay conscious, so that she could take a long last look at where she and her ancestors and other fellow humans—Humanoids in modern space terms—had lived for thousands of years.

It’s not that it happened overnight. For generations, there had been dire warnings of global warming, glaciers melting, and water levels rising. But as is so often the case, heeding these warnings and solving the problem was put off for subsequent generations. And then one night the Humanoids were awakened from sleep with the warning—a rather too late warning—that water as high as the highest mountain was moving from the oceans, all the oceans, towards the dry land of the Earth. The worldwide tsunami covered the Earth’s surface.

Everyone in her family, in her community, in her city, had died, but somehow she had lived. It was a mystery to her. She was rescued and brought in a hurry to the last launching station, built on the Rockies. There was just a handful of Humanoids left to board and leave the Earth; there had been no time to lose.

She turned on her tear absorbent and looked down for the very last time, mourning. She imagined her lost parents, her siblings, and, of course, Imran. Though they had only recently met, they’d felt such a strong and immediate affinity that she’d begun to wonder if he was destined to be the love of her life. They were all there, underneath that blue, left behind, but their memories, indelible on her heart, were going on with her to the next place, where the craft was seeking refuge for its small band of Humanoid survivors.

To distract herself, she asked the craft’s commander if she could sit in his place so he could show her what buttons he pushed to drive the vehicle. The commander laughed and said, Young person, no one is driving this baby. It’s driving itself. I talked to it before departure and gave it all the instructions, twice, just to be sure, and it’s doing its stuff. Isn’t that right, Marsy?

Marsy responded in a puzzled tone, You’re correct, Commander. But why do you need me to confirm it? Doesn’t the young female Humanoid believe you?

Jemima said, Of course I believe him. The commander just wanted to demonstrate to me that he and you work together.

Of course we work together; we’re a team. Besides, he trusts me more than a Humanoid because I don’t get on power trips, suffer from envy or jealousy, or engage in one-upsmanship. My relationship with him is perfectly pure and practical.

By the way, continued the craft, We have a visitor. It’s flashing a light of danger; it doesn’t look good. May I connect you to it and turn on the lingoconverter?

Yes, please, Marsy.

Outside, next to the craft, hovered a disc-like object, about the size of a 20th century car, emitting a strong, dazzling red light from its surface. Inside, seated, was a Starloid. Its voice came as if it had passed through several lingoconverters before reaching them in English. May I ask where you’re headed?

Mars, the commander answered, confidently and cheerfully.

That sounds right according to the plan you disseminated, but you’re totally off course. If you continue in this way, you’re never going to make it to Mars. You’re going to end up in a Black Hole or you will collide against a meteor, break into pieces, and litter space with more garbage. As it is, the whole area is full of abandoned space stations and defunct satellites.

The commander barked, You should be ashamed of yourself, Marsy. I rely on you for navigation on such an important journey and you disappoint me.

Marsy said, I’m not capable of experiencing such an emotion as shame. You know I always like to ‘appoint,’ not disappoint, you, Commander. As we speak, my colleague, Supercomputer Z, is telling me softly in my audio receiving cavity that the problem arose because we were not expecting that the cataclysmic changes on Earth and the disappearance of its entire land surface would cause such drastic changes in its magnetic field. These have had serious consequences for the accuracy of our instruments.

The Starloid police officer said: I accept that explanation totally. Are you capable of correcting course? Also, can you increase your speed? You're traveling at the lower end of the space traffic spectrum.

Marsy responded before the commander had a chance to speak. Yes, Starloid officer, we will regroup, readjust, and revise everything under the changed conditions and new information provided by you.

The Starloid officer said cheerfully, Break a sprocket, and moved away in search of other stragglers in space.

Jemima stood by the window and watched the scene as they hurtled through space at tremendous speed. The view was breathtaking. From this distance, Earth looked like no more than just another little planet. In the distance, some kind of explosion was going on; perhaps it was a new Big Bang, giving shape to yet another universe. Meteors were flying around, but luckily none were close to them. Lights blinked all around, as if they were traveling through a tunnel full of lightning bugs. It was all surreal and dreamlike. She would have experienced it differently and enjoyed it more, had she not been in her present frame of mind. She couldn’t believe that she didn’t have a single memento of her parents. Then she remembered: she touched her neck, and felt the pendant her mom had given her as she was leaving for the Education Embellisher. It was some comfort, but by no means enough.

Jemima turned from the window. As she went in, she saw a robot sitting in the Command Center. She walked up to it and said, Hi, I’m Jemima.

The