The Flower
Some might consider him lucky; some would do anything to be in his shoes. Yet, as Bram looked on from the rocky cliff…the place he called home for twenty-two years, he felt a sense of dread, uncertainty.
From his vantage point the black circular ships rose from the ground, each taking two-hundred humans to the stars: their destination…Kerel IV. It's a tropical, oceanic, planet with red and purple vegetation and three suns. The first settlers sent a message back fifty-seven years prior: detailing the curved rock structures, small crab-like beasts, and favorable space that dotted the obsidian coastlines.
Bram watched on, reminded that he would be joining these humans soon. He knew this would be his last day on Earth…EVER.
This was a one-way ticket, a journey through sub-light space that would take forty-nine years to reach Kerel IV.
He needed to join his brethren. He was one of the few suitable to populate the alien world. It was his duty and to deny such an opportunity would grant him a lifetime of shame from his people, and the world.
Even with all these thoughts begging him to stay, once he stepped into the blackness of the Arc, he would never see Earth again.
Never would he see the vast green forests, the rich oceans, the hot deserts, and all the animals he's seen and came to admire. He would miss the cool, crisp temperate air…the cold touch of water against his pale hands and breathe the same Terran air he's known all his life.
For the next forty-nine years, he would live on the Arc…a living space so confined that he felt he was more like a prisoner in chains than a willing participant. In there, Bram would wait for the day he would step out and welcome his new home. He would be seventy-one when this happens. His stories of Earth, his home world, would entertain the children at night. Perhaps his stories of Earth on the Arc will inspire descendants to make the right choices and pass down what they've learned to their children.
Bram removed a delicate yellow flower from the soil and held it close to him before standing up…he wanted to smell it even though he was allergic, but he didn't care anymore. It would be the last time he would ever smell a flower, after all.
There are no flowers on Kerel IV.