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Horrific Truth of Gravity.
Professor John Brand finished his explanation as he sat back and looked at his colleagues, all of whom were some of NASA's top scientific experts, all of whom had expertise in astrophysics, physics, chemistry, and biological sciences.
Drs Mann, Miller, and Wolf Edmunds had been selected by Brand for their minds, as well as the fact all of them were professional astronauts with experience and training in working in space; Edmunds and Miller had both had spells onboard the first International Space Station, so they had the knowledge needed for the mission ahead. But after this, a deep-rooted fear would appear in their minds, that all of their work, all of their hopes would just be for nothing.
He had told them the truth.
He had told them in half an hour about his failure to equate relativity with quantum mechanics, meaning the gravity equations had failed. The fabled Plan A he'd dreamt up and promised the world was a lie.
Brand knew that was what they would be thinking, and he wouldn't blame them in the least. He only wished he could have given them the good news, that the probe sent through the wormhole after a 2 year-long trip to the other side of Jupiter, in the hopes of relaying quantum data from a black hole would give him many of the answers he needed for his gravity engine. A long time ago now, NASA had discovered a strange anomaly located on the other side of Jupiter; at the time NASA had been looking into finding ways of colonising the solar system when the first signs of Earth dying became apparent.
For decades, scientists and science fiction fanatics had been sure wormholes existed, and the discovery of a wormhole that was literally on Earth's doorstep was a surprise.
The moment the wormhole was discovered, many in NASA and in the government saw the advantages and the possibilities. But there were still issues and problems and questions that needed to be addressed.
What was on the other side of the wormhole? Where had the wormhole come from? Was it a natural anomaly? Was it artificial? If so, who had put it there and why? How would humans even get to the wormhole when it took 2 years roughly to reach there for an unmanned probe? Could humans even survive the trip?
When the first probes went through, more problems came up. For a start, the wormhole opened up to a system with a black hole with planets orbiting it. When they discovered that, many in NASA practically gave up; black holes were notoriously dangerous, and with good reason. But the planets seemed safe enough and they possessed atmospheres. All the worlds in Sol didn't have atmospheres that were breathable besides Earth, so they were pointless without a lot of work. No space exploration organisation was willing to commit to a project like that, no matter what the long term benefits; all of the space exploration organisations like NASA were still operating, tasked with saving the human race, but none of them had the resources to get to the planets in the solar system and colonise a world like Venus while installing high-tech living areas. The wormhole offered them hope, and Brand was no exception. Unfortunately, for this recent few years, ever since the NASA probe had relayed the first data of the wormhole and what was on the other side, including the black hole that had been found with a number of planets in orbit, Brand had suffered one disappointment after another. He might have solved the initial gravity equations before he'd met the scientists sitting in the conference had hoped that the black hole could grant him new insights into gravity, but the probe had been sucked into the singularity before it could relay anything to him.
When Brand had realised his newest failure to make Plan A work, he had started leaning towards Plan B. The English born scientist had long hated the very thing Plan B represented. Not only did it mean the human race would survive, but it would also condemn the peoples who were going to be struggling to survive on a planet where life was hanging by threads in a few decades time. But there was no alternative. But he would need to find worlds where there were organics available to make colonisation possible and viable, and luckily there were the planets on the other side of the wormhole; the probes sent through had shown signs of organics on some of the planets, so they had something to go on. But Brand had quickly reasoned the minds of the people he was going to send through needed to know what was at stake. There was just one single flaw in his plan; Brand knew he would get a reaction, just like this so he had prepared for it.
All of them were staring back at him in horror, and Brand could not help but wonder if his own expression had mirrored his friends and colleagues.
Finally, Dr Laura Miller threw down her pencil and sat back while she rubbed her eyes. "So that's it, then? We work long and hard to devise a means of getting humanity off of Earth through Plan A, and it doesn't work because we can't reconcile the equations with quantum mechanics and relativity."
Brand nodded grimly with a sigh. "That's about it, Miller."
"So that's what we're going to show to the human race, to the animals and plants which are going to be holding onto life by threads because we were too stupid to realise our planet, the world we have been lucky to possess for thousands of years, can only take so much, and your idea is nothing but a scam?!" Miller had to hide her rage so anyone outside couldn't hear, but it was a near thing; everyone working outside the conference room had been in the process of building ships, equipment, and other technologies aimed at getting people into space because Earth was becoming increasingly uninhabitable due to humanity's stupidity and shortsightedness.
If the whole of NASA discovered their work was a sham, that there was no hope for themselves, for their friends, for their families, or the surviving animals and plant life of Earth, it would be a disaster and Miller needed to control her emotions very quickly.
"It's not a sham, Laura," Brand snapped, needing to gain control over the conversation before it spiralled out of control even further. "We can still ensure the survival of the human race-."
"How?" Dr Edwards asked. "You've just admitted to us Plan A was unviable."
"Yes, but Plan B is," Dr Mann interrupted.
Brand closed his eyes at the blunt reasoning. Mann and Amelia, his daughter, were interested in each other, but Brand felt the other scientist was a little bit too unemotional for words. "It's not something I like, but we have no choice. I needed more data; that's why I clamoured for those probes to be launched. Their jobs were to look into a black hole, but they couldn't get anything beyond the singularity. Even if we can't get people into space, we must ensure the survival of our species and give our civilisation a chance to survive."
Edwards sent him a dark look. "But why get all of those people to work, if the only thing that's surviving are embryos? We all know that's what Plan B is; embryos sent into space and raised on an alien world, forgetting everything with little knowledge of Tolstoy, Archimedes, Napoleon, Caesar, Jules Verne, Elvis, and all they have are nothing but computer records to go on to tell them about human culture and history."
"Because we need to focus on the greater good, the bigger picture here; yes, I hate the thought of our descendants being sent out there to learn how to be a civilisation from scratch, and I hate the fact we won't be providing them with any real help. But what I hate the most is the fact I failed completely to come up with the equations needed to build a gravity propulsion engine," Brand looked down tightly at the table for a moment before he looked up with a sigh, "Don't any of you think for one moment I hate lying to all those people out there, telling them to work day and night… only for them to discover in time they are doomed regardless? I knew how hard it would be to convince an entire people to work selflessly to save the species instead of just themselves. That is the truth, and I hate it. I hate the fact I have had to sacrifice my humanity to save the species without saving everyone on Earth. I hate the fact NASA and all of the other space exploration agencies did not focus on space travel years ago and relied on rockets to get us out of the atmosphere but there is nothing we can do about that. All we have to do now is make sure the human race survives."
It took the better part of 4 hours, but eventually Brand was able to bring Miller and Edmund on his side, albeit reluctantly but Mann seemed to be understanding enough to listen as he outlined their finalised plans.
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