Бесплатный фрагмент - Emmy on Earth

Who among the reasonable members of humanity has never pondered the question: «Are we really alone in the entire Universe?» Who hasn’t longed for an answer that they both hoped for and feared at the same time? Because if we truly aren’t alone in this World, then who are our space neighbors? Do they know about the existence of Earthlings, and what are their intentions? Are they friendly or hostile towards us?

The author of «Emmy on Earth» suggests that we accept the scenario in which we are, on the one hand, not alone, yet on the other, of little interest to a supercivilization. However, one of its members — a crew member on an important mission — does take a personal interest in Earthlings. Emmy’s restless nature, strong will, and desire to help others compel her to take action. At the same time, she is in a constant search for happiness and, once she finds it, is ready to share it with someone else.

The Research

This story begins in another part of the galaxy, fifteen hundred light-years away from Earth, on a planet called Mephius, which is one and a half times the size of our own. Life on Mephius originated significantly earlier than on Earth, and the civilization there was rapidly approaching the zenith of its development. Medicine and technology enabled people to live for an average of about five hundred years, ensuring very high efficiency in all areas of science. The inhabitants mastered complete control over their emotions and unlocked all the secrets and peculiarities of the human body. By the time scientists had determined the exact date of their sun’s collapse, the planet’s population was around seventeen billion people. They had less than three hundred thousand years remaining before life there would become completely impossible.

The advanced progress in the study of deep space and exact sciences had freed the researchers from concerns about the preservation of their civilization; the only task remaining was to select the most suitable planet for relocation. Nearby — if such a term could be employed — at distances ranging from seven hundred to one and a half thousand light-years, there were six potentially habitable planets. One of them was Earth.

At first, for a more thorough examination of the star systems and their planets, the scientists sent robots to those distant areas. When the machines arrived, they succeeded to gather all conceivable data and to transmit it back to Mephius. Two of the planets, as it was discovered, were completely unsuitable for life for various reasons. However, the remaining four planets proved to be quite good, offering the possibility for human existence and prolonged, comfortable habitation. Admittedly, they required a minor degree of external intervention, which was not a challenging task for such an advanced civilization.

Since there were four planets, the scientists decided to prepare a starship for each, equipped with all the necessary tools and technologies, allowing the easy establishment of favorable conditions both on the planet and within the destined solar system.

Four crews were assembled and trained. They comprised the brightest young minds and promising scientists, each possessing high stress resilience and the essential skills required for a mission of this magnitude.

Each crew consisted of seven individuals, five women and two men. All members were well-versed in various scientific disciplines, which enabled them to divide the territory upon arrival and start the transformation of the new planet into their future cozy home. They had been prepared for this journey from birth and had been instilled with all the necessary knowledge and skills.

The data collected by the robots helped scientists to create embryos that were given the names «Human-Planet Name.» In the case of our Earth, this resulted in Human-Earth 4, or Human-E4 for short. All these planets were named uniformly, just with a numeral added at the end to indicate their distance from Mephius. Each required its own type of embryo due to slight variations in the planets’ characteristics: gravity, percentages of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere, atmospheric pressure, and many other factors.

Without these new types of human embryos, the seven crew members and their small future offspring would scarcely have had enough time to transform the planet into a cozy and well-equipped home suitable for the relocation of the entire race.

Each team had its own leader. Before launching of the first starship to the planet, the four mission commanders were brought together and briefed on all their objectives and tasks, along with the precise actions required to achieve them. There was a spirit of rivalry instilled among them so that they would not shirk from the extra-complex goals and challenges they might face in the new world. After all, even the inhabitants of the most advanced civilizations are not immune to laziness.

The entire race, along with the technologies developed by the Mithiusians by that time, would go to the planet that would show the best result by the five thousandth year of their habitation. That’s what the rivalry was all about. The three other planets would become resource extraction sites, obligated to send seventy-five percent of their primary resources to the central planet chosen for relocation. This information greatly motivated the four groups, and they all set their minds to the task ahead.

The study and analysis of new human species evolution on the new planet were among the secondary yet very important tasks. It was required from the seven crew members and their future descendants to send a detailed report back to Mephius every hundred years, documenting all the activities and progress made during that period.

After creating humans from embryos on all four planets, it was decided to avoid significant interference in the development of new species. To be more precise: they wanted to see how long it would take for the new humans to achieve progress, major leaps in development, and compare these data with similar results from their home planet. They allocated a considerable amount of time for this, ranging from three to four thousand years. In case of slow progress of the new human species and failure to meet the initial plan set for them, they intended to inject information, knowledge, and data to adjust the thinking of individual entities within the new population.

They were also given an ultimatum: under no circumstances should they give the new human species any hint of the existence of a more advanced civilization. Especially, that this very civilization was very close and controlled many of their actions. All further assistance and the injection of new knowledge were to be carried out very delicately and with all precautions, so that the new species of humans could not even suspect any external help and could confidently refer all progress to their own efforts. A severe punishment awaited those who violated these requirements — permanent exile to the nearest uninhabited planet, with no right to return home or to use cryonics.

To achieve their objectives, the seven individuals who arrived on Earth from Mephius, along with some of their descendants, would regularly use cryogenic freezing. The men would operate and live in a 1—99 cycle, which stands for one year spent actively engaged in tasks and ninety-nine years spent in cryosleep. The women, due to their necessity for producing offspring to expand the clan, would remain awake for fifteen years and stay in cryogenic stasis for eighty-five years during the first three centuries. Consequently, the women would follow the same regimen as the men. Therefore, certain members of the clan could exist almost eternally, as their bodies did not age during the cryo periods. Ten years of active life and use of cryocapsules meant an entire millennium on Earth.

It is not difficult to calculate that each of the five women must have at least three children. Thus, their clan would rapidly expand. Once the clan reached five hundred members, the issue of reproduction would eliminate, and the creation of new members will be solely at the will of the clan members themselves. The primary objective was to maintain a necessary minimum threshold, which had been factored into the planning. Each individual was already assigned a specific field of activity and workplace to keep the planet’s high level of development and ensure the stable functioning of the entire solar system.

There were only fifty cryosleep capsules available, seven of which were allocated to the pioneers. Those remaining were distributed among the new clan members based on their merits and achievements, determined through a general vote held every hundred years. Consequently, not all clan members would witness the arrival of the Mephiusians, of course, in case their planet is honored with such an event.

According to the opinion of the Mephius’s authorities, 500 people armed with their civilization’s knowledge and technologies are able to ensure the rapid development and complete control of the planet and its surrounding system.

Specialized robots equipped with huge number of study programs took over the education and development of the new Earth-born children and members of the clan. These programs were preselected for the initial five hundred children, while for following generations, the robots would be programmed based on the current demand for specific specialists. Although parents participated in their children’s upbringing, their contribution was minimal; mostly everything was handled by these robots, so much resembling real people.

Robots capable of completely replacing parents and teachers have existed and been utilized for centuries on Mephius, the home planet of four groups sent on a saving mission. Certainly, this fact — among others — made the highly advanced humans really similar to their robotic mentors. The former, possessing astonishing technologies and absolute knowledge in nearly all scientific domains, had long ago lost the capacity for deep feelings and emotions. In other words, it is safe to say that they were always driven by reason and cold calculation. Though rare, exceptions did exist. As our narrative unfolds, we shall encounter these anomalies.

The Flight

Earth-4 is the farthest planet from Mephius. Therefore, the crew heading there was the first to start their two-millennia-long journey. Other crews departed later, so that all would reach their destination at the same time and would have an equal chance of winning the race to create the most comfortable future home.

Their starship, the size of several soccer fields, was equipped with the latest technology. It had seven small spacecraft for swift and free transportation across the planet and within the Solar System. These spacecraft could land on any surface, had silent gravity engines and an «invisibility mode», that the crew was supposed to use on Earth at all times, since the emergence of Human-E.

The crew of young specialists was fully prepared for the launch. They were given a week to say goodbyes to their friends and relatives, as this would be the last time they would see their loved ones. A year of stasis on Mephius was expensive, and only a few could afford millennial cryosleep. Those who could did not rush to use it, planning instead to enter their capsules in the three hundredth year of their lives and wait for the X-day — the moment when they could relocate to a new, uncharted planet and say farewell to their dying home world.

The launch was successful. After reaching the required speed and flight trajectory, the crew prepared to enter cryosleep. Ron and Leo, the male members of the crew, created a schedule for the so-called «awakenings». Every hundred years, they had to wake up from cryosleep to control and check all systems and the course of their flight. Ron and Leo agreed to do this one by one, with Ron, as the starship commander, taking the first turn.

Meanwhile, Mia and Olivia were explaining to Emmy why she and all female part of their group had no rights to wake up for checking the flight course.

«I don’t understand,» Emmy wondered, «why have the men been given such a great opportunity to stay awake for about a fortnight every two hundred years, while we, the women, have been denied it? I desperately want to emerge from cryosleep during the flight, see the new uncharted worlds, planets and stars, read, drink coffee and pursue my hobbies in my free time.»

«It’s quite simple,» Olivia replied, «we, the women, have to spend the first 15 years on Earth without stasis to give birth and nurture our children. The men won’t need to do this. A year after we arrive on Earth-4, they’ll enter cryosleep for the next 99 Earth years, if I understood everything correctly during our individual briefings.»

«You got it right, Olivia, I was told the same at my briefing, word-for-word,» Mia confirmed,

«Well, well, that’s very interesting,» Emmy asked, raising her eyebrow slightly, «how come both of you know about these plans on child-birth and child-raising, but I wasn’t informed of this at my training and preparation for this mission?»

Two young women at a nearby table were chatting but as they heard the last sentence, they stood up and approached to help Mia and Olivia.

«Yes, not only them, but Tina and I are also well aware of this task,» said one of them, Jessica. «We were asked not to discuss it with any crew members until we left our planet. It’s strange you weren’t informed at your individual briefing like the rest of us. Perhaps the project leaders assumed you might abandon the mission if you found out about the task. That’s why they decided not to reveal everything and pin you down to the facts later.»

«I accidentally overheard a conversation among the leaders,» Tina added. «They referred to you, Emmy, as the most creative and innovative member of the team. They said that with your help, it would be much easier to achieve our common goal. Apparently, they value you highly and didn’t want to scare you off with this task. However, in my opinion, withholding such important assignments is unacceptable.»

Olivia and Mia smirked at Emmy after they heard that she was called the most creative and innovative member of the team. Jessica noticed this and said sincerely, «I agree. I believe we’re very fortunate to have Emmy on our team.»

«If I wasn’t informed or prepared for this during my training, I suppose this task isn’t part of my mission, is it?» Emmy wondered aloud.

«You should talk to Ron. As commander, he might have all the information on this and other matters,» Jessica replied.

Emmy did just that — she went to find the man, leaving her colleagues to discuss other topics without her.

She entered the compartment where Ron and Leo were talking and asked Ron to spare some time for her after his discussion. She said she would wait for him in the next section, where they stored seeds of all kinds of trees, flowers, shrubs, vegetables, fruits, herbs… In general, everything capable of growing from the ground. They had brought all of this from their home planet, and according to the plan, ninety percent of these plants were expected to adapt and thrive in the new conditions.

She paced among the numerous boxes with seeds, unable to settle, contemplating all possible explanations Ron might give her regarding the task. When she was on her fourteenth imagined scenario, Ron arrived, and soon the situation began to clarify.

«I suppose, Emmy, you want to know why you weren’t informed about a certain mission assigned to you, young women?» Ron beat her to it.

«That’s right,» Emmy said.

«You see, Emm, the computer testing we all did showed a thirty-two percent probability you might refuse the mission if you knew about this task,» Ron began explaining. «For the other women the probability of refusal was only between two and five percent. Therefore, the leaders decided not to inform you. They asked me to tell you that if you decide to refuse the task you weren’t aware of after considering everything, it won’t be a problem. They are prepared to make an exception for you. Apparently, the leaders value your presence and contribution to our mission very highly.»

Emmy didn’t have to think long about her answer; she always preferred to resolve issues and tasks as quickly as possible, without postponing them.

«In that case, I refuse this assignment,» she declared. «And since I won’t have to spend the first fifteen years upon arrival without cryosleep, I would like to participate in the awakenings during our flight to Earth.»

«That’s a reasonable proposal,» said Ron. «I really like it. You’ll be the third assistant in flight, and your first shift will begin in three hundred years. I’ll bring you the instructions and tasks for your two weeks awake. Study them carefully, then take the test, and the matter will be settled.»

«Excellent,» Emmy rejoiced. «Thank you, Ron. I wish you success in your first awakening.»

Emmy was thrilled with this new opportunity. After studying all the instructions, she passed the test with flying colors and with a pleasant realization that she wouldn’t have to be in stasis for the next 2074 years. Then she started preparing for cryosleep like the rest of the crew.

In addition to scheduled awakenings, there were also opportunities for unscheduled ones. The latter were intended for emergencies: equipment malfunctions, collisions with unknown objects, significant deviations in the ship’s course due to nearby star gravity, and so forth. When you have hundreds of light-years to travel, anything can happen. Awakening protocols were programmed in all these situations for not just one, as in scheduled awakenings, but two crew members. Emmy, of course, insisted on participating in such events if they occurred.

The course was set, and the flight was progressing smoothly. All crew members entered cryosleep, and absolute silence descended upon the starship, except for the gentle hum of computers and all the systems of this enormous vessel.

Unpleasant Situation

For the first six hundred and thirty-two years of the journey, everything went smoothly without any emergencies. Leo, Emmy, and Ron each completed two watches. Their watch lasted two Earth weeks at each awakening. The first week was dedicated to fulfilling all tasks related to flight control. The second was for leisure and relaxation. Ron played «Figures» and read a lot, Emmy drew and wrote short stories, while Leo favored computer games, watching movies, and talking to robots for entertainment. During the relaxation week, between cryo-freezes, their bodies had to adapt to being mobile again.

What project leaders feared the most occurred in the six hundred thirty-third year: the crew flew near a star (or rather, at a relatively short distance from it) and the star exploded and released an enormous amount of energy.

Despite their flight trajectory being well away from the star, they failed to evade it, resulting in the emergency awakening of two crew members. Ron and Emmy immediately began course corrections after waking up from cryosleep. But imagine their disappointment when they found out they could not avoid passing through the asteroid belt of this star system. They sealed off all the compartments and positioned themselves at the heart of the spacecraft, the flight control center. Their speed was so high that manual maneuvers within the asteroid belt proved useless, leaving them to hope and pray that no section suffered severe damage. The belt wasn’t very wide, it only took them six seconds to fly through it at this speed. Yet those six seconds were enough to cause critical damage to one of the sections (fortunately, the large compartments were isolated and sealed off from each other as needed). Many sections also suffered micro-damage from asteroid impacts, which Ron and Emmy dealt with first. Once they fixed everything there, they had to restore the critically damaged section ahead, quite a time-consuming task.

This room contained some of the embryos of animals and birds taken from Mephius to breed on Earth. Unfortunately, all of them were dead. So, this planet, in case it becomes the resource-producing rather than central, will never have the chance to know of the existence of those amazing creatures.

While restoring the section, Ron had to go on a spacewalk in order to place a robot equipped with a 3D printer technology. This robot sealed the breach in the spacecraft’s hull. Once the job was complete, Emmy suggested to Ron that they investigate how the disappearance of these animal and bird species would impact the evolution of fauna on the new planet.

«Great idea, Emmy,» he said. «We have five more days until cryofreeze, so we can run computer simulations, removing these animal species from the list and explore all possible scenarios. Perhaps we’ll need to eliminate a few more species to maintain balance in the future animal ecosystem. Losing just eight percent of all animal species aboard seems like an easy fix.»

«I suspect that after running the computer simulations, we may need to part with another five to seven percent, which would cause significant damage to Earth’s wildlife. It’s a shame it had happened.» — lamented Emmy.

It happened as Emmy predicted: computer simulations revealed that it is necessary to remove six percent more of the total animal population to keep balance in the future animal ecosystem.

It was July twenty-eighth. According to the schedule, Emmy and Ron were set to enter cryosleep on August third, but Emmy approached Ron with a proposal.

«I know we have to follow protocol and stick to the daily schedule, but would you consider pushing the cryosleep to August sixth?» she asked. «And on the fifth, let’s have a little party to celebrate my birthday, okay? Since this misfortune with asteroid belt happened just before my birthday, I’d really like to take advantage of the situation. It might be my only birthday in deep space when I’m conscious.»

Ron thought to himself that Emmy was too emotional about a routine event, but he didn’t say this directly and agreed to postpone the stasis date to August sixth.

«Yeah, let’s celebrate and ease the tension caused by this thing with asteroids as well,» he said and wondered. — «How old are you going to be?»

«In fact, if we count the time of the stasis, I’ll turn six hundred fifty-three, but if we only count the years I’ve actually lived, not slept, I’ll turn twenty,» Emmy answered. — «Thank you that you agreed to postpone the date of entering cryosleep. It means a lot to me to celebrate my birthday in such circumstances. And I’m sure you won’t regret being a guest at my celebration.»

The day had finally come. Emmy made a birthday cake herself, following the recipe she had found in archives. They dated back to the times when people cooked the food themselves, unlike now, when robots took this job over. And I must note, this was many millennia ago. Yes, she liked doing everything by hand: drawing, writing articles and stories, cooking tasty food — in general, anything where she could use her imagination.

Emmy and Ron sat down at the table to have a cup of tea and a cake. That’s where the engaging conversation popped up.

«I’ve been thinking a lot about our mission on Earth and I want to share my thoughts with you,» began the birthday girl. — «Our task is to create a home for the entire race. In order to achieve this goal, scientists created a human embryo that slightly differs from us now — actually, significantly differs. So… I don’t really understand why they didn’t just create an identical embryo similar to us, so that a human on Earth could live for five hundred years, instead of just about a hundred? This human won’t be exposed to the various diseases, they’ll retain memories well and assimilate the information quickly. And the most important question: why can’t we interfere in their development? In fact, we created them and we are responsible for them! Just imagine what we could achieve by working together if we gave the Earth humans all the information we possess.»

«You know perfectly well that we cannot discuss or change any of these matters,» Ron said. «We must strictly stick to the plan. But… because it’s your birthday, I can hint at something that might answer your questions. However, I must ask you to approach this with cold, logical thinking and keep this conversation between us. Do not bring up this topic in discussions with other crew members.»

«Yes, I’d love to hear it, and I promise I’ll never come back to this topic,» Emmy replied.

«Excellent. In that case, I’ll share what I know, and I’m somehow sure that other crew members won’t approach me with thoughts similar to yours, so I won’t have to repeat myself,» Ron said. «Imagine that our Earth wins the race to become the planet for relocation. In this case, a couple of thousand years after it is chosen as the central hub, billions of people from our home planet Mephius will arrive. And there’s not much space on Earth. I think that says it all.»

«That’s extremely inhumane — to destroy the entire population of Earth. Moreover, we are those who created it!» Emmy exclaimed in obvious bewilderment. «Our creators would never approve of such an idea. I’m sure there is a compromise we can find.»

«There’ll be no need to destroy anybody; I should have added that right away so as not to mislead you,» Ron reassured his colleague. «There are many humane ways to achieve this. In this case, I think a virus that prevents women from having children will be used. All the people on Earth will peacefully live out their lives and free the planet before our arrival.»

After hearing this, Emmy plunged into deeper thought. She was certain that this was wrong and that a compromise could be found. She was determined to figure out how to save not only their future but also the future of the yet unborn population.

Setting the stage

There were no further emergencies for the rest of the flight, so Ron, Emmy, and Leo took turns being on duty for a fortnight every hundred years.

Finally, they reached the Solar System, where the planet Earth-4 was located.

They had a very long list of tasks to complete before landing on Earth and beginning the creation of life there. The first thing they did was blow up the fifth planet from the Sun, Phaeton. The directed blast was calculated with an accuracy of one meter by the computers and artificial intelligence (AI). After the blast, a large fragment, the big part of Phaeton, was drawn in by Jupiter, while billions of small rocky fragments formed an asteroid belt that now orbits the Sun between Jupiter and Mars. This action was taken to increase the gas giant’s gravity, ensuring it would attract and absorb all potentially dangerous objects and asteroids that threatened life on Earth. Before this, about a hundred small asteroids fell on Earth annually, and every few thousand years, large objects would crash into the planet, not even giving a chance for long-term existence of living organisms there.

Additionally, Earth needed a natural satellite to function properly, but it did not have one at the time. For this purpose, the Moon was selected back on Mephius after a detailed study of all the objects in the solar system. Yes, the capabilities of the spaceship they arrived on were practically limitless: destroying a planet was child’s play, and using gravitational capture to move the Moon millions of kilometers from Jupiter to Earth was easy. However, this journey took many months, as moving at standard speed with such a heavy object in tow was not a quick task. They used this time to thoroughly prepare for their work on the new, unexplored third planet from the Sun.

During this long journey with the Moon in tow, our cast grew closer and became a well-coordinated team. They outlined a more detailed plan of action for their arrival on Earth and divided the planet’s territory among themselves: Ron and Emmy were responsible for the area now known as Europe and England; Mia and Olivia for the United States and Canada; Jessica and Tina for the Asian continent and Australia. Leo preferred to work alone and took on the territory now known as the Russian Federation.

Once, during a general meeting that was held daily to review all the tasks in detail, Jessica brought up an issue that worried her.

«I want to talk to you about an important issue that has been bothering me,» she began. «If we have to carefully hide our existence and purpose from the people we create on Earth, how do you suggest we hide our starship, considering its size?»

«For the first few thousand years, while Earth’s population is concentrated in the warmer regions, we can station it somewhere in the north and use it when needed for long-distance travel within the Solar System,» Leo said. «And later, as new people become more advanced and begin to spread across all regions of the planet, I believe we’ll come up with a place to hide our giant ship.»

«I’ve already come up with a rather interesting idea where we can place our big friend,» Ron said, nodding towards the tow of the starship.

«Yes, that’s a great idea,» Jessica said, «but given the size of our ship, it would be visible from Earth’s surface on the Moon, even to the naked eye. Like a large dark spot. And not to mention, once people have binoculars, telescopes, and much more… they’ll be able to study our starship in fine detail.»

«I believe I have a solution to this issue,» Emmy announced. «And it’s rather straightforward. We’ll synchronize the Moon’s rotation on its axis with its orbit around Earth, so that one side will never be visible from this planet. At least until humans go to the Moon or beyond. But I guess they’ll need our assistance to reach such distant destinations. So, those who go into space in the future will probably be from our clan, unless, of course, we reveal ourselves and decide to collaborate with our new neighbors.»

«You know, Emmy, we do not plan to collaborate,» Ron interrupted the enthusiastic girl’s fantasies. «I do like the idea of synchronizing the Moon’s rotation, though. Let’s do that immediately and not delay this interesting task for thousands of years. On the far side of the Moon, unseen from Earth, we’ll have not only a place to station the starship but also a mini-base for research and, if needed, remote control of the planet.»

«Indeed, this is an excellent suggestion, couldn’t think of a better place to hide our ship,» Leo agreed. «But do you really think humans won’t find it odd that all other satellites in the Solar System rotate on their axes according to the universe’s initial conditions, without such perfect synchronization with their planets?!»

«Don’t worry about that,» Ron reassured his colleague. «Humans will find many things strange as they explore our vast world. We’ll prevent any leaks, and if anyone goes beyond the Moon, they’ll be from our clan, and others won’t suspect a thing. After all, we all look alike, and I believe humans on Earth think much like we do. The only difference is they don’t have access to the large amount of information we possess.»

«I believe we could achieve more if we worked together, collaboratively. Even though I understand it’s impossible, I’ll always hold that view,» Emmy stated.

«Each of us has our own opinions and dreams, but we must all follow the clear plan. You all know the consequences of serious violations, so I wouldn’t recommend anyone ever making critical mistakes,» Ron reminded firmly.