The Long Road to Gaia

by Timothy Ellis

  The Dropship undocked, and pulled away, regenerating shields when far enough away.

  Takai kept the cockpit looking at the habitat. He waited while Smith made it up to him, and locked the door behind him.

  The two of them sat there for another minute.

  The habitat imploded and a giant air bubble headed for the surface.

  Smith pointed upwards, and Takai started the ascent.

  Four

  "What do you mean by they're going to be shipped all the way down the spine in a freighter?" asked an irate Bill Smith. "They deserve a colony ship."

  The habitat people were being held in secure storage until their ship was ready to go. Some would have called it being in prison. Bill called it bullshit. The Dropship had already been moved to the decommissioning dock, the team was standing by for redeployment orders.

  Smelling a rat, Smith had barged in on the General who'd forced him into carrying out the mission.

  "There's one last planet at the bottom of the spine no-one else wants," said the General. "They're going there. They get a freighter, and all the supplies it can hold. Nothing more. They're a damn nuisance, and command wants them gone."

  "Gone?"

  It took a lot to startle Smith. It also took a lot to get him angry. For the first time in a long time, he felt the need to reign himself in.

  "Fine. I'm out."

  "What?"

  "I'm done, and so is my team."

  "You're done when I say your done soldier."

  "No sir. Our tours were up six months ago. We only stayed on to help people because only we could. The jobs over. We're done."

  He saluted, for the last time, did a parade ground about face, and marched out.

  Thirty minutes later, the team were in the retirement section of administration. They made out their final reports on the mission, submitted them, and followed them with their resignations. Five minutes each later, they were paid out, and honorably discharged.

  They milled around in the office slapping themselves on the back, until the clerk got bored waiting for them to leave, and left himself.

  Vogane went straight to the computer.

  "Can you get in?" asked Smith.

  "Watch me."

  In quick order, the Dropship was declared a write off, so badly damaged it could only be scrapped. It was placed on the scrap auction site, where a minute later, one William Smith bought it for one hundred credits. An order was generated for it to be delivered to the nearest civilian dock, with its military markings painted over.

  Shortly after, an old Destroyer on the surplus list was also sold to one William Smith for one hundred credits. No-one quite figured out why some significant zeros vanished from the price. The sale was quite genuine though, and those who found the discrepancy, quietly buried it to save their jobs.

  A day later there was a break in at the Colony outfitting dock. A complete colony startup kit went missing, along with a year's top quality food packs for five hundred people. It was weeks before anyone noticed the losses, since colony outfitting didn’t happen very often anymore.

  The colony freighter left two days later, after the habitat people had again been stunned by the military and left unconscious in the hold of the freighter, along with three months supplies of low grade food, enough to get them to their new home, but not much beyond that.

  The freighter had only one person on board who wanted to be there, and he was the pilot, who'd been hired to fly the ship there and back.

  Two hours out from the Torus, a Destroyer with a Corvette docked to the side, hailed the freighter and docked with it. The pilot was put into an escape pod and jettisoned.

  Takai plotted a course to the Wolf 359 jump point, and the triple ship began its journey.

  In the barracks area of the Destroyer, the team were making the place livable.

  "What's the plan now boss?" asked Weaver.

  The others stopped to hear the answer.

  "We take these people to their new home. It’s the last system down the spine, on the other side of Morocco. The specs are in the computer. It's hospitable enough for a small colony, and the full kit we obtained for them should kick start them. Once they're all set, we'll become a Mercenary unit, unless anyone wants to outright retire."

  He looked around the team and saw no such interest.

  "We'll work our way up the spine, keeping away from Earth military. We collect our families as we go through, and those of the team members we lost if they want to come. We keep going up spine until we find somewhere we can put down roots again."

  The others nodded.

  "I'm done with Earth. We need to find somewhere new. The Americans and Brits went up-spine. I think we should to."

  "Sounds like a plan," said Weaver.

  There were smiles all round.

  Five

  Lieutenant Richard Forbes had a joke for all occasions. But this time, his joke had become real.

  He was still chuckling to himself when he pushed open the door to his boss's office, and walked in, clip-folder in hand.

  "What's up chuckles," asked Senior Commander Renee Balfour.

  She was used to her aide's sense of humour, and did enjoy a good joke herself. It broke the monotony of her work.

  "You know the world ended in 1984?"

  "Yes, you told me. We're still waiting for the paperwork to catch up."

  It had been a good joke, one which had lasted for three hundred years.

  "Well this is it."

  "What is what?"

  "This."

  He held up the clip folder.

  "This is the last piece of paperwork. I even printed it so it would be on paper."

  "How so?"

  "This is the report from Colonel William Smith, of the relocation of the last group of people on the planet."

  "So?"

  "It's now official."

  "What is?"

  She was still looking for the punchline to what she was sure was an oncoming joke.

  "Sir, the world has officially ended."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Because this IS the last piece of paperwork. The planet is now uninhabited, and officially uninhabitable."

  She looked at him, still waiting for the punchline.

  He took the sheets of paper from the clip-folder, and deposited them solemnly on the corner of her desk. The report itself was already on her computer, in the yet to be viewed area.

  She looked at the paper.

  She looked at her aide.

  He wasn’t laughing.

  She pulled up the report on her computer, speed read it, pressed the button to release it for distribution to her superiors, and it vanished from her screen.

  She looked at her aide again. He looked at her. They sighed together.

  And so, the world ended.

  2301

  Major Corbin Hunter sat there doing his check list. The mission was routine. Drop the survey party in the dirt, and wait for them to finish. Nothing to it.

  I stood there watching him, more than a little worried. For the first time, the Hunter family only had one Hunter male, and he hadn't yet had a son. His father had died unexpectedly, leaving the Captaincy of Galactica to the traditional first officer role family, until Corbin had proved himself ready to assume the command.

  He was nearly ready. But as far as Hunter men were concerned, so far his marriage had only produced two daughters. There were contingency plans for this event, but it had always been hoped they wouldn’t be needed. There were cousins of course, but they were also all female.

  Corbin was caught between two needs. The need to ensure the Hunter male line continued, and the need to prove he was ready for the command he was born for. The two, at least now, were not compatible. The number of Hunter males lost over the years proved the second need was unpredictably dangerous.

  I tried looking along his time line, and was surprised to see I could.

  The scout ship launched, orbited the planet a few times
, and set down in a flat meadow. There was a stream nearby, and also a forest.

  The team tested the air, and found nothing to worry about. The gravity was slightly high, the UV was slightly low, there was a tad more oxygen in the air than expected, and everything else checked out.

  They went exploring, testing everything they found.

  Corbin pulled a deck chair out of the small cargo bay, pulled out his reading pad, and lounged around waiting for them to return. At lunch time, he pulled out a specially prepared meal from his wife, and munched away while continuing to read his book. Partway through lunch, he felt the skin on his neck tingle for a moment, and he dropped his pad and swatted the spot. His fingers came away with a small amount of blood on them. He felt fine, but had the ship's medical sensors check him anyway. It declared him fine, except for what appeared to be an insect bite. His blood was fine, everything else about him was fine. He went back to his chair and finished lunch.

  Nothing else occurred during the longer than normal afternoon, and the team returned at dusk. All of them were sporting small lumps, even though non-one had actually seen the insect which apparently had bitten them.

  The trip back to Galactica was routine.

  On a whim, I kept going.

  A week later, Corbin and the whole team were admitted to medical, where they died within hours of each other.

  Oops.

  I returned to Corbin sitting there doing his check list.

  "Bug spray," I said to him.

  He immediately checked if there was some in the medical supplies, and found there was. On the planet, he didn’t need reminding. Before the team went off, he spayed himself, and all but one of the team, the hold out laughing at the rest of them. The day went almost the same as I’d seen it before, with the exception that only one team member was bitten.

  He died a week later, and a completely new pathogen was discovered during the autopsy. The planet was flagged as not to be settled until it was either made safe, or a cure could be found.

  Weeks later, Corbin's wife found she was pregnant again.

  Before the year was out, the Hunter line had a new male heir.

  2340

  One

  "You want me to do what?" I asked.

  "Kill the Keepers," said One again.

  "Seriously?"

  "Necessary."

  "Why?"

  I could tell she didn’t want to tell me.

  The Keepers were a small group of die-hard fanatics on Galactica, who'd fixated on a centuries old prophesy, and built a cult around it. In the grand scheme of things, I'd classified them as 'mostly harmless'. They themselves had no idea what the end of the world looked like, or when it would happen. Especially since the world had already ended, and it had not had anything to do with their prophesy.

  I'd never really bothered to find out any more about them. They stayed quiet and out of the way, except for the occasional attempt to recruit a younger member to ensure continuance.

  I waited for her to answer my question.

  "Too much information must not find its way into the future."

  "Why?"

  "Because this timeline must unfold the way we want it to."

  "Why?"

  She sighed, and started shaking her head.

  "Thirteen, we went over this when you started this journey. Of all the ways this timeline could go, only the way we want it must be allowed to happen. All others are unthinkable."

  I knew this. I was just being stubborn. I’d killed a lot over the eons, but never innocents for the sake of a timeline's continuance.

  "They are not innocent," One stated.

  She couldn’t read minds, especially mine, but my thought processes were pretty obvious.

  "What makes them a threat?"

  "They know too much. When their prophesy fulfills, there must be enough information available for the right reaction, but not enough to stop it."

  "I still don’t get that. Why can't we stop it from happening?"

  "Because it can't be stopped," said Kali, materializing next to One. "Built into the fabric of space-time are key points upon which the tapestry is made. The Keeper's prophesy is one of these. It will happen. It cannot be stopped."

  "Why not?"

  "Because of freewill."

  "Freewill?"

  "Choices were made. They cannot be undone. One of the consequences is this prophesy."

  "But still …"

  "Nothing," said One. "I have seen, I won't allow."

  "We will not allow," said Kali.

  I looked at them.

  "Tell me what happens if I stop this cold."

  "This universe ends."

  I looked One in her human eyes, and saw she was dead serious.

  "How can you know that, if it affects your own survival?"

  "Kali is not the only one who has shown me this. Thirteen, this is not my doing. Only those who will remain when this universe is gone can see all pathways. And they have shown me the only path we can take. This timeline must continue as we want it to. For all our sakes."

  I could see they were both serious. But the scope of it was too big for me to grasp.

  "I still don’t see where humans come into all this. Even expanding as they currently are, they don’t seem to be developing in a way which will help anyone else."

  "Humans yes. But some humans are the most important beings in this galaxy. For both good and evil."

  "Not that they know the difference," added Kali. "They are an interesting species. Capable of deluding themselves into doing the most evil of acts whilst thinking they are doing great good. They are not unique in this though, just better at it."

  "Is this prophesy just a human one?"

  "No," answered One. "All races in this galaxy share some form of the same prophesy. For most, it foretells the consequences of the actions of unknowns. A few share the same prophesy as the humans, but the humans are the closest to fulfilling it."

  "So maybe I should end the human species?"

  "It won't change things, only delay them for what for us is the blink of the human eye."

  "This cannot be avoided," said Kali. "Only managed. Your job is to manage the human end of things."

  "By killing the Keepers?"

  "Yes. With no memory to be passed on, only that which we allow will reach the crisis time."

  "So I also need to, shall we say, edit, what remains in documentary form?"

  "Yes," they said together.

  "How?"

  They told me.

  Two

  Killing people on a space ship isn’t all that difficult. All it needs is the sealing of a compartment, and the interruption of life support. A random glitch, and twenty people are dead. No-one suspects anything, because there is nothing to find. The how of their deaths is obvious. The why is put down to random chance. The crew put some effort into upgrading systems to prevent such a thing happening again.

  Editing the database is easy. Delete a few things here, move a few things over there, and change the access restrictions to make them harder to see.

  And one last thing. Some of it needs to make it to the future, so just one person, carefully selected, gets a seemingly random look at the documentation left behind. The new Keeper is created. But this time, the only memory to be passed forward, is contained.

  Aboard Galactica, the job is done, but this is just the beginning.

  I follow the time thread back to where prophesy was recorded. It would be so easy to just end it right there. He is just a man, and has no idea what he is writing will one day become the most important piece of writing in his species' history. Of the galaxies' history.

  I needed to know though. I slipped back to the moment before prophesy comes into being, and induced a massive heart attack. The man dies there at his desk.

  I move forward to see what happens. None of the detail is visible to me, because of the time block which still binds me, but the high level events are obvious.

  Within a thousan
d human years, all higher life forms in the galaxy are gone. Five thousand years, and most of the universe is under threat. Twenty thousand years, and the universe, as far as intelligent life is concerned, quietly ends. A million years later, the universe has vanished as if nothing was ever there.

  But what of us? I return to the ending of the lower life forms in our galaxy, looking for myself, and find we remain. But moving forward, the smallest of us begin to vanish, and one by one all those smaller than I, are gone. Suddenly, as I wind time forwards, I am gone too. Eventually, even One vanishes. Sitting in the council of twelve are the twelve biggest suns.

  "THIRTEEN!"

  One didn’t need to materialize to screech the word at me.

  I return to the man. He touches his chest for a moment, as if feeling something coming on, which doesn’t, and prophesy begins.

  I start to move forward again, following prophesy. It leaves on Galactica. It leaves on Prometheus. It leaves on Enterprise. Which makes sense. All three had the accumulation of all human literature, entertainment, and wisdom, within the ship's databases. But these were not all.

  Many of the colony ships to leave after, carry similar databases. I methodically visit each one, deleting prophesy completely. Except for one.

  The ship's name was "Thor's Chariot". The people on it were all members of a much ridiculed group, trying to perpetuate the old Norse way of life.

  Twelve stopped me this time, before I deleted prophesy.

  "No," he said, materializing next to me. "This one is different. Follow them forwards."

  I did. I see myself changing prophesy to suit their beliefs. For centuries, nothing out of the ordinary happens. And suddenly they burst forth from their system and attempt to control human space travel. The result is war, and they lose. The war itself is blocked to me, as is most things after it, but I still find headlines in the then media to know the outcome. I also found something called 'the Hunter Memorandum', which showed the war being used to support the Keepers of the time, advocating what One wished.