Global desertification and an economic depression put the world on a track to regression, but in 2015 a mysterious radio signal was picked up by the SETI program transmitting from the star system Tau Ceti. Many citizens of the world took this for granted, assuming it to be something natural producing the noise, such as a quasar or some unknown star process, but one curious scientist dug further. After two years of research the scientist stumbled upon the fact that the radio was a sequence of numbers, the atomic weights of four elements. The radio signal was a repeating signal that would start and end periodically, starting with the atomic weight of carbon, followed by oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. Not only did this show that the signal was more than just a natural process, but showed it came from intelligence elsewhere, the four elements being broadcasted by the star system are the four elements needed for life on Earth. This find sparked a new age of discovery.
It was a quiet morning for it being only a couple of days before Christmas, but that unending silence would soon be extinguished. Tim Sherfam sat in his command module and took a deep breathe. He took a glance out of one of the side windows at the crowds slowly filling up the pavilion. The sun began to peek out from behind the trees to the east. Tim squinted as the glare from the sun shone off of the glass windows. “T-minus one minute.” spoke the man over the speakers. Tim looked over at Glen, one of the two men going on the journey and nodded. “T-minus thirty seconds.” spoke the voice again. Tim took another deep breath, one that could possibly be his last. Tim knew he couldn’t see her, but he knew his wife would be crying right now, along with his two sons. “T-minus ten seconds…nine…eight..seven..six..five..four..three..two..one.” spoke the announcer. Tim grunted as the rocket engines fired, pushing him back into his seat. “We have liftoff.” confirmed the speaker. “Thrust vectors are looking good.” said Tim over the radio. “Everything’s looking good down here, too.” said an engineer on the ground. “Just remember, you do not have to pilot the ship at all.” said the engineer. Tim looked down at his life-support gauges, everything was fine, his heart rate was up but that’s normal. “I’m leaving, finally, our world of turmoil and pain. Once and for all gone.” said Tim to himself. “We will go down in history as the saviors of the human race, in the year 2020.” said Tim verbally this time. “We’re not going to be the only ones that are, the Europeans are sending up an expedition themselves.” said Glen. Tim looked at Glen, "The Russians and the Chinese will probably have something up into space sooner or later, but for now we're in the lead." said Tim. Tim smiled as he begun to partially lift up out of his chair, an effect of no gravity. He took another glance out of the window and saw what appeared to be England, from the glow of the lights over the land. Darkness would soon consume the North American continent and bring light unto the European continent. "There she is." said Glen, pointing to a glow zooming towards his ship at a fast rate. "The Lewis and Clark, assembled fully in space." said Glen. "Pretty impressive for our engineers." said Tim outloud. "Thank you there, Tim." said the engineer on the ground with a snort. "We'll be linking up with the Lewis and Clark in approximately five minutes." said Glen. "Time to see one of the world's most top secret projects up close." said Tim with a smile. Tim's teeth clicked together as a stage separated from the rocket. He watched as the spaceship approached closer and closer, until finally they docked together. "Here at last." said Tim. Tim waited as the airlocks between the two ships opened, revealing the neat and tidy interior of the other ship. "I guess we'll be trading with you boys." said one of the two engineers already on board the ship. "Looks like it." said Glen. "Good luck out there, God knows you'll need it." said the engineer waving at the dark void of space. The two engineers climbed inside of the rocket that brought Glen and Tim into orbit and they did the opposite. Tim sat down in the plush chair, day one of..many.
OOC: Anyone is welcome to post, just please RP as either an Earth country attempting to send an expedition to Tau Ceti, or an alien on one of Tau Ceti's planets receiving radio signals from Earth. If someone chooses to RP as the aliens, your posts will guide a large part of the RP.
