The Witness

"This is my 48 th message. 9 February 2098. Repeating all formalities. My name is Elle Jackson. I'm 22 years old .....an astronomer by profession ......of course technically according to Earth's time I am 83 years old" I muttered under my breath. "I have been here on asteroid 8321 for ummm... 74 years. Time in comparison to earth here is very slow. I have sent distress messages 72 years back but...... for all I know, I am still here. For the first time in all those years I've received a message a minute back.... (of course that is half a year for Earth) on asteroid 8321. I received small Drone containing a message that around a year (Earth time) henceforth a spaceship will be arriving to take me home back to earth.I have lost all contact with all people on Earth and this is the first contact I have had with them in so much time. I have no idea; absolutely none about what's going on earth. "I added, pausing not knowing what to say "now I better hurry up and get my stuff packed to leave because...... that one year of earth are 2 minutes for me. "Now" I said holding back a sob of relief "I just want to say that I am really happy to go back and-- end message" I completed as I shut down my laptop. It was perhaps old Technology for all I knew but as I said in my message I had already lost all contact with people of Earth. My SOS capsule had been sent into Earth and the scientist team at headquarters had perhaps decoded it. The message I had gotten said that they had sent a spaceship to rescue me.' The spaceship has arrived' I thought as a huge mass of machinery descended on the surface. I took all my stuff and entered inside. I didn't have much; my food resources were almost exhausted, water was something I had been running short of. I hadn't even had a single sip of water for the past 3 days. I dashed inside the spaceship and drank whole 3 bottles of water. I went into the engine room and quickly reprogrammed its controls gunning The Other systems up and down programming them to go back to earth.

When I entered my room I saw a laptop sitting on my deck beeping 'beep beep beep'. I quickly placed my palm to the little device on the left and the image of doctor Woods blinked on the screen ."Elle Jackson" he said "welcome back aboard on your spacecraft. We hope that your journey back to Earth is a pleasant one. The technology has changed long since you were gone. We have long left the speed of light behind and we are now moving 3 times faster than its speed. Now it will only take 30 yrs of Earth's time and an hour for you to go back to earth" he paused maybe hesitating against saying something and then added "this is a recording, your questions cannot be answered here, there is a small digital library to the left of your room in the narrow corridor. Any questions you have maybe answered there. Thank you" he said at last. The message blinked down. "Ok" I said to myself as I quickly made my way to the library. I skimmed through the digital books looking for something interesting to read. I found a glowing book, set in the corner. I picked it up opening the microphone attached to its cover. The cover opened. "Questions ? "it asked in a deep heavy voice. "Diary" I said "tell me what I have missed". Thousands of images whizzed pass its two screens at full speed and then through my eyes. I was surprised to look at them. Apparently, nuclear power stations in many countries had been increased. Everything from cooking to lighting to air conditioners to airplanes, spacecraft to raising the cattle was now done by nuclear power. "Now that's interesting "I said to myself. I quickly made my way then to the kitchen and ate some food. I went back to the room and quickly flipped my laptop open putting the camera mode on ready to record messages. I wanted to record my Eternal Joy on returning back to my home planet I guess."13 March 2098" I said speaking into the mic piece "I am returning back to earth after let's see hmm 89 years. I will be approaching planet Earth in........approximately" I said glancing at my watch "15 minutes...... pause video" I said as I suddenly remembered to follow the safety protocols and process all particulars which were given in the digital book.

I went to the engine room and quickly began preparing myself for entering the atmosphere of the earth. Suddenly a red light reflected across the glass pane of the engine room. I floated towards the window my body quite uncomfortable in walking in Zero Gravity without my suit which I had removed on coming into the ship. To my utter surprise I saw earth as a huge ball of gas and fire as a new star except smaller. "What no no no......" I said my voice barely a Whisper. Fear begins to grip me. The earth like I knew was no longer as it used to be. I stared at the window in deep concentration as another blast set of from earth surface. KABOOM. I shuddered. Another explosion set off from Earth's surface. I raced from the engine room back to my room quickly switching on my paused video ."You should see this", I said to the camera "the earth is ..... different. Really it's better that I show you". I took the laptop along with me to the biggest window to get a better view. Another explosion took off from Earth's surface. "Nuclear power was said would destroy men and now it has" I said to the camera. For almost a century I've waited to come back to my home.......and now I have none left to go to "I said in a pained voice. I glanced at the space around me. The rubble from the explosion floated around here and there like asteroids but smaller than the one I had been on. The whole space around me was a sea of Fire. Earth itself looked like a huge ball of fire; like it had looked millions of years ago when the planet first had been made. A huge chunk of rubble from Earth's explosion came dashing towards me at full speed. I glanced wistfully at the controls knowing that I would never have enough time to go back to steer the ship away from it. Then I turned back to the window my head high as I got ready to face my death in an extraordinary beautifully horrifying calm way. "End message" I said to the camera. For my last words, I doubt they were qualified enough to be made on my grave, of course, I would never have one.