Earth: The Future is History (4 page)

I was right, the wind is going around this
area. I stand back as I try to analyze what’s causing it, but
nothing’s visible, except the snow under this zone is smooth, like
the wind hasn’t touched it in years. I start moving forward, I need
to get inside to dig up the snow so I can investigate what’s
causing it. But I hit myself on an invisible wall. The small area
is encased in some sort of energy field. Wait… It resembles the
energy fields we use to protect the wildlife monitoring stations;
but why is it here, how is it still operational? I thought nothing
worked inside the Dead Zone. Some sort of old tech, maybe? Some old
design that isn’t affected by whatever is disrupting everything in
here? Is that even possible? But if anything was placed in here, I
would have known… And where’s the field emitter? It should be right
in the middle of the field! Strange…

Today, all our tech receives wireless energy
transfers from a network of emitters placed across the planet, but
before this technology was implemented we used to carry energy
through buried cables to power everything. If this is an older
design, maybe it still uses cables. I start digging around the
field and soon enough I find a cable leading me deeper inside the
Zone.

But it’s almost dark. Time to stop for the
night.

This simple, daily routine is starting to be
annoying! Light, wake up, move, climb, dark, stop, sleep. Repeat.
Finding this anomaly is the most excitement I’ve had in days and
I’m still no closer to finding out what’s happening here. I hate
being here, completely isolated from everyone else. I used to like
being alone, but here, in the Dead Zone, I’m completely cut off, I
hear nothing, I see nothing, here I’m truly alone. And I don’t like
it.

Speaking of my daily routine, time to go to
sleep.

President Locke is
annoyed by this entire situation. He views the Civil Council
appointee, Alexei Hofmann, as nothing more than a distraction, a
courtesy he extended to the civilians. In his mind, choosing not to
turn the weapons at his disposal on the population should have been
met with applause and gratitude, not interference in the W.A.’s
affairs. He did them a favor, and this is how they repay it?! No,
in his mind, Alexei holds no power, he’s nothing more than an
insignificant pawn in a world lost without the W.A., an
organization Locke controlled unhindered.

President Locke, standing up: “Enough of
this! Earth is dying, already on borrowed time! The decision to
invade Asha has already been made! We’ve built the ships, we
developed the invasion infrastructure, we’ve trained the personnel!
All I have to do is say one word, one word and Earth is saved!
Under MY leadership!”

Alexei knows well what the President thinks
about him, about him being here; he made it clear several times. He
compares him to a child playing with power he doesn’t truly
understand, fighting for a cause he doesn’t really grasp. He means
well: saving humanity is everyone’s goal today. But saving it no
matter the cost? Saving today at the expense of tomorrow? Have all
other options been explored?

Alexei doesn’t care much for the President’s
outburst, he’s of no consequence and his only purpose is fulfilled:
placing him in the same room with the man controlling the greatest
power humankind had developed, the Titan class Santa Maria ship.
Alexei already controls, through the Civil Council, a billion
strong revolution army across the globe, hidden from the World
Alliance. A billion people – tired of waiting for the W.A. to save
Earth and disgusted with the open corruption that was infecting all
levels of leadership – were ready to start The Last Revolution, as
they proudly call it. Infiltrated in all levels of the current
leadership and even on the Santa Maria, they were just waiting for
Alexei to get Admiral Sterrow on their side. There was a
contingency in place, in case the Admiral decided to remain with
his current allegiance – start a mutiny and take over his ship; but
it was risky and even if successful it would delay the invasion.
That was to be avoided, if at all possible.

Alexei decides to ignore the President’s
agitated state. He often had outbursts just like this one, so no
one in the room paid too much attention to it. However, as tensions
started rising, it was clear that time was running short. He
decides to skip on the Council research and turns to the Admiral:
“Let me ask you: do you know what was decided shortly after the
Jatko Genocide, behind closed doors, by your World Alliance?”

Admiral Sterrow, also unimpressed with the
President’s outbursts, turns his look to Alexei, curious about the
point he’s clearly trying to make. “Two things: survival at all
costs and exclusion of the public from the decision making process
for highly sensitive matters. In my opinion, a sad day remembered
by history as a grave failure of our leadership, a day we almost
lost whatever humanity we had left inside us…”

Alexei, happy with the Admiral’s response:
“And yet you are loyal to the same leadership that keeps making
similar decisions today. Oh, don’t look so sad Admiral, we lost our
humanity long before that; this invasion had been set in stone for
centuries, assured by our ancestors; how we move forwards with it
is, however, our choice. Anyway, that particular day is sad for
something else entirely: that was the day the World Council laid
the foundation to becoming the corrupt, selfish, militaristic
dictatorship it is today!”

President Locke: “Here we go again! You can’t
even go one full hour without hurling insults at the World
Alliance! An alliance that saved humankind from extinction
and…”

Alexei, looking straight in the Admiral’s
eyes, looking for a reaction: “Saved?! You merely delayed the
inevitable! What do you have to show for your two-hundred-years of
absolute power over an entire planet? People are still starving and
choking while you, the fundamentally corrupt leadership that you
have become, control every single gram of resource we scrape. All
leadership here on Earth basks in luxury while…”

President Locke: “We?! You don’t “scrape”
anything! It’s the Alliance that builds, mines, transports and
processes every single gram of mineral we can find! You just sit
back and wait for the resources to reach you! You don’t do…”

Secretary Nazari: “Gentlemen!!! Stop acting
like children!!! Earth doesn’t have time for your egos! Or enough
space for it, for that matter!”

Secretary Nazari, realizing what she just
said to the world’s leaders: “Oh! … Um… Sirs… … I m-m-mean, we
should… at least try to act professional and…”. Slowly she retreats
backwards in the poorly lit corner just behind her.

Alexei: “…”

President Locke: “…”. He sits down in
frustration, mumbling something unintelligible.

Alexei, amused: “I admire your candidness,
Miss Nazari! I imagine “Mr. President” doesn’t have many people
like you around him.”

Alexei: “Tell me, Mr. Sterrow, on Jatko, did
we kill an entire planet for nothing?”

Admiral Sterrow is wondering what this
meeting is really about. The line of questioning seems out of
place. But for now, he decides to play along. “No, sir, we did not.
We found much needed resources, similar to our rare earth elements.
After starting the mining operations and extracting them, we were
able to start building advanced technology again and managed to
delay the Earth’s Expiration Date by another hundred years. It was
an incredible achievement, sir!”

Alexei: “Yes, another pivotal moment in our
miserable history! Allow me to offer some insight. Your mighty
World Alliance found another one hundred years of life for Earth.
In itself, indeed a great accomplishment. But here’s a short recap,
to put things into perspective: when was the W.A. founded?”

Admiral Sterrow: “2105, sir.”

Alexei: “And when did we accomplish this
incredible feat, prolonging an entire planet’s life by one-hundred
years?”

Admiral Sterrow: “2108, sir! Where are you
getting with this?”

Alexei: “And what was the W.A.’s next major
accomplishment?”

Admiral Sterrow: “Sending the second probe to
Asha.”

Alexei: “And when did this happen?”

Admiral Sterrow: “Spring, 2120, sir…”

Alexei: “Admiral, I know you are military,
loyal to the end, fighting for the… whatever W.A.’s cause is these
days. But even you must see that something’s wrong here! It took
you only three years to achieve something incredible, but it took
you twelve years to send a lousy probe?! And two-hundred years
later Earth is still dying, mankind is still doomed!”

Admiral Sterrow: “Sir, adapting the
atmospheric destabilization device to Asha’s…”

Alexei: “No, no, no! That’s a public excuse,
not a real reason. After your praised alliance discovered the
resources, you made the news public to the entire population. And
of course the people cheered and praised and thanked you! So much
that they started basking in the fame and glory that your
achievement brought them, forgetting the wars and revolutions that
got them elected only three years before! Enough to trigger a
reversal to their basic instincts they had just before the
unification: competing, stealing, lying. So much that they couldn’t
let go of that insatiable feeling; after the news of the discovery
started to fade away, they sought other ways to maintain their
power. But with no more wars happening, no more territories to
control, no more bragging rights to rub in other people’s face,
what could they do? They started controlling the flow of resources
arriving from Jatko. And instead of distributing them across the
planet or using them to build the technology needed to save us,
they were selling them to the highest bidder, regardless of what
that meant to the planet, to its people! This, my dear Mr. Sterrow,
is but a clear symptom of a much more severe, underlying problem
with humanity! But I’m getting ahead of myself…”

Admiral Sterrow, disturbed by Alexei’s
accusations: “I am loyal, sir! I am dedicated, sir! I’m a fighter,
willing to gladly sacrifice myself and my men if the need arises
for what I believe in, sir! But I am not going to just stand here,
having my beliefs ridiculed by a civilian! A civilian that I am
fighting to protect! Sir!”

Alexei: “It may not seem like it now, but I
do appreciate all your sacrifice, more than you think. And there’s
a vastly important reason why you and I are meeting today. But for
now, all I want to say, Mr. Sterrow, is that perhaps your loyalty
and dedication are misguided, your desire to fight and sacrifice
directed towards the wrong cause. My words are not directed at you,
but at the organization you represent.“

Alexei: “The second probe we sent to Asha,
the orbiter data we gathered, the increasing development of the
ashans, all these events, what do they tell you, Mr. Sterrow?”

Admiral Sterrow: “That our probe landing on
their planet at the same time they started evolving isn’t a
coincidence.”

Professor Noya:
“This is when we realized the truly grim situation we were really
in. Decades of ignorance and consuming wars had taken a huge toll
on the planet and its precious resources. Shortly after the
fighting ended, scientists started looking for ways to solve the
food problem. It very quickly became apparent that we had no way
out. The most essential resources for building advanced technology
were either depleted or running out. Without advanced technology,
we had no way of reducing pollution, which was already causing
extreme weather events, destabilizing the ecosystem, melting the
polar caps and flooding most coastal areas; without reducing
pollution, both in the air and in the water, there was no way to
grow more crops, at least not at the scale needed.”

She again turns to Filip: “So? Where did that
leave us?”

Filip, already standing up, turns towards his
colleagues as he starts talking: “No more breathable air, no more
drinkable clean water, no more food and no more resources to build
the new technologies that would help. Scientists calculated that in
little over 100 years, Earth would become unsustainable for human
life. The news of Earth’s expiration date caused wide-spread panic,
but with recent events still fresh in their minds, instead of
looting and rioting people turned to each other, helping in any way
they could to solve the problem. It was the year 2105 when humanity
finally, truly, realized that it can either work together and have
a chance at survival, or stay divided and slowly die. It was on
March 1
^st
2105 when the World Alliance was officially
signed into existence, the first time in human history when all the
world’s nations were swearing allegiance to a single
civilian-controlled entity, dedicating all their remaining
resources to a singular purpose: saving humanity. A proud moment,
celebrated to this day.” That same year, the newly formed World
Alliance started repurposing all military technology that survived
the Last World War for a desperate search for new resources. The
first World President, General Archer H. Davis, voted in office by
the vast majority of people, was given full and unrestricted
control over the entire world’s military to use it as he would see
fit. And as a true symbol for mankind, President Davis rose above
the challenge and in just one year a plan was already created,
voted and approved.”

Noya, with her head down, looking at her
tablet, mumbles: “Sadly, decisions were never made that fast ever
since”, interrupting Filip and drawing attention to herself.
Clearly un unintended action, she doesn’t seem to care.

After a short pause, Filip continues: “The
plan was… ambitious, to say the least. After the W.A. was formed,
it very quickly became apparent that Earth couldn’t be saved; not
in the short time it had left and not while it was consumed by its
huge population. We, humanity, had to relocate. Previous studies
were checked and rechecked and now there was no doubt left: our
planet would become completely unsustainable in only one hundred
years; a new planet had to be found, soon. Technology wasn’t the
problem; four world wars provided an abundance of instruments at
our disposal. The energy shield invented in WW3 would protect us
from radiation and debris on the journey to the new planet. The
quantum communications and atmospheric destabilizers invented in
WW4 would help us terraform a new planet while maintaining
communication with Earth. The massive ships necessary to transport
us to a new world were just years away from being built.”