Chapter 28

A couple of years later...

Everything went leaps and bounds. Faster than anyone can even adjust properly. The Prime Minister literally pushed forth decree after decree to expedite the creation of a space defense force who, by the way was only some sort of ceremonial one before the creation of the string engine.

Proper cruisers with the ability to protect the Solar system from internal and external threats. Humanity finally have an actual interstellar navy and the dreams and visions of the sci-fi writers before are now a reality.

Economy boomed as if a bomb was dropped on a calm lake. Everything boiled and became restless. The companies who focused on the jump engines went bankrupt almost overnight. They can't handle the numbe rof the people wanting to sell their stocks and thus was forced to declare bankruptcy.

New and upstart companies that's related or somehow related and with the capabilities to produce the string engines literally went rich overnight.

Factories, smelting facilities, mining companies and many more has seen a significant boom on their stocks.

The domino effect has started to fall into place...

In the matter of days, all jump drives are replaced by the "string engines" These string engines are a nickname given by the scientists themselves who picked from a plethora of submitted entries. They chose this as some sort of hat tip to the String dimension and to easily differentiate it from other sort of interstellar engine.

The scientists all over the solar system aren't the best on giving names for things. Some said it should be some weird sounding, almost tongue twisting name with numbers all over it.

So, as per traditions, they let the kindergarten to middle school children pick the name as they're more creative than they all are combined.

An expedition on set to leave before the end of the year 2148 has been met with intense criticisms from the opposition.

They argued that it's not the right time as they have first consolidate the gains and wonders of the string engine before setting their eyes for the new world.

A fierce debate that lasted 72 hours straight has concluded in a win by the opposition with the vote difference of 1. Yes, one. The whole whole future rested on a single vote.

Anyway, at present, the second colonization ship named Columbus is about to depart from a space dock on Mars. This ship is equipped with the most advance communication technologies, and can easily travel almost near the speed of light. The string engine, and two thousand men from all walks of all who volunteered for this expedition.

From engineers, to doctors, to the simplest of men. They're all present here. Some of them wanted to start a new life, some wanted to experience the thrill and be the first men to step on an entirely different star system if you won't count the first ship.

Glory, chance, and gold are the primary reasons why these two thousand men volunteered for this risky one way trip.

On the deck, people wearing spandex suits can be seen saying goodbye to their families or/and friends.

Their suit has the logo of the World government of Earth. A true mark of their origin.

On a random family, a family of with no children can be seen hugging an old couple.

"Promise me, you'll behave there sweetie okay?" said an old woman while hugging her dear son tightly. Her tears are slowly beginning to fall but she persevered to prevent her son from seeing that she's currently at her weakest state.

What she and her husband is feeling today is the same feeling they felt a decade ago when their son first moved out of the house to grow as a human. They never thought that such a day will happen again but this time, the distance is in the millions of kilometers and they're literally seperated from each other by the cold, and unforgiving space.

"I promise mom. Don't worry, everything will be fine as it should be. Nothing bad will happen, plus I'm your son! I won't die easily, you may have forgotten that I'm the best archaeologist alive!" the man around 20's to 30's laughed and joked around to lift the mood up and not have their goodbye sad. His tears are threatening to fall as he said goodbye to his parents.

His wife is an orphan who became his assistant and they gone on to adventures such as tomb raiding, parties all over the world, opening the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi, and many more.

They became rich and even famous. But with the prospect of even more riches and glory that can be seen on the other stars, they're ready to give everything for it.

As they say, you can't grow if you stayed in the box.

His wife rubbed his back as to stop him from crying. His wife has this amicable aura surrounding her, totally different from her self before.

A sound was then heard all over the space dock, the sound that signified that all colonists must board the ship and ready for departure.

"It looks like it's time, until next time, mom and dad." the man smiled to his parents as he and his wife picked up their bags and slowly headed to the boarding gates.

His parents just waved their hands as a last goodbye on the back of their son amd his wife. The tears that's threatening to fall earlier finally fell as if a dam suddenly opened. Tears of love gushed out of the eyes of the couple as their son and his wife finally entered the gates and boarded the ship entirely.

Inside the ISS Columbus, hordes of people started to settle down and searched for their own cabins.

This gargantuan space ship is bigger than the colonization ship sent before. It measured around 2 kilometers in length and at least 4 kilometers in width. It can be a headquarters once landed on a suitable planet and become a whole starting point of civilization in a foreign land.

The docking anchor unlatched itself from the ship who then ignited its thrusters.

The ship slowly floated away from the space dock as the flag of the World Government fluttered on top of the space dock.

The flag is standing on a rather special type of pole who moves to imitate the motion of fluttering.

On the command center, the men and women are watching the colonization ship slowly float in a distance with intense emotions.

The woman in charge of giving the go signal is but nervous to say the very least. Her name will literally be remembered for eons to come for her go signal, the signal which will finally affirm Earth as a Type 2 civilization.

"This is the control center, come in captains, do you copy?" asked the woman on the radio as the transmission immediately reached the cockpit of the ship.

"This is Captain... I can hear you loud and clear." said a man on the other line.

"This is captain... You're loud and clear on my side." said a woman on the other line.

This sort of thing happened for 5 more times aa there are 7 pilots aboard the colonization, all of them are handpicked pilots from both the military and aviation companies.

"That's good to hear everyone. I can hear you all here loud and clear. So, uhm, systems check. Are everything good?" asked the woman in the control tower with hint of nervousness behind her voice.

"Don't be so nervous, everything will be fine. Systems are all green. " said a captain while chuckling on the phone.

"Sorry, the pressure upon my shoulders are just too much." the woman on the control tower laughed dryly.

"We're ready, you can give the signal." said a captain with a weird voice and a voice crack. You can't exactly tell what he's currently feeling. But you can imply that he too is nervous based on the voice crack earlier.

"Then, on behalf of all the people here, watching live in their homes, phones, televisions, and many more. We wish the new heroes of humanity a safe trip." her voice sjowed signs of adaptation as she spoke out of her hear and not the pre determined script she was given beforehand.

"Upon your ship carries humanity's hope. Set forth and let the spirits of the galaxy and universe if they so exist guide you..."

And with that, the thrusters has finally ignited at full and the string engine spun rapidly as a portal opened at the bow of the colonization ship who entered it shortly after.

And just like that, humanity is on its way to meet with the Citadel.

Humanity's first contact will surely end in a disaster to the point that Earth will be threatened.

Who will save them? Can they even be saved? Is this what they call the price od curiosity?

The answer is I don't know...