No news came from the Earth. She showed signs of life but it appeared all of her satellite communications stations had been taken out of commission. Ships were sent. Sally called Ned Barns and left her herd in his hands. He would have her entire herd delivered to his ranch in one load. He promised to keep her breeding program alive. Ned’s herd was the largest on Jasper’s and his experience was far beyond mine and Sally’s so trusting him to take good care of the girls was not a problem. My side of our farm was pretty much dormant going into winter so all I needed to do was set a few chickens free. It took all of two days for us to move back into our house in the almond orchard near the university and Jasper’s old office. By the time I had activated Jasper’s office we had news back from Earth. The first time Oaxiom had attacked Earth the war between Oaxiom and Earth was into its fifth year. The people of Earth were prepared and ready to flee into underground bunkers and other places of protection. This time the attack came with almost no warning at all. Oaxiom’s missiles and ships had greatly improved both their speed and their ability to hide from scans. Earth had twenty-two hours after the warning went out. Twenty-two hours was just enough time to throw the population of Earth into complete confusion. It was suggested that the Earth would have done better without any warning at all; as it was, thirty percent of Earth’s population died when the first wave of missiles made it through their defenses. It sounds bad to say but those that died in that first wave caused less continuing problems to the people of Earth because most of them were completely vaporized. The ten percent of Earth’s population that died over the next few days presented health problems that were the Earth’s first concern. The portion of Earth’s population that weathered the attack the best were those that had clung to living in the domes. Complete factories that had remained in their underground facilities still functioned and began work at once to restore Earth’s damaged infrastructure. Earth would survive. The first ships from Jasper’s World did what they always did and unloaded payloads of food. The ships also did something they had never done before, they loaded their empty hulls full with migrants desperate to flee the Earth. On Jasper’s our first task was to prepare to accept thirty thousand Earthers and to prepare as rapidly as possible for millions more.
“You and Sally are the only ones who can put this together,” Sarah, my sister, said for the third time without listening to any of my excuses.
“I’m a farmer. I’m not even an up to date farmer. We’ve been living in the past. As far as our holdings on Jasper’s for the last years we’ve delegated everything.”
“And you can continue doing that. We need your faces. The two of you are the two best known faces on Jasper’s and you have strong ties to Henry Jasper and what he stood for. We need to move from our detachment from Earth and embrace the Earth, this time. Henry kept us clean of Earth’s contamination. Everyone on Jasper’s was willing to work hard to save the Earth but it was always them being helped by us. To get through this we need to accept that people on Jasper’s are Earthers.”
“That’s not going to be easy,” Sally said. “I don’t think of myself as an Earther. I’ve lived here my whole life. Our way, the Jasper’s World way, is better. Only a million people live on Jasper’s. Millions coming from Earth will overwhelm us and we will become just a suburb of Earth.”
“And because you feel that way and because people know you feel that way you and Trenton are the best possible choices to be our spokes people. We need to change attitudes and change them quickly. The thirty thousand Earthers already on their way here will set the tone for Jasper’s next fifty years and well beyond that.”
david blankenship 