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WOULD YOU FLY TO THE MOON?

15 Nov 2021
by Анна Кочнева

Do you sometimes imagine what life in the future will be like? Creating the game lore, often we speculated about people who would go to the Moon. Will they be dreamers and professionals hoping to start a new chapter in human history? Or daredevils craving to challenge themselves? Or maybe desperate hearts who have nothing to cling to on Earth and want to begin a new life elsewhere? Will a trip to a satellite of Earth ever become commonplace?

Would you dare to travel to space? What would encourage you to do that? A desire to change the world for the better? A thirst to explore new horizons and experience life at its best? Either way, everyone will have their personal motives.

We imagined a bit what would make an average person decide to become a part of the very first colonisation mission to the Moon. Just think how thrilling it would be for them to join the pioneers, risking their lives for the future of humanity, knowing the mission could be a one-way ticket… Surely these people would be very scared. At the same time, they will be the bravest among earthlings. 


***

22 March 2070. 5 a.m. The alarm clock rips you out of a dream. You open your eyes abruptly. It was easy to wake up for your sleep was shallow and disturbed. Today is a big day.

You get up and go to the bathroom. You have a long journey ahead of you, and you need to get ready quickly so that you can get there on time.

You made the decision quickly and it was irrevocable. You knew it would be painful and difficult to leave your familiar life: your loved ones, your friends, your home and your city. You would probably never experience or see many other familiar things: the change of seasons, sunrises and sunsets, the wind blowing, the rain and storm clouds, green trees and blossoming flowers... But this is necessary. For the horrors happening now doom people to the future without the beautiful things we love our planet for.

Last year your family had to move so that your loved ones wouldn't undermine their health completely. You lived near a metallurgical plant where toxic emissions were poisoning everything around: air, water, soil. Such situations are not uncommon now: environmental degradation forces people to look for places where they can still breathe fresh air and see the sun.

A cool shower was pleasantly refreshing. Surprisingly, your mind is absolutely calm. No anxious thoughts, no hectic fuss, no nervousness. You move purposefully toward the only visible hope.

The United Nations began recruiting volunteers for the International Lunar Exploration Project a year ago. The first mission to a satellite of Earth... The desire to provide a better life for your loved ones, especially your child, prompted you to apply. And so today training for a flight into space begin. Perhaps there, 384,400 kilometres away from Earth, you can do something for the people you cherish to improve their existence over time. Chances are you might earn enough to provide your mother with expensive kidney treatment after years of lead poisoning. And maybe the Moon colonisation programme will prove so successful that people on Earth can gradually heal the dying planet.

Quick breakfast. There are only carefully selected products on the table: now it is important to know where the food on the plate came from so as not to accidentally get poisoned, but you are used to it. However, how nice it would be to eat without fear again! Quickly, get dressed and off you go. Maybe someday your small contribution to the space mission will allow all people to eat healthy food again.

On your way to the Astronaut Training Centre, you try to remember every detail. The pretty streets of the small town where you settled down are still napping. But the birds have already begun to sow their trills in the air. You drive out of the town and watch the first rays of dawn sun break through the forest crown on the horizon. The dew on the fields running past get illuminated. You roll down your window. You breathe easily and freely. The pristine beauty of the world. It is strange to think that all this can disappear.

How did we get to this point? Probably, this is the question people ask themselves whenever the consequences of a tangle of wrong decisions drag them down and there comes the understanding that things will not be like before. For so many years of existence, we should have learned to take care of each other and our common home, but human vices always win out for some reason. Apparently it is human nature.

As you head towards the new and unexplored, you feel as if you are balancing on a tightrope stretched over an abyss. What lies ahead? A bright future or the collapse of illusions? Will you be able to cross over to the other side? You realise that you are balancing on this tightrope with everyone else involved in the mission. You will be among the first to attempt to conquer Earth's satellite. If you succeed, it could change everything for those who remain on Earth.

'You will help fix things there, right? And then we can look at the stars and the Sun together again, right?'

'Right.'

'And we can eat apples from the garden, right?'

'Right.'

'Will you bring me a piece of the Moon?' The dear little one looked at you with big glowing eyes on the day of farewell.

'Of course, I will.'

But the mission may turn fatal, you might not come back... And then... No, it is better not to think about it. You take with you the memories of your loved ones - they will help you overcome all the trials and return home safely.

And let it all work out well.

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