Chapter 39

Chapter 39 is the thirty-ninth chapter of the Astra Lost in Space manga. It is the second chapter of the Galem arc and, in the compiled volumes, the second chapter of the fifth volume.

Synopsis
The students are stunned to learn that artificial wormholes exist, and a curious Funcia asks what a wormhole is. Zack explains to her that wormholes allow for instantaneous transport between different points in space-time, at least in theory, similar to a tunnel. The students soon realize that the orb they had encountered on Planet McPa was a wormhole.

Kanata asks Paulina to talk about the wormholes she knows of. She responds that the technology does exist in her world. In 2045, as FTL travel started to become feasible, a scientist named Ginji Chuma published a theory on how wormholes could work and discovered the mysteries of gravity. His discoveries advanced science and technology by decades. By building gates at two different points and connecting them via wormhole, humans could now figure out how to travel between two different places at great distances. But with the arrival of the asteroid, the need for the wormhole sped up dramatically and eventually they were able to stabilize the wormhole for proper use of the evacuation of Earth. Charce remarks that no such technology exists in their world.

Paulina's story continues: with only 8 years until impact, there was an urgent need to discover a new habitable world. Dozens of unmanned satellites were first launched, then manned missions in 2051 with elite astronauts sent to discover candidate worlds. The astronauts traveled aboard spaceships known as the Ark's vessels. The one the students found, the Astra (ship), was in fact the Ark XII, while she was assigned to Ark VI and her journey to Planet Icriss.

Kanata asks if the exodus succeeded and she responds that is very likely succeeded because, in fact, the new world that humanity chose was Astra, and that the students are the descendants of the original Earthlings who evacuated there. The students, stunned, listen as she points out this is the most likely theory and that the frozen ice planet the students had stumbled upon when they were spat out by the first wormhole was indeed, Earth. With the asteroid striking the planet, enough debris would fly into the atmosphere to block out the sun for decades and plunge the world into a new ice age.

Paulina explains that the orb they saw was a wormhole, but does not know why there was another wormhole on Planet McPa. The Ark XII, or Astra, was an unused ship that had been parked above Earth in a space terminal and somehow survived the explosion from the asteroid colliding with Earth. The students realize that the originals either didn't know about the Astra or dismissed the idea as too ridiculous when they decided to jettison the students in deep space. Aries is also able to deduce that this entire time they've been journeying from Earth to Astra.

Zack is still confused as to the discrepancies in the timeline. If it was now 2063, and the world was truly destroyed in 2057, then only 6 years had passed and Astra had somehow miraculously advanced generations in only 6 years, given the level of technology back home. Kanata is more concerned with the fact that their history seems to have been somehow manipulated or even erased. Ulgar remarks that his brother once mentioned that the adults were lying to them and were possibly hiding something from them.

Aries breaks the tension by saying that they don't have all the answers at the moment and will find it when they return home and that they should enjoy exploring the stars now and figure it all out later. Later in her diary, she writes that they continue to journey to Planet Galem, while everything has to return to normal and they prepare to face the truth. Meanwhile, Kanata tells the others that when they return home, they plan to park the ship over Astra and broadcast communications to the police and government to get the originals arrested before they land back on Astra. The others begin to fret about their possible new lives when they return home.

Later that night, Kanata is sitting alone in the captain's chair and begins to recall what exactly happened that day on Planet McPa. Thinking harder, he suddenly races to Aries' room, surprising her. He tells her they need to talk, and the entire time she mistakes it for a surprise love confession, but he insists on speaking with her and then enters her room and shuts the door.