EARTH 11
It is the year 2015 on the planet Earth Prime (our Earth). The company Albrecht Timelines has recently announced their dimensional travel ideas to the rest of the world. Naturally, this has caused a huge uproar in the nations of the planet, none more so than in the United States. In the capital, Washington DC, government officials met in emergency conferences for nearly a week, discussing all possible parameters about the situation. In the end, the Obama Administration tentatively supported the idea of colonizing a devastated Earth, rehabilitating it back to working order and making it a province of the USA on Earth Prime. The permutations of such an event are enormous; what sort of impact will adding a whole planet to the US economy be like? Even though damaged or wrecked, what will it do for (and against) the United States as a whole?
When support for the project was announced to the people of the USA, the response was overwhelming. Millions upon millions of people applied to immigrate via phone, fax, internet, and other means. Government officials were inundated by the response and set up several vetting processes to iron out the issues and make it work in a democratic fashion. Since your age was reset back to biologically 20 years old by passing through the "gate", more than 70% of the applicants were 60 years or older, and nearly two million additional people who suffered from chronic illness and the dying jumped on the band wagon as well. Officials in DC decided to make the entire affair as "fair" as possible by allowing the most needy to go through the various gates spread across the USA first.
Also, a significant minority of people wanting to get a new start on a new Earth were also isolationists; people who felt persecuted, and many outsiders. The whole thing turned into a huge mess very quickly and Albrecht Timelines (hereafter known as AbT) took the whole affair out of the hands of the American government and allowed signing up for colonization to Earth 11 by doing it completely online (on the Internet). After three months, AbT staff members announced that the 18 million people who had signed up had coalesced around a concept called "Second Constitution" and the majority supported it (people who didn't were dropped out of the queue). Second Constitution had the following changes to the American style of government:
Running for political office is publicly paid for; financial contributions were completely banned from the entire process, with stiff penalties for any politician taking money for "influence" (including payments to family members).
No government, party, company, or any other entity could take away a persons guns, nor could the government dictate to religious organizations or businesses, unless it hurt others. Polygamy in any form was banned due to the inherent slavery aspect of that practice.
Term limitations would apply to all political positions (Senators would get 8 years, Representatives would get 6). The President would get one 6 year term, allowing him to more effectively run the government without having to re-run for office every few years. At the end of 6 years, a simple majority of the popular vote would give him another 2 years (if not, snap elections would be held).
A super-majority would be needed to raise taxes significantly, and a flat tax of 30% for all people and businesses would apply across the board (the poor were exempted).
Social spending was almost completely curtailed (no Welfare or Medicare), as would defense spending for many many decades.
The Supreme Court would not be a lifetime appointment. Every 8 years judges would be rotated off the high court. The President would be able to nominate 10 judges to a lottery system, the Republicans were allowed 10 nominations, and the Democrats 10 as well. A (physical) ball lottery would randomly select judges from this pool; this unique process would negate the brutal voting on Supreme Court nominees that has so plagued Earth Prime.
The name of their new home (Earth 11) was voted on too, with the majority (71%) choosing the name "Second Chance".
The Second Constitution concept received the most support online from among the applicants and the US government reluctantly supported the initiative, after some behind-the-scenes strong arming by the AbT company. The Obama administration received a rude shock when it was discovered that the Second Chancers chose many of the former Bush administration officials to begin the new government: many of those chosen had extensive experience in running a government, and Second Chancers took no chances when they decided to appoint a experienced team to begin the reconstruction of a new world. Obama had only been a single term senator before running for President, paralyzing his efforts in governing with the Congress. His Government officials were said to be furious with the online decisions but backed off when AbT company men said they refused to interfere. Faced with the opportunity to gain resources from a new world and deal with the problem of the elderly, the dying, and the chronically unemployed, Obama officials agree to support the efforts of Second Chancers (if somewhat reluctantly).
Albrecht company officials informed the US government that it had a year to prepare, and that gates would be located into major US cities so that transport could be both coordinated and easy (trying to get nearly 20 million people into a single location within the USA would have been a logistical nightmare that would have surely strained the government to the breaking point).
Nearly a million former military men and women also signed up for the program after a call for people with naval experience went out.
At a dozen locations across America, stockpiles or goods, food, medicines, and other necessities began to flood in. The Obama administration allocated $50 billion dollars in what was called "a investment in our future". AbT officials explained that once the initial colonization was completed, the gates would be shut down for 100 years so that the colony could develop its own society and government without outside interference. Obama government officials were intentionally aghast at the idea but again reluctantly supported it; nearly 80% of US citizens did and going against the popular will would be suicide, especially on a unique opportunity like colonizing a new world. Also, ten million additional people could be sent through the gate for five years once the initial colonists had safely set up the nation and were able to receive more citizens.
Former Bush officials met in Texas over the next year, and in Washington for talks with the Obama crowd. Assets were transferred and millions of tons of items were purchased for the move to Second Chance. Rioting broke out in Utah as locals demanded their own country on Second Chance, but were denied. Federal troops were brought in to quell the fighting, dozens of unarmed civilians were killed but the hate media that dominated America refused to cover the carnage in any significant way in lockstep with the Obama administration.
Overall numbers for the immigrants to Second Chance (Earth 11) were broken down into various groups like the following:
Nearly 5 million Texans applied for immigration to Second Chance, the majority were white, wealthy, cattlemen, ex-military and oil field workers.
Nearly 40% of Idahoans volunteered to go, almost collapsing the Spud states' economy in the process.
At total of 10 million elderly applied and were accepted, as were 876,000 terminally ill or seriously chronically sick patients.
Two million permanently unemployed people also asked to immigrant to the new world. Each must have a significant skill set that would help the fledgling colony get back on its feet.
Finally, all Second Chance immigrants (by vote) agreed to colonize in the United State boundaries first, then focus on the rest of the planet.
After a year of preparations, and a huge economic boom that was generated by building items to support the colonists, the entire grand project was ready and the first people stepped through the gates with their belongings on April 10th, 2016. Locations around the USA included Los Angeles, Houston, New York City, Boise, Seattle, Denver, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, and St. Louis. Each exit-gate arrived at the same city, allowing the locals a strong familiarity to the area they arrived in.
At the Washington DC gate, the Bush team and a large military continent went through the gate at noon, accompanied by several dozen "stored" helicopters, additional arms, and several years supply of food and goods. One of the first things that the Bush administration decided to do was to deal with the seriously hazardous ships adrift across the planets' oceans. By focusing on the aircraft carriers, these floating airbases could be used to reach across the globe and rescue even more ships surrounding them.
The carriers were located by AbT company officials, which gave the information to the Bush administration:
USS Enterprise, wrecked off Cape Hatteras
USS Coral Sea, docked in Pearl Harbor
USS Ranger, wrecked off San Diego
USS Independence, docked at Newport News
USS John Kennedy, docked in San Francisco
USS Nimitz, adrift in the Sea of Japan
USS Eisenhower, adrift in the Pacific near Hawaii
USS Roosevelt (under construction at Newport News, 90% completed)
USS Saratoga, wrecked off Italy
USS Kitty Hawk, docked in Seattle
USS America, adrift in the Pacific near the Galapagos
It would take almost 3 months to get everyone through the DC gate. Over 100,000 former military officials went through the gate, along with nearly 400,000 civilians. Arrival on Second Chance would be a few days after the neutron star event. Luckily, AbT nanobots had cleaned up all of the dead bodies on the planet beforehand. In addition, several hundred thousand animals were sent through the Washington gate over the next 3 months, to help restore the planets' biosphere and prevent widespread disease issues.
Other gate transfers across the USA occurred at the same time, sending colonists and military personnel to the cities on Earth 11 targeted first for recovery.
Several prominent AbT company officials also passed through through the gate in Washington DC. Talks between these officials and with now President George Bush Jr were private, but it later became widely known that AbT promised its full support to the recovery efforts on Second Chance. The company would be based in Hawaii due to its central location. Advanced AbT heavier-than-air (HTA) zeppelins were also put on call for use by the Bush team; each major city had 6 of them located at nearest major airport, each capable of carrying a million pounds of cargo or personnel over 5,000 miles at nearly 200 miles per hour. While slow, they were sturdy, reliable, and could haul a massive amount of goods and people around, they were powered by super-solar cells, and they could be flown easily too boot.
On Second Chance (Earth 11) on April 15th the first helicopters were assembled and sent to recover the aircraft carriers around the world oceans. A dozen HTAs were also sent to drop more personnel onto the carriers, especially the ones located in Europe and Asia. Within a week, each aircraft carrier was recovered, brought up to minimal crew strengths, and then ultimately began the systematic process of recovery of the many tankers, freighters, passenger liners, and other naval vessels around the world. HTAs lifted nearly 100,000 civilians and former military personnel to these carriers, which then sent them onto the adrift vessels. More than 300 ships were lost before they could be recovered, but thousands of other commercial vessels were sent back to the USA and other major global ports. Several ports in Europe were also taken over and used to retain these ships, including the major ports of Southampton, Naples, and Rota. Shipping in Asia was diverted to major ports in Japan, Singapore, Subic Bay, and Cam Rahn Bay.
Within a month, government officials were set up in Washington, the power systems reactivated, and people and military personnel housed. Technology in 1986 was still fairly basic, but many computers had been brought back from 2015 and were used to set up a partial internet network in the Continental US; communications to Europe and Asian still required radios (most satellites were knocked out of commission by the neutron star burst). Animals were selectively released into the environment, including hundreds of thousands of birds in and around the East Coast.
In Boise, Idaho the new immigrants to Second Chance rejoiced in their new found freedoms, happy to be far away from a oppressive government in Washington DC on Old Earth and ready for a new start. The local city government had already been formed before passing through the gate and city services were quickly brought online; power, sewer, and especially water. Above the city, the primary water source for the entire area (Lucky Peak Dam) was reoccupied and spillways opened to fill the canals around the Treasure Valley; it was spring time and crops must be planted lest the people starve. Nearly 100,000 people came through the Boise gate and brought many supplies and animals with them. Wild animals were again released into the wild to repopulate the state; deer and elk, mountain sheep, black bears, and even the occasional wolf family were sent off into the towering mountains and woods in rugged Idaho. More than 50,000 people spread out across the lush farming valley that surrounded the capital city Boise. Called the "Treasure Valley", this region is a vastly productive food area that produces huge amounts of potatoes, corn, sugar beets, hops and a great deal of dairy products. The enormously popular Russet potato is grown in the southern region of the state and almost 30,000 people set off for farms in and around Twin Falls and Pocatello to begin growing them in the rich volcanic soil. In a few short years Idaho will surely become a major agricultural powerhouse for the entire nation. Former Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne again took over the reins of the state and the city, effectively bringing the region online within a few months. Communications routes from Boise were opened to Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver along the main highways, and oil production teams were sent to Wyoming to bring them online and start producing. Large power plants across the Pacific Northwest were occupied and either reactivated or placed in stand-by mode. All dams in and around the area were also staffed by specialists who knew how to operate them.
Of the nearly 20 million people arriving on Second Chance, almost 5 million were sent to California, 300,000 to Washington State, and nearly a million to Denver, Iowa, and St. Louis.
Five million people were sent through the Chicago gate and began fanning out into the Midwest, reactivating vital industries, power plants, and farms.
A wave of hopeful opportunity swept over the millions of people arriving on Second Chance; many had been critically ill for years and received perfect young bodies thanks to the molecular reorganization technology of the gateways. Millions more had been elderly, weakening over time and then suddenly finding the apparently well-spring of youth by coming to this world.
Finally, dozens of teams of power plant technicians were sent all over the globe to mothball and monitor the major power plants and dams across the planet. Critical sea oil wells were also occupied or monitored, as were nuclear weapons facilities across NATO and the former Soviet Union. This extensive project was only possible with the aid of AbT, and the world was grateful.
Everything looked good so far as the nation descended into Fall of the first year....