ʷᶦˡˡ'ˢ ᵖᵒᵛ

‧₊˚✩ 🪐✩˚₊‧

"READY TO DO THIS ALL OVER AGAIN?" Judy broke our anticipated silence of the four of us — Robot included, impatiently waiting to tour the brand new and improved Resolute — now called the Solidarity.

"By 'all over again' I hope you're not including the alien-robot war we all prayed would never happen again, right?" Penny affirmably chanted, her voice echoing the dark grey walls of the decontamination chamber.

"Yeah, a...straightforward and uneventful journey to Alpha Centauri would be nice this time around" I chuckled, raising my eyebrows to Robot's starry face beaming with the exact nervous-excitement that plagued me since the moment the preponed embarkment of the 25th Colonist group was first announced.

The scheduled collection of the new round of colonists was so unusually urgent. We had our quiet afternoon on Alpha Centauri interrupted by a blaring 'EMERGENCY' alarm over all our comms for the re-embarked to board the new colony ship with immediate effect.

Everyone swiftly skipped past the million dollar question as to why there's been an abrupt shift in date, too busy rushing through security clearance protocol to give us the update.

"Decontamination complete in 5-4-3-2-1. Solidarity Access granted."

Racing out of the airlock, we gasped in unison at the top hung windows extending down the hallway, with the speckled stars of space beaming through, accentuating the strip lights glowing down the grey floors.

"Ooh-- It smells just like a new car" Penny chuckled as she spun around, yelling to make an echo down the vast hallways.

The walls were higher and more grand, and some of the walls' textures I felt even incorporated the scaly alien finish to them.

"Solidarity, huh? Let's see what she's got" Judy pursed her lips to a smile at the slick interior of our new Resolute, grabbing onto our hands to direct us down the colossal hallways that had us surrounded by lockers.

The Solidarity marks the symbol of the declared unity between humans and alien robots. In fact, the robots helped build it this time.

So instead of us humans stealing their magic-like technology that we barely knew how to use, they incorporated the new colony ship featuring their insane speeds, genius sustainability, all while upgrading the luxury-factor of their trip — which I'm totally not jealous of.

And if you're wondering just what the heck happened to start that human vs robot war, it's kind of a long story. Just go ahead and read Penny's memoir to get you up to speed, yeah?

"I hope they added new food to the colony catalog" I told Robot, my lips awkwardly pursing as my sisters stopped to give me those disappointed glares of theirs, "No?"

"I think we've got bigger priorities here than unnecessary additions to the food forum, Will" Judy scoffed

"Yeah, like the Solidarity not completely atomising — again" Penny pursed her lips as Judy hummed in agreement

"Wh-- Am I wrong for asking for a new sandwich combo other than my usual herb chicken and peanut butter?" I protested, Judy stammering as Penny forced concerned laughter

"Will, that's actually nauseating" Judy stifled laughter as Penny wrinkled her nose as she blurted out--

"Wow-- I can't believe you still haven't grown out of that."

"YOU KNOW, WHEN I FOUND OUT that Maureen Robinson was requested to join in the Solidarity's maiden voyage," a familiar voice behind us announced, along with the sound of a chicken clucking in agreement, "I might've missed the part where they also invited the rest of the Robinson set to complete the collection"

"We missed you too, Don...and Debbie" Judy chuckled as she hugged the dark haired man in navy blue attire.

"We also super triple pinky promised to never separate again-- and that's like equivalent to a deal signed in blood" Penny scrunched her nose as she awkwardly swayed, all of us humming surprisingly in agreement to her comparison

"Plus, this trip would be super boring without us here, right?" I added as Don finally joined us in our amble down the grand hallways, entering a deck that had green vines spiralling on either side of the wall.

"Actually, I think you guys need to establish the presence of what I call; the Robinson effect: where every unimaginable setback is somehow imagined into our existence whenever the Robinsons are around," Don proposed, with all of us stammering as we tried to object, only for him to shake his head as he suggested,

"Hey, the facts speak for themselves. Look at Will with his...7-ft tall metal friend that we all convinced ourselves to be somehow normal. I could go on, in fact--"

"--Don, it's only one trip" Judy chuckled, her eyes darting to and from his as smirks slowly grew on their faces

"Robot, were you in on this?" Don asked. We all laughed at Robot's starry face swooshing around, like he was blushing.

My smile quickly faded at a group of scientists whispering at a glowing screen, sharing pale widened expressions on their faces at the information they exchanged.

And at that, my eyes darted towards the familiar feminine voice demanding "results" from a small man behind her that couldn't keep up with her bouncy walk towards us.

I softened my eyes at the freckled face of--

"Mom!" we exclaimed in unison, including Don. We gathered to wrap our arms around her.

It was obviously a great surprise to us all seeing mom here with us, considering how busy she's been readying the Solidarity for its first ever passengers to board it.

And now that the deadline was moved forward just a couple hours ago, you could imagine the spiral she's been in trying to speed up the completion of the Solidarity.

Penny did us the favor of being the one to ask the question we were all dying for an answer to, as she blurted out--

"Hey mom, You must have some clue as to why the Solidarity's maiden voyage was pushed so far up 2051's calendar, right?"

She honestly couldn't have worded it any better.

I averted my eyes from the window of starry darkness, to the the fading smile of my mother, the suspense burning inside me as she breathed,

"That's...actually why I'm here," mom awkwardly chuckled up as Judy, Penny and Don pierced eager gazes at her.

My eyebrows furrowed at the rising tension at mom's next words, "I think you all need to see this..."

"THIS IS A REPORT OF EARTH'S climate from about five days ago" mom panted as we all eyed the hovering holographic display of a weather radar with wavering greens and yellows and oranges covering the globe.

Mom dimmed the lights of the blindingly white boardroom we gathered in, aggressively wiping off her old calculations scribbled onto a clear whiteboard, only to eagerly squeak on some new ones.

At my mother's anxious state, I met eyes with Penny's widened blue ones, then with Judy's dark eyes that successfully concealed her panic.

My eyebrows furrowed at her uneasiness as she paced around the holographic image in the middle of the office and mumbled to herself as she shook her head.

"...Might not be the best judge but," Don finally broke the thick silence, "It looks pretty ordinary to me"

"That's what we all thought, Don," mom breathed, slowly ambling closer to the swirling greens and yellows glowing on the display.

Stammering to herself with fiddling hands, she predicted, "Thats why the date of departure with a befittingly complete colony ship it-- it looked like weeks, even months from now. With one tiny variable that could essentially change everything," mom trailed off, chuckling to herself as she drew out, "The damn weather"

We all slowly trailed our eyes back to the holographic model of Earth as mom swiped her fingers on the screen for the globe to rapidly rotate.

"I'm guessing Earth had other plans?" Penny queried. My eyes flickered at the beaming colors of the screen bleeding through the whole room, making the walls reflect like a rainbow.

"This," the date of the recorded climate changing to '07-14-51'.

Today's date.

"This is the most recent weather report, from just over an hour ago" mom's shaky hands roughly raked through her red hair at the beaming red wavers that now consumed nearly half of the globe, spreading like a virus.

The room had somehow gone quieter, with faint gasps and Robot's whirring being the only sound echoing across it.

"Question, what exactly are we looking at? I mean the whole planet is covered in these ominous red swirls-- but just how bad are we talking here?" Penny asked

"It's a toxic sandstorm; that'll trigger a global seismic wave," a gruff voice spoke from the distance, all of us shooting our eyes to the bearded man we call our father, who's apparently been sitting in the dark corner for a while now, "Also the most violent storms recorded in history"

He strode forward to join our chain as mom continued, "It's currently spreading through the whole of Europe and South America. It's estimated to bury the whole of the US including the Alpha Centauri program's spaceport...by midnight" she shut her eyes in frustration

"Midnight? Why is it always midnight?" Don whined as he mumbled in frustration.

My left hand subconsciously lifted for the numbers on my radio's clock to flash '7:47' in bright orange.

There was a burn that spread in my chest as I slowly trailed my eyes up to mom's purse of her lips at Penny's uncontrollable fiddling.

"There's no telling how long it will take for Headquarters to recover...For the whole world to recover" Judy cried as she sharply panted

My lips parted, my blood running cold as it slowly froze me in place.

"How is this even possible?" I felt the words whisper out of my mouth

"We know, that...there are certain triggers that create these surges in Earth's seismic activity — volcanic activity, nuclear tests, meteorite impacts" mom stammered, "The Christmas star was the trigger. But this rapid spread it's--...It's nothing like what I've ever seen"

"...So do we or do we not have enough time to speed through space to a planet 26 trillion lightyears from here without destroying this ship again?" Penny bawled, gesturing her anxiety through her hands

"The Solidarity can go fast but not that fast" dad chimed in as I met him with my worried eyes

"And according to this report we have a very small window of opportunity to successfully pick up the new colonists and give Earth enough time to recover from the inescapable damage" Don claimed, before everyone started speaking all at once

"We can't just wait for the next perfect sunny day for a picnic! These are people's lives we're talking!" Penny hissed

"Earth isn't getting any better..." Judy's voice trailed off to a muffle in my head as I slowly walked backwards from the chaotic exchange of complaints mixed with ideas met with yet another obstacle.

I looked up to Robot as he let out a low whir as I asked him, "You got any ideas? My mind's blank" I lightly chuckled, turning back to my family yelling at each other for a viable solution on how to make it to Earth with a semi finished colony ship.

I finally turned back to Robot's starry face, furrowing my brows at his stars gathering to form an oval. My eyes narrowed, before lighting up as I exclaimed--

"Robot, you're a genius!" all eyes were now on me, my smile turning into an awkward laugh

"He is? What could he possibly have said-- He knows like seven words," Penny whined, pursing her lips, "No offence"

"I didn't need any," I breathed, "Sure we can't magically teleport to the other side of the galaxy but we can mimic that phenomenon...with a wormhole, in other words..."

"We open a Rift" mom softly uttered

"Wh-- There's a reason it hasn't been a year since we've ripped holes in space, Will" Judy protested

"I know but look, time is running out and we need the 25th Colonist group to evacuate Earth as soon as they can or there won't be a colonist group to take to Alpha Centauri." I asserted, interrupting Judy's conflicted stammer, "I'm aware of the risks...but they don't come close to the possibility that we might jeopardise the hope of everyone still on Earth even getting to Alpha Centauri."

I panted, meeting my pleading eyes with everyone's contemplating ones. I watched as mom and dad psychically communicated a final decision, sighing in relief as dad muttered in his serious voice, "...Then we better get going"

A weak smile grew on my face as I sighed in relief, I guess Dr Smith did have a somewhat positive impact on my persuasion skills.

"Robinson's are back at it already, huh?" Don clicked his tongue as he lead the way out of the white office, "Alright, team, let's go ask the Captain for the green light on ripping a giant wormhole in space!"

"PERMISSION TO ENTER THE BRIDGE" mom requested.

"Permission granted." a distant voice confirmed.

The Solidarity Bridge featured a large round table of schematics of the entire structure of the ship, with red flashing on one of the dozen thrusters — most probably the one unfinished piece.

The high walled room had us surrounded by some of the best pilots Earth could ever offer, with their faces blue from the bright screens they eagerly typed into.

"Am I the only one freaking out on of how cool this bridge is?!" Penny loudly whispered, "Seriously, guys, don't act like this isn't literally awakening your inner child"

"Yeah, yeah it's pretty cool" Judy smirked as we stared on into the viewport displaying a starry void, with a few planets I recognised to have visited before. This view never gets old.

Mom, dad and Don had to be the ones to try convince Captain Kamal into yet another insane proposal, while the rest of us crossed our fingers as we awkwardly stood by.

See, it's one thing to tear holes in the spacetime continuum, but it's another to actually fly through those holes — the last time a colony ship went through a rift it didn't quite end well.

"We've got some good and bad news for you, cap" Don began as he hopped down the steps

"Right, what's the bad news?" Captain Kamal said, crossing her arms as her lips wrinkled from her tightly pursing them

"Bad news is, we don't have enough time to pick up the new colonists before a toxic global sandstorm buries them all," Don began, "Even with the speeds we currently possess it's close to impossible"

"And we only have until midnight to do so. Maureen already did the math" dad chimed in, the captain narrowing her eyes as she took in the new set of problems

"The good news is, we have a robot engine and a robot with the ability to take us to Earth in a matter of minutes" Mom smirked as she made eye contact with Robot and I

"You're suggesting we destroy this ship by travelling through a wormhole, again? Are you forgetting the last time that went down?" The captain hissed. Don followed her like a lost puppy as she walked around the large schematic table.

"Look, cap, this is exactly why we built this bad boy in the first place," Don asserted, "With their alien tech-magic, the Solidarity can handle way more turbulence than any colony ship has ever withstood before. A wormhole won't be any different"

"I've already made the calculations, the ship will hold and we'll be able to complete mission 25, or should I say begin it," mom breathed, a smile rising as she continued, "We can spark back the hope of everyone living on Alpha Centauri...If we act now"

"Believe it or not...she can take it" Don pursed his lips. From Captain Kamal's gaze, I could tell that our pleading eyes might've worked on her as she finally announced,

"...Ready the Rift"

A chuckle of relief was let out from me as everyone turned to me. Robot already had the alien engine in his hand, his lights beaming brighter as soon as I gave him the nod.

At that, bright blue chords spilled from the engine, floating to slowly form into the familiar alien steering wheel.

He gripped onto the handles as the captain announced on the intercom that all current passengers hold onto something.

Robot slowly turned to me as I waited in front of him. And a large map of the galaxy suddenly appeared, like a hologram of space.

"Robot," I held on to the nearest console I could feel, as I drew out, "Take us to Earth."

THE ABNORMAL BURST OF COLORS in the tunnel of the Rift that pulled us in actually blinded me for the duration of the jump.

I could never get used to the whiplash despite the countless times I've done these space jumps. But you do tend to get used to the stomach-churning.

I like to think of space jumps as riding the world's most dangerously reckless rollercoaster — on rampant steroids.

The ship harshly shook as we flew into the bright white light, with all the Solidarity's alarms blaring louder than the roar of the ship.

At that, the violent turbulence came to an abrupt end.

We're through the Rift.

The lights of all the keyboards and schematics flickered back on. I winced at my blurred vision and inability to stand up straight without tumbling over to balance on poor Robot.

"Jump complete. All systems fully operational"

I shot my eyes to the wide viewport as I forced my eyes to gain focus. Dead silence besides the sharp pant of everyone's shock at the new view soon followed.

My eyes widened at the little planet with its one moon that would never abandon it no matter how dull it continued to grow.

"We made it" one of the pilots spoke

I couldn't help but smile at mom, who nonverbally gathered all the Robinsons to huddle around her. A smile grew on her face as she rubbed my shoulder.

"Every problem has a solution, right?" she recited her favourite phrase as we stretched our gazes to see the beautifully dying planet of Earth.

I never thought I'd see it again. And as much as I expected Earth to drastically derail from the green and blue hues to a more orangey desert, looking at it still shattered me inside.

Watching as a planet slowly loses itself tends to carry the strangest soul-crushing nostalgia.

"Captain, we're picking up a couple energy spikes at the edge of the solar benchmark!" another scientist shrilled, drawing our attention to the green radar on the screen, with three spacecrafts popping up.

They're here.

The nervous-excitement rushed back into me as I rushed down the steps to stop in the center of the bridge, with the perfect view of the first three, four, seven, no eleven Jupiter's soaring over Earth's thermosphere.

"Perfect, we're just in time" Don mentioned, which subconsciously forced me to check the time on my radio

8:18

"All pilots report in," Captain Kamal ordered as she spoke into her radio, "As soon as you're accounted for, you may commence a docking procedure onto the Solidarity"

My limbs actually went jelly once the Captain shot her dark eyes at me. And this was the closest I've ever seen her being to a smile.

Penny and Judy mocked my awkward smile and nod back at the Captain as they leaned on me as their personal headrest.

"Jupiter 124, Ready" A voice over the intercom echoed

"Jupiter 13. We copy" Another voice announced

"Jupiter 40, Accounted for" And suddenly, dozens of voices bombarded the intercom echoing the entire bridge.

Penny squealed as we let out breathy chuckles at the new Jupiter's flying overhead into the Solidarity.

Mom projected the checklist of colonists on the clear screen, as she smiled at the new faces of everyone's personnel files being categorised with the spaceships that docked.

One Jupiter after another just seemed to appear over the horizon. Penny even suggested we try and count just how many Jupiter's have flown in so far.

"Okay, I lost count of the Jupiter's after, like, 60" I admitted as Penny snorted into laughter as Judy hummed in agreement

"This is a pretty big group, huh?" Judy added

"That explains the extravagance of a welcoming committee we saw on the way here" I chimed in as Judy hummed in agreement

"Yeah-- Well they're just trying to shower this colonist group with gifts for them to hopefully forgive us for destroying their only ticket to the new world," Penny so gratefully asserted, her lips pursing as we glared at her. She only shrugged as she drew out, "Just saying!"

"I don't get it," I breathed. "That storm has to be a category five, and yet...we only knew about it less than an hour ago. That doesn't make any sense."

"There's no use in speculating now, Will," Judy squeezed my shoulder. "What matters the most right now is that Mission Twenty-Five is safe."

We waited a few moments after what looked like the last of ships announced themselves accounted for, jogging back up the stairs of the bridge to where everyone closely examined the large screen projecting some sort of headcount.

Mom began to stammer as she darted from the tablet she held to the large screen. I met my worried eyes with Judy's as mom whispered, "This can't be right"

She aggressively tapped on the huge screen for it to refresh its data.

"Wh-- Wait, Captain...We're one short" a shrill voice cried, all of us flocking to the blank radar.

I tried to scoff away the violent pounding of my heart, shaking my head as I turned to Robot after sharing worried looks with my sisters.

"Who?" we all pleaded. I shot my eyes back to the projected headcount, with five colonists still unaccounted for out of the 500.

"...The Jupiter 3" The pilot turned back to us with worried eyes.

I turned to mom as she pursed her lips, staring off into the starry sky as she breathily drew out, "We're missing the Cosgroves..."

author's note

didn't we just miss the Robinsons? I definitely did and I cannot waitttt for them to meet the Cosgroves (most likely won't be anything close to a formal meeting😭)

decided to bring the whole gang together this time because we can never break a triple pink promise !

loved writing this but THIS IS JUSSTT THE BEGINNING SO TS IS LIGHTWORK😭

love you mwah

dedications

solyyybenonyy candysznn ST4RRYBL4DE pInkplover kurapichips2 euphoreallia saanvinarang_01 perishin

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