Mommy, Why Am I Here?

by Roger Bourke White Jr.


No matter how you slice it, interstellar travel in our real world is going to be a slow, expensive, and difficult process.

This is a story about one way to make interstellar exploration faster and cheaper, but the savings come with a twist.


“Mommy, why am I here?” Mary asked with the innocence of a six-year-old. It was a pleasant spring day. The sun shone through the window over the kitchen sink. Janet, her mother, took a moment from washing dishes to bend down and face her.

“You’re here because God wants you to be here, Mary.”

“Yes, Mommy. But why am I here? What am I supposed to do … when I grow up?”

“God has something very special in mind for you, Mary, I’m sure,” answered Janet. “In the meantime, have you done your studies?”

“Yes.”

“In that case why don’t you run outside and play for a while.”

Mary ran outside. The house was at the center of a farm couched in rolling hills of spring-lush green and covered with a canopy of intense blue sky and low-flying white cottony clouds. Mary skirted the hog pens and ran to the barn. Uncle Gustav was there half under the tractor working on the engine.

“Mary, please fetch me the 5/8” wrench, please, from the toolbox on top of the tractor.”

Mary clambered up and reached for it. As she did, she sent the toolbox clattering down. It fell solidly on Gustav’s hip.

Gustav howled. “Mary! Please be more careful.” He scrambled out from under the tractor and checked the motion of his leg. “Rats,” he said, “something’s broken. I’m going to have to go to the hospital.”

“I’m sorry, Uncle Gustav.”

“And well you should be, my dear,” he said, only slightly angry. “Please be more careful next time.”

“I will, I promise.”

Gustav limped out of the barn muttering. “If I don’t get this tractor done soon, we won’t finish the plowing in time.”

Mary wandered further into the barn where the milking was going on. Bill, her brother, and Frank, her dad, were industriously attaching milkers to the cows as the cows contentedly ate their morning meal.

To read more about Mary, and find out where she really is, head to this story on White World:

http://www.whiteworld.com/technoland/stories-techno/stories2008-/mwhy-00.htm