Married to New Earth
In February of 2017, a treasure trove of planets was discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. This new found exoplanet system known as TRAPPIST-1, named after The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (TRAPPIST), contained seven habitable, earth-size planets revolving around one star. And though these foreign worlds are sustainable for human life, the distance of 40 light-years or 235 trillion miles makes the task of traveling to TRAPPIST-1 seem to be an impossible one, or so it did for its time.
It was not until roughly thirteen years later in 2030, that NASA and other space programs stopped speaking in terms of "space-exploration" but instead hyped a new word, space-colonization. Why? Overpopulation. Every year the human population increases by 75 million. At this rate, by 2050 we would have reached a population of 9 billion people. Overpopulation means loss of freshwater, species extinction, lower-life expectancy, depletion of natural resources, increased emergence of new pandemics, increased global warming and climate change-- the list goes on.
The Collective Commonwealth of Constellations
Aka "the Triple C's" or "The Collective" Thus in prevention of overpopulation, all six major government space agencies-- the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), the European Space Agency (ESA), the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA)-- all banded together to establish one united space organization known as the Collective Commonwealth of Constellations.
The ultimate goal of the Collective in the 2030's, was to colonize within the TRAPPIST 1 system. The means to travel there was a top priority. Moreover, forms of slower than light travel (STL) was completely out of the question. The Collective believed the best method for space-travel was one that guaranteed that we would settle on another planet by 2050, the year predicted that humanity would reach a population of 9 billion people. The fastest and most convenient means would be teleportation pads-- dematerialization, rematerialization. In 2039, the telepad was created, but even with this marvelous invention the telepad could only teleport us to other telepads, not into blind space where telepads have not been yet stationed.
Hyperspace was the answer. In 2044 the SC Vagabond was directly launched into hyperspace through the newly engineered jump engine. It was also that year that the Vagabond crew, also know as the Vagabonds, installed a telepad on the surface of TRAPPIST-1d, the third planet away from the host star.
When the Earth Wept
December 22, 2044
Meanwhile back on earth, Yellowstone erupted on December 22, 2044. That was when the Earth wept. Johannes Kepler, the renown German astronomer who theorized that the planets moved in elliptical orbits with the Sun, ascribed that volcanoes were ducts for the Earth's tears.
Ash spewed thousands of miles across the United States, obliterating buildings, smothering crops, and shutting down power plants. The Midwest states were lucky enough to be coated with more than an inch of ash, while Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado, Montana, and Utah was buried in it. Fortunately, for months, intense seismic activity was seen across the entire Yellowstone National Park, thus the people living in those states evacuated before the day of eruption. They were the first to be teleported to TRAPPIST-1d, there they would join the Vagabonds in colonizing a new home.
The Yellowstone eruption gave birth to a new doomsday movement, one that promoted a new chapter of humanity-- the discovery and colonization of foreign worlds. No longer was the American dream a life to envy, a life in the stars, in the TRAPPIST-1 system was the new ideal.
Life in TRAPPIST-1d
The planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system all tidally locked, meaning the same face of a planet is always pointed at the star, as the same side of our moon is always pointed at Earth. This creates a constant night side and constant day side on each planet. TRAPPIST-1d carries a narrow band of water near the terminator, the divide between a hot, dry day and an ice-covered night side. Those who live on the night side have been given several nicknames, but the two most used are ice-cubes and night-crawlers. Because of their absence of natural light, night-crawlers are ghastly pale, though vitamin D deficiency is avoided through vitamin supplements. However, on the other side of the planet, those who live in the day are called light-lords and day-wakers. Since they walk in the heat of the host star, the light-lords bear a much darker complexion.
By 2049, it was considered a rarity to remain on earth, life was progressing in the TRAPPIST-1 system under a new one-world government, the Collective itself. Those who continued to live on earth were seen as hermits, because they remained to be completely disconnected from the rest of humanity. But as life on TRAPPIST-1d grew, it came the time to colonize on other TRAPPIST-1 planets...
Aggressive Decay
In 2068, The Collective's next target for human colonization was TRAPPIST-1e. When landing on this planet, colonists were only expecting a new world live on... but they discovered something so much more. They discovered aliens. But unlike the creatures on TRAPPIST-1d, these beings were sentient. They were not animals. This was proven with the fortresses they built, the art they illustrated, and the culture that was created. Though these aliens were only in what we would describe as a medieval era, and humanity was far more superior in technological advancement, they were just as interested in first contact as we were. Therefore there was peace between both species.
Though sadly, that peace was short lived when a brain eating amoeba became humanity's next deadliest contagion. This disease was named, "aggressive decay". Little research was achieve on the disease due to how contagious it was, but speculations say those who traveled to TRAPPIST-1e were immediately infected with it through the planet's water source, and the aliens living their were only immune to it. It takes 2 to 15 days for symptoms to appear, and these symptoms include headache, fever, stiff neck, loss of appetite, vomiting, altered mental state, seizures, and even coma. Those who are infected only survive up to 3 to 7 days.
Quickly, human life began to rot, or at least mankind that settled in TRAPPIST-1...
The Plot
There is one colony that has not been cursed by the aggressive decay. In 2050, when earth was considered abandoned, the Collective established a new project of theirs, a penal colony. Convicts serving life-sentences initially believed that this penal colony was closest thing to freedom. But that was before they were introduced to the demands of the Overseers. Well, of course the Overseers follow the orders of the Collective, but some would argue that they have dehumanized the penal colonists because of their past crimes. In the eyes of these convicts, the Overseers are glorified jailers.
There is only one thing the Overseers expect from the convicts, for a certain number of crops and livestock to be met. And for every crop or animal they are short of, someone is executed on the spot. For this, the prisoners have grown to despise the Overseers.
Since news of the aggressive decay, the Overseers know there is no hope in returning to the TRAPPIST-1 system. In fact their telepad, stationed back in their base on the moon, has been disconnected by the Collective after news of the aggressive decay. Fortunately they are completely pure of this disease, the last time they were in TRAPPIST-1 was shortly before the discovery of aliens. The Overseers do have a food supply, but it was only meant to last for the six months they would be stationed on moon. On the other hand the penal colony is self-sustaining.
The Overseers must turn to this isolated colony for help. Do the prisoners welcome or even just tolerate them after all of lives they have taken because crop shortage? Or is this the perfect time for revenge?
