The Ark Diary of Dylan De Rovia Book One of De Rovia Diaries

An Early Arrival

Saturday November 12, 2149

So, things have been going been along fairly well everyone seemed to slip back in the new normal. I'm still the subject of gossip but it's better now. I'm better now, Lori left school completely to enter the medical training program at the hospital. My career indecision still has me in school back to teaching little kids for half the day then spending my friday and saturdays in repair shops. Life was going back to rhythm that was as close to peaceful that I'll get. So, what does the universe do it throws a wrench into the whole thing.

This morning I woke-up stars were shining and the smell of breakfast was coming into my room. I got up opened my tablet to home screen of Arknet. Last night I emailed Lori about a possible girls night. Instead I find all the public news feeds have the same message.

First Images Arrive Early

First Images arrive earlier than expected. The probes have been there for months now taking a samples of the soil, finding clean water, looking for life. They been transmitting this whole time video feeds and the results of the sample data.But we've been too far away to hear, the closer we get the shorter the delay. Getting the data this early means we're closer then we thought.

I open a blank page on my tablet and take my stylus writing out the formula. I add all my numbers and taking into account where we are right now. Writing it all out I use my calculator to do the heavy numbers. At this point we're 4.78 billion miles from the planet. At our current speed for one 24 hour cycle we could reach the planet in just under five years. That's half of the original time planed.

"Shit." I say looking at my numbers. I'm sure there are plenty of people smarter than me saying the same thing. This cuts our time in half, of course we have to factor in other obstacles like asteroid fields and other planetary bodies that could try to pull us in but right now it looks like five years. The council is probably having a emergency meeting right now, the carefully laid plans about who get to go down will have to be started now. Kye and the rest of the botany teams will have to start adapting plants to the new conditions

Going back to the public forums I see other people have reached the same number everyone saying it will take four to six years to get there now.

Going into the kitchen I see Mom and Dad at the table both looking a same public forums as me. Dad touches Mom's arm they both look at me. "Is it true what they're saying."

I sit at the table Mom's smart and Dad is too but this outside of their fields, mine too really but I'm the closest they have. "Yeah, I mean at our current speed and with a sizable margin of error yeah."

"Whoa," Mom says sitting back in her chair. "That's short."

"I'll be nineteen."

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Kye meets me on the platform at the station, Lori has to work tonight so she'll watch the images at the surrogacy center. "I'm glad you came we need your help." He say directing me quickly to a red truck

"What's going on I thought you'd be in the command headquarters reviewing the footage, with champagne." I say getting in the truck.

He shakes his head, "I'm just one botanist not really high on the list."

We make it to the storage building were a small crowd is gathered in record time. "What's going on?"

Kye pulls me to a small table where a woman is yelling at something "I was trying to get this old video cube to work so we could all watch the first images together but I can get this ting to work."