From this distance the planets seem only points of light, smeared or unsmeared - even through the high-resolution telescope aboard Voyager. They are like planets seen with the naked eye from the surface of the Earth – luminous dots, brighter than most of the stars. Over a period of months the Earth, like the other planets, would seem to move among the stars. You cannot tell merely by looking at one of these dots what it's like, what's on it, what its past has been, and whether, in this particular epoch anyone lives there.
Because of the reflection of sunlight off the spacecraft, the Earth seems to be sitting in a beam of light, as if there were some special significance to this small world. But it's just an accident of geometry and optics. The Sun emits its radiation equitably in all directions. Had the picture been taken a little earlier or a little later, there would have been no sunbeam highlighting the Earth.
And why that cerulean color? The blue comes partly from the sea, partly from the sky. While water in a glass is transparent, it absorbs slightly more red light than blue. If you have tens of meter of the stuff or more, the red light is absorbed out and what gets reflected back to space is mainly blue. In the same way, as short line of sight through air seems perfectly transparent. Nevertheless – something Leonardo da Vinci excelled at portraying – the more distant the object, the bluer it seems. Why? Because the air scatters blue light around much better than it does red. So the bluish cast of this dot comes from its thick but transparent atmosphere and its deep oceans of liquid water. And the white? The Earth on an average day is about half covered with white water clouds.
We can explain the wan blueness of this little world because we know it well. Whether an alien scientist newly arrived at the outskirts of our solar system could reliably deduce oceans and clouds and a thickish atmosphere is less certain. Neptue, for instance, is blue, but chiefly for different this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of particular interest.
But for us, it's different. Consider again that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
-Carl Sagan's "The Pale Blue Dot"
Act 1: Contact
February 13th, 2247
Earth Orbit
"Mission Control, this is Enterprise. We have left the orbital dry dock, and are preparing the final steps for FTL travel. We are awaiting the go, no go, over."
Zavier Lindon, a 43 year old Caucasian man with brown crew cut hair, waited for a response. Outside, he could see the blue marble that he and the entire human race called home. Earth; resting peacefully in the dark void known as space, isolated from the rest of the galaxy by light years of travel. And after years of development, advancements, and setbacks, he would be one of the first to break that isolation that many of his kind hoped to surpass.
Being an astronaut meant that you had to always be prepared for the task at hand, both physically and mentally. While that was true for anyone coming up here, for him, this was the eighth time he was in space. He long learned to get used to the weightless feeling, which slowly vanished as time and technology advanced. The understanding of magnetic fields and how they can affect gravitational pull made it safe for him, his crew, and countless other human beings to live in space for longer periods of time. But even though mankind established a colony on the moon and Mars, they still yearned to spread and explore.
"This is Mission Control," the ground team back on Earth replied, "All systems are green. You are clear for the warp jump. Good luck team, all of us at mission control are proud to be a part of this historic moment of the first mission to Alpha Centauri."
The mission had only two tasks: Jump to Alpha Centauri, and then jump back to Earth. Zavier's previous missions were similar in nature, except they involved jumping to a planet within the system. They started small by jumping to the moon, but with each mission they jumped to further planets. After a few years of calculations, eventually it was determined that they might finally be able to utilize the Prometheus warp drive to leave the system and enter a new one. It was a big jump, and there always were dangers associated with it, but the benefits outweighed the risks.
"Roger Mission Control, preparing to engage Prometheus drive" Zavier glanced to his right to one of the other astronauts in his crew, a 34 year old woman with long black hair and tan skin. Esther Valencia had been to space just as many times as he did, and the two developed a close bond. She was the team's engineer, and it was her job to keep the ship's systems operational. It also helped that she had a neuro interface, which allowed her to perform even more tasks thanks to her being able to interface with computers mentally. This meant that she would literally be one with the ship whenever she is linked in.
Esther returned the glance and gave Zavier a firm nod. "Right," She didn't even catch a beat before she sent out the command to fold up the solar arrays, "Bringing the solar array in for warp travel. Solar batteries are charged, and hydrogen fuel cells are full."
Zavier nodded, "Thank you. Youta?" He glanced behind him to a 48 year old man of Japanese heritage with short black hair. Youta Fujijoka was another member of Zavier's team for a while now, and like Esther, received his share of experience in space. He joined the crew back in 2241 during the Mars mission, and since then he was a valuable part of the team, besides his terrible sense of humor. While Esther was the team's engineer, Youta was the team's navigator. It was his job to ensure the ship remained on course to the correct destination, and to set the coordinates for warp travel.
"Warp coordinates have been set," Youta looked up from his computer display to Zavier, "Checked, double checked, and triple checked."
Zavier smiled, "Music to my ears." He glanced to the final member of the crew, a 33 year old man of African descent. Nthanda Afolayan was the recent member of the team, but proved to be skilled in piloting ships such as the Enterprise. Zavier patted Nthanda on the shoulder, "Alright Nthanda, takes us out of here."
Nthanda nodded, "Yes commander." He grasped his hands around the flight stick and took a deep breath, "This is it team. Time to make history."
"Or die trying." Youta laughed.
"That's not funny Youta." Esther sighed.
Zavier ignored the comment from his navigator, instead being focused on the mission, "Alright team. Time to say goodbye to our solar system."
Nthanda took another deep breath, "Auto-pilot initiated." He said as the ship's on-board computer automatically maneuvered the Enterprise into the right position for warp jump, "Warp jump in five…four…three…two…one…"
In a flash, the ship darted forward as the stars faded out due to the speed the Enterprise was going. Specks of space dust zoomed past the ship, almost similar to another form of FTL that was seen in a popular movie series. The crew remained in their seats as they waited to reach their destination. Seconds passed, minutes, and soon hours. They were prepared for this long trip, it was what they were trained form.
After 4 hours of transit, another flash of light appeared before the ship as the warp drive disengaged. The ship came to a halt as they arrived at their destination, the binary stars of Alpha Centauri in front of them. The computer systems made sure the ship would exit just outside of the binary star's rotation, to ensure that the Enterprise wouldn't crash into either of the two stars. It was a beautiful sight, and a great accomplishment.
"Well team, welcome to Alpha Centauri." Zavier grinned. They couldn't see it, but they knew that their solar system, their home, was just a mere dot of light light-years away. The blue world they called home was now invisible to the naked eye, but they knew it was there. And within that system, on that blue planet, millions waited for the word. Finally, they were here.
"Yatta!" Youta laughed, "I knew we'd make it!"
Nthanda glanched behind him to his Japanese friend and arched a brow, "Was that before or after you said that crude joke?" He asked, though he couldn't help but smile as well.
"Alright, let's hold off on the celebrations until we get back to Sol." Zavier reminded them, "We need to recharge our hydrogen supply and check the system out. Once that is done, we jump back to Sol."
Nthanda nodded turned his attention back to the console, "Heading to the star's corona now." He said as the Enterprise moved forward, "Do you want the big one or the small one?"
"Let's just use the one that's closest." Zavier shrugged. There wasn't really much difference, but the sooner they can get the hydrogen cells recharged, the better. Depending on how potent the hydrogen was, it could take a few seconds, minutes, hours, or even a few days. It didn't matter though; there was no time limit for them to get back home, just as long as they get back in one peace.
"Small star it is." Nthanda smiled, "You know…I never thought I'd be in another system. It seems…."
"Surreal?" Esther finished for him, "We all feel the same. But we're making history here, so it's normal to have that feeling."
The ship slowly drifted to the closest star, the scorching heat clawing at its hull. But the Enterprise would be safe. The crew monitored the ship's heat levels, getting the ship in the right position so the heat wouldn't fry the systems. Now close to the star's corona, in perfect position, a single compartment opened at the bottom, vacuuming and filtering all the hydrogen that the star expelled. The excess hydrogen the star produced would finally be useful.
Within 30 minutes, the ship's hydrogen supply was full. "Hydrogen fuel supply at maximum, bringing her out of the star's corona," Nthanda announced. The fuel scoop closed before Nthanda brought the ship away from the star, the Enterprise's temperature quickly dropping as he did.
"Good," Zavier patted Nthanda on the back, "Now that we are fueled up, it's time to explore this system fully." He looked to Esther, "Are the probes ready?"
"Hydrogen fuel is at full capacity for each probe. I marked out all potential planets, though I've been picking up something…odd." Esther replied.
Zavier arched a brow, "Odd?"
"I've been picking up a radio signal from within the system. It's faint, but I can pick up some of the audio…" Esther looked over the data through her neuro interface, "...it's nothing I can understand though."
Zavier thought for a moment. If there as a radio signal, then it could be many things: an alien civilization, some ship that was also exploring the system, or perhaps a lost probe. Though he doubted that they would find alien life this soon, the radio signal was something that should be investigated. He didn't want to compromise the Enterprise if it turned out to be something….bad, so they had to use the probes.
"Very well. Lock a probe on that radio signal's location and have it move in to its coordinates." Zavier ordered.
"Sir?" Youta asked as Esther sent the orders to the probe.
"That radio signal could be many things, and we've already seen too many science fiction movies to guess what it could possibly be." Zavier explained, "The best case scenario is that it's just some anomaly. The worst case is that is some alien ship, more so if they are hostile. If it's the latter, then we will have to act accordingly."
"Probes are away, captain." Esther announced, "They are set to search for possible planets within the system. I also got one probe set to investigate that signal."
"Good," Zavier leaned back in his chair, "Now, we wait."
Time would pass as the crew waited for the results to come back. The probes weren't made with FTL in mind, nor do they have a powerful cruise drive. They were made to be cheap while getting the job done. Thankfully it didn't take too long for them to get the results back. It would take at least two hours for the results to get back to the Enterprise.
"The results are back…" Esther reported, "…sir, you have to see this."
She displayed the results on the main view screen for the rest of the crew to see. Most of the planets were barren, incapable of hosting any life unless special habitats were developed. But one planet stood out. It was a gas giant much like Jupiter, and like Jupiter, it had its own moons. Though one moon was different than the others…
"Is that…what I think it is?" Nthanda asked in shock.
"It can't be…." Youta muttered.
"….it is." Zavier stated.
One of the moons was a terrestrial planet, much like Earth. Forests, mountains, even an ocean. Two smaller moons orbited the planet, the light from the sun hitting them just right. But what surprised the crew was a series of metal objects that hovered in low orbit around the planet; objects that were broadcasting the radio signal Esther discovered.
There was sapient life in this system…
PROMETHEUS WARP DRIVE
By the year 2033, mankind had a colony on the moon and Mars. While future Sol colonies were planned out, the bulk of the scientific community were discussing the possibility of a warp drive to close the gap between Earth and Mars. With the popularity of civilians going to Mars and the growing population of Earth, scientists concluded that a warp drive was the next step for humanity to survive. Since the tensions between the United States, Europe, Russia, and China were fading, it was a perfect time to work together to benefit mankind.
The most popular concept, and most plausible, was the Alcubierre Drive. With the confirmation that dark matter existed, and later, dark energy, scientists worked on a way to manipulate the dark energy to allow FTL travel. This required figuring out a way to manipulate the dark energy and to harness the power needed to perform the manipulation. We already had a power source in the form of nuclear fusion, though scientists needed to develop a way to shrink the fusion reactor to a size that could be used in ships.
It took many years for scientists to work on the FTL drive. During this time, the colonies grew and flourished. Colonies were established on Iapetus in 2094, and later on Titan in 2112. A mining colony was founded inside an asteroid that lied within the Sol's asteroid belt in 2148. And a floating city was made on Saturn in 2179. Meanwhile, ships continued to develop and evolve, becoming less cumbersome as the years progressed.
By 2238, a smaller nuclear fusion was developed to be used in ships, as well as a way to refuel the reactor by harvesting the hydrogen directly from a star's corona. Newer civilian shuttles were outfitted with the new fusion reactor and the fuel scoop, preventing the need to refueling stations in the system. This new nuclear fusion reactor paved the way for manipulating magnetic fields, which allowed ships to manipulate dark energy with the right magnetic field. In 2241, the first FTL enabled ship, the Enterprise, left the orbital docks.