Working At The Colony
You were frozen twenty years ago and now you appear at the Colony, ready to begin your life as one of the first colonists of this new world. How did you get there, exactly?
You were frozen twenty years ago and now you appear at the Colony, ready to begin your life as one of the first colonists of this new world. How did you get there, exactly?
In this post, we will explore the theme behind the first characters in Untold Dawn and how they come to be in the colony.
In the year 2145, two decades before your story begins, holographic screens saturated every conceivable space on Earth, illuminating the urban landscape as citizens navigated their corporate-dominated world.
These projections incessantly promoted the impending mission to Artemis, a newly discovered planet, and the face of Professor Callysto, the scientist overseeing the project, his visage burned into the collective consciousness of the planet's inhabitants, marking the inception of a vigorous recruitment campaign for prospective colonists.
Individuals from the most diverse backgrounds eagerly submitted their applications for the missions, with recruitment centers sprouting in the most unexpected places: town halls, educational institutions, malls and even hospitals.
Endless queues wound around the blocks as holographic displays extolled the advantages of enlistment to any willing listener. Among them, desperate individuals eager to sacrifice familial ties for the promise of substantial financial compensation to be bestowed upon those left behind. Unwitting students, uncertain about their life paths and career-orientated corporate aspirants, determined to carve a niche for themselves joined the ranks of enthusiastic applicants.
Stringent medical examinations were conducted, with rejections being the norm rather than the exception. Comprehensive DNA testing was employed, barring all but the most robust and genetically resilient individuals, emphasizing both genetic vitality and physical fitness.
The massive undertaking of sending colonists to Artemis was at first considered a novelty or some kind of overly-ambitious plan, and those who signed up were either desperate or early adopters.
As the project continued, candidates were informed about the cryogenic process and its risks – there's a group of people who undergo cryogenic sleep who never wake up from it. The preparation also involves various uncomfortable steps.
For instance, candidates are informed that the day of the mission, they will need to undergo a procedure to replace their blood with a special cryoprotectant solution designed to prevent ice crystal formation and cellular damage during the freezing process. This would involves a gradual replacement of blood through an intravenous drip while, simultaneously, drugs are administered to reduce the metabollism and prepare it for its long rest.
Many bow out at this stage after this information, pressured by their families or their own fears of the procedure. But a healthy group remain.
The risks of the mission and its implication in the fate of humanity begin to get serious debate around the world. Several congresses become divided, arguing that their countries should ban participation in the process or not, with corporate interests thickly in the line. Some of these conversations turn violent.
Meanwhile, major corporations earn eye-popping contracts to produce the various parts of the project.
Nova Dynamics is the provider behind the advanced anti-matter propulsion systems that will get the colony's ship to travel the vast distance to Artemis.
Biogenesis is a massive corporation that specializes in synthetic biologic and genetic engineering, who has been thickly involved not only in the procedure for cryogenic sleep, but also in genetically enhancing the crops for the mission with the goal to establish a self-sustaining ecosystem on the new world.
Robotic companies and university labs provide the advanced robots and drones that, once the colony lands, will set up the basic construction blocks of the starting habitat.
The QCN and its stakeholders naturally have a vital role in this mission, allowing the Artemis mission to be connected with Planet Earth.
Finally, the days of the missions are close.
For the colonists, this is the time to say good-bye to their loved ones and friends. With promises that they will stay in touch, nevertheless, they know it is likely they will never see each other again.
And so, after the procedures that they were warned about, the colonists are transported to the Artemis Mission Control set in Houston, and put to sleep.
And they went to the stars.
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