Agent047
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676 - To Leave or to Remain
🕑 Added 2024-08-08 05:36:19 +0000 UTCTask Force Teegarden.
It had been more than a year since their arrival, and they had discovered two planets in the Goldilocks zone, both shrouded in nuclear winter as a result of a devastating war. This discovery marked the beginning of their exploration.
Inside a private office, Fleet Admiral Jason Ryfczinski could be seen going through the final pieces of collected data from the entire star system. The majority of important data had been collected from the two habitable planets within the star system, Teegarden B and Teegarden C, both currently experiencing nuclear winter.
Despite the primary goal of the exploration fleets being discovery, the selection of specific star systems hinted at the empire's fervent hope to find intelligent life. Each of these star systems boasted planets within the Goldilocks zone.
However, after meticulously searching every nook and cranny within the two habitable planets within the star system, they were certain there was no intelligent life remaining. All had perished either during the war or in the years following due to various factors such as hunger, conflict, suicide, and other causes.
As a result, a major reason for this exploration fleet's mission went out the window. However, this didn't mean they stopped exploring. There was still valuable data to be collected, and now all the data that could be gathered was finally complete.
Now, he found himself in a dilemma: should he continue the exploration mission until their expected time to return, or should he end the mission early and order the fleet to return ahead of schedule?
"How long will it take to complete the collection of materials?" he asked, speaking to the void.
{From the creation of cargo ships to everything being loaded, it will take anywhere between three to six months,} the fleet's AI responded shortly after calculating.
"Call all of the commanders for a meeting as soon as possible. We need to come up with a plan," he said, dismissing the hologram and taking a moment to rest while waiting for the summoned commanders to arrive.
{At once,} the AI responded, immediately setting to work.
……………….
A few hours later.
Seen from above the two planets, a vast stream of ships carried container-like structures, delivering them to the main exploration bases on both planets. The orders to start collecting everything worth researching further back on Earth had been issued only a few hours ago, and the fleet was already in full motion, mobilizing to transport the collected materials. These efforts aimed to bring back valuable samples and have them analyzed by more advanced machines for further analysis and development.
Although they appeared to be ordinary containers from the outside, their sizes ranging from hundreds of meters to over a kilometer, they were far from ordinary. These were intelligent containers equipped with nuclear batteries and advanced virtual intelligence systems. These systems activated and maintained stasis throughout the journey back to Earth, ensuring the safety and integrity of their contents. Additionally, the virtual intelligence could report any issues during the voyage, allowing immediate intervention if needed.
People on the ground wasted no time, immediately getting to work with renewed vigor. Knowing they were packing up to return home, they worked faster and more efficiently, aware that the quicker they completed their tasks with minimal issues, the sooner they could head back to Earth.
On the two planets, everything was being collected either in its entirety or in select samples, depending on the nature of the material. In some cases, only a few thousand samples were taken.
Things such as servers on the planet were collected in their entirety, while the bodies of the previous inhabitants were limited to a thousand samples per species. The remaining bodies were buried in designated civilization burial grounds on each of the two planets, where a memorial tomb would be constructed. These memorials would include inscriptions in the inhabitants' language, detailing how they died.
As for the water on these two planets, a million tons were being collected from each distinct water source, including rivers, ponds, and oceans.
The stellar forge of this fleet was now operating at its maximum safe operational output, churning out containers and building a cargo ship specifically designed to store them. This new cargo ship was essential, as the current fleet configuration was not suited for this particular mission.
"Now I’m wondering if we are the lucky or the unlucky ones to have found life outside the solar system at all," Yassin said, observing the mayhem at the Teegarden B main planetary base. Containers were arriving, being packed, and moved to a waiting line for loading onto cargo ships once they were completed.
"I’m pretty sure the rest either find life at its infancy or nothing at all. If my guess is right, then we are lucky to be the first to discover intelligent life outside the solar system. And even if not, there’s no need to dwell on it since finding intelligent life, even a dead one, is incredibly rare. Our discovery is like winning the lottery," Mpilingu responded.
"Mpkhhhh," Yassin laughed at Mpilingu's opinion. "Based on my calculations, there should be less than a one percent chance of finding life within our hundred-light-year distance. Since we are the ones who found it, albeit a dead one, that percentage has been used up. This means the chances of others finding something similar are even worse than the already small one percent."
"I just wanted us to find a living version," Mpilingu said, revealing his hopes for the discovery of new life. "I wanted to see if any of our artists who created extraterrestrial life forms had hit the mark or if we weren't even close to it."
"Anyway, it doesn’t really matter now. We need to focus on safe collection and evacuation without any casualties. I don’t want our first death to occur just months before we return. I don't want to deal with the bureaucracy or tarnish our safety record," Yassin said, his eyes fixed on the hovering holograms displaying footage of the ongoing mission. The holograms highlighted the areas with the most chaos, allowing him to intervene through the virtual intelligence if the monitoring AI missed anything, no matter how unlikely that was. He wasn't leaving anything to chance.
