This story is by Sarah Prescott and was part of our 2017 Summer Writing Contest. You can find all the Summer Writing Contest stories here.
The Ark
>Official Memo – Lt. K. Hopper: LC6 – Copernicus, 05 / 127 / 2317
Many history books state that 2017 was the turning point for the human race and its existence on planet Earth. What they fail to recognize is that it actually began 70 years prior, in Roswell. The cover-up was lame and predictable: A weather balloon. Truman was the first president to officially meet a P45 (short for a humanoid +45,000 years evolved ahead of our present timeline, or Earthlings from 45,000 AD). Over time we have come to call them The Grays, and they were the first of two humanoid species to arrive on Earth before the skies turned black.
The second group to arrive, The P52 Orions (humanoids +52,000 years evolved past our present timeline or 52,000 AD) claimed to have traveled from a star system located near the celestial equator. Before that, they were also from Earth. The Orions maintained human similarities except for their height, averaging at seven feet tall, with oversized eyes that were an intense shade of blue. The Orions arrived in 1953, to sign a treaty with the leaders on Earth committed to environmental protection. They agreed to assist by teaching humans how to nurture their planet in order to prevent global warming of the Earth’s surface, which could ultimately result in a polar cap magnetic field reversal. This agreement was upheld until 2017.
When the Grays arrived on Earth, they were unlike anything anyone had seen before. According to military reports, they stood three and a half feet tall on a small frame slightly hunched over with abnormally large heads in comparison to their torso, bulbous black eyes, ape-like arms with four long fingers, small mouths, and a couple of little holes where their noses should be. Their skin was smooth and pink-grey in color, similar to a hippo. There are multiple memos noting specific encounters with them logging telepathic communication and their ability to influence empathic feelings without touch. This later became known as Project Indigo Child.
The Grays stated that the difference in their physiology from Earthlings occurred after the catastrophe on their original planet (Earth) – which in our timeframe hadn’t occurred yet – caused by one group living underground to survive the environmental effects until eventually, they migrated to a star system called Zeta Reticuli. The second group of humanoids (the P52 Orions) left Earth immediately after the catastrophe and settled on the Moon, then Mars and eventually other distant star systems.
Environmental and other factors created the marked differences in the two genomes after several tens of thousands of years had passed and each group had evolved based on its surroundings, however each still shared the same basic DNA.
The Grays had landed in multiple locations across the Earth simultaneously to meet with the leaders of each nation, however no government agency wanted to share the secrets handed down to them. Every landing site possessed a unique gift that the Grays shared with each respective leader, ultimately leading to the World’s demise. It was the gift of knowledge. If used correctly, the level of technology created would have enabled humans to construct a machine that would manipulate the fabrics of space and time, opening the window for FTL travel (faster than light travel). Instead this knowledge was used as a weapon, one they would use against each other due to their petty differences and lack of foresight.
In March 2067, Bohai Xing was as expected, elected by the National People’s Congress as Premier. He had a very interesting talent: Telepathy. His gift wasn’t bound by space or time with abilities to access the memories and thoughts of any living thing he focused his mind on. He was one of the original subjects used in Project Indigo, controlled, executed by the Chinese government, and instructed in secret by the Grays. Once the other government agencies found out, Martial Law was declared. Soon after, the US President was informed and, in the interest of National Security, nuclear weapons were deployed to China. They retaliated, along with Russia then North Korea and it was all over. The catastrophe that our visitors came to warn us about had inevitably happened and billions of people died. A number of scientists, engineers, astronauts and other agencies were transferred underground to live while another group of individuals from the European Space Agency (ESA) were headed for the Moon to continue construction on Project Armada also known as The Ark of the New Dawn.
My great, great, grandfather, Roy Hopper was a Captain in the US air force and part of the initial group that joined the ESA and left Earth to colonize on the Moon. There, they continued construction on Project Armada to build “The Ark”, a ship designed to transport 25,000 souls including cargo of enough embryos to facilitate human genetic diversity to neighboring star systems past the belt of Orion. Additional groups have since ventured further out within the solar system, settling on the surface of Mars and the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting Saturn.
There are thirty large craters on the lunar surface and The Ark sits directly inside the shadow of Copernicus (the sixth crater) on the dark side of the moon. I was born and raised there, and grew up watching the Earth rise above the horizon. Occasionally, when the dust clouds part, you catch a glimpse of warm orange and brown hues, similar to Mars except a little duller.
I, Lt. Kate Hopper am based on lunar crater six. My job, first as an aeronautical engineer, is to pilot The Ark and its cargo beyond the Belt of Orion to the star Alnitak, and second as a scientific historian, is to log data in the Ark’s central library for future human generations to come. Our forefathers took their planet for granted, letting ignorance and pride supersede their instincts and scientific proof to protect and nurture their home. We will not make that mistake again.<
Leave a Reply