Final chapter to: Journey to the centre of the galaxy

“I know how they all laughed at you great grandfather, locking you away. And all along you were right” Menze stood looking out of the large curved glass viewer, starring into the billion cluster of stars at the galaxies centre, the place of eternal light. “All the time Great Grandfather Ezra, you were right” Menze had brought the urn of ashes of his Great Grandfather, something Ezra him self had wished, to be vented among the stars. But how did Ezra know that one day his predecessors would ever achieve that?

“It was unfair they called you crazy and locked you away, but here we are today, because of you” Ezra had been the shame of the family, he had been blacklisted by the state in his time. They'd locked him away and accused him of criminal insanity, truth was he dared to challenge the secrecy of the state. Ezra's own son distanced himself because of it and wanted nothing to do with his father and went and joined the navy. Ezra's son one day became a man of great repute, eventually setting up his own ship yard. But despite Ezra's sons successes he was always internally conflicted and angry about his Father.

When he had reached his heights, he had a fleet of ships of his own. Ezra's son also had a son, and likewise took over from his father investing greatly into a growing space industry. It was a huge undertaking, but he was quick to develop the company along the lines of all the new and emerging innovations in space technology, and pioneered space flight. No small undertaking, Menze fathers company was among the top 5.

It saddened Menze, that his Great grandfather had died pretty much alone, and that his pig headed Grandfather refused to see him up until his last days, and Menze's father wasn't any better. But Menze grew different, he had a fascination for his Great grandfather, something Menze himself couldn't explain. He had managed to get his hands on Ezra's notes, and felt a destiny of fulfilment in them. In some strange way, Ezra's quest for answers had brought Menze here and now, a number of light years away, floating above the centre of the galaxy.

Menze looked down into the cluster of the billion suns. It was Great Grandfather who had pieced it all together, who had pieced all the signs of the ancient monuments on Earth and how they pointed to and triangulated civilisations amongst the stars. The final glue was how they all pointed to a specific place among those billion points of light. A genetically coded message had been found among Ezra's notes. That same code had been detected being transmitted from within that cluster amidst all the background noise.

Menze with the aid of his on board team of scientists cracked the code and point located its source from within the cluster. The ships engines could be heard whiring in the background, the famaliar feeling of stomach churning could be felt as she, 'the good ship Explorer' changed heading and dipped towards her new destination. The light of the galactic stars shimmered in her wake, as space distorted and buckled around her. Once her course had settled, the queasy feelings subsided.

Menze pulled out a picture he had of his Great grandfather, “Where going to see what remains of possibly the oldest civilisation in our Galaxy and maybe our origins. Where going to finally be able to answer your question, your quest was never in vain, where here, rest in peace Great Grandfather Ezra”. Menze placed the picture in the urn, and put the urn into the air lock tube. Jettisoned, he watched as the urn streaked off into the distance like a silver shooting star into the ever enveloping darkness of space.