The stasis pod was frosted over with a thin layer of ice. Enough ice and cold to keep a human alive for as long as the pod survives. Next to the pod were four others. All members of the Infinity Space Exploration crew. Sent on a mission by the U.S to travel to the far reaches of space. The crew used stasis to survive the trip there, and are using it now for the trip back. It had been more years than imaginable they spent in space. All of their friends and family are surely gone and the earth they return to could be strikingly different than the one they left. They’re getting close to earth at this point, the stasis pods should be opening shor... The stasis pods cracked open, one by one the crew members woke up from their very extended sleep. The ship’s captain, Ashley Baker stood up the first of all them. “Good morning people, or night. We’re in space who cares” Ashley spoke. The ship’s pilot Jacob Banks got up and got a drink of water from a dispenser. “How long do you think we were asleep this time”? Jacob asked. The stasis time wasn’t definite, only waking the crew up when they’re near their destination and when there’s a problem. “No clue but I can check the ship’s time frame to find out” Ashley replied. “I’ll do it right now”! Chimed in Jackie Sosa. She was just a regular crew member, an eager one at that too. “Alright go ahead and do that, after you’re done meet us in the mission room so we can discuss our return to earth” Ashley told her “Can do”! Jackie exclaimed, and went on her way to the ship’s data room. “How much longer till we get to earth”? Asked Frank Scott, another crew member. “At most a day” answered Clay Davis the ship's navigator. “That’s sooner than I thought” Ashley exclaimed. “Alright everybody, let’s make our way to the mission room”. The crew started walking towards the mission room. The ship was unbelievably large. About the size of a small shopping mall. And all to five crew members! They obviously didn’t need all that space but having it was a great addition. They arrived at the mission room and shuffled in. Ashley sat at the head of the table and scanned the room. Jackie walked into the room and her usually happy face looked gloomy. She sat down next to Clay silently and looked up towards Ashley. “Well”? Ashley asked “From the time we left till right now, we’ve been gone about 2,500 years” Jackie said “Not possible”! Ashley exclaimed pounding the table with her first. “We were only gone five hundred years the way there! There’s no way we took two thousand years getting back”! “I checked the log and everything, the statistics, the ship’s travel timeline, it all looks like it’s adding up. Unless it’s a full system glitch which I can’t imagine happened”. Jackie sighed “This is even worse than coming back from a thousand years in space”! Said Clay Davis “As if i wasn’t already upset about the thousand years! Double that and add five hundred.” “What’s the exact number we were gone, because I know it wasn't exactly 2,500” said Frank. “It was 2,576” Jackie answered. “Since we left in 2025….” started Clay “The year is 4525” finished Jacob. “What are we gonna find? Earth has got to be drastically different” “What if we were taken over by Aliens” said Frank “Or we evolved into something else. What if they don’t accept us back because they have no records of this exploration?! What if…” “STOP” exclaimed Ashley. “Getting worked up over it is going to help nothing. If this is really true then there’s no telling what we’re going to find. I do know that we’re probably in for a load of surprises”. “There’s probably flying cars, laser guns, holograms, teleporters, time travel” Clay exclaimed half excited half anxious. “Well we should be arriving in about twenty minutes. So just sit tight and we’ll find out soon enough. There’s no use stressing it now”. Said Jacob. On re-entering the atmosphere the ship shook and wobbled furiously. Even with new technology this part of space travel was still unpleasant. Once into the atmosphere the ship automatically stabilizes itself. Until then the entrance was crappy as usual. “I think I’m gonna hurl” exclaimed Clay. “Well go do it in a bucket or some…” Too late. “He never did have a strong stomach” said Jackie looking away from Clay hunched over a trash chute. The ship lurched backwards and they were suddenly upright again. Hovering slightly below the clouds. Jacob slid his chair over to the other dashboard and typed into the ship's GPS. “Alright we need to goooo tooooo….. Houston, Texas”. He slid his chair back to the pilot controls and resumed their travels at a lowered speed. They flew moderately slow towards Houston, for a spaceship at least. With a ten minute ETA they would be arriving shortly onto their sweet earth. “It’s been sooo long since I’ve seen Earth. And if it’s been as long as the ship says then I haven’t touched a planet in two thousand years. I’ve only been touching cold ship metal”. Ashley said solemnly. “Hopefully whoever, or whatever’s down there are friendly” said Jackie “And hopefully they don’t see our giant spaceship flying over and landing in their city as a threat”. “Let’s open up the floor window and look at what’s down there” said Frank Jacob slid his chair over to the dash and opened the floor. A small square in the middle opened revealing a window where you could see the surface of the earth. The crew used this for when things would float under the ship or if under helm repairs needed to be made. Now they used it to look unto their home planet. “Wow it looks, really brown.” said Jackie. And that it did. The surface of their planet was abnormally brown. With about no green in sight. “Gee man it’s reeeaally not looking good for us”. Said Frank “What do you mean man”? Jacob asked “Stop being such a negative thinker, maybe there was just a drought around here” “Or maybe all of the life on Earth has been wiped out and we’re the only ones left” said Frank spitefully. “We don’t that yet though. You saying that just brings the rest of the crew towards your negative outlook” Jacob scolded “I’m just preparing for the worst. And in this scenario the worst is most likely”. Replied Frank. “Think about it we’ve been gone two thousand five hundred years! The way of life on Earth is either drastically different from when we were here or that humans have gone extinct, evolved into something else, or we’ve been taken over by something. But nothing is the same as when we were here. We know nobody that is alive now, we know nothing about their way of life, they’ll probably want to kill us if they don’t do it the moment we step off the spaceship.” The entire crew was silent. A beeping sound echoed through the hull of the ship. “We’re here” Ashley said.”The ship should be landed within two minutes so let's all go gather our stuff” The crew dispersed and went into their living quarters. Ashley walked across her room and gathered her things. She shoved all articles of clothing into her backpack and then began to pack the other various items around her room. Beside her bed, she picked up a picture. It was of her and her entire family. On her left was her long deceased boyfriend Trevor. Whom she had to leave for this expedition. On her right was her father and mother. The two biggest advisors against this trip. A lone tear shambled down her face as she put the photo into the bag. Ashley walked to the c***pit and looked out the windshield. Chaos was unfurled around. Leveled buildings, blown up cars, silence throughout the Houston streets. She put her hand over her mouth and let out a gasp/cry. The rest of the crew gathered behind her and looked out the window. “Jesus Christ” said Jackie “This is a lot worse than I originally expected” “The streets are completely vacant, we know this town is a ghost town”. Said Jacob “What happened here though”? Asked Clay. “It doesn’t matter what happened” said Frank “It happened and now we have to deal with it. Should’ve never went on this stupid expedition”. “Complaining isn’t going to help us whatsoever” scolded Jackie “Let’s just get out there” commanded Ashley. “Everybody grab your things and let's get out here and look around, at least until night time”. The crew gathered around the blast doors. A shrill beeping sound rang throughout the ship and the blast doors slowly slid open. A swift gust of wind blew in and knocked the hat off of Jacob’s head. “Hey get back here” he said as he ran back into the ship to retrieve his hat. He rejoined the crew and proceeded to step outside with them. It was even worse when you actually got outside. Nothing was intact. About everything in sight was destroyed. But off in the distance something was still intact. It looked like a huge colosseum but built out of materials the greeks definitely didn’t use. A shiny metal was used to create this structure and it looked very sturdy. “I guess I know where we’re going first” Ashley stated.