Dawn broke on an distant planet. This could have almost been Earth at its genesis. There were vast amounts of green space, tall trees and luscious grassy knolls. Was this, with its perfect natural freedom, the fabled garden of Eden?
Colourful birds soared in the blue sky, insects scurried between tree barks and mammals of many different sizes brayed peacefully. There was a great diversity of life but nothing that suggested civilisation.
It was the only planet in its solar system capable of supporting carbon-based existence but it wasn't always this way. Until recently, it was baron. Not one person was able to venture onto its surface and even if it were possible to do so, all one would find would be a dusty rocky wilderness and a silence more piercing than the kind of which even the most disciplined of monks were capable.
What changed it all was humans. The human race designated this planet ZRZ54. It wasn't a memorable title but for now it would operate as a placeholder until they could think of a better one. Humans by this stage had set up base on several planets but thus far all of these had been habitable when they were discovered. ZRZ54 presented a challenge. Earth saw ZRZ54 as a way of testing our abilities and ultimately, if everything worked out, settlement on a previously uninhabitable rock would be a mark of progress.
With a determination to succeed, the humans started their terraforming mission. They altered the atmosphere and planted swathes upon swathes of vegetation. With all of this they carefully added creatures to this new ecosystem. It was a very costly exercise but it worked and now there was only one thing missing - people.
Operation Madrid would be the hardest part. Human beings had never been installed in a brand-new untested ecosystem before and this was the ultimate aim of the operation. Despite being practically identical to earth, the worry was that something important could've been missed at the terraforming stage. Maybe it wasn't a perfect success.
Another quiet night on ZRZ54 was broken by the sound of a spacecraft's engines. The roar was enormous. On board the ship were two million humans, all ready to call the planet home. In the cockpit was Commander Martin Campbell and his Vice-Commander José Gil.
Campbell was stern man with white hair and jet-black eyebrows, skinny with sunken cheek bones. His vice- commander was a short stocky Hispanic man. They were currently both looking out at the deep night sky and the forest below lit up by the ship's glowing lamps.
'Wonderful, isn't it?' Campbell asked his vice.
'It truly is. I wonder how long it will take us to wreck it like we did with Earth?'
'José, please. Let's be positive. Here we do something incredible. We give two million people a new home. After the work we've put into it, I can finally say this: Operation Madrid is go.'
The ship descended on paradise but elsewhere something dangerous was waiting, cultivating in private.