The End of the World

Prologue

Prologue

Orbiting Earth

1100 Hours

September 29th, 2168

Alyssa Anderson looked out the main viewport of the shuttle-pod at the massive space station they were approaching.

Alyssa Anderson Fletcher, that is. Avery Fletcher had proposed six months ago, and three months later, they had become the first couple in earth's history to be married in space.

A year had passed since the ship had returned, bringing the survivors of the "Martian Incident" as it was being referred to now.

Space station Gamma had been built over that year. The station dwarfed the shuttle-pod.

The space station had one-hundred-three floors, something that bothered Alyssa. The uneven number just didn't make since, there was plenty of space without the extra three floors, but they had been built all the same.

The bulk of the station's middle floors were actually combined into one large room, housing earth's crowning achievement, the United Earth Ship Felicity.

Felicity was an experimental ship that, when it was complete, would be able to travel at speeds faster then that of light. Alyssa had naturally joined the team, welcomed by most of the other scientist. A few of the others objected to Alyssa limited knowledge of quantum mechanics, but she held a doctorate in particle physics from MIT and met the qualifications required by the project manager.

The ship it's self was fully functional, even able to travel faster than any of earth's other interplanetary vessels, but the faster-than-light engine that made Felicity so great, was still several years from field-testing.

Using information salvaged from the Martian ruins, earth scientists had been able to devise a way of safely using antimatter technology.

In fact, Space Station Gamma was powered by an antimatter reactor. It had been a big task to convince the United Earth Counsel that the station wouldn't spontaneously explode with the force of a nuclear bomb the size of California, but the station was here all the same.

Alyssa looked at the station, hanging in the vastness of space. Lights flickered all over its surface. Shuttles whizzed in and out of their hangers.

The station was shaped like a cylinder with a cone sitting on top of it. The cone-shaped part was ten floors tall and contained the offices and living quarters. The middle was a large-scale research lab where scientists worked on the ship and the engines. The lower floors contained the shuttle hangers and the antimatter reactor took up the last three floors.

"Shuttle-pod Pegasus to Gamma flight control," Alyssa said nervously, "requesting permission to dock in hanger seven."

Alyssa had obtained her midlevel pilot's license two weeks ago, giving her the privilege to pilot any sub-atmospheric vehicle and any nonmilitary shuttle-pod. Avery had, of course been her instructor. She had stopped calling him Fletcher after the wedding, since she was now a Fletcher as well.

"Gamma control to shuttle-pod Pegasus, you are clear for docking in shuttle hanger seven." Alyssa pressed a button on her headset, ending the link, and began the docking procedure.

It was actually quite simple, the computer doing the bulk of the work. She tapped several commands on her flight-control panel, and the landing thrusters came online.

A large metal door, adorned with a large, blue "7", slid open as the shuttle grew closer.

"Don't fail me now," Alyssa said to the computer as she crossed her fingers.