Do You Dream of Terra-Two?

‘I guess we do need a name, at least,’ Astrid agreed. ‘Surely we can decide that. New… something that already exists?’

‘That’s too obvious,’ said Eliot, but Astrid continued to list them anyway.

‘Like, New Earth or New London or New—wait, no, that already exists. New-New-something-or-other… New-New-England. New Paris—’

Poppy giggled. ‘That just sounds silly.’

‘Anyway,’ Juno said. ‘I don’t want a new version of an old place. I want a better place, a—’

‘—utopia.’ Jesse finished her sentence, and Juno’s face lit up.

‘You can’t be serious,’ Eliot said.

‘But it will be a utopia,’ Astrid said. ‘I believe it. Freedom. Peace. Lands flowing with milk and honey, caves glutted with diamonds. Just talking about it makes me excited.’

‘To that end,’ Juno said, tapping a button on her tablet, ‘I’ve been doing some research. Commander Sheppard said something interesting – that there’s no working model of this little civilization we have now. So I thought I’d look to the past for some examples. Take America—’ she tapped another button on her tablet – ‘I took the liberty of drafting a constitution, and I’d be grateful for your feedback.’

‘A constitution,’ Astrid said, laughing. ‘It’s so like you to focus on rules and laws. Do you want to go ahead and draft a friendship agreement for us all to sign? Do we need a sisterhood treaty?’

‘I thought Britain had a constitution?’ Poppy said. ‘Why can’t we use that one?’

Harry smacked his head. ‘Poppy, this is fundamental. We don’t have one.’

‘We kind of do,’ Eliot said. ‘It’s just not written down.’

‘Yeah, it’s been eight hundred years since Magna Carta,’ said Harry. ‘And that whole time we’ve just been waiting for Juno to draft one for us.’

‘You laugh now,’ Juno said, ‘but imagine this scenario: we land on Terra-Two, in our great patch of land. We live happily for a while, with each other, with our way of doing things. But then another group lands. A group with their own leaders and social structure – likely bigger than ours. Then the birth mothers, young women brought over in cryogenic transporters, and everyone will have a different idea about how things should be. They want our land. They want our resources – how do we divide things fairly? How do we settle disputes? How do we punish wrong-doers, people who murder or rape?’

Poppy shuddered. ‘Way to turn that into a horror story.’

‘It’s not a story,’ Juno said, the volume of her voice rising with passion. ‘It’s history. This is how wars start. So I think we should decide now on our rules of law, our underlying philosophies. I’ve drafted a start. It’s called the Damocles Document. “We, the foremothers and forefathers, the first on Terra-Two. Have penned this document in the gladsome hope of the city we are to build…’

‘The Damocles Document,’ Jesse said, and heard the admiration in his own voice.

‘Yes…’ Juno smiled, clearly pleased to find an ally. ‘In future generations, we might be tempted to forget this time. This time that we spent labouring in the darkness. We might forget that the land beneath our feet, the sky, the trees, the whole of the Earth that we’ve discovered is a gift. Is sacred. So one of the fundamental tenets of our society will be to take care of it.’

‘To live sustainably,’ Jesse said and Juno nodded.

‘We also need to remember that we left our family and country behind on the old Earth. When we arrive on Terra-two, we are all brothers and sisters. Including all the settlers who will come after us. I’ve realized on this ship that we can only live happily if we’re all committed to a common aim—’

‘But—’ Harry began to interrupt, but Jesse shh-ed him violently.

‘In the spirit of fellowship and charity I think that everyone in our country should have enough resources to flourish. By that I mean that no one should ever be homeless. Education, healthcare and free food. We will be a society that cares for the sick and for the disabled – although for a few generations only the healthy will be selected by the UKSA for colonization. Money is only for the practical purposes of sharing resources and cannot be hoarded. Every three years, all debts are cleared. And no one can own the land. We are simply jointly responsible custodians of the new world we’ve been given. We have to take care of it.’

‘So where will we live?’ Harry asked.

‘In hab-labs, of course. At first.’ Juno replied.

‘But we don’t own them?’

‘Of course we don’t own them. They were built by space agencies on Earth, we just look after—’

‘No.’ Harry shook his head. ‘I’m not sure I like this at all. What if we find our nice patch of land, you know, water, good view etcetera, and the next group of people land, the Gamma or the European group, and try to take it from us?’

‘That’s exactly the point I’m making here,’ Juno said. ‘They will have to adhere to the law of the country they have entered.’

‘And the law says that nothing belongs to anyone,’ Harry said.