Genisys (Sci-Fi short story)

Act 2: Conspiracy

Collins could just barely contain the urge to facepalm himself multiple times as he watched the news on the TV. How could humans be so selfish, so... stupid? They were only living on Genesys for roughly 3 months, and things were already going wrong all over the planet. Some people had predicted this would happen, but no one had taken them seriously. The whole world, every single country, had finally been working together, forgetting any issue they might have had before. People had been so foolish to think things would stay that way. Now that humanity had settled in and started to explore Genesys, the former powerful nations of Earth had started to claim more and more parts of the planet as their property. Arguments turned into threats, and soon the whole of humanity was on a verge of a global war. There were rumours that several of the nations were building nuclear bombs. Humanity had just escaped extinction, but now it appeared as if it was going to finish itself what the heat of the sun had started.

I've dedicated half of my life to this!, he thought in frustration, And now it's all being thrown away, and for what? So that one nation can have a little more cash until it's blown up? If there only was something I could do about it...

The Glyph weren't very helpful. The inhabitants of the next planet wanted to stay away from the conflicts of the humans, fearing they could be dragged into a war they had nothing to do with. Collins couldn't blame them, though. He was sure he would have done the same in their place. He was even grateful for the messages the Glyph sent regularly, trying to calm down humanity, giving advice on how to share Genesys and offering to help organizing that if they were asked and accepted by all the participants involved. Obviously, that didn't happen, so there wasn't anything the Glyph could do.

Collins felt tired as he turned off the TV and stood up from the sofa. He glanced at the landscape out the window. Several buildings had been constructed in little time on the wide, grassy field that looked so similar to those of Earth. Further away, a beautiful forest rested below the sinking sun. He decided to go for a walk the next day.

Collins went to the desk and started his laptop. It had taken little time to get the internet up and running again. Almost all the data that had been stored on Earth had been saved, so Collins could have searched anything he wanted on Google, just as always. But now he didn't feel like it. He would check his E-Mails and then go to bed. His life had been very boring lately, as there was nothing left for him to do. All he could do was sit there and watch all his work being destroyed because America and China wanted those iron mines or corn fields to earn more cash.

He wasn't really expecting anything more than answers for his YouTube-comments. He only took a brief look at the screen, and wanted to close the page again, as he found a rather unusual Mail he had received. Its subject was "Urgent!", and from an unknown E-Mail adress. Collins blinked, surprised. He didn't know it was possible to send anonymous Mails. He narrowed his brows as he opened it. The mouse click sounded very loud in his silent apartment. He began to read: "Greetings, Dr. Collins. I know you are the head of the team that discovered a way to create wormholes. You're certainly aware that it is thanks to your work we're all still alive right now, and I wanted to thank you. But as you surely know, either, is that humanity is going to destroy itself if things don't change. Do you still feel like saving the world? Because I do, and I am going to need your help." Startled, he started thinking about what he should reply. The unknown writer had caught his attention for sure. But what did he want from him? Well, he would never find out if he didn't ask. "Depends on what I have to do", he typed back. He opened Wattpad and started reading Bermuda for the 100th time while waiting for a reply. The following two minutes seemed like hours to him, but he only had to wait so long for the reply to arrive. "I know I am asking much, but I have no choice. You have two months to develop a teleportation device, basing on the wormhole technology, but small enough to be hidden in someone's clothing. It may seem impossible, but I believe a genius like you and your team will be able to handle it. I'm sorry not to be able to tell you what I need the devices for, but you will have to trust me. If you don't develop that device, chances are the great nations will destroy Genesys along with all its inhabitants" What did that mean? Why did they need teleportation devices? Who had sent that mail anyway? Why didn't he want to tell Collins what he wanted to do with the devices? "How can I be sure I can trust you?", Collins typed back. Barely three minutes later, the reply was there: "There is no way to prove that my intentions are what I claim them to be. But see things this way: If we don't do anything, humanity will go extinct. And whatever evil plan I might be up to, it certainly cannot be worse than that. So you'll just have to trust that I'm doing the right thing. If I was a fraud, well... anything would be better than an apocalypse, right?" Collins leant back in his chair, rubbing his chin. The stranger had a point. He sat there for several minutes, until finally staying up with a sigh and grabbing the phone. It rang for a few seconds until a male voice asked: "Collins? What's up?"