TerraNova

I looked down at the readings on my console. This couldn't be right. The scientists had all but guaranteed us when we left Earth that there was no life on this planet nor should there be by the time we arrived. I guess technically that isn't true. They made that promise to people several generations ago. But whenever a new generation was born and eventually got to the point of taking over the ship we watched the video that told us that same speel. The video was filmed when the first generation of people on this ship left Earth. Since then over three hundred generations of people have watched it while they went to a planet that was thirty thousand light years away. It had taken us thirty thousand years since we could only travel the speed of light.

There had been cryo pods to both keep people alive much longer and to download information directly into their minds. I woke up knowing already how to read all the information on the console before me. Scientists had somehow figured how to freeze us and yet still let us grow and age some before we woke up. So my first memories were me being an adult already. Yet the biological factors that were part of the aging process said I was still maybe ten. I would be awake manning this ship for a total of forty years. Then I along with my crew would be put back to sleep. Have our DNA pulled for the purpose of creating new people eventually and then our minds downloaded to the computers. Which would then sift through all those memories to pull any useful data learned to pass on to later generations. Lastly our bodies would be harvested as an energy source to feed the ship. A wonderful cycle if I say so.

Anyways back to the problem at hand. There was life on this planet. Not simple life either. But complex life, things that walked and ate. Creatures that had built their own unique societal hierarchy. Creatures that given enough time could potentially evolve into a true new species and not just an animal. There was an ecosystem that relied on predators and herbivores like Earth used to be. Something would have to be done before all the other ships arrived. We were the first ship to arrive by about fifteen thousand years. We were to do any terraforming needed and then set up the first colonies. The planet's proximity to its host star and it's higher oxygen content made evolution take place much faster here. Probably an oversight on the scientists' part.

I hit the comms button, "Hey everyone listen. I need you down in the science life wing now. We've encountered a major problem."

Once all forty nine other members of the ship arrived at my station I filled them in on the issue. There was a storm of groaning and cursing before Captain Ricard stepped in, "Alright alright. Enough! We've encountered a pretty big problem, I won't lie. But it's nothing we can't figure out I'm sure. We all have the collective wisdom of all the people before us. So now unless your task is a necessity for the running of the ship you are to assist Jesh here. Now get on it!"

With that I was left with about thirty five extra minds to bounce ideas off of. The next several days were spent with us split into two groups. One group would observe the animals as best we could with both imagery and scanning the planet. The other half was trying to work up ideas on how to either eradicate the life here or live with it. One of the ships that was coming was essentially an ark of all the animals and plant species from Earth. The plan had been to truly just make a new Earth and now that plan was in jeopardy.

Weeks turned into months with no real progress. I didn't leave the labs anymore. I hadn't seen the rest of the ship in months. Anytime we thought we'd found a new way to maybe coexist on the planet we'd discover a new species that would make it impossible. Finally I broke. I just started tossing things around the lab screaming. This had been my project to fix and I was no closer than when I started. We couldn't even effectively kill off the planet's inhabitants without causing so much extra damage that it would become unusable. By the time I was done the labs were in an absolute state of disarray.

The Captain came down because someone had called for him. He looked around, "Alright. Everyone out but Jesh." He came and took a seat by me on the ground where I had finally collapsed from my outburst. "Talk to me. Is the problem just not something we can solve? I mean we always knew this was a possibility. That the whole grand plan would fall apart and humanity would spend its final days in space and then we would blink out. As Captain a piece of information I was made privy to was that this whole endeavor only ever had a four percent chance of working. So take a deep breath. Go and get some real sleep. Put it on hold for just a couple of days."

Looking at him as he talked I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Four percent chance. We built everything on four percent. With that fact alone I decided the Captain was right. It was time for me to sleep. I pushed myself up, "Alright Captain. I'll sleep and I'll relax some. Either I'll come up with something or I won't. Four percent. Jesus!" I walked out of the lab kicking over one more thing in the process.

I spent the next week in my room trying to not think about the problem. Instead I tried to focus on things like looking like a regular person again. My time in the lab had left me with frizzed out hair and eyes severely darkened from lack of sleep. About the longest I typically made it was about an hour before my thoughts drifted back to the issue at hand. I would come out for food and would offer apologies all around to everyone who had been helping me.

One day while getting food there was an accident in the kitchen. I watched a whole bunch of ingredients come crashing down from a shelf and fall into a soup pot that was meant for later that evening. Instead of purging the whole thing the cook just made sure to get anything we couldn't eat out of the pot and he managed to make a really good soup from it. That moment was what gave me the answer. The problem was I would need everybody on board to agree to the solution.

The next day I called everyone back to the labs again, "Thank you all for coming. I think I've found a solution but I'm pretty sure you won't like it."

Everyone started mumbling amongst themselves till the Captain stepped in, "Let Jesh speak. We should at least hear what she has to say. It sounds like she may have had a bit of an epiphany."

Nodding at the Captain I continue, "I did. The simple version is we can use the ship as a miniature asteroid to cause a soft reboot of the planet. If we do it within the next ten years the planet should be stable enough to support life by the time the rest of the ships arrive."

Everyone started trying to talk at once before the Captain once again stepped in, "Do you really mean to say the only solution you've found is to crash our ship into the planet? Sacrifice ourselves to ensure a future for everyone else. But we have to do it within ten years."

I nodded, "That's correct. Using the engine as the main catalyst we could blanket the planet in ash for long enough to kill all life here. The proximity to the sun would help it clear out much faster than we would normally think. The planet should be about back to the point it is now by the time the other ships arrive. That's all I've got. I'm willing to spend the next ten years trying to find another solution if you are. But at that point I ask you to follow through on this plan if we can't."

The Captain stepped up beside me, "Well I for one agree to this. We need to consider all the other people coming. If there isn't a planet for us to colonize when they arrive then the human race dies here. So if ten years from now we haven't found any other solution then we give ourselves to save the human race. Any objections?"

All the crew members stared at me saying nothing for the longest time. Finally one of the officers who worked in the life science lab with me stepped forward, "Then I guess we need to start working on a new solution. I'd rather not be a martyr if I can avoid it." The rest of the crew all nodded their agreement and so we went forward.

For ten years we toiled away in the labs coming up with new ideas all the time but all of them eventually falling apart. There was some ethical debate that went around for a bit about killing off an entire planet. But at the end of the day we did the human thing and chose ourselves over everything else. As we approached the ten year mark we decided to throw a party. The Captain set about making a tape that would be broadcast to all the incoming ships. With everything we had learned and what we had to do to make this planet habitable for humanity.

We laughed and we cried. We shared every moment of our short existence with each other and to the camera. We spent two whole days at that party. As it started to wind down the Captain input his final command to the computer, "Send all tapes and information to all ships across every spectrum you can. Make sure they get it. Now set a trajectory for N. 108 by E. 398 at full velocity with the engine detonating itself at moment of impact. Begin now."

The ship adjusted itself and began plummeting down towards the planet. We all held each other and we sang even as the ship rocked and buckled. In this moment though our death was nigh our spirits were high.

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