[WP] You are a part of the middle generation on a colony ship. You never saw Earth and will not see your destination.

"It had been four centuries after we had left Earth, or what people in my line of work called Terra. Communication is still maintained with the home-world, of course, with a lag of 5 years. The lag will only grow as time go by. I was fascinated by the planet that lie light years away from us as a child. A wondrous planet, filled with liquid water, a breathable atmosphere, and food as far as the eye can see. Everyone always asked the teacher why we had left it. "We were born on Terra, but that didn't mean we have to die there. Your forefathers are the ones who have chosen to brave the frontier." she had said.

Our forefathers are long dead, embedded in the various asteroids that have crossed path with the Mothership. Nearly all of them died of an illness called cancer. 4 centuries ago, we humans were not able to change our DNA at will.

But enough about planet Earth and the past and more about me. My name is Anna. I'm a Terra Historian. People laugh at my profession, yes, since we still have contact with Earth. What they don't understand is that us and the planet communicate through FTL time capsules. So far, the only things that we can move faster than the speed of light is information, and so the data that takes 5 years to be sent about would actually be from a century ago according to relativity. For all we know, Earth now would already be different. That's why we refer to it as Terra. Terra is the world we are communicating with. Earth is the unknowable world of the future.

My generation, we have never seen Terra, and we will die before we reach Poseidon. That's why we are currently in a political turmoil. But I still do my work. The rebels always thought the Terran Historians would support them, but they never understood our work. Our forefathers from our beautiful home world, Terra, sacrificed so much to send us out here, that's what I try to tell to people. Now, it is our turn to sacrifice for the later generations that will find this planet of water and mystery, Poseidon."

Anna bowed to the camera and the director yelled "Alright, cut! Thank you for your time, Prof. Estevus." he said.

/r/WritingPrompts Thread