“Portals.” Arush shrugs. “I’m not saying they’re real, but the fact that people today basically say that our ancient ancestorsliedin their histories always irritates me. Like someone got together in 1000 BCE and said, ‘Hey, you know how to confuse the people who will live 3000 years from now? Let’s pretendthat we see this giant winged dragon-like creature. You need to vary yours slightly, but here’s the blueprint to go off of. Make sure you paint it on your walls.’”
I laugh. “Wow.”
“Then there’s the fact that people think that ‘there’s just no way they had the technology to build this.’”
I’m still laughing at the way he’s mocking whoever ‘the people’ is in his altered voice.
“Like, dude. It’s literally right in front of your eyes. Clearly, they had the means to build it. And would you look at that?Thousandsof years later, it’s still standing!”
“You’ve given this a lot of thought, huh?”
Arush sighs. “No, not as much as you might think. My friends and I used to watch archeology and explorer shows a lot while we were in school. Admittedly, I haven’t watched any in a very long time. I’m not sure why talking about the stars made me think about it.”
“Does it tie into why you decided on aerospace engineering?” I guess.
He hums. “Maybe? I’m not sure if they connect. I do wonder if we found a planet we could survive on, were there other species and civilizations that came before me? Then again, that brings me to another thing I like to mock. The fact our scientists know without a doubt that you need three things to create life—water, air, and sunlight. No, bitch. That’s what you need to create lifeon Earthfor the kinds of life thatEarthcan sustain. That isn’t necessarily the rule of life elsewhere for alien species.”
“Do you think there are alien species?”
“Definitely. I think it’s rather arrogant of the human race to think we’re the only ones out there. We’renotthat superior when we can’t even figure out how to stop killing our own planet—the one place we know for certain can sustainourspecies.”
“I love how passionately you talk about this,” I say, setting my tablet on my lap and resting my head back on his shoulder.
“I feel like it’s less passion and more annoyance at the arrogance our species harbors. Like the spreading of European people into the Americas. Yes, they did so by force and firearms, but I think if so many of the people already here weren’t devastated by the diseases the white men brought with them, history might look a little differently now.”
“There are a lot of moments in history that had something shifted just a little bit, the world we live in would look much different now,” I say.
“Imagine if people had just minded their own business and carried on with their lives instead of trying to conquer the world,” Arush muses.
I laugh under my breath as I stare at Jupiter in the sky. “So what do you hope to accomplish in your career? What’s your driving force for aerospace engineering?”
“I guess a lot of the things we’ve talked about. I realize the accomplishments needed are unlikely to happen in my lifetime, but I’m tired of wars and stupid-ass governments deciding what you can do with your body and who you can love, the color of your skin opening and closing doors, and where the boundary line is between countries. There are far bigger things, but as it always is, it’s about power and wealth more than it is about sustainability and happiness among the masses. I’d love to contribute somehow to worlds beyond this one where the human race can expand.”
“Is that what an aerospace engineer does? Work out life sustainability on other planets?”
He snickers. “No. But we not only need to find planets that will support human life, we also need spacecraft with the ability to reach that planet within someone’s lifetime. That technologyhasn’t happened yet. I feel like the two are already in a race to see which can be accomplished first.”
“Would you leave the planet if given the opportunity?” I ask.
Arush hums thoughtfully. “I guess that depends on a lot of things. It’s easy to say one way or another right now because I know for certain that it’s not possible. My family is here. My friends. All the people who are important to me. There’s a lot of talk about heroes and bravery, and quite frankly, to each their own as far as opinions on that are concerned. What I think might be the bravest thing someone can do would be to leave absolutely everyone they know and love behind and set out into space for an unknown future, knowing they’ll never return. Honestly, I’m not sure I’m that brave.”
I try to imagine it. I don’t talk to my family a lot, but I still consider myself close to them. Could I leave theworldknowing I’d never see them again if the opportunity presented itself? It’s one thing to not talk to them for weeks or even months at a time because I know where they live. I know their phone numbers. Icansee them whenever I want.
What if you take that option away? Would I leave the planet for a life that I may not survive on a different planet?
“You just want the possibility to be there,” I say.
“I think we’ve already expanded as far as we can on this planet. You have idiots in charge who don’t believe in science even when they’re told all the evidence supports the fact that we’re killing our planet. What do they care? It’s not going to happen in their lifetime, so what does it matter, right? That’s someone else’s problem. But the more harm we do now, the quicker that end comes. Then what? We’re literally going to snuff out our own species because this is the only place we’re able to exist. No, it’s not going to happen in our lifetime. You know, probably not. We’ll see. I feel like some morons are truly trying to make it happen, but whatever. For generationsthat come after us, though… I’d like there to be hope. And I do think that, at least for a while, the different religions and governments and whatever might be happy to control an entire planet however they choose and maybe for a short blip in time, there will be peace.”
“Would there?” I muse.
“What do you mean?”
“It seems racism runs rampant all over the world, in every culture. Every way of life. I wonder how long before the uniting factor, such as religion, will break down from racism again. It doesn’t matter that we hold the same beliefs if our skin isn’t the same color.”
“I didn’t think about that. I guess I thought if we’re already breaking up into factions, racism will be stamped out at the core, right? I mean, if you go to this Hindu planet and see that it’s a colony of mixed races and that’s not for you, why not just choose a different one?”
“What about the people born into the mixed one who grow up and for whatever reason, become dicks about race? What then?”
