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SECOND CHANCE, A SHORT STORY

January 2, 2024 at 8:16 pm Leave a comment

The inspiration for writing this short story, Second Chance, was from hearing those questioning the value of space exploration. They say, “Why send all that money into space?” If these folks are pure in their belief, they must reject all that our investment into space has provided. They probably don’t use cell phones, watch news broadcast from around the world, or watch weather reports. And don’t forget, space travel has given us Tang.

 Second Chance was accepted for publication by Books To Go Now in November 2011, and by Separate Worlds in December 2013.

                Second Chance

Richard Walsh, 95, relaxed in his backyard beach chair.  The air was crystal clear; this was highly unusual for the smog, blown in from the coastal cities, often obscured the sky. He enjoyed this rare moment and felt at peace as he gazed at a host of constellations.  Richard prided himself on being able to identify everyone visible in his piece of the sky.  He chose to live in the desert, much to the dismay of his wife Molly, 80, to fulfil his passion for the universe. 

They had married forty years ago and were beginning to feel their age.  “Why can’t we live closer to Debbie?” Molly constantly asked.

He would answer, “We can fly to visit her and be there in less than two hours.  I need the night sky for my studies.  I need to be far away from the maddening city lights, but even here, the smog is a problem.”  Secretly, he wished they could move farther from the pollution, but they were too old to begin life again in a new location.

Richard was a science writer and worked from home.  As he gazed up at the stars, he would mutter, “Someday, man will make journeys into space that I cannot even imagine.  That is where our future lies.”

                    ###

Voyages eventually were made to the world’s moon, but Richard died before they were accomplished. The exploration of the moon was as far as space travel went.  There were too many problems to tend to on the planet as the population continued to grow and resources were devoured.

GENERATIONS LATER

Dr. Gregor Adomski, with his bushy eyebrows and lion’s mane of gray hair, was an astronomer.  At age seventy-three, he had never lost his child-like amazement with the universe.  He was an advocate of space exploration.  However, there wasn’t a government on the planet that would spend the money to make the jump into space.  For generations man pondered the end of their world, the fact that their world would someday cease to exist was known.  Scientists could predict cosmic events, but they had little influence on how the information was incorporated in future practices of governments.  Those decisions were more of a political nature and science had no place in politics.

Adomski also noted a growing trend.  Due to the planet’s growing population, weather conditions had deteriorated during the last fifty years.  These changes resulted in massive crop failures and a ‘once in a century’ storm became a common occurrence.  Turning to his assistant, Dr. Jeff Farber, Adomski said, “Our world cannot continue on this course.  Civilization is on a downward spiral.  We still have time to take action to ensure the survival of our society, but will we?  Man was meant to explore the universe, to push the limits of his existence.  Perhaps future generations can reach distant planets of solar systems that have yet to be discovered.  Time is of the essence.  We must act now or accept our fate.”

Jeff shared Adomski’s concern.  The planet’s doom loomed in the distant future.  Yet, most of the planet’s inhabitants were too occupied in their daily lives to care about an event that would not occur for thousands of generations.  The average person thought, Why should I care about what happens in the distant future when I need to feed my family now?

Satellites were launched. Their purpose was to monitor weather and improve communications of the planet, not as stepping stones for space travel.  Jeff hoped that someday space exploration would begin. But his heart told him it would not be so; the planet was consumed by too many problems to make precious resources available for space exploration.  When he went home and shared his concerns with his wife, Janet.  She only reinforced the population’s mindset.

She would say, “Why do you need to worry about something so distant when there are so many problems facing the planet here and now?  I just don’t understand your priorities.”

Jeff recently visited a farm; most of the population of the planet was encouraged to do so to see how the governments were staying ahead of any crisis.  The tour was led by Stuart Gromley, more of a scientist than a farmer, gaining the knowledge necessary to provide the food needed by the ever-expanding population.

Gromley began his tour, which would be short, for in reality, farms no longer existed, land was too precious, to grow crops greenhouses the size of skyscrapers was used.  Through enhanced fertilizers and crop genetics, what would have taken thousands of acres to grow took just one acre of land.  Farms went vertical.  Gromley was proud of his farm and said to the tour, “As you can see, not an ounce of precious soil is wasted.  Hydro farming allows us to grow any crops we want with only water and chemicals.  Healthy food is brought to your table with little drain on the planet.”

The hand of a young woman shot up.

Gromley muttered, “Shit, there always has to be one,” and then said out loud, “Do you have a question?”

“Yes,” she responded, “I have read papers stating that some of these chemicals used to produce our food can build up in our bodies and produce cancers.”

Gromley shared a secret thought that many of his profession shared, Honey, would you rather die now of starvation or die later of cancer?  But no one ever said this out loud.

Gromley held his temper and said, “Studies are still ongoing to see if these claims are true.  Our research, thus far, has not proven any of these claims.”  He did not share the fact that the research was nonexistent.

Overall, however, science improved and extended the lifespan of the world, and the population lived longer.  Those in power concentrated on the immediate, as for the distant future, science would always find a way to solve the world’s problems.

TEN THOUSAND GENERATIONS LATER

Adomski and Farber were long dust.  The fears they shared for the planet were forgotten.

Laws were passed by the most technologically advanced nations and space travel was ignored in favour of improving the condition of humanity.  As these decisions were made, scientists on the planet predicted the maximum population the planet could support. Centuries since that prediction, the population of the planet soared to double that prediction.  Yet, with further advances in technology, life continued.  However, turmoil broke out on the planet.  The more advanced countries continued to live fairly well, but the third world countries were in chaos.  These circumstances reinforced the opponents of space exploration in favour of helping the people.

After dinner, Alex Reed, an expert in population dynamics, went to his study and quietly closed the door, blocking out the sounds of his children at play before their bedtime.  He did this more and more often to turn on his computer and review the history of his planet and the dreams of space exploration attributed to the writings of Dr. Adomski and a host of the scientist that came along after his death.   They all shared the hope that exploration of the universe would go forward and save the species.

 Reed was both a scientist and an intellectual.  He studied the great accomplishments made in art and literature going back thousands of years, but as a scientist, he knew that at some distant day it would all be destroyed.  “All of this will be nothing but cinders,” he said to no one there.  “All these magnificent accomplishments of the planet will be lost.  Is it too late to think about the preservation of mankind’s history, of the great works produced?”

Reed remembered well the warnings Dr. Adomski had postulated and could not believe how self-centered the people of the planet had become.  Even now, with the time of its demise calculated, the population remained uninterested in space exploration.  He reasoned that he was only a scientist and had no power over the decisions that determine the destiny of the planet.  Elected officials made policy and the rest of humanity, relying on their intelligence, would have to accept the judgement.  Election and power were more important than reality.

EIGHTY THOUSAND GENERATIONS LATER

The planet was populated beyond belief.  Every acre of land had hundreds of residents and resources were being stretched to the limit.  When all the land was occupied, floating cities were constructed.  It was not long before the entire surface was in use, reducing the planet to a seething cauldron of toxins and waste.   Conditions had been deteriorating for many thousands of years, but they now accelerated to astronomical proportions.  Food riots had begun and, more frequently, water riots.  As predicted, the sun was getting brighter and spontaneous fires erupted, destroying vast areas and populations.  The world was one large metropolis and there was nowhere to run; nowhere to escape the final result.

President Addis, leader of half the planet’s population, summoned top scientists for a conference to discuss the world’s future.  The president sat patiently and listened to their talks.

Most were the same, full of hope, yet unable to dictate a plan that would save man.

In attendance was Dr. Scious Minori.  She was the world’s leading authority on the state of the planet; the president listened to her speech. The message was most disheartening.

She began by saying, “My presentation will be brief.  Our planet, our species, is doomed.  I see no hope for any intervention that can alter the future.  Our resources are stretched beyond the ability to support the population.  Our future will be nothing but turmoil.

“The planet is beyond repair.  There are no errors in the calculations.  In approximately twenty thousand years, the sun in its death throws will engulf our world.  Until then, our existence will be that of a constant conflict.  The only peace our people will know is at the end of our existence.

“We have waited too long to ensure survival of our species and all the life that inhabits our planet.  Now, it is not possible to journey into space, even though there is time.  At this point, to build a facility for space exploration would displace hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people.  On the entire planet, there is no room for such a center for space exploration.  We are at a loss to save our civilization.” 

The president, however, missed one presentation that shared a glimmer of hope for the future, not for the planet but for the species, and provided statistics that speculated the proposition that Homo sapiens was not doomed.  It was held in a small room with seating for less than thirty.  The speaker was Dr. Fermi Rialtos, a bacteriologist.  The presentation was so esoteric that it was not considered worthy of the president’s attention. 

There were only ten scientists in the audience.

Dr. Rialtos began his talk by saying, “The bacteria I primarily study is E. coli.  One of the purposes in my use of these bacteria was the study of evolution.  The benefit to studying these organisms is that one can observe thousands of generations in a short period of time. “I inoculated twelve flasks of bacteria and studied them for 30,000 generations with the E. coli exposed to identical conditions through the course of the study.  At the conclusion of the experiment, I analyzed the genetics of all twelve flasks.  Their pattern of development was identical.

“I feel this demonstrates that evolution is not random.  Given similar conditions, life will progress in a similar manner.

“I am also something of an amateur astronomer.  There are hundreds of stars, around which planets have or are presently forming.  The attributes of some of these planets are similar to our planet, millions of years in the past.”

Dr. Rialtos went on to describe the conditions on some of these recently discovered planets.  “One planet I have been studying is very young, a mere neophyte, but I think there may be a possibility that it will someday harbour life.  The star it orbits is slightly larger than our own sun, making their years slightly longer, but the planet’s position is a close approximation to that of our own world in relation to our sun.  I feel it may be capable of supporting life, but it is only one of possibly thousands that we have discovered in the universe.  Perhaps our civilization will be replicated in the cosmos with more lasting results”

He finished by saying, “Embrace your children every day and enjoy the life you have.”

###

Toward the end of their world, the population prayed to the God they believed would save them.  But God had other plans.

                    ###

The end of civilization was not pretty.

In the distant past, it would have been survival of the fittest.  But now, thanks to globalization and shared technology, all populations of the planet were on an even footing.  Equals fought equals to the death to exist.  And in the end, as the sun spent the last of its life-giving force, the last of the species perished.

                    ###

On a planet millions of light-years away, backyards were full of people looking skyward, straining to see the star-like light racing across the heavens.  The year was 1957.

Tim Riddell, age five, stood outside with his parents.   His father, Eli, told him what to look for and where to look.  As they watched, the Riddell family could hear voices all around them as neighbours also looked to the heavens. 

This was an historic event.  It was the first of its kind.  Earth was being orbited by a man-made machine.

Tim began to shout, “I see it!  I see it!” and his small arm pointed skyward. 

All around people also began to point and shout, “There it is!”

Liz, Tim’s mom, said to no one in particular, “I feel so exposed.”

Eli smiled and said, “Tonight, I want to be your Sputnik.”

The space race was on.  Sputnik made history for the U.S.S.R.  Later, after many embarrassing attempts, the U.S. also launched a satellite.  The race would last for decades and initiate Earth’s journey into space.

                    ###

The year was now 2093, and the advances in science and space travel were beyond belief.  Those who stood in their backyards gazing up at the sky in 1957 only witnessed the beginning.  Science and mankind had developed a propulsion system that enables man to visit the closest neighbouring solar system.  At the same time, great advances were made in astronomy with platforms installed in deep space.

One day, Dr. Theo Thurber was monitoring one of the platforms when alarm bells began to ring indicating an event worthy of study.  He rushed to his monitor in time to witness the beginning of the death of a distant star.  The bright glow of its passing lasted for weeks, and then slowly dimmed and disappeared.

After the initial observation, Dr. Thurber dictated into his records, “Witnessed the death of a distant star two million light years away.  Nothing unusual.  This is not a significant event.”

            Thurber could not know that a distant civilization had come to and end.

          © Copyright 2013 Walt Trizna. All rights reserved.

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