Chapter 4 - The Administrator[]
From the diary of Sharon Ngo, January, 3143...
There are other options. Having examined surveys of the Clan Homeworlds, including the Pentagon cluster, I've come to the conclusion that Kerensky must have looted the prototypes for a whole second generation of terraforming equipment, and used it.
At some point, they must have forgotten they had it, or the fighting in the Pentagon must have destroyed most of it-along with the knowledge of how to repair it. Seems to me, they took the prototypes and the operations manuals but, didn't bother with the manufacturing plans.
I've chosen a testing site in the 'gap' between Arluna and Kowloon. A G2V star with rocky bodies, one of which is in the life-zone but, lacks the means to support complex life-a dead rock, in other words, or a proto-earth. Coast Guard surveys suggest it's ideal for running our test batch.
The files included some advanced information, including genetic templates and designs for nanoscale assemblers needed to construct the necessary DNA for our biome project. Grandmother would be proud, and Mom would be concerned. I'm going forward with this with my eyes open, I am determined. Regardless of how things shake out in this new age of wars, there needs to be some kind of reserve. We can't maintain the quarantine indefinitely, but we can maintain it long enough to provide some kind of haven for the survivors.
I know why this information was suppressed. While we intend this project to provide safe worlds or to restore worlds ravaged to destruction by the endless parade of succession wars and equipment failures, it wouldn't be hard to convert this technology into a devastating weapon.
Mother would be horrified. I'm not. The Mongols have proven Grandmother was correct-the Clans, disabused of their false noble notions, are destructive lunatics, their culture a particularly sick form of tyranny, and the divisive nature of our Houses gives them room to fester and breed. The Clan Occupation Zones were stripped of all useful materials in less than two generations. just as they did with their homeworlds, they are the locusts, and sooner or later, they will come for us again.
When they do, when my grandfather's people come for us, we will have to be prepared to fight to annihilation.
I will be. My people will be, and we will triumph.
Sharon.