Onward(Victoria) I always knew I was special. Born into a rich family with a good reputation. My own father was a billionaire. But now I know: I must have been absolutely blessed. That’s the only way I can put it. Because as I stared at the Earth crumbling away in the distance, fiery jets projecting from what remains of its barren surface, a numbness fills my heart. I realized that I am the only human who survived the Catastrophe. The only human left in the whole universe.

I am not sad, but most definitely not happy. It’s quite hard to process everything. Life doesn’t feel real. Can I even call it life anymore? Everyone I know is dead. The world is gone. I’m all alone, in this capsule headed for a planet inhabited by soon-to-be lifeless robots.

But this is how it had to be. I was the chosen one.

We had prepared for this day. The day of ruin. Humanity’s extinction. Whatever you’d like to call it.

The prophecy was fulfilled and it simply involved me. As the youngest daughter of one of the world’s major leaders, born under the star sign of Scorpio at exactly 1:30 am, with Saturn in retrograde, this is just how it was.

The shuttle had been stocked. There’s an astronaut suit for me with several refillable air tanks. The control panel, positioned under a large screen, sits next to a compartment stashed with just-add-water-based meals and freeze-dried appetizers. Delectable.

There’s even a Wifi hotspot, a wireless charger, and a stand for my phone. The option to select a book to read flashes on the surface before me. The scientists ensured that my adventure would not be a boring one.

There’s also temperature control and many other features. Information about the weather in space. Details on the stars I pass. Update on the air quality in the capsule.

My seat even reclines into a bed, and a large space blanket is provided. There is a bathroom chute with a sink—limited water, of course—at the back of the shuttle. It’s like my own private apartment.

Nothing like my old home, of course. I am used to large mansions and lakehouses, so the confined corners of this contraption do nothing to help my anxiety. But I know I mustn’t fear. The fate of humanity has been entrusted in my hands and I cannot let anything distract me.

The sperm has already been implanted in my urethra. Soon I will be with child. I should give birth shortly after the descent.

Still, I cannot shake this numbness from my core. Was it worth sacrificing 10 billion humans just so we could move forward? Was it worth leaving my family to crumble, along with everything else on the once-lush planet?

I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if I died along with everyone else, leaving the human race nothing but a faint memory. Would the afterlife be the better option?

No.

I mustn’t doubt now. This is my mission.

I decide to check Earth’s status, another glorious feature of the capsule. Soon after clicking the red button, a female voice declares, the Catastrophe, occurring in 2105, began the age of ruin for humanity. During this time, the seas dried, the plates shifted, and molten rock and uncontrollable wildfires raged throughout civilization. This incident was titled ‘the end of the world’, more commonly known by TEOTW on social media. Many believe this development was the anger of Earth, after years of environmental mistreatment. Others say it was the will of God, and that it was always humanity’s destiny to be judged and return to His dwelling. The start of the Catastrophe sparked NASA’S plan, Artemis Soar, fulfilling a prophet who claimed to be a time traveler’s predictions. The prophet’s identity will remain unknown and it has not been confirmed if his ‘time traveling’ was real…however, his predictions were accurate. They stated that the purest human woman would preserve humanity, venture to Mars, and rebuild civilization there. She would be known as Gaia II. It was the prophet’s hope that this age of humans would treat the Red Planet better than they had Earth.

The Artemis Soar project officially begin in 2108 and was completed in 2111, considered the year of hope, as most of humanity was lost in despair with over three-fourths of the population killed by the thick air, volcanic ash, or dehydration and disease.

Gaia was eighteen at the time of launch. She was launched in 2112, and, according to the prophet’s predictions, Earth was destroyed completely in 2114. Now Gaia waits on her [4-month] voyage to the domes located on Mars’ city, Eutopolis—founded in 2087—where she will raise many children with the help of pre-disposed sperm. It is mankind’s hope that Mars will flourish into a second Earth, hosting advanced humans who are superior in all aspects.

So the scientists pre-programmed the Earth-log. Interesting.

I accepted the name Gaia without much debate. It was a name far more captivating than my birth label, Maria. Besides, the prideful expressions on my parents’ faces filled me with joy.

Joy. A foreign emotion now.

The chosen one must not concern herself with emotions anyway. Emotions are unneeded for what must proceed. I am the purest human with the purest morals and fertility state. To come to this conclusion, I had undergone many tests that began as soon as I left my mother’s womb. I had to travel a lot as well. My earliest, most vivid memory of Earth is viewing the towering mountains of Switzerland through the transparent window of the SuperTrain. However, I was far more interested in my own reflection than in the passing wonders of nature. I recall watching myself stare back at me in the glass, my jet-black hair neatly combed back and my olive skin glowing in the sunlight.

I wish I had enjoyed the scenery more. But it cannot be helped—I was only three, after all.

Gazing out the window at the endless starlit void, I sigh and reach for the screen, selecting a movie I like. As I recline in my seat, I reach down and feel my stomach. It has already started to expand thanks to hyperspeed birthing technology. Soon this baby will be born. I will give birth to many more afterward.

I am the chosen mother, the entity that will bring hope to humankind.

I gaze back out the window as the movie’s intro plays. 20th century fox, the screen reads.

I wonder if people in the 20th century knew of the prophecy. They had to at least know of the ruin that awaited them. Maybe they did not have the technology to move forward as we did, but it was not as if there weren’t warnings.

Still, what can be done?

The new generation of humans will be pure and kindhearted. They will be intelligent and superior in mental and physical attributes. They will be tall. They will be light. They will soar like birds on Mars, never knowing the burden of the dark history of Earth.

I will be the only vessel to that information. And when I die, it will die with me. I have no intention of informing my children of the ill behavior of humanity.

Well…perhaps I’ll tell my children about the mountains of Switzerland. But that will be all.

And so my voyage continues, the quiet whirring of the spacecraft swallowed by the vacuum of space. The movie’s audio captures my attention and I turn my eyes away from the window and towards the screen, rubbing my stomach as I feel a light kick.

Farewell, Earth.

Onward to Mars.

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