Easy Ryder

The Andromeda Initiative was poorly named, Alec reflected.

Everyone and their mother knew about the Andromeda Galaxy. If they had any basic level of education, they'd have known it was located 2.5 million light years away from the Milky Way, was designated M31, and was the largest galaxy in the Local Group. If their education was less than basic, and knew that current technology allowed humans to travel at up to half the speed of light, any trip from Sol to Andromeda would take 500,000 years. That was longer than human civilization had even existed. And that was assuming that one could sustain an antimatter reactor for that long.

Good news was, the Andromeda Initiative wasn't actually aiming for the Andromeda Galaxy. Bad news was that as of this point in time, there was little idea as to where ISV Hyperion would be headed. Certainly not from him at least. And from Jien's office aboard the ship, he suspected that the Initiative's founder had any idea either.

"So," Alec said, looking out the window towards Luna's dark side. "Got a heading yet?"

Not that that was going to stop him from asking.

"First star on the right, straight on till morning?"

Jien looked up at him. "Peter Pan? Seriously?"

"Scott and Sara love it. Well, Scott does at least."

"What about Sara?"

"I think she's praying for some actual fairy dust in her life and hoping that a Never Land actually exists for her."

Neither of them said anything. Alec knew that unless a flying boy with a green cap came flying in through the window, his children would have to grow up. Unfortunately, while Never Land had its share of crocodiles, pirates, and bladed weapons, it was still less dangerous than what Earth would become. Heck, what Earth was already was. Because when the planet had 20 billion people, when the world's economy was dependent on a resource shipped in from over four light years away, removing access to that resource meant that things would start to slow down.

Energy shortages. Starvation. Riots. A decade since the RDA had been booted off Pandora, and the house of cards that humanity had constructed had come crumbling down. Some people relished it – the chance for "a return to simpler times," casually omitting that such a return would cost the lives of billions. Some clamoured for a return to Pandora – the rich and powerful who could afford to funnel money into the RDA. Some didn't care, as they scraped by like they always had, the true severity of the looming crisis yet to dawn on them. And some…well, some people were like Jien Garson. Eccentrics who were ready to look for greener pastures. People who wanted to leave Sol and not look back. As she'd once said to him, "the human experiment is over. We need to start again." And even in the knowledge that there was no concrete destination for the starting-over part to occur, he'd consented. He, a few hundred others, and in time, a prospective 20,000 individuals who could fit into the Hyperion for a cold sleep of God knew how long, headed towards God knew where.

But not Andromeda. Which was fine. There were already a few hundred billion stars to choose from in the Milky Way.

"Anyway," Alec said. He looked away from the moon, and the lights that were shining on its surface (suffice to say, its dark side was no longer really "dark"). "You called me here from Luna. Remembering that radio is a thing, I'm assuming it's something that isn't meant for the official record."

Jien gave him a small smile.

"Or it's something that you needed to tell me face-to-face."

The smile widened. "Both, actually." She reached under her desk and pulled out a folder that was close to bursting. "Take a look."

Alec stared down at it. That was a lot of paper, and he was left to ask how many trees had died for it in a world that had so few left standing. But thoughts of trees quickly left his mind as he saw the title.

Golden Worlds: An Assessment of Prospective Worlds for Colonization

Golden worlds? He wondered. He sat down and began skimming through the documents. Even as well versed as he was in space travel, a lot of the figures and diagrams went over his head. But he got the gist of it. The Heleus Cluster, located over a thousand light years away, had seven worlds that could potentially suit human life. Worlds with gravity and atmospheres similar to Earth, being even more hospitable than Pandora. Each had been given a designation of "Habitat X," ranging from 1 to 7. He looked at Jien.

"Seven worlds?"

"Seven most prospective candidates, yes."

"And you couldn't find anything closer?"

"Aside from a moon that we've already been kicked out from, inhabited by blue superhumans who took out armoured gunships with bows and arrows? No."

Alec decided not to point out that there was nothing in this report that confirmed that these "golden worlds" weren't uninhabited either. The na'vi hadn't been known to exist until the RDA had dispatched ROVRs to the surface. Turned out that when you had a species that didn't use radio, or change their atmosphere, there weren't any hallmarks one could use to suss them out.

"You realize that barring any breakthrough in interstellar travel, we're looking at a travel time of six-hundred years?"

"Six-hundred and thirty-three to be exact," Jien said.

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"Look back at Earth Alec, next time you get close enough. The state of our homeworld and the very real threat of human extinction is what bothers me. Not to mention that so many species are already extinct."

Alec grunted. "And that's it then? Travel across the galaxy, find a new world and begin the process all over again?"

"Have you a better idea?" She leant back in her chair and folded her arms. "It's easy to take the high ground when the water hasn't come up to it. It's easy even before the water's reached your mouth. But when you're drowning, you'll take a lifeline from anyone." She nodded towards her office window. To the vacuum of space, to Luna, and beyond it, Earth. "Take a look at twenty-first century maps Alec. There was a lot more land back then."

And a lot less people, and a lot more animals. He leant back in his own chair and sighed. "You don't need to hide it you know. Why I'm here."

"Excuse me?"

"You need someone who'll order the trigger to be pulled if we find any indigenous species."

Jien frowned. "Didn't think you were so pessimistic."

"Not pessimistic, realistic. The RDA had decades to work out a deal with the na'vi, and failed."

"Then look at it this way Alec – you have a chance to succeed where the RDA didn't." Jien's eyes narrowed. "Where your brother didn't."

Alec felt the urge to punch Jien and leave. No-one mentioned his brother. No-one. "Able" Ryder had gone to Pandora, had got an Avatar, and lost it within the first few hours of his arrival. He'd fought in a war that had decimated the Tipani. There was a lot of ambiguity as to what the elder Ryder done and why, but in the end, it didn't matter. Karl Falco was dead, replaced by a man who turned out to be just as bad. Hundreds of Tipani were dead, along with dozens of RDA personnel. No-one had pointed the finger at him, being a star system over, but people who forgot the name of Jacob Sully might still remember the name of "Able" Ryder.

Maybe that's why I'm escaping, Alec reflected. My brother wanted something new. Guess I want the same thing.

Of course, this was a much longer trip, and a one way one at that. And he certainly wasn't expecting on encountering floating rocks and all that stuff either, no matter how esoteric these "golden worlds" turned out to be. So instead, he asked the golden question. "What's our ETA?"

"Full disclosure to the public in 2176. Vetting process follows, resulting in launch in 2185."

Alec frowned. "That's decades away. What's the situation going to be like by then?"

"What, on Earth, or Pandora?" Jien raised a hand. "Don't answer the question Alec. Pandora can go one of two ways, but whatever the outcome, Earth's fate is sealed. We've fucked our planet so bad it's bleeding, and now we're reaping the whirlwind. And unless there's some means of unlocking FTL travel in the next few years, only a few of us are going to survive."

Alec didn't say anything. He couldn't. Whatever objections he raised would be mixed with lies and false hope. And not counting on stuff like alien ruins on Mars, or some kind of stargate at Pluto…then, yes. A one way trip sleeping for hundreds of years, arriving at worlds where the data on them would be 600 plus years out of date. No problem, right?

"So," Jien said. She extended a hand towards Alec. "Are you still with me, Alec? You going to be the Initiative's pathfinder?"

After a moment, Alec Ryder sighed.

A moment after that, he shook the Devil's hand, and took his step towards Heaven.

A/N

So I started playing Mass Effect: Andromeda, and at the start, I admittedly had Avatar flashbacks (the game, not the movie). As in, in both cases, a character named Ryder awakens from cryo, arrives at an alien planet with floating rocks, and shooting starts nearly immediately.

Tangental? Yes. But drabbled this up regardless.