The Long Reward

L. Eccleston 3 stories

All Rights Reserved ©

Summary

Once reaching the age of 20 everyone is gifted the opportunity to choose their final reward. a system by which the people of Earth had lived for hundreds of years as the planet lay slowly dying. A reward that was designed to quickly enhance Earth's knowledge of the universe and all that was within it to build a better future, but for Lawrence and many more young men and women his age, it meant a terrible choice between choosing to live or die and not knowing which would happen. Will Lawrence choose the short reward? Everyone else does. It meant a guaranteed destination somewhere within our own galaxy, you knew what to expect, but the cost would be only being able to survive a few hours, maybe days if you were lucky. It was a guaranteed death no matter how important the global government of Earth made it sound. The second choice was the long reward, far beyond our own galaxy, but you wouldn't know where you would be sent and no-one would know if you would survive beyond the trip itself , let alone at the final destination, but there was that tiny chance that you could live a life somewhere beautiful, somewhere he could live until he was old. No-one other than the global government had lived until they were old. Was it even possible for people like Lawrence? What will he choose?

Genre
Scifi/Thriller
Author
L. Eccleston
Status
Ongoing
Chapters
1
Rating
n/a
Age Rating
13+

Chapter 1

I had always known I would have to make the choice once I had reached the age of decision, but even though that time had come, I was still far from prepared.

The long reward would mean I would live longer, I knew that, but there was no guarantee of what I would I find. My transportation could lead me to a paradise world. I could even survive and live a long, yet lonely existence upon another planet or, I could reach a destination that was inhospitable and succumb to a painful and agonising death before I had even a chance to report back my findings. The easier choice of course would be to take the short reward, like everyone else had in my group. A guaranteed destination, but one that would not allow me to survive much longer than a few hours, perhaps days if I was lucky, but always long enough to report home and have your final say.

‘I also wouldn’t die alone, but why should I have to die at all?’ I asked myself for the millionth time.

“Please make your choice,” the computer screen in front of me typed out slowly yet methodically. A considerably old fashioned technology considering the advanced science we were so used to since birth.

I had always been told I was gifted and that I would be of great use to the journey of knowledge. A system by which my people had lived for hundreds of years as our planet lay slowly dying. That once a young man or woman reached the age of twenty years we were gifted the opportunity to choose what knowledge we would pass on to our younger generation to build a better future. A knowledge that could enhance the human race through the discoveries of the universe or offer a means to escape to.

“But at what cost?” I asked myself out loud. ‘Was any of this really worth the incredible loss of life?’

“Please make your choice,” the computer repeated with now the ever familiar count down, that if you ignored would quickly sound the alarm. I had been unfortunate to experience this last year when I had been asked to select my discipline. A pre-cursor to the final decision. It had meant three days in solitary confinement followed by thirty days of intense re-education.

“Long reward,” I finally shouted at the screen whilst pushing the relevant button on the screen. Then the realisation of my choice of death sentence washed over me and I fought back the urge to be sick. “Long reward,” I whispered again to myself and waited for the new data to be displayed in front of me. ‘Please let it be decades away,’ I thought desperately.

“Your selected destination is the planet B91 in the star system B24901 within NGC 3031 or Messier 81 galaxy system. A possible Earth-like planet in the goldilocks zone with a probable atmosphere of approximately 70% nitrogen, 20% oxygen and 10% other unknown gases.”

‘Bode’s galaxy? That’s remote, it’s blue-shifted remote,’ I thought with a sense of hope and excitement rising over me. ‘No-one has ever been sent to Bode’s galaxy.’ Not that many chose Long Reward anyway.

Leaning forward I waited for my mission to be displayed. Various pictures of the galaxy in question began to fill the screen, with endless streams of data that could never be read in time, even if I had wished to pay attention. All I cared about was how long it would take to get there and my chances of not dying immediately upon arrival.

“You journey will take approximately three hundred and twenty four years, nine months and fourteen days at normal speed with current technology. Due to the extended time of your journey, you have been selected to utilise quad-thermal stasis, reducing your journey time down to ten years and four months. Please prepare for immediate transfer.”

“Immediate transfer?” I asked. “No, that’s not right. We’re always allowed at least a week to prepare,” I shouted at the screen, but to no avail.

“Please prepare for immediate transfer,” the computer simply repeated.

“No, I’m not ready. I have to say goodbye. It’s too long. I won’t get to say goodbye once I reach there. Everyone will be long dead!”

“Please prepare for immediate transfer,” the computer repeated for the last time before the screen went blank.

As the doors opened behind me and I was escorted out by the control officer android, a nervous looking boy who didn’t look much younger than me came sobbing into the room.

‘No, this has to stop,’ I thought to myself. ‘Someone has to stop all this.’

Continue Reading