She walked into her classroom. As per usual the classroom went silent as soon as she entered; it had become the norm and she hated it. She set her books down on her desk and began to write on the board. The scratching of pencil on paper filled the room but still she continued to write. It went on like this for what seemed like an eternity. She stopped her writing and turned to face the class.
Her brow furled and she rubbed her temples, “I don’t know about you guys but I can’t take this class anymore.” She sighed, “I have always dreamed of having a class that sits quiet and patient and where everyone is passing but now that I have it, I can’t bear it.”
A student raised a hand and spoke, “Why?” It was Jay Birch, one of her most talented student’s.
“Why? Why? Because I can’t stand this anymore! What teacher in their right mind would want the perfect student let alone the perfect class? I can’t keep coming here and repeating the same thing day in and day out. As much as I love teaching and you guys, I need more in my life than just this. I need to have substance and more of a purpose than just being a teacher.” The class stayed silent; they did not know how to respond to her sudden outburst.
Jay Birch took the initiative, “Then what do you want to do?”
Now it was Jennifer’s turn to not know how to respond. She took a moment before she gave her reply, “I don’t want you guys to names and numbers on a roster sheet. I want to know more about you guys and what your lives were like before you came here. Please, I just want to get to know and understand who you are as a person.” She stared out to her class and she could feel this huge emotional tension lift from every one of her students. She knew this would be the first step of many on a long journey with this class.
After a few moments a student spoke up from the mass, “I’m Uriah from the Uku tribe on the planet Sani in the Andromeda galaxy and I’m god knows how many light years away from my family and tribe. We have a saying on my planet when one of us has great sorrow like this, Oo la yo ko machio, it means this sorrow will end so live for tomorrow.” This was the first time Uriah had ever spoken in her class and she would make sure it was not the last.
Another student stood up, “My name’s Ras and I don’t like telling people that I’m… from Earth.” an uneasy silence filled the room and every one turned their full attention to Ras. But he did not continue, instead he sat back down with a heavy heart. The silence cut deep into all of their hearts. For one reason or another why they were here, they all shared one common factor; Earth.
It was because of Earth that they were here because they had made it so unbearable to live on their home planet that they had to come here. It was all too clear in their memories the war, blood, and death that brought them here.
It had been nearly a hundred years since Earth had taken over and all was owed to John Hopkins.
The clock ticked loudly up on the wall and it read 2:06am. A man sat at a desk; it seemed to him that the older he became the faster time sped around him. He rubbed his weary and watery eyes and cleared his desk. As he walked out the building he reached for his phone and when realized that it wasn’t there he went back to his office. He picked it up off the desk and headed back downstairs, down the street and around a dark corner.
For the last block he had the nagging feeling that he was being followed. He stopped and turned and there stood a man under a burnt out street lamp.
“I know you’ve been following me since A and tenth and I know what you want. So just come and take it and leave me alone.” He reached into his pockets and revealed his phone and wallet, pushing it towards the man. But the man didn’t step forward, “Well?”
Finally the man spoke up, “You don’t know what I want, Mr. Hopkins.” But still he did not move from under the broken lamp.
“I don’t have to deal with this,” He shoved his belongings back into his pockets and continued his walk home. But he did not make it more than ten feet before he felt a sharp pain enter his chest and a hot and heavy liquid fill his mouth. He looked down and a river of red fell freely from his chest. He turned to catch one last glimpse of the man but he had disappeared along with his smoking gun.
Falling heavily to the cold concrete sidewalk he could see the answer to his life long quest to discover how to travel through space at light speed.
