GA Writing Prompts - 34. # 141 - Captain's Log

Captain’s Log

Captain’s log 301817081116

The small comet hit the southern region, but nobody came to harm, luckily, as this part of the region was a vast salt desert. As a result of the impact, however, new plants started to grow on the farmlands that adjoined the desert in the south. The stellar material changed the genetic constitution of the cereal plants. The plants were bigger and richer in essential nutrients than the original plants. The experiment had proven to be a striking success. It was exactly like Prof. Dayton had predicted.

Prof. Dayton had researched on controlled impacts for thirty-seven years. The implementation of the experiment had been easy as locating an adequate comet or asteroid was easy in these days. Due to advanced laser technology, steering an asteroid to Earth wasn’t difficult either. Performing a controlled impact in the year 2,740 was as easy as locating Earth-like planets in the beginning of the 21st century or watching Mars and Venus with a telescope a couple of centuries earlier. What was new about the experiment was that the comet was not steered into the sun or the planet Jupiter where it would simply disappear and do no harm. This time, the comet hit the planet Earth.

Prof. Dayton’s studies and his computer based results had been verified by research teams all over the world. The World Union, an institution with legislative power, had finally voted for a practical experiment. According to Prof. Dayton’s results, stellar material could improve plants growing on Earth. According to his complicated analysis, the element hexagon-

α+, found in the year 2,668 in various small bodies of the Kuiper belt – a region of the Solar System beyond the planets extending from the orbit of Neptune - would generate the intended results. Hexagon-α+ could be released from rocky material with heat and high pressure. A controlled impact of an asteroid rich in hexagon-α+ was the easiest way to generate the effect.

The region around the Dead Sea in the Middle East had turned into a vast salt desert over the centuries. The region was the chosen target of the impact. Farmland was prepared in the south of the desert, an irrigation system was implemented, and finally cereals were planted while a small body from the Kuiper belt was steered to Earth. The plants had just started to grow when the controlled impact occurred. The experiment quickly turned out to be a striking success. Tests showed that the plants had changed exactly like Prof. Dayton had predicted.

Neither Prof. Dayton nor any research team worldwide had predicted, however, that the element quadrion would be set free when the asteroid entered the atmosphere of Earth. They had not predicted it because the element had been unknown until that day and even advanced technology had not detected the little amount of material that the asteroid contained. The amount of quadrion set free sufficed to enlarge the ozone hole in the briefest of time. The impact of quadrion was a thousand times bigger than the effect of the hazardous greenhouse gases. Ten years after the impact, the ozone layer was 100% destroyed. Unfortunately, advanced technology in the year 2,740 was not advanced enough to stop or even reverse the process. Human life changed considerably as a consequence and much faster than any computer based simulation had predicted. As a result of the ultraviolet radiation that came uninhibited from the sun, the population of Earth in the year 2,840 was already 50% of the population in the year 2,740. It was 30% in the year 2,900, 20% in the year 2.925, and 10% in the year 2,940. People lived in underground shelters, scattered across the planet Earth.

Unfortunately, we lost contact to the other inhabited cells in the year 2,982 when worldwide communication ultimately broke down and could not be restored. So I can only assume that our community, located underground in the Rocky Mountains, is not the single one on Earth. I’m typing this on a machine that is running with a durable battery that I suspect to work for at least one more decade.

We’re a group of 157 healthy adults and children. Our physical bodies have changed only little over the centuries due to our life underground. Our community is based on support and compassion, and the respect that we have for each other. We strive for happiness and fulfillment. We strive for a bright future and peace in our lives. To Jesus Christ we commend our souls. May the grace and the mercy of our Lord be with us. Out of the depths we have cried unto thee. In God we trust. Hallowed be thy name.

Adam Noah Jones, August 17, in the year of our Lord 3018.

End of log