#CHAPTER 1

The rays of light bounce off the dead clean surfaces of the spaceship. Today is Memorial Day. Each of the inhabitants of Gallux once left their home. Everyone has something to remember. We are the ones lost civilizations find in a moment of despair. We are given the best of the best in an effort to preserve the legacy of their civilisations. Memorial Day marks a generational shift. Tomorrow will mark the second in our history. Half of the students will be dropped off on a carefully selected planet for later colonization. But today we celebrate. We celebrate as it should be on a ship: with no regrets for the past and no fear of the future. Multiverse Cosmopolitans, that's what they once called us in [JUMB12 Galaxy]

Could we call it a ship? I don't know, but most call it “Gallux”. To be honest, I would like to call it home, but even after millions of light-years traveled, I can't. Maybe that’s because I am a first-generation Galluxnian, and when it all started my heart was already settled down.

I heard the first explosion, then the second, then the third. After that, it was impossible to count them all, like a crazy rave in honor of the civilization's burial. I remember a strange taste on my tongue. The ash in my throat…

I was the second to reach the ship. Mechanic, aka the captain, was already waiting for me on board. When we took off the surface, through the engine roar I heard nothing, but my mothers words - “Future is there, no matter what. Do not try to fight it, but help yourself understand it”.

We were safe, I closed my eyes. Mechanic turned on the music.

Planetary species never had much inclination to live peacefully.

The first year was spent developing a renewable energy source for the ship. There were two of us. Our thoughts bounced around like a ping pong ball on a greasy table of an old club in the capital A..B…A…B…. Anything we came up with splintered almost immediately and it seemed like we were doomed. Dancing together to the music once resonating through the best places on our planet, we didn’t allow ourselves to look to the past or the future, only “now”. We were getting ready to go off into uncharted space forever...