It was evident that effort had been made by a few nations to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels by switching to renewable alternatives, but progress had been minimal or even non-existent in most nations. The majority of the world’s fossil fuelled power plants and carbon-emission intense industries were still in full operation. Many new ones had in fact been commissioned and brought online in the interim period. The lack of compliance demonstrated the general reluctance or incapacity of the human species to curb its dependence on fossil fuels and switch to renewable alternatives.
After the two-hour review was brought to a close, the Empress spoke, “It is evident that a minority portion of the human species is resolutely determined to save their planet, while the vast majority is not. They continue blindly down the path of destruction, irrelevant of the fact that their behaviour is ruining their planet.
“It is very unfortunate that they chose to flout our warnings, because even though I sympathise with their plight, it is our duty to remain resolute in our quest to save this planet.”
They were all feeling deeply disappointed. Their high hopes for the human species had been dashed, and now the dreaded course of remediation, including remedial threat removal, was a certainty. The Ultimatum’s ‘Remediation Escalation Adjustment’ provision would also have to be invoked as a result of the prolific non-compliance and continued environmental deterioration.
They knew that the other 36 Galacian Senate members would be equally devastated by the news that the remedial intervention attempt with the Ultimatum had not yielded the desired results. Many of them had feared that the benevolent extension of faith would be rejected by the human species and it was now evident that their fears had been warranted. As a precautionary measure prior to the interim compliance review, the Senate had voted that in the event of widespread non-compliance, the intervention level would be immediately escalated to Selective Threat Removal. The mandate was clear and the Empress and Chancellors knew exactly what they had to do.
The Titan had compiled a recommended Remediation Strategy upon an earlier request made by Commander Trennor. The strategy was called up and all of its information was immediately displayed around the Council Chamber for the six of them to see. Graphs indicated the extent of Selective Threat Removal per nation, maps showed the location of pollution producing facilities that were to be targeted, and also where human settlements and infrastructure remained in the Habitat Defence Zones. An overall remediation summary table was shown representing the ‘actual pre-remediation figures’ and ‘projected post-remediation figures’. The projected global reductions were substantial.
The Remediation Strategy had three main objectives: to selectively remove just over 40% of the planet’s human population and 60% of the livestock population; to eliminate 100% of all human infrastructure remaining within the confines of the Habitat Defence Zones; and to eliminate varying percentages, between 40% and 80%, of the numerous environmentally threatening pollution sources occurring in both the Non-interference Access Zones and Human Activity Zones.
A total of 187 nations had failed to comply with the Ultimatum’s population management conditions. These nations’ populations would as a result, be subjected to Selective Threat Removal well beyond their Ultimatum targets. The populations of the eight nations that had complied with their population targets, would not be affected.
For over four hours the Empress and her Chancellors thoroughly examined and discussed the Titan’s recommended Remediation Strategy. It had identified 10 000 independent target areas where remediation would be carried out, all of which had been independently verified by the Planetary Research Department. The Titan confirmed that the 12 Principals were situated outside the areas designated for remediation and would thus be safe. Agreement was eventually reached that the recommended strategy was acceptable, and no adjustments were made.
The strategy was then officially approved for implementation by all six Federal Alliance members.
6:30 a.m. Observatory: Principal Assessment (Monday)
Commander Trennor then contacted the bridge and ordered Captain Parenton to take the Observatory to Andorayan Sanctuarium. Parenton in turn, confirmed that their estimated time of arrival to be in two hours. The Empress and Chancellors looked up through the Council Chamber’s domed observation window above. They watched the brilliant view of Jupiter receding into space, as they accelerated out of orbit.
The Empress spoke, “Upon our arrival at Andorayan Sanctuarium, we must summon the 12 Principals to the Observatory for an interim compliance review meeting. In this review, we will show them the extent and distribution of non-compliance, and then inform them that we will be carrying out remediation as specified in the Ultimatum.”
Raker followed, “Your Majesty, I believe that we should not disclose to the Principals any specific detail regarding the remediation. A generalised overview should be sufficient.”
The other Federal Alliance members agreed with the statement.
Trennor spoke, “We must also discuss an important development that the Titan has raised for our attention. The current list of 12 most influential people on Earth has changed dramatically since our last visit. Three of the four heads of state and two of the three league/union leaders are no longer in power, resulting in their influence being either greatly diminished or non-existent. The other five Principals have also experienced varying degrees of influence shrinkage in their respective fields. This has severely compromised the extent of influence commanded by the Principals as a whole. Should we consider making changes to the Principal delegation?”
The Empress responded, “I don’t believe that is necessary. Even though their influence has been reduced, we have established a bond and common understanding with these individuals. They all show a high degree of integrity and dedication, and from what I can see are all still stridently advocating their Ultimatum Campaign. The remediation that is to be carried out, will surely reassert the Principals’ influence on the global stage.”
Raker spoke, “That is a possibility, Your Majesty. But these humans never cease to amaze me with their irrational behaviour. Their collective intelligence and advanced social structures are in sharp contrast with their actions. The remediation might well increase general levels of hostility towards the Principals, rather than re-establish their influence.”
Kestryn followed on, “Considering the extensive scale of remediation that will be required, the human population will have no option but to look to them for leadership and guidance. Whether they like it or not, the Principals are the key to their future survival.”
Of the Federal Alliance’s six, four of them were in favour of leaving the Principal delegation unchanged, so the Empress declared as such.
By the time the Observatory came within sight of Andorayan Sanctuarium, the six had concluded the plan for the second encounter with the Principals.
Commander Trennor called up the surround display of the bridge and its flight crew around the chamber’s perimeter wall.
He spoke, “How’s our progress, Captain?”
Parenton replied, “Commander, we will be reaching Andorayan Sanctuarium in five minutes and will be initiating our ion-drive deceleration sequence shortly. The optical illusion membrane has been activated to evade detection.”
Trennor spoke, “Thank you, Captain. Position the Observatory into the same retrograde orbit we used during our previous visit. This will be the optimal position from which to carry out our objective.”
“Right away, Commander,” said the Captain.
The five million ton spacecraft began to slow as it approached the blue planet. Inside the spacecraft’s hull, the final preparations for the remediation were underway.
Minutes later the Observatory settled into orbit. As it did so, Commander Trennor gave the order, “Captain, please prepare for the 12 Principals to be hyperglided on board the Observatory in a half-hour’s time.”
“Certainly, Commander.”
9:00 a.m. Observato
ry: Second Encounter
The ex US President had feared this moment for three full years, and the dread of its arrival had grown steadily with each passing day. It was therefore not a complete surprise when she was plunged into darkness … when a split second before she had been sitting in the study of her country manor in Maine, preparing a speech for an upcoming World Wide Fund convention. An instant later, the light around her slowly intensified revealing the 11 other individuals that she had hoped would be there with her.
They had arrived in the same room as before, surrounded by another splendid collage of images. They looked at one another, relieved that their representation was unchanged from the last encounter. All of them were apprehensive of what was to follow, especially considering the generally disastrous state of affairs back on Earth. They spoke briefly before the familiar void in the wall opened. The Chinese President again led them through the short passageway.
As they entered the conference chamber they found Empress Aeryssia and her five Chancellors already standing on the far side of the round conference table. They all had solemn expressions as they greeted the 12 Principals and invited them to take their seats.
An uncomfortable quiet descended across the room. Payton had no idea what to expect. One thing was for sure, their collectively dismal failure did not bode well for the meeting.
The Empress broke the silence and spoke, “As promised three years ago, we have returned to your planet to perform an Ultimatum interim compliance review. We would like to begin by presenting our compliance evaluation report to you, and will then follow on by explaining what decisions have been taken by us, on behalf of the Galacian Senate.”
Her beauty was still strikingly radiant, however, there was a distinct tenseness in her expression that had not been present during their previous encounter.
She continued, “As you are well aware, the human species has generally failed to comply with the Ultimatum. With a few notable exceptions, it would appear that it has been completely disregarded by the majority of your world’s nations. As a result, your planet is now even closer to the brink of environmental collapse.”
She called up a range of Ultimatum compliance charts onto the perimeter wall of the chamber and continued speaking, “Our compliance evaluation report summarises the human species’ performance with respect to every condition and target stipulated within the Ultimatum. It is very similar to the report generated by your ‘Global Compliance Monitoring Agency’.”
The Empress motioned towards the conference table which assumed its larger diameter and open central void orientation. She then made a gesture toward the translucent sphere and within seconds a hologram appeared showing at least 20 separate Earth time sequence visuals (TSVs). She pointed at one of them and it enlarged until it filled the void in the centre of the table. Numerous statistics populated different parts of the rotating globe. The other Earth TSVs were minimised to one side.
The Empress continued, “What we are looking at here is your species’ population figures from three years ago. We will now compare those with today’s figures in terms of population percentage change (x) over the interim period. The red colour indicates a dramatic increase in population size (x ≥ 3%), the orange reflects a moderate increase (1% < x < 3%), the yellow shows low increase or stabilisation (0% < x < 1%) and green a decrease (x ≤ 0%).”
As the hologram of Earth rotated before the Principals, the TSV function was initiated. The three years were played over the next two minutes and the Empress talked through it as it went. By the time the TSV reached present time, red and orange dominated over 85% of the planet’s land area. This showed that human population proliferation had continued unabated – despite the warnings.
The nations showing the deepest red were Mexico, India, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Myanmar. Other nations, showing lesser degrees of red, were strewn across the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia and Central America. Nations in orange included the United States, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, many in Europe and some in Southern Africa. The balance of nations were mostly shown in yellow.
Only eight nations either transitioned to green, or remained in green. Three of them happened to be in the top four largest countries in the world by land area – the Soviet Union, Canada and China. President Jameson looked at the statistics which confirmed what she already knew and feared … humanity as a whole had failed to curb its uncontrolled population growth, and the United States had been one of the major culprits.
The Earth’s human population counter read 10 339 980 407 at that precise moment, and climbed steadily as the Principals watched it. They were staggered to see that 312 million people had been added to the world population over the last three years – an overall population growth rate of over 1% per annum.
The Empress closed, “The scale of population management non-compliance is of great concern to us, and will unfortunately have to be dealt with.” The Principals looked from side to side in despair.
She then handed over to Yusoara who ran through the compliance results in detail for the other Ultimatum sections. She brought forward a number of Earth TSVs to describe the extent of non-compliance related to each section. Other species’ populations had continued to plummet, with 470 289 extinctions being registered during the three-year interim period. The annual rate of extinction was climbing at almost 15% per annum. In sharp contrast, the overall population of megafaunal domesticated species had increased to almost 5,44 billion – an extra 320 million animals. The respective annual growth rate was over 2% – double that of the human rate. The combined human and livestock population increase was 632 million.
Land appropriation and habitat conversion had slowed marginally, but failed to stop. Migration of human diet from animal-based products to plant-based equivalents was a fraction of what was required. Ocean disturbance was also seen to have increased worldwide. The Principals noticed that where initial compliance successes had been achieved during the first year, most were reversed during the two years that followed.
Yusoara then moved onto the atmospheric restoration section.
She spoke, “Here we have general pollution production levels including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, compared with the figures from three years ago. The same colour coding applies.”
The Earth atmosphere TSV showed a general increase in pollution and continued degradation of atmospheric composition. Major growth in pollution levels were shown as deep red in the Middle East region, South East Asia and Central America. Most of North America, South America and Western Europe remained in orange. Many African nations had achieved yellow or green status, as numerous aging power stations and other industrial plants were either decommissioned or simply ceased to function.
Seven of the eight nations that had achieved green status for population compliance, were also shown in green – inferring pollution reduction. Their declining populations and respective reduction in electricity demand, coupled with their renewable energy ramp-up programmes, had facilitated their compliance. The Soviet Union was shown in yellow.
Another Earth TSV confirmed that fossil fuelled transport had increased everywhere except four nations, China, Switzerland, Singapore and South Korea. Further TSVs showed the results for other relevant Ultimatum areas, including rollout of renewable energies, water and electricity usage, plastic production, material recycling and more. They all revealed similar colour distribution to the other TSVs they had been shown.
It was obvious to the Principals that the nation-specific compliance trends showed startling similarities to the GCMA reports.
10:45 a.m. Observatory: Second Encounter
Empress Aeryssia looked directly at the Chinese President. “President Zhuge, I must commend the exemplary efforts of both yourself and your nation’s people, for having achieved comprehensive compliance with the Ultimatum. Because of this, China shall be exempt from any form of remediation. This is a significant accomplishment, especially considering the sustained interna
tional pressure and condemnation that sought to curb your efforts.”
The other Principals supported her commendation. It was rightly deserved since the Chinese President had achieved what no other political leader had been able to.
The Empress continued, “I must mention that your nation’s compliance has already made a notable contribution to the world’s environmental wellbeing. You should be warned though, that China’s positive impact is being countered and overrun by the combined negative impact of the world’s non-compliant nations.
“The sad reality is that the rest of the world’s failure will ultimately lead to your own demise. What your nation has done, is buy this fragile planet just a little more time. If you had failed to comply, as most of the world’s nations have done, then the Earth would be even closer to irretrievable loss. The concerted efforts of your nation have made a difference worthy of praise and appreciation from the rest of the world.”
The Chinese President humbly accepted the compliment by bowing his head. He was overwhelmed with pride for his nation and its resilient people.
He spoke, “Thank you very much, Your Majesty. Your kind words are valued and I shall be sure to pass them on to the Chinese people. I must, however, highlight how supportive my fellow Principals have been of my leadership throughout the last three years, despite their reputations having suffered greatly as a direct result of it. I could not have done it without them, and for this, both my nation and I are truly grateful.”
The other 11 Principals appreciated the recognition of their efforts, which had indeed come at great personal and professional cost. The Empress and Chancellors acknowledged the statement, fully aware of the sacrifices that each of the other Principals had made.
Wake-up Call: 2035 Page 36