Chapter 1: Breaking News


    Breaking News


    [ Year 2142, Washington DC ]


    *Rattle* *Rattle*


    As the ground began to quake, Leo Skyshard nced at the seismic reading on his battered smartphone and muttered, “4.2, it’s okay ” almost under his breath.


    For a moment, as the make-shift tform he was working on began to quake, his heartbeat began to rise rapidly as the project he was working on today was an old construction bar that was facing a risk of copsing, potentially burying him in debris.


    Thankfully, the number was hardly shocking. 4.2 was not enough to cause significant damage to the structure made with a century old construction method.


    In this day and age, the once-dreaded natural cmities had be humdrum background noise. Tokyo, Los Angeles, Rome—they were all gone, swallowed by the Earth or washed away by tsunamis while natural disasters became a weekly urrence.


    There was not a single city in the world that looked intact anymore as the concrete empire was crumbling.


    At first it was a yearly affair, then it became bi-annual, then seasonal, then monthly and now finally the frequency had increased to just a few weeks apart. The earth was falling apart and hundreds of thousands were dying everyday.


    In a world where cities vanished and disasters became mundane, people barely flinched anymore at small events like a 4.2 earthquake.


    Leo looked at his elder brother, Luke, who was engrossed in cleaning old sses made of oak wood as he gave him a reassuring smile.


    Both were waiting in a ramshackle bar for their next frence gig, a high-rise window cleaning and restoration, one of the few remaining jobs that could be performed outside aputer screen. It was a risky job in unpredictable weather, but risks were a luxury only the rich could afford to avoid.


    In this world where disasters were frequent, the ultra rich had already isted themselves in nuclear bunkers with years worth of canned food to survive, however, formoners like Leo and Luke, they needed to work 3 days a week in dangerous environments to ensure the survival of their family which consisted of the two brothers and their mother.


    Once, this trio belonged to the echelons of urban elite, but that era has long faded, much like their father who vanished without a trace, bequeathing them a mere $500 in their bank ount.


    Since the abrupt departure of their father a decade ago, the family had grappled with financial hardship, a situation that had deteriorated with each subsequent year.


    It was only four years ago, upon Luke’s 18th birthday, that he was able to contribute through various odd jobs and lessen the financial burden on their mother, which was further improved two yearster, as Leo joined him in thisborious endeavour.


    For now, the family of 3 barely made their ends meet but they could be considered as happy as one could be while surviving on the bare minimum.


    Suddenly then, in a moment that Luke and Leo would probably never forget for the rest of their lives, much like everyone else on Earth, the bar’s dust-covered TV flickered to life, and President Verma’s face appeared on screen.


    Leo had never liked her. She was stern, severe, and in power not because people admired her, but because she was considered strong—something desperately needed in these chaotic times.


    “My fellow citizens,” she began, her voice unusually calm.


    ” As you all must know and experience on a day to day basis, our beloved Earth, a ce we call ‘ Home ‘ is suffering from countless natural disasters and has be unsuitable for the human poption.


    It’s time for us to move on, it’s time for us to explore news and be a species that has presence throughout the Milky Way gxy.


    It’s with great pride and joy that I dere today that we have sessfully negotiated with an alien species to allow us to popte their.


    They are an advanced species with great technological achievements and have been kind enough to send 4 Arc Ships that can carry 250 million people each.


    In precisely 3 months time from today, these 4 Arc Ships will leave Earth and shall be bound for a called ‘ Terra Nova ‘.


    For those who dare to explore a new world and think they have the necessary expertise to be chosen as a member onboard the ship, I implore you to apply for a position and escape this dying.


    I myself am going to board the ship alongside you all to demonstrate that it’spletely safe and a great opportunity.


    It’s going to be a fresh start on a lush green and stable, full of new possibilities, and I hope everyst one of us are reunited there someday. ”


    The screen went nk once the speech was over as Luke and Leo were dumbfounded by it’s content.


    ” What the actual fuck? ” Luke cursed, as he did not listen to any gibberish beyond the fact that the president was boarding the ship.


    If that selfish hag was boarding the ship, it was sure as hell not to demonstrate anything positive.


    If she was boarding the ship it could mean one thing and one thing only and that was the undeniable fact that Earth was done for.


    It wasn’t just a ‘ Cataclysmic Cycle ‘ that the government imed it was. It wasn’t just a phase that wouldst 20 years and then recede like many ‘ experts ‘ and ‘ pundits ‘ imed it would be.


    The Earth was dying and these ship’s were the one chance for humanity to survive.


    ” We have to apply, brother. We have to get out ” Leo said with conviction in his eyes as Luke nodded.


    Although the two did not buy into the promise of a fresh start, they understood the urgency to leave.


    There were 8 billion people on Earth and the ship was only going to carry a billion which meant thatit was going to be incredibly difficult to make the cut but they had 3 months to figure out how to.