by Nina Silver
Table of Contents
The New Earth Colonies
Summary
Two
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
NEW HOPE
The New Earth Colonies
By Nina Silver
Copyright © 2017 Nina Silver
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
New Hope
The New Earth Colonies
All rights reserved.
No part of this work may be used, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means by anyone but the purchaser for their own personal use. This book may not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Nina Silver. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material is prohibited without the express written permission of the author.
Cover © Les Solot
Thank you for reading! Any questions or comments you can email me at [email protected] or
Find me on Facebook under Nina Silver https://www.facebook.com/Nina-Silver-199728600553248/
Summary
In the aftermath of a devastating alien attack, humans are trying to survive in New Earth - now a scorching shell of what it used to be. Colonies have been created in the other planets of the Solar System, and the destroyed Earth is left to those who choose to stay behind, or those who cannot afford to move to the Colonies.
Iolee Panou - newly graduated with three Doctorate Degrees in Linguistics from the Saturn Science University - is tasked to travel to New Earth and translate left-over alien technology discovered at one of the most isolated reservations. Iolee ecstatic at this opportunity and eager to prove herself, realizes she might have gotten involved in way more trouble than she ever thought of.
Cove Magnum, Chief of New Hope knows how hard life on the heat and crumbling infrastructure of New Earth is - especially after resigning his position on the Neptune Military to be Chief of the small isolated reservation five years ago. When left-over alien tech is found mere miles away from the res, he knows his already stressful job could become a lot more tense.
Iolee and Cove are thrown together not by just trying to solve the puzzle of the left-over alien tech but also by the strong attraction they feel towards each other. When everything they thought they knew comes into question, and the fate of the New Earth and its Colonies could possibly depend on them, will they both find the courage to go after what they think is worth fighting for or will they get lost in the shuffle?
The New Earth Colonies
Summary
One
Two
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Eight
Epilogue
One
Year 2135 C.E. / 99 A.O. (After Ourupta)
Iolee
“Citizens of Saturn, I proudly present you the graduates of our Science University. May they prosper and push the boundaries of human knowledge, intelligence, and innovation further than ever before.” I clapped and smiled in relief and excitement as our graduation ceremony finally – finally- came to an end. It had been two solid hours since the ceremony started and considering I had gone relatively early, my patience had begun waning. Cheers and claps sounded from all around the stadium, fellow students of the University, as well as residents and guests of the Saturn Colony, joined in enthusiasm.
Fellow students clapped my back, and I turned to look at what I would consider my best friend Xanthippe, Xan for short. Her tan skin flushing with pleasure, her brown eyes reminded me of warmth and hot chocolate. She leaned in and gave me a hug, the velvet tam slipping down my massive hair. With a laugh, she caught it in her hands. “Oops…. Sorry about that.”
I shrugged and patted the frizzy mess of hair. I never had enough time to do anything with it, couldn’t even bother with a haircut if I was honest. A tuft of my curly red hair fell on my face, and I pushed it back impatiently. “You know it never behaves anyway. I swear I tried to pin it, but it didn’t hold.”
Xan gave a rueful look at my hair and then plopped the errant tam back on my head as she shoved tufts of hair under it. “It’s so puffy, maybe that will hold it up. Wouldn’t do, after all, not to wear the tam and show your Doctor status after all your hard work. So, do I call you Doctor to the Cube or Doctor-Doctor-Doctor?” She winked at me, and I flushed feeling embarrassed. She was referring to the three doctorate degrees the Science Academy had just handed me. A Doctorate in Anthropology and Archaeology; a Doctorate in Linguistics, Ancient Languages and Decrypting; and a Doctorate in the Study of Semantics and Translation of Extraterrestrial Languages. It was a first that a person my age gained three advanced graduate degrees at the same time – and Xan would never let me forget it. I didn’t see it as such a big deal - all three degrees were closely tied and many of the classes I had to take for one applied to the other two. Of course, I had to do three dissertations all at the same time, as well as take comprehensive exams for all of them but it wasn’t such a big deal.
“Well I’m not the only Doctor, isn’t that right Dr. Xanthippe Calvin?” I wagged my eyebrows at her as she laughed at her new title. She had just graduated with a doctoral degree in medicine and biotechnology. “I think that cancels each other, so why don’t we just stick to our names?” She laughed and jokingly patted my arm
“Sure, but I’m also 27 and just got one degree – you are 25 – a damn prodigy to be sure.” She beamed at me.
“You’re embarrassing me.” I gritted, and she reached out and affectionately rubbed my head dislodging the velvet tam once more.
“Oops… Here, hold still.” Xan started fixing my tam again. “I only say those things because I am proud of you, and hope you are of yourself too.”
“I am… It’s just that it’s just me you know – it’s a waste of time to feel proud of achieving something that I wanted for myself.”
“It’s not just you! My family is yours as well - you know that!” Xan sighed in exasperation, and together we started to find our way out of the amphitheater, as we nodded along to friends and acquaintances. “So, we’re having a celebration dinner as a family, alright?” Xan asked with a small smile.
“Yes, of course, they came all the way from Jupiter to see us graduate – besides, it’s not like I have any particular plans.” I had no family to celebrate with me; my parents had passed away in an accident when I had been five yea
rs old.
“They are quite excited to see you. It’s been two years since they visited last time.” It was hard for certain colony citizens to take leave of absence. Xan’s parents who worked and lived on the Jupiter Colony as produce workers were vital in the production of natural resources and food for the rest of the Colonies as well as for the home planet. “And it will be a nice way to say bye before I have to head to Neptune for work.” Xan frowned, the corners of her full lips tilting down.
Xan had been assigned for work at the Neptune Colony, which was the base for our military and where the Military Academy was located. The Neptune Colony was the furthest one, and one of the most work demanding ones. Xan had tried to get a spot at our Saturn Colony as a researcher for the Science Academy, but it was deemed that her expertise was better suited at Neptune where she could work with the military to better technology and medicine for our people.
I had been lucky, and gotten a much-coveted spot on the research team of Dr. Michael Morton – the father of the study of semantics and alien languages! It was such a great honor to get to work with Dr. Morton. Honestly, I couldn’t even believe my luck that I got offered such a position.
Nearly a hundred years ago, planet Earth had been attacked by a massive extraterrestrial force. We called them the Ourupta. Ugly gray humanoid things that seemed like demons out of one’s worst nightmares. They had been tall and muscular, with log bony limbs, big fathomless black eyes, and a grizzled mass of a nose that reminded me of dead plant roots – but the worst thing for me was their horrifying mouths, a square of jagged teeth and nothing else. Up until that attack, no one had known that alien life had existed. There had been of course speculations, but never any sign or indication.
Suddenly on October 28th of 2030, big looming ships of black metal appeared all over Earth. The attack did not start until seven days later and Earth civilization felt the horror of what it was to get attacked by someone who held significantly more power. The Ourupta bombed us with their advanced technology weapons, and millions of people died during the first onslaught that lasted a month. Then the Ourupta landed and started picking out all the survivors. Earth fought, throwing every advanced weapon they had at the Ourupta, but nothing seemed to work. Finally, luck had seemed to favor us, as the then army of the country of Australia managed to capture one of the Ourupta alive.
With great effort and the help of then student of linguistics Michael Morton, they managed to decipher some of the Ourupta’s language. This was the breakthrough miracle humanity had needed, with the new translations, weaknesses were able to come about, and weapons were developed to hit the alien ships and fight back.
Finally, on the 25th of March in the year 2036 humanity fought and won against the Ourupta! But the six years of fighting had devastating effects. Before the last remaining ship of Ourupta left the planet’s atmosphere, it threw, what many speculated was, some type of bio-environmental bomb that was shattering to our planet.
The planet’s core heated. Explosions and earthquakes shook the whole world. Lands and countries vanished under scorching waters, while all of the remaining Arctic ices melted. Mountains crumbled, and the tectonic plates under the earth’s surface shifted so much that whole continents jettisoned on the planet’s surface until they finally crashed altogether. Earth was no more a blue and green planet with many continents and land masses. The waters turned rosy, and the one big land mass left was a misshapen lump of dirt and dessert, covering about a quarter of the planet, thus creating the One Continent and the vast Pink Ocean. Other smaller land masses remained in the immense ocean, smaller islands. But they were hardly inhabitable – nothing survived there, and during the night they grew so hot that one could perish within days from the exposure.
The destruction was horrific. What had not been destroyed by the first onslaught, was now a memory. History and civilizations going back thousands of years wiped clean within minutes as millions of more people died. The first few years after the Ourupta’s defeat were horrendous, but humans rebuild – and with the rebuild, the new Golden Age of humanity began.
We, as humans united - all leftover civilizations and countries, and past leaders came together - and with drive and passion, and acquired alien technology we were able to slowly design and create colonies on the other planets of our Solar System. Our first colony was the one in Mars created nearly 50 years ago - on the 50th anniversary of the Ourupta defeat. Each colony had its purpose. The Mars Colony housed the New Earth Government. The Saturn Colony followed, providing new technological advances and scientific knowledge. Jupiter Colony then specialized in production of materials, goods, and food. The newest Colony on Neptune, was about 30 years old and the base for the Military Academy and all military operations. Human ingenuity created domes and technology to allow life to grow even under the harsher climates and inhospitable living conditions of the other planets. Space travel and interstellar exploration followed. While new technology allowed the production of food, drinking water, and medicine to allow humans to live double their previous life span and eradicate diseases and illnesses that killed at the drop of a hat in the past.
And all of that progress was possible mainly because of Dr. Michael Morton and his brilliance in deciphering the Ourupta’s language. So yes, I was beside myself with anticipation in getting to work with such a brilliant war hero!
“Oh no! Are you thinking about Dr. Morton again?” Xen sighed in exasperation, a teasing smile on her pink lips telling me she was merely teasing me.
“How did you know?”
“You got that dreamy breathless starry look you get every time you talk about him.”
I put my cool palm on my face to hide my blushing cheeks. “I can’t help it! He’s my hero! And now he’s going to be my boss and mentor!”
“I know, and I’m honestly super excited for you – I am! I guess I’m just bitter I didn’t get offered a position here. Now I have to travel to Neptune with all the brutes and bitches.” Neptune had a reputation for being a hardass colony, what with all the military brouhaha over there.
“It won’t be that bad… At least you’ll have your share of man-candy, and I know how much you like that.”
Xan snickered at my words and looped her arm through mine. “At least there’s that.” We continued out the huge amphitheater. “Will you come visit me at least? You know you can get days off more easily than I will be able to.” Xan asked with big pleading brown eyes.
I rolled my eyes at her. “Of course, I will come visit silly. Oh look, there’s your parents.” I pointed to the handsome couple waving at us.
“Great, cuz I’m starving. Let’s go.” Xan rushed ahead, and with a laugh I let her pull me along.
Two
Cove
“Chief?’
I looked up from the transport I had been laboring over, trying to fix its jet fuel pack. It was hot as balls today, and sweat dripped into my eyes.
“Yes?” I looked at one of the tribe’s kids, Joey. The scamp was about 14, and he always tried to be in action, always running around my feet trying to help our reservation or offer help when he thought I needed it. He was a good kid and probably wanted to see if I needed help with fixing this rust-bucket joke of a transport. I wiped my hands on my black pants and then ran a forearm over my sweaty face. “Want to help out with this junk?” I nodded to the transport.
“No Chief. The boys and I were out by the coast playing a bit of ball, and we found something odd… Thought you should see it.” I raised my eyebrow at him.
“What is it?” I would rather not run by the coast if it was childish nonsense. The stupid transport was only one out of the precious three the reservation had, and even if it was garbage and a piece of shit we still needed it. In a silent curse, I looked up at the sky towards Mars, where our governing body ruled from, and then turned towards Neptune and our military. I gritted my teeth, my anger mounting. Things such as transports and weapons had to be permissively given by the military only after the gov
ernment permitted it. Of course, our government didn’t fucking see any need for us to have many weapons and transports; after all the people that stayed on New Earth were used to the harsh conditions by now. Most of the resources were delivered to the other colonies on the other planets and New Earth was simply forgotten.
Taking care of New Hope, our res was one of my primary jobs, and that took incredible time every day as more and more crumbling infrastructure had to be fixed. Repairing this transport, was one of the things I had to do since only a few of us had the essential knowledge to do so.
I resisted the urge to bang on the damn transport and turned my gaze back to Joey who was looking up at me with large hopeful dark eyes, his eagerness to please me easily discernible.
“It's a round ball thingy Chief but…”
“But?”
Joey, wiped some sweat running down his dark neck. “It’s black and has the Ourupta symbols all over it. I recognized it from pictures we’ve seen at school. Thought you’d know all about it since you’re an army man and all. I know you study that at the Military Academy, I hope I can get to go there one day too Chief just like you.”
I smiled at Joey and followed him. What would that ball be? Old Ourupta tech that just resurfaced? We made our way out of the res. The coast was a twenty-minute walk from the res so there was no need to use a transport – whatever the ball thing was it had been here almost a century it could probably wait another twenty minutes.
Soon I smelled the salty sea air and heard the crashing waves. Joey ran ahead, and I heard other voices approaching. I saw four other reservation kids, all smiling and waving at me excitedly.
“Over here, Chief.” Joey led the way towards a rocky entrance to what seemed to be a small cave. “Watch your head, you are too tall.” Joey warned, and I grinned at his warning. “Here.” He stopped just a foot away from the cave’s entrance and pointed to a dark round shape close to the cave’s brown walls. It was roughly the size of a basketball, covered by dark metal and with Ourupta carvings decorating it.