Randy Mootooveran
Worldbuilding
August 29, 2017

Elise Levinia is a celebrated figure in the galaxy. Known as the first person ever to navigate the entire galaxy end to end in a total of 16 Earth years. After given the nickname, “Space Albatross,” she has since become a national hero back on Earth who has her own holiday on October 12 (the day she returned home) as a monument to how far humans have advanced. She currently resides in a mansion on the aquatic continent of Oceanna, equipped with enough money to build her own island atop the floating city.

ADAM is the AI program responsible for charting each location Elise came across in her galaxy wide expedition and her only companion to survive the journey. Originally a crew of nine space navigators, an unfortunate run in with the NorBlot space eels left their vessel Discovery 37 in an almost unsalvageable state. Only she and ADAM managed to ward off their attackers and push forward with what remained.

“I remember those days where it was just the two of us,” Elise once said in an interview, “There were months where all we could find was an endless sea of stars and nebulas. I’d never seen anything so untouched or clear, because those were the days the fossil fuel wars were turning Earth into nothing but smoke. I was just tempted to go out there and just soak it in. Thank God for ADAM because I probably would have jumped out without a suit (Laughs) I was that eager. There was one day where ADAM woke me up and told me to come to the bridge. So I go there, and I find a giant dead alien. I suppose you could call it a squid, but it was nothing like what you’ve seen. This thing was huge, bigger than Saturn from what ADAM said. I steered the ship inside so we could catalog it, and found an entire civilization living inside its internal organs. There’s always something out there you could never imagine in your wildest dreams. Don’t be afraid to reach out and go for the impossible, sweetheart.”

“Elise tends to do the first action she thinks of, which has more than once, jeopardized our safety protocols. Of all her personality traits, I estimate ‘curiosity’ is her defining one. Often other extraterrestrial races deem this as foolish, but I would argue that it is a necessity for this sort of mission. In the company of those who can exercise caution in dire circumstances, success is guaranteed at a higher rate.

‘Those stories you always used to tell me, was any of it real?” Elise stood up, casting a long shadow over her horrified daughters face.

“They were just the beginnings of how I came to find those places and species. You were too young to know the rest.”

“You enslaved them! I thought you stood for something better than this.! You said we could change the galaxy together!”

Elise sighed, shaking her head as she turned to the view outside the massive space station they stood.

“Come see for yourself,” the daughter stepped forward in time to see fleets of ships exiting the pristine blue surface of Earth.

“Before you were born, there was nothing but smoke. We were forced to pay for the privilege of breathing in order to fund the war effort. Most people expected me to die out there, but I didn’t. Even more, I knew where to find minerals and the forces we would need to rebuild our world. In 17 years, I did more to elevate our kind compared to the centuries they spent killing one another. What I do, I do for our expansion… and your future,” her hand touched her shoulder, “After I pass on, I intend to make this all yours.”