Archytas International Space Observatory

  June 5, 2072

  Professor Alan Wilson was staring at a screen. He pushed himself away and floated

  toward another. He frowned while thinking, Something is wrong with the data again.

  He continued to move from one screen to another while contacting his fellow

  astronauts. Soon, the station came alive with the excited yet scared voices of the

  crew. They were joined by the voices of those on the ground. The data was

  repeatedly tested. An anomaly was detected in the ort cloud, an area of space filled

  with icy rocks and dwarf planets just outside of our solar system. Professor Wilson let

  himself slowly float away from his station. The voices around him were fading away,

  while a new thought flooded his mind. Is this for real? Hundreds of years ago, a

  group of asteroids was knocked out of their orbit, and they were heading toward the

  interior of the solar system. A gigantic rock with a diameter of about forty-five

  kilometers, along with a few smaller but still destructive ones, was falling toward the

  sun at ever-increasing velocities. Earth stood in their way. The impact was going to

  take place just forty-four years into the future.

  August 12, 2072

  “Hello, everyone,” Professor Wilson said to the public. “I wish I could start this speech

  with a smile or a warm welcome, but as most of you already know, the news is

  anything but good. An asteroid with a diameter of about forty-five kilometers is

  closing in on Earth. The asteroid is currently traveling at lower speeds, but it

  freefalling toward the sun. Its speed is continuously increasing, and by the time it

  meets Earth, it will be traveling at 120,000 kilometers per hour. After having thought

  of all possible ways of avoiding the collision, we came to the realization that the

  impact is inevitable. We can’t destroy it because it is too big, and we can’t alter its

  course for the same reason. Bombarding it with missiles runs the risk of breaking it

  into smaller chunks, which will most likely impact the Earth at various locations,

  rendering the disaster even greater. It’s traveling too fast and it’s too massive to be

  threatened by anything we throw at it. Its trajectory has a 93 percent chance of

  colliding with Earth, with an projected date of forty-four years. The impact location will

  be eastern Australia. Professor Haze will take the stand to give us a prediction of the

  aftermath.”

  “As Professor Wilson explained” said Professor Haze with clear discomfort,

  “this is an asteroid with a size unlike anything that has impacted the planet since the

  time of Earth’s formation. It dwarfs the asteroid that took out the dinosaurs. The

  damage to the planet will be incomprehensible. Virtually all advanced life on planet

  Earth will become extinct in a very short period of time. The immediate effects will be

  felt throughout the world, with tremendous earthquakes, possible volcanic eruptions;

  the largest tsunamis ever seen will be overshadowed. And this is only the beginning.

  Burning winds will wrap around the planet, igniting everything in their path.

  They will be followed by a rain of burning rock, which can last for weeks. The after effect will be

  a cloud of dust and carbon, which will envelop the Earth, leaving us hidden from the

  sun for perhaps hundreds or thousands of years, leading to a global ice age. Ladies

  and gentlemen, we are facing the complete annihilation of our species and with it, the

  annihilation of every species other than bacteria life on Earth.” He swallowed, looked

  around him, and continued, “No matter how slim the chance, we need to innovate

  and put our combined effort in a plan to avoid the collision. The small chance that it

  will miss should not be our comfort. We need to fight this thing. Our current

  technologies cannot match it, but if we work together, we might make something to

  shield us from it.”

  The idea that it was forty-four years into the future did not seem to calm most

  of the people of the world. Many began denying the facts and claimed that the

  science was wrong. Others thought that their religious deities would step up and alter

  the course of the asteroid. There were those who laughed and those who cried. The

  vast majority of the world, however, saw the threat and thought that science would

  help us. Science would create something to change the course of it or somehow

  save us. Birth rates all over the world saw a steady decline. Few wanted to bring to

  life a child, only to teach it that their little island in space was targeted by the

  manifestation of death.

  Great leaders had their heads in their hands. They sat quietly, alone in their

  offices. The Kremlin, the Oval Office, and more were waiting for something to

  happen. A phone rang. Then another. Then, as if orchestrated by a maestro, the

  phones and computers of all head offices of the world began connecting one another.

  “We need to act now!” said a voice amid the chaos and confusion that seemed to be

  the first reaction. Soon the voices calmed. In an orderly manner, they agreed upon a

  meeting. A few days later, inside an amphitheater, the voices of reason began

  plotting their plan for survival.

  “We need to calm people down. We need hope,” said

  the head of the committee.

  “Our scientists are positive than an early strike has the best chance of

  success,” said another.

  “We need to prepare for the aftermath. There are ways we can survive the

  impact,” said a third.

  The options were coming from every direction. “We will have to try them all!”

  one president yelled. “We have to invest all we have and try them all,” he repeated.

  The room became silent. “This is not a matter of economics, nationalism, or grudges.

  This is the line where we unite or perish. We need to try all the solutions.”

  Slowly, the plan began to take shape. Massive projects of self-contained

  environments seemed to be the answer to the continuation of our species. From

  large-scale cities to small bunkers and everything in between. Others started looking

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  at ways to avert the impact altogether. Even the most optimistic could not see a

  complete avoidance of the destruction, because even if the main asteroid was

  directed elsewhere, the smaller ones would still strike and cause great damage.

  Human colonies on Mars would not be able to accommodate a lot of people, since

  Mars had not yet reached full independence of materials and new settlers from Earth.

  The hope of Martians was that the small communities they had would be able to

  advance to the point where they could stand on their own. Hope was limited, though.

  Twenty-four cities, mainly located in Europe, western Asia, and Africa, were

  chosen to be rebuilt under domes, with automation to provide for water and food to a

  population of about five million each. The tremendous projects began in the year

  2080, with a projected thirty-five years to completion. Entire city-sized areas were

  turned into flat concrete fields with ten-meter-thick reinforced walls around them.

  Their roofs were not made of futuristic glass or any other transparent material. They

  were made to withstand the molten rock that would fall from the sky and use it as an

  extra layer of protection for the coming snow that was expected to cover the entire

  world. They looked more like turtle shells with multiple supports.

  The domed cities would be using power to make an artificial blue sky in the otherwise windowless,

  pitch-black interior.

  In the year 2100, a new generation of scientists joined the work, and the

  projects sped up. New technologies for creating tremendous subterranean water

  reservoirs and linking them with the cities were created and the dome cities began to

  show progressively more optimism. Besides the few unexpected events like fanatic’s

  sabotage’s and larger than normal earthquakes, the progress on most cities was

  proceeding better than expected.

  In the year 2101, the most massive launch of weapons, expected to intercept

  “Osiris,” as the asteroid had come to be called, began their eleven-year journey in

  hopes of sideswiping the asteroid and changing its course. Although the project had

  a very small chance of success, more than fifty similar projects were simultaneously

  worked on and launched at different times.

  In 2111, the dome cities were finally ready to open their doors to the three

  million people they were going to host. Although five million people could be

  supported, the choice to put fewer in each city was made to make them more

  manageable. Picking the residents was a project of its own. Specially designed

  schools around the world would train kids to operate the cities and to face the

  psychological impact that was imminent. They were let in about five years before the

  impact, so they could have a trial time to see if everything could run smoothly. Their

  connection to the outside world was cut, and only a single superintendent would be

  able to reach out, in case of failures that needed additional help. The domes’

  entrances, large enough for a big truck to fit through, were hermetically shielded, thus

  isolating the inside environment from the outside. The domes would use a two-way

  system to produce energy—nuclear, which would produce waste that would then be

  recycled and reused, and geothermal. It was projected that the power would be able

  to sustain a population of up to five million for over two thousand years.

  With the asteroid now visible to the naked eye, people started to turn against

  the method of choice for the survivors. Fear started to spread; the mountains of the

  world were slowly filling with societies who sought refuge from the destruction. The

  full military force of the world was stationed guard at the twenty-four cities, which held

  the hope for humanity’s prosperity. Madness seemed to be overtaking the general

  population. Hope lay within the steel tubes carrying bombs in space.

  In 2112, the missiles that were launched to intercept the asteroid had finally

  arrived at their destination. A continuous bombardment took place, but the asteroid,

  instead of changing course, began to shed some smaller asteroids, which posed a

  new threat. If the bombardment continued, large enough chunks might be split that

  could strike in Europe and destroy the dome cities. This called for a halt in the

  bombardment, since the math showed that it was very unlikely to change its course

  either way. A positive result of the bombardment was that some chunks of the main

  asteroid did actually fly to a trajectory that took them off the path of Earth.

  Although it made the impact less powerful, the news was not good for the

  people of Earth. The outside of some domes became a battlefield. The world began

  its final world war. Every country wanted its people inside. Every country wanted

  some level of control. Although outside, the wars waged, the united military force of

  the planet was driving the war away from the domes to protect them. As time went

  by, the war escalated to the point where the only solution seemed to be the

  detonation of nuclear weapons. The protection of the domes was all that mattered.

  Near the end of 2115, just a few months before the impact, the world burned.

  Nuclear weapons were launched to defend the domes. Under the red sky, humans

  fought each other to provide a seat of survival for their leaders. In the perpetual

  darkness of the dome cities, people worked with science, they illuminated the ceilings

  with beautiful colors and, unaware of the outside war, they continued to build and

  perfect their new homes. The superintendents, all in communication with one

  another, had agreed that the nuclear war, although some cities felt it, should be kept a secret.

  There was no need to psychologically damage those inside. The records

  were made, and the history was written, but it got stored away from the eyes of the

  population … for now. The tremors of nuclear detonations were explained to the

  geologists in the domes as controlled tests for the walls of their cities.

  In February 2116, the asteroid was a bright object of amazing beauty and

  terror on the sky. The impact was just a month away. The world war was still ablaze.

  Stronger than ever, the last battles were being fought under the watchful eye of

  Osiris. Some saw it as an omen, others as nothing more than what it was. A final

  attack made the wall of the dome city of Paris crack. Working on it from both sides,

  the engineers had one month to patch it properly. Just a few days before the end, the

  war ended. People gave up. Soldiers did not have the will to go on, and rulers had

  already been changed enough times that they had forgotten who was who and whom

  they were fighting for. A week before the end … calm … whoever was not on the

  mountains seeking refuge among the societies there was in the cities. Finally, a

  party. A celebration. They gathered at city centers around the world and looked up

  into the sky. With their lungs filled with poison and radiation, slowly dying, they

  looked up. With their hearts torn for the crimes they had committed, they looked up.

  Someone yelled that which was then written on walls.

  “We will not go the way we came. We will not cry; we will not kneel. We will

  dance and celebrate life for the time we had.”

  It took death to reach the door for humans to unite and finally dance. The

  superintendents shared the images of the last two days with the domes. Showed the

  courage and resolve humans can find in their last hours. While Osiris was breathing

  its heat onto the Earth, the people of the dome cities, with tears in their eyes, saw

  humanity dancing in the face of death.

  This is how you will be remembered. All of you.