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Our journey to a strange planet
The best way to introduce these notes from our journey is to
report Great Leader Cottaft's speech to us. On the day before we
left Earth he called us all together and said:
"Tomorrow, the Globe will go out. Tomorrow, the science and
skill of Earth will win a victory over nature. There were other
races on Earth before ours, but they could not control nature so
they died as conditions changed. We have become stronger, and we
have solved problem after problem. And now we must solve the most
difficult problem of all. Earth, our world, is old and nearly dead.
The end is near, and we must find a new home and make sure our race
survives.
"Tomorrow the Globe will set out to search the heavens in
every direction. Each one of you holds the whole history, art,
science, and skill of Earth. Use this knowledge to help others.
Learn from others, and add to Earth's knowledge, if you can. If you
do not use your knowledge and add to it, there will be no future for
our race.
"And if we are the only intelligent life in the universe, then
you are responsible not only for our race, but for all intelligent
life that may develop.
"Go out into the universe, then. Go and be wise, kind, and
truthful. Go in peace. Our prayers go with you."
After the meeting I looked again through the telescope at the
planet to which our Globe is being sent. It is a planet, which is
neither too young nor too old. It shines like a blue pearl because
so much of it is covered with water. I am glad we are going to the
blue planet; the other Globes are being sent to worlds that do not
look so inviting.
I am full of hope. I no longer have any fear. I shall go into
the Globe tomorrow, and the gas will put me to sleep. When I will
wake again, it will be in our shining new world. If I do not wake,
something will have gone wrong, but I shall never know.
It is all very simple really - if we trust in God.
This evening I went down to look at the Globes for the last
time before we board them. They are amazing! Our scientists have
achieved the impossible. They are the largest things ever built.
They are so heavy that they look more likely to sink into the
surface of Earth than to fly off into the space. It is hard to
believe that we have built thirty of these metal mountains. But
there they stand, ready for tomorrow.
Some of them will be lost. Oh, God, if ours survives, I hope
that we can meet the challenges and satisfy the trust place in us.
These may be the last words I shall ever write. If I do write
again, it will be in a new world under a strange sky.
I have just woken up. Has it happened, or have we failed to
start? I cannot tell. Was it an hour ago that we entered the Globe?
Or was it a day, or a year, or a century? It cannot have been an
hour ago. I am sure of that, because my body is tired and aching.
However, it seems only a short time ago that we climbed the long
passage into the Globe |