60 minutes.
60 minutes, a short yet unbearably long period of time.
60 minutes till the official launch time of the first ever space elevator made by mankind, thought Albert. Being the leading engineer for the International Space Campaign “Silver Wire”, he couldn’t help but feel that gut-crushing nervousness. This project, drawing all human and material resources, has been seen as the fate changer of the dwellers of planet earth. If he succeeded, he would become the savior of all races, winning all the fame and glory, and praised forever in history; however, if it’s the other way around, he could imagine himself portrayed as the sinner, the traitor despised by millions, facing the delightful and honorable death of being lynched by an angry mob…
Year 2121. Everyone lives in an unimaginable world. It’s a living hell.
The old term “climate change” seems like an inappropriate joke: in addition to temperature rise due to an astonishing amount of greenhouse gas produced, the ozone layer has long been damaged - perhaps since the first half of the last century - since no country nor world leaders assumed responsibility. UV light pierces freely through the atmosphere and pours its horrendous bliss on earth. No living organism could survive in open space without some type of UV protection.
At the same time, fossil fuels were long depleted, and thanks to the strong UV light, biofuel wasn’t an option anymore as it induced plant cell DNA deformation and mutation. Therefore, humans resorted to nuclear energy, an angelic devil. Though technologies have advanced high enough to make fusion and fission very efficient to provide vast amounts of energy, leakages and explosions happen now and then. All those factors further accelerated the unprecedented sixth mass extinction. Afterall, who’s there to take care of endangered species when humans themselves are endangered? With the drop of biodiversity came food insecurity, and the human population steadily decreased, unheard of in history. Some have predicted that by 2222, earth would be completely uninhabitable, truly the end of the world…
In conclusion, they have to seek a path to escape.
And that is why Silver Wire was created as the last hope. The space elevator is an essential step before interplanetary and interstellar migration, since it could save huge amounts of fuel and resources used to send matters to and beyond the geostationary orbit. Once the object is in space, gravitational pull would be negligible, and the inertia could keep it moving at a constant velocity.
A text message from his colleague disrupted Albert’s tangled thoughts. “The President will arrive in about 15 minutes”, it read. Albert anxiously checked his watch: 9:15 am, 45 minutes till the official launch time. He replied, “Thanks Lisa, I will be ready, see you then”, and rose from his black electrical office chair. He decided to rest for a short while in his personal room.
Despite the project being constantly brought to public light, the government made an effort to keep it somewhat a secret, and thus all personnel involved would have to live inside the base. After closing the door, Albert collapsed in his chair. He set his eyes on an old wooden drawer which he hadn't opened for eternity. He couldn’t even remember what was inside it. Pulling the drawer open, Albert found his late wife’s portrait quietly lying inside. A mix of emotions ran through his whole body. Had he worked so tirelessly to the point of forgetting that his wife passed away three years ago on the same day? Albert asked himself and looked outside. The deep dark sky outside the window seemed to be gazing at him with a soulless stare. The guilt made him even more stressed and restless as he paced alongside the drawer.
The President of the United Nations (which was the highest form of government) arrived promptly at 9:30, and Albert was there, waiting beside the entrance of the main building. “Good morning, Professor Astley,” said the President as he took off his heavy UV suit and shook Albert’s hand, “I expect great things from you, sir. Now please lead me to the control center.” On their way, the President asked: “Now Professor Astley, if I understood correctly, you are absolutely certain that the Silver Wire would be a complete success?” “Yes, I believe so Mr. President.” “Good, now would you explain to me the mechanism of this project please? Just to ensure I have the correct information.” “Yes, my honor, sir…”
“As you might know, the Silver Wire project focuses mainly on the development of space elevators to achieve an affordable commute between the earth and outer space. It was considered nearly impossible in the early 21st century due to numerous obstacles. But now we have made major breakthroughs in the field to enable the construction of the facility. There are four main parts to the space elevator: the anchor, the tether, the climber, and the counter weight. The anchor would simply be any stable base on earth, while the climber would be analogous to a normal elevator, so those are fairly manageable to build and test.”
“And that leaves the counter weight and the tether.”
“You’re right, sir. The counter weight proved to be a challenge at first, as it was impractical to send a mass heavy enough to balance out forces into space by rockets. So we took a different approach and harnessed an asteroid and utilized it as the counterweight after making some modifications. Then all that’s left is the tether, which has to meet the requirement of being strong, light and durable. Nanotechnology and nanomaterials are really the key to solving this problem. The common nanomaterials have the size of 100 nm, 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of human hair! Carbon nanotubes made out of graphene, one of the most promising nanomaterial, are 100 times stronger than steel, yet as malleable as plastic.”
“Amazing… And that makes it the perfect substance for the tether huh? I suppose that’s why we invested so much for the research and manufacture of this material...”
“Indeed, half of the industries in the world were converted to nanomaterial factories, and it took them nearly 10 years to produce enough fabric to cover a distance twice as long as the radius of the geostationary orbit. Since it is extremely thin and light, we managed to pack it into space. When the time has come, it’ll be released from space, guided by spacecraft back into the atmosphere, and the connection will be finished. Sir, it is truly marvelous to see the entire world coming together for this project.”
“Your detailed explanation is much appreciated, Professor. Human civilization has dedicated so much time and effort into Silver Wire, we’ll witness together whether that will pay off.”
“It certainly will, Mr. President!” said Albert eagerly, “it is the first step for us human beings to truly become a spacefaring civilization! Once the space elevator is built, an interconnected highway will emerge from earth to space, and we could then harness the resources of the entire universe! Silver Wire would be the first thread of a spider web that covers all of the solar system and beyond!”
“Hmm… that surely sounds wonderful… But speaking of that… are there really no risks involved at all?”
“Well, you see…”
“MR. PRESIDENT, PLEASE WAIT FOR A SECOND!!!” a person that looked like a researcher rushed into the control room, drawing attention from every corner, “PLEASE, THE SILVER WIRE CANNOT BE LAUNCHED, I BEG YOU!!! The potential danger created by the space elevator is devastating!” said the person rushing in. “Ahh Mr. President, this is probably a researcher who’s suffering from mental instability due to the intense work pressure,” said Albert, “I’m sure he’s just…” “I’m so sorry Mr. President,” Lisa came running in, following the researcher, “I wasn’t able to stop him from disturbing the assembly…” “Quiet, I want to hear his explanation of his little danger theory.”
Martin Troll, the man who rushed in, was a researcher in the Department of Extraterrestrial Intelligence. However, he’s secretly a council member of the underground organization “Pinchers”, which opposed the development of space elevators. The members had different rationales: some firmly believed that it is god or a divine force’s doing to punish the human beings for their sins, therefore it was useless to evade the final judgement; others argued that the project took away resources that could’ve been used to improve the condition of the mother planet, therefore accelerating the deterioration of earth; a third faction even believed that encountering alien civilizations during the process of expansion would be detrimental to humans, and it is very likely that the result would be as predicted in the dark forest theory: destroy or be destroyed. The majority of the organization consists of moderate members who joined the group to seek a community among opposers, while a small fraction were radicals who planned to stop Silver Wire by force. Martin was a radical believer of the dark forest theory, and his major in astrobiology and astrophysics got him a pass into the International Space Campaign base. Earlier, he was informed that Pincher had already hacked into the control system of Silver Wire, and if it’s not launched within 3 seconds after 10:00:00, the spaceship carrying the tether would self-destruct, ruining the whole Silver Wire operation. All he needed to do was to buy time, to make the President hesitate and delay the tether from being sent out.
“You see, Mr. President, suppose we successfully installed the space elevator, what would happen next? After all, the tether is close to nothing in the vast space. How would it be protected from corrosion, degradation or space debris? If one of those factors would’ve caused the tether to break, it’ll lead to horrible results. If it is to break near the anchor, the inertia and the force exerted by the counterweight would cause the entire elevator system to ascend into space; if it is to break near the counterweight, the tether would wrap itself around the globe, creating more debris in the orbit and pose serious threats to future space travels. Mr. President, our technologies are still not advanced enough to solve these problems yet, therefore we should only launch the Silver Wire when the issues are addressed!”
Silence…
10 minutes left...
“Is that true, Professor Astley?”
“I’m afraid it is, Mr. President.”
5 minutes left…
“Mr. President, the problems mentioned are extremely unlikely to happen. Please, approve the launching of Silver Wire!” The clock was ticking down, and Albert was on the verge of losing his sanity.
3 minutes left…
“After deliberation and carefully examining the matter,” exclaimed the President, “on my order, the Silver Wire will go into operation as planned. We cannot lose our only hope and chance for a livinghood. Interplanetary migration is the future of human society, if the first step is not taken now, when will it ever be? We’re playing a gamble with the universe, so let it be.”
10 seconds left…
“NO! Please rethink your decision sir!”
9 seconds left…
“I’ve already made the decision for the entire human race, there’s no turning back.”
8 seconds left…
7 seconds left…
The president stationed himself in front of the launch button.
6 seconds left...
“If so,” Martin whispered under his breath, “then I have no choice…”
5 seconds left...
In the corner, Martin stood. Away from the eyes of everyone else in the room, he quietly reached into his pocket, pulling out a pitch-black semi auto laser pistol with dexterity.
4 seconds left...
“HEY YOU! PUT THAT DOWN! PUT THAT DOWN, RIGHT NOW!”
3…
Boom.
2…
Boom.
1…
Boom.
3 shots were fired. One went through the ceiling, one penetrated the President’s forehead, the last one pierced through his own chest.
The President collapsed to the ground, yet his fingers were pressed, ever so slightly, against the launch button. The mysterious red glow of the launch button was tainted by the blood flowing down his arm...
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