A New Frontier

One morning on a beautiful, clear, sunny summer day in the year 2134. A man named Wash stirs awake in his bed, as the trumpets of the national anthem blare out of his alarm clock. He tiredly slaps it on its head and the trumpets are finally silenced, but then it soon tumbles onto the carpeted floor. Wash groans, dragging his hand over his face like a waterfall, as he drags himself out of bed then kneels down to pick up the alarm clock. He places it back on his nightstand, adjusting it back and forth while squinting his eyes, trying to get the placement just perfect. He then pulls open his drawer and extends his tape measure. Exactly 5 inches from each side of the night stand. “Perfect.” He whispers to himself before returning it to the drawer methodically.

Then Wash does his short 5 minute stretch routine. Grunting as he releases his grogginess and spins his arms. He then waddles through his futuristic yet old styled living quarters, to the kitchen, preparing himself a packet of instant coffee. While sipping it, he scrolls through his smart phone looking through emails. Then he opens his planner application, and remembers he has a big day today. Today is the morning he boards and sets off as captain of his spaceship, the 9th Amendment. One of the 12 biggest ships for the task of transporting and exploring. The 1st Amendment is the largest and highest ranking spaceship, with the 12th Amendment being the lowest. Wash them leaned against the wall, thinking to himself what this whole thing was about and how it started. This whole space exploration program to explore and colonize the western sector of the galaxy called Manifest Destiny, America’s second western expansion, has been the biggest news the past decade on Earth. Ever since The Founding Fathers company became the world’s leading space exploring and resource gathering company, they far surpassed even NASA in size, after America became the world superpower of 99% of all nations. NASA is but a faint memory now, something to see in the history books, ever since the program was ended in the 2040s due to the political turmoil and civil unrest of that time period, The Great Fracture that divided the country in many factions between the 2040s and the 2080s, some said it was like the civil war if it was as bad as the great depression caused by many variables. But in its place emerged The Pursuit of Happiness space program from The Founding Fathers company in the 2090s.

Wash after finishing his coffee, chomps down two slices of toast before grabbing some clothes from his closet and entering the bathroom. He changes out of his pajamas and into his neat and collected black captain uniform. He makes sure not a wrinkle or speck is out of place, as he tightens and straightens out his purple cravat. He rinses his face with a handlebar mustache and mutton chops. Then he combs back and gels his dark brown hair with a few strands of white hair in it, while staring into his dark brown eyes in the mirror. He then takes a deep breath, bracing himself for the day ahead.

Then Wash exited the front door of his quarters, walking down several metal hallways with fluorescent lights in the ceiling. Then he arrived on a high platform overlooking the grand open floor landing dock. It’s like an airfield with people and machines roaming about, transporting and performing maintenance. And the outside of the airfield, is surrounded by the sun scorched beige grass of summer.

Wash leaned on the railing, while watching the gigantic side of his spaceship he captains, the 9th Amendment. It has a combination of white and black paneling on the exterior, similar to a space shuttle, which gleamed brilliantly in the early golden morning light. He’s happy that he joined the space career program, The Pursuit of Happiness. He was finally going out into space again, the grand unknown, something he loved and was eager to return to it.

Then, to his dismay, his annoying younger brother Thomas arrived. With his brown windswept hair, sparkling brown eyes, and his clean shaven face that made him look more like a child than a man. All framed by his orange cravat he wore on his black captain uniform that made him look more like a boy scout than a captain. Wash then let out a groan as Thomas eagerly walked over to him with a mischievous grin.

“Hey Wash, checking out the amber waves of grain today?” Thomas cheekily chuckled while pointing to the beige grass bordering the airfield.

“Just when I thought my morning was good.” Wash rolled his eyes.

“Aw, I’m not that bad. Hey, I see that smile there. I know you thought it was funny, don’t try to hide it.” He smirked while pointing to Wash’s cracking smile. Though Wash turned his face away from Thomas while hiding it behind his hand.

“Fine, you got me.”

“I knew it. Deep down you’re not so Mr. Stoic Tough Guy.”

“Shut it.”

“Oh, you said that to a captain? How unprofessional.” Thomas mockingly acted offended. His playfulness always got on Wash’s nerves.

“I hate that you’re a captain too, you’re a slacker. I don’t know what’s worse, your laidback work ethic, or that somehow everything works out for you in the end. It’s infuriating. But, I outrank you, and we’re not on duty right now. I’m the captain of the 9th Amendment. And you’re the captain of the 10th Amendment. Let’s hope that never changes.”

“Ah, you’re such a rule stickler. A grumpy old man even though you’re 35. You know, you should learn to relax sometime. Maybe your crew would better appreciate you having a little more charisma. But you know I’m already coming for your title, or better yet, I will surpass you! I’ll become captain of the 8th Amendment, just you wait!”

“As if that will ever happen. The only scenario that would occur is if the higher ups in The Pursuit of Happiness are corrupt. Then I’ll use a bot to flood them with as many complaint emails as possible.” Wash smiled.

“Wash, your childishness never gets old. Promise me you won’t change.” Thomas laughed.

“I’ll never change, not for you, but with a work approach like that-” Then suddenly Wash’s smartphone buzzed. He pulled out and checked the notification. “Oh no, we have 10 minutes before it leaves. Quick, we need to race down to our ships.”

“Last one there is a rotten egg?”

“Hehe, like always.” Wash smirked. They then raced down the flights of metal grate stairs. Wash, took a steady yet hasty pace. While Thomas just jumped down the stairs, while giggling. This risky and childish behavior forced Wash to roll his eyes. Then with both of them panting, Thomas more so than Wash. They stood in formation opposite of each other just in time with their respective crews behind them. The other captains and crews of the other Amendments stood next to them.

Then a robot dog called a Rovo, that looked more like a velociraptor, walked up onto the center stage. Hence the v in Rovo. Wash then remembered the tale of its creation, that the robot looks somewhat like a velociraptor solely because the designer thought it was cool. Which it undoubtedly is. A velociraptor video call robot. A projector screen rolled down on the stage as the Rovo deployed its projector and shone it onto the screen. It wirelessly hooked up to the speakers as a video call was displayed to all the captains and crews of the Amendments.

“Greetings Space Patriots. This is General Ben speaking. Today we are ready to launch from the airfield Amendments 9, 10, and 11. The rest are in space already on missions, with 12 being worked on for repairs. Your mission today, patriots, is to quell feuds, disputes, and rebellions between alien species on distant planets in the western sector. You will be transporting highly experienced mediators and negotiators from the peace creating organization, The Tea Party, to settle their matters between themselves with justice, fairness, mercy, and forgiveness. We don’t need more bloodshed than there already has to be. Your specific planets and objectives will be uploaded to your devices, both crewmates and captains alike. That is all. In God we trust.”

We then all chanted “In God we trust.” back to the general, it was a regular tradition from the patriotic restoration in the 2080s. Then the mission briefing ended as the projector turned off and the screen rolled back up on the stage. As we each ordered our crewmate to prepare for the voyage and focused on loading the last of the supplies. Wash and Thomas checked their smartphones for their assigned planet and mission. Wash was assigned planet New New York and Thomas was assigned planet New New Jersey. In New New York, one side of the alien species reportedly is grinding their enemies of the same species and turning them into clearly hot dogs to eat as a form of dominance and intimidation, effectively committing cannibalism. And in New New Jersey, they are on the verge of all out civil war using monster trucks to fight each other over the state of the economy. The mediators from The Tea Party, John Pumpkin and John Squash joined the formation with their respective crews they were assigned to accompany. John Pumpkin with Wash and John Squash with Thomas.

Once Thomas and Wash saw it. Wash muttered “How could something so bizarre happen?” With furrowed brows and a squint of disbelief.

“Nice, you know I’ve always been looking forward to driving a monster truck! I’ve always seen them crush cars in my history books, but I’ve never gotten to drive one before! Well crew, if we do get the chance, I promise you all we will ride one! It’s going to be so awesome!” Thomas bounced excitedly as he and his crew cheered.

Wash then squinted at Thomas, before sighing to himself while rubbing the back of his hand. “And he always gets the fun missions too.” Then the Rovo walked down the center aisle between Wash and Thomas.

“The general wishes to speak to the two of you before you leave.” The Rovo spoke in its robotic voice. Then it’s face, which is a screen displaying a video call of General Ben.

“Now, I know how the two of you get competitive or in disputes. This mission, I would like none of that. And no pointing fingers at each other. Including you, Wash.”

“Why are you calling me out? If anyone is the definition of unprofessional it’s Thomas.”

Then the general sighed in annoyance. “This is what I mean, Wash. What matters is that the job gets done efficiently. And Thomas, despite his lack of professionalism, manages to complete his tasks well and keep his crew’s morale high. But you honestly keep whining on and on about him, Wash. Including over video communications, which I have to review. Now I don’t want to hear anymore about this, I’m done. You are doing a good job Wash, but this behavior needs to change. Understood?”

“Understood…”

“Good. Now quit bickering you two. You are dismissed.” Then the video call on the Rovo’s face hung up.

“I will return to my usual duties now.” The Rovo bowed its head before rolling along using the wheels on its feet. As the Rovo rolled away. Wash gave Thomas a squint brimming with disdain.

“You always make me look bad.”

“You’re just doing it to yourself big bro.”

“You make me look like a fool, because I have higher standards for our positions and to lead by example.”

“You have higher standards, but not The Pursuit of Happiness. This isn’t a military, or like the navy. It’s a company. You can loosen up. Maybe even have a little fun.” Thomas remarked while giving Wash an encouraging nudge.

Wash sighed, his eyes filled with contemplation. “Perhaps you’re right. I can loosen up.” Wash’s face brightened.

“Haha! Atta boy!” Thomas endearingly slapped Wash on his back. “Now come on, I’m itching to get on the ship. You better pray I don’t beat you to finish my objective first.” Thomas incited a competition as usual. Igniting their rivalrous spirit between them as usual.

“You want a race? Then you’ll get one.” Wash smirked as he shook Thomas’ hand. They then both finished doing the last check up on the ships. The crewmates got into their positions, handling roles on the ships. Wash was silently happy as the engines ignited and they soon began ascending. Thomas was high fiving each of his crewmates and cracking jokes before he cheered and hollered in excitement as they took off. The closer amendments to 1 took off first. Which meant Wash took off before Thomas, which got Thomas a bit jealous. Then Wash saw Thomas was requesting a video call on the center captain screen.

“What?” Wash answered as he rubbed his eyes. Thomas’ face was big and obnoxious on the screen. But his big shiny boots which he kicked up on his command console were even bigger.

“What do you think?” Thomas grinned.

“Don’t play games with me. I’ve had enough for today.”

“I know you don’t really mean that. I can already see you smiling. But seriously, I wanted to call you because I suddenly remembered our dad.”

“You don’t mind if the rest of the crew is hearing this? Because they are in the command room with me.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I don’t even mind my crew joining in the call as well. But remember our dad, he was also a captain in the navy. I wonder if how we kind of follow in his footsteps is genetics or something we learned. You know, nature versus nurture or something. You know philosophy better than me.”

“I think… It’s a combination of both. We may have some good genes that encourage us to explore and make us drawn to these sorts of roles. But it’s also how our dad taught us about what it’s like being a captain. We got a good picture and experience of it in our childhood. But even both of us have had some interest in hobbies that differed from our dad and each other. We can choose not to be captains if we really wanted.”

Thomas thought for a moment as he leaned back in his captain’s chair with his hands behind his head. “Good point. Well I’m done reminiscing on memories, call ya later.”

“Yeah. See you later.” Thomas then hung up the video call. Wash slumped into his captain’s chair while groaning.

Then Marisa, the attendant of navigation, walked and stood beside Wash in the command room, which didn’t look too different from the oval office, it has a clear enlightenment era aesthetic design. She is a close coworker and long running friend with Wash, also she wears what Wash thought to be a pioneer style racoon hat at first, but is actually just a live racoon called Chewsy sitting on her head, which occasionally crawls onto her shoulder which she pets it and feeds it, it’s named Chewsy after how it cutely chews and nibbles on it’s food.

“Wash, it would be wise to get on better terms with your brother, right? To be honest, you’re a bit of a grumpy grandpa.”

“Well I’m not changing anytime soon.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. You’re our grumpy grandpa. Just know your crew is with you, we aren’t taking sides with Thomas.”

“Good. I know I whine about him almost insufferably. It’s just… I’m worried about how laid back he is on the job. Last mission, he nearly got his crew killed when navigating through an asteroid mission. Yes, the ship was unscathed, but he was dangerously close. I’m worried about the lives he’s putting at stake with his behavior and more importantly, I don’t want to lose him. He is still my dear little brother.”

“I understand now. I know what it’s like to lose a family member. But if Thomas’ behavior is too relaxed, then your behavior is clearly too stressed. That’s why you have those streaks of white hair. So maybe there’s a healthy medium to be found somewhere.”

“Agreed.” Wash said reluctantly. “Maybe I should have you talk to my brother instead.” He chuckled.

“Hey, what’s that small spacecraft flying over there by our starboard side?” Marisa exclaimed while pointing outside the window of the command room, which is at the head of the ship. A white and black spaceship that looks to only hold about 5 people at most in the shape of a fighter jet from the 2010s, clear retro inspired styling that’s still used today. A small american flag is painted on the back fin and on the side of the ship is the printed words Eagle 7. Then another of those spacecraft appeared on our other side named Eagle 9.