Alien Singularity

Chapter 5. Thriving Human Society

On Proxima b, one thousand young men and women arrived to start the first human settlement on the exoplanet. The natural conditions were harsh: twice as much gravity, half as much oxygen, and twice as much atmospheric pressure. It was difficult to move, and you were always out of breath. Yet despite its adverse conditions, most humans survived, adapted and thrived. People developed denser bones, more muscles and stronger cardiovascular systems.

Martians were never allowed to come, as the gravity difference was too great for their bodies to handle. Animal tests revealed that martian mammals get crushed to death by their own weight, as their skeletal structures were just not strong enough on Proxima b.

People immediately set out to build a society. The bots were already doing a very good job at farming and building houses, and humans could focus on more sophisticated work such as science research, healthcare, and exploration. Humans had ventured farther and farther into both the hottest and the coldest part of the planet. The center regions of both extreme temperatures, were only visited by unmanned crafts, as the hot center could melt lead and the cold center could freeze air.

Yet there was one big problem, humans' reproductive system was never able to handle this planet, and all pregnancies ended up either in miscarriages or stillbirths. Among the 500 couples, none were able to have a child. It was devastating to these would be parents, and also to humanity at large. Schools were built a long time ago to welcome first wave of Proxima children, yet they still remained empty. All humans came from Earth via teleportation, but never able to have children here to continue human society. Over time, given this grim prospect of future generation, fewer and fewer humans on Earth volunteered to come to Proxima B.

Forty years have passed since the Star Shot, Kyler is now 70, just retired from NASA. Kyler's youngest son, Faizer, is a rising star at NASA's exoplanet settlement division.

Faizer Young was now 30, and he inherited his father's enthusiasm for space exploration. His wife, Jenna, shared his passion. Today at NASA's annual exoplanet settlement meeting, Faizer came up with this bold proposal:

"Why don't we consider teleporting families: parents with small children, to Proxima b? If the children can grow up under that environment, their reproductive system might become strong enough to handle the planet, and we might be able to continue human society there."

He paused for a moment, then continued,

"My wife Jenna and I, along with our three children: Jack, 5, Emma, 3 and Michael, 1, will volunteer to be the first family to be teleported there. Of course we need other families to join us in the first wave so our children won't grow up alone there. We need a society of families with small children to grow up together, so they can marry each other and have babies later."

Faizer's idea made headline news. Opinions were diverse around the world, some were very supportive, calling this the only way for a sustainable long term space colonization; others condemned it a risky behavior to subject children to a total foreign world that they were too young to decide for themselves.

NASA eventually approves this proposal and called for volunteers.

Faizer, his wife Jenna, their children Jack, Emma and Michael, arrived 4 years later, via teleportation, immediately followed by a wave of other families. Most kids overcame the initial discomfort, they adapted, and thrived. Upon confirmation of children's healthy growth, more and more families arrived on Proxima B 9 years later.

Young's three siblings grew up to be very healthy. Like all other families on Proxima b, they kept in touch with their clones back home on Earth, although a return message takes over eight years, it did not stop them to be excited about how their other versions, one younger on Proxima and one older on Earth - were doing.

Since they were clones, it was not surprising to see one's corresponding self doing pretty much the same on both planets. Jack was a math wiz, and won math competitions prizes on both planets; Michael was good at reading, and competed in Spelling Bee contests. Michael won the first place on Proxima b, but on Earth, given the large number of contestants, did not place.

Emma was very artistic. She liked to draw pictures. The Emma on Earth liked to draw animals and plants; on Proxima b, she liked to draw alien machines. Both are highly creative in their drawings: Earth Emma drew fantasy animals and Proxima Emma drew imaginary alien machines that no one ever saw before.

15 years later, Emma was now 18. She got married, and pregnancy ensured. The entire world, on both solar systems, was fixated on the progress of her pregnancy. The future of the human race's expansion and continuation was hinged on the success of this baby.

9 months later, a healthy baby boy was born. He was named Ever, as in first ever, to celebrate another important step in human civilization advancement.

Many babies were born after Ever. Jack and Michael were both married and start to form their own families. A few years later, as the 2nd wave of arriving children reached adulthood, more and more Proxima babies were born. Human civilization's future looked very bright. Once again, society was full of joy and hope, families with small children, instead of only adults, become the norm of Proxima B's society, cities with school, playgrounds and parks started to propagate and expand into far reaches of the planet.

As the population grew, the terminator line was no longer sufficient for human settlements, and people started looking into the cold dark region for more habitats. Engineers, lead by Jack, now a senior scientist at PASA - Proxima Aeronautics & Space Agency, developed a series of giant reflective mirrors, orbiting around the planet, reflecting light to the dark side of the planet. As soon as the light hit the ground, the landscape, for the first time, revealed itself to the human eyes. The beauty was stunning. Snow covered mountains, once completely in the dark, becoming blindingly bright. Within days, liquid water started flowing and vegetation started growing everywhere. Insects started to follow, then birds, and other small animals.

The hot part, because of its intense heat and dryness, remained of little interest to the scientific community. They deemed it worthless for any attempt to make human settlement further into the hot polar region. It might make more sense to explore a new planet in Alpha Centauri A and B, which have some planets outside the habitable zone, but terraforming them, just like we did on Mars, might be easier than doing so on the hot side of Proxima b. Or we should consider even another nearby stellar system entirely for further expansion.