This Could Be Explosive

[seren2]

Sinclair sat in the Earth Monitoring station staring at the blueprints that had been given to him by the Chancellor. The Ark had been irreparably damaged when the Exodus ship had launched and many of the inhabitants of the station had already perished. The majority of the arks stations were without power and pretty soon they’d run out of oxygen and so Chancellor Jaha had come up with a plan to get the survivors down to the ground. Of course the Exodus ship was no longer an option and they were running out of time. Jaha had suggested that they use the Arks thrusters to get to Earth, it was possible but not without consequence. Ninety-five percent of the Arks stations would be destroyed upon entering the Earth’s atmosphere and Sinclair had been tasked with the job of identifying the five percent which would survive the journey.

However, Sinclair didn’t believe it would be all that easy because no matter what he brought himself to do, he couldn’t seem to pinpoint exactly which stations would survive the descent to Earth. Either way it seemed that people would die, if they stayed where they would and waited for their oxygen to run out then they would all die and it was only a matter of time until that happened, but if they went with the Chancellor’s plan then there was a good chance that they would all die trying to get to Earth. The weight of the impossible task was sitting heavy on his shoulders as he let out a heavy sigh and got to his feet. Breaking the news to the Chancellor that perhaps his plan wasn’t as straightforward as he’d originally thought wouldn’t be enjoyable, it would be much easier if it had been possible for him to locate the lucky five percent that could get to the ground in one piece.

Marcus Kane

[Marcus Kane]

Hope. It was the most dangerous and needed thing they had. They needed it like they needed to breathe. Marcus was looking out one of the windows and watched Earth spin on. He had never thought he would step foot on the ground. Now he was standing here and would likely be there tomorrow. He knew the risks were high, and that many would die on the way down, but the knowledge that they would just die up here was enough to make everyone want to try. Everyone had a job to do right now, but Marcus was taking a moment. Earth.

Turning from it he walked to the Tree. His mother had spent so long taking care of it, and her last words to him had been of taking it down. Picking it up, Marcus carried it with him. When she had asked, he had dismissed her, and she'd died moments later. He would see it done for her. He was carrying with him when he came upon Sinclair. It could not be easy for the man to make the choice they were asking of him, and Marcus respected the man greatly for doing this. It wasn't as if Sinclair was choosing who lives and who dies, he was just going to tell them the facts as best as he could.

Marcus sat the tree down and walked closer. "Have you any luck trying to pinpoint the weaker areas?" He asked, looking down at the blue prints.

[seren2]

It didn't matter if Jacapo did manage to locate the stations that would survive or not, either way they were all going to have to make the journey down to Earth or die waiting for the Ark to run out of oxygen. As he noticed the Vice Chancellor approaching him, he took a step backwards so that Kane could look for himself. "No, not yet sir" he admitted, an apology in his tone, the task that he'd been given wasn't an easy one and he was reluctant to admit his doubts about locating the safe stations to his superior. "I'll keep trying if that's what you want" giving up wasn't really an option, even when the odds were so small and with so many lives at stake, it made it really hard to admit defeat. So many people could die if he was wrong and he didn't think that was something that he could live with.

"It's turning out to be a little more challenging than I originally anticipated" he eventually admitted to the man, knowing that he had to be kept up to date with any developments. If Sinclair decided to keep stuff from his superiors now, it would only cause problems further down the line. "Honestly, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack" the sad truth was that he didn't think they'd be able to locate the stations that would survive at all and they'd have to take a chance when going down to Earth and just hope for the best, which wasn't an easy thing to do when doing so could cost countless people their lives.

Marcus Kane

[Marcus Kane]

salvation comes at a price Marcus didn't envy the man the a task that was before him. It was perhaps the hardest thing they had asked of any of them thus far. Instead of spending time with his wife, he was here trying to decide on what parts of the Ark was strong enough to withstand reentry, and where the most people would be in order to stay alive. One small miscalculation and he could get everyone killed. Hundreds of lives weighted on his shoulders, so Marcus did not intend to rush him. "Yes, we need you too keep trying." He told him, but didn't push him to keep working. "Anything you need to help you, will be given. We have an engineer we found, Wick, who can help if needed. Right now we have him ripping through most the Ark to find anything useful for the ground." Marcus was sorting the people, making sure that there was a bit of everyone in each section. Most the stations would remain in tack, farm would go down with farm--but there was some people who might need to move around if they were willing. SO that if they landed apart each station had what they needed to survive.

[seren2]

Sinclair would continue to try until he was told to stop, there was too much resting on him locating the parts of the ark that would survive the descent to earth. Lives were at stake and if he failed then potentially their whole community could be lost. "Of course, sir" he answered Kane, it didn't sound as though he was being forced to keep searching but he needed to, because giving up wasn't an option, not if he wanted them to have a future on the ground. When he heard Kane mention Wick, he was grateful that he wasn't the only engineer there, if he needed help then he'd have somebody to turn to for assistance.

"I appreciate it, I'm going to need all the help I can get" he forced a smile in an attempt to reassure the other man, running a hand through his hair subconsciously. "I might need to ask Wick for his help later, but right now it sounds like he's busy elsewhere" he was more than capable of completing the task on his own and although having Wick on hand would benefit the search, finding stuff that would be useful to them on the ground was also important. They couldn't go down with nothing, they had to be prepared as best as they could be so that they could have the best start possible on earth. Sinclair would've liked to have taken his time with the task, so that he didn't have to deal with the stress or the headache that was starting to bother him, but unfortunately, time was a luxury that they didn't have. "Y'know, this isn't exactly how I'd imagined going to the ground" he told him, as he lowered his gaze to look at the blue prints once again. Everyone thought about going to the ground at one point in their lives, he wasn't an exception, but all the times that he'd imagined it, the 'life or death' situation hadn't been a part of his thoughts.

Marcus Kane

[Marcus Kane]

salvation comes at a price Marcus nodded his head when Sinclair said he might ask for Wick's help later, "This is clearly more important. If you think he can help, he will help." He wasn't asking, because he knew everyone would give everything to make this work. He had doubted before, and it had cost everyone very dearly. His doubt could still get everyone on here killed. Kane felt he owed it to everyone to make sure that as many made it to the ground as he could. "This isn't the way any of us thought it would happen. I hadn't planned on ever seeing it." He admitted, knowing that before he had assumed that he was only trying to keep the human race alive long enough for the future ones to deal with trying to get them to the ground. "I didn't really believe in the plan to send the kids down. I didn't believe Abby when she pushed to prove they were alive. I had thought we'd end up having to . . . . " Keep killing their own. "I'm glad I was wrong." He knew there was some that still blamed him, but right now they had more important things to deal with.

[seren2]

Sinclair nodded at Kane’s words, knowing that it was true that this was more important than anything else Wick could be doing at that moment. If he failed to determine which stations would make it down to Earth then it was a real possibility that none of them would see the ground, the odds weren’t great but Sinclair was determined to give everyone on the ark the best possible chance at surviving. “I can do this… I just need a little more time” he muttered, not entirely sure if he was talking to the other man or if he was just trying to persuade himself that he was capable of completing the seemingly impossible task.

The man listened intently to what Marcus was saying and a small smile appeared on his face as he listened, despite the circumstances. Nobody had ever really seen Earth as a realistic possibility, it had always been something that people dreamed about but knew that they’d never really get to see it. Survival on Earth hadn’t been something that had been thought possible until recently and now they were actually trying to find a way to safely get everyone to the ground. “With all due respect sir, I’m glad you were wrong too” he told Kane after hearing the other man voice his concerns. Killing their own people was something that nobody had ever wanted to resort to, but it had been necessary to buy them a little more time and to ensure the survival of the rest of their people. Providing he figured out which stations would survive the journey, those that were sacrificed in the culling would have helped ensure that they survived long enough to give them a fighting chance.

Marcus Kane