Evacuation
1999Sit-78. The name became extremely known and spread worldwide in a few days.
The terrifying discovery of the E-ELT (European Extreme Large Telescope) in Chile
was very clear and with any doubt. A huge asteroid was detected in collision course to
earth. Apparently nothing was in the path that could turn it aside. The calculated
prognostication, according to the distance and its speed gave the human race a little
hope of 47 years.
The dimensions of the object led to no discussion about the consequences of the impact on the surface of the earth. In fact, there was a term to describe those kind of events: a total destructor. The only precedent, comparable to 1999Sit-78 took place in Yucatàn, 65 million years ago, and massively extincted all species.
The rest of observatories, spatial agencies of every country and even the governments confirmed the finding and worst of all, the deadline.
Confusion and bewilderment seized the streets. The sureness of the fate, but the fact that there was still time to 'do something' encouraged people to keep in believing in salvation. Governments of the most powerful countries on earth secretly devised a plan to ensure the human survival. Centuries had to pass to make them all agree in one direction, but their main conclusion was that only a few could find the salvation. After discarding the attack of the asteroid to avoid the impact, the only plausible scenario was to build a spaceship to evacuate the planet. At least, a part of the planet.
The next five years, engineers and scientists designed the ship in an outstanding cooperation program, leaded by the USA, and including Japan, Europe countries, Russia and China among others.
The people were just informed that a special plan was setup, and they had nothing to fear about. Just go on with their lifes, and let the governors take care of them. The perfect lie. The truth was that, right from the beginning, the accommodation of the vessel would be of just 110.000 persons. Enough for the world leaders, wealthiest citizens, no matter where their fortune came from, their families and relatives, and a bunch of pre-selected doctors, scientists and engineers, to keep the new environment up for them.
Forty years later, the project was almost finished. The magnificence of the structure could not be comparable with anything else built by men.
Along those last years, on the other hand, and as a consequence of the construction of the spaceship, the resources for the ordinary people decreased dramatically in collusion with the governors, more worried about their own future than serving the people who elected them.
Everybody started to realize that the 'special plan' was only 'special' for some. From east to west, north to south, pacific riots began to flourish spontaneously, to turn more aggressive as the only answer received was the silence.
2 months before the target date, the situation was barely out of control. Years of depressed economy, a long term crisis period and the certainty that nothing was being done provoked violent confrontations.
The asteroid was now visible with the naked eye All the passengers, trained since long time ago were all prepared to get in. The aim of the travel was Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, with a very earthlike atmosphere, but extremely cold.
It was the only alternative close enough to give a chance of survival. The day finally came.
1999-Sit78 would collide at 12:37am, pacific time. The spaceship was prepared to takeoff hours earlier, but an unexpected event took place in the platform, located in the desert of Arizona. Some of the scientists refused to start the engines and power vaults, in a last act of contrition. Security forces, in parallel, let all the angry crowd enter the facility.
The spaceship at last managed to take off in the precise moment when the asteroid was heading to the earth. The calculated trajectory of the ship was now wrong, and as it escaped the earth atmosphere, it hopelessly approached the asteroid. The nuclear explosion of the impact, due to the atomic energy wich propeled the ship, caused the asteroid to slightly change its course, but enough to make it continue his travel across the galaxy without colliding with the blue planet. A chance in a million.
The sky on earth got illuminated by thousands of little fragments of the wreckage and the asteroid, as a poetic metaphore of the fate of the humanity, now free to evolve on its own.
The fireworks showed people that one day, united, they got rid of two threats in a shot.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The dimensions of the object led to no discussion about the consequences of the impact on the surface of the earth. In fact, there was a term to describe those kind of events: a total destructor. The only precedent, comparable to 1999Sit-78 took place in Yucatàn, 65 million years ago, and massively extincted all species.
The rest of observatories, spatial agencies of every country and even the governments confirmed the finding and worst of all, the deadline.
Confusion and bewilderment seized the streets. The sureness of the fate, but the fact that there was still time to 'do something' encouraged people to keep in believing in salvation. Governments of the most powerful countries on earth secretly devised a plan to ensure the human survival. Centuries had to pass to make them all agree in one direction, but their main conclusion was that only a few could find the salvation. After discarding the attack of the asteroid to avoid the impact, the only plausible scenario was to build a spaceship to evacuate the planet. At least, a part of the planet.
The next five years, engineers and scientists designed the ship in an outstanding cooperation program, leaded by the USA, and including Japan, Europe countries, Russia and China among others.
The people were just informed that a special plan was setup, and they had nothing to fear about. Just go on with their lifes, and let the governors take care of them. The perfect lie. The truth was that, right from the beginning, the accommodation of the vessel would be of just 110.000 persons. Enough for the world leaders, wealthiest citizens, no matter where their fortune came from, their families and relatives, and a bunch of pre-selected doctors, scientists and engineers, to keep the new environment up for them.
Forty years later, the project was almost finished. The magnificence of the structure could not be comparable with anything else built by men.
Along those last years, on the other hand, and as a consequence of the construction of the spaceship, the resources for the ordinary people decreased dramatically in collusion with the governors, more worried about their own future than serving the people who elected them.
Everybody started to realize that the 'special plan' was only 'special' for some. From east to west, north to south, pacific riots began to flourish spontaneously, to turn more aggressive as the only answer received was the silence.
2 months before the target date, the situation was barely out of control. Years of depressed economy, a long term crisis period and the certainty that nothing was being done provoked violent confrontations.
The asteroid was now visible with the naked eye All the passengers, trained since long time ago were all prepared to get in. The aim of the travel was Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, with a very earthlike atmosphere, but extremely cold.
It was the only alternative close enough to give a chance of survival. The day finally came.
1999-Sit78 would collide at 12:37am, pacific time. The spaceship was prepared to takeoff hours earlier, but an unexpected event took place in the platform, located in the desert of Arizona. Some of the scientists refused to start the engines and power vaults, in a last act of contrition. Security forces, in parallel, let all the angry crowd enter the facility.
The spaceship at last managed to take off in the precise moment when the asteroid was heading to the earth. The calculated trajectory of the ship was now wrong, and as it escaped the earth atmosphere, it hopelessly approached the asteroid. The nuclear explosion of the impact, due to the atomic energy wich propeled the ship, caused the asteroid to slightly change its course, but enough to make it continue his travel across the galaxy without colliding with the blue planet. A chance in a million.
The sky on earth got illuminated by thousands of little fragments of the wreckage and the asteroid, as a poetic metaphore of the fate of the humanity, now free to evolve on its own.
The fireworks showed people that one day, united, they got rid of two threats in a shot.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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