Expansion: Chapter 2: Overpopulation

MISSION: OVERPOPULATION: EXPANSE NEEDED

By 2025 there were 8 billion people sharing this blue planet we call home. By 2075 that number was 10 billion. Now it is 2100 and we have surpassed 12 billion residents. We are killing our home, no matter what efforts we make. It was never meant to support this many of us. We have even terraformed our own moon, yet not even that helps.

We all thought that maybe back in 2062 when the nations joined to become one United Earth and then in 2067 when the birth laws were put into effect that things might change for the better. And they did for a while, each family could only have one child which slowed down the population boom. But then people rebelled, they didn’t want their bodies and families controlled even though it was for the good of their planet. They began to have children in secret. Then the riots started. At first, it was controlled, then it grew until the whole planet was one massive riot. The birth laws were overturned.

*****

In 2071 we had our first “checkup”, as we call them. It was the first that we knew about anyway, surely there had been more. We shot them out of the sky. “A UFO” screamed the tabloids. Every headline all over the globe knew within milliseconds that we had shot down a UFO and were going to use their technology. Now we knew there was life other than us.

We spent the next 35 years studying and perfecting their technology. We built better spacecraft, and better space suits and even used their technology to terraform the moon to help with the population crisis in the short term. But none of it would be enough if we couldn’t spread further. We needed contact. We kept an eye out for more “checkups” but none ever came.

*****

In 2106 we had another “checkup”. Our luck may have just taken a turn for the better. Our scientist suited up and approached the ship, trying to appear as friendly as possible. He raised his visor as he knocked on their front window so that his face could be seen and made himself non-threatening, even smiling at them. He waited patiently for them to respond, whether over an intercom or by opening a bay to allow him onboard. They never did.

*****

It took us another 32 years to find a second planet to colonize. It may not seem like much but with a population that seems to double every decade we were quickly building skyscrapers to space and turning our blue planet into a grey one. Plant X-423 was roughly 2 lightyears from Earth, only about half its size, and we finally had the technology to not only reach it but to make it completely habitable and hospitable. By 2148 Pleione, formerly planet X-423, was at capacity, and birth laws had been successfully implemented to help keep the population from becoming too much for the little planet.

*****

We still need to expand. There have been no more “checkups”. Our only hope is to attempt contact again. That’s where we come in.

“Morning Cap!” Taren quipped as she walked into the mess hall.

“But are you sure it’s morning Tar, no one else seems to be up,” I smile.

“Well, I just woke up so that makes it morning.”

“Fair enough.”

She sits down with a bowl of steaming oatmeal that has to be stale at this point. She shoves a huge spoonful in her mouth and grins, some dripping from the corner of her lips, “So, how far out are we?”

“Coeus says 12 hours,” I shift uneasily, “Everyone is feeling better after their cryo stint?”

“Everyone is fit as a fiddle Cap”

“Good”

“I’ll make sure all the equipment is in ship shape and ready for landing,” she shovels one more spoonful of oatmeal into her mouth as she stands up and mumbles, “this was stale anyway.”

I smile and get up, trying to ignore the growing unease in the pit of my stomach I head to the command bay to prepare for contact. I have been out of cryo a week longer than everyone else to make sure that the ship is in working order for contact. Now there isn’t much left to do except prepare myself mentally. I know my contact crew will descend in a few hours to begin final preparations but for now it is just me, my thoughts, and the holo.

I pull up the holo in the middle of the bay, watching the life-sized beast rotate before me.

I shouldn’t think of them as beasts when I am going to negotiate with them, I think. After all, they have been the ones checking on us, not the other way around.

“Coeus, display all files relevant to the Octagore”

“Displaying all relevant files,” the ship AI drones.

Suddenly I am immersed in a sea of projected files. Photos, sketches, and notes from autopsies. Breakdowns of their ship, and more minute technologies found within it, much of which is found on my own ship now. I flip through the information, not sure what I hope to find. I know there is nothing new. We haven’t had any contact or found anything new since the first failed contact. I know all this information by heart, I have devoted my life to studying the Octagores. It’s part of why I was chosen to be the captain of this mission. Standing in the middle of all this information, the Octagore holo looming beside me, I feel a sense of calm wash over me. I know this information; I’m not going in completely blind. I know what makes these guys tick. I may not have been there for the autopsies, they were done before my time, but I have watched and rewatched the videos, studied the notes, and picked apart every inch of the sketches so thoroughly that I may as well have been there. I’m not sure how long I stand there, immersed in the information surrounding me before my contact crew descends for final preparation.

“Alright crew, contact is less than 8 hours away. How is everyone feeling?”

I’m met with a chorus of uneasy noises and a few muttered protests.

“Listen, I know it is scary, we are the first true contact, ever. But we are making history! No matter what happens today we will go down in history. We are doing this for our families. We are creating a legacy here, trying to build a better galaxy for everyone!”

At that, I am met with more enthusiasm, “So let’s make sure that everything is in working order and we are walking in as prepared as possible.”

We spend the next two hours going over equipment and assigning individual tasks before everyone disperses with strict instructions to be back in command bay exactly one hour to contact in full gear. I watch them all go until it is just Taren and me.

“Are you ready for this Tar?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be Cap.”

“We’re about to make history,” I sigh.

“We already have, we’ve made it further than any other humans. Ever.”

“I suppose that is historic,” I glance around the command bay before making my way over to the control panels. We are getting close enough that they will know we are here soon. I sigh, bringing up the final layer of shielding as we come into the Octagore’s home system. I hold my breath, waiting for something, anything, to happen. When 30 seconds pass and all is still quiet, I exhale quietly and set about making final preparations.

In almost one hour, we will be making contact. The rest of the contact crew descends upon the command bay once again, waiting for orders with bated breath.

“They know we are here by now. We will be at their home planet in T-Minus 45 minutes. All stations should be manned accordingly.”

A few of the contact crew speak quietly into their comms, making sure their teams are posted as they should be.

“Let’s get to the shuttle and settle in, we come into orbit soon.”

Everyone moves with shuffling feet as if they aren’t quite so excited about making history now that we are here. I take the lead and move to the shuttle with long, sure strides.

I settle into the captain’s chair and begin initiating pre-flight procedures. I hear restraints click into place as the rest of the crew settles in behind me, eight of us in total. As the lights blink across the control panel I try to steady my breathing. I, the fearless Captain Neilson, explorer of galaxies, had to bite back my fear as we prepared to hurtle headlong toward the greatest one we had ever faced.