Who: Everyone that is coming to New Earth What: Welcome Home
The ships had been floating around space now for three years and during that time they had never stopped looking for a place that might be able to sustain them. Gideon had ended up on the lead ship and so he stayed in the 'know' about how they were doing. People were starting to get desperate. Even though there were rations designed to keep all the people on the ships alive for at least fifty years, it felt as if they had been in space forever. The ships shared specific docking spaces. There were three different ports and three different ships attached to each. They hadn’t joined together until after the first year of travel, but now as they were rapidly approaching their four year in space, they had formed their own cities of sorts. The ships had been state of the art and were equipped with plenty of facilities. It was obvious that while the rest of the world had not been expecting a nuclear holocaust, the leaders hadn’t been so optimistic. Some of the ships were better than others, depending of the national resources of the lands from which they had come, but all had seemed sturdy and safe. At least until the accident.
Blaine had unfortunately been sitting in the cafeteria when the alarms went off. It was the middle of the night and he had been unable to sleep. He got to his feet and made his way to the windows that looked out into the inky space around them. Instead of the usual view, there was something wrong with the second dock and its ships. He couldn’t see much due to distance, but it was obvious that they were floundering. Explosions worked differently in space. It seemed, compact, even laughable but the devastation was very real. All three of the ships had black burns around the windows and he could see people flailing. He had abruptly turned away, thinking it was wrong to be a spectator to someone’s demise. He was in a state of shock as he made his way back to his room. At that point they had been in the air for two and a half years, and he had been dating the curvy red head that was waiting for him for most of that time. He had gone back to her and rather than speak about what he had seen, he had just laid down, holding her tightly. The next morning the announcement had come via an all ship meeting. He knew those on the other six remaining ships must have had the same discussion. The windows around the ship were closed, half out of respect and half to keep people from freaking out. Later in the day all of the ships undocked and they had continued further into space, leaving the broken station and it's unfortunate inhabitants to their floating grave.
Brianne Lewis had found it difficult to work of the course of the days after the accident. The knowledge that an entire sub group of humanity had been wiped out with the destruction of the three ships was sobering and she mourned the loss of culture, history, science and ultimately humanity. The Asian nations along with the Arab states, had brought much to their jumbled little space alliance and she could only hope their loss wouldn’t prevent the success of the others.
Conversations at higher levels about finding somewhere to settle grew more urgent and more heated. Jeremy Beaufont spent hours on the comms with the other ships as they debated and argued and sometimes yelled at each other about what they should be doing. If they weren’t careful all of humanity was going to die out and now some were terrified that they would become the next port two, a casualty of human hesitation and unwillingness and band together.
Things changed when they finally spotted the place that Jeremy had named New Earth. The planet wasn’t very large, roughly the size of former Earth’s moon. It appeared to have many geological similarities to home. Scans were done of the atmosphere and the oxygen levels were sufficient for human life, even if they might get out of breath quicker. It would be like living at a high elevation but not unbearable. They observed the planet for a solid month, docking and letting their ships float in the atmosphere as they studied the place that might eventually become home. Not everyone agreed that this was the best option. The Russians wanted to continue looking as did the African nations. Not surprisingly, the West were largely in consensus that staying here was the key to survival. There were no rules anymore and rather than agree, two ships chose to continue on, searching through the galaxy. They promised to report back about their findings and agreed to return in three years time if by that point they had not found a suitable place to live. This left the South Americans, Americans and Canadians, the Australians and New Zealanders, and all of the European nations to try and create a new earth.
Now the question was who to send? That conversation had almost been more heated than deciding to stay on this new planet. Some of the old guard thought they should go down first but eventually the need to grow the human population won out over anything else. They would send the most able bodied among them, the youngest and gifted ones to try and rebuild something that looked like society. Many had spent the last three years perfecting various talents that Jeremy and other leaders knew would come in handy when they got down onto the planet. Gideon Hansler would join Frank Lucarelli as the leaders of the expedition down onto the planet. All of the occupants on the ships who were between the ages of 19-30 had been preparing for all three years for the eventual colonization of a new planet and so between them all they were meant to be equipped with the skills necessary to keep everyone alive. The goal would be to set up camp. Get everything stable and then begin having children so that humanity could live on even if Earth was over. This information was communicated with Gideon and Frank but wasn't exactly common knowledge. Gideon understood the importance of such a venture, but that didn't mean he liked it or wanted to be the one to explain to all the young adults that once they were sure they were safe they needed to all start hitting the sheets. He had no intention of telling anyone that they needed to be having sex. No thank you. He didn’t consider that in his job description. If Frank wanted to issue the dick directive then so be it, Gideon didn’t wish to be involved. In the last few years he had gotten to know Frank fairly well. Gideon had been in America working at the CDC when everything had happened. His younger sister was an engineer and had been in Germany at the time. Getting word that she had been on another ship had been the only thing that kept him from going crazy. He hadn’t seen her for a year before they had been placed on ships and now three more years had passed. He was ready for them to go down to the planet so he could see her if nothing else.
Brianne Lewis was to be the primary physician for everyone. She had been debriefed in a similar fashion to Frank and Gideon and understood the goals in theory. Practice would be another question all together. She was one of the first people, along with Gideon and Frank to go to the surface. There were a few structural engineers who joined them and within two weeks they had created what appeared to be a makeshift summer camp roughly 1.65 miles South of a large fresh water lake that was edged by cliffs. There was a forest of dense trees to the East that curved around to the North as well and then to the west it opened up into a valley. The location was secure and after Gideon tested the water and soil, he was confident they could flourish here. Brianne had done her own checks and reached the same conclusions as her researching counter part. Together they had discussed the best course of action for the new inhabitants. Everyone had been subject to monthly physicals so there was no need to do that. For now she would assist in getting things set up and people accommodated properly. In two weeks the physicals would resume to see if the new living environment had had any impact on their health.
Sturdy tents were constructed from tarps and a few long term facilities were in production when they were given the go ahead to bring people down. The camp was set up in half moon shape. The tents faced away from the lake toward the doctor’s office, the lab space, a cafeteria of sorts and a pad for growing. Behind the tents were a few communal bathrooms that were still being tweaked. At this point the only things were running water were the labs and the kitchens. The founders, as some had taken to calling themselves, were proud of what they had created and soon enough the go ahead was given for people to be lowered to the surface. For the first time in three years tentative feet touched solid ground and then the sounds of excitement and celebration began. "Grass! Trees! We can breathe!" Brianne’s cheeks were flushed bright pink as she watched the first transports lowering. She was younger than anyone else that was going to be on the planet and was only here because of her role in their society. Her parents were remaining on the ships and she hadn’t done a very good job of making friends with people on board. She was so busy working that it had slipped her mind.
Gideon was standing next to Frank as people came out of the transport vehicles. A few of the guys were unloading supplies and setting the boxes in a small clearing near where they had descended. Despite himself, Gideon was studying the people with more interest than he might have wanted. It had been three long years stuck with all the same faces so it was nice to see some new. He had been given a roster with the names of all of the people who would be coming down as well as a list of their skills and a little bit of information about them. It was an overwhelming amount of data but he liked spreadsheets and soon enough had something workable that helped him and Frank figure out best of how utilize everyone. Already the tents were assigned, though that could easily change if anyone wanted to, it just made the process of arriving and getting settled easier. The tents held two-three people each and were equipped with cots, linens and small desks. They were like portable dorm rooms; functional, sorta of comfortable, and smaller than anyone would have liked. Gideon had been happy to share a tent with his sister but was told he could have his own which he readily accepted. Frank would have had his own if he hadn’t had a serious girlfriend. Other than that, everyone was stuck sharing. People who were already part of a couple found themselves sharing a tent. Blaine was more than pleased to see Selena’s name next to his. Siblings were sharing tents, like Niccola and Piers and old friends found that they were together as well. James high-fived Brent as he walked into their tent.
Gideon was standing next to Frank as people came out of the transport vehicles. A few of the guys were unloading supplies and setting the boxes in a small clearing near where they had descended. Despite himself, Gideon was studying the people
Greetings fellow New Earthlings! Just testing out the communication pads that were developed while in transit. If someone can message me back that would be great! Thanks! There will be surface wide meeting when the sun sets. Please get settled in and see you all soon. Welcome!
The message flashed on the communication tablets that had been given to everyone that came to the surface. They would be able to communicate with each other easily and also keep track of their own thoughts. Brianne had been impressed when someone from the European ships had reported that their tech guru had created them in less than a week.