Waiting (Part 2)

Part 2:

"We are all going to die and no one will ever know a thing. We have had to live with this fact for four years while we all wait for our resources to run out. There is nothing heroic about this.”

“Why did you do this?” he asked me. “I mean, how did you ever end up as part of this?”

I was kind of thrown back, unsure how to respond. It was a question I often wondered to myself. “Well,” I started. “I grew up just wanting to be more than just an average person. Seeing simple my family was disgusted me. We are only given one life to prove ourselves and I didn’t want to fall short or blend in. I didn’t have much financial support but using loans and other methods I managed to get my masters in Engineering. I worked for a bit doing work with a team put together to design aircraft's. My main goal was to be an emblem of the world but everything seemed the same no matter what position my masters took me. This opportunity came up and I thought it might be my chance to escape the torture of earth. I was in search of my utopia; something better than what we left behind.”

“We are all searching for something it seems.” He responded.

I nodded, trying to escape the torture of what the last bit of life consisted of. My ambitions had led me into a requiem of prolonged agony. I already knew pretty much every single aspect of Luke’s life already after the four years of being trapped inside of the ship, so communication has become minimal. I knew nearly every single aspect of all of their lives, Luke, Stephanie, Shane, and Violet.

Of course they sent us with an uneven sex ratio. They didn’t think about the fact that we may have to live out the last of our lives on this ship. Violet was the one that seemed to attract my attention the most. She was passive, never looked for trouble, the innocent girl but determined. Her attitude towards life was extremely capturing. I ruined my chance with her and I’ve been punished by being the only person not getting any love from anyone. I had to sit in the small constraints of the four rooms that compose the cockpit of the ship and listen to everyone living out the rest of their lives while they express their carefree passions. Luke was with Stephanie. All he did was talk about how much he missed his wife with her and she still stuck with him. It doesn’t make sense how I could have been the odd one out, my competition didn’t seem threatening when things first started. Not to mention that I was the only one to enter this mission not already married. I should have had first pick.

“My family is going to be so proud of me,” said Luke while taking off from earth when we were in a peak of excitement. We were all seated up like we were going on a rollercoaster ride. It was definitely necessary for all the precaution. It was worse than being stuck to the wall of a gravatron spinning ride at the fair, except you don't get that spinning sickness feeling. It was exhilarating seeing the world turn into nothing more than a speck of existence. That’s all it was, a speck of existence, a small speck of inhabitable space within the entire universe. The planet our mission was to reach was called A48RMO. Retarded name I know but it was put together as a map of its location to help locate it's position from earth.

Waiting

This is the introduction I created to a novel idea I have been thinking of. This story is titled, "Waiting." There are five characters, all highly trained professionals who were sent on a government mission to seek out a new planet suitable for humans. When things go wrong they end up drifting through space with no knowledge of where they are, no communication with earth, and all they have left is the time before their last bit of oxygen runs out.

I am thinking of writing this in "serial form," meaning that I will post updated sections until basically the entire novel is posted. So, if you're interested than keep up with my postings!

PART 1:

I sat nestled against the cold hard metal panel of the far back wall looking out of the small round five inch thick window that looked out into an endless darkness. The five of us had become intimate with each other, for the most part. The years spent drifting endlessly through space have seemed to bring us into some intimate conversations and strong bonds. The only problem is that the remaining aspects of our lives will be spent with no contact to the outside world while we all wait to die.

“Brant, are you okay man?” asked Luke. He was against the opposite wall, positioning himself by holding some pipes. “You look down.”

“Down wouldn't be the word to describe it," I said shaking my head at his apathetic attempt. “Don't you care that you are never going to see your family ever again!? We are floating in an endless deathtrap with this ship being our only means of life. We've been surviving in here for almost four years, time is running out. What happens when our last supply of oxygen runs out or our little packs of nutrient gel?”

He cut me off before my rant could go on any further, “You can't think about the bad things. Everyone is aware of what's going to happen and it sucks, but at least we have each other. I have a daughter who was three when I left, a beautiful wife, accepting the situation is the only thing that gets me through this.”

“And it doesn't bother you that your wife has probably already presumed you dead and moved on? Your daughter probably has no idea of your existence.”

He looked down, I could tell that I stirred some emotions but it was hard to care. We were all here in the same situation.

“She knows who I am you fuck! She knows that Daddy is an astronaut. Before we were cut off from communication we were heroes, we changed the face of humanity, we are experiencing something that no man ever has.” He tried desperately to turn our situation into something positive.

“We are a government experiment gone wrong. We are all going to die and no one will ever know a thing. We have had to live with this fact for four years while we all wait for our resources to run out. There is nothing heroic about this.

Ubuntu Linux

This is kind of a nerdy post but I have gained an appreciation for this operating system. My knowledge of computers isn't great so I was kind of uneasy trying this out after having it recommended by a friend but I decided that I'd convert my netbook to try it out. After using it on my netbook I started to like it allot more than Windows and eventually converted my main computer over. I was previously using Windows Vista, and to be honest I hated it. It was slow, had tons of pop-ups when starting up, and it always had problems with viruses and I couldn't afford to keep updating virus software. When I switched it to Ubuntu it ran faster and could do allot more things and I've never even had a virus threat with it.

If I had the money I would definitely buy a Mac but since they are more than twice as expensive as a Windows computer that is what I've been stuck with. School is expensive and I am poor, so you others like me, maybe you want to give this a try?

This is an image I took of my desktop. Ubuntu can run Microsoft Office Word almost perfectly (some of the thesaurus things don't work but there are other programs available to make up for that). In the software centre you can find free programs to do nearly everything that windows could do but it costs nothing. I have programs to record music, manipulate/add sound effects to instruments, create magazine layouts, make beats (same as FL Studio), edit movies (better than Movie Maker), edit images (with all the same things available in Adobe Photoshop), so, this program is great! It can be customised to look and work exactly how you want it to.

This image here is of the Ubuntu Software Centre. This is one of my favourite parts of the program because nearly any job that you are trying to achieve with a computer can be found by clicking on the links shown (Accessories, games, internet, graphics, sound & video, etc). This is what I use for nearly every project including image editing, video production, and most importantly (because it's what I do), writing. I like experimentation and safety for my files so this is what I have resorted to because Windows just sucks.

My First Painting

This is a piece that I created as my first attempt at painting. I've titled the work, "Choices."

The tree like images expanding from the mind of the man is meant to represent the choices that we are faced with while we live out our life and the expanding opportunities or lack of that occur as a result of the paths we decide to take. The branch like structures are expanding from the center of the soul where they expand through experience.

I admit I made some beginner mistakes with colour choices but my next piece will hopefully be an improvement.

A Jam with My Friend

This is a live recording of my friend Joash and I. We were using the program, "garage band" on his Macbook to record this. Joash was using an electric drum set while I played rhythm on my guitar with heavy effects added to it. This Jam was pretty much recorded and made up on the spot so it's not perfect, but it's a creation either way and I hope you enjoy it!