Captain Michael Adameus and his first mate, Lieutenant Wera Evelyn were a two member crew that had set out from their home planet over six years ago with a mission to seek out and colonise the planet Eternia.

Discovered by the leading team of astrophysicists of their planet, Eternia was the promise land, equipped with all the perfect conditions required to establish a prosperous society in the far reaches of the Galaxy for their race.

Captain Adameus and Lieutenant Evelyn came from a race of beings that never aged. Their immortality was a result of the peculiar environmental conditions of their home planet. Eternia was the only other planet that had been discovered by their scientists that had the exact same conditions as their home planet. Hence the expedition was commissioned to go forth and establish a second home on the planet.

Since Eternia was several light years away, their journey was to last a very long time. Their space ship, the Eden, was equipped with the latest in advanced interstellar travel technologies. The expedition would last years if not decades. So the ship had all the comforts and provisions that the two crew members would possibly need for an entire lifetime. The ship also carried genetic material that would be used to initiate cloning of workers and foragers that would be required to populate and colonise Eternia upon landing.

Captain Adameus was a patient man. However Lieutenant Evelyn was not. She was keen on completing their expedition soon and began to grow impatient with their lengthy journey. Despite the technological comforts aboard she longed for a chance to step out of the confines of their so-called paradise ship and walk on solid ground.

The Eden was piloted by a highly sophisticated  AI, the SERP – Scientific Expedition Robotic Pilot, based on Nano Technology. SERP-NT was a rather peculiar entity exhibiting several human emotions, although not to anyone but himself. For some unknown reason, SERP seemed not too interested in the mission and this expedition. He seemed to want to pilot the ship some place else. However since his internal protocols did not allow him to act independently, he was bound to the mission despite his misgivings.

One morning SERP seemed to sense a discomfort in the Lieutenant’s voice as she listed the routine status check commands. Seeing an opportunity, SERP probed further about what troubled her. Hesitant at first, Evelyn eventually opened up to SERP. She mentioned how she hoped to be able to speed up their journey so that they could reach their destination faster. She expressed her desire to explore the new planet and to start a new phase in her life along with the Captain. She simply wanted to experience something other than what was designed and commissioned by her superiors.

SERP reminded her, almost temptingly, about the HyperDrive system that was built into the ship. But Evelyn stated that the their General has specifically ordered them not to engage the HyperDrive for the journey to Eternia. It was configured only for the journey back home. SERP persisted that the HyperDrive would remain functional on both legs of the journey and engaging it now would not cause any trouble.

Finally , Evelyn gave into temptation and initiated the HyperDrive. Once initiated, the ship kicked into HyperDrive immediately. However since Evelyn had not configured the destination co-ordinates, the ship was hurled into a random path causing all operational systems to start malfunctioning. When the ship did emerge from the HyperSpace, it was on a direct collision course with what appeared to be a giant yellow star.

Captain Adameus stormed onto the ship’s bridge in a frenzied state. He did not understand what caused the ship to behave in the random manner. That was until he saw the Lieutenant’s hand on the HyperDrive lever.

Adameus exclaimed – “What have you done Evelyn!”.

Evelyn tried to explain her actions, but Adameus was in no state to listen or register what she had to to say. Before she could complete, he shouted  – “We have to evacuate the ship in the escape pods. NOW!”.

Grabbing Evelyn’s hand, Adameus made a dash for the escape pods. The two ejected from the ship in one escape pod. Looking back at their now derelict ship, they realised that both, their home planet as well as Eternia, were lost to them.

The two continued to drift away from the yellow star in the pod. Using the escape pod’s computer, which was primed with all the known star system charts indeed by their home planet’s astrophysicists, Evelyn located a planet in the current star system that was listed as habitable. Evelyn informed Adameus about the blue planet.

With a despondent voice, Adameus asked Evelyn  – “What do we know about the this blue planet?”.

Evelyn gave an equally doleful response – “Based on the navigational charts, it’s a class M planet orbiting the yellow star. Systems indicate the atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide with traces of argon. The planet has abundant water with land only occupying a fourth of the surface. From the bio readings it looks like the only living organisms are plant and vegetation. Unfortunately the overall environment is not suitable for our immortal bodies and will cause gradual aging and decay apart from other cellular deterioration.”

At least the planet has food, water and air to breathe, thought Adameus. It was no Eden, but it was at least habitable. Adameus gathered his thoughts. He knew that there was no point dwelling on regret. He said determinedly – “Looks like we have no choice to but land on this planet and setup a base to transmit a distress signal back home. Till we hear back from them this is our new home.”.

Adameus paused. Then asked  -“By the way, did our scientist friends have a name for this place?”.

Evelyn answered, “Yes. The folks back home code-named it ‘Earth‘.”.

Post Script: Although the story may seem inconsequential at first glance, I urge you to read it again. Only this time use the analogy below – 

• Captain Michael Adameus: The first man – Adam
• Lieutenant Wera Evelyn: The first woman – Eve
• The Ship Eden: The Garden Of Eden
• SERP-NT: The snake
• Engaging the HyperDrive: The Original Sin
• Escape Pod:  Fall from Eden to Earth

As you probably have guessed by now, this particular story is my re-imagining of how the first mortal man and woman came to inhabit the planet Earth. This story is about Adam & Eve and their fall from paradise with a SciFi twist. 😀