"I'm not sure, sweetie," my mom replied. "We will have to see when we get there."
Now I was even more worried. I wasn't sure exactly what it was, but something felt really wrong about the plans for our trip. We were going to the moon as much to see and experience as we were to live and make ourselves a colony. I'd grown up on an island, but I had been dreaming of going to the moon for as long as I could remember; I imagined myself on the moon looking up at the stars and admiring a whole new world. But I didn't really have any idea of what to expect once we got there.
"So how are we going to get there?" my dad asked.
"We will be taking a ship," the planners said, "but some parts of the trip will be very dangerous. You will all have to be very careful."
We all tensed up in anticipation of his answer.
"Right now," he went on, "the ship is safe, but the trip will be very dangerous."
I was surprised. I had expected to get there and find that the trip had been well planned and that we would have to do nothing but relax.
"How do you know it's going to be dangerous?" my brother piped up.
"Because this accident happened a while ago," the planners explained. "The ship got sucked into a black hole and the crew didn't come back out."
We all tensed up.
"But don't worry," he said. "Your ship is safe and it has been updated since that happened."
That did reassure me a little bit.
"What will the trip be like?" my sister asked.
"Well, you will be in a sleeping bag, connected to the ship with a cord to keep track of you. The trip will take about a month. You will go through a few black holes, and when you do, things will feel very similar to what you feel here in the room. You will be inside, but you might feel like you're going to be sucked out into space or something. Don't panic! It will only be the black hole pulling on you, and your cord will hold you in place. If you feel like you are in real danger, or that you might not come out of the black holes, then you will have to pull the cord as hard as you can, which will open the hatch and save your life. You will have to pull as hard as you can if you feel any kind of struggle coming from inside the black hole."
I was now even more panicked. How could that be safe? How could it really be safe if something happened to us inside the ship?
"You will be in a sleeping bag for many weeks," the planners went on, "then when you get to the moon, you will be in a small room connected to the ship. The trip to the moon will take about a month, too, but that will be a lot more relaxed, now that you will have found a new home. Once you get there, you will also no longer be connected to the ship, so we won't be able to track you, and your sleeping bag will be all that's keeping you alive."
Wow. I felt a rush of emotions, mostly fear and excitement, about the trip. But the more I heard from the planners, the more I had conflicted feelings about going. At one moment it sounded like it was the most amazing experience of my life, and at other times it sounded like it was the most terrifying thing that I've ever heard.
After the planned left, my family was quiet for a while. I just listened to the sound of their breathing, imagining the ship being sucked into the black hole, and wondering what it would be like to be all alone there in the dark.
"I'm scared," I said.
"It will be okay," my mom replied.
"I don't really understand this panic, though," my dad added. "After the accident that happened, people have gone to the moon and they've come back after half a day. There is nothing to be afraid of."
"That makes it all the more scary," I replied.
"Don't worry," my mom said. "If something happens, we will pull the cord to open the hatch and save our lives."
I started to feel a bit better, but still I was really worried about the trip. I wondered if I really would have to be alone in such a small place for so long. I wondered if the black holes were strong enough to catch a ship that size. I didn't really want to go at all. I was already thinking about what I would do once I got there and whether I'd fit in or not. I was worried about being lonely, about being the new kid, and I didn't want to feel like I had a place there at all.
"I just wish this trip wasn't necessary," I said, trying to sound hopeless. "I would feel better if we could stay here and just live a normal life." I was trying to sound pathetic, but I didn't sound all that convincing.
"I know, sweetie," my mom said, "but this opportunity is a once in a life time type of thing."
"I know," I said. But it didn't feel that way to me.
Suddenly I started to feel very afraid. Could the black holes really be freezing? What if they weren't safe to go through? What if I was in serious danger? What if I would die on the trip to the moon? I closed my eyes and tried not to imagine myself dying on the trip to the moon. I tried to imagine making friends and seeing new things. But then I just imagined myself dead. I started to feel very upset thinking about dying on the trip to the moon, and the more I imagined it, the more upset I became. I started to wonder and imagine how much worse it would be if something happened to my whole family.
