2047 Autumn
Opportunity Results
Project Phoenix 2X
“Well, what do we have here?” , Lo asked as she curled her hands around one of these silly motif cups Westerners so dearly loved, sipping the approximation of coffee from it. Of course it was starkly artificial. Too bitter to be real coffee and the aftertaste of refined proteins for the caffeine lingered on her tongue. But the Initiative pushed the Phoenix Project on overdrive.
She thought it was to soothe Marvin, but it was having the opposite effect. He became more and more irritated, anxious and tense as time went on and more and more it was revealed how dire the situation was – not now but for future generations.
Her co-worker, a tall French fellow, picked up from the civilians and revealed to be a endocrinologist back in the day were there were still hospitals, gave a wry smile. “My own genealogy. I didn't want to look at it, but I am one of the last.”
“And?”, she asked, her hand wandering to his arm, touching it reassuringly. She didn't give much for romance, but times like these made the comfort of another human all the warmer. And he was very warm. But what did the test reveal?
“11-beta-hydroxylase deficiency, 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency, Brachydactyly tibial hypoplasia and Anodontia. And my swimmers have no tails. I think I'm firmly slated under “no go”.”, he finally admitted, rattling off congenital diseases she never heard of. She bit her lip. Another infertile. She wasn't, she knew. Almost anyone before the Long Night wasn't truly affected. After it, people were less lucky. Still to be found, a stroke of luck of not being exposed to ambient radiation enough, mostly in windy regions or high up, mountainous folk.
But the Horkorists picked up a lot of the people Marvin urged them not to. More workers, they said.
“Forty percent.”, said he. Speak of the devil. Marvin, haggard, tall and pale, stared at the screen of her co-worker. “You're in the forty percent, Jacque.”, he muttered. And patted his back, even hugging him, his face bitter. “I'm so sorry.”, he fluted. Her friend just shrugged, giving a sardonic, little smile. “Not much I can change about it. Can you?”
“No. I wished it was different.”, the team leader retorted, exhaling heavily, “We need some protocols in place. Pairing the fertiles with the fertiles, even if they get a whole new host of congenital diseases. Maybe artificial insemination. Group marriage. I don't know. There has to be a solution for the MESS THE HORKORISTS BROUGHT US IN.”
There it was. Another anger outburst. Jacque and Lo preferred to get out of dodge because soon objects will start flying. The worst part was, they understood his anger.Project Phoenix was completed and revealed a dire situation for the future of the colony. Roughly 40% of all personnel has been rendered completely infertile or would have serious troubles to procreate without outside assistance. This number includes people simply too old, people who have been rendered infertile due to exposure to radioactive materials and those who have voluntarily sterilized themselves before anything happened.
Beyond that, about 30% of the fertile group are host to congenital diseases which will manifest in the newer generations sooner or later. Under these are a host of new mutations and disorders which have a potentially negative effect on infants and newborns. The current moniker for these diseases are called “Post Exodus Disorders” and warrant further study if they manifest in newborns – if they do.
However, with the large percentile of completely infertile colonists this will seriously deplete the numbers of people after a few generations, possibly jeopardizing critical operations in the future.
Exodites urge the Initiative to reconsider radically how to handle this, proposing various solutions, which range from medical applications and assistance to shifting paradigms and the very concept of marriage or childrearing.
Project Outlast 1XOutlast, while scoffed at by Exodites, united the Fidelists and Custodians under the leadership of the Horkorists. Eagerly, agents and volunteers went all over the globe to scout out potential sites for the “Mini-Genesis” libraries, which were quickly developed. While cut down in size and lacking several newer designs and military blueprints, they contain enough data to help any human in a nuclear wasteland – a civilian version of the Naja suit (without armour) for example or hydroponics, as well easy to build solar panels or geothermal generators.
These panels and generators also fuel the Mini-Genesis libraries, which need considerable power draw for a far reaching enough signal. Although the nuclear winter hinders sunlight to shine on it. Thus, not many of these libraries can be distributed, as they need specific requirements such as active magma lodes or strong wind to be powered.
Agents and volunteers also place riddles, puzzles and hints all around the globe to guide Humanity to these devices, as well as downloading partial maps to the database of them. If any group finds more than two of these libraries, they will gain the location of the Antarctic Base.
Harden Initiative Base 1XSpeaking of the base, people were busy fortifying and hardening it, as well developing protocols to keep it on low voltage sleeping mode to keep the machines functional as long as possible. A half life of 50 years is expected until the Genesis Library left behind will turn off, which will slowly fragment data on it, but this is a condition engineers can't change. The most important part – the gate – has been placed into the end room of a tunnel road and fortified to a degree that cave-ins will be very unlikely even in hundred years.
This will be the last hope of the Horkorists. Even if everything else fails, maybe this one room will remain intact for the future generations that will return and seed Earth with life again.
Projects No projects!Opportunities Use SpaceX test siteOne of the problems of returning to Earth is finding it again after the portal has been stepped through. However, an old, still somewhat functional facility of SpaceX might yield a solution to that problem, using it to fire a beacon satellite into geosynchronous orbit. Using this, we might be able to find the signal when landing in the colony.
Initiative Status
Military Force (experienced, scouts)
General Boleslawich
Small Weapon Design Department
Small Programming Department
Small Physics Department
Tiny Biology Department
Engineering Team
Large Civilian Team
Upgraded Lab Equipment
Genesis Library
Seed Library
“Honey Bee” Prototype
AVH-23s,M16s,MP5s
Naja Armor, AT-4s, L16 81mm Mortars
Light Support Weaponry
Small Food Stockpile
Eisbär Half track squadron
Delivery Capacity
90% full