The Tale of 2061

[Myroria]

The comet began to hurdle toward the Sun. Just on time. As usual. Jets of cryonic ice flew from the nucleus. Following in its wake - or rather, it's tail, was a medium sized (For the Pelagian Empire), unassuming craft about the size of the apothem of the comet simply dubbed C 32,945. Suddenly, it sped up on a cue from the station on Earth and turned to stay in front of the comet. It latched on. And it ignited it's nuclear powered rockets. It aimed it toward a yellow planet. And it slinged it toward it.


Several days later, the comet slammed into the yellow planet's surface. Water turned to steam instantly. But more came over the past couple weeks. Unbeknownst to the still fragile people of Earth, their new overlords directed comets toward their twin planet. All but one came from the Kuiper Belt. All but one were unassuming. That one was the first to hit Venus. That comet conquered Brittania. That comet killed the Great American Novelist. That comet had just saved humanity. That comet was known to the humans as "Halley".

[Myroria]

The Empeurer of the Pelagian Thalassocracy sat in a gilded chair at one end of a mahogany table. The word "Thalassocracy" didn't really fit, being as it was in space, but it sure sounded better than "Spaceocracy". The governors of the six provinces (American, European, Asian, Oceanic, Antarctican, African, Australia being considered a large Asian island) and the overall Planetary Governor were also arranged, with the former arranged on the long sides, three on each side, and the latter at the other end facing the Empeurer.

"I have ordered a total of seventeen comets crashed into Venus. They have gotten rid of the carbon dioxide - well, they are working on it and should be finished in a couple of weeks - but there is the problem of excess water vapor. It is in itself a greenhouse gas so while it will promise oceans, the atmosphere will be too hot for habitation. We need to construct a solar shield to stop the Sun's rays from reaching Venus."

"But Your Highness, that is currently beyond humanity's capabilities." said the (human) American Governor from the Mexican County.

"But it is not beyond the Pelagian capabilities," said the (Pelagian) Planetary Governor from the Caucasian County.

"We have sent several transports with solar shield components to Venus from our colonies on Ganymede and Io. Each is about fifteen kilometers long, five kilometers high, and ten kilometers wide. We can construct a solar shield in about 20 years. And the biosphere will take care of itself from there."

"That is beyond my lifetime, but it will be my crowning achievement before I die: I will be the first emperor to have terraformed a planet and reached a satellite galaxy." said the aging Empeurer.

"And it has already started. Projections state that in 200 years of it's terraforming, the population will already have been a billion. Our next project will be Mars, and then Titan. Unfortunately those are the only places we can terraform in this system; it is certainly not a system with many habitable worlds. But I get ahead of myself. Good day gentlemen, and may God be with you."

And with that the Empeurer walked out and entered his Imperial Shuttle bound for the Pela System: capital of the Pelagian Thalassocracy.

[Myroria]

The funeral procession of the Empeurer walked to his mausoleum. Even though automobiles usually flew, it was traditional for a funeral to take place on the ground. At the front, holding a golden lantern, was the handsome youngest son* of the Empeurer, Meneldur XX. He was set to become Empeurer of the vast Pelagian Thalassocracy tomorrow at his coronation. The casket was carried into the diamond (quarried from the vast carbon planet of Fortuna) mausoleum and set into a massive marble sarcophagus. The prince spoke a eulogy and the crowd dispersed in several hours. People who missed the procession would go to pay their respects by themselves. The Crown Prince got into his luxury sedan to go to the Imperial Shuttle which would take him to the Imperial Palace on the resort moon of Atlantis. The sedan's underbelly rockets fired and the driver set the location and sat back for the automated ride.


Meanwhile, on Venus, the crew bolted the last plate onto the solar shield. They celebrated the end of the long construction with the breaking of a champagne bottle on the shield, but the champagne only bubbled and flew away into space as the crew laughed. They piled onto shuttles and took off to Earth, who's population had reached about 7 billion since the switchover of power. Once Venus was cooled to about 280 K the people of Earth would go there, and hopefully decrease the number to about 3.5 billion on each planet. The solar shield would be destroyed with blasts from an MSCS, and Raptor's would take care of the big debris pieces before the move.

[Myroria]

The 27 year old Empeurer (OOC: I forgot to mention in the last post, but Pelagian females never have menopause so even when the former Empeurer was old he could still produce heirs with his wife) was sitting on his throne when the HPHAI model in his palace spoke.

"Meneldur, we have recieved a transmission from Earth through the α Cen wormhole. The age is two hours, forty eight minutes, and twenty seconds." There were only two types of things in the Thalassocracy - nay, the universe, that were permitted to say the Emperor's name directly to him: His family, and HPHAI. Perhaps signifying the Pelagian's respect for computers - as long as they didn't outstep their boundaries.

"Please put it on the screen, Hip-hay."

"Yes, Meneldur."

A white line flashed in the middle of the large screen opposite the Emperor before it grew to the top and bottom in a split second, showing the high-resolution image of the Planetary Governor.

"Good afternoon Your Majesty - or rather, good night on Pelagis. I am pleased to announce that the solar shield on planet S2 - Venus - is complete. The current temperature is 408 degrees Kelvin - certainly not too comfortable, but an improvement over the excruciating 700 or so before. People are already calling it the Great Transformation.

I am also pleased to tell you that the situation in the African County was put down as the last rebellious warlords were executed. We are beginning the irrigation of the Sa...Sa...Sahara, was it?" He paused as a human assistant nodded.

"Sahara Desert. The African Corps is also distributing the cure for AIDS? Yes, AIDS - to the people there. Certainly a resiliant virus that was, but it was brought under control.

Rather unexpectedly, the solar shield's effects also occured a bit here. Global warming has definately stopped - Australis, uh, Antarctica, has expanded it's ice sheet quite a bit. Certainly will quiet down those hippies. Well, all's quite on the Terran Front. Good day to you, sire." With that the Planetary Governor took off his hat and nodded before the image shut off.

"Thank you, Hip-hay."

"Would you like to send a reply, Meneldur?"

"Oh, no need to. He knows I only reply if there's a problem."

"Yes Meneldur." HPHAI said as the red "message" camera eye turned the normal gray.

[Myroria]

And so, the exodus would begin. The transports that once carried the solar shield to Venus now were turned to passenger craft for the coming years. The first landing caused minor tidal fluctuations, perhaps bigger waves than normal and the ability for sandcastles to last longer. Fourteen landed, two on each continent. First come first serve was the rule, but the Earth Corps in their dark green armour ensured it was no worse than the day after Thanksgiving. The loading would take a week, so many people wanted to leave and start a new life. The Wild West had turned to the Wild Venus.


So, many asked, how did the oceans form on Venus if the water was vapor by the time the Exodus began? Simple, said the scientists, both Pelagian and human. The rain which had boiled before hitting the ground before finally touched the ground. So much vapor was there that you would have drowned by breathing before, but now that the water didn't boil, oceans formed in a matter of years, decreasing the vapor content and increasing the liquid content. The land on Venus became smaller...and smaller...finally even Earth had more land than Venus, but the Pelagians planned well. 80% of Venus was water, but that 20% was still great. It was as if the people of Earth had been lifted from the burdens of human primitivity, and many saw that Pelagians weren't there to enslave or conquer. They were there to save. And the ranks of the supporters grew and grew. Americans, of course, were still sore. They had not only been conquered, but by a monarchy, no less! It would still take a while, but the humans were starting to realize the truth. And so ended the Thirty Year Fable.