I'd guess we had been here for about 30 days.
It was me, Roxy, and Jim. We were the lucky ones.
Overpopulation on planet Earth was a huge issue. At first the government was trying to limit how many babies mothers could have but that did not go over well.
It reeked of Nazi regimes and powerful hurtful government control.
The only way for us all to survive was to start looking for ways to offload some of our population.
Source: Giphy.com
The ring project began 50 years ago. We had finally found a way to harness the power of a star.
It was dangerous anytime a new project like this began. Pioneers could be heroes or they could be dead pretty quickly.
I hadn't even planned on coming on this trip. Roxy had been wanting to do something special for my birthday. She knew I loved looking out my telescope and somehow she got the idea that I might like to be one of the lucky few pioneers on Tarlax 9.
Tarlax 9 was what we were calling this new ring planet. It was a good idea because this ring could support almost a million people when it is functioning.
I was drunk for most of last month. So I hopped on the little blue spaceship not having any idea where we were going.
Everything was actually really cool for about 3 weeks. Little shops selling all kinds of confectioneries popped up everywhere.
The technology seemed boundless and it seemed as though you can look right off into the middle of space. All of us were going to be rich by next year. Pioneers get dividends you see. Fat, fat paychecks just for living for free.
One week ago the water supply cut out. I'm not even sure how it worked in the first place. Something about pulling water molecules out of the surrounding atmosphere.
Our neighbor Alvin was the first to have all of his bodily fluids accidentally sucked out. That would have been terrifying enough but one thing after another kept happening.
There are only two days worth of oxygen left but the nearest ship is at least two weeks away. There are less than two dozen of us still alive out of over eight hundred thousand.
I guess you could call us lucky.
I don't.
What a happy birthday this has been.
Special thanks to Larry Niven for writing an awesome book called Ring World from which I was able to take several ideas.
