New Frontier

"Are you sure about this?"

The head guard whispered in my ear again. It is clear that as I approach the execution chamber, everyone is getting increasingly agitated.

Murder. That was the excuse I conjured since the public ought not know my true intention. After all, the mere idea of entering and returning from the afterlife will lead many pious worshippers, conspiracy theorists, and defenders of nature to try and storm the facility.

I was tried in a closed court that only consisted of my fellow scientific colleagues as the jury. The ruling was predetermined: I will be executed by the Experience Machine, which will transport me to the afterlife for an indefinite period of time.

If I am lucky, I would return alive to tell the tale. If not, the machine will be scrapped, and my dead carcass cremated in memory of my sacrifice. While I was hoping that my colleagues could do the honor of sending me to the afterlife, I understand their sentiment of hoping to avoid blood on their hands. Hence, the legal killers of this world will assist me in starting my journey instead.

While my body becomes strapped to the machine, I thought back to my mother, who works as an explorer, and my father, who works as a scientist. Both of their work have tremendous impacts on my life, yet neither know that I am about to embark on an unprecedented journey. Guilt began to well up in me as I think back to them.

"Any last words?" The head guard jokingly asks.

"If I never come back, tell my parents that I am in a new world unbeknownst to any human alive."

"You're making this a lot harder than it needs to be." The head guard sighs before flipping the switch.