Frozen In Space - The Return Home - Original Fiction and Space Art

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Captain Aiya Gupta gently applies left thrusters, correcting the course of her small spacecraft in the direction of a quiet, darkened mass deeper into open space just outside Earth's orbit. Getting closer, the image of The International Space Station starts to take better form. The Station, now an abandoned relic of Earth's past has been preserved by the frozen hands of space. A female-computer generated voice interrupts the silence.

Approaching Gupta Space Monument. Do you wish to override auto-pilot, Captain Gupta?

"No Computer, maintain control. Take the ship around the farther side, viewing the Earth please. Initialize Video Archive: Earth Historical 001," Captain Aiya Gupta responds with a distant calm.

On the main view screen, programatic data dashes from bottom to top, loading... A narrated video sequence ensues, spoken by the same computer voice.

Earth - 2032. A mysterious, deadly virus ravages the entire planet, killing nearly the entire human race. A small group of survivors manages to protect themselves from infection by taking refuge in sealed medical facilities at Space Camp, Huntsville, Alabama, USA. The survivors consist of; three NASA Astronaut Instructors, two medical doctors and eighteen Space Camp students, all uninfected.

Coming to grips with the grim fate that has befallen the Earth's population, the group of survivors realizes that communication with the rest of the planet has ceased. The only light of hope has been established contact with The International Space Station, orbiting Earth and manned by one American Scientist and two Chinese Astronauts. A plan, out of sheer desperation is conceived to use an experimental rocket and spacecraft to launch one of the survivors into space. The cargo: thirty fertilized embryos made from all of those remaining at Space Camp . The last ditch effort from a desperate human legacy.

Citing their recent Astronaut training, the entire group of students insist on being included in the decision as to who would attempt the mission. Agreeing, the adult doctors and instructors conduct a lottery draw to decide the mission commander. The drawn: Shanaya Gupta, PhD - Age 16. Dr. Gupta was a child progeny from India, that was attending Space Camp while studying for a second doctorate in Astro Physics. Space Camp was supposed to be fun for young Shanaya

The mission was destined to be a suicide mission. The consensus was that anyone leaving the confines of the Space Camp Medical Facility would be exposed to the virus and eventually die. A reality everyone was aware of, but none avoided, including Dr. Gupta. SpaceCorp, a privately funded space exploration endeavor had a design and build facility on the Huntsville property, about two miles from their location. Dr. Gupta would load the embryos and as much equipment possible into a vehicle, drive to the SpaceCorp facility and ready an assembled rocket and module for launch, alone and infected with the virus. Her ship: The AR-X12, a replica of the ARES V, a cancelled NASA project called Constellation that was intended to replace The Space Shuttle Program. SpaceCorp had acquired rights to the design and was engaged in assembling them quickly to facilitate repeated travel to space.

International Space Station video cameras were able to capture The AR-X12 leaving Earth's orbit.

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Footage of Dr. Gupta jettisoning initial rocket boosters, preparing for module extraction.

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Footage of Dr. Gupta releasing the nose encapsulation and piloting the AR-X12 Module.</center

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Remote camera footage of Dr. Gupta nearing The International Space Station in the AR-X12 Module.

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Despite only being sixteen years of age, Dr. Gupta expertly navigated the module into position.

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Successfully docked with the International Space Station, Dr. Gupta delivers the embryos and supplies.

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Early footage of Dr. Shanaya Gupta in a Space Camp simulation module, readying for space flight.

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Tears stream down Captain Aiya Gupta's cheeks when she sees the image of her Great Grandmother, something she cannot avoid whenever she sees this part of a video they've all watched a thousand times.

"Computer, please send a communication to home. Inform them there's no change in the virus levels on Earth. It's not safe to inhabit yet and I'll be returning instead of waiting for them to come," Captain Gupta said with sorrow.

The computer continued with the remainder of the video's narration.

Dr. Shanaya Gupta remained in the module alone for four months. In constant communication with her International Space Station and Space Camp colleagues, she spent her remaining days rejoicing over her life, as well as human existence. She tirelessly assisted in the development of the embryos into lab born infants and considered them all to be her own children. Despite being sick and slowly dying, Dr. Gupta narrated five novels in her last days, all of which are cherished by Humans on Mars to this day.

When the time was right and near death, Dr. Gupta donned a space suit. She opened all the hatches on the module and floated out into space to pass away: a proud Mother and Scientist.

The extreme cold of space would destroy all remnants of the virus, thus enabling the Space Station crew to use it to retrieve future cargo sent from the facility at Space Camp. Their mission was only beginning, though. A mission to resurrect the Human race.

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Images were rendered to their present form by @vegascomic