Year 2132
//|:DATABASE:[HISTORYVOL1]
-//SUBSECTION:EARTHEND_COLONIZATIONDEMOS
Written by James Blok.
Construction of the spaceship stated in 2041. Resources were plentiful as a huge deposit of oil, uranium, titanium, and other resources were discovered in the extremes of the ocean and the Antarctic. They had enough to build something, using revived plans from the 1970s. This project, called Project Orion, used nuclear bombs to create energy that propelled a ship. This technology would enable us to travel to Alpha Centauri within 50 to 100 years form now. However, a new type of bomb was created. It had a smaller blast radius, compact enough to store enough on a Orion ship to propel it for millennia. It was no more expensive than the "gun" uranium atomic bomb, and was thus the fuel for the ship. The plans called for a ship, larger than the state of Delaware, to be built out of all of the materials found in the Antarctic. This was a inhuman undertaking, and required the combined force of all of the powers to construct it. It took sixty years.
As the year 2101 dawned, there was still no apparent reason why the ship was built. The public was angry, as the government had built it without a real purpose, thinking that the world would've ended by then. They were wrong, and as soon as the governments were exposed as stupid, inept leaders, they were deposed. Although the governments were stupid, the abhorrent dictatorships formed after the "Great Cleansing." were the worse seen on this planet. Think of Riddler, Stalin, and Blue Meanie combined. They killed for no reason, passed cruel laws for no reason and starved their own for no reason. War was coming, and the one lone leader of the council of America (one of the new governments in the former USA, located in the Great Plains and Texas) sensed this coming. He gathered up 5,000 of the smartest, strongest and most intellectual people in the nation-state. He ordered them to find a Earth-like planet, draw up plans to colonize it, and prepare the ships, located within his domain.
The 5,000 thousand received military training as the job has been completed (It was later revealed they were to be the guards of the president, to die when they were invaded for the "honor" of their leader). When the leader boarded the ship, he found a team of 5,000 people with weapons aiming at him and his bodyguards. They disintegrated their employers. The ship was huge, and 20 powerful thrusters were needed to power it. The enemy was approaching, and nuclear blasts were going on in the distance. Finally, liftoff. They rose half a mile above the surface before they lost power. There was no choice. They let go of the first bomb. It incinerated everything below. They entered the atmosphere. The journey to the Planet, dubbed Demos, had begun. I'm writing this about halfway throughout the trip. In about 25 more years, we will have reached the Planet. The bombs had a additional effect of making the speed of the ship twice as fast. It's a new life.
The year is 2149. "We've arrived. The planet seems as good as it had sounded. When they originally found the planet, it had a good mixture of air, rich in oxygen. Some vegetation is present, and it seems to be related to Earth vegetation. No matter, we're sending the pods down, now. They're packed with supplies like food, water, shelter, and the materials to build permanent shelter. The pods are ready, and godspeed. Get ready to get off this hunk of iron and steel."
As this voice chimes over the intercom, you see people rushing to the pod bays, located on the sides of the ship. You rush, going to your assigned pod. As you enter the pod, you see your group assigned to the chairs, each with a safety mechanism. The piloting AI welcomes you onboard, and the group cheers for one of the last few guys to come on the vessel. As the rest come, they're ready for liftoff. This is pod 37-250. They all launch simultaneously, with the rockets whizzing past your pod. You have a site near the Northern end of the largest continent, in a area that ranges from temperate to cold. You approach the planet, with the supply capsule to the side of the pod. Both parachutes open. You see the supply capsule falling slowly. After 2 minutes, a pop. The alarm rings. People start screaming. Cries of "Abandon this damn thing!" and "We're going to die!" fill the pod. Some people cry. Some people stay still. A even smaller group chuckles. The planet is approaching. 900 ft to sea level. 600. 300. 150. Crash.
You are a colonist aboard pod 37-250. Your pod has just crashed. You wake up in the chair, the safety mechanisms disabled after the crash. You get up, and walk outside, ignoring the carnage besides and behind you, looking up at a new world.
IDENTIFICATION-FILE
NAME// LAST: FIRST:
AGE//
BIRTHPLACE// SHIP OR EARTH (Only attainable by cryosleep. Most of the regulars did not have this privilege.)
APPEARANCE// EYES: SKIN: HAIR: HEIGHT:
OCCUPATION//
POD-NUMBER// 37-250
