Goldilocks Zone

Tau Ceti IV fell into the Tau Ceti system's habitable zone. More often than not referred to as the Goldilocks Zone.

Sitting in the cafeteria of the New Sunrise, Lieutenant Connor Reed of the Interplanetary Expedition Corps sipped his cup of coffee. It tasted terrible. Coffee beans that had been frozen for years as the exploratory ship travelled through deep space didn't tend to emerge from the freezer with much of their flavour intact. Especially when the coffee was grown on Mars of all places. He knew they were grown on Mars, because on the packet that had contained the beans had an image of the red planet that had cheerfully said "grown on Mars," and a big blue sticker that said 100% Martian grown. Of course, the Monsanto Corporation wasn't even based on Mars (it was based on Ceres, owning the asteroid outright), but even in the 23rd century, corporations were willing to go to any lengths to make a credit.

Nevertheless, he sipped the coffee, and winced. It still tasted terrible. And Lieutenant Halworth had walked in, so that was reason for even more wincing.

"Wow Connor, you have a space rat in your hair?"

Yep. Definitely more wincing. He nevertheless took yet another sip, ran a hand through his hair, and murmured, "that was only that one time."

"Uh-huh." Halworth headed over to one of the automatic dispensers that dotted the cafeteria.

"Also not even rats can survive years of deep space travel, so we shouldn't have to worry about that."

"Never said we did." A tea bag was dispatched, proclaiming that it had been grown on the hydroponic farms of Ganymede. He watched as she headed over to the main counter to get herself a glass and water, setting it to boil.

"So anyway," Halworth said. "I've done checks on the crew. We should be ready to begin the thawing process in half an hour."

Connor grunted.

"How are preliminary scans for Tau Ceti Four?"

Connor grunted.

"Hello?" Halworth walked over to the table he was sitting at, taking a seat opposite him. "Earth to Lieutenant Reed?"

"Earth's twelve light years away." He put the coffee aside and instead picked up his data pad. "But here, if you want it. Not that it's any of your business."

Halworth took the data pad and read it as she headed over to her warming tea.

He knew what he'd signed up for. New Sunrise was a small exploratory ship, and even with faster than light travel, a ship of its size would still take three years to get to Tau Ceti. The plan was that its crew of 43 would spend a year surveying the planet, before spending another three years in hibernation to get back to Sol. The pay was good, but the pay would only be forwarded to him in the event of his return into UCN-controlled space. He'd spent the last few days alone on the ship doing the initial surveys as the Sunrise headed towards the planet, having dropped out of FTL travel. Here, in real-space, starships were confined to the laws of physics, which meant that the Sunrise had to spend days slowing down. And in those days…

"Well," Halworth said, as she walked back to the table with tea in hand. "This looks good. Oxygen, nitrogen, CO2. Gravity of 0.83g. Thirty-six hour day could be a doozy though. And of course, no sign of intelligent life."

Connor grunted. Two centuries had passed since the formation of the UCN and colonization efforts, and he still wasn't sure that intelligent life even existed in the galaxy.

"So then," said Halworth, as she sipped her tea. "Under the proviso that Tau Ceti IV looks set for human habitation, why are you so glum?"

He frowned at her.

"Well?" she asked.

"I didn't know you were the ship's psychologist," Connor murmured.

"I'm not. Still, Doctor Fujikawa won't be unfrozen until a few days from now, so until then, you're stuck with me."

You, and everyone else on this God damn ship, Connor reflected. Nevertheless, he took the data pad, pressed some buttons, and handed it back to Halworth. "Let's just say that even this far out, one can keep up with the news."

Halworth frowned, and given what he'd shown her, Connor knew why. Various reports that were months out of date, detailing continued tensions in the Alpha Centauri system. The aftermath of what historians called the "First Extrasolar War," and what normal people called "a colossal fuckup." The UCN had declared ownership of Alpha Centauri A and B, and most notably, the planets of Helghan and Vekta respectively. Turned out however that a lot of people, most of them descendants of the original colonists, weren't so keen on a government four light years away telling them what to do, so even after the United Colonial Navy had come barging in, guns blazing with their dreadnaughts, terrorist actions had continued on both planets. Vekta, the breadbasket of humanity, and Helghan, a vital source of raw materials. Both of them now imperilled because of a failure to negotiate peace, and each side refusing to compromise in the aftermath.

Halworth handed the pad back to him. "So the Helghanites are at it again. What of it?"

"Helghanites?"

"Well, whatever those thugs call themselves. Doesn't even matter." She checked the date. "Least this proves that Earth is still feeding us data." She scrolled down. "Three years' worth of data, even with a time lag of four months."

"And ergo, it's gotten even worse," Connor murmured. He got to his feet and headed over to one of the cafeteria's windows. The inside was white, septic, and cold. The outside was black, lifeless, and even colder. The only grace was the view of Tau Ceti IV, a world of green, blue, and white shining in the dark. Kind of like Earth had once, before the green turned brown, and the blue had risen to cover a lot of the green.

"Makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Connor murmured. "The Goldilocks Zone. We keep coming and we keep messing everything up."

Halworth sighed. "Connor, you're my friend, believe it or not. But we've got a psychologist on the ship, we don't need a philosopher."

He ploughed on regardless. "Goldilocks. Girl who breaks and enters and finds one set of things too hot or hard, or another set too cold or soft. Sets about digging into the thing that's just right, and ruins things for Baby Bear, before bugging out to likely do the whole thing over again."

"Fascinating," Halworth murmured. "Dunno how this is relevant."

Connor looked back at her. "Where's your tea from?"

She stared at him.

"Go on, indulge me."

Sighing, she looked at the tea bag. "According to this, it was synthetically grown on Eros."

"Eros," Connor said. "Not Vekta, and not Earth. And do you know why?"

"Because the IEC never gets the best of anything?"

"Because growing anything on Earth is prohibitive since there's so little arable land there. And right now, shipping anything from Vekta is prohibitive because of the current state of tensions." He sat back down opposite Halworth and sighed, rubbing his hands together. "Now we're at Tau Ceti. If the survey is as good as initial scans indicate, we can expect colonists within a decade." He looked at Halworth. "How long before we mess things up again? How long before the colonies are depleted like Earth? Because fun fact, soil on Vekta's still being lost three times faster than the regeneration rate. What happens when there's nowhere else for us to go? What happens when we've smashed all the proverbial houses?"

Halworth slowly took a sip of the tea. Steam was coming out of it, but still, Connor felt cold. Colder than he'd been since he'd been thawed out automatically a few days ago. The one person on this ship who had such a 'privilege,' while people like Louise Halworth gave special attention to everyone else.

"You think a lot," she murmured eventually.

"After what's been going on in Alpha Centauri for the past few years? Hard not to."

"Yeah, well, you might want to work on that." She took another sip and put the empty mug between them. "We're going to be here for a year. You're going to be working with over forty people. Some of them are going to get on your nerves, and you're sure as hell going to get on their nerves."

Connor couldn't help but scowl.

"But you're here," Halworth said. "Whatever you say about Earth, or Vekta, or Helghan, or any group or any planet in this galaxy, you're still here. You're paving the way for colonists to come to this planet. Same way they came to Vekta, same way they came to Helghan, same way they came to Altair. So whatever you think about blonde girls, or bears, or breaking and entering, you're part of it. Live with it." She got to her feet, taking the now empty mug in her hand. "Now then. I need to start unfreezing the crew, and you need to make yourself presentable. Because Captain Darub will want a sit-rep from you, preferably without the moralizing."

"Didn't think being concerned about the state of galactic affairs was a case of 'moralizing.'"

Halworth snorted. "We're as far away from galactic affairs as possible. And whatever happens at Alpha Centauri will blow over eventually. Decade from now, century, we'll be laughing at it."

Connor remained seated. Watching as Halworth headed for the sink, washing out her cup before heading out of the cafeteria. Watching, and hoping that she was right.

And fearing that she wasn't.