JOURNEY TO MARS
Clover was there when Ceres, the largest asteroid, struck Earth seven years ago, claiming so many lives. Professor Schwartz, a scientist at NASA had warned about the asteroid two months before the hit. People called it a bluff till they saw a large rock crashing into Earth. Clover lost his wife and two sons in the incident. Professor Schwartz appeared on the National TV to address the public days after the asteroid saga. He said the people had no time to grieve, that the only time they had was to evacuate Earth because four asteroids were on a collision course.
People had started registering to leave Earth for Mars after the broadcast about four asteroids. Clover didn't register, he felt something didn't add up, so, he requested to meet with Professor Schwartz. It took weeks before his request was granted.
"Benjamin Clover?" a receptionist called.
"Here," Clover signified.
"You'd be seen now," the receptionist said.
Clover gave her a nod, stood up and headed into Professor Schwartz's soundproofed office. "Good day, Professor," he said as he closed the door to the Professor's office.
"Good day! Please, have a seat."
"That won't be necessary," Clover said before pulling out a 3D printed gun. "I have questions and I need honest answers," he concluded.
Professor Schwartz, at the sight of the plastic gun, needed not to ask how Clover got past the guard's metal detector. He knew he had to comply.
"Shoot right away," Professor Schwartz said.
"What?" Clover pointed the gun at the Professor.
"Oh please, I mean, hit me with your questions."
"Explain the Asteroid Deflection Mission, Professor."
"Boy! I know where this is headed. Let me bore you with a little story. The world's population is over 7 billion and over 130 million babies are born yearly. This signifies that Earth is exceeding her carrying capacity and her resources is depleting pretty fast. If the population keeps increasing, Earth will break and the people will perish. If we had deflected the asteroid that struck weeks ago, people wouldn't have volunteered to leave Earth."
Clover knew Professor Schwartz spoke the truth. "If people hadn't volunteered, would you have let those asteroids strike again because you want to control overpopulation?" Clover asked out of curiosity.
"Overpopulation is already controlled. Over 30% of Earth's populace have registered to leave Earth."
"You haven't answered my question. Would you have deflected the asteroids or not?"
"There are no asteroids, Mr. Clover. You know how stubborn humans are. They need to be manipulated. But you should remember we are doing this for the sake of our future."
Clover dropped his gun on Professor Schwartz's desk and left his office. He got home and thought of how people will live life on Mars. He had the urge to let people know they were being manipulated, but he knew population really needed to be controlled. "Mars will be beautiful," he said, before shutting his eyes.
© Aminu Abdulmumeen
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