Kyla's Diary - Chapter 6: Wisdom
“A story with a happy ending is an unfinished story, but one that ends sadly has finished too soon.”
Instructor Mendez was finishing the history lesson. Last week, he had started with the Age of Exploration. Today, it was the Protestant Reformation. He was good at condensing entire centuries into a few lines of text.
A soft beep signaled the end of class. “Before you go,” Instructor Mendez said, raising his voice enough to catch the attention of the room, “remember your history test is next week. It will cover everything from the Age of Exploration through the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.”
Students began filing out of the room, their Whisperzend devices already lighting up with queries about the test. Only Kyla and Julian remained at their desks.
“How can I help you?” Instructor Mendez asked.
“Go ahead, Kyla,” Julian said.
Kyla stayed seated. “I think my question is a little long. You go first, Julian.”
“Okay, I’ll be quick. Is it okay to go over the 1,500-word limit?”
Instructor Mendez nodded. “Mr. Darrow, the limit is there for a reason. A few words over will not matter, but anything more than that will cost you points.”
Julian added, “I’m writing about Destiny and hope. I want to follow Helios from its departure to what arrival might look like. Can I use chapters?”
Instructor Mendez answered, “Yes. Any format is acceptable; just stay within the limit.”
“Thank you. See you tomorrow,” Julian said. “Bye, Kyla.”
Kyla waited until he left the classroom. “I’m struggling with the ending of my assignment, and I need your advice.”
Instructor Mendez folded his hands on the desk. “What seems to be the problem?”
“I find endings difficult,” she admitted. “Is it better to have a story with a happy ending, or not necessarily?”
“Miss Anwar, I’ll share something I heard a long time ago: a story with a happy ending is an unfinished story, but one that ends sadly has finished too soon.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The beauty is in the story,” he said. “Don’t worry about the beginning or the ending. Just tell your story.”
Kyla walked through the corridor, replaying the conversation. Self-doubt weighed on her. Was Julian’s piece about Destiny better? Yet Instructor Mendez’s words kept echoing in her thoughts: “Just tell your story.”
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It was a day like any other in 2272, two years after they had arrived at the enclave. Alyka was playing the cello while Sarah played her violin. Music class had become one of their refuges.
The loudspeakers came on, interrupting their duet. A clear, neutral voice instructed everyone to gather at noon in the briefing hall. Everyone knew what the announcement meant. The names of the final voyagers would be revealed.
Sarah began to cry. Alyka tried to console her. “Don’t be scared. My Nana always says that when life gives you lemons, we make lemonade. Whatever happens, we’re in this together.”
At noon, the announcement began. Names echoed through the speakers as they appeared on the tall display panels across the front wall.
“Sullivan family… Quan family… Alina Acosta…”
Some celebrated, others cried as their future changed in an instant. Alyka and Sarah stood close together, hearts pounding with every name that appeared and was not theirs.
“Paul and Laura Cloutier… Henry Solariam… Giordano family…”
When the list ended, Sarah and her family had been chosen for Helios. Alyka and her family had not. It became a day of sadness and happiness woven together in a way neither girl would ever forget.
Selected families, couples, and single individuals were transported to Cape Verde for their scheduled launches.
Alyka never forgot the moment Sarah left. It was one of those hazy days with calima in the sky, the sand from the Sahara hanging over the compound like a veil. The buses arrived, and Sarah’s family boarded. When it was her turn to step on, she looked back and waved.
This time, Alyka did not forget.
“I will look for you.”
Sarah replied, her voice lost to the noise around them, but her lips unmistakable.
“I will look for you.”
That day was their first goodbye.
Real-time communication was not allowed, so they stayed in touch through emails. Sarah wrote about how the two rings rotated to provide gravity, but they could experience zero-g at Helios’s Central Axis. She described the Plaza and mentioned how they could view Earth from the observation deck.
She said the view was breathtaking, the oceans so blue and wide they seemed endless. At night, the cities glowed like distant stars. She tried to find them from orbit, searching for the pattern of lights along the west coast of Africa.
Alyka wrote about her trip to El Teide on the nearby island of Tenerife, where she saw the famous sea of clouds. She went on a trekking route near the old Juan Évora museum, where rugged lava fields framed the trail. Her father took them on a stargazing tour, where the Milky Way was visible to the naked eye. She looked for Ross 128, but it was too faint to be seen without a telescope.
A few months later, her father was transferred to the command center on La Palma. Alyka visited him there and saw Helios through their telescopes.
About a year passed, and the day of departure arrived. People across Earth watched from every screen they could find. Alyka went to her room and played her cello, hoping Sarah would be playing her violin wherever she was. That day was their long goodbye.
Alyka opened her window and continued playing, each note a reminder of their friendship. Then she remembered Nana’s saying, but this time she understood it differently.
When life gives you Silence, we make music.
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Kyla read the final paragraph again, staring at the last line for a few seconds.
“Logminter,” she whispered.
> Ready to record entry.
“I have read this multiple times already… and there is something I can’t shake.” She took a long breath and added, “Whose family was the lucky one, Alyka’s or Sarah’s?”
> Would you like to explore the lives of families that boarded Helios versus the ones that stayed on Earth?
“That’s not what I meant. What I’m trying to say is that after all this research, I finally understand how much we gave up. No sun, no clouds, no endless sea. I have never smelled the air before it rains. I have never seen a forest, and I will never see one,” Kyla said, unsettled by her own thoughts.
Her eyes began to water. “Our families left all that behind to travel to a tiny star in a ship that is slowly dying… where each generation has less than the previous one.”
Logminter’s output appeared on the screen.
> There is no data from Earth after communication was lost, but it can be assumed that life continued uninterrupted after the Disconnect. Earth’s resources would far exceed those available in a spacecraft like Helios.
“Yes, exactly. It feels like we may have gotten the worst end of everything. So… who really won?”
> You saved a log entry that may help you answer this question: “a story with a happy ending is an unfinished story, but one that ends sadly has finished too soon. The beauty is in the story.”
Kyla replied, not entirely sure why she felt so upset. “I don’t understand. I’m not talking about a story anymore. I’m talking about real life… my life.”
She did not expect an answer, yet a new response appeared on the screen.
> Based on previous patterns, it is likely you will record thousands of log entries about your life.
Kyla sat back, staring at the monitor. She wanted to reply, but it was unnecessary.
“Logminter, save this to my diary.”
LOG ENTRY
Action type: Log archival.
Integrity check: Validated. Data saved by authorized user.
Authorized user: Anwar Cloutier Soria, Kyla. Created at: 2772.241.2128.
Thanks for reading Kyla’s Diary, a novel from the Theogenic Universe. New chapters will be published weekly. Subscribe to continue the journey aboard Helios.