Apologies

Trappist -3

For the last thousand years Humans have been evacuating Earth, loading into ships, entering cryo-sleep, and traveling for almost 100,000 years towards a cluster of anomalies, called the Maw, that SHOULD get them to Trappist-3, the nearest inhabitable planet in our galaxy, before all energy and inertia run down.

Later Millennia evacuees, like the two on which our story focuses, prepare themselves for the journey, which should culminate with them arriving to a human civilization, centuries more advanced than their own, where scientists can reanimate the aged, cryo-sleeping passengers.

A Navigator and a Passenger, who have been watching the entire mass of humanity be evacuated before them, prepare to leave on the last ship off Earth. The Navigator understands the odds of success are far worse than the public can know (This is why thousands of ships strategically disembarked over centuries; a greater chances of one ship utilizing the gravitational anomalies towards success).

For centuries man kind had, in vain, devoured its Earthly resources in an effort to travel the speed of light. Therein lies the problem. 100,000 years of travel, while a scientific possibility, cannot account for the nature of energy on the other side of The Maw. However, the Sciences redeemed their light-speed failure in its conquering of the human mind. They can store consciousness in a computer. Suddenly, the journey seemed reasonable. They decided to omit from Public Education the possibility of Mass Digital Upload (and loss of body) would exist as a last ditch programming priority should energy requirements exceed the ship's collection capabilities in space beyond The Maw. Reaching the destination, in any condition, was paramount.

The Passenger is certain of only a few things, if you stay- you die, if you go- you might survive. But the passenger can't shake the feeling that Love will not survive the journey.