The Chronicles of the Milky Way Galaxy : Gaia

Chapter 3 : Survival

2118

Life in the cities slowly began to adapt to the new situation. Communications
between the cities provided insight to the problems some were facing, so that all
could adapt and provide for the future. Some of them were in distress. The city of
Paris faced starvation. The hole in the dome was never properly patched, and the
environment was in contact with the outside. Most of the systems were now unable to
keep up with the life-support demands and were failing. The outside world had begun
to freeze, and the scavenging humans who survived the first years of the Osiris
impact were visiting the domes in an effort to find refuge. Most of them survived in
underground bunkers near the cities but had run out of resources and were now
looking for a means to survive.

The gates of the domed cities, however, were under a rock. Rock that fell as
liquid from the sky slowly built a layer around the cities. As the years went by, their
attempts become more and more rare until they stopped. This became apparent from
the evidence found after the gates of the dome cities got unblocked. The speculation
was that no survivors existed outside of the domes since the moment of the impact.
Communications with Mars had yet to be established, leaving most to believe that the
colonies had all been destroyed. The plan was to open the gates and dig through the
rock before the planet completely froze over, so that they could have access to the
outside. Pre-dug human-sized tubes connected the cities, but most of them needed
repairing, since they had collapsed in various locations. After their completion, some
goods and help would be able to be transferred from one city to another.

2140

As the years went by, the surviving cities began to work almost fully autonomously
allowing all residents to work on scientific advancement. The majority of the
population was preoccupied with finding a way to reverse the damage and make the

planet habitable, faster than nature. A titanic task with no apparent way of achieving
it. Things began to slow down. Change seemed to be a distant memory. Under the
blanket of snow, humanity almost froze its progress, and social structures adapted
into an ever-slowing pace.

2150

The first launch of a rocket took place. From a single-use pad, a small rocket with a
few kilos worth of equipment was shot in space. A new space observatory of Earth or
SOE was placed into orbit. Its sole mission was to monitor Earth and send readings
regarding weather, dust, and element composition of the Earth's atmosphere. Ninety-
nine percent of all satellites had been destroyed by smaller meteorites and pieces of
Earth debris launched into orbit with the strike. The remaining satellites were
geosynchronous GPS satellites that were very far from Earth and had mostly
remained unharmed. Communications with those satellites have been useful for
various reasons. It was becoming increasingly harder to send missiles into space
since the Earth was continuously sinking into the white sea of snow and ice.

2156

The Mars Communications Reestablishment Drone, or MCRD, was launched. Its
mission was to establish communications with the Martian colonies. Five months
later, the drone landed where the colonies used to stand and reported ruins with no
signs of life. The colonies did not survive. Mars too had been bombarded by smaller
meteorites. Besides the few that were part of the original Osiris, some chunks that
flew into space from Earth found their way onto Mars. Additionally, the lack of a thick
atmosphere on Mars meant that even small meteorites made their way to the
surface, acting as bullets.

2158

The first space station was placed in orbit. The thick cloud that covered the planet
had created a winter that killed nearly all life outside of the dome cities. A small
selection of animals had been kept, with the hope of reestablishing an ecosystem
after the snow melted. There was hope that in the ocean depths, life still thrived
despite the increased acidity. Bacteria and fungi should have made their home under
the ice, where water was heated from the inside of the Earth. The ice on the surface
was winning. Even where the clouds allowed the sun to see the surface, the ice
reflected nearly all the heat back out. The Earth began to resemble a snowball.

2160

A technological breakthrough in robotics allowed for the building of a safe transport
system under the snow. Most of the connection pipes were restored, and the cities
were beginning to be linked with each other, allowing for faster development of
technologies.

2180

The energy efficiency of the cities had reached near perfection, but the need for fresh
materials was already appearing. New technological developments required
materials, not thought of during the construction of the cities. Humans began digging
again, and they became very proficient at it.

2216

The cities were celebrating one hundred years of operation. The ingenuity of the
builders had made life possible in the otherwise-unhabitable conditions of Earth. No
human alive had seen the outside. All they had were memories written on numbers.
The final dance of the humans before the Osiris strike was still celebrated. However,
it was slowly slipping into the pages of forgotten lore by the newer generations.

2270

Some of the collapsed cities like Paris became operational again. The years of
tunneling, repairing, and digging brought forward enough materials to repair the
collapsed cities. Survivors were found in some of them. The world consisted of one
hundred million people, who were slowly losing faith in rebuilding the ecosystem.
While most people and mainstream science was looking at a way to heat up the
Earth, a small group of scientists began considering that perhaps colonization of
another planet might be the solution. A return to Mars looked promising, and with the

available technology, survival on Mars might turn out to be easier than previously
thought.

2273

Perhaps the most revolutionary change in culture and life took over humanity. The
long trip to immortality had finally reached its end. A system was made that could
program a swarm of nanobots, continuously adding scrambled code into the edges of
the DNA of every cell in the body. This way, the division of cells became unaffected
by the natural decay of the code, making every cell of the body as good as the
original one. With a few extra modifications in the following years, the humans could
now slowly return to the age of their choosing and stay at that age forever.

Additionally, nearly every disease that physically affects cells got eradicated in one
go. Natural death was conquered. The childbirth rate started dropping almost
immediately after the distribution of the so-called "COD" or Cure of Death injection.
Newborns could not be injected with COD, since it had disastrous results in the
development of the body. Only after the age of 20 could COD be administered, and
in certain cases after twenty-five years of age.

With very few humans being born, even though almost nobody died, the
population was struggling to rise. Most of the people were humoring themselves by
saying, "We will have children when the Earth becomes habitable again."

In the following years, many technologies previously thought to be science
fiction started becoming a reality. Nanobots in everyday materials and a lot more
became a common sight.

"And we finally got to understand why we need to matter.
Apostasis will guide us back to reality."

—Written on a wall

Apostasis: A term used to describe an unforeseen consequence of human
immortality and lack of purpose. A psychological condition which
renders the person unable of finding meaning behind life. Leads to
social distancing, depression, and in advanced cases, suicide.
First identified in 2312, but speculated to be around for longer than
that and misdiagnosed as severe depression, the condition started to
spread like a virus. Machine automations render individual humans
unimportant to society. Many believe that combating the condition
would require humans to start working and making decisions that
would ultimately affect their well-being.
Medical treatment consists of temporary chemical interference with
the brain's neurotransmitters.
Drug effectiveness declines with time and dosage levels.

No cure is in development.