It’s the year 2198. 92 years ago, the asteroid 253 Mathilde began humanity’s first interstellar mission with a crew of 200 people. Now accelerating through the Oort cloud at a millimeter per second per second, the descendants of the original crew have as yet no inkling of where the next 42 years of their lives will take them. The Asteroid 253 Mathilde is an asteroid from the main belt, discovered in 1885 and first visited by a human spacecraft in 1997. In the early 22nd century, with some help from advanced extraterrestrial technology, it was fitted with engines fueled by refined asteroid ore. Launched on humanity’s first interstellar mission, it has been accelerating ever since. Now 92 years into a 780 year journey, generations of inhabitants have come and gone in the colony built just below…
“Mathilde 253” by Paul Knierim
