The Escape

The sun wasn't red anymore, like in the old days before the Disaster. Now, it boiled a harsh blue, and you couldn't walk around without a body suit to protect yourself from the harsh gamma radiation that emanated from the blue light in the sky where the sun used to be. I knew as I peered through my visor that we would never see that sun again.
I pressed a button on the wall and entered the code, disappearing in a green flash of light. I stood on the bridge of a starship and looked around. She wasn't like my old one, but she would do. I could see other evac ships leaving our once glorious planet, now lava encrusted and red with terrible scars made by the radiation. The captain's chair stood at the center of the room, and as two dozen other visors looked at me I slowly strode forward and sat down in the chair. I smiled. With one last look at my home, I nodded, and the ship left the hangar. 
Suddenly, I heard blaring sirens and a blue alert sign flashing. I turned and saw the star contracting and heaving. We had run out of time, and now our sun was about to explode. 
We entered light speed and roared ahead of the blast. But the wall of blue fire was closing in at impossible speed. I signalled a jump to hyperdrive and looked back at my home one more time. For a moment, the shockwave blasted away the scars and lava, and for an instant the clouds of water evaporated by the radiation spilled and our planet was blue and beautiful for the lat time. Then, the shockwave hit and my home was torn to dust.
"Factor three hyperdrive!" I yelled, and my ship complied. We left the shockwave behind and soon I could see a nebula forming. Nothing else remained of the planet we had called home for three million years. I tried not to weep for the little innocent blue marble and set a course for a small, uninhabited planet, the third in a star system. I could only hope it would be a suitable home for our race.
Four million years later, I awoke from cryogenic suspension with a jolt. We were entering orbit. I beamed up to the bridge and looked at what we expected to be a virgin world. But it wasn't. In the four million years it had taken us to reach the planet, tree dwelling animals had evolved sentience and destroyed their world. I grimaced. After all the effort we had taken to save so many lives, they had destroyed each other!! If they knew- and suddenly, I had a flash of inspiration. 
"Set a course for their sun at pro-light speed." "Entering hyperspace." "Don't." The officer looked at me. "What? You mean-" I nodded. "Time travel velocities."
"Unidentified object in orbit, Ms. President," said the lieutenant. "Chinese?" "Unknown." "Put in on screen." "Too much sta- wait, it's clearing up." A strange face appeared on the screen. It was not human.
I looked at this planet. Already, greed and spite were destroying it. Two factions known as America and Greater China were in a cold war that would soon turn nuclear. The Chinese had conquered most of their continent and were preparing to conquer two others. The Americans would, according to our historical records, send a spy to sabotage a Chinese base, and the Chinese would retaliate and ignite global conflict. The President of America appeared on the screen. "President," I began, "I want to tell you a story. It's about a distant star about to explode and a little planet orbiting it…"
By Mattias Westby
My apologies for not logging in. Well, I did log in, but when I headed over to this wiki I was logged out. Really annoying…
Anyway, hope you enjoyed the story! I got the idea from The Star by Arthur C. Clarke.
SPQR (talk) 00:01, October 15, 2012 (UTC)
Category:Stories