A dreary world with only a jagged rocky surface orbited around a star in the goldilocks zone. Exposed to almost the perfect level of solar radiation and with a 25 hour day and a 380 day year it was almost perfect. That was except for the lack of water and barely any atmosphere. A near miss from a comet millions of years ago had torn it away leaving no chance for life to form. The dusty, crater strewed planet had rested undisturbed for four billion years with only an occasional meteor impact disturbing it’s lonely journey around its sun. Suddenly a dusty cloud aroused from the surface, months later the whistling sound of wind started to be heard as the hazy atmosphere slowly thickened across the planet. A year later the planet was still rocky and desolate but now a few tiny clouds and a small patch or two of water could be seen on the surface. One small patch of green could be seen in an old impact crater with a small artificial object in the center. Someone from earth would recognize the object as an RV. Of course with Earth over 500 light years away it would definitely be an Oopart if it were. Outside of the RV was a hammock strung between two poles and what looked like a normal guy sleeping in it with a hat pulled down over his face.
* * * * *
The RV was parked in a small, dry and dusty crater on a small plot of green grass that was barely bigger than the vehicle that sat upon it. The young man stepped out of the trailer to look at the bare hills around him knowing that the rest of this dead world was the same. Unlike earth the conditions for life to form never occurred. It did, however, have one thing going for it: the planetary specs where a very close match for earth. The planet had the same size, axial tilt, magnetic field and even a large moon orbiting around it. The planet originally had only a small mix of hydrogen, sulfur dioxide and some small traces of methane and ammonia in the little bit of atmosphere it had. This time it only took Hawk eight months to completely transform the planet’s atmosphere to match the Earths. Of course, Daniel didn’t bother having it match the 21st century’s smog polluted air but rather that of earth from a few thousand years in the past.
It was now time for Hawk to start on the land and water but before that Daniel wanted to get a small taste of what living on this planet would be like. The upheaval expected from the planet’s surface terraforming should cause major ground tremors so Daniel decided to leave before it started. Daniel bundled his stuff aboard the RV including the portable weather station he was using to monitor the atmospheric changes as they were stabilizing. Over the last few weeks it looks like the thicker atmosphere and new ozone layer was working. Temperature differences between night and day had dropped to less than a 20 degree range. A far cry from the +/- 150 degrees the airless planet originally had. Daniel would have liked to stay and monitor it more but with the dry surface the moister originally in the air was slowly being leaching out. A problem that won’t be corrected until the surface water was in place. Plus Sammy and little Alexia were waiting for him on Tawny.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
As Daniel finished loading the RV he stopped in the door for a final look around, “Ok Hawk, hit it” he said and a minute later the RV was gone with only the small patch of green grass left. Minutes later a path of change started sweeping across the planet. As it circled around the rocky planet sterile black earth and lifeless trees and plants were left behind. Sometimes streaks of water were left behind that spread and filtered across the planet and sometimes columns and gaps. As the path of the change kept circling and crossing over and over itself. The planet’s streaks widen and stabilized slowly turned into lakes, oceans, rivers, valleys and mountain ranges.
Finally after 18 months no more changes appeared, the planet was quiet. Looking from orbit the new world would look like a twin of earth. The blue sphere was now covered in a carpet of lifelike but dead flora. Trees, bushes and grass now covered the planet providing a frozen image of life. With no actual bacteria on the planet decomposition was none existent. Suddenly splatters of smelly mud stated to sprinkle down on the planet. Someone familiar with the scent might have recognized the smell of sewage with just a bit of river muck mixed in. Getting active bacteria sources without sterilizing important areas of earth would have been difficult. Even if using the equivalent exchange would have kept people from noticing immediately. Luckily there were other sources that no one cared about. Pulling the muck from areas like a sewage treatment facility or an area of river beds also worked. With this muck as a start it would only take a year or two for the bacteria levels to rise enough for normal decomposition to happen.