James Scotson - Planets Falling

Adam suddenly felt very heavy, his feet unable to shift. “What do you mean by that, mom?”

“Earth, Adam. We are all exiles of our own blind indulgence. When you were a boy I met someone, or perhaps something, that made me realize that there’s no future there. For life. Life is so very rare. And I’m afraid we don’t understand even the half of it. There’s much more beneath the surface, below the molecules, the energy. Life is a doorway to something magnificent and exceptional. I simply cannot allow that to dim any further.”

Adam shifted slightly. “Mom, what did you do?”

She smiled sadly. Her blue eyes were now grey. “I’m unwinding it all. Earth will be my grandest garden.”

Adam felt the ground tilt. He fought back the urge to rip off his helmet and stared blankly at his mother. She walked back to the vegetation and resumed collecting data. He called to her repeatedly. But she was either ignoring him or had shut off her communications link. He left her to her casual tinkering and rushed back to the shuttle.

Tuning in the general communications network, he accessed hundreds of media reports — the chatter on both mars and earth. All was quiet, except for the usual bad news — starvation, skirmishes, droughts, fires, a massive hurricane raging up the Atlantic, and an earthquake in the Antarctic provinces. If a catastrophic event was occurring, it was not yet apparent. And did his mother force Holst onto the surface? Should he call security and have them bring her in? All of his confidence and drive had vanished. For once, he did not know what to do.

Maggie met Adam at the shuttle that evening back at Colony 1. “First, we need to determine whether your mother arranged any shipments to earth recently,” Maggie calmly noted. “Did she say that she sent the contents of the vial to earth?” Maggie’s command soothed Adam’s panic.

Adam paced back and forth in the cargo berth. “She never said that exactly. But I know in my heart that’s what she intends to do. She’s had it for a year and nothing has happened. So, I’m assuming that she hasn’t pulled the trigger.”

“Then we need to first get her into custody and then we need to find the vial and destroy it. Adam, I know you are beholden to her. But this is your greatest responsibility to all of us. God knows how many lives are at risk here.”

“I’ll make the call.” Adam was about to put the most popular person on the planet and the love of his life into prison. He was crumpling. The little boy was screaming.

In the very same drab room in which Tash was questioned long ago, Pinchot Ferris sat serenely. Jon stood over Adam in the passageway. “Son, you’ve got to be kidding me. There’s no way your mom had anything to do with Holst or the bacteria.” His voice betrayed his lack of certainty. All those years she spent in her gardens. The changes he saw gradually occurring in her personality. It was clear that she had changed. She seemed a stranger to him. Yet another soul had faded in his life.

“Listen to her comments dad.” And Adam walked into the room to confront his mother once again. Jon followed.

“Mom, it is very important. Where is the vial?”

“Adam, sweetheart, it’s far too late. I’ve set this in motion. Actually, it began long before you were born.”

“Mom. You’re a scientist. Rationality, you know? Please quit speaking in riddles.”

“I shipped the biomaterial to earth two weeks ago. It was in several time release capsules headed to various regions of the planet. By the time you intercept it, you’ll be unable to stop it from spreading everywhere. Nothing short of a nuclear holocaust across the surface will be able to stop it.”

Maggie was listening in the adjacent room and bolted out toward the nearest computer network terminal. She had already prepared a long list of shipping manifests to search.

Adam glanced at the door and saw Maggie rush by. He tasted bile. “Thanks mom. Now, what happened between you and Will Holst the night he died?”

“I killed him. He wanted to stop me. I had no choice. It was his time anyway.” Her calm was unnerving. She sipped her steaming cup of tea.

Adam and Jon did not exchange glances. They turned and left the room. Pinchot was escorted back to her cell.

“I need to contact the Prime Minister on earth,” Adam stammered.

Maggie walked in, her face contorted. “You’re too late. Earth has lost contact with the colonies and the nauron government. Security forces in the region are claiming that vessels leaving earth are disintegrating before they leave orbit. It’s horrible.”

Adam ran from the room and barely reached the toilet before retching uncontrollably.

Excerpt from book entitled “A History of the Terra Institute”:

Shortly following his election to Principal of the Institute and leader of the mars colonies, Adam Fuerst became the first president of what is now known as “exiled humanity”. Exiled humanity was comprised of the mars colonies, various space stations, and the humans on the three colonized planets and nauron.

Earth was no longer approachable by vessels of any kind. What is known about the events on earth is largely speculative. Scholars believe a terrorist attack of unknown origin devastated all technological material on the planet within a few weeks. The material that caused this devastating event is unknown. The best guess is that it was a fabricated nano-weapon (i.e., small machines) able to replicate exponentially and designed to destroy artificial materials. Communications was lost instantly. Direct contact with the surface became immediately impossible.

Orbital satellites and low orbit robotic flights continue to monitor earth to this day. The human population of 35 billion on earth before the event has declined to an estimated 15 million. The inhabitants are largely hunter-gatherers with limited agriculture. A small network of villages with pre-industrial technology has arisen in the northwestern North American continent.

According to the Institute, atmospheric concentrations of pollutants have declined to pre-industrial levels. Species of mammals and birds on the surface have rebounded. High performance images suggest that rapid evolution has occurred and many new species of animals and plants appear to inhabit the planet. Most remarkably, carbon dioxide concentrations have declined and the planet has cooled considerably. An ice cap has reappeared at the north magnetic pole.

During Fuerst’s time, several attempts were made to contact the humans stranded on the surface. However, every probe or ship attempting to surface on the planet was lost. It was apparent that the nano-weapons were still active. In recent years, forays to the planet’s surface have been made by robotic surveyors. The Institute still forbids direct contact by humans or other sentient species. Also, no probe or vessel landing on earth’s surface is allowed to return to space, lest the unidentified weapon be unleashed on the remainder of the galaxy.

The likelihood that the humans remaining on the surface would be able to adapt to the technological life we now enjoy is low. Earth has become a large reserve for life and a valued crucible for remote ecological and sociological research by Institute scientists.

Almost immediately following the devastating events on earth, Pinchot Ferris (link to: Dr. Pinchot Ferris) fell into reclusion. She became inactive in research and was rarely seen. She appeared at Fuerst’s first inaugural speech but was absent during his subsequent inaugurals. She is believed to have died shortly after the birth of her first granddaughter, Margaret Pinchot Fuerst. Maggie Fuerst produced a long line of talented and influential Institute scientists that shape progress to this day.