Peter sat on the deck of Angelique’s spacecraft looking through the view port.
They were approaching the planet Everest. It was the perfect name for the planet. It was hard for him to encapsulate what he was seeing. He’d been into orbit multiple times. The first above Earth’s atmosphere, he’d gotten a sense of just how small humans were. It was an eye-opening experience that many people said they felt when seeing Earth from space for the first time.
Seeing Everest put that experience to shame. The planet was huge, and it looked it. It made Earth look small in comparison. It gave him the perspective that Earth was just a tiny drop in the bucket.
As he looked down at the planet, he remarked at how different it looked. Earth was a water world—most of its surface covered by O2. Everest was a world covered by land—mountains, snow, and jungles visible from space. There was water, but it looked like lakes. He was sure the lakes were large enough that they would appear like oceans if he stood next to them.
There was ice on each pole too. But unlike on Earth, the snow looked to cover almost a third of the planet. Thick ice shelves at either end of the planet were massive, and Peter wondered if they were still terraforming the world, and whether it would become a water world too if the ice all melted.
The first time he’d seen Earth from space, he’d realized humans were small. This was his first time seeing another planet from space; seeing it made him realize how small humanity as a whole was. Earth, Sol, everything that humans came from was nothing compared to the vastness of what was out there to explore.
Peter felt the engines firing and their trajectory change.
“We just received a request from Everest,” Ship said. “They asked us to stay in orbit. When I told them we made contact with an alien world, they asked if we had time to transfer to a new clean spacecraft.”
Angelique shrugged. “That’s a reasonable request. We can’t confirm we’re not carrying any alien microbes. Better safe than sorry.”
“They also requested everyone else on board stays on the spaceship until after the merging ceremony.” Then Ship added, “Until you merge with your Ange’s Angel, you have full autonomy. You can decline that request and transfer everyone to the surface of the planet.”
“No point. As soon as I merge, they’ll have jurisdiction, anyway. So, if they want to hold everyone in quarantine for a while, it’s within their rights.”
“Can we back up a second? I’m not quite understanding all these new terms.” Peter pointed at Angelique. “How do you fit into the governing of this planet?”
“Everest is run through a representative democracy. All my planets are run that way. And I’m not part of the government. Although I am part of the constitution.” Angelique paused for a moment thinking it through. “I guess you could make the argument that I’m the fourth branch of government. My arm of the government oversees expanding the colonies and improving everyone’s lives through advancements in technology.” She pointed to herself. “I’m responsible for finding new worlds and bringing all the advancements in science to the new worlds.” She pointed out the window to the planet below. “And Ange down there is responsible for cataloging all the new science and disseminating the new knowledge so the planet progresses. But again, my ‘branch,’” she said, miming quotation marks around the word, “can’t overrule an order from parliament or the military.”
“I’m not saying you would do this,” Unity started to speak cautiously. “But what’s to stop you from manipulating information your share with the different planets? What’s to stop you from controlling them?”
“There are encrypted files hidden in the data files I take with me. They are designed to corrupt if I tamper with these files. And the military always includes special keys that unlock documents that only they have access to.” Angelique anticipated the next question. “This isn’t just to stop me from tampering with everything I carry with me. It’s also a precaution against an alien hacking into my data payload while I travel from system to system … But there are risks, and I feel like every planet we visit has some invention that improves the security of this process.”
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Peter considered Angelique’s words. Reading between the lines, he got the feeling she had designed the constitution of her civilizations to allow her the flexibility to keep exploring, while also giving the colonies complete control over their governance. He guessed she did have the power to override some decisions the colonies made, but she wasn’t saying it out loud. He wondered whether this conversation would form part of the treasure trove of data shared with the colony.
He decided to ask a question that would give him a peek at just how much autonomy she had. “Let’s say they decide to lock us all up.” He pointed toward himself, Unity, and Hezekiah.
Angelique looked confused. “They wouldn’t do that.”
“Let’s say a lot has changed since you left. And let’s say some leader decided to do that.”
“Well, technically that would be within their right.” Angelique scratched the back of her head, thinking everything over. “I wouldn’t be able to stop that from happening until Ange and I become separate people again. But once I was me again, all my privileges would return, and I would just say you were important to my next mission.” She raised her hands as if to say, Don’t worry it won’t happen. “That’s not going to happen though, and if it did, we’re not going to be there for that long. We need to tell the other colonies what’s happening.”
Peter continued the line of questioning, digging in deeper to his understanding of the worlds Angelique had created. “Once you and your Ange’s Angel are merged together, can they stop you from splitting apart again? Keep you on the planet against your will?”
“According to the constitution, that would be an act of secession. In a way, that would be an act of war against the other colonies.”
“Can’t they just change the constitution? Don’t they govern themselves?”
Angelique shook her head. “All the colonies have the same founding constitutional document. So a change like that would require a supermajority vote, not just on this planet but on all the planets. So every planet would need to update their constitution at the same time.”
Peter smiled that remark. Angelique had done an amazing job at designing the constitution. She was embedded at the heart of the document. It was masterful, and the results spoke for themselves: from what Atlas had said, her people loved her. And no one had attempted to kick her out—unlike what they’d done to Atlas.
Peter’s next question would get at the heart of where his thinking had been. He’d spent a good amount of time thinking about what to do with the Atua, and his only conclusion was that the two species would eventually fight each other. Humanity versus the Atua.
In traditional times, whenever a human civilization encountered another, the more technologically advanced one would enslave or conquer the other. And from what Peter had already seen of the Atua people, they’d done exactly that to humans, conquered humanity without them even knowing. Now they were in a position to fight back, and it was probably going to lead to a war. Peter wanted to make sure they were well prepared for a war. That’s the reason he wanted to visit Angelique’s colony. He wanted to gather support for fighting back. “Do you have an army?”
“Not an army as such,” Angelique responded. “But all colony worlds have a military base built specifically for me. It has a standing order to have, at any one time, enough starships on it for me to visit every one of the colonies at the same time. They have to overestimate how many ships they need. And that base must be equipped with personnel and material to upgrade the ships based on the new technology I bring with me.”
Angelique continued: “Oh, and they obviously have their own military on this planet. I chose to come here first because it was the closest planet with an abundance of resources. We need to conduct some big upgrades to our spacecraft.”
Hezekiah and Unity both wore concerned looks on their faces. They looked worried about the risk of being trapped on the planet. Angelique lifted her hands to placate the group. “Don’t worry, team. I promise you won’t be in quarantine for long. If they keep you against your will, I’ll split with Ange, and we’ll go to another planet.”
The team was approaching a large space station. In front of Peter, the view changed to reveal a boxy military-looking spaceship. It was enormous, big enough that their ship looked tiny in comparison. One side of the ship opened up to reveal an open area with a clear spot for docking.
“Do you still want me to dock?” Ship asked as they approached the large open hangar door.
Angelique nodded.
Ship maneuvered them into the docking space and then switched the engines off.
“We wait here while you do your thing?” Peter asked.
Both Angelique and Ship nodded. Their avatars disappeared when their spacecraft was plugged directly into the space station.