Second Ark- a massive deep space vessel- slowed down past the twin moons as the auxiliary engines were shut down. The countdown for firing the fusion engines (FEs) began. Almost everyone not on duty congregated to the main mess hall; all looking at the screens displaying the current speed in one corner and the fusion engine (FE) output in another while the countdown clock took up most of the screen. Many of the crew were involved in the preparations to celebrate this event.
The FE power rose higher as the countdown neared zero. Finally when the FEs were engaged and after a moment of the countdown reaching zero the screen blanked out. After nearly a minute the captain announced.
"FEs fully functional, current speed 2.5 Lightspeed and accelerating."
The party lasted till First Officer Amraa announced. "Forty minutes to shift change." And after a few seconds. "It's our turn to party now, so behave people." She dismissed the cheer that rose on the command deck with a shake of her head and settled back in her chair to review the data and the star-chart markers and begin the report Captain Eduard had requested. Amraa was the tech expert on the ship and even as the data flowed through her implants, she wondered why he wanted a specific time schedule.
Sixteen standard days had passed since the Second Ark had acquired 9 Lightspeed, when Captain Eduard called the meeting of the Research Group. This included two scientists, and three senators and was headed by the captain himself who had veto powers on any decision he was averse to. As the members filed into the room Captain greeted each one of them.
"Dr. Shelly, Professor Nambiar, Senator Cohen, Senator Wylock, General Fenders. Please have a seat."
Senator General Fenders (Retired) folded his large frame into the seat and replied. "Thank You Captain. Once a soldier always a soldier Eh."
The captain continued when they were seated.
"You may or may not know this, so here it is. We- The Research Group or as we are officially named- Mission Liberty, are the reason for this voyage to the mother planet. This is costing us a lot, we could have set up a working moon base in the cost and effort we are putting here. So we have to make sure we do the job. The Earth time capsule among other fantastic relics three centuries old, gave us the co-ordinates of another such capsule, should we wish to know our history; how and why we came to be so far from the place of our origin. The council brought us in for the job. Because they trust us to be competent AND reliable. We will need to decide if that information can be or should be brought back."
Senator Wylock and Dr. Irana Shelly were the two who were visibly affected by what the captain just said. The captain sat down and General Fenders spoke.
"The capsule contains "Eye-Openers", what that is we do not know. Before we proceed I would like to state my protest about working with Senator Wylock."
Wylock gave the General a toothy smile. "Recall the Captain's words brother, competent and reliable. I may be a Grunt, or as you call us - an Anomaly but I am competent and I am here."
General cringed from the "brother" remark but was cut off by the captain. "I expect all of us to act maturely, please. Do not tempt me to use my authority."
Stepping into the silence, Dr. Shelly asked the captain. "We are to evaluate our system of community living, common kitchens and service rules? This has been done before; many times. Resources have to be shared efficiently according to a flexible system governed by a single authority- this is why we have progressed from one beleaguered transport ship to a multi-planet society."
Senator Wylock replied. "Exactly! Re-evaluate our way of life. The Anomalies now constitute nearly ten percent of all humans and we are a growing tribe who have chosen to live on the fringe rather than be a part of this repressive society."
Captain Eduard spoke. " Senator Wylock, please do not push me. Whatever your political leanings or divergent ideas, this is not the place for anything but full co-operation."
At a hundred and fifteen, Professor Nambiar was the oldest man in the room, a thick, short man with a shock of white hair. He was renowned for his genius and flair in multiple disciplines including Spatial Polynomics and Advanced Bionics and when he stood up everybody turned to him.
"All of us are here in the Ark because the Council and therefore the Society wills it. There have been problems in the three centuries we have colonized the Eljanah system. But we have been free of war and plague and other ancient man made catastrophes. Yes; we did well but the on the other hand...The technology we use has progressed little. The fusion drives which give us Faster-than-light transport, may be the just the second major scientific leap after life enhancing bionic tech."
The professor paused as everyone acknowledged this.
"We as a society are forced to regulate population and exile anomalies. This may sound logical because you have...we have not seen any other system work and more than half of us retire to self sustaining communes when approaching sixty years of age, choosing to live limited lives farming and cooking instead of participating in our vibrant Society. The Earth capsule mentioned an archaic term - Liberty. It means a freedom to choose among multiple options. This is the surest path to chaos and the Earth mentions it as the greatest gift twisted to destroy everything. Our transport had much data but the information of history of Earth and mankind was conspicuous by its absence. Instead we were provided templates to establish a thriving society based on communal ownership and personality analysis by computers."
Dr. Shelly quoted from a famous poem- "Un-informed and blundering was the raw psyche."
Captain Eduard asked. "This ship carrying two hundred souls at 9 Lightspeed is a testament of human ingenuity. So with such progress in science and technology, why do we need to study Earth, except to honor our ancestors."
The Professor gave a wan smile before replying. "The Earth had so many new technologies emerging that it changed the way of life every fifty years- this is what the capsule informs us. We are nowhere in comparison if "ingenuity" is a parameter."
The meeting lasted for an hour concluding that till they view the mysterious data all this information be kept secret. Captain Eduard though proposed that First Officer Amraa be included because it was she who was most capable of retrieving the data.
The Ark was still. All systems were on standby and FEs were shut down There was an atmosphere of holiday among the crew except in the room where seven people sat in a semi-circle around the retrieved data capsule.
Captain ordered Amraa to begin. An image began to form in front of them. It was a woman. Dark and tall, of indeterminate age wearing a uniform with a nameplate- Dr. M. Eva. She began to speak even as images began to form in the background.
" Survivors of the Ark you are either here after centuries of colonization or the Ark returned back as the failsafe program took over. Either way you need to be aware of what you are."
The background changed to that of a busy junction in a city. Full of people and vehicles and billboards and traffic signs
"Earth was a vibrant world. All was not well but we were improving. Cheap Solar Fuel cells and hydrogen powered engines had made a difference and the life expectancy around the world increased. And with the micro-fission powered machinery moon was being colonized and asteroids were being mined."
The background changed to show an asteroid mine.
"The Earth's governments did not see the coming war. With a global increase in the quality of life and cheap power the war industry was dwindling. The arms manufacturers were facing severe recession and they countered this most savagely. This was not a mistake made by trigger happy generals. Wikileaks has proved that this was planned, at least the first nuclear strike was."
The background showed a mushroom cloud.
"Both parties, the foreign invaders bribed into conflict and the defenders of freedom laid the target country to waste. Profiteering was the only goal with the corporations selling weapons to both sides and pushing for more destruction. But when men are subject to immense tortures they react unpredictably. One group from the country now converted into a wasteland of blood and rubble managed to commandeer a battleship and shot nukes at one of the foreign countries involved. The resulting war is still on."
The background showed a satellite photo of Earth surrounded by warring spaceships and a smoking moon.
"With governments increasingly willing to toe the corporate line in exchange for better weapons, the idea of nationhood itself was weakened and into this mess stepped Earth's most powerful conglomerate- January Corporation or J-KOR. When it was clear that J-KOR was taking over governments the powerful people who were left out joined forces and approached the spacers to form a joint front- The MARS combine. Both however were ruthless, human life has become a statistic with profiteering and power justifying all actions. With a few hundred people deciding the fate of billions and the sole consideration being benefit accrued the idea of peace is dying and being replaced by gluttony."
"The Ark was a project initiated for galactic exploration. We, The Liberty Rebels, took over and converted it into mankind's escape plan. Five hundred embryos in stasis inside a fission powered ship which could stay in space for decades. We packed it with all data and tools and machinery, even manufacturing units so that our children could have a head start. By consensus of our scientific minds we left out or erased concepts of liberty and profit. The people who volunteered to go with you as caretakers were first memory wiped and then psychologically conditioned using the latest chemical inducers to think on socialist lines."
The background showed the Ark just launched from a space station.
"We are planning to destroy key sites belonging to J-KOR and MARS. After that we will not survive the backlash but the war machinery will have been severely dented on both sides. This is a ditch attempt to save millions of human lives but the way the war is proceeding humankind will probably be blasted back to medieval age. You are the survivors, our legacy. My last message is this- Stay away from Earth and Do not judge us by your standards."
The Message ended.
Professor Nambiar stood up and faced the others.
"Let us take a few hours to think before we comment."
The Captain nodded and said. "We will meet in four hours. We are a day away from the Earth's solar system. Anything else of note?" He looked at Amraa.
"There are some massive data files... I think history and political analysis. Also there are location data showing the positions of armed satellites- this is old but the warning of such sentry satellites is valuable information."
The Second Ark slowed down at the edge of the solar system, just enough to launch probes. It was gone from the system in a couple of minutes, changing trajectories to avoid laser scans from the sentry orbs. Ten probes were launched but none reached the Earth. All were attacked and destroyed. The Research Group decided to leave another set of information gathering units which would traverse the solar system following separate orbital paths. They headed back with unanimous consent that Mission Liberty was a failure and no data of any sort could be retrieved except that the solar system was mined with automated orbs programmed to destroy anything approaching them.
Picture Credit : Pixabay.com