The Colony On Proxima B

By V. Mott

In the safety of their dome, the colonists on Proxima B would create a perfect society—at least that was the plan. The space agency that was sponsoring the colonists had everything carefully organized. One hundred men and one hundred women, carefully selected, would be put into stasis for the twenty-five year trip. They would not age a day, and once awakened, they would meet for the first time. Then the pairing process would begin. Once paired off, they would begin having children, and everything would be captured on camera and transmitted to Earth so that the viewing public would be able to enjoy the "colony experience." That was the plan, but the frozen planet was home to forces that would disrupt this plan and require the colonists to face physical and emotional tests that they never anticipated.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781794776968

Book preview

The Colony On Proxima B

The Colony On Proxima B

V. MOTT

Copyright © 2019 Victoria Mott

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-79477-696-8

Cover Illustration: Sandra Mott

Graphic Designer: Melissa Mott

ONE

Arrival time to the colony on Proxima B was ten solar days—Earth days. Shay stood staring at the blackness beyond the transparent wall of the spaceship. Today the blackness was broken by an almost imperceptible red line, star light. She wondered how far away that light had traveled. Surely it had traveled billions of light years. She had chosen this view because she felt the need for a good dose of reality today. So far the entire mission from the moment she decided to join to the time she was revived from stasis had a surreal quality to it.

She felt her com ping on her wrist and touched it. Shay here.

Shay, what's keeping you? You're late and I'm starving.

She had to smile. They worked in the hydroponics gardens where most of the vegetables were already growing in profusion. If he really wanted to eat, all he had to do was pick something, but Eric being Eric probably couldn't wait to join his buddies and have a cold beer. There were twelve agriculturists on board, and Eric and she were assigned to the vegetable gardens where they shared the day shift responsibilities. Shay realized that everyone's job was crucial to the survival of the colony, but no one could deny that without their food source, they would all perish.

If it was anyone else but Eric, Shay would have taken her time getting to the gardens. It was not as if the plants would stop growing if she was a few minutes late, but she did not linger and immediately left the viewing station just taking the time necessary to shutter the wall.  After all, she owed him. He had been helping her with her share of the heavier tasks, so they could stay on schedule. Without his help she would have needed to use the gravity lift which took twice as long. Although for her size she had surprising strength, Eric was over a foot taller and much stronger. A woman weighing 46 kilos could lift only so much weight.

As she made her way down the corridor, she was stopped several times by people asking questions or just wanting to chat. Most of them had begun this trip as strangers, but since they had been suspended in stasis for twenty-five years, this was their first opportunity to actually meet each other and form friendships. This was not only encouraged but expected by SECA, the Space Exploration and Colonization Administration, because within four weeks of landing they were supposed to begin the pairing process.

For the hundredth time Shay thrilled to see the corridors crowded with fellow colonists.   It had been lonely on the ship at first for those who had been removed from stasis early. Shay had been one of those because SECA had determined that some colonists, like the agriculturists, needed to begin their jobs earlier before landing. The gardens needed a forty-day head start, so food would be available for the almost two hundred awakening colonists. 

Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how's your garden growing, one fellow with a wide grin and longish hair teased. He was walking quickly by her side trying to keep up with her.

Don't call me Mary. My name is Shay, she said, smiling. By regulation standards, his hair was way too long, but it was beautiful—the color of wheat and curly. Regardless, his supervisor would be after him to get it cut. She wondered who he was and what job he did.  She even considered scanning his ID number.

Mary, quite contrary, when is your shift over? Want to meet for dinner?

He might have gorgeous hair, but what a smartass she thought, and shook her head, laughing. She left him behind as she sprinted toward the deck lift hoping to catch it before it closed. He was cute, and Shay regretted not scanning for his number, but more than likely he had scanned hers and would contact her at some point. She was vain enough to take pleasure in the growing list of men who had requested a casual date with her.

Glancing back, she saw him barely miss a collision with a gravity lift loaded with titanium beams. He must have been distracted by the pretty brunette who was driving it, but her lift was not the only one in the corridor. Other gravity lifts bringing materials and supplies from one level to another made navigating the corridors a real challenge. 

Shay just managed to catch the deck lift going to level seven, but found herself uncomfortably wedged between a gravity lift stacked high with bulging sacks and its operator. She should have taken the passenger-only lift, but this one was closer. She noticed that five other people were squeezed in with her. Suddenly she felt a hand pinch her behind. Without even turning around, she grabbed it, and feeling for the nerve point between the knuckles, began twisting it sharply until she heard a man's voice beg, Hey! You're breaking my wrist!

I'd like to break more than that, she hissed. Surely the fellow knew the punishment for harassment. 

Sorry, I didn't think you'd mind. No one else seems to.

How many women have you tried that on?

Well....

Then everyone in the lift began talking at once. The two other men were even angrier than the women.

You should report him.

If you don't, I will.

That wasn't too bright, buddy. You'll never find a partner by acting like that. Do you want to become a pariah? Do you? a tall, fierce woman in the rear corner of the lift glared at the groper. 

With difficulty Shay was able to twist around to get a look at him. The tall woman was trying to scan his ID while the other occupants bent and twisted their bodies to give her a clear scan, but he simply covered his wrist with his uninjured hand as he glared at her, his dark handsome face turning an even darker shade. He did not seem at all intimidated by the critical glares of everyone in the lift. Since he was the closest to the doors, when they reached level seven a few seconds later, he rushed out without a word as soon as the doors opened.

Was anyone able to scan his ID? one of the men asked as they left the lift to make room for those waiting to take it down.

He could have apologized, at least, commented one of the women.

Shay just stood for a moment watching the groper disappear into the steady stream of people passing her in the corridor. The tall woman who had confronted him remained by her side and said, I'm Mariah, and you're Shay, right? One of the agriculturists?

Shay nodded.

I can find out who he is for you if you want to press charges. I don't need his ID number. I'll remember his face. All I have to do is view the ship's manifest. He's very handsome, isn’t he? Too bad he's such a caveman.

Shay just shook her head.

You really should press charges, so there's an official record, the woman insisted.

It was only a butt pinch. Besides, I almost broke his wrist. That should teach him a lesson.

There's no such thing as 'only a butt pinch.' If you don't report him, he might continue doing it, or something even worse. 

Shay told her that she would think about it. Then she scanned Mariah's ID, so she could contact her if she changed her mind. As they were about to go their separate ways, Mariah put a hand on Shay's arm. Hold on a second. Even if you don't change your mind about Mr. Caveman, we can still get together to talk. I don't know about you, but I'm a little nervous about this whole pairing process that's about to begin.

I'd like that, Shay said. Then a train of three gravity lifts loaded with storage containers forced her to move to the side of the corridor, and by the time they had passed, Mariah had disappeared into the crowd.

TWO

The colony that Shay was heading toward was the second one of its kind. The first attempt occurred one hundred years earlier on Proxima A, a planet sharing the same sun as Proxima B.

Unfortunately this attempt had been a disaster. The widely accepted belief was that these first colonists just had a series of unlucky breaks, but in truth they never should have starved to death. SECA should have provided better safe-guards. Perhaps the real problem was that SECA had not spent sufficient time in preparing for that first mission. They had been rushed by a world giddy with the discoveries of a magnetic propulsion system or MPS and a molecular stasis process. 

With MPS a spaceship could reach the nearest solar system in one life-time, but Earth still could not use this to proceed with a colonization program because the colonists would be in their seventies when they arrived and too old to survive the harsh and demanding environment of a distant planet. SECA considered sending colonists who could have children during the voyage, but they soon discarded this idea after overwhelming evidence proved that children who were made to grow up on a spaceship would become adults so psychologically impaired that they would be incapable of creating a viable society once they landed.

SECA's problems were suddenly solved when the molecular stasis process was discovered five years later. Now the colonists could make the forty-year voyage and still be young enough to build their infrastructure and bear children who would take over their duties on the colony. 

In less than a decade after these discoveries, the first intrepid colonists left Earth for Proxima A knowing that they would never see their home planet again. These were called First-wavers because SECA planned to send a second wave of colonists after them once a second ship was built. Unfortunately disaster followed disaster for the First-wavers. First their seed supply was contaminated by mold during the voyage. Then they lost their only agriculturist. What eventually doomed the mission to starvation was that most of the planet was covered in water and all animal and plant food sources were toxic to humans. As soon as the colonists' freeze-dried rations were exhausted, a few managed to survive a short while by resorting to cannibalism. SECA tried to keep these gruesome details out of the news, but they eventually leaked out to the general public, and the popularity of the colonization program waned for a hundred years.

SECA learned many valuable lessons from that first colonization attempt on Proxima A. They not only improved the MPS to make the voyage in thirty years instead of forty, but they changed the location of the colony to the next nearest planet, Proxima B.

This new group, called the Second-wavers, agreed to remain childless since their main task would be to build a tremendous dome that would be able to accommodate the colony for many generations as it grew. There were only sixty of them and even with bots helping them and prefab panels, the task of building this dome would be formidable. No one could be spared to tend children. They would leave the job of procreation to the third wave of colonists who were scheduled to join them in 35 years.

Between the departures of the Second-wavers and the Third-wavers, SECA made even more improvements to the colonization program. One improvement was on the MPS. Now the voyage to Proxima B would only take 25 years instead of 30. The SECA engineers also managed to more than triple the size of the spaceship. Unfortunately, they were unable to modify the stasis process equipment so that it could be included on a ship, so a return journey to Earth using stasis was not possible. Like the colonists who had gone before them, this last group would be leaving Earth for good. 

The most significant improvement was that now there would be visual communication as well as audio. The people left behind on Earth were even more enthusiastic about this than the colonists. Now, instead of merely listening to the trials and tribulations of the colonists on Proxima B, they would be able to actually see what was happening thanks to simcast cameras. They looked forward to watching the day to day routine of the colonists as they established themselves in the dome and began having children. The viewers would vicariously be able to experience the excitement of being a colonist on a distant planet but in the comfort of their homes. 

And how the people of Earth needed this distraction!  With the eradication of war, poverty, and infectious diseases, life simply had become too uneventful for most people, and more than anything, they craved drama—not just the drama of fiction which had become stale and blasé but the drama of real life. They wanted to experience the struggle for survival like that of the pioneers from the ancient times. So no one complained about the exorbitant cost of the program, and there was almost unanimous agreement that this was money well spent.

Since the Third-wavers' primary purpose was to find a partner and procreate, the popular press had dubbed their spaceship the Love Boat referring to a classic show from the 1970's. Everyone had a good laugh over the name, especially the colonists since most of them were from a generation where the idea of love and romance had become old-fashioned. Sex was different from procreating, and love did not necessarily belong to either activity. But when a large group of attractive men and women in their thirties are suddenly told to pair up, all kinds of feelings might surface—including love.

********************

The hydroponics gardens were at the end of the corridor on the top of the spaceship, and few people, except cooks and of course the agriculturists, ever went over there. As Shay approached the gardens, she was beginning to agree with Mariah that she should report the incident. That fellow's attitude was like a cancer that could grow and make life intolerable for the women on the colony if left unchecked. What Shay could not understand was how he managed to hide this unacceptable behavior from the psychs who made each candidate go through a rigorous series of tests. Were there others among the colonists who were like him?

As Shay pressed the pad on the wall and the door slid open, she saw Eric sitting on a stool at the desk frowning into a monitor. When he heard her come in, he looked up and said, Finally! I didn't think you'd ever get here, and why didn't you respond to my pings?

I was on my way, so I didn't bother. Besides, you wouldn't believe what happened to me in the lift coming….

Forget about that. This is more important. You'll never believe what Omar captured in G6!

How do you know it's more important? You don't even know what I was about to tell you.

Whatever it is, it can't be as important as this, and he shoved a covered petri dish over the desk toward her. Shay stared at it for a moment then picked it up to get a better look. Lying motionless in the center of the dish was a tiny gray moth.

Okay, is this some kind of joke? Are you trying to get back at me for being late? I mean if you really needed a beer that badly….

This is serious, Shay. How in the hell did a G. molesta end up in a garden on a spaceship? Ruth actually found the first one. She found it just sitting on the twig of a peach tree. Omar found four more around the apple trees.

Well, look at that! was all she could say.

Yeah, look at that. If there are moths in the fruit garden, then what other moths somehow survived this journey and are laying eggs on our vegetables as we speak.

Try to calm down, Eric.

How can I be calm? You know perfectly well that there should be no insects at all in our gardens, except the bee-bots, of course, but the seeds and cuttings we brought from Earth should be flawless, no insects, fungi, molds, nothing that would damage our crops. What I'd like to know is how this little devil survived the irradiation process, let alone the twenty-five years of stasis, and how many others are flying or crawling around out there eating up our crops? He anxiously looked out at the hundreds of feet of hydroponic gardens, painstakingly maintained by them. Besides their freeze-dried rations, this was their only food supply.

Maybe there are only a couple, Shay said hopefully, and if not, we can capture them and manually pick off any larvae. Then we just give the plants a nice soapy spray. Besides G. molesta only like fruit. They shouldn't bother our vegetables. You worry too much Eric.

"I do not worry too much. I repeat. If G. molesta hitched a ride, then other types of moths may have also. When Henshaw hears about this, he'll probably have all of us do a visual inspection of our gardens and possibly a soapy wash as you suggested. Let's just hope that this is enough. You do know that even one female can lay hundreds of eggs, and once the cycle begins, well…."

Well, I haven't seen any sign of infestation on our vegetables. Besides, washing should do the trick. We can do more visual checks as well, and if it makes you feel better, we might get tech to rig up a motion detector to check for any more moths.

I was just thinking that any insect that can survive the irradiation process might be resistant to the soapy spray. A motion detector is a good idea. We can check the gardens quadrant by quadrant. This may take some time, but if I make out the schedule now….

Now? Are you kidding? An hour more or less won't make that big of a difference. I want you to get out of here, have a beer and calm down.

A beer would definitely help, but I'd feel better when we have some motion detectors installed.

I think that you're just being paranoid, Eric, but if you're that worried, why don't you talk to Henshaw and hear what he has to say.

I think I will, and I'm not being paranoid, just cautious. You know as well as me how important this crop is. I don't think SECA has a good enough contingency plan in case it's destroyed. After what happened to the First-wavers on Proxima A, you'd think they would have been more cautious. If we lose this crop, we only have enough freeze-dried bars to last forty days, and a replacement crop would take a minimum of thirty days before we could harvest it.  That doesn't leave us with much margin for error.

I know all that, but the Second-wavers must have some food to spare.

Enough for two hundred more people?

They grow some tubers and besides they've been supplementing their diet with meat from those moose creatures.

What makes them think we'll be able to digest the meat? We're all vegetarians! Eric pointed out. "Even the Second-wavers who ate it the first time had a pretty severe reaction to the meat and most of them weren't even vegetarians. SECA should have prepared us better by providing a little meat