The Scoffing Sun

THE SCOFFING SUN

Why had she done it? What made her accept the teaching contract and move to the moon? She was young, impetuous and some what adventurous, plus the money was good. All she could do now was pray to God to save her and all who were on the shuttle.


In a desperate attempt to get the computers working properly the pilot and copilot had done what all desperate computer users resort to, they turned off the main computer in hopes that it would reboot and the system would fix itself.
Had it been caused by terrorists or was it an electrical malfunction created by years of improper maintenance, she didn’t know. Hopefully the rest of the electronics would come back on-line.


The main problem wasn’t if the system would come back on-line it was how soon it would do this. The computer error had sent them off course, way off course. If the computers didn’t start back up in record time it would be too late and the shuttle would be unable to stop its present trajectory.


What a way to go, she thought between pleas for mercy. The shuttle was traveling toward the sun at an astonishing speed. The sun, giver of life back on Earth, was deadly away from the greenhouse gasses and the atmospheric shield they created.


“Please reboot. Please reboot,” she whispered over and over in the still darkness that surrounded her. It was getting harder to breathe. The pilot had warned that the oxygen flowing to the individual travel pods would be cut off. No computer, no power, no air to breath.


“Just breathe slowly and the power should be back on before any damage can be done.” It sounded like the pilot was trying to convince himself that no harm would come to them more than he was passing on useful information to the 50 other people on board.


Suddenly the power came on, but was it in time? Even though the oxygen was flowing again she was still holding her breath. She started to wonder why the pilot had told them all that was happening. Perhaps he felt they had the right to know what was going on outside of their travel cocoons so they could make last minute preparations. Now she wished he hadn’t been so honest. They had no way of knowing in the windowless pods if the shuttle was turning off its deadly course.


She started to think of the direction her life had been going. She had “floated along” without a destination in mind long enough. Perhaps she too had been heading on a dangerous path. “If I return safely to earth I will do all I can for those I meet. No longer will I think of only myself. I will spend the million dollars I earned in my selfish quest on more noble efforts than getting drunk every night and having a good time. I get it.” She balled up her hands and hit the pod with all her might and yelled, “I get it!”


Outside, the shuttle slowly turned from its perilous course.


“Ladies and gentlemen, we have fixed the problem in time and will be arriving at the earth base a few hours late and only a little singed.” The pilot sounded just as relieved as she felt.


The next day after being released from the hospital for a routine observational period she went to see a lawyer. “I want to set up a foundation called ‘The Scoffing Sun’. Its purpose is to help disadvantaged youth who are on their own perilous course.”