Going Home

GOING HOME

I should have gone home by now. I never meant to stay this long. People must think I’m never coming back. Even my husband probably thinks I’m dead because there was always a good chance of that. You’ll understand as I tell my story. No-one else really wanted to go. There were so few young women left. We were the only hope. Someone needed to step up and I felt I had less to lose than most. My marriage was in a mess, and so was the world, so I put myself forward.

It was 2031 when we first picked up meaningful signals, sent by an intelligent civilisation, out there, somewhere, further than even Voyager 1 had sent back messages from.

Added to this, there had been an incredible breakthrough in man’s ability to travel through space. Scientists had discovered that if our spaceships followed the pathway that meteorites had come to Earth on, then we could substantially reduce our travel time. Why had no-one ever thought of this before?

In the end, I was the only survivor of that amazing journey. The brave and selfless crew had got me there; they’d done their job. But what about those who found me? Well, they cared for me, with incredible tenderness, and made me well again, completely well. They’d known about us for a long time, even studied our species. They knew everything about us (maybe that’s why they waited so long to make contact!). They understood the catastrophe that was unfolding on Earth - as we did too of course - but the difference was that they knew what to do about it. The potential infertility of the human race had been a concern since the pandemics (yes, there were more!). Whilst females had seemingly recovered after concerns regarding ovarian dysfunction, menstrual irregularities, fertility challenges, and adverse pregnancy outcomes, the fertility of men had also become a worry but, again, we never really thought it would come to anything; we always thought someone, somewhere was just scare-mongering. How wrong can you be?

Now, 10 years later, my rescuers say it’s time for me to return home and I trust them implicitly. They will help. No, let’s get this right, they’ll do everything! I’m only barely able to understand the basics needed to be a passenger – it wasn’t my brains that got me on that flight here years ago, it was the last glimmer of hope I provided in our race’s survival. The message I carried was clear.

How surprised my family and friends will be to finally see me again - full of energy, with a healthy glow. My hair’s thicker and shinier and I feel absolutely wonderful. I’m in ‘full bloom’ because I’m taking back the greatest gift of all: Hope for the human race. A new baby (yes, I do mean ‘new’) will be born again on earth.

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