1 Chapter 1: An Ordinary Girl

"Hey honey, how about you get out of that digital book and come back to reality," mom said from the bedroom door. Agatha took off the glasses that displayed small holographic words on their lenses, then unplugged herself from the M.I.N.D mechanism that hung from her bed.

"Mom, I was just about to kiss Chris Hampshire on a mountain at sunset," Agatha pouted, not looking too pleased. Her mom looked agitated.

"I don't know what these girls get from having a simulated boyfriend. Why not go out and get a real boyfriend, instead of some rich space boy that doesn't even know they exist?" Mom mutters to herself, just loudly enough to be heard.

"Mom, that happened way back when the female human race roamed the Earth. Real boyfriends are so old-world times," Agatha said in a smart tone of voice.

"Young lady, I know my history. Please don't berate me, that's my job," Mom said, upset by her daughter's comment. Agatha realized that she'd accidentally disrespected her mother.

"Oh, I'm sorry mom, I was just teasing!" Agatha got up from her bed, looking sorrowful. Mom's face softened up

"I forgive you for now, but only because it's Mother Earth's Memorial month. It's not the time to be mad," her mother grinned. Agatha smiled sweetly in relief. "Now make your bed and come and have a cookout."

"Oh God," Agatha said, looking down in embarrassment.

"Hey, I'm not like you. I didn't run off and get implants against my mother's wishes," mom replied sharply, her voice raised a little. Agatha sighed and placed her hand on the back of her neck, where she could feel a line of three little holes in her skin. They were outlined by a very flexible iron ring. In the closest one to her hairline, there was a red light within the ring. The second one below that had a blue light, and the third one was purple.

"Are you going to bring that up every year? I've had this for three years running now. It's getting old," Agatha grumbled with a little eye roll.

"You sold your brain for herd mentality, whereas I stick to what matters, like remembering the ways of the past. It may be old-fashioned, but it's also a tribute to all of the people who died," mom went on, as if giving a lecture.

"I didn't sell my brain, mom, it's all about entering into the new generation," Agatha said, disregarding her mom's comment

"And I say the new generation of brain selling can go where the sun doesn't shine. We are doing this or you are welcome to move out," Mom barked, before turning away and leaving the room. Agatha turned towards the bed.

"I'm taking this to my grave," she whispered as she fixed her bed sheets.

After she was done making her bed, she left her room and walked down the hallway. When she reached the living room, she turned to the big glass doors that faced the couch and an old wooden table. Agatha pretended not to notice her living conditions, as she had for years. Not one of her friends had visited and it was going to stay that way. They would continue to believe that she lived in the most modern house on the market, and not some one-story wooden horror house that was built when the first generation landed on this planet. Agatha never mentioned how she wished her mother would just sell it, but her second great grandmother had left the property in her will. Agatha decided to respect that for now, for the sake of her mother. She unlocked the door and slid it open. There it was, in all its rusty glory - the grill. Agatha shook her head at the sight of it.

"Don't look so excited now - grab some coal and put it on the grill!" Mom said. Agatha stepped outside onto the concrete patio and turned left towards a long-woven table with chairs. There were hamburgers in plastic and corn wrapped up in foil, as well as Tupperware containing lettuce and tomatoes and packets of ketchup and mayonnaise. A bag of coal sat beside one of the chairs.

"Oh, this looks good," Mom exclaimed proudly.

"It looks delicious," Agatha admitted. Mom smiled.

"Just in time - turn on the TV," she said. Agatha went over to the woven table, under which there was a box. With a flicker, a holograph picture appeared. It was a woman in a white dress with pointed sleeves, a photo of Mother Earth behind her.

"Hello to the new and old generations out there. As you know, we are here to celebrate, but also mourn, the day that man discovered space travel. Space travel was made possible by scientists: Marlow West, Steve Stephen, Charlotte Smith, and Luis Terence. They were given the task to save humanity. Time wasn't on their side. Mother Earth's oceans had covered half of the large countries and completely submerged the small islands. Over the years, millions of people disappeared and were declared dead as the ocean completely flooded entire states. This caused mass panic across the world. Many announced that this was the apocalypse of mankind. The human race was forced to leave their whole lives behind, even their families. Those who did survive were moved into facilities or were made homeless. The latter had to sail to their homes, which were half submerged by the oceans. Scientists revealed that we only had eighty years left. The government stopped funding any projects and instead directed all of their money into space travel. Thirty years flew by as scientists scrambled to assemble the historical spacecraft called U.S.A.R Vesper; as the name suggests, the United States and Russia joined forces to utilize their top scientists. By the time they'd finished building it, the oceans had consumed more than half of the country. The cries of the people were loud and many citizens began to revolt. The governments had no choice but to go into a military rule. Those who participated in violent crimes were shot on sight. Those who obeyed were taken to safe shelters on high ground. This divided the world into those who were anti-government and those who remained civil. The government had no choice but to turn on some of its people, in order to protect others. We call those the horrific years of mass world death. We can never undo what was done, but we pay our respect by reminding ourselves every year of the individuals who died. In the year 3030, the world was almost entirely submerged by the ocean. The U.S.A.R Vesper was declared fully operational even without the space travel, but the scientists had built a working eco-environment system that would support human life. An imminent world evacuation was declared. Hundreds of humans were gathered into rockets and launched into space, where the mothership collected them. This took over six months but what was left of the human race was successfully collected. Although only half a million humans remained, we did survive. We survived and voyaged into space for 1.60 million years before discovering how to warp in space, and we are forever grateful to the beings who were lost for getting us to this planet through their own sacrifice and hard work. We, the People of planet Vesper, will always remember those of the past."