A HOME, A HOPE

(Official anthem of the Federal Confederation)

“A home, a hope” was a popular song sung by the Exohumans aboard the Last Frontier and on planet VOI 700 D. The original author is unknown. A first version emerged among the passengers of the Last Frontier in the first years of their journey, and is first officially documented in the GAIA system as of 2423.

The song quickly became popular among the crew and passengers and served as an inofficial anthem for gatherings on the spaceship.

Seven years after the landing of the human settlers on VOI 700 D, after the founding of the Federal Confederation, during Supreme Councilor Aisha Patel's first administration “A home, a hope” was officially adopted as the Confederate anthem.

The lyrics of “A home, a hop” have changed considerably over time, as the Humans progressed on their journey through space. Over the centuries, scholars have documented and in part also criticised a shift from elevated diction to spaceship vernacular, e.g. with slang terms like “hood” included in the verses. This has been changed to “neighborhood” by the Patel administration.

These are the lyrics of the official anthem as passed by the Federal Council in march 15 in the year 2633:

A home, a hope

• Our folks, our home, we left them sad
• Our only home we had turned bad
• And we swore that we'll never forget
• It was us who brought it to that

• In cold dark space we found a lifeline
• We had to change and to adapt
• Waiting, preparing was our life for lifetimes
• But it didn't turn out how we'd planned it

• Now we're here, we've landed for good
• For better, for worse, this is our neighborhood

• For generations now we've sung this song
• It'll change with us as we move along
• But we swore that we'll never forget
• That we can be friends with our planet

As a folk song before it became an official anthem, “A home, a hope” was often sung privately, in family homes, pubs, or elsewhere. The following recording is an example. It was recorded by a young couple in their private quarters in New Kourou at 2634.

With the surprise end of the Last Frontier's journey yet to be determined, the first known version of “A home, a hope” from 2423 focused even more on the crew's original settlement mission, the hardships and uncertainties of space travel.

A home, a hope

• A home, a hope, the only one we had
• Our folks we had to leave in sad-
• ness - how could it ever come to that
• That we will never forget

• We're out there now in space, alone
• Far from the life that lies ahead
• Our life consists of waiting, pending
• (That) our kids will live to see the ending
• And build a worthwhile future, yet
• That we will never forget

• Meanwhile we're longing from afar
• Glancing at that fixed star
• GAIA our guide, our destiny set
• That we will never forget

• For them to have hope, a new home
• And build a worthwhile future, yet
• That we will never forget

As the most popular folk song among human pioneers, “A home, a home” has evoked numerous lyrical variations, both for satirical and political reasons.

One of the most famous and at the same time controversial lyric versions is “A race for space”, which was frequently sung during the Great War with the Natives in the Volunteer Army of Man units.

The text version is as follows:

A race for space

• We left the Earth, our folks, our home
• for a world unknown to make our own
• Our plight in dark and lonely space
• We were reborn a different race

• Here there's nothing but adversity
• But brothers, sisters, we laugh in its face
• We'll win this race, we'll have our space
• we need to breathe and to be free

“A race for space” was officially banned by a vote in the Federal Council in 2634 due to its martial, anthropocentric content “. Nevertheless, the text version is repeatedly intoned among radical politicians of the individualist party at non-official meetings - and is considered a mark of distinction.

• The human culture in the Gamma Age
• Federal Confederation
• Gamma Age