The Noah Initiative

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. And even if I were not in space, still no one would be able to hear me. I can’t scream when my mind has been detached from my body. My consciousness can yell as loud as it wants, but when my body lays motionless in a regenerative chamber, no sound emits from my mouth. The only people that could hear me were the others in the collective mind. For their bodies, too, lay motionless in chambers of their own. In my mind, I could feel them staring at me and hear them murmuring amongst themselves as I screamed. Slowly, the giant spaceship rotated as more pods were jettisoned. My pod, along with another, ratcheted closer and closer to the launch point.

“Yahweh!” I shrieked to the computer. Terror coursed through me. I could barely think straight.

“Yes, my child,” the computer answered me with a soothing father’s voice.

“Why are we being sent by pairs?! This is supposed to be the Moses Ship!”

“I am sorry, my child,” the computer cooed back. “This is Eden Ship Two.”

“NO!” I screamed back at it. “I chose Moses! I chose the Moses Ship! We are supposed to all go together!”

“I am sorry, my child,” the computer responded again. “This is Eden Ship Two. You are an Eve and will be sent with an Adam to colonize a new world. Just the two of you.”

I mentally looked around the collective mind as two by two, pairs of people I had spent the last decades with were ripped away. One moment they were there in the collective, able to be interacted with, and the next they were gone, off into the nothingness that was space. Their conscious minds were placed back into their bodies as they were sent off. I screamed in my head as my pod was rotated into position.

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You see, Earth had been dying, and the human race was perishing right along with it. Centuries ago, the remaining people collaborated to save humanity. Our greatest scientists studied the universe and learned how to bend space-time, allowing mankind to travel hundreds of light-years. Travelling into deep space, we found solar systems in distant galaxies and sent out probes to find hospitable worlds, potential places to repopulate mankind.

A promising one was found, a binary system with young stars. Five prospective planets were discovered in the Goldilocks Zone with numerous large moons in orbit. They were dubbed “Second Earths, “ and terra-forming modules were deposited on these worlds and their moons to create atmospheres.

But travel to such far-flung existences would still require time, more time than a human had to live. So, our greatest doctors created regenerative chambers, special pods that allowed human bodies to be re-created on a cellular level. These bodies would be genetically enhanced so that they could live and reproduce for centuries.

Then, the scientific community asked for people, for volunteers. They dubbed it “The Noah Initiative.” Those chosen would have their bodies re-made and improved. Men and women would be coupled together and, along with plants and animals, would be sent off in pairs to start new worlds. They named the vessel on which they departed “Eden Ship One.” Aboard this ark, human bodies were placed in regenerative chambers and their conscious minds were detached and merged with the collective.

In the collective mind, people were able to experience life as if they were still in their own bodies. They were able to speak and write, eat and drink. In the collective mind, “Yahweh,” the computer mainframe, taught them the skills needed to prepare for life in these new worlds. Building, farming, hunting, medicine, science, art, music, and philosophy, all of it imparted to their minds from the computer over the decades floating in space towards their destination.

This was a huge risk for humanity, to send arks out to extraterrestrial worlds in the hope of saving our species. But it was out last chance at survival, and it had to be done. There was no guarantee that those who went would survive, but that was the risk they took. They knew what they were taking on when they boarded the ship. Those that went on this expedition were mankind’s heroes, and we followed their journey as the reports came back from humanity’s new outposts.

But not all was promising. Many of the Eden Pairs perished, and there was one report that was particularly troubling. It was believed that on Second Earth 5 Moon 7 (SE5M7), the Adam had a psychological breakdown and murdered his Eve. The most disturbing were the whispers that SE5M7 Adam and his children cannibalized Eve. Of course the leaders of The Noah Initiative refused to comment on the matter or on the status of the offspring.

One hundred years later, more people were asked to depart the dying Earth. But now, after hearing these things, people were scared to leave. However, the leaders of the Noah Initiative promised us that it would be different this time around. This time, colonies were being sent out aboard what they called “Moses Ships.” These voyagers would join the Adams, Eves, and their descendants that survived, bringing with them new genetic material. In addition, more plants and animals would be sent out to further expand the colonies.

The leaders of the Noah Initiative also decided to “restock” the worlds where the couples had perished. This caused great concern among the second group of volunteers. However, it was assured that only those who agreed to be new Adams and Eves would be placed on Eden Ship Two.

I chose one of the Moses Ships. I wanted to go as a colony, to have people around me. I did not want to brave a foreign world with just one other person. I did not want to build my future from the ground up. As part of a colony, I would be joining and living in an already established existence. I was scared the day I left Earth, but I was excited about the new horizon in my future. As I boarded the ship, my mind was severed and placed into the collective. My physical body was loaded into a regenerative chamber to be enhanced and kept alive for the long journey.

It was not so bad living in the collective. We existed as if we had bodies, but experienced all of it in our mind, doing everything that normal humans did. We ate, drank, danced, laughed, and made love. We learned from Yahweh all the skills that we needed in order to thrive in the new colony.

Over the many years that I existed in the collective, I met the others who had chosen to make this journey too. We were an eclectic mix for sure: lawyers, doctors, plumbers, teachers, and artists. There were individuals from all walks of life, all countries, and all ethnicities. Some people I liked more than others. There were one hundred of us on this ship, an even split between men and women. Well, of course, we thought, this was natural. We will have to help repopulate the human race on our new world. We didn’t know how many men and women there would already be there.

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My reality came crashing down when I heard Yahweh speak. “I am sorry, my child,” the computer responded yet again. “This is Eden Ship Two.”

“Where is my destination?” Tears were streaming down my face as I screamed to the collective.

“Second Earth 5 Moon 7. God be with you my child.”

My heart nearly stopped. That was the world with the murderous Adam and his cannibal offspring. I would be traveling here with just one other person, who would be my mate. I would have to build this new world together with him. Lurking around every corner and in every shadow of our new world would be the threat of those who had murder in their blood.

“Yahweh!” But it was too late; my mind went blank. It had just been cut off from the collective as my pod was shot off into space.

My eyes snapped open. I began screaming again, this time for real. The sound welled in my chest and bubbled out of my mouth. I pounded my fists on the inside of my regenerative chamber. I knew not where my pod or my Adam’s pod would land on this foreign planet. I screamed and screamed. But nobody can hear a scream in a vacuum, especially when you are alone in a pod, hurdling through the abyss of space.