New Earth (Science Fiction Genre Piece)

Captain Christopher Armstrong stood in the huge lobby of the Erikson Space Centre with his eyes fixed on the large digital clock above the door. Huge air scrubbers in the walls denoted the chamber's status as an entranceway, but his entire apartment would have fitted within it. Behind him, his crew waited in fidgeting silence.
The thought of his old pad – which he had sold with contents included before dividing all the money between his friends and relatives – proved harder to dismiss than the thought of those loved ones. By his orders, the entire crew had said their final farewells a month ago before going into seclusion so as to be properly mentally adjusted for this day. But it was still today that a far more primal farewell would take place – a farewell to planet Earth itself. 'It wasn't much, but it was home,' he thought, unsure whether he was referring to the bedsit or the world.  

The red characters blinked from 12:59 to 13:00. He looked down to the attendant standing by the doorway, who nodded and reached for the controls.
Armstrong reached automatically for the respirator hanging from his neck, then hesitated. Technically the device was intended to minimise the long-term health damage that would otherwise be inflicted by walking around in Earth's ravaged atmosphere. But after today that would never be an issue again. Smiling, he let his hand drop. There was a rustle of movement behind him as the crew followed his lead, appreciating the symbolism of the gesture. He saw understanding dawn in the masked attendant's eyes as he flicked the switch and the doors slid open.

It took only a few paces for Armstrong to regret the decision. He hadn't breathed unscrubbed air in many years and the full searing discomfort of the experience had faded in his memory. But it was too late to back out now, so he squinted his eyes against the scorching sun and strode toward the distant shape of the dock.
By the time the airlock of the dock entrance closed behind them – after a walk of no more than two minutes that felt like an eternity – the entirety of Christopher's nose, throat and lungs felt like they were on fire. He wanted nothing more than to cough heavily, but the world's press would be waiting in the next room and this would not create the best impression. Even if they had not been, he could not have appeared less stoic than the rest of his command staff in front of the crew. Lin appeared to have experienced no discomfort at all – and given the diversity of her underwater experience, it was possible that the Chief Oceanic Surveyor had simply held her breath for the entire walk. Kirov's eyes appeared to be watering slightly, but he was otherwise showing the disdain for hostile environments that would be vital in a Chief Geographic Surveyor. Doctor Mendez seemed to be focusing inward, her face fixed in the superior expression she always used when informing someone that they were not in fact going to die. Even Chief Engineer Carlyle was putting a brave face on it, though it was also a face that asked what the Captain thought he was doing by poisoning them all before they even got on the ship? Armstrong gave him a faintly apologetic smile before stepping through the doorway into the the press pit beyond.

The empty room waited in almost perfect silence as the crew followed him in, a few at the rear giving up on holding back their coughing. Ranged before them a sea of several hundred spherical VR Cameras hovered in expectation. Through their transmissions, a sizeable proportion of the entire global population were virtually seated in the room with the journalist of their choice remotely murmuring in their ear. Directing his gaze toward the cameras associated with some of the larger networks, Armstong permitted himself a heavy clearing of the throat before beginning his speech.
“People of Planet Earth, today we stand at the beginning of a new chapter in human history. In 30 minutes time, the Argo 1 will launch from Erikson and depart the Earth. Our destination is the planet TN1492, popularly known as 'New Earth'. Of all the planets surveyed by our world's astronomers over the last 40 years, this one is believed to carry the greatest hope of being capable of sustaining and nurturing human life.  
The star system containing TN1492 is approximately 500 light years distant from our own. Thankfully, it won't take us that long to get there. Assuming the Azikiwe Drive operates as expected we will be able to translate between locations at approximately 10c. Due to the possibility of drift we will make five jumps and recalculate after each one, but the trip as a whole should take about 50 years to complete. Since none of us are getting any younger, we will be spending the trip in Patel tubes – so for us it's going to be a really busy week!”
He paused to let a hoped-for chuckle settle in his invisible audience, then let a greater degree of seriousness show in his face. “It's safe to say that we've made some mistakes getting ourselves to this point. If we'd spent less time working out ways to kill each other and make money faster - and more time figuring out how to be good stewards of the world we were passing through – this mission would not have been so urgent for us today. Planet Earth has pretty much served notice on us. But everyone deserves a second chance – and if Terra Nova is all we hope it will be, everyone is going to have one.”
He nodded to the assembled cameras. “We'll be sending the first message drone on its own Azikiwe jump the moment that we know what we've found. Tell your grandchildren to listen out for us. Good luck to you all.” Turning, he led his people toward the corridor that ended at the airlock of the Argo.

Thirty minutes later, the Argo left Earth's atmosphere and Armstrong took his last look back at the yellow-brown orb of the planet hanging in space behind them. An hour after that the ship was outside of conventional reality - and he was resting in sedated sleep within a Patel tube as the machine prepared him for frozen suspension.


Armstrong stopped at the doorway of the scanner room, his attention caught by the lights within. There was little call to use it this early in the voyage after the next jump had been calculated, but Lin was still inside.
Stepping softly through the door, he saw her attention was fixed upon a planetary projection assembled from various kinds of data. The glowing hologram hung in the air above the table with a single spectral moon orbiting around it. From the speakers, a transmission crackled faintly in the background.
“That's not Nova,” he commented, causing her to start as he took a seat. “Don't tell me you're homesick already?”
Lin smiled, leaning back but keeping her eyes on the projection. “No, of course not. But the opportunity to look at and listen to the Earth from this far away is not something to be missed.” She shook her head. “It's so strange. I feel like I just went to sleep yesterday, but some of the people I left behind could have died in the decade since. And here I am, looking back at the world as it was 100 years ago - before any of them were born.”
Armstrong smiled in acknowledgement. “That's intersteller travel for you. We're boldly doing what no one has done before.” He paused to take in the blue and green view before him. “She doesn't look that bad, compared to when we left.”
Lin nodded. “There is still a lot of recent damage in evidence. If you look back at the older data... but yes, it's a different world. My grandmother described what things were like when she was a child so often... I had to see it.”
The murmuring transmission switched to a familiar voice than made both officers twitch in their seats. “Bloody warmonger,” Lin snarled, stabbing at the console. The broadcast tuned out and the energising guitar riff of a piece of classical music took its place as another faint signal was caught.
Armstrong watched the image for a couple more minutes, the low-definition music struggling through the static providing the only sound. Then he shook himself and rose from his seat. “We jump in 30 minutes. Report to your tube in time and make sure you turn off the gear in here when you leave.”
Lin nodded. “I'll be there.”


The sound of raised voices caused Armstrong to quicken his stride as he approached the medical bay. The crew had been understandably muted since the funeral, even though the deaths were fully expected as the jumps progressed. The discussion between Mendez and Carlyle, however, sounded anything but subdued.
Both officers broke off as he entered the room, turning to face him with rigid formality. “Sir, I must object,” Mendez protested quietly but fiercely before Carlyle could speak. “The engineer here is attempt to interfere with vital matters of crew health.”
Carlyle shook his head firmly. “Absolutely not! The good doctor is simply choosing to let how thing look to the crew blind her to how they really are! That's no way for a spaceship to run, Sir, as I'm sure you'll agree.”
Armstrong raised his hand. “Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Carlyle, what are you trying to do that's got the Doc so riled up?”
The Chief Engineer frowned at the accusation, then sighed and composed himself. “Well Sir, as you know we lost both Fisher and Zhou to hibernation trauma during the last jump cycle. Now Zhou died when the tube tired to revive him, so he slept as long as the rest of us. But Fisher went into shock as he was going under, so the tube just froze him solid and largely shut down. That means we have a vacant Patel tube which has seen 10 years less wear and tear than all of the others. Logically, we should transfer a crewman to it.”
“Oh yes, very logical!” Mendez broke in angrily. “A patient dies while connected to a piece of medical equipment, so you specially transfer someone who is doing fine to that piece? I'm sure that would go down well so soon after seeing him off!”
“The tube didn't fail! I've checked it personally. It could have happened to any of us, as well you know.” Carlyle looked to the Captain for support.
Armstong raised his hand again and the pair subsided. “We all know that this is a risk of the trip. Mendez, did your post-mortums show any sign of mechanical failure as a cause of death?” The doctor glared at Carlyle, but reluctantly shook her head.
“In that case, transferring someone would be logical.” Carlyle smiled, but Armstrong frowned. “Of course, once we decide to move someone to a different tube because it's the best one we need to decide who gets it. Logically, they should be the most valuable member of the crew. In fact to truly maximise our chances, we should reassign everyone after you check the tubes between jumps in descending order of usefulness.”
Carlyle's face fell. Armstrong shook his head. “Strip the thing for parts and upgrade a few tubes if you want. But no one swaps. We are all committed to the full journey just as we accepted it coming aboard. There is no going back now.”


Kirov was waiting for Armstrong when he reached the scanner room. With only 200 light years between them and their destination, it ought to be possible to assemble a more detailed picture of Terra Nova from new observations even without the huge space telescopes that had been used to locate it. Armstrong smiled at the image he saw waiting for him – a welcoming green-blue orb with two moons suspended above it.
“Tell me this place will be as comfortable as it looks,” he said as he took a seat at the console.
Kirov nodded slowly. “Yes. The atmosphere, gravity, temperature, surface water... all very much within acceptable tolerances. The two moons make for an interesting tidal system, but it is stable enough not to drown us in natural disasters.”
“Good.” Armstrong looked questioningly at the man. “You don't seem as pleased as I'd have expected?”
Kirov frowned. “It is difficult to be sure of much at this range – this is not an optical image, just a projected construct. But I would estimate that the planet has abundant vegetation on much of the dry land we are seeing here. From what we think the atmosphere consists of, it is likely that there is a fair amount of animal life living in balance with it.”
Armstrong nodded. “That was always a fair possibility. Can't expect to find a perfect cradle of life without any life growing on it, can we?”
Kirov shook his head. “Perhaps not. But such a situation gravely increases the odds of a sentient dominant species being distributed across the planet. Some of our data even supports the possibility of technology. What are our protocols in that case?”
“We... come in peace.” Armstrong sighed. “The very last thing we are here to do is to repeat our mistakes. We find a way to communicate with the indigenous life forms and negotiate permission to settle a substantial part of the planet. Even if they exist, they may not have explored all of their own map yet – much less have overcrowding problems. Evacuating the entirety of planet Earth was never a realistic goal – but if we can found a durable colony here we can grow again as a species.”
“That is all very well,” Kirov shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “but we are talking about the survival of our species here. Supposing the natives are less than welcoming? I cannot imagine the G.A.C. did not provide you with... other options. There are systems that only you have access to, are there not?”
Armstrong shook his head. “That information is on a need to know basis, Commander. You don't need to know.”
Kirov touched the console and a string of numbers appeared. “I have calculated how many nuclear detonations the ecosystem of this planet could survive. Do you need to know that?”
Armstrong rose from his seat. “We have a jump to prepare for. Get to it.”


The Captain's quarters were silent as Armstrong gazed at the readout before him. A slight drift in their penultimate jump had left Terra Nova eclipsed by its own star, preventing them from gathering further direct data. Technically the problem could have been overcome by waiting long enough for it to emerge, but no one was anxious to wait around when a single sleep would otherwise put them right next door.
Even if they had done more observations, some information was automatically screened and delivered only to the commanding officer. The reading before him were exactly what he had been expecting to see. The peculiar emissions from the world had increased in strength, but they had also drastically increased in intensity. Although they were almost certainly not intended for alien ears, someone on the planet was definitely making heavy use of artificial transmissions for communication. The rest of the crew would find this out when they arrived and the filter was no longer needed.
He raised his head. “Computer, execute directive NA-MP-1. Authorisation Christopher Armstrong.”
“Authorisation confirmed,” the synthetic voice replied. “All nuclear-class warheads will be ejected. Warheads will not be armed. Confirm or cancel?”
“Confirm. Authorisation WF-ND-1.”
“Acknowledged. Process will be completed in 10 minutes.”
Armstrong pressed the key to activate the ship's intercom. “All personnel – we jump to Terra Nova in 20 minutes.”
And see who's waiting for us there, he added silently.


Armstrong had to will himself not to run as he headed towards the familiar door to the scanner room. He had firmly kept the ship running in a disciplined manner since he had awoken, sending the other officers to begin the task of taking observations while he oversaw the removal of the dead who had fallen at the last hurdle and set the surviving crew to the vital tasks of post-jump maintenance. Even so, his heart was pounding and the thought “we're here!” buzzed through his mind to the exclusion of everything else.
He half-expected the assembled officers to raise a cheer as he entered the room, but none came. At the very least, he expected to see joyful smiles. Instead, the horrified disbelief on each face stopped him in his tracks an instant before his eyes took in the projected image before them.
Instead of the constructs that had previously occupied the projector, a VR optical image was being streamed of a planet just a few minutes away at the speed of light. The twin moons hanging above the recognizable continental shapes were instantly familiar – but the yellow and brown hues that could be discerned through the atmosphere were not at all what he had expected.
“What... what happened?” The words came weakly out of lips.
Kirov found his voice first. “There are substantial urbanised areas across every visible part of the planet's dry land. Vegetation is... much less dense than formerly projected. I am reading lethal levels of radiation in several zones, consistent with an unsustainable level of bombardment.”
“Sea water is far less pure than expected,” Lin added with tears in her eyes. “I am... revising downward the expected level of marine life.”
“The level of protection provided the atmosphere is less than anticipated,” Mendez put in. “The composition also includes traces of many toxins. Surviving on the surface will require some form of artificial protection even without further deterioration.”
Carlyle stiffened and brought up a new display. “We're detecting emissions from several different locations on the surface – radio wave patterns at about 10kHz. Looks like someone knows we're here.”
Armstrong collected himself with an effort. “Put it through to the central computer to decode. Let's start the dialogue as soon as possible.” He grimaced. “I've... got to talk to the crew.”

The airlock closed behind him, sealing Armstrong back inside the ship he had travelled in for half a century. The rest of the command staff were waiting for him. By rights, the first face to face encounter between human and extra-terrestrial life ought to have invited a flurry of questions about the aliens, but the other officers simply waited for him to speak.
“Well, the good news is that they've given us permission to settle on one of the northern continents,” he began. “It will take some effort, but I believe we can survive there for some time before... things worsen.”
He nodded at Carlyle. “You were right about that structure near the equator and the orbital arrays we scanned. Their Global Alliance isn't as stable as ours, but it has been doing the same kind of work. Since all this happened they've been searching for a habitable planet – and they've found one. Their exploratory ship launched six months ago.”
He smiled grimly. “They showed me some scans of the world they intend to colonise. They were careful with the data, but they underestimated me. I was able to figure out the location of their target system.”
The crew before him leaned forward in anticipation, the atmosphere charged with sudden hope. “Well, how many c does their drive pull?” Kirov asked carefully. “Can we outrun them, or at least get there in time to establish a foothold of our own before they are settled in?”
Armstrong shook his head. “Their drive only goes at 8c, so we could pass them on the way. Unfortunately, getting there ahead of them will not do us any good.”
A ripple of disbelief ran through the people before him. “Begging your pardon sir, but why the heck not?” Carlyle spluttered.
Armstrong took a deep breath and let it out in a ragged sigh. “Because I used to own an apartment there,” he said.