One Giant Leap: Exodus Quest(Dropped)

[ProjectUnidad]

Introduction:
Hello there you willy space rascals, here is another space quest game after my first game had to be jettisoned to deep space. Since then I gained a lot of lessons and experiences of how to run an entertaining and engaging quest game. In today's episode of Dragon Ball Z our world(and the solar system) is about to be destroyed by an approaching neutron star, therefore it is up to you players to pack your things and get the hell out of dodge for greener pastures.

Mechanics: This game will be running on a d100 system for the most part, but players will also be making plans that will not be determined by dice but instead by the quality of the plan. New mechanics will be introduced and added to this thread throughout the progression of the quest.

• Resources: Having resources is a crucial component of the quest as we traverse to the stars and settle on our new home. Having a surplus will allow them to fund action slots. Resources can be gained by spending our action slots, and also be used as currency to spend on certain action slots.
• Actions: These are projects in which the survivors will set up every turn that will aid in our development, can be from constructing infrastructure, research technologies, or survey particular areas for exploration, completion can be done through reaching a DC or the total sum of the project. Actions will also include categories such as construction, research, military, etc.
• Events: Through the quest players will be presented with events in which they will have to make some choices in order to proceed further, d100 or an action plan will determine the outcome of the event with potential rewards and consequences:
• Ships and Stations: Through the quest players will have access to build and deploy space crafts and stations. Having said that, assets in space will facilitate buffs to our action slots, events would also allow players to deploy such vessels, the same can be said about stations. However construction of this stuff requires plenty of resources.
• Political Power: A special resource point that can be used to spend on an action instead of using your resources points, however they can be gained through either unique actions or events.
• Omakes Bounties: At the end of every turn players will have the opportunity of earning additional rewards by writing an omake provided by the QM. The QM will only give out a prompt of the premise of the omake, players will have to come up with the title and write the whole omake. Prior to writing an omake you must first make a post claiming the prompt. Upon completing an omake you can choose the next available one. Also even when votes are closed you can continue to write the omake until I make the announcement for the omake postings to be closed. Upon completion the QM will provide options for its reward.

Edit 5/29/22: Omake Bounties has being updated with new information…

 

[ProjectUnidad]

Turn 0: Evacuation

Humanity has been one of the most successful species on the blue world they call Earth for thousands of years, colonizing every continent that had to offer. Humans through their fast technological advancement were able to conquer both land, air and sea, but also many challenges either natural or artificial could have brought the end of mankind. Collapse of empires, emergence of plagues, apocalyptic world wars, natural disasters and climate change, all of those could had brought humanity to heel, but against all odds the species continued to move forward into the 21st century, and dreams to expand their domain and curiosity beyond their home planet were becoming closer to reality…that is until that dream would become a necessary component to their survival.

In the year 20XX, the LUVOIR space telescope, the most advanced telescope ever made by mankind, would detect a rogue neutron star heading towards the solar system. No technology humans can throw will impede the trajectory of the apocalyptic star, estimates show that the star would reach the inner planets within 80 years potentially bringing the end of human civilization as we know it.


As the neutron star approaches the solar system, it is said that humanity has about 8 decades before the Earth hits the crapper. With the news of the impending doom, the world…(choose one)
[X] falls to chaos as one country decides to draft plans to send its citizens towards a new home in space ( 2 actions, 4 resource points)
[X] falls to chaos as a few countries capable of space travel decide to cooperate together to send its citizens towards their new home in space ( 3 actions, 3 resource points)
[X] barely holds together as the United Nations takes the lead to save as many people as possible to find a new home in space ( 4 actions, 2 resource points)

With a short deadline to evacuate Earth before its imminent destruction, with its limited resources and latest advancement of technology, humanity would pool their resources to construct…(choose one)
[X] Nuclear Pulse engines ( 4 turns until arrival, - 5 on your rolls during the journey)
[X] Ion Drive engines ( 2 turns until arrival, - 10 on your rolls during the journey)
[X] Warp Drive engines ( 1 turn until arrival, - 20 on your rolls during the journey)

With all resources being used for the production of ark ships, the question becomes the quantity of ships versus the quality of ships, eventually they would settle with…(choose one)
[X] Small vessels (+ 50 ships, + 1 resource points, - 5 on your rolls during the journey)
[X] Medium vessels (+ 25 ships, + 2 resources points, - 10 on your rolls during the journey)
[X] Large vessels (+10 ships, + 3 resources points, - 15 on your rolls during the journey)

As humanity begins to make plans to depart, though they already made inventory of the necessary tools and resources to jumpstart civilization on a new planet, available storage has being made to bring the following…(choose three)
[X] ship parts replacement
[X] military equipment
[X] farming equipment
[X] mining equipment
[X] construction equipment
[X] world heritage artifacts
[X] nuclear weapons

Omake Bounties:
- The first person to discover the neutron star…

- You are about to give the most important speech in your entire career…(completed by Magoose)

- You receive by email about being "pre-selected"…

 

[Magoose]

Per Aspera Ad Astra:

(Malcolm Johnson POV)

You are Malcolm Johnson, a spokesperson for NASA, a man who at any other time, would have ignored everything and gone home, just moments before announcing to the World, that everyone was going to die. That all of Humanity's collective hopes, prayers, dreams, and futures were soon going to be coming to an end, in a sudden, mad cosmic event that no one could have predicted.

Your heart felt like it was going to burst out of your chest, in a simple way that no one could even fathom, perhaps since Niel Armstrong told the world that the Eagle had landed. It was a feeling of joy or wonder.

Of the possibility that you had only ever seen on video and in history class. Humanity was on the way, to a brave new world, in a galaxy that was far beyond it. It was the first step outside of the cradle that was earth.

Then the Neutron Star: Codenamed Sauron was discovered. There were other names for it, but you always stuck poetry for such a thing. Why wouldn't you?

It was the Dark Lord coming to destroy Earth. Only there was nothing you could do, but sail off on the White ships into the unknown.

Earth… the World… Home was going to die. But that did not mean that Humanity had to die with it.

It should not become a period, a full stop in history. Not, it would just be the next chapter in Mankind's collective story.

You sighed as you looked at the script. A load of PR bullshit from the feds wanting to maintain order, to not cause panic. To not create something that could not be stopped.

So you dropped the papers on the floor and looked only at the calculations that you could not even understand.

And you began to speak before a single person could realize what had happened.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"To the People of Earth, my fellow countrymen, and all the people of the world. My name is Malcolm Johnson. I am a Junior Astrophysicist from NASA, someone who in any other circumstances, would never be in front of a camera."

A few brief chuckles happened from everyone in attendance, those that did not know the horror.

"The news we bring today, is without question, the most important news that NASA will ever deliver to the People of Earth, and the most important event in the history of all Mankind."

You pressed the slide button to show an image from LUVOIR space telescope. The same image that had all but created you being here. You were the only one who could be talked out of the room, anywhere in NASA to tell the world.

"Twenty-six hours ago, at-" You stopped to look at your watch. "0942 Eastern Standard time the LUVOIR space telescope, the most advanced telescope ever made by mankind, discovered NRT-134, a rouge Neuron star. We here at NASA call it Sauron."

There was some laughter from the audience, from a reporter that was having a ball at the event, not really appreciating the gravity. No one would.

"Twenty Five minutes after we discovered The Star, our mathematicians at NASA proved, without any error, that Sauron, is on a collision course with Earth."

At that, the flurry of questions and panic sucked out any sense of calm and decorum in the Room.

Hands went up, shouts were let out, and even a few people tried to rush the podium that you were standing on. Including a few of the suits that were there to keep it quiet.

Instead, your fellow Nasa security members, and a few other reporters, actually kept them off, to allow you to keep talking.

"I have come here today, with the simple message for all of humanity." You paused, before seeing more people rush you, men with guns. "So that someday, we will be able to see our future in the Stars, instead of the glass among our broken planet."

"The Earth is a Cradle, but mankind cannot stay in the cradle forever. So reach for the stars. It's the only thing we can do to survive now."

And you knew that the feed cut off.

But mankind would soon perish. Or through hardships, reach the stars.​

AN: @ProjectUnidad here is the Omake. instead of the hope for the future with the potential survival of humanity, I decided to write the immediate aftermath of the discovery, with a single person, unqualified as he was, being brought into the spotlight, and telling the truth, and nothing but it.

Because why not? It makes the survival of humanity all the sweeter, that a single man decided that the World needed to have the gauntlet so that mankind saved itself.

I used the final lines from Tsiolkovsky, and of course, Per Aspera Ad Astra as the title.


In the end, We aspired to reach for the stars.

And in the end, we reached them, at the last possible second.

 

[ProjectUnidad]

Scheduled vote count started by ProjectUnidad on May 26, 2022 at 5:12 PM, finished with 69 posts and 28 votes.

• ---

  13 people have voted

  [X] Plan Hope for Humanity
  -[X] barely holds together as the United Nations takes the lead to save as many people as possible to find a new home in space ( 4 actions, 2 resource points)
  -[X] Nuclear Pulse engines ( 4 turns until arrival, - 5 on your rolls during the journey)
  -[X] Medium vessels (+ 25 ships, + 2 resources points, - 10 on your rolls during the journey)
  -[X] ship parts replacement
  -[X] farming equipment
  -[X] world heritage artifacts

  • NotteBoy97
  • Fission Battery
  • Argent Citadel
  • Tarumath
  • innave
  • Alter
  • Mars
  • Traveller76
  • Whilryke
  • Woltaire
  • Amilia
  • Chiperninerm
  • Haruhi is Waifu

  6 people have voted

  [X] Plan: We're escaping to the one place that hasn't been corrupted by Capitalism. SPACE!
  -[X] falls to chaos as one country decides to draft plans to send its citizens towards a new home in space ( 2 actions, 4 resource points)
  -[X] Nuclear Pulse engines ( 4 turns until arrival, - 5 on your rolls during the journey)
  -[X] Large vessels (+10 ships, + 3 resources points, - 15 on your rolls during the journey)
  -[X] farming equipment
  -[X] mining equipment
  -[X] construction equipment

  • Godwinson
  • always_confused
  • Justinian
  • Pillar 0F Atlan2
  • Random Member
  • spiritualatheist

  5 people have voted

  [X] Plan Spacers
  -[X] falls to chaos as a few countries capable of space travel decide to cooperate together to send its citizens towards their new home in space ( 3 actions, 3 resource points)
  -[X] Ion Drive engines ( 2 turns until arrival, - 10 on your rolls during the journey)
  -[X] Large vessels (+10 ships, + 3 resources points, - 15 on your rolls during the journey)
  -[X] mining equipment
  -[X] construction equipment
  -[X] ship parts replacement

  • The Bird
  • Magoose
  • Jack727
  • LordEdric
  • Klackon

  3 people have voted

  [X] Plan Save Everyone
  -[X] barely holds together as the United Nations takes the lead to save as many people as possible to find a new home in space ( 4 actions, 2 resource points)
  -[X] Warp Drive engines ( 1 turn until arrival, - 20 on your rolls during the journey)
  -[X] Large vessels (+10 ships, + 3 resources points, - 15 on your rolls during the journey)
  -[X] ship parts replacement
  -[X] farming equipment
  -[X] mining equipment

  • Physici
  • Vylinius
  • RandomDwarf

 

[ProjectUnidad]

Spoiler: Turn 0 Results

- Private Arkships
Roll d100: 92
2nd Roll d4: 3
Results: 3 private ark ships made it out

- UN Fleets Journey d100
Roll d100: 98 - 10(medium vessels) - 5(engines) + 10(omake) +10(spare parts) = 103!
Results: + 15 on your next journey roll, d5 to determine how many arkships can be saved

- UN Fleet Encounters d100
Roll d100: 60
Results: Rich mineral asteroid( + 2 Resources)

- ??? d100
Roll d100: 42
Results: ???

Turn 1: Long Voyage

Evacuation:
With the initial scare coming to pass, nations of the world rally behind the U.N. to come up with a comprehensive plan to evacuate Earth and find a new home among the stars. In the first years before the evacuation, a majority of the world production was dedicated to producing materials and parts to construct the first "arkships" that would be assembled on Earth's orbit, as well with the construction of multiple main launch pads across the world to launch dozens of rockets to space on a daily basis. Without spending too much time in testing on "concept engines" the joint space agencies instead opted to use nuclear pulse drive from NASA's Project Orion as the main propulsion engine to catapult humanity to safety. With all Earth's resources being allocated into the construction of the ark ships, it was agreed upon that of the three proposed "sizes" that the "medium" size cylindrical ships would offer the least amount of complications while also transporting safely as many people as possible.

While construction of this vessels were underway, much more pressing matters were underway in the halls of the U.N, one of which was determining who was going to board on the vessels. The hard reality was that transporting 7 billion humans off the planet is just simply impossible, matter in fact at most only 3 million humans would be selected with each ark carrying 120,000+ survivors. As news spread about the maximum capacity it would add fuel to the destabilization of society as resources were prioritized to the arkships rather than keeping the lights on for nations. Eventually cohesion wouldn't last as several countries would fall to either full anarchy or endless civil war for little remaining resources. Despite the collapse of civilization across the world the evacuation plan still continued to move forward under the U.N. with eventually completing the last arkship 7 months before the deadline.

With the exodus being a long journey, efforts were made to make as many replacement parts as possible in order to make maintenance and repairs along the way. The fleet initially would carry rations for the survivors when they wake up from the cryo pods once arrival to the new planet, long enough for them to start growing crops with the necessary heavy farming equipment to feed millions of humans. Another topic in hand was the selection of candidate planets that would be suitable for human, though the data doesn't give a full picture of what planet's ecosystem would be habitable for human colonization but ultimately they chose the most "qualified" planet in the hopes that this planet would resemble a whole lot like Earth. Though perhaps the most controversial and sentimental decision is the transportation of the world heritage artifacts, all countries contributed to transporting historical items such as totems, scrolls, books, paintings, documents, statues, etc. though there was some protests about taking the artifacts away but leaving them behind meant their ultimate destruction and part of human history lost so instead they must be kept safe all in the name of preserving human's history chapter on Earth.

As the last human passengers aboard to their shuttles, millions would had died either of famine, wars or suicide but even still a majority of what is left of governments still functioned and on the last days before the Earth's impending doom, under the last directions of the U.N, the remaining governments of the world would begin to distribute "euthanasia" drugs to the remaining citizens still left in the planet to save them from the pain when the Earth eventually starts to get ripped apart by the neutron star while also being bombarded with lethal dose of radiation. With the fleet now assembled the arkships begin to depart from the solar system to deep space, as humanity travels further from their once cradle. At this point most planets were lost to the star while the lucky few were thrown off from their orbits forever condemned to drift into the abyss of space. By the time they crossed the Kuiper belt communications with Earth had gone radio silent, the last satellite to monitor the situation of Sauron sent this last image before all connection was lost to the satellite. With their home gone forever, all mankind can do now is move forward to the great unknown.

Results: 25 UN arkships successfully evacuated from Earth, but everything within the Solar System is now gone and as such it has been renamed into the Sauron System. Gained + 10 on all your journey rolls, + 10 on actions related to agriculture and + 1 political power

Private Arkships:
In the initial stages of the evacuation planning, the elite class of the world made several attempts to influence the UN to get selected to be evacuated. Ultimately their attempts would fail as individuals within the evacuation process were focused on selecting people based on numerous conditions and economic class wasn't one of them, also came to the realization that "capital and profits" wouldn't be a priority in the new world. Thus the elites disillusioned with the rules of the "world government", instead they came together to fund their own evacuation plan…that is if you have the money to pay your ticket of course. Numerous projects would unsurprisingly fail, either through lack of resources to build the rockets or in a few cases that were built would meet a catastrophic end by exploding before or after launch. Only the elites that their business were primarily aerospace would ultimately to the surprise of the few and disgust of the majority that would manage to build three "small" ark ships. Though technically a few more people would manage to escape besides that from the UN fleet, some are wondering where they will go? Are they gonna follow the fleet or establish their version of "Ancap" state in some unfortunate world.

Results: 3 private arkships made it out, their destination is currently unknown

Asteroid in Deep Space:
With the UN arkships(along with the three others following behind) have so far made it passed beyond the Oort Cloud into what many would refer as galactic. Perhaps one of the theories that have being confirmed is that the "cosmic" radiation is much greater than that if you within the solar system, proving the theory that Star systems generate a protective bubble of sorts that protects them from the greater galactic radiation. Hopefully the scientists have already taken a consideration of such possibility thanks to electromagnetic field generators that are protecting the sleeping occupants from lethal dose of radiation. Upon the travel, a surprise came from the lead ark ship when a lone asteroid was heading to the direction of Sauron, upon a quick scan of composition they were pleased to learn that the asteroid was rich in metal minerals that would be essential in rebuilding their civilization. Through coordination from other ships they were able to split the asteroid into small fragments and distributed to all the arkships…save the private arkships.

Results: rich mineral asteroid mined, gained + 2 resources


Status:
Current UN arkships: 25
Current private arkships: 3
Modifiers:

• 4 Actions
• Total Journey Rolls: (-5) + 25
• D5 arkships saving roll
• Resources: 6
• Political Power: 1
• Action Rolls: +10(agriculture)

Actions: 4 available

[] Maintenance of the UN Arkships(normal)
While the arkships are drifting in deep space, this would be an important opportunity to run a maintenance check to ensure that everything remains operational for the duration of this journey.
DC: 50

[] Fate of the Voyager
Prior to exiting from the solar system one of the arkships detected a nearby object heading into the same direction they were going, one space probe later and this object would turn out to be Voyager-1 the last earth made satellite. What should we do with this ancient satellite?
(choose one)
- [] Let it be so that it can continue to fulfill its last mission…
- [] Take one of man's greatest inventions with us to our new home…
- [] Send its trajectory back to orbit the neutron star as a final act of defiance…

[] Integrate the Private Arkships(Diplomacy)
Despite their selfish reasons they are nonetheless humans and as a whole they don't no longer hold the same influence they once held back on Earth. Bringing them into the fold may or not be beneficial to us depending on what they have. However with the lack of authority, who is to say that they even want to join our fleet.
DC: 75

[] Set up a provisional government
Every Earth year people will be awakened from their cryogenic pods to stretch their legs and go through medical evaluation before heading back to deep slumber. We could use this opportunity to organize a meeting to discuss potentially setting up a government in a post-Earth society.
-[] [name]
-[] [authority] Democratic, Oligarchic, Dictatorial, Imperial
-[] [preamble] optional but includes an extra reward

[] Send some scans into deep space(normal)
As the arkships embark into the darkness of space, it would be foolish to fly blind and not expect to encounter something that endangers the ships and its occupants. Let's see what lies in the unknown.
DC: ???

[] Double speed towards our destination(normal)
Our destination is quite a distance away but we could arrive there faster if we deploy the double amount of pulses, however doing so doesn't come without big risks especially if we don't have the distance to safely evade an upcoming object or something go wrong mechanically wise.
DC: ???

[] Construct point defense systems(construction)
Though it has been reassured that the likelihood of being attacked by aliens is as unlikely as pigs flying, there is still a concern about space objects going at high speed that could penetrate the hull and cause serious damage. Though it would take time and resources.
Cost: 1 Resource point
d100: [0/50]
- [] [optional] spend 1 political power to roll another d100


Omake Bounties:
(Rules had been changed with this, prior to writing an omake you must first make a post claiming the prompt. Upon completing an omake you can choose the next available one. Also even when votes are closed you can continue to write the omake until I make the announcement for the omake postings to be closed)

• Prior to the evacuation a group of scientists found the perfect planet candidate…(completed by LordEdric)
• You hold a ceremony for those that were left behind and lost…
• A captain reminisces about his former occupation on Earth…(completed by Magoose)
• A kid in a cryogenic pod is dreaming about his home…(completed by Magoose)
• An elderly couple enjoying their last moments a together in the cabin before destruction…(completed by Argent Citadel)
• A crewman making inspections in the cargo area…(completed by cyberphilosipher)

 

[Ramble]

Battle of History
Negotiation phase
British Pride vs Common Human Fucking Decency = 86 vs 13
The british refuse to turn over the contents of the museum. Absolutely not. It is a matter of national pride. The sun never sets on the british empire! God save the queen! God save the queen! (she already washed her hands of the government. The royal family has decided to retire to the countryside and quietly pen memoirs which will be sent on the arkships.)

(defenders) British Government vs (attackers) British Looters = 23 vs 55
British looters attempt to steal the contents of the British museum in order to flog off for meth
The British looters are too much for the British government forces who are attempting to hold onto the museum until the bitter end.

(defenders) British Looters vs (attackers) UNSC Assault Group = 12 vs 92
Seeing the opportunity, UNSC marines crash into the mob of hooligans and cut them down with ruthless efficiency. A stream of flechette rounds scythes down those trying to make off with artifacts. Historians quickly rescue and save artifacts while the UNSC marches on.

(defenders) UNSC Assault Group vs (attackers) British Looters = 31 vs 7
In an attempt to take back the artifacts, the chavs launch an assault on the artifact recovery group. Lethal force is used. Well, it was already being used but it bears saying twice. The leader of the looting force, proudly resplendent in his Manchester United jersey gives a heartfelt if slurred speech lambasting the UNSC before he's tackled by a whole platoon of 31 power armored soldiers.

---

actual seriousness

Negotiating phase was the UN trying to get the UK to hand over the contents of the imperial museum because you know, important part of human history and all that. It would presumably have been part of a wider attempt to secure the contents of various museums as the world falls to anarcho-capitalism. This of course fails because even at the end of the world, Britain suffers from British Empire Syndrome.

The initial battle occurs between whatever British security forces are left, police, PMCs, whatever, and the British looters who are trying to get the contents of the museum for one reason or another which ultimately ends up with "hand it over to the UN" either for the reward money, a spot on the ships, to get one over on the government or some other reason. Also the mob was being egged on by UN planted agitators in order to clear out the British security forces in the way, and then the UN assault troopers would swoop in, grab the artifacts, and leave. In. Out. 20 minutes.

They didn't actually expect the looters to enter the museum and start stealing artifacts themselves. The UN enters the fray with fists and flechette rounds. A lot of people die either from the press of bodies, from power armor fists, from flechette rifles if a UN trooper sees a looter successfully fleeing with an artifact. The UN assault infantry have seen a lot. Life is very cheap at the end of the world. Now, most of them are able to leave, but a lot of people who didn't need to die are dead.

UN forces enter the museum and quickly deal with the remaining looters and confront the boss. The leader of the looters was deluded into thinking that if he was able to secure the contents of the British Imperial War Museum, he could convince the UN to rig all games Manchester would play until the end of the world. His final speech is whining about how the UN foiled his schemes. He is then quickly subdued.

 

[Magoose]

The Last Memory of Terra, The First Memory of Man:

Jace Malcolm Carter

Age: 12

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Nationality Prior to the Ark: The New England Federation.

Status: Dependent. Colonist.

Reason for being Brought aboard: Highly intelligent, a knack for problem-solving, instant recall, no medical conditions prior to the journey, no history of family medical conditions. Subject has been set for marriage and procreation at the age of physical maturity.

Parents are considered prime assets to future industrialization and farming for the future of keeping the new colony fed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For Jason Malcolm Carter or Jace by his friends, he did not really understand what cryofreeze, or the Deep sleep that it was called, was supposed to do. He had been told, during the last several hours before you were sent off. You had been in your pod when the ship took off, the violent exiting of the atmosphere was breathtakingly…

You didn't really have the words, but all your insides felt inflamed, and the gravity and g forces that were pushed against you felt like everything was wrong. You felt like you were dying. That you were going to die. And pushed against your body, you could only desperately look out the window that was slowly being covered by the heatshield, as alarms went off. Everyone could only stand… the few crew members who would be navigating the ship for these crucial first years, focusing on surviving.

Then you felt weightless. For a brief moment, you floated, feeling the weightlessness of the vacuum of space, before the artificial gravity started, and you felt the pod.

You saw home. Home being… Terra, Earth.

You had so many things going through your head as you saw the Cryo pod begin to count down to when you would go to sleep. The Longest sleep in all of human history.

Earth, the blue marble that had, until this moment, been your home, was in sight. Slowly crawling away as the Ark Ships pulled away.

You saw North America, illuminated by sunlight, your home in Northern New York now very, very far out of reach.

Then you saw the light from Sauron.

You had never gotten the reference that was made, other than the idea that the lord of Darkness was an all-powerful evil.

Now starting at its light, you recognized and realized the other reference.

It was beautiful. Some kind of amalgamation of light and darkness in perfect harmony. Something ethereal and beautiful at the same time, but hiding a dark, horrible future.

The greatest of evil was the most beautiful of things.

When the countdown reached zero, you closed your eyes. And went to sleep.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You awoke, at least you thought you awoke, in grassland, where you saw the savannah of Africa.

It was so unlike what you saw in pictures and videos in school.

It was so… natural. You felt the grass on your bare feet and you saw your red shirt and blue pants.

That was weird, though. Nothing felt right it was like you were standing someplace else.

As you looked to the stars, you saw Sauron there, gazing over the planet like the Devil itself. Always moving ever closer.

And then you saw it.

Them.

Did they look human?

You walked forward, not feeling anything but the rocks and pain of the life that was now on your feet. Yet no blood.

And you saw the man walk towards you… no… Woman?

She was naked, covered more in fur than linens and she had a sharpened rock in her hand.

She looked at you, first with curiosity and then with fear. She then reached out. A hand, more like a human you could see on the street.

And you held out your own.

Briefly, you touched her finger.

Then her pupils dilated. Her eyes seemed to glow, for but a brief second. Than recognition.

Than remembrance.

You did too.

And you saw her for what she truly was.

"Hello Lucy." you whispered.

The cavewoman nodded. Before slowly walking backward, from whence she came. As if not recognizing you at all.

You knew where you were now.

You were near the sight of Where Lucy was discovered.

Where she would die.

And you had just touched her. When you should not even exist.

Then you looked up to the sky, and Sauron was gone. As if you were seeing it all at this time. Instead of the doom, you brought.

Am I a god? The thought strayed for a moment. Or have I just warned our earliest ancestors of what is to come?

But the thought did not matter. For you instead dreamed.

Or was it witness… other events.

Mankind's collective memory?

Or were you dying, and this dying dream was your tomb for all eternity?

You would learn when you woke up.

AN: How is that for a trip?

Does Cryo sleep induce Psychic abilities? Does our kid just have an overactive imagination that sent him to the dawn of mankind? Does leaving earth to unlock our collective unconscious and genetic memory?

Is Jace God?

Who knows.

 

[Cyberphilosipher]

In the Belly of The Whale

Arthur John Smith

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Age: 26

Nationality Prior to the Ark: The United Commonwealth of Great Britan

Reason for being Brought Aboard: Smith is a crewman selected for the long journey to their new home as a quartermaster for the ark ship [REDACTED] he will be responsible for the local cargo bay holding [REDACTED].

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You looked at the boxes barcode and scanned it, it was a simple action, one that more or less told the content and a picture of each of the items that had been quietly held in the protective boxes in the hold.

Scan this one. Ahh, this was a crate full of Van Gogh. You recall an operation to recover as many of these across the world as you could. It was a task worthy of the UN's drastically expanded military and engineering budget.

You doubted not even Van Gogh even expected the effort taken to protect his work?

It should be an honor.

You nodded. "Alright…next to the…ahh, well you're in the right spot."

The days get rather tedious when it comes to making sure that the "Artifact Room" was double-checked.

Every Sunday…the crew runs inventory…no exception, the parts had to be checked for any issues…along with a monthly diagnostic of the animal cryo stocks.

Now Cryostocks carried the necessary tools and genetic material to bring a animal back to life.

Heck, you remembered people bragging about how it would undo so many of mankind's mistakes and like Jesus to Lazarus, bring a lost biological masterpiece, an animal once thought extinct back from the dead.

It was playing god in the highest way possible.

The American Bison for one thing…had been difficult to acquire for a handful of reasons, mostly due to the fact that a big fuss had to be given over its intense spiritual significance to the Plains Native Americans.

You remembered the dozen's of passing elders and holy men that had to each in their own language give a blessing for it to sleep and be reborn after a journey across the stars.

Similar ceremonies had been a thing for most of the items here.

The Catholic Church had given (Supposedly) an entire volume's worth of Knowledge from the Vatican Archive. The Iron Nail that pierced Jesus…among other little trinkets from every society and religious sect that had something of cultural and historical value.

It had been difficult to choose…you heard the captain mention, for as much as could be saved, two more memories, two more symbols of Human Experience were lost.

You scanned another box.

American Artifacts, the Liberty Bell, A Bust of George Washington and more.

Even had a Fragment from Grant's Tomb.

And so the Process went on for the next Several hours.

Each nation, tribe, and clan that was able to give all they were to this project DID and more.

But of course…he like many others stopped at the one thing many of the crew agreed was their favorite item.

Genetic Stockpile: Canus Lupis Familiaris.

Dogs…

They were with us to the bitter end, weren't they? You imagined. Only proper that we bring them with us on this next adventure.

You hoped they didn't hate you for making them take the cramped way there…instead of making them sit by your side and staring at a sea of stars wondering?

"When are you going to go out and play with us?"

Or something silly like that?

But you were sure they'd understand, they didn't judge like that.

---------------------------------------------

AN: A look into the things we carry, treasures…the hoops we had to jump through to get some of them.

And of course, shout out to the best thing that ever happened to us as a species…Dogs.

Those four-legged furballs are our greatest treasure!

Enjoy.

 

[Magoose]

O Captian, My Captian

Captian Chen Bai

Age 35

Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)

Nationality Prior to Arc: North China (The Communist Collective Party Remannt Government)

Status: Captain of the Capax Infiniti, The Youngest Captian of the Fleet, she was chosen for her engineering and the simple fact that it was needed to secure the last of the resources from China, which had control of them.

During her youth, she hid her biological gender to receive an education in the University of Shanghai, and after a grueling five-year career on the project, she was given the captaincy of the Capax Infiniti, the second to last ship completed before launch.
-------------------------------------------------------------

When she was 14, she lied about her gender to get into school. It was the university of Shanghai, one of the few institutions that remained open for academics study after the Second Warlord Period began. And the only thing that would be studied, was anything involving space. Anything to put them to have a better chance of getting onto the Arc ship.

Everyone seemed to forget that there were other things that were needed for survival. Farming, Industry, electronics, engineering, art, culture.

Everything that made life easier, and worth living, was forgotten for a simple reason. They believed it was the best chance for survival. Men, and only men it seemed, were being chosen for the task because the fathers wanted their legacy to live on.

Navigating as the great masters of the sea did, for thousands of years. But they thought too much about the grandeur and the mystic of winning and navigating the stars. When there were more pressing matters to attend to.

Like making sure the ship could actually fly first.

You had remembered the first day you were on the sight, trying to look at the blueprints while everyone scrambled to get as much done as physically possible on that shift. Time had been lost due to an accident.

And you had been there to realize what was wrong. One of the couplers had been improperly mounted onto the Arc's Megastructure, meaning that as they continued to climb further, the sheer weight of the structure would collapse.

Meaning the entire project could have failed. And if it failed, a million people potentially, would not see the stars, and only see Sauron, before dying a painful death.

No one believed you until you ran like hell to whoever would listen to you and told what was wrong.

You like to think your actions saved the lives of everyone here. All the stuff and the people that were on this ship. Because an engineer who was not even supposed to be there, trained and hid who she was, was absolutely right.

It was probably how you became captain of this ship. You were the only one that could see its problems before anyone else. To try and keep it safe.

"Captian." One of the engineers, Wang Fei, spoke over the radio, as you watched the stars move, your mind went back to the task at hand. It was strange, to see the stars move, ever so slightly through the viewports, after looking up and seeing them on earth. It was like driving a car, but at a speed that was faster than anything else that mankind of anything had ever produced. "Uh, one of the engine readings is starting to drop below 70%, want me to do something about them?"

Oh, that. "That's normal Fei, just the engines calculating and compensating for the increase power draw due to the cryo bays becoming online." You said. "Is the Artificial gravity rings beginning to spin, and the Greenhouse doing well?"

Ever since the astroid happened, you were able to expand the greenhouse, and the forge was perfect. Perhaps, if they had the time and the materials, they would be able to expand the Life ships and the arcs, even make escape pods to launch the cryo pods onto the planet, if anything were to happen to the life ship.

Silence met you for a moment before Fei responded. "Will says everything is green across the board."

"Good, I want hourly updates, and keep in contact with the other Arcs, I need reports to give to the Admiral."

"Yes, Ma'am." Fei replied.

You frowned before typing and looking at the radio. No, no need to call the Admiral. Not yet.

You would just walk the ship now. Look for anything that was wrong and fix it.

You needed to do that. Focus your mind on the project, instead of the boredom.

AN:

I thought it would be cool for an engineer who built the thing to be the captain


Well alright. Here it is @ProjectUnidad

 

[LordEdric]

A Perfect Planet Previewed Prior to Prodigious Partying​

ETA: 2 Day before Launch: CalTech Labs

Dr. Rajesh Ramayan Koothrappali, aka Brown Dynamite, aka Raj, was going the final few images on Tau Ceti from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite(TESS) with his friends, before he and his friends threw a final goodbye party/orgy(Howards' idea, and dismissed by everyone else, but with several pointed looks at Penny by Amy). It was by some stroke of luck, half their group had been selected for the coveted spots on the UN evacuation ships.

Howard had gotten on by being an experienced astronaut and an engineer, both jobs in extreme demand on this journey. Raj himself had gotten a spot as respected and skilled astrophysicist. His Father was backing one of the private arks and had apparently found a young new wife to take with him. His brothers and mother wanted to stay on Earth and spend their final moments in the comfort of home. His sister had been given his plus one spot.

Sheldon and Amy surprisingly had joined a private ark program with Sheldon's brother Georgie. Georgie, contrary to anything Sheldon would have you believe, was not a fool or idiot, and had saved most of the money his business had made. He had also gotten into several circles for self made millionaires. Their group seems to one of those that had a good chance of making it into space.

That had left Lenard and Penny as the only ones in their group who didn't have a ticket off world. The two of them had refused to leave each other no matter what, so that brings things to why they were still working so hard right before leaving. The current destination of the exodus fleet was very cold world on the edge of the habitable zone and had high gravity that would life like miserable. Thus, the UN had offered a bounty for anyone who could find a better world to go to than Tau Ceti f. The person who found a better world colonize would get a pair of tickets on an ark.

If they could find one, then they could get Lenard and Penny out too, and the whole group would be able to stay alive. And bonus, they would be traveling the stars mostly together. Everyone had pitched into look into the public photos taken by TESS, hoping against hope to find one. Raj had focused on the most recent photos of the Tau Ceti system seeing as this system was the original destination and so few people would be looking into it again. After all, worlds the size of Earth were pretty easy to miss as they are tiny in the galactic scale.

Raj was the only left still looking at photos, the others had long given up and were setting up the party. He was not going to give up on this friends and would keep looking even if no one else had any hope left. Raj clicked to the next picture and paused.

He look at it, and paused again.

He compared this picture to one with Tau Ceti without any worlds blocking any light from the star and paused again.

He checked the date of which the picture was taken and saw it was the day that the rogue star had been discovered and paused once more.

He then checked to make sure none of the known worlds should be in front of the star and paused one last time.

He quickly booted up a few programs to analyze the size, distance from the star, and possible atmosphere of the world. NASA had released these programs to the public almost as soon as the rogue star was confirmed to be headed to Earth. They could tell you everything about a world in 5 minutes or less. And, it was the slowest, most agonizing minutes of his life as he waited for the answers.

The first program to finish was the one to determine the size of the world. The world was also larger than Earth like all the others that seem to be in this system, but only about 1.5 times larger, so the gravity would not be that extreme. A good first start, not enough to get a seat on an ark, but a start.

The second test determined that the world was actually smack dab in the middle of the habitable zone like Earth was. Actually, it looked to be slightly closer, so the world would be an average of 2 C higher than Earth's average temperature. This was great, the world was almost exactly like Earth is size and temperature. This also meant, that the world should have an atmosphere and humans could live there without environmental equipment.

Finally, the last test spat out a list of the main contents of the atmosphere based on how the light from Tau Ceti had been warped pass through it. It was N2​ - 77.260%, O2​ -21.9476%, Ar -- 0.634%, and CO2​ -- 0.03%. The Nitrogen, Argon, and Carbon Dioxide was a little lower than Earth, and the Oxygen higher, but otherwise it was almost a perfect match for Earth.

This world was so perfect, he could probably get an entire block of an Ark just for him, his friends, and dozens of beautiful women just to cater to him. Or at least his friend and he would get to be on the same Ark. He had to send these results to NASA as soon as possible.

"GUYS!!! I FOUND IT!!!" Raj exclaimed joyfully as his rushed to tell his friends that they would all live.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Had to write most of this on my phone so it might be a little messy at places.

Also I've been watching a lot of TBBT and they seem like a good fit, and surprisingly most of them would have been good choices for places on the arks.