Hosein Kouros-Mehr - Extinction 6

Manos walks forward onto New Earth. “Oh my God, there are rivers and lakes as far as I can see. And plants with purple leaves!”

“Purple?” Gareth asks in his earpiece. “I wonder why that is?”

“Evolution must have taken a different course,” Felina says. “The reason plants back home are green is that they absorb blue and red light. The chemistry is probably different here.”

Manos walks toward a river and inserts the rod into the liquid. “Felina, I’m taking my first sample and sending you the data.”

Seconds later, she shrieks. “You’re not going to believe this.”

“What did you find?”

“Sir, that’s H2O!”

“Are you sure? What’s the composition?”

“Less than 1% sodium and chloride.”

“You mean just like home?”

“Yes!”

“Did you hear that, Gareth? This planet has rivers of water.”

Gareth gasps. “What about the atmosphere?”

Manos raises the rod and collects a sample of the air, then transmits the data for Felina.

Seconds later, her voice comes through the earpiece. “More stunning news… the air is thirty percent oxygen and seventy percent nitrogen.”

Manos’s eyes widen. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“That’s breathable air! I can take my helmet off.”

“Sir, please don’t do that. You don’t have to risk your life!”

“Why not? Oxygen is oxygen.”

“Sir, I would advise you—”

Manos removes his helmet. He closes his eyes as a gentle breeze touches his face. He takes a deep inhalation through his nostrils and exhales through his mouth. “Oh my God…”

“What’s happening?” Gareth asks.

Manos drops the rod and runs giddily across a purple field, rolling around the ground and shouting at the top of his lungs. “I can breathe the air!”

Gareth’s voice rises. “Manos, describe your vantage.”

He chuckles maniacally. “I see dollar signs everywhere, Gareth. Profits hanging from the trees!” He rips the purple foliage and kicks some rocks. “We’ll build factories and communities here!”

“Sir, please be careful,” Felina says. “I wouldn’t touch the plants if I were you. We don’t know what kind of microbes live on this planet.”

Manos jumps and screams, “GoldRock will be the biggest company of all time!” He digs his hand in the ground and throws dirt in the air. “Who knows how much gold and silver are buried in this land? We’ll dig thousands of mines.”

“Congratulations,” Gareth says. “You made it into the history books! This is a new chapter for our civilization.”

Manos sits on the ground and wheezes gleefully. “We have to keep this confidential, do you understand? We can’t tell anyone about this, not even the President.”

“That’s not possible,” Gareth states sternly.

“This is my discovery. GoldRock will have first dibs on New Earth.”

“Let’s discuss that when—”

The voice fades.

Manos panics. “Gareth? Can you hear me?”

The call drops. Felina looks up and spots Earth fading in the sky. “Mr. Kharon, the wormhole is shrinking.”

He looks up. “That can’t be.”

“If it disappears, we will be stuck here forever. We should return home immediately.”

Manos grabs some dirt and stuffs his pocket. “Okay, let’s get out of here.”

He races into the cargo bay and disrobes, changing back into his civilian clothing. They run to the cockpit and strap in. “Falcon 12, get us back home as soon as possible.”

“Prepare for launch,” the A.I. instructs. Seconds later, the rocket lifts off the purple planet and heads for the wormhole.

“What an experience,” Manos proclaims. “I can’t wait to come back here!”

Felina covers her nose. “You smell awful, sir.”

“I do? Like what?”

“Like when you blow out a match.”

He smirks. “I actually like that smell.”

The ship barrels into space and tumbles across the wormhole, rattling as it reenters the solar system. Earth and the moon suddenly appear in the near distance, their colors returning to normal. Behind the ship, Barnard’s Star dims as the portal begins to fade.

Manos turns to his assistant. “Get my Chief of Staff on the line.”

Moments later, Seth’s face appears on a tablet computer. “Hello, boss. We haven’t heard from you in a few days.”

“Days? I spoke with you earlier today.”

“That’s not true, sir. I’ve left you several voicemails.”

“That’s strange.” He rubs his face. “I could have sworn I talked to you a few hours ago. What did you message me about?”

“It’s the Google management team, sir. They’re not cooperating and they still haven’t given me access to the private servers.”

Manos rolls his eyes. “Forget about that. We have much bigger plans to think about.”

“Sir?”

“Listen, Seth, there’s a fusion reactor at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. I want you to steal it and relocate it to our facility in West Virginia.”

Seth hesitates. “I don’t understand. Are we getting into nuclear power?”

“No. We are forming a corporation called Diaspora. This is a brand new venture for GoldRock.”

Felina nods. “Brilliant name, Mr. Kharon.”

Seth appears confused. “Diaspora? What’s the mission of the company?”

“We will guide the exodus of human beings to their next homeland. We will be the leaders of space colonization.”

The Falcon 12 flies past the moon on its way to New Mexico. It enters the Earth’s atmosphere and begins its descent to Spaceport America.

Manos analyzes a tablet. “Seth, I want you to identify the smartest physicists in the world and offer them million-dollar salary packages. We will hire the brightest minds for Diaspora.”

“I’m happy to do that,” Seth says, “but I still don’t understand the purpose of the startup.”

Manos eyes North America. “We will master interstellar travel. Felina and I just flew across a wormhole to Barnard’s Star. What I saw defies explanation. Now that we understand what’s possible, it’s time to build a new industry.”

Seth gasps. “Is this a new way to travel?”

“It’s more than that. The universe is now ours for the taking.”

HIGH ABOVEthe San Francisco Archipelago, Austin sits in gridlock in his flying car. A bumper-to-bumper jam stretches across the skybound 101 Freeway. He grins.

Rush hour, I’ve missed you.

“Isaac, I can’t be late for my date.”

His smartglasses buzz. “Don’t worry, you will arrive on time.”

He peers below and spots downtown skyscrapers connected by train tubes and passageways. Rooftops of flooded Victorian homes rise from the ocean. As his vehicle heads north to Marin County, he drives above the underwater suspension cables of the Golden Gate Bridge.

“Isaac, what’s happening in the world?”

“From NPR News, here are the day’s top stories. The President has lifted the ban on tourism. International travel will resume at major airports starting next week. This coincides with the planned peace talks between the United States, China, and Russia. Experts are hopeful for an end to the twenty-four-year World War.”

Austin shakes his head.

The War is finally ending?

“In financial news, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1400 points on the back of strong hiring and renewed confidence in the economy. It comes as oil prices continue to fall, currently at $5,600 per barrel. The Commerce Secretary credits developments with nuclear fusion power, which have boosted global energy reserves…”

Austin sheds a tear.

This is all Beth’s doing.