Till Death Do It's Part

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. I could though. It was my own, in my mind, shaking my brain and ringing my ears while I closed my eyes as tight as I could as we attempted to do the unthinkable. The unimaginable. The unbearable.

The unreal.

PROLOGUE

It was 2172, and the entire population of all living organisms, as well as the earth itself, was failing. This wasn't because of climate change. We had fixed that already through renewable energy and sustained transportation. Nor was this a result of overpopulation. That had been managed as well through the Two Children Policy, in which every country agreed to abide by.

The problem that had caused so much irreversible damage to everyone and everything was the biggest and most controversial update made to technology yet: 10G LTE Data. World health leaders and many scientists united in order to try and prevent this from happening, warning Julio Revereck and his team about the dangers of creating something with such high amounts of radio frequency.

Julio Revereck cared none. He was an arrogant entrepreneur. The kind who made people believe his new technological discoveries were necessary when they were actually the opposite. However, most men envied him for his status and many women swooned over his dark, finely cut hair and piercing eyes, so people were easily manipulated into falling for his schemes. Julio insisted that it was the greatest creation of all time, but really it was the size of his wallet after the release of 10G LTE that made him so selfishly elated.

The side effects were catastrophic. In just over a month after the entire completion of installations around the world, the number of cancer patients rose by 36%. Zoos reported animals giving birth to mutated offspring. Babies were being born early with extra hands and legs. People in large cities started getting horrible, painful rashes that turned their skin to a sponge-like texture. Young children were losing all of their hair. Doctors had no answers. Only realizations.

Julio Revereck realized what he had done and all cellular network was terminated as a result, but what he failed to do was take responsibility for his mistake. He made himself a coward by choosing to isolate himself in his beach house in California and ignore everyone.

After six months, it was more common to see someone who had rashes on their skin than someone who didn't. 1 in 4 people had cancer. No one could work because of how sick they were. Everyone stayed inside except when they needed groceries or other household necessities. All technological luxuries were no longer being used. No TVs, no phones, no gaming consoles, etc. News reports even scared some families into not using their microwaves.

It was devastating.

CHAPTER ONE

A Rocket's Red Glare

"If we are able to arch ourselves inside of this wormhole," Shiloh persisted as he pointed at the black hole on the diagram slightly behind him, "and we can make it entirely through, then we should reach the Mirror Index on the other side."

The Mirror Index. The other side of the universe, yet in a different form. Referred to as Mirror, because everything is the same, yet time is reversed.

Project Voyage itself seemed simple, and would take 4 days. Space Shuttle Derby (SA-001) was to fit through a wormhole just beyond dwarf planet Pluto and the Kuiper Belt, and on the other side would be a mirror universe matching ours, but in a different time. The spacecraft would stay in the Earth's atmosphere while I parachuted down into London, 1813. My only job once there was to kill Antony Reverick. Antony was Julio Reverick's long lined grandfather.

We were going to be the first astronauts to ever attempt something that had been deemed impossible for eons: time travel.

"The wormhole should only take seconds to get through, and the tasks after that will be a cake walk," Shiloh insisted with certainly and boldness in his aging eyes.

I trusted his judgement and intelligence. As a retired astronaut now joining the most important space mission in the history of NASA, by request, there was nothing I feared about the mission besides the sting of knowing I would be a murderer afterwards, however I was anxious and nervous as any new astronaut would be.

When asked to join the three-person mission that could potentially save the world from the damage that had been caused in such a short amount of time, I was shocked.

"You are young, intelligent, and brave, Sloane," Mission Specialist Cory Gardener told me in a serious, deep tone. "And no one else is willing," he added sympathetically with a touch of will-you-please-say-yes in his eyes.

I was fresh out of college, and this would be my first mission. I wasn't as fearful as I should have been because deep down, I didn't know what I was doing with my life anyways. No family, no friends, no reason to survive. I was the perfect candidate. They knew that just as well as I did.

Hayden, however, was on the opposite end of the totem pole, with much more at stake if the mission were to go south. With two daughters under five, and a pregnant wife at home isolating themselves among the newfound chaos, he knew how much he was risking. His ultimate motivation for agreeing was the hope that he would come back to a perfect world where his children and wife could go outside and enjoy the simplicity of nature without the radiation itching at their skin. The 14 million dollar payout each of us were to receive spoke loudly to him as well, I'd assume.

"Right now, it is 8 o'clock here in Cape Canaveral," Shiloh yawned out as he looked down at his watch which surprisingly wasn't touchscreen, "and we are set to launch at 6 a.m. tomorrow morning," He looked back up at Hayden and I with a blank stare, then gave Commander Gardener a swift glance of acknowledgement that he was still there standing in the corner. "Let's all get some rest in the sleeping quarters, and we will get up at 4 a.m., giving us two hours to conduct ourselves before launch," he finally added with a tired, low voice.

I glanced around, reading the room. I could tell everyone was feeling the exhaustion of the past week, in which we crammed in seven weeks of training into 168 hours. There wasn't any time to waste.

4 A.M. came faster than fire spreading across rooftops, burning my eyes while I rubbed them slowly at the adjustment to the bright, white light beeping on in the sleeping quarters.

I stepped out of tiny, twin size canopy bed and down the two stairs that held it up, and made my way to the suit-up room.

By the elevator, Hayden and Shiloh were already waiting for me.

The ride to the launch pad was quiet, with low sighs and finger tapping, plus a little bit of leg shaking.

3.. 2.. 1 ..

And we were off.

I immediately felt the greatness of speed weigh my entire body down, as if I were three times my actual size, and it felt like there were boulders sitting in my chest.

I took a deep breath in, and let it out with ease.

It was time to save the world.