Chapter 1:
Pre-Precambrian
Planetary Guardian
As of now, I am a custodian of this planet. This planet is labelled A-010211, which means that it’s the 11th iteration of Configuration No. 2 with the 1st base in Lot. A.
We’ll get to the details later. Right now I’m reading the oxygen levels of the planet, still good but not in the atmosphere yet. The planet seems to have the right ingredients.
I’m not an angel or god from a far away celestial realm, I’m just an errand person in a large corporation being paid generously by typing data into a computer. It’s close I guess.
My task right now is to make sure that there’s enough materials in this cube that there could be life on this planet. I don’t even know what's inside this stuff. The cube and the planet inside is made out of scientific stuff that I don’t know anything about. What I know right now is that it looks like it’s working. I’m just watching this planet.
I know a few of my sciences though: you need a good combination gasses, moisture, sunlight, gravity, and bacteria.. I think. I just hope I do a good job.
According to my bosses, all I need to do is watch the planet and make sure that it goes through a progression that would be as close to the planet we live in as possible. They also told me that because of this cube A day in our regular planet time is a billion years inside the cube. This means an hour is 42 million years, and one minute is 700,000 years inside the cube. The cube is a highly specialized computer and I mostly watch it and order supplies for this planet.
I took out the small machine that measures the elements, plugged the cube into the machine that measures gravity inside and outside the planet. It seems to read right.
Next I have to look inside the cube to get a good visual. I took out a telescope looking thing out of my desk and I placed it right next to the cube. I looked into the eyepiece.
Lots of ice. A large chunk of the planet is in ice, and the temperature worldwide is below freezing. Looks like a very slow time for this planet. Nothing is moving yet. This is the most boring part of a task. Numbers can get you excited because you can make a graph and see some progress, but looking at it visually is a bit of a let down. I’m going to have to ask my bosses to give this planet a boost next time. Maybe a meteor shower or a planet collusion so big that it’d activate a volcanic activity that’ll burn the whole planet.
I’ve told you a lot about my task, but not myself. I’m sorry, I am just a bit shy.
What I can tell you is that I work for a scientific corporation, but not that kind you might think much about.
We specialize in tourist destinations.
Global Happy Tours has been providing customers with worldwide travel that fits any interest and any needs. Fifty years ago they went on space tours and ten years ago, they started touring the moon and the moon Deimos. (Mars is a full military venture at the moment, but you bet Global Happy Tours has a foothold when it opens up.)
By now you can figure out why this job was made. This planet that I am watching over will be the new destinations in Global Happy Tours' portfolio, a destination that’s exclusively offered by a company would be an excellent asset to have.
That's not for me to decide, I need to make sure this planet is whole and right.
The visuals check out. It really is frozen so it’s still in a glacial age from the looks of it. Half the planet is covered in ice and there's only two continents. Nothing is moving, not even the wind.
With most of the oxygen not free yet, and a planet being this quiet might need a boost from an asteroid collision, or maybe a lot of them. If I can convince my bosses to speed it up, we’ll be having our first intelligent life by the end of next week. I don’t know if it’s going to look like actual humans, but I have a feeling there's gonna be thumbs involved. Thumbs are pretty useful, try using something without your thumb. See?
You can resume reading from this paragraph.
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