The Chronicles of the Milky Way Galaxy : Gaia

Chapter 9 : Settlers (Invaders)

Awhile later, they were all gathered in the control room with all necessary
data on their hands.

Alex began the conversation. "Now that you have all read the problem, we
need to check what that means."

"Well," said Steve, "we are currently going at about three million meters per
second, so that means that our trip will be extended by another thousand years if
they don't repair them fast."

Alex coldly replied, "We can consider them all offline in one month. There will
be no repairs."

"Is there something we don't know?" asked Juuda.

"Now you know. There will be no repairs, so we are looking at an extra
thousand years of travel," said Alex.

Trying to calm everyone down, Gakuto said with a more neutral temper,
"There is no appointment we need to get to. If the energy is enough, then I can
probably cook up a way to extend our food supply by a hundred years. Steve, will we
be on with energy reserves?"

"We will fold our sail back, which means no more repairs on it. Also if we limit
our awake time a bit more, then we should be fine in terms of energy for the trip."

Alex stood up. "Then let's not make things sound more tragic than they are.
Our trip will take longer. Juuda, please update everyone's notifications with the new
data. Everyone should reschedule their awake time accordingly."

3016

Hera

Jain was walking toward the nursery to see the children. Her shift was ending, and
she was eager to see her own child before going back to her capsule to sleep. She
began playing with the children when Dimitri interrupted her bliss.

"Jain, you need to see this."

"What happened?" said Jain, surprised.

"We have lost all communications with Earth."

"How can that be? We have backup systems," said Jain with a questioning
frown.

"I have been working on it for a while. I think it was purposely done."

"Wake Alex and Margaret up, please."

After Alex and Margaret were brought up to speed, Margaret left to run
diagnostics. She returned and said, "They really did shut us out. The systems
stopped working purposely."

Alex's second awakening to bad news began to frustrate him. "First the
boosters, now the communications. We know that Earth had its problems, but this got

out of hand. What are our options?"

Margaret calmly replied, "There is not much we can do. There are no ground
receivers on Earth now, and the satellites seem to have been destroyed. I will run
occasional checks, and I will be broadcasting toward Earth frequently, so once they
wish to hear from us, our voices will be there. If they begin broadcasting again toward
us, we will also be hearing from them. There is not much else we can do for now."

Alex's frustration did not subside. "What will it mean if we do not reestablish
communications?"

Dimitri made a sad face and with a bit of thought said, "Well, we mainly lose
contact with our people there. They actually lose more than us. They will not hear of
our findings. Solis is forty light years away; our news would be with a delay of forty
years, but it would still be better than no news."

Margaret frowned and said, "No, Dimitri, losing contact with friends is the
least of our losses. New technologies from Earth would be shared with us even with
delay; new developments here would be shared with Earth. We did not lose contacts,
we lost technologies." Margaret seemed very upset. "We can't compare the
advancements we will make with a few thousand people on Solis against the
developments of millions."

"So, we are finally completely cut off from Earth," said Alex skeptically.

"Margaret, you are right; we lost very much, but there is also nothing we can do.
Inform everyone that if they have any private messages in their boxes, which shed
light as to why this happened, they have to share it with me."

As Alex walked toward a terminal, he saw an urgent message from Semreh,
his close friend and superintendent of Abuja.

Hello Alex.

I hope you will see this message soon and you will not be sleeping for the
next 300 years. It has been a while since I began regretting not joining you into the
stars. Now I don't even have time for regrets. The situation here is starting to get out
of hand. The cities are falling apart. Despite our best efforts, we will need more
hands if we are to repair everything in time for Earth's recovery. Apostasis is still
affecting a large amount of population. Mainly the ancient ones. The people like you
and me. Every city has made a separate council of elders who have their own way of
dealing with the situation, and growth has halted. Many projects for speeding the
recovery of the planet have ended, and an increasing amount of people are filled with
a constant rage. Basically, if you are not affected by apostasies, you are affected by
rage. We are now trying to convince everyone that the best cause of action is you.
Although you are very far, you are 1,000 ancients who are unaffected by apostasis
and can clearly see things from far away. The proposal is that you will be the
counseling party of the planet and try from afar to lead us until Earth becomes
habitable again. Although you are three years away, decisions take this long to be
made, so it will be like you are here. Many of the ancients are in opposition and even
claim that you abandoned Earth. I hope you see this soon and contact me so we can
discuss things further. I am attaching some information for you which will not bring
you joy, but I hope it will help you take the necessary decisions.

Godspeed my friend.

The message was received just two years before the end of communications.

3487

Hera

With multiple kids on board the ship, many crewmembers had taken the role of
teachers. The holoclasses were fun and interactive, but the energy needs were too
great for them to be used extensively. The team going to Solis was already
composed of people who had never been to Earth.

6403

Hera

The Hera entered the Solis system and began its dancing maneuvers to reduce its
speed. While the ship was calculating trajectories, it was simultaneously gathering
information about the planets and the interior of the solar system.

Are we invading? ... Are we ... good? ... Is there really a choice?