1. Joseph N. Wdowski
138 Hillside Ave., 3rd Floor
Shelton, CT 06484
(203) 302-0203
joewdowski@hotmail.com
Word Count: 7,200
THE DAYS BEFORE LANDFALL
The I.E.C. Susan Constant
Joseph N. Wdowski
Disposable Manuscript

2. WDOWSKI - DBL 1
Day thirty before landfall:
"Miller-Smith, to command" Gil requested for the first time in twenty-three years.
"May I go with you?" Zhang-Hu asked. "I always wanted to see the command center."
"Gil didn't say I couldn't bring someone." Miller-Smith looked across the chessboard
answering her. The others in the recreation room did not seem curious about joining them as they
stood to leave.
"Do you think we are finally there?" she asked as they entered the main corridor of
habitation sphere.
"I don't think so, but we must be close."
They walked up the curvature of the corridor. The whole midsection was a giant sphere
that rotated fast enough to create 1G. It would give them a slight advantage when they reached
RD-2024.B, which was estimated to have a gravitational force of eight-nine percent of Earth's
gravity. The command center was located at the bow of the ship that did not rotate. Entering one
of the two access shafts to the bow and aft sections they left the spinning sphere and entered
zero-G. Grabbing railings along the bulkhead they pulled their floating bodies towards the
command center.

3. WDOWSKI - DBL 2
Miller-Smith entered first. The empty chairs at the functioning flight control stations gave
the command center an eerie ghost ship feel. "Gil, What is it?"
"Miller-Smith, please take your station at flight control one." the disembodied voice
requested.
Miller-Smith did as the ship's computer requested and strapped himself in. Zhang-Hu at
the same time strapped herself in at the control station next to him.
Out the main command center's large window they could view the red dwarf star in the
distance. It appeared like a small shimmering red ball of fire. The planet they were approaching
was still too far to see as a world. With only the naked eye it appeared merely as an extremely
bright star. By making their approach from the direction of the star they would use the red
dwarf's gravitational pull to help slow down the ship.
"And?" he looked around as if trying to see the Gilbert Mainframe G2108.
"Monitor." the computer responded.
"I think you are just here as a precautionary procedure." she told him as she looked at the
panel before him.
"Firing bow VASIMAR engines." The computer announced. Miller-Smith noted
as the panel displayed the firing of the four bow Variable Specific Impulse Magneto-plasma
Rockets (VASIMR). Out the command window at each corner of their eyes four large
superheated hydrogen plasma plumes jetted forward. The flight station indicated that hydrogen
plasma was being expelled at a rate of 250,000 mph. From the readings it would still take nearly
two days for the ship to decelerate to its approach speed. When the engines were finished their
remaining hydrogen reserves would be nearly depleted. The I.E.C. Susan Constant was designed
for a one-way trip.

4. WDOWSKI - DBL 3
"Thank you for your assistance." said the computer.
"You're welcome?" Miller-Smith felt weird for being thanked when he did not actually
do anything. He suddenly felt gravity pulling him back into his chair.
"Gil, why am I feeling gravity?"
"It is the sensation from deceleration. The whole ship will experience 1G until reaching
our approach speed." Gil answered. "I have already halted the rotation of the habitation sphere."
"Meaning the bulkheads will now be the decks?"
"I positioned the sphere in order that living quarters still have gravity, along with the
recreation room, and the mess. Educational, conference room, medical bay, and sporting rooms
will not be accessible until the deceleration process is completed."
"Understood." He replied as he climbed out of the command chair. He helped Zhang-Hu
make the transition to the new posture of the ship as they both climbed down the command
center to the access core. Using the handles built into the bulkhead he now understood that they
were there as the rungs of a ladder, not to just help them pull themselves through zero-G.
"It is too bad we cannot notify Earth that we have finally made it." Zhang-Hu climbed
down after him.
He looked up at her "Even if the ship had not lost her entire communications array when
she passed through the Oort cloud, it would take at least seven years before our transmission
would even reach Earth."
"There must be some way to notify them." She insisted. She looked away from Miller-
Smith and up around her "Gil?"
"Yes, Zhang-Hu?"

5. WDOWSKI - DBL 4
"Is there any way?" she asked, knowing the ship's computer was monitoring their
conversation.
"All communications with Earth were lost in 2133 due to the loss of the ship's
communications array when it was struck by an asteroid within the Oort cloud."
"Yes, I know that. But is there any other way?"
"Once arriving at our destination, a communications facility will be constructed." The
ship's computer began to list its programmed mission objectives. "First: a proper location on the
surface will be established for colony one, New Jamestown. Second: construction bots are to
build a temporary habitat for the first hatchlings. Third: agricultural domes are to be
manufactured and crops planted. Fourth: livestock embryo germination facilities are to be
constructed and activated. Fifth: ..."
"Understood." Miller-Smith cut of the computer off from reciting its entire list of mission
objectives. They finally reached the hatch into the habitation sphere. It was at a right angle to
their position, on their way back they started to crawl, not climb, into the habitat. He let her enter
the short tunnel first "We have heard this all before. You know we will not be able to let Earth
know until we establish New Jamestown." Reaching the end of the tube a small ladder extended
for them to climb down to the curved deck below. The rest of the of the way they were able to
walk normally.
Returning to the recreation center they found most of the others. Of the first thirty
embryos, twenty-five of them had successfully matured and were all in their twenty-third year of
life. It was determined by those that had launched the Interstellar Embryo Colonizer Susan
Constant that twenty-three would be the peak age for the crew to supervise the primary goal of
the mission. At this age they would have full frontal lobe development and would also be in their

6. WDOWSKI - DBL 5
prime physical condition to oversee the construction of humanity's first colony on an exoplanet.
The main cargo of the I.E.C. Susan Constant was the second group of hatchlings, three-hundred
embryos that had just begun their germination process.
In the early twenty-second century artificial intelligence (A.I) was still not to the level of
the fully developed human mind. A.I. could not match the human brain's talents for creativity or
intuition. The bots, the Susan Constant carried would do most, if not all, the work in the
construction of the colony. The first "hatchlings" were there merely to monitor and intervene
only if necessary. They were the backup system, responsible for resourceful solutions to
problems the Earth's A.I. programmers, seven light years and over eight centuries away, were
unable to foresee.
"So?" an attractive young woman walked up to them. Her hair was dark and wavy. Her
coffee brown eyes were large, framed by long thick natural lashes.
"We are slowing down." Miller-Smith answered as he sat back down at the chess table he
and Zhang-Hu had been playing. He noted how well a job Gil had done in positioning and
stopping the sphere's rotation that their game pieces were hardly disturbed.
"That means we are approaching our destination?" Wertz-Wassermann asked as her right
eye slightly twitched as it often did from time to time.
"We have been in the star system for the past few months. From what I read on the
display panels we're only a month out from landfall." He did not look at her as he studied the
board moving his bishop.
"I have been reading." Wertz-Wasserman stated.
"As you should." Miller-Smith answered watching as Zhang-Hu put a finger on one of
her knights as she examined the board before committing to a move.

7. WDOWSKI - DBL 6
"No, I mean I have been reading more than just our assigned text." she clarified taking a
seat.
"What have you been reading?" asked Zhang-Hu after she finally made her move.
"I been reading about the first Susan Constant and the first Jamestown."
"And?" Miller-Smith asked having already read the same subject back when he was nine,
when he was first curious of the original sailing ship their sub-light star vessel was named after.
"The Jamestown colony was the first successful English colony in the New World." She
told them, as if they had not known this already.
"Yes, tobacco was the cash crop that finally made the colony economically feasible."
Miller-Smith said as he countered Zhang-Hu's move on the chessboard "Check."
"But did you also realize that by the Europeans finally establishing a successful colony in
the Americas it led to the destruction of the way of life for the aborigines?" She pointed out.
"You mean the Native-Americans?" Zhang-Hu asked.
"Yes." Wertz-Wasserman confirmed.
"Your point, W.W.?" Miller-Smith watched Zhang-Hu move one of her bishops to
protect her king.
"Don't you see, if we colonize this new world, we will be doing the same thing." she
pointed out what she thought was already obvious.
"How is that? There is no evidence of intelligent life on RD-2024.B." he countered
Zhang-Hu's move by taking her bishop. "Check"
"Just because they did not pick up radio transmissions from there doesn't mean the world
doesn't have cognitive life. The aborigines of the Americas also did not have radio technology."

8. WDOWSKI - DBL 7
"Are you suggesting they should have sent a probe here first, before sending out a colony
ship? It would have taken them the same eight-hundred years for a probe to arrive here. Clearly
there was no sign of advanced life. What information they did have on this planet was
determined from light spectrum analysis. RD-2024.B is in the goldilocks zone of RD-2024,
meaning liquid water. It has a mass similar to Earth's and high levels of oxygen in the
atmosphere, meaning there is breathable air and most likely plant life on the planet. It is a perfect
exoplanet close enough to Earth for our first settlement." He said to Wertz-Wasserman as he
studied the chessboard after Zhang-Hu moved her king out of harm's way.
"But, I feel that if there is intelligent life there, it is not our right to settle on their world."
Wertz-Wesserman continued before Miller-Smith could reply "Even if there isn't any intelligent
life, I feel our presences may hamper the natural evolutionary development of its indigence life."
"So?" Miller-Smith turned his attention for the first time away from the game looking
directly at Wertz-Wasserman "Are you advocating after a half trillion investment to build the
Susan Constant, and over eight-hundred years to reach our destination, we should not make
landfall?"
"I just feel there are important issues that were not considered by those that launched this
ship."
"You know we do not have the supplies or the means to return to Earth?" he asked her in
all seriousness. "Even if we could, none of us would live long enough to even see Earth."
"Yes, yes, yes." she started to get agitated "I know all that, but I never agreed to go on
this mission."
"None of us had." Zhang-Hu injected unemotionally.

9. WDOWSKI - DBL 8
"Well, I feel the builders did not respect the moral dilemma they have put us in." she
answered Zhang-Hu.
"W.W., you know as well as any of us. That if the human race is to survive in this
universe, having all our eggs in one basket, so to speak, is not a good strategy. One large enough
rogue meteor could wipe out the Earth's population like the dinosaurs. It is imperative that
humanity colonize the stars."
Zhang-Hu added "For nearly hundred and fifty years Earth had scanned the heavens for
signs of other intelligent life. Not once had they picked up anything. Humanity may be the only
intelligent life in the universe. Isn't it our duty then to make sure we survive?"
"Perhaps it is our destiny to go extinct as the dinosaurs did." Wertz-Wasserman
suggested.
"Where are you getting these ideas?" Miller-Smith asked her.
"They are my feelings." she defended "...and I have been researching the anti-colony
movement prior to our launch. Groups like PETA, Codepink, the Greens, E.H.I..."
"E.H.I.?" questioned Zhang-Hu.
"End Human Imperialism. They were a social justice, vegan, environmentalist purity
movement." she explained to Zhang-Hu. "There were also some radical religious groups. They
believed that God created the cosmic speed limit and the vastness of space for a reason. They
thought man was given the Earth, no less, no more. They were clearly nuts, but the other groups
did have just and morally superior reasons to oppose this mission."
"You realize they were all fringe groups?" Miller-Smith pointed out to her.
Wertz-Wasserman frustrated and upset that Miller-Smith was not taking her seriously
suddenly got up and stormed out of the recreation room.

10. WDOWSKI - DBL 9
"Perhaps you should apologize to her." suggested Zhang-Hu.
"For what?"
"You hurt her feelings."
"She always getting her feelings hurt. After all these years you would think she would
learn to deal with opposing opinions."
"And you after all these years know what a sensitive person she is. You didn't have to be
so curt with her."
"Were you listening to what she was advocating?" he asked her "She expects us to do
what? Not make landfall once we arrive? Just live out our lives on this ship until our resources
are exhausted? Because she fears we may interfere with the evolutionary potential of some alien
tree slug?" Miller-Smith smirked at the idea as he made his final move. "Check-mate."
Day twenty-four before landfall:
Having reached their approach speed the ship's configuration returned to its normal state.
The habitation sphere was spinning again to create 1G forces for all its facilities. The bow, and
the much larger aft section of the Susan Constant were back to their states of zero-g. Housed in
the aft section were the three-hundred embryos, five-thousand livestock embryos, grain seed
storage bays, the primary fission rector/electric generator, life support systems, and the aft
engines that had originally propelled them to their top acceleration speed of eight million miles
per hour. The Susan Constant was the fastest ship ever made by man, yet even at her fastest
velocity she had traveled at a mere fraction of light speed. Tanks of fresh water encircled the
primary hull of the ship's rear section. The tanks of water were far beyond the needs of the crew.
Most of their water usage was recycled and reused over and over again. The primary purpose of

11. WDOWSKI - DBL 10
the water tanks were to shield the human and animal embryos from cosmic radiation. Hydrogen
and oxygen could also be extracted from the water as an emergency reserve.
The rear section also housed the hanger bays for the shuttlecraft they would be used to
descend to the new world. In the rear section, in a dormant state, two-hundred security, mining,
construction, agriculture, manufacture, and service bots were also stored. More bots would be
manufactured once New Jamestown was established. Only twenty bots had been activated
shortly before the germination of the first hatchlings; ten agricultural and ten service. Their
responsibility was to the well-being of the first hatchlings.
"It is amazing how many ways they can cook chicken." Wallowitz-Prager stated as he
received his dinner tray from a galley service bot.
"Not all of us like eating chicken." Kim-Lee replied refusing the chicken and taking only
the rice and vegetables.
"As large as the Susan is we don't have the space to germinate the cattle or pig embryos
for our sole consumption." Miller-Smith stated.
"I am not interested in eating any meat." Kim-Lee answered.
"Since when?" Wallowitz-Prager asked as they sat at one of the six dining tables in the
mess.
"Since W.W. told me about her research of the anti-colony movement." she answered.
"Not you too?" Miller-Smith looked at her in disbelief. "Don't tell me you also think we
shouldn't make landfall?"
"Don't make landfall?" confused Wallowitz-Prager stopped before placing a forkful of
chicken into his mouth.

12. WDOWSKI - DBL 11
"I had a conversation with W.W. a few days ago. She was advocating that we don't make
landfall." he explained to Wallowitz-Prager. Zhang-Hu nodded confirming what Miller-Smith
was saying.
"She can't be serious. It's just cabin fever talking." Wallowitz-Prager took a bit of his
chicken.
"She makes some valid points." Kim-Lee replied "Although I am not in complete
agreement with her. I am switching to a vegetarian diet for health reasons, not political."
"Is there something wrong with your health?" Wallowitz-Prager chewed his chicken.
"I feel I have gained weight." she touched her near flat belly.
"Well if you have, it is all in the right places." Wallowitz-Prager smiled as he eyed her
chest.
"I agree with W.P." Zhang-Hu charmed in. "You look wonderful, K.L.. Doesn't she
M.S.?" she gave a suggestive look at Miller-Smith.
"Yes, K.L., you look wonderful." Miller-Smith was starting to get impatient with the
constant need to maintain the fragile feelings of his fellow crewmembers. There were times he
wished it was only him and the bots. Granted he did enjoy a game of chess at times, but he could
always play chess against Gil. Even if Gil would always win. There was sex, he had to admit he
would miss having sex. The five hatchlings, of their group, that had failed to germinate were all
males. It was a problem the builders had not foreseen. Having fifteen females to only ten males
did have its advantages, at least the male crewmates felt so. On the down side, especially when
they were in their teens, it did cause jealousy and rivalry issues among the female members.
What the builders did foresee was that the first hatchlings would reach sexual maturity
while cramped on an interstellar ship for years. For at least a decade the first hatchlings would be

13. WDOWSKI - DBL 12
in close quarters with other young adults, sexually mature biologically, with raging hormones,
yet without any human adult supervision. It was highly likely the first hatchlings would become
sexually active at a much younger age than most of their contemporizes back on Earth. It was
determined it would not be advantageous to the mission if the first hatchlings began having
offspring while still onboard the Susan Constant. Their immature ages were not ideal for taking
on the responsibility of children. Any additional children would also put a great strain on the
vessel's limited living spaces and resources.
Their solution to the problem was to genetically alter the first hatchling embryos. None of
them would be able to reproduce. As for the main group of embryos, who would be born and
raised on RD-2024.B, it was their mission's objective to reproduce, to seed the alien world, to be
'fruitful and multiply.'
The first hatchings, a generation older, would be foster parents to the three-hundred.
Miller-Smith though was not confident that all his fellow first hatchlings were emotionally and
psychologically equipped for such an important task. He was beginning to think that their having
only programmed bots and the ship's computer as their sole role models was a major drawback in
the builders' mission plan.
Day twenty before landfall:
All twenty-five were at their personal study stations in the education reference room.
Miller-Smith was reviewing his required studies of Socratic philosophy. Through his headset he
was conversing with the computer generated image on his touch screen as if he was speaking
with the real Socrates of ancient Athens.
"Should a leader censor what his subjects view or read?" Miller-Smith asked.

14. WDOWSKI - DBL 13
"Can any leader be all knowing?" asked Socrates.
"Of course not, but what if his subjects are being subverted by incorrect information?"
"How can a leader, who is not all knowing, know the information is incorrect?" Socrates
responded.
"By the information being harmful." Miller-Smith answered.
"Harmful to whom, the subjects or the leader?" Socrates asked.
"To either."
"Can leaders be wrong?"
"Yes, of course."
"So is it possible the information may actually help understand what is true?"
"Yes, it is possible." He had to agree with the Athenian philosopher.
"And is not truth beneficial?"
"Yes, truth should always be our goal. Science is the constant quest for truth. To even test
and retest what is already perceived to be true. Leadership though has to consider more than just
science." He challenged the sage.
"What is the obligation of the leader? Is it to maintain his authority, or is it to best serve
his subjects?"
"To best serve his subjects." Miller-Smith answered the bearded Athenian on his monitor.
"How then can a good leader best serve his subjects, if he denies them access to the
truth?"
"What if it is not the truth?" Miller-Smith rebutted.
"What is the best way to discover if something is true or not?" Socrates asked.
"Through logic and reason." Miller-Smith replied.

15. WDOWSKI - DBL 14
"And what is the best method to utilize logic and reason?"
"Through questioning and dialog." the twenty-three year old mission commander
answered.
"I ask you, can one have a reasonable dialog if one of the parties is not allowed full
access to all information, and is even forbidden from asking certain questions?" Socrates stroked
his simulated gray whiskers.
"They cannot." Miller-Smith had to concur.
Miller-Smith felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Trumbull-Monroe a brown-haired young
man attempting to grow a beard.
Miller-Smith took off his headsets and turned to face the ship's mission specialists.
"Sorry to interrupt you, M.S., but I think you should check this out."
"What is it, T.M.?"
The young man only gestured with a waving motion for Miller-Smith to follow him.
Miller-Smith followed him to the conference room where he found four of the crewmen sharing
an interactive historical recreation of the Austin Texas protest against the launching of the
construction components for the not yet completed I.E.C. Susan Constant. A University of Texas
at Austin professor was speaking at a podium set up at Graffiti Park. He wore dreadlocks and a
tattoo of the anarchy symbol on his shaved left temple. "We have already raped and pillaged our
own world and now they want to destroy another world with the plague of humanity?" The
crowd of a few thousand roared with approval.
Miller-Smith walked up to the small group "End program." The holographic image shut
down.
"You had no right to do that, M.S.." protested Hoffman-Houston.

16. WDOWSKI - DBL 15
Miller-Smith stood before the four crewman that included Wertz-Wasserman "We all
know what the position of the anti-colony movement was. I do not see how rehashing these
arguments benefit anyone?"
Hoffman-Houston stood up and faced the mission's commander. "We think it should be
explored deeper." the young-man a little bit shorter than Miller-Smith replied.
"This ship will make landfall in twenty days. Nothing is going to change that." Miller-
Smith replied. "Those protesters have been dead for centuries."
"So have the builders." Wertz-Wasserman stood beside Hoffman-Houston.
"I have no objections to you studying this material. I will not delete it from our memory
core. But, for now, you should be concentrating on your studies in the construction of New
Jamestown. After we settle you'll have more than enough time to study this period of history."
Miller-Smith tried to get his crewmen to refocus on their mission. The other two crewmen who
had been watching stood up and went back to their study stations in the next room. Hoffman-
Houston and Wertz-Wasserman were defiant, until they saw that Trumbull-Monroe was standing
behind Miller-Smith in support. They reluctantly finally returned their study stations too.
Day fifteen before landfall:
Miller-Smith was at the back mess table having his dinner with Zhang-Hu and
Wallowitz-Prager when a small group approached the table. "M.S., we need to talk to you."
Hoffman-Houston spoke for the group of five.
Miller-Smith put down his utensils and looked up at the small group. "What is it now,
H.H.?"

17. WDOWSKI - DBL 16
"We want a vote of confidence in your command." Wertz-Wasserman answered for
Hoffman-Houston "Why should you be deciding all our fates and the fates of this pristine alien
world?"
"The builders chose me." Miller-Smith stood from the table walking around it to face
them. "My Egg donor was President Joan Miller who ended the Earth's Great Global Depression
of the late twenty-first Century. My sperm donor was Admiral Omar Smith the victor of the
battle of the East China Sea and the military governor that oversaw the democratizing China."
"Your pedigree is no reason for you to be our leader. Not in a democratic society."
Wertz-Wasserman pointed one of her fingers forcefully at Miller-Smith.
"This is not a democracy. Not yet. Not until New Jamestown is established." Miller-
Smith felt his patience beginning to erode away.
Wallowitz-Prager stood beside Miller-Smith giving his support to the commander "This
is still an interstellar vessel with only one commander, chosen by those that built her and
launched her."
"What is your objection?" Zhang-Hu asked the group as she too stood beside Miller-
Smith "Where has M.S. not seen to our needs? How has he not looked to the success of this
mission?"
"It is his desire for the success of this mission we object to." Hoffman-Houston
responded, the others in the group voiced support.
"Have you all gone insane?" Wallowitz-Prager was also losing his patience with the
group. "Are you seriously suggesting we do not make landfall and die on this ship?"
"We are suggesting that we make a compromise." Owen-Stenvall a very handsome tall
blond young man calmly replied trying to defuse the angry that was growing on both sides.

18. WDOWSKI - DBL 17
"What compromise?" Miller-Smith asked.
"We make landfall. We live out our lives at New Jamestown." Owen-Stenvall began to
explain.
"But?" Miller-Smith interrupted.
"But, we don't germinate the other embryos." Wertz-Wasserman answered.
"That defeats the whole purpose of this mission." Miller-Smith responded.
"Exactly." Hoffman-Houston said as other crewmen in the mess began to gather around
the groups. "If we abort the three-hundred embryos, who have not been genetically sterilized, we
alone would not be a threat to the development of any indigenous life on the planet."
"You want to kill the three-hundred?" asked one of the crewmembers that joined to listen
to the heated discussion.
"It is not killing." Wertz-Wasserman answered the new comer "They are only embryos."
"They are alive." Zhang-Hu pointed out.
"Human life." the newcomer DeRosa-RoSario added.
"Of the first thirty hatchlings only twenty-five us developed well enough for birthing.
The three-hundred are only potential human life. They are not living people."
"What of all our live-stock embryos?" asked Wallowitz-Prager who was actually looking
forward to trying something different than just chicken.
"They too would have to be aborted." Wertz-Wasserman stated. "If we allowed them to
mature they too could be a threat to the local ecosystem."
"There is nothing wrong with us all being vegetarians. I feel it is actually healthier for
us." Kim-Lee stated as she entered the dialog.
"Plant life can also threaten local ecosystems." answered Miller-Smith.

19. WDOWSKI - DBL 18
"We demand a vote of confidence." Hoffman-Houston changed the subject not having a
reply to Miller-Smith. "Or are you just a tyrant and we merely your servants? Don't we have a
right to decide our own destinies?"
"That is true, none of us chose to be on this mission." another person that had gathered to
listen spoke up. All the crewmen began to argue with each other.
"Fine!" Miller-Smith shouted getting control of the room. "You want self-determination?
You want to choose your own destinies?"
"We demand it." responded Wertz-Wasserman her twitch seemed worse than usual.
"Then this is my compromise." Miller-Smith spoke to everyone. "Those that wish not to
be part of this mission may stay onboard the Susan. The rest of us will see to the completion of
this mission, as the builders planned." Most of the crewmen murmured in agreement to Miller-
Smith compromise.
"That is not good enough." Wertz-Wasserman rejected the compromise "We wish to
protect this world from human exploitation."
Miller-Smith forcefully walked up to Wertz-Wasserman and stared her down "Then you
are not looking for individual self-determination. You are the ones actually wishing to dictate all
our destinies, not just your own." he turned and looked also at Hoffman-Houston.
Hoffman-Houston sighed deeply turned his back on Miller-Smith and stumped out of the
mess, Wertz-Wasserman followed him with the others in their group.
Day ten before landfall:
Miller-Smith floated in mid-air looking over the embryos. He learned from Gil that two-
hundred and sixty-two of the three-hundred were still viable.

20. WDOWSKI - DBL 19
Zhang-Hu floated into the embryo chamber. "Gil said I would find you back here. Why
are you here?"
Miller-Smith turned to her. "I wanted to be alone. No one else ever comes back here."
"I'm sorry, do you want me to leave?"
"No." he grabbed her about her thin waist and pulled her close to him. "Have you ever
done it in zero-g?"
"You know as well as I do it is very difficult to do it in zero-g." she answered.
"Yes, I know." he tightened his hold around her as she responded by wrapping her arms
around him. "Every thrust to bring us together causes a counter-reaction to separate us."
She kissed him as she wrapped her legs around him too. "We could try if you want." only
gripping each other they had no control of their drift. It resulted in Miller-Smith hitting the back
of his head on the corner of a bulkhead, forcing him to free one of his hands from her to take
hold of something to anchor them. "I wish I could have children with you." She tightened her
hold of him.
"We already have many children." He looked at the columns of artificial wombs before
them.
"If W.W. gets her way they will not reach birthing." Zhang-Hu answered him.
"She is not going to get her way."
"Her support is increasing." She warned. "I am even starting to understand her concerns."
"She may be right?" he was astonished to hear this from her. "You think we should abort
them?"
"I didn't say that." she let go of her grip of him and drifted off until she took hold of
something. "Although I do agree they are not yet human life."

21. WDOWSKI - DBL 20
"Even if that were true. What if humanity has been wiped out back on Earth. A lot could
have happened in over eight-hundred years. It may not have been a meteor, but it could have
been a nuclear war, a pandemic, anything is possible. Those maturing embryos." he pointed to
the rows of artificial wombs "May be all that is left of the human race. Its only future."
"You do not know that." She answered. "Earth could be fine."
"Do you know that it is?"
"Well, no. I don't."
"They are alive in those a-wombs. They can reproduce, as you know we cannot."
She moved in close to him and took a hold of him again with all her limbs. "M.S., I didn't
say I agreed with her. I just said I understood her concerns." She kissed him, cooling down his
temper, as she knew she could.
Day seven before landfall:
RD-2024.B took shape as a world in the command center's observation window. With the
Red Dwarf behind them Miller-Smith and Zhang-Hu could make out the large land masses and
oceans of the planet. If not for the alien land mass configurations the world looked very much
like Earth. White clouds gently swirled in its atmosphere covering much of the surface.
"It is very beautiful." Zhang-Hu said as she took Miller-Smith's hand. "It is hard to
believe that after traveling so long we will soon be making landfall."
"This time next week we will be standing solid ground with vast skies above us. We'll
finally feel the wind on our faces, perhaps even rain drops on our cheeks." he told her.
"M.S., I feel excited and yet a little afraid." she looked at the world before them.

22. WDOWSKI - DBL 21
"I understand how you feel." he held her hand a little tighter. "It will not be long though
that you think of this world as home." He turned and looked at her. "Our home."
She smiled
"Miller-Smith, we have a problem in the embryo chamber." Gil interrupted.
"Yes?" he looked up to address the disembodied voice.
"We just lost life support for two artificial wombs."
They unbuckled themselves and headed for the rear section of the ship down the ship's
access core. "How?"
"Wesserman-Wertz and Hoffman-Houston are aborting the embryos."
"Lock down all manual controls in the embryo chamber."
"I would need the command code."
"Miller-Smith-Command-1-9-8-6-0-4-1-8." He gave the code, ahead of them they could
see Wallowitz-Prager's head emerge from 1G.
"What the hell are they doing?" Wallowitz-Prager asked as he was followed by Trumbull-
Monroe, DeRosa-RoSario, and Jefferson-Clay.
"It seems they decided to take things into their own hands." Miller-Smith answered not
stopping, but continuing to push himself down the access core to the rear of the large ship. The
others followed him pushing hard to keep up.
They finally reached the embryo chamber. Wertz-Wasserman was scolding Hoffman-
Houston "Override the manual lock out."
"I can't." he answered.
Wallowitz-Prager and DeRosa-RoSario took a hold of Wertz-Wasserman. Trumbull-
Monroe and Jefferson-Clay easily subdued the smaller Hoffman-Houston.

23. WDOWSKI - DBL 22
"We will not let you infest that world." Wertz-Wasserman spat at Miller-Smith her arms
pinned behind her by Wallowitz-Prager.
"How could you do such a thing, W.W.?" Zhang-Hu questioned her.
"How could we not?" she replied "It is our social duty to prevent this illegal conquest of
that world."
"Confine them to their quarters." Miller-Smith ordered.
Day four before landfall:
Miller-Smith was awoken by a loud banging on his cabin hatch. Raising from bed he
slipped on a pair of shorts. Zhang-Hu also woke, sitting up in the bed covering herself with the
bed sheet while Miller-Smith opened the hatch. He found Owen-Stenvall and two other crew
members standing before him. "We demand you release W.W. and H.H. from cabin
confinement."
"We?" he asked.
"Yes, we." One of the female crewmen standing beside Owen-Stenvall answered.
"You have no right placing them under arrest." the other supporter spoke up.
"They killed two embryos and would have killed them all, if we had not stopped them."
He responded.
Owen-Stenvall suddenly gave a Miller-Smith a uppercut to the jaw. Miller-Smith went
down as Zhang-Hu screamed calling for help. The others rushed into the room grabbing hold of
Miller-Smith. They picking him up and slammed him hard against one of his cabin bulkheads.
"We want those command codes."

24. WDOWSKI - DBL 23
"I will not give them to you." Miller-Smith defiantly replied still in pain from the
unexpected assault.
Owen-Stenvall punched him hard to the upper gut knocking the wind out of Miller-
Smith. "We want those codes."
"I'll give you the codes. Stop hurting him." Zhang-Hu begged clutching the bed sheet
tighter around her.
Owen-Stenvall turned to face her. "What is it?"
Before she could reply Wallowitz-Prager and Trumbull-Monroe rushed in, both were
armed. "Enough. Let M.M. go." other crewmembers, not armed, stood outside in support of the
commander. Those holding Miller-Smith complied. Miller-Smith dropped to the floor trying to
get his wind back.
Not caring who saw her naked Zhang-Hu rushed to his side. "You bastards." she began to
cry as she helped Miller-Smith to his feet and to the bed.
Wallowitz-Prague gestured with his weapon for them to raise their hands above their
heads."I should flush you all out an airlock."
"No." Miller-Smith answered finally getting enough breath to speak. "Go release Wertz-
Wasserman and Hoffman-Houston."
"Why?" Trumbull-Monroe asked.
"They spent enough time in confinement. I was planning to release them today anyway."
he answered still reeling in pain. "But before you do. Place these three under cabin arrest. Half
rations." He then stood and looked directly at Owen-Stanvall holding back his urge to strike him
in revenge. "Quarter rations for O.S."

25. WDOWSKI - DBL 24
Day three before landfall:
Miller-Smith addressed all the first hatchlings. He allowed Owen-Stenvall and the other
two that had attacked him freed from cabin confinement. He asked everyone to sit facing him as
he sat on top of one of the mess tables. "I want to forget what has happened these last few days.
We are the only family any of us have. From my studies, even families have their falling outs. I
know there are those among us who have moral objections to our mission. As we already know
those debates were played out over eight centuries ago. The builders that launched the Susan
understood that for humanity to survive we need to reach out and colonize other worlds."
"It is not our right." Wertz-Wasserman shouted out.
"We are going to establish New Jamestown. If you and your group cannot accept that, I
am sorry. But it is going to happen." most in the mess clapped in support of Miller-Smith.
"You said before you wanted a vote of confidence." Wallowitz-Prager spoke up "That
was your vote of confidence, in M.S. and in our mission." another round of applause came from
the majority of first hatchlings.
Wertz-Wasserman and her small group did not clap.
"What of it, W.W., I am willing to put all this behind us. Are you?" Miller-Smith asked
her. "H.H.? O.S.? Any of you?" the small group of dissenters said nothing. None made any
gesture to mend with Miller-Smith.
"We have our principles." Wertz-Wasserman finally responded. "It dumbfounds me how
the rest of you can be so reckless. Don't you understand what you will be doing? This is a world
unspoiled by humans. If we establish New Jamestown, if we germinate that army of invaders,"
She pointed in what she thought was the direction of the embryo chambers. "We will all be
guilty of global genocide."

26. WDOWSKI - DBL 25
DeRosa-RoSario answered her. "It is man's destiny that we should colonize this planet,
and all the planets. God gave us the means to venture out into the stars. He gave us this world to
inhabit."
Wertz-Wasserman turned to DeRosa-RoSario with an expression of complete distain.
"You're insane."
"I may not have D.R.'s religious devotion, but I do agree with him that we do have a
destiny. Those embryos are depending on us. The future of humanity may be depending on us."
Miller-Smith stood and approached Wertz-Wasserman and her group. He reached out his hand to
her.
She refused his hand, "This is not over." She turned her back on him and led her
followers out of the room.
Day two before landfall:
According to the ship's internal clock it was three in the morning when Miller-Smith and
Zhang-Hu were awoken by sirens and flashing lights. A holographic image of "ABANDON
SHIP" in bright red lettering was projected in the center of the room.
"Gil? What is it." Both he and Zhang-Hu got out of bed and began dressing as quickly as
they could.
"Meltdown of main reactor-core definite." The ship's computer answered. "Proceed to
nearest life pod."
"They ran out the cabin still dressing on their way. "Gil, how? How could this happen?"
He screamed to the disembodied voice. Other crewmen, also half dressed, filled the main habitat
corridor to the life pods.

27. WDOWSKI - DBL 26
"Wertz-Wasserman had entered the reactor-core destroying the cooling system." The
computer answered without emotion.
Wertz-Wasserman on her own had been attempting to radiate the embryos, hoping to
abort them. Unfortunately for her she lost control causing a fire and triggering a meltdown in the
main reactor.
Miller-Smith and Zhang-Hu reached one of the pods. Just as they opened the hatch
explosions reverberated through the ship as the sphere lost its rotation and gravity. Miller
struggled to get a hold of Zhang-Hu as they both instantly began to free float. More explosions,
sounding even closer almost shook loose their grasp of each other. He held her tighter. "Hold
me." he shouted to her. With all his strength he swung her into the open life pod. The Susan
shook even more violently as even closer explosions went off. This time they lost their grip of
each other and Miller-Smith was hurled away from the life pod. He could feel the heat of fire
behind him. "Gil, Close pod hatch and launch." Miller-Smith ordered the ship's computer.
"No!" was the last word he heard from Zhang-Hu as the hatch locked into place and the
pod was jettisoned from the crippled body of the I.E.C. Susan Constant. In complete silence the
ship that traveled for over eight centuries exploded, destroyed by the one thing the builders did
not anticipate.
Landfall:
Zhang-Hu's pod heated up as it entered the atmosphere, she could hear the rush of air and
flames outside her life pod. Retrorockets fired slowing her descent. The pod jerked suddenly as
its parachutes deployed. Just as suddenly the pod hit the surface and rolled a few yards until it
came to a complete stop. Zhang-Hu did not unbuckle herself at first, she just sat there. Her eyes

28. WDOWSKI - DBL 27
filled with tears as she looked at the empty seat across from her. Her emotions where
overwhelmed with all the loss: the, the loss of their eight centuries long mission, the loss of the
embryos, and worse of all, the loss of Miller-Smith.
She tried to wipe away her tears as she finally unbuckled herself. She flipped the switch
guard and hit the jettison button for the pod's hatch to blow above her. The explosive bolts threw
the hatch up and away from the pod. Throwing a survival kit on her back she looked up to see for
her first time blue skies with soft white clouds. An alien bird crowed as it flew high above. She
took a deep breath of her first sample of fresh air through the open hatch. It was amazing.
Closing her eyes she poked her head out feeling a cool breeze and the warmth of sunlight on her
face. She could hear more birds, and the rustle of the wind in the trees near her landing. Opening
her eyes she was overwhelmed be the sheer beauty of the green valley she landed in. A
sparkling light blue river worked its way through the valley from snow peaked mountains in the
distance. She pulled herself up and sat on the edge of the hatchway. To her surprise when she
turned to begin her climb down the pod, a flying machine came from above the tree line. On its
nose, written clearly, in big white letters, was the word "RESCUE." The machine, with a low
murmur of engines landed softly in front of her. Several people stepped out of the machine, some
with red crosses on their caps and shoulder patches. Some where her fellow crewmates.
A man leading the group approached her. "Zhang-Hu?"
"Yes," She answered confused. "You're human."
"Yes. Very much so." the man answered offering to help her down from the pod.
She took his hand and climbed down "But how? We were the first ship launched from
Earth?"

29. WDOWSKI - DBL 28
"Faster than light travel was discovered about two centuries after your launch. RD-
2024.B was settled over six-hundred years ago. We have a population of nearly a half-billion."
He explained to her. "I'm sorry we couldn't have reached you sooner. We don't have ships
approaching us from so far out. Any ships from Earth usually just drops out of hyperspace right
into orbit. We didn't notice your ship until we detected its destruction a day ago. Still in flight,
we were able to rescue twenty-two of your fellow crewmates."
"I don't understand?"
"You made it, Zhang-Hu. Welcome, welcome to RD-2024.B, or as we like to call it New
Plymouth Rock."
- The End -