Proxima B

“Sir, the time has come! They all have taken their own seats. It’s time to go!” one of the members of the personnel said.

“I’ll come!” the President exclaimed.

“Matthew… you know… this is the dawn of a new era. Let it start in the best possible way!” Piquet kept on saying in a low tone of voice as if he were whispering close to Matthew. Then he went behind the stage. The Lieutenant-General was left alone with his own drink.

All the guests had taken their own seats. The lights in the hall dimmed and the spotlight turned on in the middle of the stage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the President of the United States of America, Mr. Ferdinand Piquet that is going to introduce the lecture!” the speaker announced. So the President took his own place on stage behind a microphone.

“Good evening, everyone, and welcome!” he exclaimed. His words broke the silence and the guests applauded.

“First of all, I must thank you all for accepting our invitation. I must tell you that in our European branch in Copenhagen and in the Asian branch in Shanghai the same meeting is taking place. We are going to discuss a problem that has been affecting us for a long time.”

While the President was uttering these words, the audience’s gazes were getting more and more perplexed, even if there was some curiosity in them.

“You should already know that our planet has entered the zone that we have named ‘RED’, due to its serious threat to the whole terrestrial ecosystem. But before you get alarmed or become upset, I need to give the floor to the one who knows facts better than me and, therefore, is going to show you anything. Ladies and gentlemen please welcome Lieutenant-General Matthew Ross!” the American President said finally, and then he gave him the floor on stage.

“They are yours…,” he added by calling on Matthew and after giving him the last pat on the back, he faded away and made his final exit. Matthew took his place, took a deep breath, licked his dry lips and started to talk.

“Good evening, everyone. As you heard, you know who I am and you know why I am here today, too. As to all of us, you and I know the name of this planet…,” Matthew cried out by indicating the giant screen behind him where the images of the Earth were appearing.

“Well, fifty years ago or so our planet looked like this. As you can see, both poles were still covered with a thin layer of ice, the deserts covered one third of the current surface and the species of animals were fifteen percent more than today. But what mayn’t be relevant – which is actually not true – is the fact that we keep on multiplying exceedingly despite the strict laws that many states in the world have imposed. About twelve billions of human beings are now living on our planet. At this rate, there won’t be enough resources for the human population and its needs!”

These words were uttered by Matthew, who tried to catch somebody’s eye while he was scrolling through some other images of the Earth behind him. The planet was mauled by hunger, famine, out-of-control climate changes and pollution.

“That’s the fact, gentlemen: if nothing changes, the human race will die out itself. And it will take thousands of animal and plant species with it into the abyss,“ the Lieutenant-General kept on saying. While moving to the right, he added, “But fate, God or whoever you want has decided to help us.”

Each face in the audience revealed an increasing curiosity. The General kept on saying, “Four years ago our telescopes spotted this one!”

The image of a new planet appeared on the giant screen.

“What you are seeing behind me is Proxima B, an exoplanet that is a little more than four light-years from us!

It orbits around a red dwarf star and, as far as we know, it is the only planet where it is possible to live,” Matthew told us. In the meantime, he kept on scrolling through the images on the giant screen behind him.

“But what impressed us was the fact that you could see that star. It shouldn’t have been so, since our telescopes aimed at a point from which no exoplanet should have been visible… We racked our brains for a long time, but we couldn’t realize why it was exactly there! But in the end we got it…”

Matthew paused for a while, scrolled through the images on the screen again and let the audience know why that planet was exactly there.

“There it is, ladies and gentlemen! Yes, you got it right. It’s a black hole, a wormhole, whatever you want to call it. It allowed us not only to see the planet but also to shorten the route, according to our calculations, from four light-years to five and a half terrestrial years!”

After that, the General went in the middle of the stage again, and the pitch of his voice changed.

“So, the real reason why you are here is that all of you have been selected after an estimate by which you have been regarded as the best in your own field. Chemists, engineers, biologists, doctors, soldiers, physicists, you, essential members for any worthy human society. I’m going to give you one week to decide if you want to take part in this one-way travel to colonize this new planet! We know that many of you have their own families and children and we know yours may be a hard choice, but, please, know that once you’ve landed on Proxima B, on this second opportunity, your loved ones can join you thanks to a second travel in a short time. So, you can start to live again all together! This is the last chance to survive.”

The man talked as if he had already faced such a mission, but actually he had spent most of his time during the last four years studying each single detail concerning Proxima B.

“Any questions?” Matthew asked as soon as he ended his speech; some boom operators began to move around in the audience while waiting for someone to ask for the floor. David raised his hand, and so did some other people belonging to several groups that had been asked to attend this lecture.

“Hmm… you! Tell me!” Matthew said, calling a chemist in his own sector.

“What is the conformation of this planet? And what temperature should we expect once we get there?” the chemist asked him. His voice came out of the speakers inside the hall.

“It’s a rocky planet, or we wouldn’t have thought of establishing the colony right there. We mean to land on the intermediate zone, and precisely near the equator, where temperatures should be similar to the temperatures of the Earth…,” Matthew answered. He kept on looking for someone else who wanted to ask him other questions.

“You, in the second row!” he said. The question was made by a physicist this time.

“What kind of atmosphere are we going to find?” he asked him.

“From the data that have emerged, according to our survey, we have assumed that Proxima B’s atmosphere is similar to the one of the Earth, since it is made of a mix of oxygen and nitrogen,” he answered.

The hands among the armchairs were raised up almost with one voice one more time. Once again it was the General who decided to whom the microphone had to be handed.

“The girl in the second row! Yes!” Matthew exclaimed as he pointed at Emily with his left hand.

“How many of us are going to leave?” the beautiful soldier asked him.

“In the first mission, thanks to which we will be able to establish the first colony, five hundred people – be they men or women – per mothership are involved. Those who have been selected, after an estimate by which they had been regarded as the best in their own fields, are being accommodated onboard the motherships. I’m honored to share this travel with those who are going to accept.”

Suddenly one of the members of the personnel came forward from behind the scenes; he went closer to Matthew and whispered something in his ear. All of a sudden, the General kept on saying,

“Unfortunately, my time is over. Those who are going to accept should report their availability in one week from today. If you accept, that will be fine. You’ll be informed of further directions; you’ll be trained for your travel. If you give up… well, in that case you’ll be replaced by other illustrious co-workers in their respective fields. And remember… For the benefit of all! Make your right choice! Always!”

Finally he said, “Thank you all.” He walked towards the backstage, which stunned most of the guests who, after a few moments of silence, began to murmur.

The President, who was holding his glass in his hands and was waiting for him behind the scenes, cried out, “Great job, first Lieutenant!”

“Thank you, Sir!” Matthew answered. Then he retired in his dressing room.

The sun was shining in Washington, even if it was really cold. Emily fled the seat of New NASA Corporate and looked for a bench under the sun to warm a little and meditate on what she had heard in the lecture. She gazed up at the sky and at the clouds through huge skyscrapers, the electric traffic noise with which the streets were filled, the buzzing of the passers-by or of those who were working nearby. The girl closed her eyes for a while and cut herself off. After a few minutes, on the street opposite the bench on which she was sitting, a taxi equipped with an automatic guidance system stopped. She had called for it before leaving the structure. The young Marine got into the taxi. “Washington-Dulles International Airport, please!” Emily exclaimed while fastening her seat belt.

“Right away, lady. The arrival is scheduled in twenty-four minutes,” the artificial intelligence in the car answered, and it set off into traffic immediately. Emily was watching the sky above her once again; there, the space among the buildings was occupied by flying aircraft and bus drones equipped with an automatic guidance system that constituted the traffic in the sky; she glanced at her smartphone before grabbing her plastic card in order to pay for the race.

After about fifteen minutes, the car came in front of the main entrance of Dulles Airport.

“Here we are: Washington-Dulles International Airport. Thank you. Goodbye.”

The robot’s voice came out of the car speakers and once Emily swiped his card, the remote power door locks were disabled and, finally, the girl could get off the vehicle.

On the return flight to Arizona, Emily could not help thinking about what New NASA Corporate had proposed to her a couple of hours earlier. The fact of leaving her beloved Arizona, the place where she was born and had grown up, made her excited and sad at the same time. She had always been a determined person, but this time she was not even able to make a choice.

Phoenix, Arizona.

When Emily entered the barracks, she began to tidy her own belongings in her cupboard. She should have stayed in Washington one more day, but she had decided to come back to Phoenix one day earlier. So, after emptying her bag, she lay in her bed and thought. After about two minutes, a knock on the dormitory door was heard.

“Miss Parker, Chief Master Sergeant Lucas Douglas is waiting for you in his office!” a soldier informed him before closing the door and going away.

On Lucas Douglas’ office door, two knocks were heard; the Sergeant stopped doing anything and exclaimed, “Please, come in!”