In memory of Challanger. They died for their dream

The Final Frontier
by Camilla Sandman

It`s cold in space. Cold, and quiet. So peacefully quiet. So vast and yet so small. Billions of years pass by like seconds, tick a star rise, tock a star fall, unchangeable for eternity, a quiet song without a singer. From the stars we came, and to the stars we will return. Some day.

He dreamed of it sometimes. Space. The cold, unfriendly space. He wanted to touch it, feel it, be on with it. The stars glittered toward him, always carrying the promise of him being able to reach them, be one with them. He would. Soon. Very soon.

The dream of space came to him when he was a little boy and the world was losing its innocense. He could stare toward the sky for hours. Look, and not hearing his parents angry voices, the hardness, the coldness, the slow death. Dream, and not seeing his sisters muffled cries, the despair, the hatred, the slow murder. He knew they were out there. The aliens. From far away planets and unknows solar systems. He knew they were out there. They would bring peace. Life. Make the humans stop fighting and killing each other. He dreamed of them while pictures of a shot president shocked the world. They would bring back Kennedy, he knew they would. Make his mom smile again, live again, feel again. He just had to fing them first. Just had to conquer the final frontier.

On television they had already conquered the final frontier. He could watch Star Trek for hours on the little colour TV. The colour was green, though, but it didn`t matter. There was peace in Star Trek. And aliens. Aliens with strange ears who helped the human race. "Space: The FInal Frontier." They were out there, in space. He would find them, do ask Kirk, "boldly go where no man has gone before." He would. One day.

He looked at the sky in Vitenam too. 18 years old and still a kid, out fighting a war in a strange country for a reason he did not know. The sky was like the one home, changing between blue and black. A window to space, broken by screaming bombs from time to time, but the stars were always there. He looked at the as often as he could. he would survive, he had to. Didn`t want to die here, like this. Had to end this. Find the aliens, the peace. Get into space.

He never understood why, but they called him a hero and sent him home. The job at NASA became his. The dream came true. Years passed, but with his goal clearly in sight, he didn`t notice. He didn`t see Death and her pale face. He would be there soon. Soon. They would have a cure for cancer, the aliens. His daughter would be well again, she had to. It was never too late.

And the day came. The launch day. He was going up there. Into space. The final frontier at last within reach. And the stars seemed closer than ever, so close he could reach out and touch them. The miracls of gas surronded by cold lifelessness.

And the ground shook and the Earth screamed as the shuttle took off. He didn`t feel it. Only felt his heart pounding. Faster, faster. Upwards, upwards, constanly going upwards. Toward space. Toward the dream, the hope. The final frontier.

He couldn`t feel the explotion. Only felt space. The stars. The planets. The miracle. And the Earth was so beautiful from up there. Like a pearl of mysterious patters. So peacefull. So quiet. So dreamlike. He couldn`t feel the explotion.

It was said the they died at once. No pain. A terrible tragedy. The explotion was great. No one could have survived. A horrible loss. The media had a feast time. The space program continued. The death continued.

And space was as before. Cold, peacefull, quiet. A beautiful grave. At one with the stars. Forever.

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