This is my 'take' on the 'Alien' universe. I hope you like it! I'm going to see where the story goes. It might turn out to be a long one, so bear with me if it does. All copyrighted stuff used without permission for non-profit purposes, etc. Enjoy!
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Chapter One – 'Do You Know Where You're Going To?'
The vast expanse of space was peppered with billions of stars. Against this infinite backdrop, a dark shape appeared. Moving forward inexorably. The craft was an E-type star cruiser, circa 2435 production date. Assembled in the low gravity construction sites of Sol's asteroid belt, where raw materials were plentiful.
It was huge. The interior covered millions of cubic feet. There were six levels, all comprising different functions and purposes.
It had been one of the first wave of craft. The original, (perhaps only), exodus of mankind from Earth. The planet had been ravaged and was in a state of global ecological meltdown. Much of the polar ice caps had melted. Human population levels had expanded out of all control, occasionally being cut back by emerging super viruses. The ozone layer had almost completely disappeared. The One World Council had implemented a worldwide planting of oceanic algae farms to try to redress the gaseous balance, and feed the starving billions.
It was in the year 2412 that Councillor Ventaz had announced
a bold new initiative was to be implemented. Based on the assumption that mankind's
future on planet Earth was no longer guaranteed, an initiative had been drawn
up to plan a venture for the future of humanity. With the fairly recent
development of warp drives and the colonizing of the inner solar system, the
OWC had decided to invest large sums of money in the propagation of Earth life
throughout the galaxy. Intensive scanning of the Universe had revealed no
evidence of extraterrestrial life. The search had been exhaustive, but to no
avail. After centuries of increasingly sophisticated methods of investigation,
ET, if he, she or it existed, did not want to phone home. Of course, this did
not mean that life was limited to our planet alone. The Universe might be
teeming with life, but life unlike anything we could imagine, and intelligent
life with unimaginable forms of communication.
And so, Project Ark was born. The mission was the same for each of the 12 juggernauts. They were to transport their human, animal and plant cargo to various target destinations in the nearby galactic spiral arm. Systems had been pinpointed with Earth-like planets. On arrival, the crew would be awakened from their cryogenic sleep to stage-manage the initial investigation.
Probes would be sent down to the planet to investigate the indigenous atmosphere and the composition of the soil. Tests would be taken to determine whether there were enough dormant organic compounds and, most importantly, if water was in abundance, either frozen or liquid.
Only then, when all criteria had satisfactorily been met, when they were sure that no native lifeforms were present, would the planet colonization begin. The methods at their disposal would take anything from several hundred, to several thousand years, to complete. Much would depend on planet size. Atmospheric processors would have to be built in order to create the right mix of global gases. Asteroids and comets would be sent on a collision course to the poles in order to release the ice if it was frozen. Thermonuclear depth charges could also be used globally to free the water.
The intended result would be a new branch of life and of humanity in the Universe. The initial settlers would have to adapt. Life would not be easy at the beginning. However, using frozen stocks of eggs, sperm and foetuses, the population would gradually increase. As well as the identikit planet, they had the identikit government and also social engineering to contend with. Ensuring that the mistakes made first time, back on Earth, would not be repeated here.
The outer solar arm was, over the next several dozen millennia, about to turn a faded green colour. The universal indicator of the flourishing, expanding wave of Life. Indication, if any was needed, to the eye of anyone watching in another galaxy, that intelligent life HAD occurred in the Milky Way.
This was a latter day Genesis, the seeding of a galactic Eden. The only sure fire certainty for the continuation of life. This was the end of the first chapter of Mankind, and the launch of a glorious destiny…
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