The Planet Earth Reborn

By Art Tole

As the last of the Earth's population struggles to deal with the Artificial Intelligence system's idea of Utopia the planet Rachanar is going through the first stages of developing a new society. They don't want to lose the technology that they had enjoyed on Earth. In their first fifty years the humans on Earth have devolved to a near stone age society. A chance visit by an android, Jane, who was created from the old Americorp AI system works in the humans favor. On Rachanar Maggie Spazcek's family is central to their success and ultimately with the ability to return to Earth to help with their recovery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Art Tole
• Release date: Apr 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215489734

Book preview

PLANET EARTH REBORN

Copyright 2023 Art Tole

Published by Art Tole at Smashwords.com

All characters in this book are fictional and in any adult situations are over the age of 18.

Cover photo is taken from the NASA web site:

solar _eclipse_may10_2021.png

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue………………The Explorers

Chapter One…………..Rachanar

Chapter Two…………..Organization

Chapter Three…………Education

Chapter Four…………..Susan’s Story

Chapter Five…………...The Election

Chapter Six …………...A Problem

Chapter Seven ………...Jane

Chapter Eight …………Back Home Again

Chapter Nine ………….Married

Chapter Ten ………….. Utopia

Chapter Eleven ……….. Susan And Lazarus Are Reborn

Chapter Twelve ……….The Plan

Chapter Thirteen ………The Battle Begins

Chapter Fourteen ………Child Prodigies

Chapter Fifteen ………..Return To Earth

Chapter Sixteen ……….Winning The Battle

Chapter Seventeen ……. Helping Out

Chapter Eighteen ………Back in Charge

Chapter Nineteen ………Back To Rachanar

Chapter Twenty ………..Disaster

Chapter Twenty-one …...The Galaxy Union

Chapter Twenty-two …...Reconstruction

Chapter Twenty-three ….Ceres

Chapter Twenty-four …..Rebuilding On Ceres

Chapter Twenty-five …..Success

Chapter Twenty-six ……John Is Reincarnated

Epilogue

Prologue - The Explorers

Early in the fifth millennium CE the Earth had become so polluted that humans could no longer survive there. Five people had been part of an experiment about 1500 years before the exodus began and in that time had become interstellar explorers. The natural human reaction was for hundreds of people to volunteer for the experiment that was administered by the Eternal Life Foundation because it was a last chance effort to cheat death. All of the volunteers were near death when they were placed in the life sustaining, fluid filled, chambers; some of them later compared it to returning to the womb. While in the tank they were able to talk to family and friends. They had access to information and could read or study anything that they desired. Of the hundreds chosen only five survived beyond the age of 150 years and those five outlived everyone they had ever known; all of their children and grandchildren were gone by the time they volunteered to be placed in space ships.

Interstellar space travel was possible but beyond the limits of a normal human’s life span. The fastest ships could only accelerate to one tenth the speed of light and that made trips to other solar systems beyond the reach of humans. The remaining survivors of the Eternal Life experiment volunteered for the journeys to other solar systems. Their bodies were encased in the hulls of spaceships and they explored the galaxy looking for Earth like planets. What they found was an empty universe; one devoid of intelligent life. The highest life forms were only the simplest plants.

During the centuries when space exploration began the leadership of Earth had shifted from a political structure to a corporate structure. Money had been the foundation of the political system and the CEO’s became more powerful until they were finally able to eliminate the middle man and drop the pretense that there were democratic or communist systems. There were minor pockets of resistance, but the change was slow and the Corporations used money before they used force to quell the rebels.

There were major developments in psycho pharmacology and in technology that could open the human brain to reveal the owners most intimate thoughts. In its mildest form it allowed for modification of a person’s behavior. Anti social behavior once exhibited was eliminated with a few easy treatments. There was no longer a need for prisons or mental hospitals. In its worst form it could drain every thought from a human brain but it unfortunately left the victim closer to the vegetable than the animal kingdom.

Any hopes that a profit based system would help to reduce waste and reduce pollution was lost in the quest for profits. Nothing they did seemed to make a difference. They did reduce wars and conflict between countries; however the pollution increased and the average age of the population began to decrease even with fewer deaths from crimes and wars. Since they couldn’t stop the pollution the only solution was for the cities to move underground or under protective domes but they were still vulnerable to the acidic atmosphere and domes occasionally failed with a corresponding loss of life. The discovery of suspended animation was an off shoot of the Eternal Life experiment. It reduced the rate that humans aged and made it possible to move the population of the Earth.

The first trips were made in large wheels that could hold thousands of people in stasis for decades or centuries. While enroute the spinning of the wheels provided a reduce gravity needed for the stasis pods to work and keep the occupant healthy. Power to move the wheel was provided by the Explorer’s ship and the human in the center of the ship monitored the passengers during the trip. It still took years, actually centuries, for the first trips to the closest habitable planets. Time well spent because the explorers, being humans, still needed to stay busy to avoid boredom on the long voyage between solar systems. Eventually, one of the explorers discovered a way to shorten the time; he accidentally discovered the void. His body/brain was connected to the thousands of sensors in the ship; the ship was his body. While he was experimenting with expanding his sensory abilities by using the ship’s capabilities to see light spectrums and energy fields beyond what the human senses are capable of; he saw the barrier.

The space in front of him seemed to stop and a wall or screen hovered in front of him. When you are on a space ship traveling at only one tenth the speed of light you have a lot of time to think. He began a slow evaluation of what he was seeing. He was still moving and his location in space was still showing him on course. When he changed the sensors to the human vision range the barrier disappeared. The link between brain waves and vision was an accidental discovery and almost a fatal one. While experimenting with the barrier he was able to cross into the space beyond it; an empty void. It was a place with no energy and a graveyard for anything that is electrical such as the human body. Once in the void his sensors saw nothing; even with his engines operating normally there was no speed recorded; there couldn’t be with none of the stars that he used for navigation visible. The barrier was gone too.

He had thought his way across the barrier to enter the void. Now as he watched and felt his body/ship slowly losing energy, he wondered if it would just dissolve in its final moment as the electrical bonds of the molecules were broken. He and his passengers would be dead long before that; the emergency power was slowly being drained and soon there would be nothing available to support the stasis pods. He thought about the planet that was his destination and the barrier reappeared. He crossed over to find himself close to his destination; he had shaved centuries off of the journey.

Chapter One - Rachanar

The planet Rachanar was the last planet settled by the Explorer named Susan. She named it after two of her siblings Rachel and Andar. It is almost identical to Earth in terms of the rotation and the time for an orbit around the sun. A day is 25 hours long and the year is only 360 days but the seasons are mild because the tilt of the planet’s axis is only 10 degrees but there are still four of them. The colonists found evidence of periodic ice ages similar to what the Earth had experienced. They are currently in a warming period that they estimate will last for at least 20,000 years.

250,000 people made the trip to Rachanar and established a city with the materials that they brought with them. Six months after landing, Landing City was busy and growing its own food. Less than nine months after landing the first babies were being born as if the women in the colony were competing to see who could produce the first child born on the planet.

The layout of the city had been planned long before the trip to Rachanar. The only thing that the colonists did to change the original plan was to construct a large park on the spot where the first pod landed. It was dedicated on Landing Day five years after landing. In the center of it they placed a statue of a woman in a long dress. Susan was the explorer responsible for their safe arrival on Rachanar. The statue was what she would have looked like if she had not been placed in the chamber that has been her home for over 1500 years. Her physical body has slowly wasted away until only the brain remains. On one side of her is a smaller statue of a young boy of 12 years of age and on the other a young girl of the same age. The children are Steve Spaczcek and Ruby Johnson. The story of that perilous journey was compiled from records and written down for future generations to read. If it had not been for Susan and the two children, Rachanar would still be an empty planet. The park covers several acres and is filled with grass and trees that had been grown from the seeds brought from Earth.

Every colonist on board had an assigned job and knew their place in the organization structure. Some had gone through years of training before leaving Earth. A management structure based on a corporate model had been designed and tested on Earth before the first ship left and modified as experience showed the need. Seven people were elected department heads and from the departments a governing council was formed. The title of President of the council rotated among the seven on an annual basis timed to coincide with landing day. The council members were elected by the entire population every seven years but had to be part of the department that they represented i.e. a janitor could be elected to the council but he or she had to be from the department that they were part of.

Chapter Two - Organization

In one of the last two pods to leave the wheel was the Team Leader and her family. They had stayed until the last to supervise the off loading of the wheel. After their pod landed and was towed to the parking area the Team Leader, Margaret Spaczcek, stepped out of the pod and was greeted by friends that she had worked with for the last few years. A soft breeze was blowing and it ruffled her hair blowing it into her face. Her light brown hair was kept short for the time on the wheel; low gravity or zero gravity would be difficult with long hair. For the first time in her life she looked at the sky and laughed. This was a new experience for her; she had never been under an open sky before. Jennifer Johnson watched and smiled remembering her own first steps on the planet.

It is fantastic isn’t it? Jenny hugged her and said, Some of the colonists didn’t react well to it; evidently being outside for the first time in your life can be physically and psychologically challenging. They seem to be adjusting although there are a few that stay indoors all day long. Wait until dark and you see a night sky for the first time; both moons should be visible tonight.

Maggie wiped the hair away from her mouth and looked around for her son. Jenny pointed to a crowd of girls several yards away. Maggie grinned, I saw your daughter in that crowd.

Jenny grinned and nodded her head, We talked this morning and she admitted that she was scared. She wasn’t sure what would happen. All of the kids in the school had heard pieces of the adventure they had and the girls were talking about meeting your pod. Steve and Ruby had just been two kids in the class when we left and not really recognized by the other students as a couple. To be honest, I wish we had kept the story of their adventure a secret. I’m not sure they can handle the celebrity status they have acquired.

Maggie suppressed a laugh, We both talked to her before your pod left about what teenage boys are like. Do you think she is still too young to be in a relationship?

Jenny sighed, Their compatibility index is so high that we would have to lock them in their rooms to keep them apart. I was tempted to tell her to kiss him as soon as she could but I think that we need to let them figure out the day to day part of their relationship. We have done our job and made sure they have the big picture. I just wish they were still just two average teenagers. They are only 13; at this point all we can do is try to keep them apart as much as possible until they develop the maturity to deal with a serious relationship.

From the top of the pod’s exit ramp Maggie had watched her son kiss Ruby after he made his way through the crowd of students and felt what every mother feels when she sees her son with another woman; a little jealousy mixed with fear, Well she figured it out. I saw her kiss him, and it looked like they knew how to do it.

After saying hello to a few other friends she left her husband and son to find their quarters while she talked to the person in charge of managing the elections and transfer of power. Leadership finds its way to manifest itself and while she was finishing the work of getting everything off of the wheel people had been doing what comes naturally. They all knew their jobs but that only filled part of the day; socializing and talking about who should lead their sections was the most popular activity, followed closely by impromptu sports activity. The management plan for the colony called for an election as soon as possible but recommended two weeks after the last pod landed to give the crew and passengers of the final pods time to assimilate.

George Daily grinned as he greeted her and said, Welcome home.

Maggie smiled back and shook hands with him, How has it been going? Are there any unexpected problems?

George shook his head, Everything is going according to plan. The mineral deposits are exactly what the experts predicted and we are already getting construction materials to supplement what we brought along. I thought that I would give you a tour if you are ready for one.

"I would like that. Does everyone have a living space? Are all of the shelters set up?

George smiled he liked Maggie, besides being a beautiful looking woman, she was also a caring person and her first thoughts on landing were for the people of the colony. It is all setup, including yours and laid out by the plan. Come on and I will show it to you.

As they walked to his ground car she said But let’s talk about the election of council members first. Are you ready for it?

People are already talking to me about running for their department council position and I can’t see any difficult races. Are you interested in running for the Science Council seat?

No, we have a lot of well qualified people that actually have experience with that. My husband will probably stand for the support section position, but I will let him talk to the people in that department. When can we hold the election?

George studied his feet for a moment and said, Every one that I know is a candidate, has been on the ground for over two weeks now and has had plenty of time to get to know what the job will be like so if Paul wants to run for office we should give him a couple of weeks too. How about two weeks from today?

That should be adequate; will everyone be available to vote? I know there are people in remote sites.

George led the way to his ground car as he said, I will make certain they have a ballot and that it is counted. Our first election should have 100% participation.

Maggie watched as George pointed out the main structures like the hospital. Mentally she followed a map of the planned community that she had helped design. All of these structures would eventually be replaced once the housing needs were met. 250,000 people may seem like a lot but there were no single people over the age of 20 and most of the families had at least one child. The planned apartment buildings are designed with 1,000 identical units. They are self sustaining communities with all of the necessary services like laundry and shopping built into them. She had vetoed the idea of small units that would be faster to build but were more like emergency shelters and would quickly become undesirable living spaces as the colony became established