Life On This Planet

Chapter 8

My voice cracks as soon as I start to address the room. Why do we need still verbal presentations? I shake my head, clear my throat, and start again. My slide show of holographic images and edited historical video footage that I found in the Archives plays silently behind me. Ray and Dace both sit in the front row of the lecture room. I'm beginning to regret not feigning an illness this morning.

'The Deserters left Earth in 2052 when it was a dying planet stripped of many natural resources. The most important being soil. Without soil, food could not be grown. After they left, world economies crashed, and the planet's weather patterns changed dramatically. Although the war was over, there was still fighting for necessities like food and water. During this time, the scientists who chose to remain on Earth started building what came to be known today as Planet Housing. In 2053, the first worldwide efforts were put into marine permaculture, known as...oc...ocean farming.' I stumble on the last part while wiping my palms on my daysuit. 'There were enough kelp forests to sustain human life in less than a year. These were distributed using what was left of the military forces from previous governments worldwide, and this would be the foundation of Planet Defence and Security.' I pause and swallow but dare not look up if I lose my nerve.

'In 2054, an organisation known as the United Nations called for a global summit to decide how to proceed with what was happening. By this time, nearly seventy per cent of the population could move into public sea domes. However, some chose to remain living on the surface. Because of the nuclear fallout, most of the surface of the two continents became unliveable. At the global summit, twelve individuals proposed how to preserve life. They became The Founders.' I pause again and, this time, pick my head up and look around. I see everyone is listening and Coral gives me an encouraging smile. I continue.

'The Founders consisted of a group of young people aged twelve to nineteen years. There were twelve of them - seven females and five males. They put forward a proposal for a new social foundation which is still used today. The proposal consisted of the following elements: food availability, housing, free education, and zero income. Every human being was to be trained and skilled in all planet restoration and sustainability areas. They came up with divisions we know as Traditional and Alternative and the many subdivisions under them. One of the biggest threats was still violence, though. Violence amongst humans was rife. My voice is louder now and I feel more self-assured as I continue.

'To solve this the youngest of The Founders used an archaic version of zero-knowledge proofs and DNA sequencing to develop protective shields for each human, which is still used today. Between 2055 and 2059, the grid sectors were created, and the training divisions were implemented. In 2060, the Earth Act Treaty was signed, dissolving all old countries and nations and uniting humanity as global citizens of Earth.' I finish, with a visible sigh of relief.

Coral claps enthusiastically as I take my seat. 'Yeah, Zee! Way to go!' She gives me a high five. I can still feel the perspiration on my face. Coco tactfully hands me a tissue. Section Leader Lang comments that it was a detailed assignment and presentation. 'Although NR13 makes it sound like an easy and swift transition to a new social model and ideal, it wasn't. Getting to the Earth Treaty Act took eight long years of hard work and loss of life. All this was done under the constant fear that The Deserters will return.'

Dace raises his hand.

'Sir, what happened to The Deserters? Did they ever reach Proxima Centauri C? Are they still there?' Everyone sits up straighter. Whoa, are we finally going to learn what happened to them?

I didn't expect the Section Leader to answer Dace's question, but he does. 'It would have taken them just over four years to arrive at the exoplanet. The technology back then was limited, and Earth's science division called NASA monitored the ships for three years until an explosion was detected, due to that explosion, it has been documented that one of the ships was destroyed. We could no longer monitor the other ship, which disappeared beyond our galaxy in 2056.'