Chapter 1

April 9^th 2044

December 7th 2041 - a date that will live in infamy.

No, I'm not referring to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. That was a hundred years ago. I'm referring to the colonization act of 2041 which congress in their finite wisdom decided to pass.

When interstellar travel became possible with the invention of the jump drive, explorers went out to look for other inhabitable planets. They found some. The one the US of A claimed, they named Columbus. After a few years of study, researchers and explorers came back with news that the planet was completely capable of supporting Terran life forms. (Lucky me) With that news came waves of people wanting to be space age settlers.

The government, (thinking ahead for a change), was already constructing several colony ships. Each ship was mostly a frame with a bridge, engines, some living quarters for crew and common areas open to everyone. The colonists would be traveling in their own little ships called 'pods'. The pods are like space versions of RVs. With the forward heat shield in place they look kind of like submarines without the conning tower. Without the forward heat shield and with the side window hatches open, they look like a weird boat. That's intentional of course, in case of water landings. There's even a small rudder and engines under the small rear deck. They're also supposed to be able to move around on their antigravity thrusters so you can move the pod into a better location but in practice, by the time they've made a safe landing, the thrusters are all but burnt out. Unless of course you go with a traditional re-entry and use the emergency parachutes.

The other reason they're intentionally designed this way is because of how they're put into space. They're fired through a mass driver into orbit where they're met by a tug and towed to the ship, where they're docked. The pods docking area is at the rear of the pod. Although you can kind of debate that since the rear is also your front porch.

At the ship, the pods stacked in rows and columns around a central core that spins. This gives cheap gravity to the ships. Of course those at the top have to use their gravity compensators a bit or live in lower gravity. Those at the bottom have to do the same or live with higher gravity. (I've learned to live with the higher gravity to save wear and tear on the compensators. It isn't like I'd be getting replacements.) When it becomes time to release the pods, the connections are quickly broken, the airlock area retracted so the spin of the ship slings them away. They then land on the planet and act as the colonists' new home.

The pods themselves have their own power, and life-support supplies, much like RVs but once connected to the ship they run off the ship's supplies. They also vary in size depending on who lives in them. Mine is a single person pod, although it can support two in a pinch. There are some that can support up to eight people but those are strictly family pods and are much rarer.

The inside living space of my pod is about 18ftx8ft. The total length is 25ft. The interior height from deck to ceiling is 7 feet. There is storage space under the main deck though. It's about 2 and a half feet deep. There's also some room in the bow through a small access hatch. Of course I also put things on the forward deck under the heat shield as well as on the windowsills. I knew I wasn't ever going back, so I wanted to bring every possible thing I'd need to survive. I had a bad feeling from the start so I'm glad I did, even though it caused a few problems. Any way I'm getting ahead of myself.

When government officials announced they were taking applications they were clearly overwhelmed by the number of people wanting to go. The plan was to get all the applications to enter their names into a computer and then have a random drawing. Of course, the democrats didn't like that. They claimed that a lot of people wouldn't apply because they didn't feel like they'd be selected. The republicans said that they would accept any person capable of fending for themselves. (Since I've seen one person in a wheelchair and another on crutches, they did.) However that still wasn't good enough for the democrats.

After a lot of haggling, they came up with and passed the Colonization Act of 2041. It made it so every legal US citizen was entered. Those selected, and any dependents they may have, would be sent regardless of whether they wanted to go or not. They of course wanted a range of people so they had different age groups with the younger ages making up most of the settlers. I can kind of understand that. You want people who are going to be able to live long enough to settle the place after all. My problem was with the having to go 'no matter what'. I didn't want to go! Still, the odds were great enough that I didn't worry about it. I should have though. It came as quite a shock when my parents yelled up at me using my full name, Myleigh Anne Davidson, to come down. Wondering what I'd done wrong to be in so much trouble, I did so. That's when I found out I was in trouble but it wasn't anything I'd done. They told me I'd been selected to be a colonist.

I had to call in and confirm that I'd been informed. If you didn't, two people in suits would come and inform you. No matter how much we asked, they wouldn't let my parents go with me either since I was 16. They wanted to go with me but they couldn't since they weren't my dependents. I could bring a spouse or any children or adult that was dependent on me but that was it. Since I didn't have any of those, I had to go alone.

I suppose I didn't have to. I could have gotten married but I didn't have a boyfriend or anything. I didn't even have a BMF or even a BFF for that matter. I was pretty much an outcast at school. I suppose book lovers usually are outcasts in most schools but it was even worse in mine. My school was very sports oriented. Actually they're very award oriented. Sports were still the top but if you were in a program that brought the school recognition, like the marching band, you were at the mercy of everyone else. Even the band kids picked on me.

The school board actually resented spending money on anything that didn't bring the school glory or benefit the jocks. The library hadn't purchased new books in ... forever. I know for a fact that the few books the head librarian managed to buy each year came second-hand from other library book sales and thrift stores. The only reason the shop classes remained open was to repair the jock's cars. Science was surprisingly well funded but only in regards to blowing things up and dissecting things. Which is like totally gross!

So maybe you can tell how bizarre and freaky it was to have schoolmates who'd picked on me or ignored me my entire life suddenly propose to me. Even the head cheerleader proposed to me. Then she and the star quarterback got in a fight over me. And she was winning! How freaky is that? If that isn't freaky enough even my teachers and principal proposed! Okay, Mr. Anderson is a hottie and Miss Paul (my favorite teacher) is really nice and has been voted best looking female teacher four years in a row but even Mr. Hazelhurst proposed to me and he's like ninety! Even complete strangers were asking me to marry them. It got so I couldn't go to town any more without being proposed to and we had to change our comm number three times!

The worst thing about all of this was. I was leaving my home and family. I knew I would never see them again. It wasn't like I could just get in a car and come visit or anything. I was going to another planet a gazillion miles away. My parents weren't exactly happy about me being gone forever either but they tried to be excited about the trip for me.

Me? I was complete miserable. I'd been having nightmares off and on for months and I knew what they were about. They were about the voyage. I just knew something bad would happen. I tried to get out of going by telling them about my nightmares. That nearly got me labeled as a terrorist. A note to whomever reads this; (Not that anyone should ever read this. This is my diary after all.)

NEVER tell a government official that you have a feeling that something bad will happen if you get onboard a vehicle. N-E-V-E-R ... NEVER! They do NOT like it one bit!

It took ages to finally get through to them that I had no intentions of trying to harm the ship or anyone in it. When they finally believed I'd just been having nightmares, they dismissed me. The man gave me all the forms about the training they'd be giving us over the year and a date to sign in, and told me to "be there or else!" As I walked away, I swear I heard him mutter something about "female" troubles. I wanted to wring his neck, but that only would have proved his point.

So January 2^nd 2042, I arrived at Camp Santa Maria for colony training. (Are you sensing a theme here?) I hated leaving home but the training was kind of fun. It wasn't so much the students though. The ones in my classes were just as bad if not worse than the ones at home. Somehow they already had a class system set up the same as any other school with the rich at the top and everyone else below. A few of the rich kids even bragged about their parents buying their way onboard. (So much for random selection.) The classes themselves were kind of fun however.

We still had the basics but we also had survival training, hunting and fishing, piloting everything, carpentry, plumbing, pottery, and all kinds of things. I wouldn't be able to build a house to code or anything but I should be able to build a small functional cabin if I needed to. Of course the liberals, animal rights, and other similar groups didn't like the gun, fishing and hunting classes but they only put up token arguments against it. I supposed even they knew how bad people would turn on them. Those guns and skills were the only things that would be keeping us alive. Besides we never really killed anything. It would have taken too long to take a thousand kids hunting. Not only that, but half of them would have either shot themselves or been shot by their fellow classmates. (Maybe that would have been a good thing?)

While classes were going on, Mom and Dad were off using a special government credit card, buying me things I would need to stock my ship. They and my Grandparents were also busy canning fruits and vegetables and making preserves and jams for me. Dad was also drying and smoking lots of meat and fruit for me. The fruit he just dried though. He didn't smoke it. The government gets suspicious when you start smoking plants. Not that we ever did.

Since I stayed in my pod during training, it was pretty easy for me to put things in how I wanted them. I took my bike, a couple bike trailers, and a wagon apart and stuck them on the front deck. Let me tell you, it wasn't easy getting them through the window hatch. It'll be even harder getting them back together again but I know it'll be worth it in the long run. We got more hand tools than I know what to do with. Most are for woodworking but there are a lot for doing repairs on my ship, my bike and my plane too. That's right my plane.

After I passed my pilot's course, which is way briefer than a standard course, I wrote to Goodyear and asked if it was possible to get a inflatable airplane they'd been working on a few decades ago. Since they lost out to Michelin in providing tires for the various ground vehicles also going, they jumped at the idea. They sent me one of my very own and offered more to the government for the trip. The government was happy to buy them too, as they took up less space than other ultra-light aircraft. The other advantage they have is that they're also amphibious.

Goodyear wasn't the only company I'd written to either. I now have enough Kool-Aid, in every flavor, Tang, tea, hot and cold, and cocoa, instant oatmeal, seasoning, and sauce packets to last me for quite a while. I'll probably still be finding packets years from now.

By the time we had to go, my pod was packed to the gills. Every single drawer was stuffed. I had long and medium handled tools, like shovels and axes, on the sides between the window bulkheads and the side shields, on either side of the pod. I also had a full set of extra ... metal bits, for them stored away. I could always make new handles. The metal bits I couldn't. I also had some extra pipe for water stored there. I figured they'd be safe enough there from the heat of re-entry and I wouldn't trip over them.

One deck storage compartment was filled with power tools and smaller, more commonly used, hand tools. There are other hand-tools and extra wood-working and old hand-powered tools — for when the power tools wear out. Along with lots and lots of nails, screws, bolts and nuts stuck into the bow of the pod. Let me tell you, it was not easy getting those things through that little hatch. They had to go in one item/box at a time.

Yet another deck compartment had been filled with books. I love reading. My parents, grandparents, and I spent hours downloading every possible book, movie, TV show, video, audio book, and song from the national library, as well as from various studios, publishers, and online sources. (The studios and publishers opened things up to all of us colonists as a publicity thing and a tax write off.) They'd even converted older movies and books to digital that they hadn't released in almost forever. Some of those old silent movies are pretty good.) My family had also given me their copies. They'd been transferring their old tapes and records to disks for years. Still there's something about actually holding the book in your hands and turning the pages that reading on a screen can't compare to. Besides you can't curl up in bed with a computer the way you can a book. And it isn't as if all the books are for pleasure. Some are text and how to books that I'll need to reference now and then if I'm to build, hunt, fish, or grow anything.

In yet another compartment I have three tiny sewing machines. Two are electric and one hand powered. I also have several bolts of various fabrics. I'm no seamstress but at least I'll be able to replace my clothes when they wear out. Grandma and Mom also taught me to crochet and knit so I also have lots and lots of yarn to make clothes with. I vacuum-sealed them, the extra fabric, and lots of extra clothing so I can fit more in. I did the same with the extra pads and tampons too. I dread thinking about what I'll do when they run out. That won't be for a while yet fortunately.

That compartment also contains seeds, lots and lots of seeds. I know I'll need to use them to grow new food. I've also got plastic to build a greenhouse with. Like I said, above there is supposed to be edible food here but I'm not going to eat anything without analyzing it first. I brought four food analyzers to test anything I might want to eat and drink. I also brought a couple fuel analyzers to test for any possible fuel sources. Fortunately, most of my camping supplies are run by small fuel cells, so I only have to add distilled water when they run out. The rest run off any kind of liquid and fuel pellets but distilled water is the best. Fortunately my pod has solar power so I can still cook when the tanks run out. And there's always cooking over an open fire. That's kind of fun. Food and fuel analyzers aren't the only analyzers I got either. I also got metal/mineral detectors that can tell me what kind of metal or mineral is there. The pods come with one of each but I wanted extra in case one broke.