The End Of Us Ch. 04

The journey continued and the crew made sure to document the other planets in the solar system, it was unlikely they would be seen again by human eyes. The ships engines had done what they set out to do, Jennifer's work had ensured they worked flawlessly. The ship was fast, faster than many expected as they were able to leave the solar system itself in four months.

Once they left interstellar space, most of the crew entered into stasis and a few remained on duty. Their posts would rotate throughout the journey until they reached their destination. The General too entered stasis and left Jennifer in command in his absence.

That night, or at least the part of the ship's cycle that would equal night, Jennifer had that same nightmare once more. However, this time it was different. The nightmare began as it always did, Jennifer, running after someone. Normally it was a child, but not this time. She ran, and eventually caught up to the figure. It was someone, naked and when the person turned around. Jennifer was shocked, the figure before her was Ashley.

Flames first licked at her feet then began to engulf her completely. Ashley screamed for help, but Jennifer could not help her, she could not move. This continued until Jennifer awoke from her nightmare. She screamed at the top of her lungs, however, her cabin was sound proof and no one heard a thing.

It was late, all the crew were asleep and Jennifer relieved the solitary crew member on patrol. The whole ship was quiet. Jennifer made no sound as she entered each room. She passed the shut door on the atrium which contained everybody in stasis and eventually made her way to the engine room. The engine were humming and the FTL core was primed.

Jennifer began to shed a few tears.She could not see humanity learning from their mistakes. What she or anyone else could say might be confused, distorted and spun to someone else's benefit.

She refused to allow that, to let loose humanity's destructive nature on another world. Jennifer, walked up to the console. She activated a shield which she had built and concealed personally. She began to work, first she overrode the AI commands, and permanently disrupting its systems and links to the drive core next she began to ignite the FTL core without proper priming. She then destroyed the cooling system and deactivated the alarms before they sounded. However, that did not change the fact that Jack and John were stood in front of the shield demanding answers.

Jennifer spoke, "Ashley's was never going to join us, and her letter also told me her grandfather was responsible for the loss of Price's family. He was his superior. Jack, you were always more enthusiastic than me but you never took notice of what humanity has done. John, you found Ashley, you saw what she went through, and you know why I am doing this."

"What are you doing Jennifer," Jack pleaded.

"I am ending us, all of us," Jennifer uttered her final words.

She then proceeded to activate the final stage of her plan. The engine room went into meltdown and then ruptured and exploded. It was a giant flash, a huge explosion, one of nuclear proportions which killed everyone instantly.

An empty space between the stars was were the explosion took place. The debris began to float in space but with no one around to mourn. Humanity was at an end, they just like their planet was done.

(Epilogue)

(300 000 Years later)

A ship thrust past planets, large and small. The ships scans indicated 8 in total, a large asteroid belt between the fourth and fifth planets from the systems sun. The found one, third from the sun and found it had an atmosphere and was quiet, no technology could be detected no sapient presence was seemingly found. There was debris closer to the orbit of the planet, however it was all dead, there was no signals coming from anything surrounding the planet.

The ship surged through the planet's atmosphere and touched down. Three crew members stepped out they scanned the air and then found it safe to breath. They removed their helmets, each of their two eyes focused on the landscape around them.

Their heads tapered back with a crest reaching back past the edge of the back of their heads. Their faces had colours on it, they were unlikely to be natural. Their mouths moved apart a little and down when they opened them. The teeth remained sharp and in rows to the back of their mouths. The scanned the area, their weapons drawn and ever vigilant. They moved forth and found no traces of civilisation left.

However they soon spotted what appeared to be a hole. A light shined down appear to indicate something not from nature was there. One alien then moved into place and secured an anchor, another attached himself while the third one, the leader stood her ground keep watch for any hostiles.

The alien lowered himself all the way down. He look around and seemed to have found the remnants of something. He moved some sand and found a block. One of stone that was carved, it depicted something. It appeared to the alien as though it was representative of the race that lived on the planet long ago. It seemed to have indicated that the people left the planet after a catastrophe. Furthermore, it indicated that should any other sapient being find this place, they should take it and look after it better than those who were here first.

The alien acknowledged this and proceeded to head back up to the surface. He relayed this information to his colleagues. They headed back to the ship and relayed this to the rest of their crew. Their communications room connected to their home planet and their space station which was populated with many different sapient races.

They relayed this information, all agreed that the race who found the planet, may keep it, however they were to preserve what was present, that one solitary remnant of the species who inhabited the planet so long ago. So they slowly began to setup a presence on the planet.

Forty years later, the planet was now a bustling colony and people were happy. The energy and infrastructure system were clean and had no impact on the environment. Life had been good, scientists studied the planet and everything in it. There was a new start, and one that would not end in disaster.