Forevermore

Leoni Carson wiped his brow as he looked at the barren landscape. Sand dunes rolled up and down as far as the eye could see. After two weeks of searching for some kind of help on this desert world, Leoni and his crew were becoming very desperate. Only thirteen people survived the crash, a fraction of the seventy-two that originally manned the now destroyed vessel. Leoni sighed as he thought about his broken and abandoned ship.

As a young cadet of the UEE, the Universe Explorers of Earth, he distinguished himself by both his skills and his character. At the beginning, Leoni joined in an attempt to find who he really was and to find who he should be. Touring many planets occupied by humans and many others that were not, Leoni did learn something. He learned that the universe is a very lonely place, filled mostly with emptiness. The UEE had an eighty-five percent drop-out rate within the first two years and those that did not drop out were changed forever. Some say that exploring the universe is an addiction, fed by excitement. For Leoni Carson, his addiction was loneliness, and the universe was glad to provide.

The star ship captain’s mood had been solemn for the last couple days. Several people had died of heat stroke, fueled by the binary stars that heated the scorching desert. Water was running low, and the few remaining human beings knew that this could be their last day. They would finish the last of their water at sunset. The water synthesizer that usually quenched their thirst was destroyed during the crash, and the stores of food were contaminated by fumes from the explosion that followed soon after impact. As they all trekked along the dunes, one of the men suddenly yelled in pain.

“What is it?” the star captain asked.

“I think I just hit a wall,” was the man’s reply.

Hurrying over to where the man was standing, Leoni walked forward cautiously, his hands in front of him, feeling for something that did not appear to be there. As he approached the scene of the accident he heard a slight vibrating noise, like that of electricity. Reaching forward, the tips of his fingers seemed to vanish into thin air and then he felt the cool, hard feeling of a metal surface.

“It’s a cloaking shield all right. Let’s find a way to get in, it may be our only chance of survival,” stated the captain calmly.

All of their gadgetry that they usually packed was either dropped because it was too heavy to keep carrying, or fried in the violent heat. It would have been a simple matter to find the entrance to this unusual place if they had the proper equipment with them still. Feeling their way around the metal surface, they soon find that it is much larger than they had anticipated. It seemed as if it was a giant wall with no end. They walked for miles, dragging their arms along the edge of the surface, but at a relatively slow pace because every so often the wall would jut out and somebody would receive a large bruise on their body.

After about an hour of this, Captain Leoni’s hand brushed over a bump. The men turn to look at him as he stops rather abruptly. Feeling it carefully, he decides to push it, hoping that it is a button. The indentation moves inward, and after a couple seconds of waiting, a loud sound rings in his ears, and then darkness consumes him.

Awakening on a couch was not exactly what Leoni was expecting. He seemed to be in an average living room, at least average for a living room on earth. A little girl was sitting in an adjoin room watching television. A woman suddenly leaned over him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Rise and shine sleepyhead,” the strange woman said lovingly.

“Where am I,” answered a confused but unafraid Leoni.

“At home, where else would you be?”

“Where’s my crew? Do you know what happened to my crew?

“Oh no, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Come on honey; let’s get you to the doctor.”

“What doctor? I need to find my crew. There was this invisible wall.”

“Just come with me, let’s get in the car,” as she started to panic.

“No, I will not get in the car with you and go to some psychotic doctor!”

After saying this, he quickly bolted out the door, but was stopped abruptly after seeing
his surroundings. A blue sky stretched across the horizon, filled with fluffy billowing clouds. Birds sang as they perched in trees, joyful that the day was so beautiful.

“Leoni, wait!”

The strange woman came out of the house and walked towards him. Silence emanated from both of them as they tried to understand what they should do.

“Alright, I’ll go,” came the haggard reply.

The strange woman went back into the house to fetch her daughter. After a minute or so, they were all in a car heading towards the mysterious doctor. Nobody spoke as Leoni stared out the window. Leoni had never been to earth, but he had seen pictures in history books. What he was seeing now looked like the pictures of America at the turn of the twenty-first century. Streetlights lined the side of the two-lane highway. Speed limit signs reading forty-five miles an hour were abundant. What was this place that seemed to be frozen in a time long past? The scenic drive ended abruptly as the car stopped at a large building with large words on the front. The words read, “The Institution.” Fear filled Leoni’s heart as he walked closer to this building. What was going on?

As he walked in, a receptionist greeted him with a smile, but did not ask his name or what he was there for. She just dialed a number into the telephone and told him the doctor would only be a moment. As soon as he sat down to wait, a nurse came to bring him to the room where he would see the doctor. Following the nurse through the hall, he was almost lost in anxiety. As they approached and entered a door, Leoni was surprised to find that he was not in a patient’s room but in the doctor’s office. The doctor faced towards a window at the other end of the room, with his back to his new guest.

“Please sit down,” said the doctor in a deep and powerful voice. “There is much to tell you.”

“So I’m not here for medication?”

“No, no of course not. It is complicated. Why don’t I just simply explain it to you. This place is a safe house, a strong tower for those that have been abused in other parts of the universe. Excuse me; let me start from the beginning. A long time ago, there was a planet called Nuben. The civilization on that planet grew so sophisticated that they learned how to live forever. This further allowed for more technological improvement because people could keep on living and learning forever, continuing to advance without the delay of death. There was complete peace on the planet. There was no hunger or disease. It seemed all evil had left them. Over the course of about a millennia, a gradual change shifted the entire population into something that it did not have before. Everybody was lonely and bored. There seemed to be no new experiences left to do, no new smells or new sights. People were bored with each other and began to search for new things outside of their own planet and their own people. As they left to explore and try to find things that they had not found before, they all went in separate directions, not thinking that they might forever be leaving their friends and family behind. As the years passed, there seemed to be no new things in the universe to find that they had not already experienced, at least at some level. Most of them are dead now, killed by other people that have not found immortality in science. Others killed themselves, not knowing the purpose as to why they should be alive. A select few did find meaning and new experiences, but in a way they did not expect. They found meaning in helping other people. I am one of those few that found meaning. Here, I am conducting an experiment as to how to make human beings as happy as possible. I have already concluded that immortality is not the way to happiness, but the way to loneliness. I am very close to achieving my goal. The people here seem very happy, but they aren’t happy all the time. Permanent happiness makes it normal and nothing special. In order for there to be as much happiness as possible, there must be sorrow and death also. This is where you come in.”

“What about my crew,” Leoni interrupts.

“They are happy. They have been lonely long enough and now have chosen to be happy.”

“What does that mean? Have you drugged them?”

“No, again, of course not. Everybody here is perfectly sane. What is it with you and drugs?”

“Then what do you mean? How did they choose to be happy?”

“They decided to live the life I gave them. I know the lives that people want. I know the lives that people really need, so I give it to them.”

“But what about me? That life you gave me was not the one I wanted. I know what I want.”

“Yes, I know you do. It is a strange concept that I have not dealt with before. No one else has known so exactly what they wanted. No, the life I gave to you is the life that I want. I knew you would not be satisfied. I just had to make sure.” I want you to trade places with me. I want you to become forever immortal and I to become a man that will die.”

“You just told me how bad it is to be immortal. Why would I want that?”
“No, I told you that being immortal is lonely, not bad. I know you Leoni, you love loneliness. You were made for loneliness. No one else in the universe was made for loneliness like you are. I am ready to become old and die. Will you grant me my wish?”

“I don’t have a ship to leave this place. I can only do it if I can explore the universe.”

“I have a ship ready for you.”

Leoni Pondered for a moment, but realized that this was his chance, the life that he really wanted. It was hard to believe that a crash landing on a barren planet could have become such a wondrous adventure that is sure to become many more adventures. Sometimes, things just need to be grasped when they can.

“I accept your offer.”

“Excellent.”