timalimmy
19th Apr 2009, 06:46
Earth lay in ruins. Humans were on the brink of extinction; the few left were forced to kill each other for food. Their population was diminishing by the minute, threatening to die off completely. Animals were completely wiped out except for in the deepest parts of the ocean.
Earth had gotten this way with seemingly simple problem; overpopulation. By 2080 the human population lay at 12 billion people, and food was getting more and more scarce. There were huge recessions and great poverty. The United States thought the UK had more food, and the UK thought the US had more food, and the tension between them got grew. Soon other countries joined in, and it was World War III. Toxic, chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons were launched at every country. Before they knew it, there were only a few thousand humans left, but by the time they put down their weapons it was too late. Diseases people had launched at their own relatives spread over the world, until only a couple hundred people survived. It seemed that there was no hope, no hope at all, for the human race.
But they were wrong. Years earlier, NATO predicted there would be a war sooner or later, so they set precautions. And so it was that on June 4, 2078, the large 50-man space shuttle The Renaissant plunged into space. The crew would travel for years, cryogenically frozen, until their radar picked up a planet with livable conditions, at which time they would set up a colony and populate the new planet.
This book is the diary of David Polong, shipmate of the ship Renaissant and one of the 50 Saviors of Earth.
August 14, 2091
I feel like turd. Turd that’s been frozen for 12 years and then unthawed in a giant microwave, only to find itself floating 20,000 light years away from Earth in a giant high-tech garbage can coated in depleted uranium. That’s actually not far from the truth. I’ve been cryogenically frozen, and it felt just like taking a nap for a while so I could sleep. And sleep. And sleep. And sleep. Well, the computer must have pulled me out of the freezer for a reason, so I’m going to stop writing and see what the new planet looks like.
August 15, 2091
I’m feeling better now, but I ate 30 pounds (Yuck, freeze dried waffles!) at breakfast and had to take a special pill to barf it up. My body is confused from being frozen, John said. John is the ship’s doctor and the closest thing I have to a father, as my parents died in the riots. Anyway, when I looked at the computer printouts I was shocked. There hadn’t been any satellite activity on Earth for 3 years. What they said was true. We were the last hope for humanity.
Then I heard a beeping sound and looked at the monitor. There is no way to describe what I felt when I saw the screen. The radar results were off the chart. Not only was there water on the planet, there was life. And not just a small plant and a tadpole, but whole rainforests and animals of every size and shape. It was like somebody had pulled the ship out of real life and put it in a scene from Planet of the Apes, that movie we had to watch in Pre-Recession History. I can’t wait to explore it and set up a colony on it. Even for a kid that has only spent 12 years out of a cryogenic chamber, I know this planet will save the human race. I look forward to helping it do so, no matter how dangerous that might be.
August 20, 2091
The last 5 days have been the most suspenseful ones in my life, while we orbited the planet, scanning the conditions. The whole planet was covered with rainforests, and it looked something like this. (It shows a picture of a planet)
Presumably, the water is purple because of mineral deposits, but it tested “Non-poisonous” on the radar. The gas levels were breathable, but the gases in it made our voices unusually high. Even though the tests all show that the conditions are livable, Otis Peters, our captain, says we can’t explore yet because we need to, “Get used to ourselves again.” Even though I disagreed, John said we had to so I dropped the matter.
August 23, 2091
Today we christened the planet. Because there had been no traditions regarding the discovery of planets, we decided to make one. Otis dropped a wine bottle out the porthole and we traced its path to the ground with telescopes. Then he said, “I dub thee, Vierge!” and our planet had a name.
As I watched the bottle shatter against the rocks, a thought hit me. There was no turning back. I had deserted Earth and all of its inhabitants for this bleak, hostile future. I stifled a tear. I heard the footsteps of a man, and then John was patting me on the back and saying, “It’s okay. We may have left Earth, but Earth was gone before we were. Now go to bed and remember that here you have a family, a life, and a home.” And with that he was gone, off to console some other homesick colonist or cure a sick crewmember. I am amazed by the dedication of that man, tending to every need of his shipmates.
I have not finished this but want your feedback.
Earth had gotten this way with seemingly simple problem; overpopulation. By 2080 the human population lay at 12 billion people, and food was getting more and more scarce. There were huge recessions and great poverty. The United States thought the UK had more food, and the UK thought the US had more food, and the tension between them got grew. Soon other countries joined in, and it was World War III. Toxic, chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons were launched at every country. Before they knew it, there were only a few thousand humans left, but by the time they put down their weapons it was too late. Diseases people had launched at their own relatives spread over the world, until only a couple hundred people survived. It seemed that there was no hope, no hope at all, for the human race.
But they were wrong. Years earlier, NATO predicted there would be a war sooner or later, so they set precautions. And so it was that on June 4, 2078, the large 50-man space shuttle The Renaissant plunged into space. The crew would travel for years, cryogenically frozen, until their radar picked up a planet with livable conditions, at which time they would set up a colony and populate the new planet.
This book is the diary of David Polong, shipmate of the ship Renaissant and one of the 50 Saviors of Earth.
August 14, 2091
I feel like turd. Turd that’s been frozen for 12 years and then unthawed in a giant microwave, only to find itself floating 20,000 light years away from Earth in a giant high-tech garbage can coated in depleted uranium. That’s actually not far from the truth. I’ve been cryogenically frozen, and it felt just like taking a nap for a while so I could sleep. And sleep. And sleep. And sleep. Well, the computer must have pulled me out of the freezer for a reason, so I’m going to stop writing and see what the new planet looks like.
August 15, 2091
I’m feeling better now, but I ate 30 pounds (Yuck, freeze dried waffles!) at breakfast and had to take a special pill to barf it up. My body is confused from being frozen, John said. John is the ship’s doctor and the closest thing I have to a father, as my parents died in the riots. Anyway, when I looked at the computer printouts I was shocked. There hadn’t been any satellite activity on Earth for 3 years. What they said was true. We were the last hope for humanity.
Then I heard a beeping sound and looked at the monitor. There is no way to describe what I felt when I saw the screen. The radar results were off the chart. Not only was there water on the planet, there was life. And not just a small plant and a tadpole, but whole rainforests and animals of every size and shape. It was like somebody had pulled the ship out of real life and put it in a scene from Planet of the Apes, that movie we had to watch in Pre-Recession History. I can’t wait to explore it and set up a colony on it. Even for a kid that has only spent 12 years out of a cryogenic chamber, I know this planet will save the human race. I look forward to helping it do so, no matter how dangerous that might be.
August 20, 2091
The last 5 days have been the most suspenseful ones in my life, while we orbited the planet, scanning the conditions. The whole planet was covered with rainforests, and it looked something like this. (It shows a picture of a planet)
Presumably, the water is purple because of mineral deposits, but it tested “Non-poisonous” on the radar. The gas levels were breathable, but the gases in it made our voices unusually high. Even though the tests all show that the conditions are livable, Otis Peters, our captain, says we can’t explore yet because we need to, “Get used to ourselves again.” Even though I disagreed, John said we had to so I dropped the matter.
August 23, 2091
Today we christened the planet. Because there had been no traditions regarding the discovery of planets, we decided to make one. Otis dropped a wine bottle out the porthole and we traced its path to the ground with telescopes. Then he said, “I dub thee, Vierge!” and our planet had a name.
As I watched the bottle shatter against the rocks, a thought hit me. There was no turning back. I had deserted Earth and all of its inhabitants for this bleak, hostile future. I stifled a tear. I heard the footsteps of a man, and then John was patting me on the back and saying, “It’s okay. We may have left Earth, but Earth was gone before we were. Now go to bed and remember that here you have a family, a life, and a home.” And with that he was gone, off to console some other homesick colonist or cure a sick crewmember. I am amazed by the dedication of that man, tending to every need of his shipmates.
I have not finished this but want your feedback.