Free Bright Horizons by Wilson Harp

stepped
up to the podium.
    “Thank
you everyone. Please find your seats.”
    “That’s
Ambassador Thomas,” Alex told her as more people started filling up the room.
    She
wasn’t that politically aware, but she still didn’t think very many people
would be able to name any ambassador.
    “Alex,
I thought this was a geological project. Why are there so many military people
here? And why is an Ambassador in charge of this meeting?”
    “Shhh.
You’ll find out in a couple of minutes.”
    “But…”
    “Shhh.”
    “Don’t
you shush me, tell me what…”
    “Am
I going to have to separate you two?” The cheerful voice of Doctor Amanda
Reeling suddenly interrupted as she stuck her head between the squabbling
siblings.
    “Amanda,
what are you doing here?” Emily said as she stood up and hugged her dear
friend.
    “Doctor
Berg asked me to be a part of the project, do you know who is heading it up?”
    “I
am,” whispered Emily as the doors closed and quiet finally settled over the
room.
    “Good
afternoon everyone, thank you for coming,” Ambassador Thomas began speaking.
“Those who are not familiar with our project will be given a set of data with
all information. Please hold all questions until the end of our presentation,
if you will. Let me lay out a few basic facts that you may need time to adjust
to.”
    Emily
shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She had agreed to head up this project based
upon her previous work with Doctor Berg, but she now had the sneaking suspicion
that she had been had.
    “The
first fact is that we have made contact with an alien race.”
    Emily
felt the blood rush to her head. While others in the room gasped or went pale,
she became focused.
    “The
aliens that we first encountered are known as the Hedali. Due to some
circumstances that arose during our initial meeting with them, we have been
invited to have a few of our scientists go to a deep space research facility.
This, I think we can all agree, will be a wonderful step towards expanding our
knowledge of the Universe.”
    “Indeed,”
thought Emily. “This is like discovering fire.”
    “Please,
let’s hold all questions for just a little longer,” said Ambassador Thomas,
trying to maintain control of the increasingly loud mutterings filling the
small auditorium.
    Emily
barely heard the rest of the short introduction. She started devouring the
information pack and getting ready to lead her team. By the end of the day she
knew that she would be in deep space in two months and that her team would be
making breakthroughs that would lead humanity into the future.
     
    28 September
2042
     
    Emily
looked over and saw her brother strapped in next to her. He gave her a quick
wink and smile, which made her smile back at him.
    The
Shuttle Greenway was roaring to life. Emily and her team were going to be
traveling to a deep space research station seventeen light years from earth.
Amazingly, the longest part of the trip would be the eight day journey aboard
the earth vessel. From there, the six humans who would be continuing on would
be in a Hedali scout vessel that would be able to reach the station in less
than fourteen hours.
    Doctors
Amanda Reeling and Howie Grant were her fellow researchers on this mission. Her
brother and Colonel Kyle Martin made up the security detail for her team and Ambassador
Jim Thomas was the diplomat who had talked his way into being aboard the
station.
    She
didn’t really care as she was going to be meeting aliens soon. Real, living,
honest to goodness aliens. She felt giddy and started to grin. Then she felt
the Shuttle moving and felt her stomach drop. She was never a big fan of
amusement park rides, and that is exactly what the launch reminded her of.
Gratefully the feeling stopped in a few minutes.
    “Ladies
and gentlemen, welcome to outer space,” Captain Brendlin announced over the
intercom system. “We will be rendezvousing with the Space Station Galaxy in a
couple of hours. After a brief stop