Apollo 918 the Trip of No Return by Joseh Thomas - HTML preview

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CHAPTER 3

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Apol o 918 The trip of no return

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Joseph Thomas

It was just a scratch, it would not pose any concern or

danger to me, I could not afford an injury at this time

we were just passing through the atmosphere, just a

few minutes before we reached outer space, I tried to

finish organizing the last civilian who entered the

ship, the young soldiers who had chosen lived up to

my expectations of them. After takeoff and the impact

we were able to stand, I resumed the task of

organizing the remainder of the civilians, I was in

control of the shelters and tried to maintain my crew

calm.

Everything in order, I decided to go up to the

command post, I needed to know the level of

emergency the escape plans were still in, I found

General Pot, sitting in the back of the room. From his

position I could see all the different flight captains of

operations, the front control panels took up almost the

entire width of the ship, more than fifteen men were

needed to work in the control system of this modern

Noah’s Ark, behind them were five captains of

navigation, they worked in front of huge glass

skylights able to see everything, it was the only place

on the ship where you could see outer space, from

where I was the General gave orders to detain the

ship’s hovering at a safe distance from where they

could observe planet earth.

I had the opportunity to see from a different angle

parts of the world, two ships exactly like ours, were in

the atmosphere communicating with our command

post and asked for instructions, we all stopped to look

at the planet, from where we were it showed how

beautiful our planet is and at risk of disappearing, it

37

Apol o 918 The trip of no return

now looks like a billiard ball light blue, with uneven

patches of dark colors, but it makes it a perfect

combination of blue dominating the picture.

These moments that we were living were of

incalculable value and power, you could see in the

face of each and every one of the crew members,

despair and uncertainty in they’re faces, but nobody

said anything, it was also the concern for friends and

family members left behind, it's times like these that

humanity emerges in humans.

Most of the women were crying, I remember one of

the captain of navigation, with tears running down her

cheeks, but still doing her job with the ability and

integrity required by the situation, many of the

soldiers were also concerned, but followed orders

without question. We were just waiting for the alarm

of mass destruction on the planet, but it remained as

just that, an alarm. I left the control room, I decided to

tour the ship, I took one of the eight elevators

available along each corridor, and began my

inspection.

The section of the ship dedicated to saving marine

species it managed to relax more than I expected, it

was a good idea to start there, the tranquility of the

tanks and fish moving managed to take my worries

away for a while, the sound of the whales made me

think, I stopped in front of them for about half an

hour, the majesty of the species managed to capture

me, their size and innocence, but above all the

ingenuity in their eyes that made me feel guilty of

others. How was it possible that humans were able to

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Joseph Thomas

cause so much damage to animals on the planet? It’s

all our fault that today they are also at risk of

disappearing. I also visited the cages prepared for the

terrestrial animals, I was there for nearly half an hour,

I don’t know if it was just me, but saw in each of the

animal’s eyes concern. It was one of the men that was

caring for them that mentioned to me that animals

perceive danger much better than humans. The area

of the warehouses, was all quiet and going well, the

upper information floors were going well, the hangar

where the air crafts were, was also fine, with

surveillance patrols that were organized round the

clock. Everything was going as planned.

The barracks where my soldiers rested, were all in

order, as soon as I went in, all the soldiers stood up to

greet me. I ordered the reports from the men chosen

responsible to command each floor, they gave me all

the information has requested. Everything was going

as planned.

I revisited the upper control room. Nothing new. Then

I went to my room, I needed to get some rest. What

was expected to happen was unknown territory to me

and I should be prepared for any eventuality, nothing

better than a rested mind to make decisions.

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Apol o 918 The trip of no return

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Joseph Thomas