One Soul, Two Worlds

The date is August 27th of the year 2108. This is the final report of Captain Luke Daniels, age 32, Leading Officer of the two man mission of the Spaceship Sol. I leave this message for anyone from Earth who comes here and finds the Sol or my recorder so my story isn’t forgotten, or of what happened to me and my once best friend, Flight Lieutenant Evan Miller.

Our original mission was a three month journey to a planet named Gila Prime, somewhere in the constellation of Orion. It was found to have the same kind of conditions as Earth. Not only were faint traces of life detected by NASA, but a brief but strong energy signal was also found coming from the same place. Our superiors thought they’d finally found evidence of an alien civilization after decades of looking for others like us in the universe. Of course they couldn’t risk the possibility that even if this signal was proof that there was another life form, the people there might be aggressive. In response to that situation, the plan for a small expedition to the planet was quickly made. Information on what was truly on Gila Prime would be gathered, so Earth could hope to make a peaceful trip later to establish a link with whoever lived there.

I was chosen because of my proven success record on past missions. I didn’t want to be a part of it at first since my wife, Caitlyn, and I just recently had our third child, our beautiful baby girl Sarah, and I didn’t like the idea of leaving my family at such an important time. But it was because of the encouragement of my wife that I ended up in a spaceship for three months with Evan, my long time friend since my early days in the space program.

* * * * *

I stopped speaking. When I started to think about my family, I felt like I would start crying and I needed to regain my composure.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” I replied, fighting back the tears that wanted to come out. “I just need a moment.”

It’s funny when I looked back on my life. I was considered an average Joe by my parents and old friends, but it was Caitlyn who thought I was anything BUT average, what with the way I was considered a big dreamer in my teenage years. I always dreamed different things, but I guess the one that came true for me was making it big, and seeing as I was picked to try and make contact with other life forms, I can’t very well say I haven’t made it big. Of course there was one dream I really wanted to come true ever since I first came up with it back when I was a kid...

I shook my head, clearing my mind so I could continue with my report.

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