The voice resumed, "Look to your right. At the station to the entrance way to your platform."
The voice paused for a third time. Ino tried looking behind her. The way she adjusted her seat, made it impossible to see the station. She was facing the opposite direction and was locked in place, she was unable to see the platform attendant. Chester was opposite from her and had a clear view of the station.
"It's okay Ino, your not missing much. He is not much to look at." Chester said snickering after watching Ino try to turn her head in that direction.
The voice went on to explain, "Your aisle and platform attendants are who you go to with questions, comments, and any problems you may have. They are your commanding officers. If you feel threatened or unsafe please report it to your aisle attendant. Do not unbuckle your harness until we are out of The Earth's atmosphere."
"So, the attendants are like the security or police?" Ino questioned.
"Maybe they are more like the middle man?i guess we will find out if we're unfortunate enough to have a problem that they would need to help us with." Chester answered.
Ino nodded in agreement, "Unless my water breaks?!"
"Let us not jinx it. The doctor said from what she could tell you would have a full term healthy pregnancy." Chester stated with a voice full of concern.
A different voice came on the speaker. "Fact's about your shuttle and destination. Intergalactic 6's average Space Shuttle Launch is about 8.5 minutes to propel. It propels the space shuttle from ground level to the orbital height, of at least 185 kilometers or 115 miles."
"That's a long time to have turbulence, compared to an airplane. Airplanes take about a few minutes for take off and then propel to safe flying distance." Ino said taking note of how long she would have to brace herself.
"Airplanes are not trying to force it's way out of the atmosphere. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it." Chester commented on the comparison.
The voice continued, "As it enters space, the space shuttle reaches an orbital velocity of 27, 875 kilometers per hour or 17, 321 miles per hour. For your safety, please stay in your seat till the green light, above all the rows of the aisle ways, glows green. It takes appromately 3 months to get to Zoltan, which is about half way to Mars. Thank you for boarding intergalactic 6 and we hope you enjoy your trip to Zoltan."
Zoltan was a planet that formed in between Mars and Earth. The weather was a little cooler, because the planet is further from the Sun. The winters are freezing and summers are comfortable. One day has 30 hours, instead of Earth's 24. One year has 400 days, instead of Earth's 365 days.
This made it so everyone's age was a little younger if they were counting Zoltan years. Zoltan also has one moon, similar to Earth. It is a planet of no desserts and no oceans. Other than that the planet resembles the earth. The planet is relatively still new and not much more was reported, except that it had resources to sustain human life.
"Ino, this is so exciting!" Chester said giddily.
"I'm .. I'm a little nervous. I am getting anxiety. The anxiety is making me nauseous." Ino responded. Ino's mind was going a million miles an hour. She was thinking about all of the things that could go wrong. The scenarios played out, in her mind. Her heart was racing. Her face was losing color and turning pale. She needed to calm herself down.
"Maybe talking and coming up with conspiracy theories will take your mind off of it." Chester suggested.
Discussing theories and conspiracies were just one of the many hobbies Chester and Ino have. They loved coming up with theories and running wild with them. More times than less, their theories became surprisingly true.
Ino nodded in reply to Chester. "I heard, if you are deemed a problem, you are ejected back to Earth in your pod. You are also put on the list of ineligible persons to transport to the new planet." Chester, excitedly explained.
"Maybe for some people, but let's say someone is horrible and is murdering people on board. They should just be ejected into space." Ino added.
"Ino, that's cold. What if they're innocent? Then you would have just killed an innocent person." Chester said raising his eyebrows.
"They are innocent, until proven guilty. Doesn't the council act as the judge in matters like that?" Ino said making a fist with her right hand to hold under her chin.
She raised her pointer finger and was rubbing the corner of her right eyebrow, while resting her cheek on her other four fingers.
"Huh, that does sounds plausible. I would not be surprised, if they did. It does happen back home, when people are found guilty. They are sentenced to be executed." Chester countered.
"Attention passengers prepare for take off and turbulence!" The announcer warned.
The count down started to begin. Excitement filled the spacecraft. Everyone started joining in the count down. "10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1! BLAST OFF!"
Ino squeezes her eyes shut. She dug her feet into the floor and gripped onto the arm rests.
The Earth has become over populated and was turning into a waste land. Vegetation used for fuel was a great accomplishment centuries ago, but no one knew that the fuel industry would grow so much and take over the food industry. This made it difficult to acquire everyday fruits and vegetables. Meat became scarce and government regulated.
The government decided the middle class and lower had to compete in contests in order to acquire meat. This was done, so the elite, intelligent, skilled, and strong would survive. Survival of the fittest.
Whomever, won the contests would get to keep all of the kills for that contest.
This is why knowing how to shoot, trap, and scavenge was considered lucky. It should have been passed down from older generations, but some people never learned, thinking it was unnecessary. The newer generation had a hard time adapting to the new law.
One contest would give you enough meat to feed your family for at least 6 months. You could enter as many contests as u wanted. The government was making it very hard for regular people and families to survive. Unless you had connections to people who were higher up or were able to win the contests, dying was inevitable.
It wasn't announced, but it was as if the government was trying to lower the population, because there wasn't enough resources to keep a growing number of people. Unfortunately, this meant they had to figure out a way to kill the off the lower class and weaker people, by slowly starving them to death. There was a waiting list to leave the planet.
Fortuitously, Chester and Ino were accepted and got to go. They both came from upper middle class families, but this did not mean they could escape the oppressive government. They were trying to escape, before food became more scarce.