THE NEW LIFE, THE NEW ME - an Apple Loving Individual Thriller

Chapter 35 - Exploring the Space Colony

Chapter 35 – Exploring the Space Colony

Tuesday, July 10, 2046
8:27 AM
Mess Hall, Kanzen Colony
Korolev Crater, Mars

So, as mentioned earlier, we were inside a small domed colony on Mars. There were people as well as robots here. In the last twenty-five years; powerful forces at work such as technology, globalization, quantum computing, space exploration, biological research, crowdfunding, and rapid economic outsourcing to different continents and even different extraterrestrial regions, particularly the Moon and Mars, had eventually made tons of progress. Artificial intelligence made it easier to determine life on other planets being possible, as well as discovering more information on thousands of other planets in our galaxy, outside our solar system.

Bg. Ajay Malhotra, went on to explain how the US Department of Defense, including all five major branches of the American military worked with huge technology and AI firms to station their personnel on the Moon and on Mars, in the last two decades, while donating billions of dollars for the cause. Apparently, as world peace began to gradually take its toll over Earth, it seemed only adequate to start planning to sustain life outside of Earth for future generations to come. Now you can call me old-school or old-fashioned, but I'm happy with living on Earth. If I ever have kids in the future, should I ever get married, it'll be their personal choice where they choose to live.

"As you already know, everything has a dark side to it, so does technology." Ajay explained. "In this case, I already came to understand some sinister force was planning to terrorize humanity, with the technology created by men, to force them to give up their daily digital lifestyles. Apparently as e-commerce developed into a multi-trillion-dollar industry, so did the rise of technological unemployment."

"So, Zane Galnac devised this company as a remedy, to eliminate poverty and unemployment both, to fix problems on Earth, so we could live on Mars?" I asked. "And Liam Mitchell, Jr. implemented it?"

"It had to be a Millennial or a Gen X!" said Jake. "No one of Gen Z (or Plurals) or Gen Alpha, our generation could have done this!"

"That's what we need to find out, captain!" explained Ajay. "The four of us, cannot do it alone, neither can my troops."

"Your troops mainly consist of older people, who look like they'll retire in ten years." Reagan said. "No offense, but most of them look like their already in their forties and fifties and they are either colonels or generals."

"They're still the best men we have." Ajay said. "Although, I admit, Mg. Jordan Hill, my best man is kinda getting old for this, he is fifty-two."

"Got that, right!" said a voice behind him, it was Mg. Hill. "I might have been able to do all that twenty-seven years ago. But I'm soon retiring this week. And I picked to retire on Mars, overlooking the construction of Kanzen City."

"You look like you have a strong background in technology." Jake added.

"You bet!" said the major general. "I started off as Systems Administrator for IT Linux Security, back in 2015 at the age of twenty, turning twenty-one. A year later, I graduated from college and enlisted in the United States Army as a commissioned officer. After twelve years, I eventually joined their IT Security Cyber Division, as a lieutenant colonel, retiring from field work."

"Well, thirty years in the army and now an O-8?" said Reagan. "You earned it."

"There are a lot of people working here." I declared as I came to notice that. "Back on Earth, these jobs wouldn't be done by us, but by robots."

"You have no idea; how many jobs were outsourced to other parts of the solar system!" exclaimed Ajay. "Even if that automation came here, it'd be another one hundred and fifty years."

"What's the plan?" said Jake. "When do we hope to end this."

"It won't be easy. We'd have to spend the next four days on this, if we want to save the world population, from this Armageddon. And it'll take time!" said Ajay. "Just be patient and stick to the plan. I'll explain as we go."