Futuristic What does [S P A C E] taste like? (Oats x GreySwan)

[Darth Oats]

At this point in human history, we have recognized that we are failing and the planet is deteriorating. Those living on the planet would be doomed if they remained much longer. So a project (Project Olympus) was funded to ensure the survival of the species by sending out intergalactic astronauts. Though, knowing they could not save everyone, the leaders of the project decided it would be best to send a collection of genetically engineered embryos. Each group of embryos would be nurtured and taken care of by 2 eligible scientists. These would be considered "Family Groups".

The plan was to send one ship filled with multiple family groups from all over the world. That way, resources could be entirely focused into one very efficient vessel, instead of trying to produce multiple of a possible lower quality. The logic being that one ship has a higher chance of travelling farther if it doesn't need to split resources. In the end, this was the only approved plan voted on between the nations. The project was protested world wide and as you can imagine, most of the world fell into chaos. The project was completed, in spite of this however, due to the majority of the production being handled by automation. A large human workforce wasn't necessary.

Once the vessel was launched into the blackness of space, communications between Mother Earth and the ship ended within weeks. No one knows exactly what happened to those left behind. After leaving Earth, the goal was initially to populate Mars. However, the leader of this expedition made the executive decision to bypass Mars once coming to the realization that it was a "dead planet". Mars was long past it's prime to be terraformed and landing there would simply be a death sentence.

There was a back up plan, though, Europa. A water and ice based moon that orbits Jupiter.

Those on-board the ship would begin rotating schedules of entering hyper sleep and tending to their "children". Many years went by. The scientists were able to preserve much of their youth from spending years in sleep depending their schedule. Unfortunately a mistake was made and a caretaker accidentally introduced the incorrect formula into each embryonic sack. This solution caused the embryos to begin the development process way too early. However, by the time it was recognized by the next sleep cycle, it was too late. They decided to deal with the problem and began eventually raising the children on the ship. It was equipped to do it for the most part, but the rations were not plentiful enough to last them as long as planned.

Terrano and Ceto have recently matured and begun learning how they will contribute to the future colony. However, there was a miscalculation in the ship's trajectory and it appears to have bypassed Europa altogether. Chaos is sure to ensue...

GreySwan

 

[Darth Oats]

"Hey." "HEY!" "Hellooooo?" "Tee." Terrano." "You listening to me?"

Terrano slowly turned to face one trying to get his attention. 'Why can't I just zone out in peace?', he thought. "What is it Nathan?" Nathan was Terrano's closest friend. Mostly because of how their beds are arranged, Nathan and Terrano just happened to be placed next to each other by their parents. Nathan was very sociable, a contrast to Terrano. So their friendship worked for the most part. Nathan would just talk and talk and talk, Terrano would simply listen along and let Nathan word-vomit whatever came to his mind. Nathan was a little annoying to most of the others as you can imagine, so Terrano became his only friend by default.

"Dude where'd you go? I thought I lost you for a second. Anyways, do you ever think about what has happened on Earth since the ship left?"

"No."

"Yeah, so have I an- Wait. What? No? How could you have never thought about this, either you're a liar or you aren't as smart as people think you are. Anyways, I have been a lot recently and I was thinking what if this whole ship idea was an overreaction? What if everyone is still alive there? A bunch of people have probably died by now, sure, but what if they stabilized the population? Would we ever go back to find out? I know we've only seen Earth through pictures and stuff, but I really wish I could see it in person. What about you? Do you want to go see Earth? That's a rhetorical question. O f course you want to see it. Everyone does. We've been taught so much about the planet's history and the history of humans, it impossible to not have some sort of desire to experience it for yourself. The Great Barrier Reef, The Great Wall of China, now that I'm thinking about it people really liked to used the word great. All I'm saying is once we settle here, I want to work on sending us back to Earth. Maybe we can pick up everyone who is still alive and bring them back with us if they really can't live there anymore."

"Do you ever take a breath?" Terrano's face looked quite stiff, but he couldn't completely hold back a small smile in response to Nathan's grand thinking. Deep down though, Terrano was sure everyone was dead back on Earth and travelling back would be a waste of effort an resources. But it was a nice thought and a sliver of hope for some to hold onto so he never went out of his way to discredit it. Though he never reinforced it either.

"Alright children!" Anne's voice cut through all conversation clear and calm. Anne was their mother. A slender woman with soft brown hair they got lighter the closer you got to the ends. She had dark blue eyes that could captivate you in a trace if she ever got close. She was a good mother, Terrano couldn't think of a time when any of his family members disliked her. As an environmentalist, Terrano assumed it must have made her empathetic and thoughtful. She continued, "It's time for class everyone, gather your things and lets go. We don't want to be late!" Usually Elias, their father, is here to take them to class as well, but he was absent. Terrano wondered where he was. He figured he would show up eventually, probably to pick them up after class.
__________

The day went by as usual, nothing particularly interesting happened in his classes. Elias, sure enough, was there to get him afterwards but this time there was no Anne. Terrano guessed they would now be splitting the escort duty to give the other more time to do other things or rest. The adults on the ship were recently starting to take more time in their cryo chambers. Preserving their age and energy was extremely important to smooth operations on the ship. The children getting older must be taking a troll on them, Terrano deduced. He wished it wasn't this way, but he accepted it as it is.

Most often after classes, Terrano would eat a meal and then go find a group to exercise with in the gravity gym. Today though, he was feeling more exhausted than usual and decided he would go to the music room instead. Music tended to help him relax and take any weight off his shoulders. After eating with Nathan and absorbing another earful, Terrano waved to his friend and let him know that he'd like some alone time to listen to music. Luckily Nathan wasn't too pushy as to not respect Terrano's wishes and nodded in affirmation.

Terrano checked his projection map regularly to make sure he was going in the right direction. The ship was so large, understandably, that it was relatively easy to get lost. Eventually he got there and saw he wasn't alone in his desire for music today. There were only a few computers left available so Terrano walked straight to the closest one. After sitting down, Terrano put on his headphones and began searching through the music library. There was everything from African tribal songs to contemporary Russian ballads. He quickly realized he wasn't in the mood for his usual choice in genre, so he began searching for something new. Finding his way, eventually, to the classical section he began clicking on random songs until he found one he liked. After listening to a few songs, Terrano found a separate folder within the genre. One that was apparently made by a colonist. The folder name was untitled and it was filled with untitled songs. Terrano couldn't help it, but his curiosity was now spurred. Starting from the top, he began listening to each and every song.

He couldn't quite put his finger on why exactly, but with each passing song he found himself falling more and more in love with this composer. There was so many people on the ship though, Terrano figured he would never learn who the artist was.

 

[GreySwan]

Ceto had never thought too much about Earth growing up, to be honest. Even though their history lessons were concerned with its formation, its explosion of life, its history starting back to caves and spanning to high rise buildings in the clouds were all centred around that distant planet, it might as well have been a fairy tale to her. She could not imagine a life outside these metal walls, or a sky that was not one dark blanket poked with shining pinpoints of the light of even more distant stars. If there was a planet she thought of it, was the moon Europa. Their future home. One day she would stand on that, tame it, call it her home. She imagined that would never happen with Earth. Why bother herself with it? She had her studies to focus on.

Lately, however, she found her mind wandering to the strangest places. It had been the lesson on music that had done it. It had just been another culture lesson, showing them the things humans back on Earth did and enjoyed. It had been footage of a vast room all full of gold and carved wood, nothing like what was on the Olympus. And the music they played... It was so far from the simple tunes they’d been played as children. It was rich, complex, a hundred voices in one amazing piece... She had been so amazed she had not wanted it to end. Ever since then, learning the data management software that would make up the rest of her life had been far harder than usual. Not when she had an idea in her head that seemed more important.

It had also been harder to pay attention on conversations. Usually Ceto was the leader in any conversation at the dinner table with the siblings she was closest with. But tonight, she was working on a new song. So tonight she found herself at a far table mostly stirring her reconstituted potatoes and soy cutlet around in the brown sauce that was usually her favourite while her sisters were across the room and a million miles away. She was not trying to be rude but they had grown tired of her daydreaming at breakfast and lunch. She couldn’t help it, it seemed. Her mind always just went to the music, evolving it into new notes and stanzas and pieces... And her tablet didn’t have the composer program that the main terminals in the music room did. So she just had to try to make notes and remember and she couldn’t do that with everyone talking...

“Ceto? Is everything alright? Usually we don’t allow tablets during meal time.”

The girl sighed and looked up to her father’s face, set in its usual smile that grew trying when he wore it all the time. Park Cheon was not a tall man, and to her always seemed more paternal than scientist even though apparently he had been some top statistician on Earth. “I’m sorry. I’m just... Working on a project.”

“Oh, anything you want to share?”

“It’s not done yet. And it’s... Just a hobby.”

“It’s alright to have hobbies. Just... Make time for your school work, too? I’ve noticed some of your assignments lately have been... Not to your usual standard.”

“I know, sorry. I’ve been tired.” Honestly her father looked tired as well. All the adults had recently... She didn’t want him to worry. Even if she grew frustrated at times, she knew they were all doing their best. And as silly as it was considering what she knew of real Earth families... She was pretty sure they loved all of them anyway. “I’ll try harder, I promise. Can I be excused?”

“Good, thank you, Ceto. And finish your soy. Protein is important.”

She withheld her sigh until he left. They meant well. But she was sick of soy... All the same she got the last few bites down, and politely told her sisters she was passing on movie night tonight despite the look they gave her. It took all of her not to run to the music room. But of course she did not. Running in the corridors was against the rules. She knew the way by heart; she had a good memory.

It seemed like she should have walked a bit faster, because almost all the computers were taken. She only saw one free... And there were lots of other people around. Playing with her braid nervously, she nonetheless approached one and slipped on the headphones. She’d waited all day, she couldn’t just retreat now. Besides... They were allowed to make music! Otherwise why have the program?

She sighed a bit impatiently waiting for it to boot up, but immediately was manoeuvring the screen to the instruments section. The violins, the drums... The piano, which may have been her favourite. An orchestra in a box... The only kind she would ever know. Sounds based on ones musicians thousands and thousands of miles away had made years and years ago... It was a bit eerie when she thought about it too long. She tried not to.

Attempting to open up one of her last compositions to correct the ending ever so sightly, she frowned when faced with an error message. File Already Open in Another Terminal. Who could possibly be opening her songs...? She’d hidden them deep in the file system! She’d named them untitled so people might think they were test subjects. She’d taken the care to blank her username from them, which technically wasn’t allowed but with her training on software for her career... The thought that someone might be listening to this, to her deepest secret... Her only secret. It filled her with a bit of anxiety.

 

[Darth Oats]

Reaching the end of this untitled song list was bittersweet. Terrano couldn't help but feel like he longed for more. However, there was nothing he could do now. There weren't anymore songs in the folder. Terrano began to have the sinking suspicion that they were just sample songs. Demos, pre-recorded on the system to just make sure it worked. But they couldn't be computer generated, no. They had too much soul. Too much emotion in them. Terrano had never felt this way about a piece of art. Anything really. This feeling was as foreign to him as living anywhere outside of the ship. He settled with making a copy of the folder and keeping it on his user profile so he could find them easier next time he wanted to come listen to them.

A blinking light appeared, indicating his time on the computer was ending soon. He needed to make room for anyone else who might want to use it as well. With a soft sigh, Terrano stood and logged off. He sent a quick glance around the room before spinning on his heel and heading back out into the dimly lit hall.

A message came across his wrist module and he opened it curiously. It was from Dad; a voice message. "Terrano... Your brother is missing... again. Please do us a favor and find him. Your mother is worried sick. I knew you were closest with him, so I figured you'd know where to look. Please message me back if you need help or if any complications come up! Thank you, love Dad."

Terrano groaned as the clicked off the message. "Great...." Involuntarily rolling his eyes, Terrano turned off from his path towards home and set out to look for Nathan.