About eight years have passed since beings from Sector 2 planet V67 came and started a war with us, the human race. They wanted to obtain our world for their purposes, which are unknown to me, or any of us. The adults have sent us here to protect us from them. They have decided to transport us, the kids, to planet X715, which is unknown to other races of beings.
We are sent in SPD-spheres, which are spheres made of a man-made element and whose interior is completely secluded from the outside. We are transported in these SPD-spheres through black holes to Sector 9 planet V67. The trip is brutal; some of us are hurt, because of the compression of matter, which feels like being put inside a bottle. When we land here we are identified, and we become part of a kids’ world.
I was part of the first generation to come here, and now I am fifteen years old. I will have to leave soon, and go back home to fight and take part in the Great War, like many others who have gone before me.
Unlike the planet we left from when we became four years old, this planet does not have violence, anger, envy, or war. The other kids have not experienced it and don’t know what it is, but when they return—besides facing the war—they will also experience the real world. Without the adults and their different world, we have lived in peace, with respect towards each other, and we have fun.
Right now I am in the “World Centre,” planning what the others and I must do to face the evil among us.
It all started three days ago, when some of the older teens started what must be a war, after many years of peace among us. I, along with the other three world leaders of the four sovereignties, have to join forces to plan what we are going to do.
I said, “What are we going to do? We are the future of the human race.”
“I don’t think there will be any following generations. The others are very strong, and many have died,” answered Jonathon, another world council president.
“But…”
“That is enough. We are fighting; I don’t know with what, but we are not just going to stand here and not put up a good fight!”
One of the council assistants, JK, came in running. He looked very exhausted and was out of breath.
“Hello, Smiley,” he said.
“Yes, what do you want?”
“The others have started to attack the main cities. Many have died. They have declared a fight. Look!”
He turned on the monitor in front of the world council leaders. On the screen there was a news broadcast, and in it were two huge buildings. They were the tallest in the world and they were on fire. About nine minutes had passed since they had started seeing the broadcast, and they just stood, petrified, as they saw people running. There was smoke everywhere. Then one of the buildings collapsed.
“I can’t believe this! How could this have happened?” I exclaimed.
“They want to rule over our planet, like the adults,” said Eva.
“Where did they get ammunition, first of all?” questioned Jonathon.
“We must do something!” cried Eva.
“But we don’t have weapons!” reminded JK.
“We should try talking with them,” suggested Smith.
“No; they’re like the adults. They won’t listen,” I said.
Lately this group of older kids had been acting very strange; they were very distant from the group and hardly ever participated in anything.
Now that I think of it, they did not come in SPD-spheres; they just appeared one day and incorporated into our world.
“Maybe they are not humans, maybe they’re aliens, like those in the book Childhood’s End, which took over the world,” said Smith.
“Or maybe they are disguised aliens, like Valentine M. Smith in Stranger in a Strange Land,” JK added.
“You got that wrong. Valentine was human, but he grew up on Mars, smartass,” I corrected.
Eva said, “Whatever they are, what is going to happen? What if the adults come and see there is no more Kid’s World?”
“We are going to have to fight back.”
“…But the rules—”
“Would you want to die?”
“Of course not!”
“Well, then, let’s go.”
I communicated back to Earth and gave the situation to the Earth military chief, Reltih Izan.
He responded. “We anticipated this might happen, which is why we left weapons in a subterranean chamber: Region 0, Zone 3. Good lu—” The transmission stopped abruptly.
While Smith and I went to look for the chamber, Eva and Jonathon called the older children to come and get ready for a war.
After Smith and I found the chamber, we went back to the main hall. Many had been summoned there; then Smith and I headed to the chamber and got ready for the fight.
Many died, but in the end—after weeks of a well-fought war—we won. Few lived to tell the tale.
I never thought this would happen. How could a war have started here, among kids?
I thought that I would never see a war; not until I got back to Earth. But I was wrong.
Showing posts with label space travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space travel. Show all posts
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Documented: The Cold War and Space Exploration
Are you mystified by the objects in the sky? People have been wondering about the universe since humans appeared on Earth. Questions like why the moon sometimes disappeared, or why stars sometimes fell from the sky have been answered, but we are still left with new questions. Not many years ago, the United States and other countries around the world started to embark on the journey to explore space. Russia started the Space Age with the launch of the first artificial, satellite Sputnik 1, into space on October 4, 1957. This marked the beginning of the Cold War and the space era.
This happened after World War II. Due to the intense rivalry mounting between the communist and non-communist nations, a “cold war” started. The war was called that because there was no armed or “hot” conflict; instead, they fought indirectly by taking part in conflicts around the world. The USA and USSR both developed inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and hydrogen bombs. It was on that October day that the Soviets used a missile to launch Sputnik 1 into space and the “arms race evolved into a space race” (Essortment).
This event made space exploration part of daily conversations of everyone around the world. The author Homer Hickam clearly demonstrates this in his book, October Sky, where Sonny, the main character, gets an interest in the subject of space exploration after he sees the satellite Sputnik 1 pass above his house. He first hears about it, one early morning, when his mom wakes him up after hearing about the launch by the Soviets. Although she is clueless about what the radio presenter was talking about, Sonny figures he was talking about a satellite because of all the science fiction books he reads and his dad’s science magazines. His interest grows so much that he is “fascinated by the whole thing.” He reads articles that have reference to “Cape” and keeps himself close to the television set, “for the latest on what they were doing.” When he says “Cape,” he is talking about Cape Canaveral in Florida, where the American scientists and engineers were “desperately working to catch up with the Russians” (Hickam).
It was on November 3, of the same year, that Sputnik 2 was launched, with a dog named Laika in it. However, it did not take long before the United States launched their first satellite.
With the help of German émigré Wernher von Braun, and the V-2 rocket, upgraded with designs for very powerful rocket engines, the United States had the ability to become part of the Space Age. In 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed to become a good example for technological excellence, which was another goal of the United States with its participation in the Cold War, to demonstrate a superiority in technology by claiming mastery of the sky. It was on January 31, 1958, that Satellite 1958 Alpha (sometimes referred to as Explorer 1) was the first United States satellite launched into space. In April, Russia was the first to launch a piloted space flight. The person who orbited the Earth was cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin (Booth).
There was one group before von Braun and NASA that also made major contributions to space exploration and still is one of the leading centers for planetary exploration. It was formed by a group of Caltech graduates who began experimenting with rockets in 1944, but did not want to take part in the race for political prestige; they did it for scientific investigation. And they did accomplish lots of goals, like the Mariner 2 travel-by of Venus in December, 1962 (Booth).
The Russians were viewed as rivals, and they were very smart in the eyes of Americans. Other space probes had been launched and had reached their destinations, like Mercury and Venus, before the trip to the moon. On July 20, 1969, the United States made a great advancement when astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 lunar module. That day, Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.
The Cold War started to fade around 1970 when both countries began to pursue different goals in space.
These events led to the beginning of the Space Age, which won’t have an end because the universe does not end and still continues to grow. We could say that if there had been no Cold War, there would not have been so much advancement in space exploration, because the Cold War was the drive that led to major steps in the journey of humanity to explore the unknown.
Works Cited
Booth, Nicholas. Exploring The Solar System . Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1995.
Essortment. 5 September 2007.
Hickam, Homer. October Sky. New York: Delacort Press, 1998.
This happened after World War II. Due to the intense rivalry mounting between the communist and non-communist nations, a “cold war” started. The war was called that because there was no armed or “hot” conflict; instead, they fought indirectly by taking part in conflicts around the world. The USA and USSR both developed inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and hydrogen bombs. It was on that October day that the Soviets used a missile to launch Sputnik 1 into space and the “arms race evolved into a space race” (Essortment).
This event made space exploration part of daily conversations of everyone around the world. The author Homer Hickam clearly demonstrates this in his book, October Sky, where Sonny, the main character, gets an interest in the subject of space exploration after he sees the satellite Sputnik 1 pass above his house. He first hears about it, one early morning, when his mom wakes him up after hearing about the launch by the Soviets. Although she is clueless about what the radio presenter was talking about, Sonny figures he was talking about a satellite because of all the science fiction books he reads and his dad’s science magazines. His interest grows so much that he is “fascinated by the whole thing.” He reads articles that have reference to “Cape” and keeps himself close to the television set, “for the latest on what they were doing.” When he says “Cape,” he is talking about Cape Canaveral in Florida, where the American scientists and engineers were “desperately working to catch up with the Russians” (Hickam).
It was on November 3, of the same year, that Sputnik 2 was launched, with a dog named Laika in it. However, it did not take long before the United States launched their first satellite.
With the help of German émigré Wernher von Braun, and the V-2 rocket, upgraded with designs for very powerful rocket engines, the United States had the ability to become part of the Space Age. In 1958, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was formed to become a good example for technological excellence, which was another goal of the United States with its participation in the Cold War, to demonstrate a superiority in technology by claiming mastery of the sky. It was on January 31, 1958, that Satellite 1958 Alpha (sometimes referred to as Explorer 1) was the first United States satellite launched into space. In April, Russia was the first to launch a piloted space flight. The person who orbited the Earth was cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin (Booth).
There was one group before von Braun and NASA that also made major contributions to space exploration and still is one of the leading centers for planetary exploration. It was formed by a group of Caltech graduates who began experimenting with rockets in 1944, but did not want to take part in the race for political prestige; they did it for scientific investigation. And they did accomplish lots of goals, like the Mariner 2 travel-by of Venus in December, 1962 (Booth).
The Russians were viewed as rivals, and they were very smart in the eyes of Americans. Other space probes had been launched and had reached their destinations, like Mercury and Venus, before the trip to the moon. On July 20, 1969, the United States made a great advancement when astronauts Neil A. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo 11 lunar module. That day, Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon.
The Cold War started to fade around 1970 when both countries began to pursue different goals in space.
These events led to the beginning of the Space Age, which won’t have an end because the universe does not end and still continues to grow. We could say that if there had been no Cold War, there would not have been so much advancement in space exploration, because the Cold War was the drive that led to major steps in the journey of humanity to explore the unknown.
Works Cited
Booth, Nicholas. Exploring The Solar System . Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1995.
Essortment. 5 September 2007
Hickam, Homer. October Sky. New York: Delacort Press, 1998.
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