Dream 266

I was with a select crew set on a massive starship.  We were sent into interstellar space to explore various aspects of the universe.

But something went wrong.  We were cut off from communication with Earth and unable to control the ship.  A lot of people went into despair, and some seemed to go quietly crazy.  Shipboard discipline disintegrated.

After a while, the crew settled into a nomadic existence aboard the ship.  The mission was forgotten by all but a select few.  I couldn't tell how much time had passed, it felt like centuries.

One day, all the systems came back on again.  The instruments showed we still were orbiting Earth, and the ship was preparing to land.  We were all worried that the ship might crash, but when we checked the viewport, we had already settled on a hill outside a small town.

I looked at the town and recognized a city where I had once lived.  I was concerned that I was simply seeing what I wanted to see, and asked the others if they saw the same.  Everyone confirmed what I was seeing.

I was still worried.  I'd read too many stories.  What had happened?  Was it all a dream?  Would we open the doors and walk out into a nightmare?  Or worse, a familiar world we had just left behind, and had never left, despite the centuries?