Green World

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Chapter 1

Henry finished making his observations and recording his results into his notepad, double-checking each of the numbers and other data before completing each task. The notepad was an anachronism, in these times when most people utilised electronic tablets and smart devices for almost every purpose, from recording and retrieving information, to keeping their calendars and keeping in contact with their family and friends. Henry was, indeed, an old fashioned type of scientist, being almost sixty years old, and having trained when electronic and computing devices were notoriously unreliable, and the only certainty of keeping clear and accurate records was pen and paper. Even now, he found the comfort of pen and paper a relaxing certainty, a way of making sure that the data critical for his work was accurate, not muddled or lost in the fog of a computer chip inside a smart device.

The instruments from which he was reading his results, on the other hand, were far from old fashioned, but rather represented the current pinnacle of scientific endeavour in atmospheric sciences and environmental measurement. Here, at the peak of a small mountain, which rose up just outside the Australian Casey Antarctic base, the air was clear and crisp. However, the readings showed how misleading this state of affairs could be. Even a glance around the environment surrounding him showed him how misleading this could be.

Even at this time of year, mid-summer in Antarctica, when the sun never set, he should be surrounded by snow and ice. He should not be able to see rocks, mud and dirt in all directions. Here at the top of the mountain remained a dusting of snow, and in the far distance, he could still see signs of ice caps. But just a few hundred metres down the slope, much of the snow and ice had disappeared, and instead was revealed a barren landscape of bare rock, mud and slush. He had observed such significant changes only within his lifetime, and it showed no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Henry had before him instruments to measure temperature, air pressure and humidity, as well as levels of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and a string of other pollutants, including what were commonly known as Greenhouse gases. Other instruments measured the levels of solar activity and radiation coming through the atmosphere above them, showing the level of deterioration of the ozone layer, as well as other damage to the atmospheric layers which had, for many years, kept mankind safe from the damaging solar rays. The recording and analysis of this information, and the changes that were occurring, was a life-long work for Henry, an early passion that had turned to an obsession.

Yet it seemed that nothing could protect mankind from its own stupidity. Generations of respected scientists had been warning of the danger of the massive damage that mankind was inflicting on the environment. It always seemed like it would be a case of what was the tipping point. Would it be the final destruction of the limited natural resources? Or would the continued pollution of the oceans finally and irreversibly destroy the delicate balance? Would the flooding from melting of the ice caps finally completely alter the weather patterns, and flood large parts of the earth? Or would the drought from the impacts of salt and pollution on fresh water resources finally eliminate the fresh food and water sources? Or, as many, including Henry, believed, would it be the final devastation of the atmosphere, which might destroy humanity quickly, when the air became no longer breathable, or slowly, when the final protections were stripped away and mankind was open to the damaging solar rays? It was this last option he had dedicated his life to exploring and studying.

It might seem odd that Henry, as the world’s most acknowledged atmospheric scientist, would be here in the least polluted region left on earth to determine the impact of man on the atmosphere, and how it would impact the natural environment. Yet he, like many others before him, recognised the importance of the Polar Regions to the earth’s delicate ecosystem, and particularly, how they could act as a barometer of what was happening in the rest of the world. Further, the drawing of careful ice cores could allow an accurate and detailed comparison over a far large span of years than the limited records he had available to him, this allowing comparison with earlier ages in the earth’s history.

As he finished his recording, a gust of cold wind came up, and he wrapped himself more warmly in his Arctic clothing. Despite the average higher temperatures that had come about as a result of the global warming effects, and which had caused the melting of much of the polar ice caps, the winds could still be bone-chilling in this region. He was keen to get back to the camp, and glanced up, gladly seeing his colleague making his way across from where he had been obtaining the data from a duplicate set of instruments. After forty years in his field, Henry was a careful scientist, and always carefully checked and double-checked his data, in this case ensuring the accuracy of the information obtained by setting up two completely independent, duplicate, sets of instruments. He, and his young assistant Jules, would independently obtain sets of data, and only compare results when they had each separately completed their analysis.

Henry eyed young Jules as he made his way carefully though the snow. He was a still youthful, but brilliant, young man, who had graduated with honours in environmental science from internationally renowned Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. Henry, as much of his work was in the Antarctic, based himself out of Hobart in Tasmania, Australia, and therefore, when he found himself needing an assistant, had sought one in the prominent Universities in Australia. Jules had stood out head and shoulders above all of the other recommendations, even though his specialisation differed a little from Henry’s. Jules was working on a doctoral thesis on water flow, focussed on how the changing sea levels would impact on the tides on earth. He was also an expert on water pollutions and fluid movement of all kinds. Basically, an expert on water in all its forms and permutations.

Despite this, his scientific background was more than enough to assist Henry in his work in the atmospheric sciences, and indeed, his different perspectives had already led to Henry tweaking some of his formulas and presenting a more accurate picture of the distribution of pollutions throughout the high atmospheric levels. Henry, never having worked in the water sciences, had never realised how much air could act like water, and how fluid flow dynamics could model both sets of movements. The modelling techniques introduced to him by Jules had allowed him to refine and more accurately predict the impact on pollutions throughout the atmospheric layers.

Turning his mind from his scientific background, Henry examined Jules again, as he had the first time he had entered his office in Hobart. He had almost dismissed him straight away, eighteen months ago, and was glad he had not. Jules was the son of a world-renowned actress and a famous Australian singer. Although they both resided in Sydney, his mother regularly travelled overseas for movie roles, premieres and functions, often away for months at a time. His father, when he was not travelling for his own, extremely successful, singing career, would generally follow his wife around the world.

Jules had been fortunate enough to inherit good looks from both his parents. From his father he received his father’s blond, wavy, hair, which like his father, he kept long and which constantly fell across his piercing blue eyes, also inherited from his father. From his mother he had gained his dusky skin and clear complexion. Also from his father, he had inherited broad shoulders and a slim but muscular physique. He could have easily passed as a movie star himself, apart from the thick, nerdy, glasses, which while not hiding his abundant good looks, distracted people from them, enough, at least, to bring him down to their level.

Henry wasn’t sure where the intelligence had come from. But it came through within two minutes of being in the office, and Henry realised that he was being handed a gift in Jules, just one wrapped in a particularly good-looking wrapping. He also recognised a disguise, once he looked a bit closer, and put aside his initial pre-conceptions. Although the glasses looked the typical coke-bottom glasses of the class nerd, they were clear glass. Jules had remarkable vision, which matched with the extraordinary abilities of the rest of his body. He hid this as well, but he was athletic and strong, and had been a long distance runner in high school, preferring the individual exertion of running to the team events, and winning numerous competitions for his school.

The disguise was necessary. First of all, Jules was the son of a famous power-couple, and there were numerous people out there willing to befriend someone like that, simply because of the famous associations. Secondly, he looked, without his glasses and his carefully maintained disguise, like a matinee idol, or a rock god, or perhaps the most stereotyped sports jock in the world. People would not take his intelligence, his academic record, seriously, if he looked like that. And so, he had cultivated the nerd image, as much as possible. He had come to rely on it as a defence mechanism.

Over time, Henry had come to know a little more of Jules’ history. From a very early age, while his parents had showered him with all of the toys, games, and other items a young boy could want, they had had little time, and even less love, available for him. While, against the expectations of most famous entertainment couples, they had managed to stay together, they were more focussed on their careers, and each other, than they were on their young son. When young, he was wheeled out for photo opportunities, magazine shoots, or other opportunities for his parents to show off the happy family. But the carefully crafted photos of a happy, loving family playing together, that graced the pages of many of the gossip magazines and tabloids, were as much fiction as the movies his mother was so well known for acting in. It was not that they did not care for him, but both his parents were far more focussed on their own careers and aspirations, and to them, he was simply another asset, a tool to promote their own interests.

And so, at all other times, he was left with a succession of nannies, and later private tutors. He was well looked after, and his carers were carefully screened and some of the best available, often becoming de facto parental figures. As soon as he was old enough, he was placed in a private boarding school outside of Melbourne, where he learned to be careful and cautious, keeping himself to himself, and applying his massive intelligence to achieving a record high score for the school in his final year of education. This was all in addition to numerous other awards, both academic and sporting, although in light of his parents’ careers, he steered well clear of the drama and music departments.

Despite the opportunities open to him, he had chosen to study environmental sciences, forgoing opportunities to head into a wide range of more profitable fields. He had revealed the reasons to Henry in a conversation shortly after they started working together. While on a bush experience that was a compulsory part of his schooling, he had come to recognise the damage that mankind was doing to his environment. In his typical methodical manner, he had read exhaustively the literature available on climate change and environmental damage, and recognised that, without change, the end of the world truly was nigh. He had determined to be part of the change, and to put both his intellect and his fame towards making sure that change occurred.

And so, he had dedicated himself to the environmental sciences, overloading subjects and courses in his four years, and so impressing his professors, that an invitation to a doctoral thesis was made almost immediately he graduated with honours. It was this work he had put on hiatus to join Henry, although Henry was well aware that he was continuing his research, experiments, and writing, around the work that Henry assigned him. On his return, he would be submitting his final thesis, which Henry had reviewed with him. He would, undoubtedly, be granted his doctorate, the only question being what the university would make of the thesis. The work was an extensive exploration of the effects of the flooding caused by the ongoing melting of the polar ice-caps, including how tidal flow would be impacted by this flooding. If made public, it would add to the alarm bells already clamouring from a wide range of respected scientists across the world.

All done, Sir? asked Jules, his deep, melodious, voice ringing across the snow and rock-bound landscape. Despite their months of working together and social interaction, Henry had been unable to get Jules to address him as other than Sir, or, on formal or academic occasions, by his full title of Professor. He was a visiting professor at a number of universities, both in Australia and the USA, and had honorary professorships in a number of prominent European and Asian universities.

Jules, in turn, looked over his renowned boss as he approached. Despite his age, he maintained an erect bearing, showing all of his six foot six inches. His hair was grey, but still thick, and he maintained a lean physique, a legacy of his college days, when he played basketball, while attending Harvard University, where he obtained undergraduate degrees in environmental sciences and chemistry. He moved on to MIT where he obtained a masters qualification in engineering, and then CalTech, where he obtained his doctorate in atmospheric science.

He had then moved on to establish a reputation as the world’s greatest expert in the atmosphere, and in particular the impact that mankind and its incessant pollution were having on the atmosphere. His focus in recent years had been on the damage to the atmospheric layers, combining this with research into how this damage would impact on the magnetic fields that protected the Earth. While scientists had been aware for a number of years of the importance of the magnetic field caused by the spinning iron core, and how it protected earth from the worst of the solar radiation, few had yet considered how it interacted with the atmospheric protection, or worse, how the two might be affected by mankind’s interference.

Despite his reputation, and the clear evidence of the impact that was being made by the rapid escalation of technology and the misuse of the earth’s resources, nothing seemed to change. No one could agree on what needed to be done, or when, or how, and this was not helped by the massive and well-funded lobbies that worked to disrupt the work of those who advocated environmental protection. Too many people had made too much money out of the technological advances, and they would fight anything that would prevent them to continue to make money out of the continued abuse of the world’s natural resources.

Now, forty years later, he was starting to think it was too late. He had been fighting the good fight for a long time, and though there had been some change, the latest results were indicating it may well be too little, too late. The tipping point had been reached, and every forecast that Henry had run, indicated that within the space of the next few years, even if everyone on earth could be persuaded to immediately change their mind tomorrow, nothing on this earth would prevent the destruction of the human race.

It was time to think of a different option. One that was a little extreme. One that Henry had been discussing with his wife, although they would need a lot of finance, and a lot of support, to work it. He knew it could work, but he was not sure how he could make it work.

Chapter 2

As they walked back to the main camp, where a number of prefabricated huts were scattered around, Henry continued to ponder the problem. For many years, there had been talk amongst the scientific community that the only way to ensure the future of mankind, might be to evacuate it off earth, or at least to send a colony off earth. Much of the recent space exploration had been focussed on finding habitable, or earth-like, planets, although even with the massive advances in recent times, there was still no certain way to know if a planet could support life until you got there. And that was presuming you could find a way to get there. For this reason much of the speculation focussed around terra-forming planets within the solar system, or forming giant habitants within space (a much larger version of the International Space Station that had been continuously occupied for the past 15 years). Despite the speculation, however, no real and genuine consideration had been given to the idea, simply because of the immense difficulties presented in attempting colonisation.

The first difficulty to overcome was finding a suitable planet. Despite the millions and billions of stars in the universe, most did not have planets circling them. Of those that did, very few had environments that would support mankind. Life was fickle, and needed some fairly specific requirements to survive. The planet needed to be of a sufficient size and density to create a similar gravity to Earth (although some leeway either side would likely cause few issues). It also needed an iron core, and iron in the outer surface, to allow the creation of a magnetic field, such as on Earth. Although it did not need an atmosphere precisely matching that of Earth, it needed to be close enough that life could survive, including humanity. It needed to be far enough from its sun to not burn up, but close enough to provide the warmth that life needed, the so called Goldilocks zone. It also needed liquid water, which should be available, provided the temperature and atmospheric conditions were right. Many planets had evidence of water, but the water was either frozen, or in gaseous form.

It was suspected that planets meeting this requirement would only be found circling suns similar to their own, although no definite matches had been made in many years of searching for possibilities. It was a long search, and the techniques for searching were still being developed. In more recent times, a number of possibilities had been highlighted by the most up-to-date space telescopes and scanning techniques, but there were no definitive matches, at least none that any reputable scientist would be prepared to